A sister for Nathaniel

[nathanielssister]

NC for this as am a regular and this is a bit outing!

My DS, Nathaniel, is going to have a little sister in a few weeks and we can't find a name. I'd like her to have something that's similar, i.e. not yoonique but you don't come across it every day either. It absolutely has to exist already!

DH is French so ideally it needs to be spelled the same in English and French and have a vaguely similar sound. Faith for example wouldn't work, because of the -th sound. And it can't be rude in the other language. DH suggested Fanny but obviously that wouldn't be great these days in English.

DH is big into old cinema and his eyes lit up when I suggested Scarlett (O'Hara, not Johansson) a few weeks back but he's gone off it now and I can't find anything else I like that comes close.

So far we've got Clementine and Lauren but need more ideas. He says Nicole is too dated in a French, while I'm not a fan of vintage English names like Ethel.

So, over to you, lovely MNers! Hit me!

I love Clementine. Also

• Evangeline (although sounds too same-y with Nathaniel?)
• Mathilde
• Juliette
• Héloïse
• Florence

Incidentally, how does your husband's family get on with Nathaniel? I have a Nathaniel and it seems to be difficult for French speakers (unless I tell them to pronounce the Nathan part in the French way).

Bethan

Lucille
Brigitte
Chloe
Coralie
Estelle
Celeste
Mirabelle
Geneviève
Renee
Sylvie
Léonie

Deidre

My first thought was Miriam, followed by Dorothy.

Other ideas;
Alice
Edith
Emily
Hannah
Lucy
Nancy

Margaux

Clementine is awful.

Madeleine is my favourite ever girls' name.

Melodie is cool too.

Dahlia.

God, not Dorothy. Would be cute when she's a toddler, and an OAP, but she won't thank you in between!

Love Clementine and Dorothy

Love Clementine!

What about:

Laura
Isabelle
Elise

I think Clementine sounds and looks lovely but clems is a slang term for balls where I come from, so I’ve always got that in my mind. A very niche association though think it’s very much limited to this part of the world.

Valerie
Nina
Christina

@Trenisenne they certainly didn't see it coming but say they like it!

Apparently one (lovely) aunt in law hates it but was decent enough not to tell me. Someone else with far less tact decided to do it for her. Pronunciation wise he gets a lot of Nathanaël when we're out and about but that's DH's fault for telling me Nathaniel was well known in France when it isn't at all.

Like you, I just tell people it’s Nathan with an -iel at the end, like Daniel. To be fair, my own dyslexic aunt took ages to get the hang of it too (you’d think a devout Catholic would have been familiar with the name from the Bible?!!)

To reply to some of your kind suggestions:

Genevieve - vetoed by DH
Nancy - same
Alexandra - DH “knows too many”
Margaux/Margot - would love to name her after a wine but I know loads of baby Margaux already, sadly
Audrey - not a fan. Knew too many old lady Audreys when I lived in the UK!
Amélie - really like
Coralie - quite like
Chloé - we both like
Florence - DH likes it, I actually don’t but I had a close relation with that name so it would be after her.

I am still stuck on Clementine and Scarlett though, unless somebody manages to find a knockout choice for me that blows it out of the water.

It’s actually amazing how many names are coming up here that already exist in my family!! We also have 3 Charlottes and 4 people called Chris (m/f) so trying to avoid duplicates, even though we don’t have to.

Rebecca

Ha. We were under the illusion that it's not uncommon in France as well. The issue has largely resolved itself because he just gets called Nat. From the pronunciation point of view, still wish I had gone for Patrick or Christophe or similar though!

Clementine is perfect
I also like Amelie and Coralie and Chloe
Cleo? Cora?

Margot!

@Whatsyourflava sounds like you're on my wavelength!!

First name that came to mind, before reading the OP, was Lydia.

I adore Clementine though.

I do like Cleo but DH just looked at me like and said "as in Renault?"

Cora... one upon a time I could have but now I just see Lady Grantham. Absolutely love Cara, Tara and Lara but DH thinks an -ra ending with be awkward with our surname, which starts with R.

I should just tell him it's She-Ra or nothing.

Louisa

Esme
Perrine
Susannah
Coraline
Esther
Good luck OP, Nathaniel is a great name so I am sure you will find something equally as nice for your daughter.

@nathanielssister OP I got really worried about how a name flowed with the surname, a similar issue to the one you've mentioned about the 'ra' sound - but we went with it anyway and I never think of it anymore!

In day to day life it isn't that often that the full name is said out loud anyway, as opposed to the hundreds of times a day we say the first name. And I've realised I know tons of people who have the same 'issue' that I was afraid of, and I never noticed until I was naming my own child!

So I think things like that are magnified when you're naming your own.