Florence as a sister for Lorraine - too similiar? If so, what else might we like?

[Caissie]

I've been intending to call a DD Florence since I was a teenager. Discussed it with DP when we first started trying and it wasn't top of his list, but grew on him and became the intended name, shortly after which it became obvious that a baby was not on the cards for us.

So we adopted - intended to go for a baby and instead fell in love with a 7-year-old (Lorraine) who was our kind of crazy. I actually hated the name, but felt she was too old to change it, and of course now I love it because it's her.

And now I'm pregnant! We are assured that she's healthy, which is really all we care about, and that she's a she...

...and now I can't help thinking that Lorraine-and-Florence is a bit of a mouthful. Worse, because I wasn't keen on Lorraine's name, she's ended up with a lot of nicknames, including Lori and Lolo, that I can't help thinking could be confusing for a young Florence.

So (with apologies for the long post),

1. AIBU to think that Florence doesn't really go with Lorraine?

1. What else might we like instead? I'm not keen on Flora (for toast reasons). We like 'vintage'/old-fashioned, easy to spell, don't mind popular but not super-trendy (ie. will sound dated in 10yrs), and long names tend to sound better with our short surname. Not sure what else to say to be helpful as I've never really thought about other names, but hoping for some suggestions to hone what I'm after!

Thanks for reading! Look forward to hearing your thoughts :)

I love your story OP, how heart-warming!

My first thought was that Lorraine and Florence are fine together, but I do see how Lori and Lolo might confuse Florrie/Flo!

So... i love Florence too (DS2's girl name) and here are some other names I like
Mabel
Agnes
Agatha
Cecily
Edith
Rosa
Constance

HTH

Agree that Florence might not work alongside those nnames. How about Alice, Harriet (Hattie) or Charlotte (Lottie)?

What a lovely story op and congratulations on your pregnancy. I think Florence could work but understand what you're saying with the abbreviations.

How about;
Beatrice
Harriet
Clara
Sylvie
Nancy
Constance (Connie)

Might it be better to try to match with a name of a similar vintage to Lorraine? I had a Lorraine in my class at school, other girls who were in the class were:

Dorothy
Jeanette
Gillian
Theresa
Lesley
Anne
Fiona
Susan
Aileen
Shirley
Gillian

Then up at High School we had Tracey, Elaine, Alison, Rebecca, Rachel, Merryl and now I am struggling!

I also like Mabel as suggested above but maybe Lorraine and Dorothy (Dotty) might be nice?

Sod it. You like the name so go for it. It is one of my favorites too. Not too girly and fussy. If your adopted child is aware of her back ground (and others are too) then thay will know she came pre-named, I think there is sometimes too much emphasis put on 'matching' names.

In their long forms the names aren't similar at all, so it's just the nicknames you need to worry about. Obviously you can't change Lorraine's so why don't shorten Florence to Floss, Flossy or Flo?

Congratulations my DH is an unexpected bio child with two adopted older siblings, his brothers all adored him as a baby and still do as a middle aged man.

Lori and Sylvie?

I'd go for the name you really like. They are not overly similar and don't really sound the same.

I guess Florrie and Lori might be a bit too much, but if you stick to Lolo or other nn's for your eldest DD than it's not an issue, or a different nn for Florence.

I think they work beautifully - Lolly and Flo - congrats and good luck btw.

I think there is a bit of an overlap in their names, but not significant if you love it. I only know one Florence, and she's a Florrie - which is a problem with Lori, but there are plenty of other nickname options there.
But if you don't want to risk ending up with rhyming children's names, what about sticking with the 'F' and going with Frances, Fern or Frieda? They would all seem to fit your criteria and I think any of them sound nice with Lorraine.

Both Regions in France and Italy respectively ties them together nicely - I think it would be nice for your two DD'd to have that connection.

I think Florence and Lorraine go really nicely together

Florence and Lorraine sound world's apart to me. Not similar at all, so if you have always loved Florence (as I have!) then go for it!

Lolly and Flo / Florence go well.

Or Lolly & Katherine / Kate

soontobe I know 50 yr old sisters called Lorraine, Jeanette & Lesley, so agree the match well!

Harriet
Edith (Eadie coolest nn ever)
Claudia

I don't think that they go either.

Caroline?

Yy, Florence and Lorraine go well.

Mine are Angie and Shirley. I also liked Connie and Rita.

All of those more in the Lorraine ilk than the Florence.