Duana,
Help!! We're having a baby in two weeks*, and if it's a girl**, we have decided on the name Nora***. (Or Norah - can't decide if I like it better with or without the "h".****). I feel like the name has been tainted by North "Nori" West. Am I crazy?!?****** I'd love your opinion. Thanks, D.
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*I’m late. By a good bit, actually. I’m really sorry, but have to thank everyone for giving me enough of a letter backlog that I’m late. I’m sorry!
** Every time I get a letter like this, people write back all “Actually it turned out to be the totally opposite gender so we named it after his mom/my brother!” So…did you actually have a girl?
*** I know there are mostly no-H Noras. It’s about four-to-one. Kind of the opposite ratio of Sarahs. I really prefer Sarah with an H, and, probably not coincidentally, I also really enjoy Norah with it.
**** It feels finished in a way that Nora doesn’t – although it’s dripping with style both ways. Which brings me to …
****** The bad news is you’re crazy, but the good news is that you can use the name. Here’s why. Norah isn’t tainted by Nori, not at all. First of all, those two punks couldn’t even commit to the gimmick of the name they gave their child. She was called North for about five seconds before they folded like deck chairs all “Oh, maybe it’ll be Nori”. They didn’t have the stones to stick with their wacky baby names. That’s like Being A Celebrity 101! And they flunked!
Secondly, Nori is only viable because of how stylish Norah is right now. You’re not following a K-induced trend – they’re following your impeccable taste and trying to piggyback on it.
So is it still a viable name? 100%. In fact, it’s one of those beautiful names for girls that I’ve heard being talked about being used a lot, but have yet to actually meet a lot of baby Norahs (except on Parenthood, where I’m pretty sure they use the no-H spelling. They also spell her mother’s name “Kristina” so what can you do?) I really look forward to hearing more.
