Naming a Sister for Calvin: Classic and Surprising

Name Help is a series at Appellation Mountain. Every week, we discuss reader’s name questions, usually on Tuesdays and Fridays. We’re relying on thoughtful comments from the community to help expectant parents narrow down their name decisions. Thank you in advance for sharing your insight! To have your question considered, email appmtn (at) gmail. Looking for your own private #namehelp post? Order one here.

STRUGGLING WITH GIRL NAMES

Torie writes:

My favorite name for a girl was always Charlotte. Around the time my husband and I got married, my new sister-in-law and brother-in-law named their baby Charlotte. They had no way of knowing, and it’s so popular now that I’m not sure we would have used in anyway.

When we were pregnant with our first, I liked Eleanor and Josephine for a girl, but we had a boy, Calvin James.

Since then, other people close to us have used the names Eleanor and Josephine.

We do hear Calvin sometimes, but apparently I’m better at picking boy names than girl names. I like the way it’s sort of a surprise, but everyone reacts positively.

Now our daughter is due at the end of August, and it’s been a struggle. Names we’ve considering, but probably won’t use are:

• Annabelle – used to like it, but I think I’ve moved on
• Elizabeth – too traditional, even for me
• Evanna – suggested to us because my husband is Evan, but I don’t see us going this route
• Lily – my husband really likes this name, but I feel like I hear it a lot, even though we don’t really know a Lily
• Margaret – sounds kind of harsh to me
• Nora – same thing as Lily, husband likes it, but I feel like it’s everywhere
• Presley – long story, kind of an inside joke name between me and my husband, not really what I’d choose as a first name, but maybe it’s a middle name
• Theresa – family name, but we avoided this for Calvin, so why start now
• Victoria – my full name, which I’ve never used but actually really like
• Vivian – probably my favorite right now, but it looks a lot like Calvin’s name and that bothers me maybe more than it should

If she were born today, I guess we might name her Nora or Vivian, but I’m not happy with either of those choices.

Our last name sounds like Burst-with-an-H.

Please read on for my response and leave your thoughtful suggestions in the comments.

NAMING A SISTER FOR CALVIN JAMES

Abby replies:

Congratulations on your new daughter!

A few things stand out to me:

• You’re drawn to traditional names that wouldn’t have been popular when you were growing up. But to find a boy’s name that satisfied, you went for more of a deep cut. Calvin, not Henry or Theodore or Oliver.
• Speaking of Oliver, can we talk about the letter V? It’s a subtle theme in your family: Victoria, Evan, Calvin. Lots of middle V names are popular name, and you’re drawn to another one for your daughter: Vivian.
• It sounds like you’re avoiding Top 100ish names. In some cases, it’s because the names are taken. But it also seems like maybe this is mostly on instinct. If you’ve got good radar for the names in your son’s peer group, then you’re likely to know that Nora and Lily repeat often, even if they’re not in your closest circles. It can be tough to rule out names like this, but we’ll try to avoid the Top 100(ish) names as a starting point.
• Lastly, it feels like you’re not a huge fan of nicknames – even though you use one yourself. I’m guessing you might like Margaret-called-Maisie in theory, but it’s not quite for you and your family.

Going back to your original list, I can see that none of these quite hit the mark. I agree that Nora and Vivian are close, but I think we can brainstorm some fresh ideas that might work even better.

FRESH SUGGESTIONS

CLEMENTINE

If you like Charlotte and Josephine, would Clementine appeal? It’s sweetly vintage, tends to be used in full without nicknames and blends plenty of history with an off-the-radar status.

COLETTE

Gently French like Josephine and Charlotte, Colette could be the just-right alternative.

ELIZA

If Elizabeth is too common, could Eliza work? It sidesteps the many-nicknames challenge of Elizabeth, and it’s sparky and traditional, too.

EVELYN

Okay, Evelyn is a middle V name, which is why I’m suggesting it … but it ranks in the current Top Ten. Still, I think it’s perfect with Calvin, and even a better subtle nod to Evan than Evanna, so maybe this works.

GENEVIEVE

One of the first middle-V names that came to mind. It’s similar to Vivian, but nicely distinct from Calvin.

MARGOT

In the spirit of Eliza-over-Elizabeth, would Margot-over-Margaret appeal?

PHOEBE

Nickname-proof, old school but still fresh, Phoebe isn’t very much like the other names you’ve considered, but I like it so much with your surname, and as a sister for Calvin.

SYLVIE

Speaking of a sister for Calvin, that shared middle V is a nice, quiet link to Sylvie.

VIOLET

On the downside: Violet is very popular, currently ranked just outside of the US Top Ten. Still, nothing really sounds like Violet. It’s strong, bright, and enduring.

Overall, my favorite is Genevieve, probably because of that repeating middle V. Genevieve Lily, maybe? But I like the idea of something like Violet Presley, too – if the popularity isn’t a dealbreaker. If it is, I’d probably move on to Phoebe Colette, or even Phoebe Charlotte if cousins sharing a middle name isn’t an issue?

Readers, over to you! What would you name a sister for Calvin James?