Good Afternoon,

I have a 14 year old Emma, and a 3 year old Matthew with a possible new one on the way. My daughter loves the name True and we considered it for my son had he been a girl. The name of course has popped into my mind again with the surprise blessing. My question is True sounds like a sweetest nickname to me, does Truen (true-in) work for a girl? or am i missing an obvious name to use True as a nickname. I am looking for a name that will not be in the top ten the year after i use it this time?

Thank you.

Frances

Dear Frances,

I do like the name True, and at face value Truen does follow my basic naming rules: easy to spell, easy to pronounce.  However it does sound very similar to the word “truant” which means a child who is ditching school.

Truly Scrumptious from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968)
Truly Scrumptious from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968)

If you don’t mind that association, I’d say go for it.  But bounce it off some friends and do our Coffee Shop Test: when they ask you your name, say Truen. See what kind of reaction you get.

Other suggestions would be Trudy or Truly with nickname True.

Good luck!

Jennifer

Jennifer Moss (she/her) is the founder of BabyNames.com, author of The Baby Names Workbook, and Producer of The Baby Names Podcast. Jennifer is widely regarded as the leading expert on popular baby name trends and the naming process, serving as the authoritative source on the subject for national and international media.

Jennifer entered the tech arena in the 80s as a software developer and database architect, and became a pioneer in the Internet industry. In addition to operating BabyNames.com, Jennifer owns a web development agency in central California.