u/snoopynicks

What do y’all think of the name Liesel? (I know it’s traditionally spelled Liesl, but I think Liesel would be more easily pronounced in the United Stages.)

I’ve always thought it was lovely and wanted to use it for a hypothetical future daughter!
However, neither my husband nor I are of close German descent. My husband’s grandparents are from Poland, but I’m not sure if that’s relevant to Liesel and he’s not super connected with the culture.

Would we be appropriating if we named a daughter Liesel? Or am I overthinking?

Also, what do you think about Liesel in general? Wearable name in the United States?

I am 20F and live at home with my parents in a small, heavily evangelical Christian town. Almost the entirety of my extended family also lives here.
I actually really like my hometown for the most part, and I love my family devotedly.

However, I have always struggled to have “faith” like they do. I was raised going to church three times a week, went to all the camps, joined Bible studies, and even acted as the youth worship leader from 13-16. In other words, I was IN IT. I tried. I believed. I begged. I even “felt the Holy Spirit” and “spoke in tongues” and was told my “voice is anointed”.
But I’ve always suspected it was less about God and more about the thrill of belonging, of everyone singing and crying together, of knowing how to perform to get a certain reaction, of doing everything I could to be SURE I wouldn’t go to Hell even if I had to pretend.
I just don’t know if I can pretend anymore. I’m tired of the act, and I’m tired of trying to believe in a God I’m not even sure I’d like if He truly was real.

But I feel like I’m stuck. My family is still very religious and conservative, and my grandma (my favorite person in the world) regularly cries tears of joy about how lucky she is that our whole family is saved and hasn’t strayed from God… and I just sit there feeling enough shame and guilt to choke me.
I don’t want to hurt them. I don’t want them to treat me differently or be in a constant state of worry over my salvation.
They are honest, good people. They love me and truly want what’s best for me, and, to them, that is God. I almost feel like I’d be a monster for breaking their hearts like this.

Another HUGE factor is my boyfriend. We’ve been together for two years, and I love him with all my heart. We have such a healthy and loving relationship, and I feel safe and accepted with him. We have talked about life together and marriage (though that would not happen for several years) and truly think we are it for each other.
However, he is Catholic (not very devout, though) and wants his family to be Catholic as well.
I have talked to him about my struggles with belief ever since we started dating, and he has always been very understanding and supportive. But I can’t help but worry that he has been expecting me to just… end up believing the same thing as him? I don’t know.
We talked about it recently, and he said he doesn’t believe everything in the Bible is true, doesn’t believe in Hell, doesn’t believe humans are inherently evil, and doesn’t believe humans are sinners unworthy of God’s love. So he wouldn’t be teaching his children those things either. BUT he still wants his children to be labeled as Catholic and to go through all the sacraments. How does that work??
It seems to me he doesn’t really believe in most of it, but he wants the little things that come with believing.

I’m just so confused. I don’t know what to do.
I don’t know whether to talk to my parents about it or just keep the act up until I can move out of the house.
But I’ll still have to go to church because my dad will throw a fit if I don’t.
I don’t know whether or not I should break up with my boyfriend or just stay and see what we can figure out.
He is so supportive and kind, but I’m just not sure if I can reconcile with raising my kids “Catholic” while teaching them to not even believe in most of it except for Jesus and God, I guess (which I don’t even know if I believe in).

Am I overthinking this? Does anyone have any advice or suggestions? Or even any books I could read to know more about deconstruction?

I’m so lost and filled with guilt and fear, and I feel like a child. I wish I would have been born into something else or that I could have been the kind of person who is content with blindly believing.

Thanks for reading this. Sorry it was so long.

My husband and I are hoping for a pregnancy soon (wish us luck!) and are brainstorming name options for our future baby!!

We have a few solid first and middle name options for a boy’s name, but we are struggling a bit with girls’ names. We do have a few options we like, but I have always adored the name Jane because it is my grandmother’s name, and I’ve always loved the simple elegance of it with the cute and quirky nickname Janie!

Unfortunately, we are struggling with a middle name to go with Jane. We would really appreciate any suggestions and ideas y’all could come up with! :)

Here are some other boy and girl name combos we like for reference:

BOY:
Heath Robert

Jesse Clay

Thomas Walton

Wesley Felix

GIRL:
Rosemary Faith

Eliza Joyce

Also, our last name is two syllables and ends with -ers if that helps any!

My husband and I are feeling quite stuck when considering names for our future children! We have only a few names we really LOVE and a lot that we are just “okay” with. We really want to find other names we can fall absolutely in love with!

I would love and appreciate help and suggestions on some names for us based on the names (boys and girls) we currently have on our list! :)

GIRLS:

Love - Auburn, Rosemary, Susanna

Like - Celia, Felicity, Genevieve, Georgia, Juliet, Phoebe, Teresa

Dislike - Abigail, Lillian, Julianna, Samantha

BOYS:

Love - Ambrose, Christopher, Jameson, Walton

Like - Clark, Felix, Heath, Joel, Lawrence, Paul, Thomas

Dislike - Aaron, Alexander, Gregory, Michael, Zachary

My husband and I are feeling quite stuck when considering names for our future children! We have only a few names we really LOVE and a lot that we are just “okay” with. We really want to find other names we can fall absolutely in love with!

I would love and appreciate help and suggestions on some names for us based on the names (boys and girls) we currently have on our list! :)

GIRLS:

Love - Auburn, Rosemary, Susanna

Like - Celia, Felicity, Genevieve, Georgia, Juliet, Phoebe, Teresa

Dislike - Abigail, Lillian, Julianna, Samantha

BOYS:

Love - Ambrose, Christopher, Jameson, Walton

Like - Clark, Felix, Heath, Joel, Lawrence, Paul, Thomas

Dislike - Aaron, Alexander, Gregory, Michael, Zachary

My husband and I are feeling quite stuck when considering names for our future children! We have only a few names we really LOVE and a lot that we are just “okay” with. We really want to find other names we can fall absolutely in love with!

I would love and appreciate help and suggestions on some names for us based on the names (boys and girls) we currently have on our list! :)

GIRLS:

Love - Auburn, Rosemary, Susanna

Like - Celia, Felicity, Genevieve, Georgia, Juliet, Phoebe, Teresa

Dislike - Abigail, Lillian, Julianna, Samantha

BOYS:

Love - Ambrose, Christopher, Jameson, Walton

Like - Clark, Felix, Heath, Joel, Lawrence, Paul, Thomas

Dislike - Aaron, Alexander, Gregory, Michael, Zachary

Hey everyone! :) I would love your help and opinions on this!!
For years, I have been slightly averse to passing on my middle name (Faith) to my daughter; however, as I get older, I find myself wanting to use it more and more.

Maybe it’s my reaction to not keeping my maiden name (my husband’s surname is MUCH better and mine had PLENTY of inappropriate joke opportunities), but I love the idea of me passing down a name my daughter can keep no matter if she wants to change her last name or not. A name that connects us when a last name may not always.

Anyway, the name I have always loved and planned to use for my daughter is Rosemary Jane.

Does Rosemary Faith sound as good?

I’m VERY open to more first name options!!! Here are some other first names I love for reference:

Annabeth

Elaine

Farrah

Felicity

Juliet

Miriam

Susannah

This story happened over ten years ago when I was about 8 years old. To this day, I try to rationalize this experience, attempting to give the benefit of the doubt to the person involved, but I just can’t.

It was a muggy September night, and I was at a home high school football game with my family. Back then, the parents let their children roam around unsupervised at these games… running around in the grassy areas, playing hide and seek under the bleachers, and only appearing back at their parents’ seats to ask for money to buy a jumbo pickle or soda pop.

I was one of those kids, and, on this night, my mom was working in the concession stand. I didn’t even need to bother going up to the bleachers to ask for anything (score!).

On this particular night, I was sitting against the fence in a more hidden grassy area we kids liked to play in, waiting for any of my friends to show up down there. The field house was almost closing in this little field from the rest of the area, so it was a favorite place for kids to play and feel like we had our own private kingdom.

Then, a woman rounded the corner of the field house and came straight to me. I remember she had thin, stringy hair and an almost wild look in her eye. I felt immediately nervous and a bit frightened.
She smiled at me and said, “Hey, sweetie! Could you help me with something real quick?”
I, being the polite little girl, said that I could and asked what she needed.
The woman, smiling bigger, pointed to the space between the field house and the fence. “My daughter dropped her cheerleading glove back there. Could you please go get it for her?”
I guess she could see my immediate hesitation and nervousness because she went on, saying, “You want to be a cheerleader when you grow up, huh? I like your little uniform you have on! I bet my daughter would love to take a picture with you after the game if you helped us out!”

At this point, her words were having the opposite of their intended effect: I was becoming truly terrified. This woman was almost frantic for me to go behind this building. All the more, it was so shadowy in the space between the building and fence that you couldn’t see if something or someone was in there. I took a step toward the gap, peering in to see if I could make out the outline of gloves on the ground, when I suddenly felt this overwhelming “bad feeling”. I’m not sure how to describe it, but I knew that I was NOT going behind that building.

I turned to the woman and said, “Sorry, I can’t. My mommy wouldn’t like it.”

She immediately tried convincing me that everything was fine, even going so far as to ask me who my mom was and, after I told her, saying she knew my mom and was friends with her.

Thankfully, I started walking toward the more populated area of the stadium and said “Sorry, my mommy tells me not to do things like that. She’s working at the concession stand right now. She wants me to check in with her every few minutes.” This was a lie. I never checked in.

At this point, the woman’s face changed from all smiles to exasperation and irritation. She plastered on one last smile to say, “Oh, you’re such a good girl! I’m definitely going to tell your mom tonight how safe you were being!”

At that, I nodded and ran off to play near the concession stand for the rest of the night, trying to put the situation out of my mind. Only after the game had ended and my mom and I were on the way home, I remembered the scary woman and asked my mom if her friend had come to tell her how good I was…

My mom, very confused, said that she had no clue what I was talking about and no one had come to tell her anything about me. When I told her the whole situation, she was rightfully very concerned and disturbed.

That was the last time I was allowed to roam around at football games. I still don’t know what to make of that whole situation. Did she really need my help to get her daughter’s glove? Or was there some sinister motive? My mom fears that there was someone else waiting behind the building for me. What do y’all think?

What do you think? Which ones do you love? Which ones do you hate?

EDIT: My whole family is from either Tennessee, Texas, or southern Oklahoma.

Eula Maude

Alice Victoria

James Alvin

Cynthia May

Harvey Sewell

Lela (no middle name)

Clyde Ernest

Ella Irene

Dee Aquila

Elsie Adeline

William Gable

Dicie Wyn

Maudie Royal

Audie Pearl

Sallie Laverna

Oscar Norris

Minnie Mae

Walton O’Neil

I work at an elementary school in the south, and these are some of the names that are either very popular or just made an impression on me!
Let me know what y’all think! Favorites?? Least favorites??

Darcie

Coy

Travis

Luis

Lorelai

Anniston

Cannon

George

Zerubial nn Rubi

Ruthie

Hazyl

Anavrin (Nirvana backwards)

Titus

Orion

Elowyn

Autumn (there’s so many Autumns)

Breckyn

Teyana

Maeleigh

Aaric

Niklaus nn Klaus