Did your surname influence your choice of name?

[bankofengland]

we have just started looking at names and noticed that some go with our surname better than others. Some are difficult to say and some just sound just plain silly. It has automatically cut down the pool of names from which we can choose.

I think our choice will end up one which we like and works rather than one we love. Has anyone else had this? Did you have to make a practical choice rather going with the name of your dreams. Did you regret your choice?

I love the name Molly but it would never have worked with my ex-husband's name.

Anything beginning with B is out,they all sound stupid with a short surname beginning with B. Actually,anything with a B in it does.

I like alliterative names

I love the name Penelope, but couldn't use it for DD1 because our surname has 2 syllables and begins with P. It just sounds silly together (along the lines of 'p-p-p pick up a penguin', if anyone remembers that TV ad?)

Same for DD2: I adore the name Pearl, but it sounds daft with our surname. My youngest girl really suits Pearl; luckily, we chose a vintage/retro name for her so that suits her, too!

My married name presents fewer problems than my Danish maiden name, though!

I love the name Grace. But our surname begins with a Gr.
And Grrr to my dh!

forgetmenots I like some of them too. Some do sound good together eg

Catherine Carter
Lawrence Lewis

None of the B names sound good with my DP's B surname. Except Benjamin,but that always gets shortened to Ben so wouldn't work either.

Yep. My surname used to be 'White' and ex H was really keen on 'Lily' for our first daughter. All I could think of was that it sounded like a sanitary towel! (Or a Dulux paint chart). Definitely couldn't have chosen that.

I would have thought everyone had it, to some extent. You have to watch initials too.

Have a surname starting with A which rules out lots of pretty girls names that end in A e.g. love Natalia.
The surname also ends in EY so lots of other names are ruled out because they are too 'sing song'/rhymey e.g. love Poppy but just sounds wrong.

Wierdly though lots of boys names seem to suit - I think because they have more consonants and not as 'soft' sounding. Which makes me think for a girl its going to need to be some kind of strong sounding name with lots of consonants!

(At least I have 6 months to think about this though! DP found my lists on my phone and thought I was crazy that I'm already thinking about it!!!!)