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Middle names for Anna
Hello, I'm trying to find a good, off-the-wall middle name for Anna. Something really unusual to complement Anna's simple elegance and universality. These are some ideas I have. Could you please choose five of your favourites and five of your least favourites, and maybe explain your choices if you feel inclined to do so? Anna Ariadne
Anna Artemisia
Anna Cassiopeia
Anna Cordelia
Anna Cosima
Anna Cybele
Anna Demetra
Anna Desdemona
Anna Eudora
Anna Evadne
Anna Francisca
Anna Galadriel
Anna Genoveva
Anna Harmonia
Anna Hermione
Anna Iphigenia
Anna Lavinia
Anna Medea
Anna Megaera
Anna Minerva
Anna Nerissa
Anna Ophelia
Anna Paloma
Anna Pandora
Anna Persephone
Anna Philomena
Anna Pomona
Anna Theodosia
Anna Tinuviel
Anna Zenobia
Anna ZipporahThank you very much :)
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Replies

Name which I like:
Anna Ariadne
Anna Artemis - Artemisia is too complicated
Anna Demetria
Anna Francisca
Anna Genovefa - I prefer this version because... I like it. Or Anna Jenovefa
Anna Galadriel
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Favourites:
Anna Medea -- I really really love the flow of this one.
Anna Demetra - Demeter is one of my favourite names, and this is very close!
Anna Hermione - I think this has a lovely sound.
Anna Minerva
Anna CordeliaReally love the mix of unusual mythological names which can be hard to pull off, with the ever timeless and simple Anna!!Least favourites:
Anna Zenobia - Just not a big fan of 'z' names
Anna Tinuviel - a bit too lord of the rings for my taste
Anna Harmonia - much prefer Anna Hermione
Anna Genoveva - It only makes me think of Genovia from the Princess Diaries :')
Anna Nerissa - Too many 'n' sounds in a row for me.
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Five favourites:
Anna Minerva - I like the A sounds on each
Anna Galadriel - Fantastical
Anna Persephone - I love the musical sound of this pairing
Anna Zenobia - Strong
Anna Zipporah - One of my favourite biblical namesFive least favourites:
Anna Demetra - Sounds too much like the masculine version, Demeter
Anna Pomona - Not sure why?
Anna Tinuviel - Sounds like a male fantasy name
Anna Cordelia - Reminds me of Anne of Green Gables
Anna Cosima - Sounds too close to Cosmo, the women's magazine
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Favorites: (if I remember, I'll come back and add explanations for the favorites. But mostly it's just sound and associations)
Anna Cassiopeia
Anna Tinuviel
Anna Persephone
Anna Hermione
Anna Theodosia2nd favorites:
Anna Galadriel
Anna Cordelia
Anna Minerva
Anna Zenobia
Anna PandoraLeast favorites:
Anna Demetra -- it's not bad, but it sounds like it's missing a syllable to me. I'd prefer Demeter or Demetria
Anna Nerissa -- it looks good, but it sounds too confusing with all the N's like "anana-rissa"
Anna Paloma -- also not exactly bad, I just don't like Paloma much especially compared to the other middle names on this list
Anna Pomona -- same as with Paloma
Anna Medea -- seems too short compared to the others.I love Ariadne and Artemisia but I don't like double letter initials.
Middle names that start with vowels also tend to be harder to say with a name like Anna ending in a vowel.
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I think you might be right, in that Anna Demetria could be better. Thank you!
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My favourites are:
Anna Cassiopeia: both Anna and Cassiopeia sound timeless - Anna is a classic that suits a girl or woman of any age, nationality and time period, and Cassiopeia is mythological, but also a bit sci-fi sounding (in a good way).
Anna Hermione: Hermione is lovely, but it's associated too much with Harry Potter, which isn't as visible when it's in the middle place. I also think they go great together.
Anna Persephone: go together wonderfully, and I like most mythological names.
Anna Theodosia: I actually thought about naming my (theoretical, since I'm 15) future daughter that - Theodosia is one of my absolute favourite names, but it's not very usable, and the lovely Anna "neutralises" it.
Anna Zenobia: I like the sound, plus the fact that it works in Poland.I don't think I could choose least favourite combinations, because I adore most of them!
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Thanks for replying! It's nice to know that Zenobia works in other places and I'm glad you like so many of the names here :)
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Top 5Anna Cybele
Anna Galadriel
Anna Hermione
Anna Tinuviel
Anna ZipporahI like those because they could be hard to pull off by themselves, but they're wearable and whimsical with Anna. Also, in general, I prefer the ones that don't start or end with A.No strong opinions on the rest, except maybe Iphigenia; it sounds cool, but I don't like the sacrifice association.

This message was edited 5/28/2019, 8:49 AM

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"I like those because they could be hard to pull off by themselves, but they're wearable and whimsical with Anna." -- This is what I wanted to achieve! Thank you :)
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Faves from your options:Anna Hermione - I think this best suits your stated purpose, provides a nice variety of sounds, and the names feel nice together vibe-wiseAnna Cordelia - ditto sound variety; for me, vibe-wise, these names both have elegance and spunky energyAnna Lavinia - enjoy the feel of these togetherAnna Eudora - ditto sound variety; the one combo here for which I would not personally prefer Anne over AnnaAnna Ophelia - ditto sound variety; sort of a “night sky” elegance to this one
Least faves from your options:Anna Ariadne - don’t care for the vowel transition from end of fn to beginning of middleAnna Artemesia - dittoAnna Iphigenia - dittoAnna Nerissa - don’t care for the close fn to mn “n” soundsAnna Pandora - don’t care for the “Ann’ / “Pan” rhyme
You didn’t ask for suggestions, but here goes...Anna Belphoebe
Anna Clementine
Anna Corisande
Anna Florimel
Anna Gwendoline - I’m using the “-LEEN” pronunciation
Anna Jubilee
Anna Lucienne
Anna Melicent
Anna Melisende

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This message was edited 5/28/2019, 8:48 AM

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Thank you for responding! I'm not familiar with Rosilindis so thank you very much for suggesting it. I did consider Anna Rosalinde but it isn't quite as out-there as I wanted. Gwendoline and Zephyrine are wonderful.
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Hi !!!!I dislike:@Anna Megaera I'm Italian and 'megera' is a current way to say "an unpleasant woman" as you can read in the description.
@Anna Medea: Medea was a mad and evil person in the myth.
@Anna Desdemona: Desdemona means "unfortunate fate".
@Anna Evadne: I simply dislike Evadne. I have no links with this name.
@Anna Iphigenia: the sound is unpleasant, Iphigenia's story is sad and her name is too over the top in 2019 in my opinion (but it is better than Megaera, Desdemona, Medea and Evadne).My favourites are:
*Anna Cordelia
*Anna Minerva
*Anna Paloma
*Anna Zenobia
*Anna Zipporah (but I prefer it spelled Tzippora)I also like
Anna Tinuviel
Anna Cybele
Anna Galadriel
Anna Demetra
Anna Ophelia
Anna Persephone
Anna Lavinia Anna Paloma & Anna Cordelia are the best combos here in my opinion.I love many of these names but I prefer to see them as first names instead of be covered by the 'so neutral' Anna.

This message was edited 5/28/2019, 8:20 AM

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Thanks for sharing your thoughts! I don't mind tragic associations, like Desdemona, Iphigenia, and also Ophelia have, but it's good to know where other people stand. I hadn't considered the meaning of Megaera in other languages so thank you for bringing it to my attention.
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Love Anna! Loads of these are great - I had trouble choosing.Anna Cordelia - Love this. It's very balanced IMO. Reminds me of one of my favourite combos, Anna Clarissa.
Anna Demetra - Demetra is strong and weighty, compared to the light and sensible Anna, so they complement each other nicely.
Anna Eudora - I'm not massively keen on the vowel sounds running into each other, but I'll overlook it because I adore Eudora and I think they're really delicate yet also cutting together.
Anna Hermione - Hermione's a great name because it strikes the balance between usable and out there very well. The rhythm is good here too.
Anna Persephone - Amazing rhythm and Persephone is a great middle.Anna Ariadne - I'm not a massive fan of alliterative names and I think the fact that Anna also ends with an "a" makes it worse. Ariadne's neat, though.
Anna Galadriel - Galadriel just sounds a bit scifi to me.
Anna Iphigenia - I love Iphigenia, but it's very long. That could be forgiven, but also, "na" and "Iph" run into each other and I just don't think the two names go that well.
Anna Nerissa - I dislike the "na Ne" in the middle; it's easy to stutter over.
Anna Pandora - kind of rhymes, though Pandora is pretty cool.
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Thank you -- I'm glad you liked the list :) Anna Clarissa is lovely.
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