Consultation: help name baby Jasper!

(images:  farm stand, coffee--kinfolk journal, lemons)

THE BEE.

Like trains of cars on tracks of plush
I hear the level bee:
A jar across the flowers goes,
Their velvet masonry

Withstands until the sweet assault
Their chivalry consumes,
While he, victorious, tilts away
To vanquish other blooms.

His feet are shod with gauze,
His helmet is of gold;
His breast, a single onyx
With chrysoprase, inlaid.

His labor is a chant,
His idleness a tune;
Oh, for a bee's experience
Of clovers and of noon!

EMILY DICKINSON

P. and D. Jasper are poets, literature lovers, and bee keepers. 

They love the smells of hay and fresh soil, coffee and vanilla, licorice and freshly cut lemons.

They like to read to each other: Emily Dickinson, Dostoyevsky, Nabakov, Virginia Woolf, Jonathon Safran Foer,  Marcel Proust, Rainer Maria Rilke, and Wordsworth, amongst others.

(image: brightstar film , wrist warmers by hyper i cum fragile)

They enjoy listening to Joanna Newsom strum her beautiful harp, and share a mutual love of Stereolab, Iron and Wine, and Belle and Sebastian.

(image: joanna newsom, b&S, iron&wine)

They bond over Japanese film and old silent classics, and their most beloved things in life (names included) are cozy, natural, a bit off-beat and oozing with warmth.

(images: Joanna Newsom video,  socks by garment house, bear boy bee print by lou and boo)

And...

P. has written to us in need of help:

 I'm 32 weeks pregnant.  For years before I got pregnant we were certain we would have a girl and that her name would be Hazel Albertine Jasper, which was so lovely and so perfect for us in every way. I love it so much, my heart breaks typing it, but she was not to be, and finding an equally perfect boy's name seems impossible.  

The only name my husband and I agree on is Oscar, but it doesn't work with the last name Jasper.  I like it so much I'm tempted to give him my own last name (sounds like Leville), which D. is OK with, but Jasper is such a good strong name I'd much rather use that. 

I also very much like Felix, but a friend named her baby that recently and I don't think I can steal it.  Finnegan is another possibility, even though I generally prefer old-fashioned names and don't like the last-name-as-first-name trend. (P. is also bothered by it's growing popularity.)

Husband has 4 children already.  siblings: Malcolm, William, Eudora and Albion.  This will be my first and probably my only.  

 His taste is a bit more offbeat than mine:  his ideas are Ignatius (P. isn't as sure of this name, though she does like Iggy, and their friends don't quite take it seriously when they share it.) and Snorri, which was the name of the first European born in North America, in 1004.  (It's adorable for a baby, and we have been using it as a womb name, but I want a name that will serve him well his entire life.) 

Some points first:

--Congratulations! Thank you for writing to me!

--I think Oscar (sounds like) Leville is an amazing name, and I love it when children take the names of their mothers. But it seems important to you to use your husband's surname, Jasper, and there are names as wonderful as Oscar which can work beautifully with  Jasper.

--I think Iggy Jasper is SO DANG FANTASTIC,(one of our favorite children's books features a wonderful, little Iggy!)

but Ignatious is a bold name, and the bolder (or trendier) the name, the more you have to really love it . If you like this name, awesome, if not, you'll feel it.

-- Finnegan Jasper is a sweet name, but I would say that for you to use it, you need to really love it, and be only marginally  bothered by it's popularity, because I think it's going to skyrocket. There will be a lot of little Finns running around, and for good reason; Finn is great name. I'm big on meaning, and I love that it has such a great literary connection for your family. This is truly a matter of weighing your love of a particular name against a larger baby-naming principle. 

-- I'm not against using womb names once the child is born. This said, you clearly don't seem to want the name, Snorri. If it's super important to husband, then how about using it in the middle? I think neither parent should have to call their child by something they're not crazy about.

-- The surname Jasper is tricky. You already stated that you don't like surnames for first names, and I think that's best, because he could end up being the guy with the backwards name. This said, there are exceptions to every rule. Sometimes things just work, so I will add a few to my list.

-- I so admire the girl name you guys selected, Hazel Albertine. You may want to reserve this, because you really never know, but you say this is likely your last, so what about a masculine version of this name?  Hazlitt Albertus, Harlan Augustine, Hubert Aloysius (Hugh), Hugo Ambrose, Howard Aramis or any mix matching of these would hit a similar note.

-- I really like either a one syllable first name, or a three or four syllable first name for you guys, but again, there are alway exceptions, and I'll list some.

My top picks:

Hachi-- Japanese for 'bee', and while they have different kanji, the word also means 'eight'.

I love Hachi Albertus or Hachi Augustine!

Sigmund  (Ziggy or Iggy-- so you can still get to Iggy with something softer than Ignatious?)

Augustine/August/Augustino (Augie Jasper is so dang fine! and there's the Augie March association! I think with five children, it's okay for an initial to repeat, even if closest brother also starts with A.)

Earnest, Ernest, or Ernesto (Ernie) (It just doesn't get any warmer than this.)

Clovis (I love it's warmth, freshness, and the nickname Clove)

George  (I love George Iliad Jasper.)

Clement 

Sullivan or Sully (I love Sully Jasper!)

Leopold (Leo. Do I even need to go into the virtues of this name?)

Roman

Tobias

Hugo

Bello

Beaumont (Beau or Monty)

Salvador (Sully!)

Orlando (V.Woolf story)

Ralph

Ormand

Claude

Ptolemy

Hazlitt (so you still get that baby Hazel tree! I think Hazy or Haze Jasper is adorable, though I can see why it might not be desirable.  The term gets used for 'confusion' a lot, but I see it as a simple likeness to fog, mist and clouds, which are beautiful.)

Ivo

Ovid

More for you to consider:

Arvis or Arvid

Ambrose

Amos

Aloysius

Belmiro

Barnaby, Barnabus or Barlow (nn--Barnie or Barn)

Bernard (I think Bernie Jasper is adorable!)

Berlioz

Clive

Digby

Eno

Ferdinand

Fionn

Hubert (love Hubert Jasper.. Hugh?)

Humphrey (I think it works.)

Harlan (Harlan Jasper feels cozy; this is a southern gent.)

Hadriel

Hoke (I had a Philosophy professor with this name. He wore bow ties and had the dreamiest southern accent)

Ido or Igo

Irving

Junius (Junius Jasper is snappy. too snappy?)

Lennox (too much surname? but a bit like Felix)

March (literary. verb. month. me likes)

Nilo or Nolo

Osmand

Orson

Philo

Roald (Ro)

Rupert or Rueban (Ru)

Raphael (Ralph)

Simon

Theodore

Vance

Virgil

Willoughby 

Walden

Wilfred

Xylo 

Yuri (very Russian, means farmer/earth lover-- as a tribute to great Russian authors and farms?)

And the following would make great middle names for you guys (or first names):

Aramis (love this following Leopold, even though they have the same number of syllables.)

Bartholomew

Cristobal

Clementino

Delphinio 

Fleet

Gemini 

Ignatious

Iliad (one of the greatest poems ever. I don't think it's all pretentious to name your baby after a poem if you're a poet, or even a poetry lover, or heck, just an appreciator of the one poem. This also happens to be one of my favorite words because it's just so, so beautiful.)

Orpheus

Oberon

Oriole

Meno (a classic from Philosophy)

Philomeno

Pope (love Pope immediately preceding Jasper. and for some reason it really rings well with a two syllable first name-- Ovid Pope Jasper is stunning)

Phaedo (ditto Meno)

Sindri (elf/gnome)

Snorri 

Sparrow (after Wordsworth poem)

Wilde

Willoughby

Umbriel

Vangelous

What say you, readers? Any new suggestions to add? Would you advise her to stick with the last name, Jasper, or use her own surname to suit the first name they both love (Oscar)? Would you use Finnegan, even as it grows more popular? Would you use Ignatious, even though it gets poor reactions from friends?  I'll say it again, Iggy Jasper is wonderful.

Best of luck to you two in finding the perfect name, and congratulations!