Hi guys,

What's your opinion on the name Amberley? My hub came up with it this morning as he loves the name Amber. I do really like it, but never really heard it before and our surname actually begins with A. Is it too much to have first and last name begin with the same letter?

Thanks!

Xxx

Love that hubs woke up thinking of names

I'm not a fan of Amberley. Amber. Or Kimberley. But not Amberley.

With names, I always think of the 'phone test'. If she calls up to make an appointment, or order a pizza will receptionist/employee who's slammed busy on Saturday night get it? I worked on the phone at a part-time job in college and always felt so bad when I had to question someone's 'different' name. And often, I could hear in their voice that they were very used to having to clarify. To me, having to 'work' at simply introducing oneself just seems a bit unfair and unnecessary especially when there are so many good names out there!

I understand the drive to come up with something different but difference carries with it challenges that I'd rather not put my child through each and every time they make a doctor's appointment, or order a pizza or extend their hand at a job interview.

Amberley also sounds perenially young to me.

But I'm just one person and it's your child!

Thanks sowanted the name I've had in my head since about 16 weeks is Megan, and I do still love that. And our surname is very long and complicated, so I guess she would be having to spell out two names rather than just one all the time!

So hard isn't it as you want to get it right. I love Amber too, but not sure that by itself it goes with our surname. Oh I don't know. 8 weeks to go still so I'm sure we'll get it figured out

And yes, the hubster is very cute!

X

I too like Amber! I think some names go well together if they start with the same letter!

my immediate thought is "amberleigh house" (horse that won the grand national a few years ago for non-uk readers). i can only think of it on a horse, sorry. i think two initials can be ok depending how the names sound together.

Ooh, Megan's a nice name, too! Amber and Megan. Can't go wrong!

I forgot to address your same initial letter concern. To me, it's more a sound thing than letter. And with a vowel the sound can be very, very different! Personally, I would try to steer clear of:

(a) repeating the sound itself at the start of each name...be that the phoneme itself (as is Amber Anderson--not a fan) or be that the entire name initial syllable (as in Kris Kristofferson--really not a fan...and though not exact, Amber Anderson is a close variant of this); and

(b) creating a situation whereby pronunciation requires lots of 'work' to get from first name to surname (ie 'flow'). Some vowel/letter combos are a mouthful! And I think too often people select first & middle names that sound great together when attached to the surname. But how often do we really hear our middle names? Don't get me wrong, I think they're important (and present opportunities, even) but too often they can mask pronunciation 'difficulties' between first and last name. I can't think of the bad example I came across the other day but basically I think pay attention to how much your mouth has to move to form first syllables of first & last names. And to me, if it's a lot, it doesn't sound as good as it could.

I'm not sure if I'm making any sense!

I studied English at university and in both literature and language history (linguistic) classes I learned the power that vowels have. They really make a word! Starting with vowels in both names, I think pay attention to how those initial sounds really SOUND. So, Amber (aaa, like 'cat') with Aukland (aww, like 'caught') wouldn't work for me. The vowel sounds are too different to my ear (and my mouth has to move a lot to get from cat to caught). But Amber Archer or Amber Alderson or Amber Aitchison could work.

Our mouths prefer lazy. This is partially why we clip endings of words. But one can't really clip beginnings of words/names. All the more reason to make it easy for the speaker! Help them along by helping their mouths be lazy (if you see...er, hear?!...what I mean).

Hope this helps some! (If I wasn't stuck here, horizontal, in a desperate attempt to stop bleeding at 9+5, you wouldn't have to endure such ramblings!! "See, baby? Everyone benefits if you just stay put!!"

Fingers crossed for both of us: you in choosing a great name and me in making it to that point!

This totally made me laugh! Suddenly, I had this image of horse owners all sat around their laptops, in a forum just like this ('All Things Thoroughbred'?!), sharing ideas of names for their hopeful winners!

"What do you think of 'Renegade Rider' or 'Hooves of Fire'?" LOL Oh, it does make me laugh! Just what I needed right now!

I know a girl called amberley, i like it as i relate it to her and shes a nice girl x