Help name our baby!

October 21, 2013 8:58 AM

Baby Mr. Fuga will be appearing in March. We'd like to name her some form of a name that can be shortened to Charlie. Charlotte is out, for various reasons, as is Charlene. Any ideas?
posted by mrfuga0 to Grab Bag (46 answers total)

Caroline could work.
posted by oinopaponton at 8:59 AM on October 21, 2013 [2 favorites]

Charles-Roux
Carlotta
Cheryl
Charleroi
Charles
or just name her Charlie
posted by 256 at 9:01 AM on October 21, 2013 [1 favorite]

Charlize
posted by Salamander at 9:02 AM on October 21, 2013 [6 favorites]

How about:

Carlotta
Carlotte
Caroline
Charissa
Charity
Charla
Charlena
Charlisse
Charlot
Charlyn
Charlynne
Charmaine
Charo

Or: just name her Charlie to start with.
posted by Mo Nickels at 9:02 AM on October 21, 2013 [2 favorites]

I know a little girl who's named Charleigh.
posted by artychoke at 9:02 AM on October 21, 2013 [1 favorite]

Charlize, as in Theron?
posted by Grither at 9:03 AM on October 21, 2013 [1 favorite]

It's not a shortening but I know someone named Char
posted by edgeways at 9:03 AM on October 21, 2013

Carlotta, Caroline, Carol, Carla, Charisma, Charisse.
posted by jeather at 9:03 AM on October 21, 2013

Here's what babynamewizard comes up with for the sequence "charl".
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 9:03 AM on October 21, 2013

Catherine could work.
posted by kate blank at 9:06 AM on October 21, 2013

Charlize comes to my mind as well.

But, you know, nick names are just that. You can name her anything and still call her Charlie, you know....also...if you like Charlie so much as a nickname, why not just go with it? Or give her Charlie as a middle name and a different first name and call her by her middle name. That's incredibly common as well.
posted by zizzle at 9:06 AM on October 21, 2013 [12 favorites]

Are Charlotte/Charlene strictly verboten, or could you use one as a middle name?

Otherwise, I really like Caroline-nn-Charlie.
posted by Flannery Culp at 9:08 AM on October 21, 2013

Mary-Charles.
posted by .kobayashi. at 9:09 AM on October 21, 2013 [3 favorites]

Some options:

Charla
Charlaine
Charlana
Charlanna
Charlayne
Charlean
Charlease
Charlee
Charleen
Charleena
Charlei
Charleigh
Charlena
Charlese
Charlet
Charlette
Charley
Charli
Charlina
Charline
Charlisa
Charlita
Charlize
Charlli
Charlotta
Charlsie
Charly
Charlyn
Charlynn
Charlysse

But, like Mo Nickels, if you want to call your daughter Charlie, I'd just go with that. Torturing existing names to get different phonetic variations isn't really generating new names to choose from.
posted by MuffinMan at 9:11 AM on October 21, 2013 [1 favorite]

How about naming her anything you want, like Elizabeth or Sabina, then call her Charlie anyway. There's no law that says nicknames have to be derived from legal names.

Or, heck, name her Charles. There are a couple of famous women named "James" out there right now.
posted by amtho at 9:13 AM on October 21, 2013 [4 favorites]

My dad growing up used to call me Harvey from time to time. He now calls my step-son that. Neither of our names are anything close to "Harvey". Plus, you know... I'm a woman.

Name your kid whatever you want. Call her Charlie to your heart's content. These things do not have to correspond.



Congrats on your upcoming baby!
posted by PuppetMcSockerson at 9:14 AM on October 21, 2013 [2 favorites]

I know two kids named Charlie, and both of those girls' names happen to be "Charlise."
posted by Medieval Maven at 9:16 AM on October 21, 2013

Charmaine is pretty, and also gets the nickname "Charm."

I've always liked the name Charys, though it's pronounced more like "care-iss," so even though the spelling matches the pronunciation doesn't.

And there's no rule against stretching. Chelsea, Carla, Calliope, Carmen, Camilla, Chantal, Marcheline. Charmander?
posted by Metroid Baby at 9:29 AM on October 21, 2013 [1 favorite]

I like Caroline or Carolina, then call her Charlie if you like. Or Celia (in honor of Celia Cruz!) Cecilia can be pronounced, Che-Chilia, and can shoot off a Charlie nickname.

Or give her a last name as her first name, like Chaplin, DeGaulle, Lindbergh, Dickens, Darwin, Sheen, Watts, Brown. Then call her Charlie.

Or just give her the first name of Charlie. (I"m not much for affected spellings, reminds me too much of Toddlers and Tiaras.

One of my friends named her baby Dollie Ivy. So Dollie is her legal first name.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 9:29 AM on October 21, 2013 [1 favorite]

But, you know, nick names are just that. You can name her anything and still call her Charlie,

I agree with that..

Or you could just give her the first initial "C" and call her Charlie.. As in "C Middlename Lastname" . (in which case I would probably go with Yalater as a middle name).

Or, Bob would work.....
posted by HuronBob at 9:30 AM on October 21, 2013 [2 favorites]

My great grandmother's name was Lucianna and her nickname was Chana. Maybe Lucy plus an Ar- middle name or something.
posted by artychoke at 9:31 AM on October 21, 2013

Congratulations! If you want the kid to be called "Charlie," then name her "Charlie." End of story. Nothing else will work. Here's the thing about cute nicknames dreamed up by parents before the child is born: like everything else you predetermine (she'll be a doctor, a star lacrosse player, etc.), she will rebel against it as soon as her neurons start firing. If you name her "Charlise" with the intention of giving her the nickname Charlie, she will insist on being called Charlise for the rest of her life (even if she hates the name). Also: Don't discount preschool teachers and other caretakers, who will call her by her given name, every day -- and more often than you ever will. That's a lot of positive reinforcement to overcome, and arguably not worth the confusion of being called one thing at home, and another at school. (BTW, Charlie is a great name!)
posted by turducken at 9:35 AM on October 21, 2013 [15 favorites]

+1 to the Caroline suggestion, and to make the nickname stick, I think you should never refer to her as her full name, unless specifically asked. In other words, introduce her as Charlie, even when you are introducing her to your parents, in laws, and everyone else for the first time. Otherwise, some people will call her by the other name, which will defeat the whole purpose of your nickname.
posted by trandolph at 9:45 AM on October 21, 2013

I agree with turducken 100%

Name her Charlie. Or Charly if you want to feminize it.

Charlize will be Liza, Charleen will be Leena.. etc. Her classmates and other adults will almost always choose the more feminine alternative.

My female friend Charlie recently changed her name legally to Charlie because no one called her that.
posted by French Fry at 9:46 AM on October 21, 2013

I do think that you can call her Charlie no matter what her first name is formally... but if you're really looking for a "base" for a Charlie nickname, here are a few other options I haven't seen listed yet:

Coralie, Cecilia, Chloe, Charleston, Clarice, Cordelia, Cora, Cara, Clara, Channing, Collette, Clementine, Claudia, Celeste, Michelle, Lucia
posted by argonauta at 9:47 AM on October 21, 2013

It doesn't have to start with Ch -- could be a name that has a ch or similar sound:

Luciana
Marchiana
Georgiana

Having a super formal name will make it easier for people to call her Charlie.
posted by mochapickle at 9:48 AM on October 21, 2013

I LIKE "Mary Charles." There's something beautifully old-school about it (could either be eastern prep- or southern belle-charming),. Your last name may matter a bit here (if it's something -worth or -ford, it'd be awesome) but probably not too much.
posted by dlugoczaj at 9:56 AM on October 21, 2013 [8 favorites]

Seconding Chaplin.
posted by Specklet at 9:59 AM on October 21, 2013 [3 favorites]

You could do a first-middle combo like "Chanel Harley" and call her Charlie...or just name her Charlie.
posted by ghost dance beat at 10:03 AM on October 21, 2013 [1 favorite]

Nthing choosing a more formal name that contains a "ch" rather than a simpler name that starts with c/ch.

Marcheline, Franchesca, Marchesa, Michelina/Michalina, Seychelle (if you're into place-names as names), Giachetta (itself an Italian "nick name" of sorts of the name Giacoma)...
posted by pecanpies at 10:32 AM on October 21, 2013 [1 favorite]

You can name her whatever you want. My sister's name is Suzannah and she's been called Frankie since birth. My mother is named Sarah and has been Nikki for 50 years. My father was John but was called Larry.

You know who thinks that's weird? People on MetaFilter. That's it. Name her Ann, call her Charlie, it's fine.
posted by DarlingBri at 10:57 AM on October 21, 2013 [5 favorites]

My brother in law and his wife named gave their son a very conventional first name and a cool middle name and told everyone that he will go by his middle name. How about that as an option? You can give her the middle name of "Charlie" and if she wants, she can use the first name exclusively as an alternative.
posted by tafetta, darling! at 11:18 AM on October 21, 2013

Nthing naming her "Charlie" to start!
posted by katypickle at 11:23 AM on October 21, 2013

A friend of mine just named her daughter Charlie to avoid problems that can arise with nickname vs officially documented name. So, I'm another vote for just name her Charlie.
posted by quince at 1:26 PM on October 21, 2013

I like the notion of using Charles as a middle name, it has kind of a dignity to it. And if she rebels against "Charlie," she can just go by her given first name (which would also apply with Charlize, etc). It's something that's been debated here before, but... she'll probably get more grief from schoolmates if her actual first name were Charlie.

Also, at some point you'll have to show her Hitchcock's "Shadow of a Doubt," which features a plucky heroine who goes by Charlie (although it's derived from "Charlotte").
posted by TheSecretDecoderRing at 2:34 PM on October 21, 2013

If you go with just Charlie as a first name, please give her a middle name with a bit more gravitas so that when she becomes a Supreme Court justice or Nobel laureate or whatever she can fall back on "C. Middlename Fuga".
posted by Flannery Culp at 3:02 PM on October 21, 2013

A M Homes Middle Name Is Michael.
I Also Went To School With A Female Gerald And A Female Demetrius.
posted by brujita at 3:58 PM on October 21, 2013

I know a little girl Charlie (just Charlie), and she is ADORABLE.
Congratulations!
posted by sandwiches at 6:49 PM on October 21, 2013

Carlene
Carlina

And I know two little girls named Charlie, not short for anything.
posted by tamitang at 7:28 PM on October 21, 2013

+1 to Caroline, the feminization of Charles. My name is not Caroline but it falls in that area. I like to pretend we are all named after Charlemagne (Charles the Great, Carolus Magnus).
posted by Deodand at 7:48 PM on October 21, 2013 [1 favorite]

Charletta
Carletta
Caretta
Charlabella
posted by MaryDellamorte at 10:14 PM on October 21, 2013

I've got two siblings and a son whose commonly-used names bear little to no relationship to their first names. My brothers are adults, and it's never really been an issue, nor have they rebelled by choosing their given names (amusingly, one brother is named Charles, but only the government ever calls him that).

I love the idea of a Caroline being called Charlie - it feels very 1920s.
posted by linettasky at 10:15 PM on October 21, 2013 [1 favorite]

I knew a Mary Charles (she passed away) and she was one of the most charming, dignified, honorable, strong woman I have ever met. I think of her fondly to this day and even seeing her name mentioned here several times gave me a warm feeling. She was a mentor to many, and those special women were nicknamed "Charlie's Angels" as a term of endearment.

My vote is for Mary Charles as a formal name because we need more women in the world of her caliber, and that name has a certain distinction about it. Charlie can always be used as a nickname.

(Sorry for the walk down memory lane....I was wondering what advice she would give me for a particular situation when I absentmindedly stumbled upon this thread, and seeing her name brought me comfort. I love MetaFilter).
posted by MultiFaceted at 12:22 AM on October 22, 2013 [1 favorite]

Catalina ----> Charlie would be perfect.

But I'd also suggest something like Francesca or Alice, as they have similar sounds but aren't exactly derivatives.
posted by barnone at 9:07 AM on October 22, 2013

I was just re-reading the Tom Junod wonderful Esquire profile of and then eulogy for Mister Rogers, which describes how Mister Rogers signed every autograph with the Greek word for "grace" -- transliterated, Charis.
posted by LobsterMitten at 12:24 PM on October 23, 2013 [2 favorites]

i love the discussion about names. Some wonderful ideas....as it turns out I had two little babies who were going to be named Jessica and Julia ....jess and juls for short...till they showed up. It went a whole different direction. Although I have recently come to love the name Charese.
posted by OhSusannah at 3:54 AM on October 27, 2013