Middle name for Clémence

[Littleloafofbread]

Thanks everyone for giving so much help for the first name of DD. Now coming back for middle name help!

We're nearly 100% on Clémence, and our surname is Dufour. There are two grandmothers' names we might like to use - Betty (a French name as well, believe it or not!) and Aimée.

Some reservations about these - if we go for Clémence Aimée Betty I don't like the way the first name runs into the second name and creates a 'sss' sound. However, reversing the middle names creates the initials CBA

Also, I'm not sure that a run of four two-syllable names sounds very nice.

So, over to you wise Mumsnetters to sort this out! Thank you!

Are you set on having two middle names? If I were you, I'd go for one middle name and choose Clémence Betty. However, if you wanted to have two middle names, I think I'd choose Clémence Aimée Betty. In my opinion, the 'sss' sound isn't too bad, and it's a lot easier to say than Clémence Betty Aimée. Additionally, I think that Clémence Aimée Betty is fine with all the two-syllable names, but the other option isn't so. I also agree the initials of CBA isn't exactly desirable!

Hope that helps!

I don’t think CBA is bad because she’s not CBA she’s CBAD, or just CD.
I do think unfortunate initials should be avoided but the only initials I’ve ever seen used in real life are full initials or just firstname lastname.

I don’t think you should worry about initials, but I agree that neither combination of names has a nice ring to it.
I’d go for a one or three syllable name, or possibly a two syllable name with the stress on the second syllable. Because of the soft ending to Clémence, I feel that the middle name should start with a hard vowel.
Fleur
Danielle
Leona
Delphine
Mathilde
Mae
Louise
Marie
Yasmine

Juliet
Matilda
Henrietta
Mary

neither combination of names has a nice ring to it

To say the least! It's very jolty, and the endings of Betty and Aimée are just dissimilar enough to make them sound awful together. DD1 got my other grandmother's name though so I suppose DH gets dibs on this one, so we'd have Clémence Aimée, maybe with another name in between the two to stop the 'sss'ing and have a name that's a bit more international just in case!

Mathilde is a nice idea

Could you change Betty to Elizabeth/Elisabeth and have it followed by Aimee for a better flow?

Sauvignonblanket I've been wondering that - I think Clémence Elizabeth sounds lovely, but the Betty in question was very much not an Elizabeth so I'm not sure it would be a fitting tribute!

All those names end in ee sounds which is a bit much. The name Aimee means beloved. The name Cara comes from an Italian word which also means beloved. Betty is short for Elizabeth as is Beth. So I would go with Clemence Beth Cara Dufour.

Even worse, Betty finishes with an 'ee' sound and Aimée with an 'ay' so it's quite the tongue twister!

I keep reading Betty Aimée as if it's hyphenated - like beh-TEE-eh-MAY (with a shorter tee and softer may obviously, but you know what I mean) and it doesn't sound too bad. Like the same kind of rhythm as petit-ami. I guess the liason T makes a lot of difference though, the double vowel at the end of Betty and start of Aimée might sound off to you, I think it's alright though. I love Betty in French, and I love Aimée too - I think I've only ever met one UK Aimée who actually pronounced it as Aimée, rather than as Amy. It should totally be more popular.

Clémence is one of my absolute most favourite names too (I'm a bit of a francophile, probably half of my namelist is all French ones I know I'll never get to use...)

I'm glad you replied... It's been on my mind again during the night! It does sound better if you think of it as hyphenated rather than two stand alone names. I'm still not sure though. Can I ask what other names are on your list please, for a bit of inspiration?

I think as it stands, we might go for Clémence Elizabeth Aimée as sauvignonblanket suggested.

Happy to help! For what it's worth, my second one's middle names are pretty dreadful and don't go with each other. We just decided to do it anyway for the people involved and hope she didn't hate us for it later. Would never have done that for my first.... good luck

HOw about Bettina? Little Betty.