Hi Jennifer,

I have two daughters, Marley Abigail and Libby Evelyn. My husband and I are currently trying for baby #3 and the great name debate has started again! We have always received great compliments on our daughter’s names; trendy and uncommon without being too weird with classic, old fashioned middle names. We are starting to feel the pressure of coming up with another great name and your thoughts would be appreciated!

We’ve always loved the name Isla and it was on our list with both girls. We are thinking of Isla Jane, however, Isla seems to be climbing the ranks, especially in Canada. Do you see Isla becoming the next ‘it’ name? For a girl, we also like Sawyer but we aren’t sure if we could commit to that as we don’t feel it compliments Marley and Libby.

If we have a boy we’ve always loved the name Brady. We’ve had our hearts set on that name since before we even had kids. Baby #3 will most likely be our last baby so if it is a girl, we were thinking about Brady Jane. Thoughts? Too boyish? Maybe we should go back to the drawing board?!

Thanks for taking the time to read my email 🙂

– Ashley

Dear Ashley,

The name Isla is becoming super-popular.  According to our popularity charts (which usually predict the Social Security baby name charts by 2-3 years), Isla is already #27 and still rising.  I’m not sure it will hit the top 10, but there is a great possibility a daughter named Isla will meet other Islas in her school.

I kind of like the name Brady as a girl’s name. Although I’ve never heard it before being used for a girl, I have heard of Bradley, which comes from the same root. They are both surnames that were first used for boys and could easily cross over.  It also has the good fortune of rhyming with other girls names like Sadie and Katy and has a more feminine “y” ending.  It’s easier for names like that to cross gender, rather than names like George or Chad.

Hope this helps! And let me know what you choose.

Sincerely,

Jennifer