My first child was named after a character in a movie we’d seen years earlier. It was the movie Splash, where the mermaid took her name from the street sign for Madison Avenue. That name was picked years before she was born, and when we named her Madison, we’d never heard of another person with that first name. Unfortunately, a ton of people must have had the same idea, because it ended up being a very popular, trendy name… exactly what we were trying to avoid! She’s always been called Maddie, though, and it suits her perfectly. Her middle name is after my deceased grandmother, Jeanette.
Our second child was also a girl, and we had a harder time picking her first name. The middle one was easier, as it’s after her father’s deceased grandmother. In the Jewish tradition, you can just use the first letter of the name to honor the relative. Since grandma’s name was Yetta (um, no), we went with Yorke. Then it was just a matter of finding a name we liked that went well with Yorke. We decided on Jessica, always called Jessie. Jessie suits her perfectly, Jessica not so much. She doesn’t like to be called Jessica, either.
With our third, also a girl, we were at a complete loss. We were getting down to the wire when I saw a name I immediately loved in a Walmart flyer, of all places. Alaina it was! With a soft “a” sound, ahhhlaina. Her middle name is after her father’s other deceased grandmother, Faye. She’s called Lainey (and Laineybug), and I can’t imagine any other name for her. Others often have a hard time with her full name, though, calling her Alainey, or Ayylaina or Elena.
@GladysMensch See my second paragraph, above, for an explanation.