Hi Jennifer,

My husband and I are having the hardest time coming up with a name for our first child…a baby boy! We like unique names and originally were looking for something to accommodate both his culture and mine. He is Indian (from India, but is Catholic) and I am white, American.

Originally we were looking at Indian names that are easy to say since our son will be growing up here in America but now we aren’t sure what to do and I am due in 5 short weeks!! The middle name is picked out (Charles) as this name is a family name on both sides and the last name is D’Sylva. The only name we have both liked so far is Keiran but I have been told that many people associate this with a girl’s name.

I am becoming very discouraged and am finding this to be very difficult. Do you have any suggestions? My husband want the name to have meaning and not just sound good. Any advice would be very much appreciated, my original goal was to have 5 names on the list and decide when we meet our son but now there is only one and most people tell me it’s a girls name! Not sure what to do….

Thank you so much!
Heidi

Dear Heidi,

Actually here in the U.S. Keiran/Kieran is considered a boy’s name. I don’t really see an issue with Keiran Charles, so if you love it, go for it! Stop listening to “people” as sometimes too much name input can confuse you.

Kieran Culkin (brother of Macaulay) is an actor. Kieran Bowtell is public diplomacy adviser at the British embassy in Madrid. Kieran Gibbs is a soccer player. The name comes from the Celtic Ciarán (Irish) or Ciaran (Scottish) meaning “little dark one.” The female form of the name is actually Ciara.

If anything, I would use the traditional spelling of “i before e” – but that’s up to you!  Let me know what you decide.

Sincerely,
Jennifer