Susan on my mind from here. I think it’s great. Beautiful, reserved, smart, complete, unselfconscious, feminine, refined, old, recognizable, all these wonderful things. I’ve even been toying around shortlisting it. It’s one of those S names like Simon that turns out golden-yellow instead of silver. Black-eyed Susans do this, I guess, although Susan’s definitely not as rich as the color of black-eyed susans.
Susan’s not rich. That’s a problem. I have gone through a long and lazy phase of throwing together 2-name combos and just having a really hard time with unrich ones. Only recently have I figured out that the solution is, of course, 3 names. Unrich | Rich is unbalanced; with a third name, it’s more spread out.
As I said, though, I’ve been way out of practice with 3 names, so Susan turned out to be really hard. I spat out like 30 last night, and a lot of them were really stupid; this morning I went to revisit them and pulled out a few I thought were salvagable and maybe even really nice.
I’m more interested in your combos, opinions on these combos, and combo advice than what you think of the individual name Susan.
Susan Ermengarde Agnes – Ermengarde is one of my very faves ever, I just think it’s gorgeous phonetically and has a gorgeous meaning (I interpret it “universal garden”). I thought that Agnes would go well with Susan and Ermengarde seemed the most successful there (I tried out Clementine and Josephine, but meh.)
Susan Eleanor Blythe
Susan Hedwig Adelaide – don’t tell me about the owl or about wig-related teasability, please, I’m not naming babies.
Susan Winifred
Susan Winifred Blythe – oh I don’t like this very much.
Susan Laura Winifred
Susan Weaverbeard
Susan Primrose Edina – Primrose could conceivably be for this man but really I just dig it
Susan Alice Kathleen – All of these names are like Susan; that is, not very rich. I’m not sure how I feel about all of them together.
Susan Primula Moth – Keep getting drawn back to this. Something’s wrong though.
Susan Hedwig Elizabeth
And 3 combos that also arose from that brainstorming session:
Edith Olivette
Agnes Richenza
Margalit Primrose
Thanks guys!
Agnes Richenza caught my eye instantly, Emma. WOW!
Edith Olivette is pretty too, I love that she’s pink & green to me.
I like Alice Kathleen but Susan does them no justice, I think, but I do like Susan Ermengarde Agnes, Susan grounds Ermengarde quite nicely. Agnes feels a bit unecessary here, though. But not enough to make me want to say, take it off! Agnes Ermengarde is a combo to die for, just beautiful.
Primula Moth makes me think of Mothra, but then, I thrived on Godzilla flicks as a kid. So yeah, I’m a bit odd.
And between Susan Hedwig Adelaide & Susan Hedwig Elizabeth, For a character, the former is beter, for a real child, the latter. I like that both are substantial mouthfls though, give me a name with weight and meaty syllables, something I can really shout out. Yeah, works for me.
You’re definitely on the right track and have a fair amount of stunning names to work with. Your pets and hypothetical children will be very well named!
Thanks! Agnes and Richenza are both two names I always forget to work with. I am excited about this combo on its own and as a future 2-name plug for 3-name combos.
Edith Olivette is green and blue to me, very different. Wow I wish it were pink and green though. I should play with those colors.
Not too related, but I really want a pair of pet rats named Sir and Ma’am.
Thanks again!
Susan Ermengarde Agnes is growing on me the more I think about it– my first impression was that Ermengarde was much too big for little Susan, but I really like the subtle assonance running throughout the combo. I think the Agnes on the end is really important, as it repeats the hard G in Ermengarde, the M/N sound throughout and the S sounds in Susan.
Susan Eleanor Blythe, Susan Winifred (Blythe) and Susan Alice Kathleen are all nice in that nice-but-inoffensive kind of way. Maybe Susan Primrose Edina is giving off that vibe too, it is nice but not particularly memorable.
Susan Hedwig Elizabeth feels really odd, as I imagine quite a few Susans are Susan Elizabeths, and maybe I feel like the Hedwig is just shoved in the middle there to be a bit different. Um. Perhaps Adelaide feels a bit too big there, especially with Hedwig. I really like Elizabeth Hedwig/ Hedwig Elizabeth/ Adelaide Hedwig/ Hedwig Adelaide though.
Hee Weaverbeard? Weaverbird? It’s cute.
Susan Primula Moth is fun to say, but it feels all higgledy-piggledy.
Edith Olivette is tangy. I don’t know why I’m getting that impression. Olives, I guess, although it is really nice. Margalit Primrose is really birdy and dainty, and Agnes Richenza is beautifully medieval princessy. I really like all three.
Oh yeah I didn’t even notice any assonance. Thanks. You are totally right about the G’s hooking it together, that’s def important.
I think I have a lot of nice-but-inoffensive combos that I use to fill out that space in my head.
You are probably right about Susan Elizabeth. It too is a nice combo and one I brainstormed. I can see how Susan Hedwig Elizabeth would be that way, though I did not build it that way.
Elizabeth Hedwig / Hedwig Elizabeth is a combo I neatly snatched from Clippy, who is awesome and whom I owe a PM.
Weaverbird’s from AR’s most recent brainstorm post. Other ideas out of that: Chickadee, Beating Heart, Heartbeat, Wanderer, Larkin, Wanderlust.
Susan is lovely. To me, it has almost all the understated class of Catherine (my favorite girls’ name in the whole world). While Susannah feels more “current”, I’m all in favor of reviving Susan.
My favorite (for a real child) is Susan Eleanor Blythe. It has a pleasing flow, since each name has a different number of syllables. All three names feel classic and lovely. If you wanted something a bit more daring, Blythe could be replaced with a naturey name, like:
Susan Eleanor Plum
Susan Eleanor Primrose
Susan Eleanor Peach
Susan Eleanor Bird
Susan Eleanor Dove
Susan Eleanor Wren
Susan Eleanor Sparrow
Susan Eleanor Grey
Susan Eleanor Vale
Susan Eleanor Garnet
Susan Eleanor Pearl
Susan Eleanor Glory (the “Elinor Glory” comes from Lola)
Susan Eleanor Evensong
Susan Eleanor Poesy
I like Susanna/h a lot too, I’m surprised it’s not more popular. I know 2 but it never ranks.
I love Plum and Primrose with these. And Wren! I must play more with Wren. Glory’s great, it kind of jumps out a little here though. Ooh Evensong! Maybe Eveningsong? That’s a little much. I love the SEE initials though and they could be really cool with the right surname. Ooooh. Ooh. SEEK.
Great blog, Emma. Blogrolled!
I’ve never heard of Ermengarde before, to be honest. Ermintrude, yes, but not Ermengarde. I must admit that its sound charms me. I really like it with Susan. Susan Ermengarde. So lovely! Agnes sounds a bit harsh with those two, though. Maybe Susan Ermengarde Blythe? I’m also a fan of Susan Eleanor Blythe, or even just Susan Blythe.
Thanks!
Ermengarde nn Enga used to make my shortlist all the time. Ermintrude is fun but a little daintier next to solemn, expansive Ermengarde. Apparently it’s absolutely ridiculous in Germany though. Shrug. I’m glad you like it with Susan! With Agnes (which feels pretty soft to me actually, but most ag names are harsh) I like the medieval feel. I like Blythe with it too though.