Middle name for Etta

[EJ36]

Please help me decide on the middle name/names for Etta. We have a one syllable surname.

Etta Matilda
Etta Rose
Etta Rose Matilda
Etta Matilda Rose

Will Etta be the whole birth certificate name? Not Marietta or Henrietta?

I knew a beautiful Marietta and she really suited the name. She also had a one syllable name like Marietta Smith (it wasn’t) and that worked well for length.

If this was me I would go for Marietta Rose and nn Etta for short.

I know a lot of people say Rose is overdone, but I think it’s a beautiful name and lovely with a more unusual first name.

Etta rose Matilda

Love the name Etta OP, don't think it needs to be shortened for anything. Both my children have birth certificate names which could be shortening of longer ones but we just went for the name we would call them. I have a 'Sunday name' and it's only ever used when I'm in trouble/in a formal situation so I don't particularly associate it with positive things. Seems pointless. Personal preference of course, but just wanted to counter all the inevitable 'you should only use Etta informally and give a full name like Henrietta officially'. You do you!!

With a one syllable surname I like Etta Rose or Etta Matilda Rose

Best of luck with your new baby girl :)

I like both Etta and Matilda, but together I think they sound a bit sing-songy: EttA MatildA.

I'd go for Etta Rose.

Better still I'd go Henrietta Rose and nn Etta!

I don't think it's particularly helpful to suggest longer variations of Etta when OP has specified that's the name she's chosen and has just asked for opinions on the middle name(s). Yes, Etta is traditionally a diminutive but these days it's a become a name in its own right and OP obviously prefers it.

For me, Etta Matilda Rose flows best.

Rose is every girl’s middle name, it’s been done to death. Every girl is a something Rose/Grace/May. If you like it, use it, it’s just very overused.

I just work with kids so am bored of it, is all.

Etta Rose

Etta Matilda doesn’t flow well

Etta Marie?

Etta Matilda!

Or if you’re still not sure flows with surname how about Etta Matilde?

Etta Mae (or May)?

Well it's the time to think about it.

My second cousin has a Thea and really regrets not using Theodora. When I said I liked Theodora she she said quite a few people have said that and she wishes they had said so at the time: she thought it was OTT so dismissed it, but would have used it with some positive input. So I never think it hurts to mention.

An op is always free to disregard, but they come to ask to hear what people are really thinking.

Pi

Etta Rose Is the surname Bush?

@Calliopespa agree that’s the value of MN - it’s good to know real views people will have of the name

Etta Matilda Rose

I don't think it's particularly helpful to suggest longer variations of Etta when OP has specified that's the name she's chosen and has just asked for opinions on the middle name(s).
She hasn't specifically said that she'd be averse to it, and as pp, it is a good time to suggest it.

On the other hand, I do think that some posters on other threads suggest some random names completely different to the two or three the OP is trying to choose between.

I would never be as candid IRL as I am on these name threads! But I figure that's why people ask strangers on here, rather than friends. IRL is too awkward in case they do pick the name you have been negative about!

Reminds me of the time my Mum comforted a friend whose husband had left by saying she had never liked him, then they got back together ...😬

@Calliopespa , I remember being dumped by a boyfriend and a friend telling me how dreadful he was, and I thought 'Why are you telling me this now and not when I was seeing him?'.

Does it need to be Etta?

Yes that's another aspect!

I think people will ask Etta what her name is short for

Etta is a beautiful name OP, I like Etta Matilda.

I so don’t get the obsession on MN of having a “proper name”.

When this generation of children are older there will be so many different names no one will bat an eyelid if some is called Maggie not Margaret

I don't get it either but the ones that irritate me are ones where the name is one that is a name in its own right but a longer frillier less nice version is suggested, e.g. Lucy (Lucinda, Lucille, Luciana, Lucia). Lily (Lilian, Lilia, Liliana) and some contrived diminutive offered.

Maybe I am biased as my daughter has a diminutive as her name, not one person has ever asked if her name is the “proper” version. I obviously must be very common and maybe people are silently judging me and clutching their pearls