A reader named Kristina writes:
My husband insists on naming our daughter after his mother. He doesn’t necessarily want to name her Susan, her full name, but insists on calling her Susie. I have been trying to come up with names containing the word Sue in them not necessarily at the beginning, but more so in the middle or end of the name.
Hm. This is a tricky one.
Here are some names that include a “su” element:
- Atsuko, Etsuko, Kasumi, Mitsuko, Sumiko, Suzu, Suzume, Yasu, and other Japanese names. Though these probably won’t make sense unless the baby has some sort of connection to Japan.
- Sumana, Sumati, Sunita, Suniti, Sushila, Sunila, Suparna, Supriti, and other Indian names. But the connection thing applies for these as well (and to the group below).
- Consuelo, Asunción, Jesusa, and perhaps a few other Spanish and/or religious names.
- Ursula seems to be the only traditional “English” name that fits the bill, but the nickname Sula is more natural-sounding for Ursula than Susie. Also, there’s that unshakable (and unfortunate) sea-witch association.
- Sunny, Sunshine, Sunday, and Summer are word-names that could work, though they seem like a stretch because the vowel-sounds don’t match up.
So, as you can see, I had a pretty tough time coming up with suitable “su” names.
Of course, I’m avoiding the obvious — the many Susan-related names (e.g. Susanna, Suzette, Suellen) out there. It seems Kristina wants to avoid “Susan” specifically, but maybe some other name from this family would work?
Another idea would be get a bit abstract about the nicknaming. For instance, Alexandra, Alessandra and Anastasia include S- and Z-sounds…instead of the typical nicknames like Alex and Ana, what about Susie for these?
What other ideas would you offer to Kristina?
Image by Brennan Burling from Unsplash