Friday, June 28, 2013

A Sister AND a Baby

So guess who finally decided to cooperate and show us her important bits on an ultrasound?

This little girl!


(profile shot; hand finally off her face)

Yep, it's definitely a girl! It's a good thing she's my third and I already have one of each and was feeling rather mellow about the whole thing because she made the gender reveal very difficult to actually reveal. First there was the 16-week ultrasound where she refused to uncross her legs, but was very excited to show us how well she could move her arms. Then, when we arrived at the much anticipated 20-week ultrasound, neither the ultrasound suite or my physician's office had any record of my appointment, even though I know I had the date/time right and it had been exactly 4 weeks since my last one. They ended up squeezing me in 2.5 hours later, so JP and I left without any additional information on baby bean III and went to a nice lunch and ran a few errands before returning. Then, when we finally got back in the little room, the first thing the ultrasound tech was, "Oh, the baby really isn't in a good position for imagining" - OF COURSE NOT. She was upside down and backwards and kept her hands smooshed over her face and again had her legs crossed only to finally open them up wide at the very end like she just KNEW that was what we'd been waiting for and she was greatly enjoying building the suspense. For a mere 20-week fetus, she was holding a lot of power and she wasn't afraid to wield it. Clearly, Claire's already gotten to her.

 

Speaking of Claire, she is thrilled- THRILLED, to be getting "a baby AND a sister" as she always phrases it. I've tried to make clear to her that the baby and sister will be coming in one single tiny package, but she's good at selectively processing information and I'm fully prepared for some disappointment when she visits me in the hospital and finds only the newborn baby and not also the matching 3-year-old sister she's been imagining. I got her the "I'm a Big Sister" book by Joanna Cole (we read the "Brother" version to Landon before Claire was born) and she LOVES it. She sleeps with it every night and when she can't get one of us to read it, she "reads" it to herself with pretty high accuracy. She still talks about the baby constantly and tells me all the time, usually with a little sigh, that "Mommy I just love babies."

Landon is... his usual mellow self. He's in no way unhappy, or unexcited, but he doesn't talk about it like Claire. He's already been the proud papa and now that he's borne the weight and responsibility of raising a child, he seems okay with handing the torch off to Claire on this one. I do think he'll be a great helper and admirer once she arrives; he loves babies and is always asking when our neighbor's 16-month-old can come over to play. He has also asked me, now that he knows "you can just have more babies," to please have another and make it a brother next time. I agreed that would make things fair and even, but it was also highly unlikely.

I am doing well. I always forget how perfectly pleasant the middle of pregnancy is for me. I haven't felt sick since about 10 weeks, I don't feel all that tired anymore, and I'm not big and uncomfortable yet- it's the golden phase that I never seem to remember once it's all over. I've gained about 7 lbs. and I don't think I have a single other pregnancy symptom besides "suddenly pronounced belly" and "crabby at Mexican restaurants because I can't drink margaritas." I'm getting the 17 alpha-hydroxyprogesterone caproate shots (or "17p" shots) to prevent pre-term labor again. It worked well last time and I didn't have any negative side effects, so my doctor recommended I do them again. A nurse comes to the house once a week to shoot me up, and while I had forgotten how much that stuff can sting (though my nurse does an excellent job doing injecting me as sloooooowly as humanly possible which helps), I do love seeing her because she always calls me "such a tiny little thing!" in a glorious southern accent. I know I'm pregnant, and believe me, I'm happily gaining my weight right on track, but it just makes me smile inside. I'm 5'9" and a former swimmer- I don't think I've ever been a "tiny little thing," so why not when I'm 4.5 months pregnant with my third child?

 

So, a little girl... I can't wait to meet her and watch our family fall in love with a new indispensable member. Now she just needs a name (oh, a name, always the biggest struggle- why do I hate so many and love so few? why do the few I love this time around keep breaking my naming rules? why won't JP do more than suggest we watch more Game of Thrones episodes for inspiration?), a nursery, and pretty much all the baby gear we used to own before we moved. But I did book her newborn portraits and find her this adorable little headband and am thinking of ways to decorate the room she'll share with Claire in 3 years, so I think I'm pretty much ready for her to arrive.

A party of five- a Landon and two little girls, this is going to be so fun!

75 comments:

  1. How about Greta? The only Greta I know is of Swedish descent and SOOOOOO smart. She is powerful and assertive although she is the fourth and last child in her family. The name is not one I would have thought I liked until I met this little girl.

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    1. Greta was on my list of 10 I originally ran by JP a week ago. Sadly, he nixed it, but I do think it's a great name and is definitely in the general genre of what I'm looking for.

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  2. What are your name rules?

    JLV

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    1. 1. Not common, but not unheard of. Something in the 100-300 range of the rankings is perfect.

      2. Easily spelled/pronounced.

      3. Clearly identifiable as a female name.

      4. No nicknames. I hate nicknames as names as a rule and both JP and I have names that are commonly shortened and we hate when people try to use the shortened version we've never gone by. This was particularly bad in the 80's.

      5. I have a weakness for names that just sound "pretty," but it must work as well for a grown professional woman is it does for a little girl (so nothing cutesy, and rarely anything that ends in "y" or "ie").

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  3. What about Annika?

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    Replies
    1. A main character in one of my favorite books! But the potential Ann/Annie nicknames kill it for me.

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    2. My niece is Annika... Since it is Ahn-ica, no real chance of Ann nickname...

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  4. Congratulations! Our preferred baby name was Hannah. I also loved Charlotte growing up but Sex and the City kind of ruined that for me. I really want Charles (Charlie) for our upcoming boy but Mr. V is being a poop. We so wanted a girl that the boy names are not coming easily.

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    1. My cousin is Charlette (Scandinavian spelling) and I've always loved it (I also like that spelling better than the "lotte" but then we get into my easy spelling issue). For some reason I've never loved Hannah, though it's certainly had a long popularity wave, so I think I'm in the minority.

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    2. Unfortunately we seem to trend towards top names. Sigh. Jacob has been top 10 for like 30 years!

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  5. Isla?

    (I also hate nicknames, and I hate people who use middle names. For example, my co-worker's daughter is named Avery Calloway LastName and they call her Cali. ON PURPOSE. No.)

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    1. That is my favorite name!!! Crazy. But I've kind of set it to the side though because of the spelling/pronunciation issue- how badly do you think people will mess it up?

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    2. I thought it was pronounced Ees-la for years, until I met one who said it was Eye-sla. Which way were you thinking?

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    3. It's pronounced Eye-la, no "s" sound (at least the Scottish/Australian popular version of the name is). Kind of like you're saying Island and stopped halfway. It could be Ees-la in Spanish/Hispanic cultures, since that's how you spell/pronounce the word Island in Spanish, but I don't know how often they use it as a first name.

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    4. You live in Texas. If you stay in Texas (or another area with a huge hispanic population), people will say the "s" because we all took spanish growing up. I am curious why you aren't going back to your alternates from Claire.

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    5. What were my alternatives for Claire? I don't remember liking any others.

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    6. Also, I will say that everyone I've mentioned the name to says it right (it appears that in Dallas/Fort Worth no one takes Spanish; they were all completely confused that my sister goes by "Tia" for the kids- they all thought it was her real name and made no connection to the word for "Aunt"). I think Isla Fisher coming out with a movie recently helps. It's such a beautiful name.

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    7. I know two baby Islas. So this may help in the people know how to pronounce it space, but hurt in that I think it's a name that is gaining popularity.

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    8. One of the British royals named their child Isla and there is also the actress. I think it is growing in popularity.

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  6. Paige? Violet? Brooke? Jade? Morgan?
    This is fun.
    Cute baby pic!
    -Desimom

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    1. Violet is on my list! JP is not impressed (yet).

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    2. My 10 week old goddaughter is Violet! Pretty name, different, but not quirky.

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  7. We are using the girl name we've had for the last four years! So excited!

    You look fantastic!

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  8. Is Kate too much of a nickname already?

    My friend has a Caroline to match her Claire, but you may find that that is too conducive to nicknames.

    My other friends have just had an Ada - Ada Lovelace was the first computer programmer (not just the first female - the first - she programmed Babbage's computation machine).

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    1. Caroline is too conducive to nicknames and suddenly way too common, at least in Texas. I don't have that many friends with young kids and I know five Carolines born within the last 2 years! I like Ada though. Adelaide was a favorite of mine until I accepted that everyone would call her Addie (which is too close to the also way too popular Addison).

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  9. AGH! I just had my first little girl (after two boys) and we really, really struggled with her name. In fact, my husband and I were at odds up until the moment after she was born. And even then we did not "agree" but agreed that after a fantastic waterbirth, I got first name rights and his choice became her middle name. Names I loved but could not use for various reasons: Ava, Olivia, Eliza, Lucy, Josanna, Fiona. (the name we went with is Vivienne, the french spelling & pronounciation, with the long "n" sound because my husband is French Canadian. I still LOVE it 2.5 months in, but people do call her Viv and Vivi too, which rules it out for you bc of nicknames)

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    1. I like Ava and Avery but think they've become too common. Vivienne is beautiful! I should note that there is a whole world of names (like Vivienne) that I wouldn't use for me because of my weird thing with nicknames (a weird thing JP shares, so at least that's easy), but that I think are lovely and enjoy hearing when other people use them :).

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  10. Elyse seems like it would fit all your rules.

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    1. Except that I would spell it Elise and then we've struck out at rule #2 (easy spelling). It's a beautiful name though, I like it a lot as a middle name (my cousin is Cara Elise and I've always thought it was lovely).

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  11. May I suggest Julia? (We are particularly partial to it - it's my daughter's name. :-))

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  12. SO excited for you! I love finally knowing the sex of the baby...it makes it so much easier to picture and imagine the future :)

    I hate almost all girls names. I was so glad we had two boys. If we have a girl, I want to name her Bernadette (husband dislikes). It COULD have a nickname but only if you let it because I doubt someone would start calling a girl Berny unless she introduced herself that way. I also like Amelia but that is becoming too popular in the NW. I have a friend who has a girl named Adele, which I love except for the celebrity status of the singer. I also love Sophie but unfortunately that has also gotten too popular for my taste (arrg!!).

    Good luck!

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  13. We also like Jane! It's kind of vanilla but I think it is also elegant and it's ranked in the 300's I think.

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  14. Sorry, also just remembered Eloise. Love that name :)

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  15. Congratulations!!!! You look fabulous and totally tiny. :) Claire's excitement is too cute.

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  16. Lila is kind of like Isla? Also, how about Hazel? I have a friend whose daughters are Violet and Hazel, so the Violet discussion above made me think of it.

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  17. So I had written you a really long name geek comment when you first posted this, but it got eaten by blogger. I swear Isla and Violet were on my list!

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  18. Ok, regenerating some of the list quickly, without the notes and thoughts and rank data I had earlier:
    Nora (itself, because Eleanor has nickname thing),
    Brynn
    Fiona
    Anya
    Eloise
    (Isla and Violet as mentioned)

    Also Juliet, Sabrina, Scarlett, Audrey, Sloane.

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  19. A few suggestions from Laura Wattenberg's The Baby Name Wizard, in the Nickname-Proof Section:

    Amy
    Audrey
    Daphne
    Erin
    Lila
    Mia
    Ruby


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  20. It's so fun to brainstorm bay names. Hope you don't mind a few more!

    Ann
    Sara (maybe the "H" or no "H" spelling issue eliminates this one)
    Lana
    Mara
    Laura
    Kara
    Edith
    Meredith (I guess this has nicknames, but I'm not tempted to use them upon seeing the name)
    Lauren (may be too common?)

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  21. I am the anon that commented about Elyse. I am now obsessed with naming your daughter... I see a name and automatically run through the rules to see if it fits. Weird, yes? Sorry. But... Claudia? It would work well with Claire. Claudia Elise . There you go, she's been named. :)

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  22. Oh fun! A name thread! We love our Alice, though we do call her Ali. Nina doesn't have an easy nickname, nor does Bella (though pretty common). Maya, June, Leah, Audrey - and I like all of KW at 8:11 am's suggestions.

    And I am totally with you about the grown professional woman requirement. A friend put it as the "court appointed lawyer" test. You've been arrested, your court-appointed lawyer is "X". Would you trust that person?

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  23. I approve of all of your rules... Although, I'm partial to long feminine names and those almost always lend themselves to cutesy nicknames. I can't resist offering suggestions!
    Grace - unfortunately in the top 25 for years
    Adele - I think it's beautiful, but it's probably rising in popularity (although it still hasn't broken the top 500)
    Diana - It just sounds strong and beautiful to me
    Stella - because, you know, Stell-aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh

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  24. Anke, Anya, Annika, Ilse, Alix, Zelda, Zoe, Noa (awesome biblical name as one of the daughters of Zelophehad - the first women in the bible to gain legal rights to property), Tirzah (also a daughter of Zelophehad), Lily.

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  25. Congratulations! Your family has my ideal gender make-up. One boy, followed by two girls. (Of course you know I've now jinxed my currently childless-self.) I'm a firm believer that every girl needs a sister. :) I'm so happy for Claire and her little sister and the whole family!

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  26. I'm a little surprised no one has suggested "Colleen." I think it fits just about every one of your rules (except maybe the spelling rule, because some people are dumb and think there is one "e"). I'm a little partial since it's my name (haha, couldn't resist!), but I love that it's relatively uncommon, most people can spell/pronounce it correctly, I've never been mistaken for a boy, and I think it's a good little girl and professional woman name. Just thought I'd add to your list! Also, what about Julie? Amy? Leah?

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  27. Putting in a plug for my name, Holly! I used to wish I had a more "girly" name when I was younger (i.e. Brittany, Tiffany, and Katie, in particular) but I absolutely love my name now. It's short and sweet and only one person has ever tried to call me "Holls" (that ended quickly). It's also well known but not terribly common. Added bonus - I feel like a minor celebrity during the holiday season :)

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  28. I am really trying to make Cora happen as a revived girl's name (SSA says my efforts are working! 154!). I think it's so so pretty.

    There's also Amelia and its less popular cousin Amalia. I like Natalia better than Natalie although it breaks rules 2 and 4.

    What else:
    Lucia or Lucy
    Ruby
    Lively (probably breaks 1, 2, and 3 but I'm thinking of taking it on as a client once Cora breaks the Top 100)
    Mary? (you could do the Southern thing of Mary YourMaidenName LastName- alternately grandma's maiden name, great-grandma, etc. Or just Mary. Won't ever be out of style.)
    Rose
    Johnna
    Garnet
    Petra
    Nora
    Astrid

    ...HELEN!

    I keep brainstorming but I really think Helen.

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  29. I have a friend named Thea. I've always liked her name, and it's also Swedish. My other submissions for you are Linnea and Marta.

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  30. I vote for Isla! It's a beautiful name, and I don't think people would have a hard time pronouncing it correctly....

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  31. I love my daughter's name, Elena. It is classic and easy to pronounce, but not common. (And the first name of a supreme court justice, no less!) My short list included Lila/Lyla, Maya (pretty common though), Ruth (another supreme court justice, of course), and Mira.
    good luck!
    -sarah

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    Replies
    1. I have an Elena too- I second this motion. :-)

      Also, I think Karla is pretty.

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  32. There is no nickname for "Astrid". Trust me.

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  33. Margo? I think this is a name with a lot of moxie (and the only one I know--my former dentist--is awesome). I'd suggest Ramona too unless you're worried it would be shortened to Mona (which itself is a cool name, and belongs to my great aunt, but sounds like moan).

    Karen?

    Sara(h)--except people will always forget if you use an H.

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    Replies
    1. Just heard another one today that might work--Daria.

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  34. Freida, Thea, Rachel, Noreen, Amy, Lisa, May, Tara, Diana, Nora, Laura, Martha, Marie....

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  35. our daughter, born after three boys, was the name we always said we'd used for a girl- abigail. and she will NEVER be called abby. she has an older brother benjamin who will NEVER be called benjy (so far, its working!)
    other names:
    maya
    remy
    dana
    lauren
    carly
    libbie

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  36. Dorothy was almost Violet, Penelope, Georgia, Betty, Cecelia, Eleanor, Stella, or Sally. Girl names are SO HARD because there are so many great ones.

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  37. My 4 year old is Adeline Olivia. No nicknames. Very few girls named Adeline around here...although many, many named Adelyn, Addielynn, Adalynne, you get the drift...drives me nuts all the weird spellings.

    I thought Adeline was very straight forward and is an 'older' name from past generations. But because of the popularity of Adelyn and all it's crazy spellings...no one can get Adeline right.

    We've never called her Addie...and when someone does call her Addie, she doesn't even realize she's being spoken too! It's too funny sometimes to witness.

    Our second daughter is Annie Grace. Never shortened to Ann. We liked it because we don't know many Annie's, it's not very popular....the few we do know are working professional women :)

    Elise was on my list! I don't recall my other girls names anymore.

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  38. I LOVE our girls names and I think both of them meet your rules: Emilia and Vera.

    Also - So happy for you! I've been following your blog since Claire was born and as a lawyer mom of two little ones have enjoyed sharing in the ups and downs with you. So happy for this next chapter and for two GIRLS!! (I love love love being a mommy to girls)

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  39. My mother has a theory that people tend to choose names which match sounds in their own names. (Rachel having an Ayla for example). So you may want to play around with that?

    Three names that I think fit your criteria and go well with Landon and Claire are Amy, Erica, or Erin.

    They all meet the court-appointed lawyer test, and would sound good when the Olympic announcer calls out their name before the gold medal race.

    Or there are the names Marta, Gretel or Gretchen (Liesel is also pretty, but is hard to spell and would end up as Lee)

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  40. Oh LL. I am having trouble falling asleep and found myself thinking about....... names for your baby! My, the internet is amazing when I think about it. I don't even know you.

    In any case, here are some additions. All names I love but can't use because of my OWN rules! Georgia, Hadley, Tessa, Sidney, Sonia, Eleanor, and Eva.... (apologies if these were already listed, but even I know it's not a good thing to read through all your old comments at midnight).

    happy 4th!

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  41. I am a long time lurker, first time commenter. I love the name "Isla." My daughter is Isla Reese. She is 3.5 years old, and is my law school souvenir. We named her after our favorite place in Moab, "Island in the Sky," and my grandfather was a sheepherder in southern Utah long ago, and his middle name was also Reese. I now live in Idaho, and it's a fairly uncommon name, though gaining in popularity.

    P.S. I love your writing style, particularly how so candidly write about how you are juggling family, two careers, and life in general.

    Best!
    Maria

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  42. Ok, I know almost no Colleens. And you apparently know two, with the same initials no less. Soooo, as someone who loves my name, I actually disagree with the other Colleen because while it fits your rules, I don't feel like it fits your naming style. Can't quite place my finger on why. Too Irish?

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  43. How about Mabel? Easy to spell, not prone to nicknames, and I don't hear a lot of Mabel's running around. I love old-fashioned names that are coming back (but I don't love Gertrude, ugh).

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  44. Ok, I live in the south, and I am not having children of my own, so I thought I would throw out these names I planned to use if I ever had a girl. The reason I specified the south, is that I live in a county that is one of the names, and grew upnear a national (civil war) park that is the other.

    Shelby
    Shiloh

    I guess you could shorten them both, but I think they are pretty.

    Kelly, Memphis, TN

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  45. Scarlet
    Rachel

    Couldn't help myself, lol.

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  46. Naomi (one of my top names that my husband wouldn't agree to bc of Naomi Judd)
    Meredith (you could have a Claire Bear and a Mere Bear)
    Hazel (seems to go with Isla in taste)
    Paige
    Julia
    Norah
    Nina
    Bridget
    June
    Fiona (I know one newborn Fiona and it's so fresh)
    Tatum
    Miriam
    Tess or Tessa
    Quinn (my son's name which is going girl at an alarming speed)

    The girl names we didn't get to use and don't fit your rules - Serafina, Beatrice, Verity

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  47. I just had a thought:

    Clarice.

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  48. Eliana. It fits all the rules. It's a classic name that has been used for hundreds of years. You find it in Greek, Arabic and Hebrew culture. It means Daughter of the Sun, Daughter of the king or God has answered depending on the language. It's beautiful unique and in the 200-300 level of popularity. We just met another Eliana. Ours turns 3 this week and the one we met is 5.

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  49. Ahhhh I am so excited, jealous, and excited!! Another Lagliv baby to share with us all! And I suggested using Game of Thrones to my husband too. Frighteningly enough, he didn't protest much.

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