Help! Girls name that goes with a difficult surname

[Goldfitch]

Our surname is Fitchie and DH and I are really struggling to find a girl's name because we don't want it to end with an ie or an "ee" sound and rhyme.

I would also ideally like a name with a family connection. Our family is a mix of Scottish, English and Danish so have considered the following:

Alexandra
Cora
Elspeth
Elizabeth
Penelope
Catherine/Katherine
Catriona/Katrina/Karina
Ruth

Do you like any of these? Any other suggestions?

Ellen, Dorcas, Maria, Susannah, Paloma, Nina, Marla, Arabella, Anna, Eleanor, Hannah, Cerys, Joannah, Josephine, Sophia

Susannah/Susie
Eleanor/Ellie
Josephine/Josie

I like Elizabeth, Alexandra and Katherine/Kate/Catriona from your list. They are all classic names IMHO.

The name Joanna/Johanna also springs to my mind. Similarity, Anna or Hannah would also not shorten to an "ie" nn and have international appeal.

I'm going to have to work on convincing DH about Alexandra as its still my fav!

Not keen on any names starting with an F, sorry, and Anna is my SIL so I think that might be a bit confusing, although I do like it as a name.

You wouldn't think it was so hard to find names that don't have an ie or ee sound or that have nicknames with that sound. I thought Elspeth was lovely but if its shortened to Ellie or Elsie that's no good either, agh!

Cora Fitchie sounds like she'd be very cool indeed.

I like Alexandra the best with your surname.

How about Louisa or Helena?

Leonora
Helena
or Helen
Elsa
Rowena
Christina
Christiana
Caroline
Matilda
Sabrina
Eva
Lara
Clara
Kirsten
Cecelia
Vanessa
Eliza
Antonia
Miranda
Miriam

A lot of Alexandras get shortened to Allie. You could try to insist on Alix.

Eva
Rachel
Alice
Hannah
Christabel
Katherine/Kate
Maria
I bet there's a Janet somewhere in your husband's family too

Megan / Meg

Rose

The two Elspeths I have met have never shortened their names. It's not compulsory....

And not all nicknames are based on first names - some are based on surnames (think of the countless 'Macs' and 'Fergies', for example); other nicknames are based on character or shared incidents or all kinds of chance associations.

Clara
Cara
Tara
Taryn
Bella
Leanor

Erin
Alix

Megan
Adeline

I know two Elspeths, one is Elspeth one is Beth.

Not Scottish, but how about Elose? It is my beautiful daughter's middle name and is I love it! ( Thea is her first, but Thea Fitchie clearly won't work)

This vaguely reminds me of a story from my mum's era where the parents had an 'awkward' surname but were also a bit 'out there' too (for the time, certainly, we are talking early 70's) and for various reasons wanted to avoid names ending in 'ee sounds or an 'a'. They called their daughter 'Sailor'. Which raised a few eyebrows, but was fine.

She of course married a Mr Taylor and took his name.

:)

Wow loads of great suggestions thank you!! We already have an Anna, a Vanessa and a Helena in the family (there's something about names ending in A going on there!)

I do like Rowena, hadn't thought of that before and pretty sure that can't be shortened to anything ending in ie or ee? DH still not convinced by Alexandra although Elspeth now top of his list

Linnet

Blythe?

how about Clare
Primrose
Beatrice
Martha
Caroline
Alice

Ingrid
Gretel/Greta
Hannah

Ailsa

I like Alexandra and Elspeth - they work well together too if you used Elspeth as a middle name.

other names I like that might work:
Elise or Eliza (more variants on Elizabeth to make it a bit different)
Coco
Hester

Spent about an hour discussing names yesterday evening and Elspeth seems to be the one we can both agree on, and fits all our criteria (except the slight worry about Elsie/Ellie as a nickname - but reassured by everyone saying its not that common).

Unexpectedly discovered that DH has an aversion to more than one middle name. I have 2, and my brother has 2, but I guess I can't really insist on our children having 2 middle names can I just because I like having 2 myself?

No but if there's only one then surely you get to pick it? [Wink]

Love Elizabeth or Eliza Fitchie has a nice ring to it!

I love Elspeth. The one I know has Elsa as a nn.