Laura Maeve - How to name a beautiful second child!
Tuesday, September 23, 2008 at 12:25PM I have been a long time away from this blog! Very embarrasingly there are many recommendation requests that I have missed responding to entirely. I apologise to you all. For those who have sent through requests, I do hope you will write back to me and let me know what name you eventually decided upon, so I can share with everyone.
But hopefully you will forgive me... I have a good excuse! Our second child together, a daughter, the third daughter for my husband, arrived on 5 July this year and I have been preoccupied with pregnancy, birth and newborn-hood. It has all been marvellously easier than the first time so I am in a much better headspace than expected. And I feel I might just be able to spend some more time on this blog again now.
In any case to the important point -- the name.
After much discussion and debate we settled on LAURA MAEVE. This name was chosen to be a match with Amelia (Milly) Ann and India (Indie) Rose, the names of her two older sisters. I think all together they are a lovely set, but then again I would, I choose four of them! Laura's nickname is 'Rory'.
The choice of these names was in part for quirky unexplained personal reasons and in part carefully picked to fit well with her sisters names.
My interpretation of the names Amelia and India says that they are both charming and strong; different from each other in style but, period wise, both popular in the early 20th century. I think Amelia tends towards more currently popular and pretty, but has a classic edge. India is less classic but is stronger and energetic. I needed to choose a name to go with them that had an element of pretty together with an element of strong but that wasn't more like one name than the other.
I settled on Maeve. Maeve is the anglisied form of the name Meadhbh, she was the legendary warrior queen of Ireland. Some definitions of the name list it as meaning 'intoxicating'. I like that this name is spirited and dynamic and pretty at the same time.
Secondly I wanted to choose a middle name that was of the same style as Ann and Rose. I actually wanted to choose another botanical name like Lily or Ivy but they didn't feel right with Maeve. I explored more traditional classic names with the same feeling as Ann, I loved in particular Grace and Mary. Then I thought of Laura, a name that has a base in the word laurel which is the foliage of the bay tree and held particular meaning to the Ancient Romans as an emblem of victory. Laura is a popular classic name which is also the name of a tragic 9th century Spanish saint. Laura satisfied both my preferences for a middle name.
And there I had it, the perfect name. Maeve Laura. There are a few other reasons I loved this name. I like the Irish link to honour my grandfather. I like the literary link to both a contemporary favourite author Maeve Binchy and an old classic favourite Laura Ingalls Wilder. I love that Laura is the name of one of my close friends and that Maeve contains my current favourite letter combination of 'ae'.
But it wasn't quite right. It just doesn't roll off the tounge. Amelia Ann, India Rose... there is a certain rhythm.. a smooth pace and then a gentle finality to each name. I can't explain it properly but Maeve Laura doesn't have it, possibly the syllable combinations aren't right? I was dissapointed and spent a few weeks trying to make it fit anyway. But it just didn't. It felt like maybe the baby was telling me it wasn't on the money?
Then all of a sudden I tried it around the other way, Laura Maeve. That was it, the rhythm I was looking for. All of a sudden I felt like I had got it right. And just to make sure, my preference is not to have a currently popular 'fad' name and Laura, although well known, isn't all that popular these days; certainly not in the top twenty five names. Of course I did also have to check with her father. Haha, luckily he agreed.
But would people be dissapointed? Laura is hardly a new fresh and dynamic name, it was exceedingly popular in the 1960's! Would people say, 'oh, I was expecting something different?'. As it turned out, yes, they did! But an equal number of people adore it. I think that is the way with names. I was a bit sad that I had dissapointed people.
You know what though? Part of me liked it even better that people were surprised. I am glad that our sheer conventionality was shocking to some. :)
It is a special little thrill for me to break the rule I set for myself. The order of the names doesn't have to match exactly. This new baby deserves to have a beautiful name that is individual and strong, not something that doesn't sound right just so that there can be a 'twee' little matching theme going on!
And so that is it. Laura Maeve. I would love to know what you all think? Here is a picture of the little miss for you to go goo over.
If you want to read about my first daughter's name check out one of my first posts, India Rose.
Tara
ps. Ironically, here I was thinking I was pushing the boundaries with my retro 60's flashback and not following the crowd, but the fabulous Laura Wattenburg - the Baby Name Wizard has shown me I was completely mistaken! :)
Baby Names 
View Printer Friendly Version
Email Article to Friend
Reader Comments (7)
I think Laura Maeve is a beautiful name. Congrats on the addition to your family.
I loved reading your journey to 'reach' Laura Maeve. Just goes to show that rules are made to be broken. What a perfect name!
Hooray for finally finding time to update your lovely blog again. I love the names you have picked for your girls, and you're so right, Laura Maeve does have a flow not found in Maeve Laura. Beautiful photo of Rory too, I can't wait to meet you all soon!
A beautiful name for a beautiful baby girl :)
Laura Maeve is an elegant and strong name and just perfect for your beautiful girl. I love the nickname Rory too. so glad you are back at your Blog post Tara, looking forward to reading more about the wonderful world of names and naming.
What a neat story which I'm sure Rory will treasure as she grows, and one day when she is choosing her baby's names!
Simply beautiful!