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HelpMargaret/Marguerite
My fiancé, from whom it is difficult to elicit favorite names (he claims he's "never thought about it"), told me recently that he wouldn't mind naming a daughter after his grandmother, Marguerite. We plan to name our first daughter Genevieve (after my grandmother), but I love Marguerite, and wouldn't mind using it if we have a second daughter.
A few questions/concerns:
1. What do you think of Genevieve and Marguerite as sisters? Is it too French a pair for non-French people? The surname would be a pretty common English surname.
2. I have a niece named Margaret. Do you think it would be odd for me to name my daughter Marguerite when my sister has a Margaret? Margaret goes by Greta (though she's called Margaret in school), and I think we'd call a daughter named Marguerite "Margo" for short, but I'd still feel a bit weird about giving my daughter a different form of my niece's name. To add to that, Greta's middle name is Genevieve, so she'd be getting double-whammy honoring if she had cousins named Genevieve and Marguerite. Thoughts?
I was excited that my fiancé finally brought up a name he likes and even more excited that it's one I like. Unfortunately there may be some downsides.
A few questions/concerns:
1. What do you think of Genevieve and Marguerite as sisters? Is it too French a pair for non-French people? The surname would be a pretty common English surname.
2. I have a niece named Margaret. Do you think it would be odd for me to name my daughter Marguerite when my sister has a Margaret? Margaret goes by Greta (though she's called Margaret in school), and I think we'd call a daughter named Marguerite "Margo" for short, but I'd still feel a bit weird about giving my daughter a different form of my niece's name. To add to that, Greta's middle name is Genevieve, so she'd be getting double-whammy honoring if she had cousins named Genevieve and Marguerite. Thoughts?
I was excited that my fiancé finally brought up a name he likes and even more excited that it's one I like. Unfortunately there may be some downsides.
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Replies
To answer your questions...
1. They're fancy names, so I guess they would go okay together. And don't worry about countries of origin for your names; some people don't seem to care about where a name came from, only on how it would work on their kid, or how much they like it.
2. No, not to me. My name is Meghan, and I have a cousin named Margaret, which Meghan is derived from. As long as the names aren't the same, you'll be fine.
1. They're fancy names, so I guess they would go okay together. And don't worry about countries of origin for your names; some people don't seem to care about where a name came from, only on how it would work on their kid, or how much they like it.
2. No, not to me. My name is Meghan, and I have a cousin named Margaret, which Meghan is derived from. As long as the names aren't the same, you'll be fine.
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1. Genevieve and Marguerite are adorable for sisters. I don't think the French thing is an issue.
2. You didn't pull Marguerite out of the ether. Just as your sister understands that Genevieve is a family name for you, and you're using it no matter what, she should understand that Marguerite is a name from your husband's family. I don't think it's weird, and I can't imagine it would cause any problems. Two cousins called Greta and Margo is no big deal, and the two girls might like sharing related first names. My cousins Laura and Lori loved it.
2. You didn't pull Marguerite out of the ether. Just as your sister understands that Genevieve is a family name for you, and you're using it no matter what, she should understand that Marguerite is a name from your husband's family. I don't think it's weird, and I can't imagine it would cause any problems. Two cousins called Greta and Margo is no big deal, and the two girls might like sharing related first names. My cousins Laura and Lori loved it.
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1. I think Genevieve and Marguerite aren't too French, especially since they are after your own grandmothers and would have an English last name.
2. As much as it would be awesome to name your daughter Marguerite, since you have a niece Margaret I would probably avoid it. You could use Marguerite as a middle name totally. But I'd do it in two different kids too, so you don't have a Margaret Genevieve and a Genevieve Marguerite in your family.
Of course for all you know you'd only have boys. :) I try to not overthink stuff until it's actually happening.
Also my husband is the same with names. Trying to name Ben went like this:
Me: What names do you like?
Him: I dunno
Me: What names don't you like?
Him: I dunno
K, thanks
2. As much as it would be awesome to name your daughter Marguerite, since you have a niece Margaret I would probably avoid it. You could use Marguerite as a middle name totally. But I'd do it in two different kids too, so you don't have a Margaret Genevieve and a Genevieve Marguerite in your family.
Of course for all you know you'd only have boys. :) I try to not overthink stuff until it's actually happening.
Also my husband is the same with names. Trying to name Ben went like this:
Me: What names do you like?
Him: I dunno
Me: What names don't you like?
Him: I dunno
K, thanks
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Haha I love the conversation with your husband. I feel like most discussions with the men in my family are like that, and then you suggest something because he won't give any input, and all of a sudden they have opinions on why they don't like your suggestion.
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Yeah, agree on not overthinking things. We could have only boys! I just jumped on thinking about Marguerite after Kevin said he liked it. We're certainly not too tied to it; just thinking about it since he brought it up.
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On the flip side it could be good to think about this sort of thing early too, I guess. If you decide you really shouldn't use it, then you could get your disappointment over with sooner (if you had any, that is). :)
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1. They're fine as sister names.
2. If I were you, and my husband was really set about the name Marguerite and not just idly considering it, I'd ask my sister how she felt about it. If she thought it was fine then I'd do it. Especially considering, not only is it your daughter's grandmother's actual name, but they'd be called so differently (... plus the fact that your sister used a name that was your forever favorite, in the first place. She kinda forfeited all "dibs" by doing that IMO).
If you are really unenthused about the matching, and your husband isn't going to be crestfallen ... then IIWY I would name the first daughter Genevieve Marguerite. I think the cousins would enjoy having names that matched without really matching. It'd be neat. And you never know if you'll have two daughters or not. So I'd dump all the big honoring on the first one.
2. If I were you, and my husband was really set about the name Marguerite and not just idly considering it, I'd ask my sister how she felt about it. If she thought it was fine then I'd do it. Especially considering, not only is it your daughter's grandmother's actual name, but they'd be called so differently (... plus the fact that your sister used a name that was your forever favorite, in the first place. She kinda forfeited all "dibs" by doing that IMO).
If you are really unenthused about the matching, and your husband isn't going to be crestfallen ... then IIWY I would name the first daughter Genevieve Marguerite. I think the cousins would enjoy having names that matched without really matching. It'd be neat. And you never know if you'll have two daughters or not. So I'd dump all the big honoring on the first one.
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Genevieve and Marguerite are fine as sisters, no weirder than Nicole and Danielle and I bet there's a Nicole and Danielle sibset out there. But I do think it would be weird to name your daughter Marguerite if you have a niece named Margaret.
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I think Genevieve and Marguerite are beautiful together and it doesn't matter if you're not French. It just means that you love French names. I also don't think Margaret and Marguerite for cousins would be bad -- especially since Margaret is called Greta. Furthermore, Greta and Margo sound completely different. Only a name nerd would know they're related. My sister has a dd named Emily and her SIL named her dd Emma several years later. No problem. Similar names are definitely doable within families. As for the mn, Genevieve, it's just a mn and is most likely rarely used.
This message was edited 8/15/2015, 7:09 PM
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I know cousins ...
First cousins who lived until recently two houses down from each other, who are named Anna and Hannah. Putting aside the fact the names are forms of the same name, they sound almost exactly alike, and since the girls lived so close together and played together, if one name was called from any distance, it would be almost impossible to tell which name was being called.
First cousins who lived until recently two houses down from each other, who are named Anna and Hannah. Putting aside the fact the names are forms of the same name, they sound almost exactly alike, and since the girls lived so close together and played together, if one name was called from any distance, it would be almost impossible to tell which name was being called.
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I really like Marguerite, it's very elegant and so much nicer than plain old Margaret.
But to be honest, with Genevieve and Margaret already being used on your niece, I would scrap both those names and be a bit more original.
But to be honest, with Genevieve and Margaret already being used on your niece, I would scrap both those names and be a bit more original.
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I definitely won't scrap Genevieve. My sister knew I'd use that name for a daughter long before she gave it as her daughter's middle name (it's been my favorite name since I was 14). I'm not so attached to Marguerite though, so I could let go of that one.
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