A reader named Ayelet is expecting twins. She and her husband won’t be finding out the babies’ genders ahead of time, so they’d like to be prepared with two boy names and two girl names.
So far they’ve got August and Dominic for the boy names and Celia for one of the girl names. Once they select a second girl name they’ll be all set.
They’d like something that isn’t common (i.e. outside of the top 500). They’re considering Aliyah, Angelie, Aurelia, Eva, Isla, Juliet and Valentina, but Aliena is the current favorite:
The name we love is Aliena. She is a character in Ken Follett’s novel “The Pillars of the Earth,” which is set in twelfth-century England. But we can’t get past the “alien” in the name. I have an Alienor in my family tree, so I thought about going the Eleanor route, but I don’t like that spelling; I think I’m in love with that “Ali” sequence.
The baby’s surname will start and end with the letter n, like Nelson.
First, about Aliena. It’s a pretty name, but I’d also be worried about that “alien” association. I don’t know if I’d risk it as a first name, but it might work well as a middle.
The only alternative I can come up with is Eliana, which is an (unrelated) anagram of Aliena. But it’s ranked 193rd and climbing, so it might be a bit too popular.
Here are some other possibilities. None of these are currently in the top 500, and the ones with asterisks have a-l-i sequences.
| Adina Antonia Amity Adele/Adeline Anneliese Beatrice Catalina* Callista Coralie* Corinna | Davina Estella Elsa Eloise Esme Flavia Ginevra Gwendolyn Helena Irina | Isadora Judith/Judy Leona Lavinia Marina Martina Mara Olive Oriana Odette | Paulina Regina Rosalie* Rosaline* Theresa Vera Viola Verity Venetia Zinnia |
Finally, there’s the option of simply feminizing one of the boy names. August could become Augusta or Augustina; Dominic could become Dominique or Dominica.
Which of the above girl names do you like best with August, Dominic and/or Celia? What other girl names would you suggest to Ayelet?
Hi Ayelet – congratulations! Why not just omit the “e” and spell the name Alina? I’m not certain how Aliena is meant to be pronounced, but Alina and Alena are heard with some frequency, both in the US and elsewhere: http://appellationmountain.net/2009/10/05/name-of-the-day-alina/
Aileen, Eilinora, or Eilinor, three of my favorites that seem to fit the theme… :)
I, too, love Aliena, and “Pillars of the Earth” (which, BTW, is being aired as a miniseries on Starz this summer!), but could not ever use it because of the ‘alien’. :) Good luck!
Or maybe move the ‘i’ a little… Alenia is pretty, too…
Great suggestions you guys! Thanks.
If it’s the Ali sequence they like what about Aliza, Alida or Alita. Or they could spell it Alienna, Aliana or Alianna.
Another idea is Liora, just because I love the name and it would sound great with Celia.
Of the suggestions, I like Aliana, Liora (that one’s on my list!) and Catalina.
How about Alizee?
Hey, thanks for all the input!
I actually really like Aliana and Eliana. I like Dominique, but my husband doesn’t.
Thanks so much for the suggestions… they are a great help! Keep them coming! :)
Well, there’s always Alice. It starts with the “Ali-” sequence, and it’s an anagram of Celia (which, for me, isn’t too matchy-matchy for the twins).
As Julie mentioned, there are other Ali- names, like Alicia or Alina.
I really like Nancy’s suggestions, and would’ve suggested a few of them myself if she hadn’t. (Great minds…)
Other names that came to mind (NOTE — I’m in a place with bad internet, so I did not check rankings):
– Acacia
– Adelaide
– Adriana
– Alaia
– Amalia
– Amaryllis
– Ariana
– Beatrix
– Clarissa
– Dahlia
– Daphne
– Daria
– Emeline
– Eulalie
– Felicity
– Luciana
– Ramona
– Sabrina
– Stella
– Sylvia
– Tabitha
– Tatiana
– Thora
– Ursula
For some variations on the same thing:
Elinor or Elinora
Aliona
Others:
Allegra
Amalia
Bettina
Callista
Daphne
Elena
Emilia
Flavia
Helena
Julissa
Liana
Melaura or Melora
Penelope
Tallulah
Zora
Suggestion: Zoella
Aliena is a slavic name, a transformation of Helena, written mostly in cyrillic, and should be pronounced as slavic NOT as english so there’s no “alien” actually within :-)
To be english pronounciation friendly i would rather convert it to “Ahlyenah” (the correct pronounciation is something like this with an english approach) but you might not like how the name looks now :-)
Hi! We expecting a baby girl, and I too am in love with the sound of the name, Aliena from the “Pillars” book. But, we are also struggling with the “Alien” spelling. Thanks for everyone’s suggestions. My husband thought of this one: Aliaina.
When I look at it I don’t see alien… it’s one of my friend’s name but she is Russian and we just pronounce it Ah-lee-nah
You can also do something like Alyena then it completely wipes out the “alien” look to it
Recently heard from Ayelet!
She and her husband had twin girls and their names are Celia Lenore and Eliana Juliet.
Lovely names — congrats!
Hey, I might be a bit late to comment, but I think the name Briony would sound good. Or Thea/Thia (pronounced: Th-ee-a!)
In one of the Shakespeare plays a character called Celia disguises herself and takes the name ‘aliena’ I love te name but would spell it with a y.. Alyena Rose!!