Isn't it rather limiting with potentially multiple people picking from the same pool of names? Could you use any of these ladies' middle names as well? Otherwise I hope there won't be a lot of cousins! (And if there are . . . leave Gertrude for them!)

Norah Elizabeth.

Also, it is possible to use the middle name as the name to go by. So could go by Elizabeth (or Liza or Beth) if that seems to fit the child.

sorry, that's "wide-held".

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like a white trash thing. Ugh.

What, using family names is white trash? (Please clarify if I'm reading you wrong.)

If that's what you're saying, I'm laughing, because my blue-blood, old-money family talks about "picking a name out of a book" as the height of poor taste. It's a pretty wide-help opinion among... um... every royal/ influential/ monied family everywhere, for all of time.

Anonymous wrote:except for gertrude, those are all great names!

but Trudi is nice.

Sounds like a white trash thing. Ugh.

Lauren Elizabeth (close enough?)

I like the way Norah Rose sounds. I think it looks ugly spelled out though. OP, what is you were to drop the H on Norah. Would that cause a family feud or something? You are still following tradition, just modernizing the name a bit.

OP, please don't do Norah Rose! If you MUST use the name Norah, do Norah Elizabeth. It is the best of the middle name options by far.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here! I do love the family tradition and it's been meaningful to both sides of our family. I wouldn't change the spelling, out of respect, and I want to use one of the first names, Cora, Norah and Laura (sorry about the rhyming!) with one of the aunt's names for the middle name.

Not to sound venal, but besides the tradition issue, there is also a bit of a financial incentive as well.

I am falling in love with Norah Rose!

Financial incentive??

NP here. For families with money-- especially old money and proud traditions, it is common to leave one's namesake a portion of one's estate. It's a continuity thing.

My family's old-money was all gone by the time I came along (irresponsible drunken grandparents' generation squandered it), but the dear lady for whom I was named gave me a little trinket every time we went to visit-- a locket, a brooch, a piece of antique silver. She did it to let me know that I was part of something larger and older, and to show that she appreciated having been remembered in a subsequent generation. I have every little thing still, and when I show them to my daughter, I tell her about my great-aunt and re-tell her stories and try to describe how soft her cheek felt... like many-times-used tissue paper and talcum power.

If I had been named Madison or Jennifer, or whatever trendy name, I doubt she would have picked me out of her dozens of grand-nieces for that special attention that I will always cherish. My cousins also enjoyed special relationships with the elder family members whose names they carry.

But don't worry, PP. My family's traditions don't need to mean anything to you. It would be nice if you tried to understand a little, but in the end, well, we've been going strong in our traditions for 300 years (in this country, anyway), and your disapproval changes nothing for us.

Anonymous wrote:

All of OP's names are super ugly, but I agree that this is the best of the choices. It's like knife in your eye, or butter knife in your eye.

I suspect this poster's daughters have names with a lot of repeated letters and ys -- Maddylynne, for example -- or an -elle ending. And when they were babies, they wore headbands with ruffles and flowers on them.

Norah, Cora, and Trudy are are lovely first names. I personally think Laura is the most boring name ever, but like PP, would not tell you that in person. I'd have a hard time naming someone Gertrude, but would do Trudy without concern.

Rose and Elizabeth are good middle names, but I think Ann and Marie have got to be the most common girls middle names, statistically, which makes them so bland as to be meaningless. Good first names, but as middle names, I think they must be chosen for their syllables' rhythm or something.

Together, I think the most harmonious combinations are Trudy Rose, Cora Elizabeth, and Norah Rose.

And FWIW, I think it's an awesome tradition. My kids each have a family name, though we drew from more generations. I think it anchors them and makes them feel connected to the family (I have one, too.). Plus, with 8,000,000,000 names out there, you have to narrow the field somehow.

Love Norah. My niece is Nora Lynn!

Okay I actually LOVE Gertrude if she goes by nn Trudy. How cute would that be!

Norah Rose is beautiful.