We named our first daughter “Deirdre”. I always liked that. Of course, we are Irish.
I get a lot of compliments on my name, which seems to fit your criteria. It’s French- Suzette. My family did call me Suzy for years, but everyone from elementary school right up until now calls me “Suzette”, I don’t let people shorten it (except my husband, who dubbed me “Zette”)
I’ve only ever met one other Suzette, and she spelled it “Susette”, which was a little too cutsie for me.
Good luck!
Zette
Love is like popsicles…you get too much you get too high.
Not enough and you’re gonna die…-(Sweet)
Click here for some GOOD news for a change Zettecity
Siobahn.
I’m not sure if I’m spelling it right, but it’s an Irish name, pronounced sho-BAHN, with a soft “b”, kind of a breathy sound. It’s pretty, distinctive, and, IIRC, means something nice, too.
I know you don’t want a name that begins with a vowel, but another distinctive name is Ide, also Irish.
The Dave-Guy
“since my daughter’s only half-Jewish, can she go in up to her knees?” J.H. Marx
well, it doesn’t exactly fit your criteria, but don’t you think that Valerie Blaise Arndt sounds great?
What can I say? I want a namesake and my six siblings didn’t see fit to name any of their spawn after me… come on, it’d TOTALLY work. It’s a great name. 
Seriously, be careful as far as matching your kids’ names. My sisters Kirsten and Karen and my brother Kelly can tell you all about it… It’s just too cute. Bleah. One more reason to go with Valerie Blaise, I think. 
“I’ll tell you a secret, baby - maybe you can’t do better - gotta settle for second best” - the Judybats
Neither of these really fit all of your criteria, but, my two favorite female names are Vivianne and Fiona.
If you want to stick with your two choices, stick w/ Tegan.
Tegan Mauvreen: Tegan is my darling grand-niece. Mauvreen was (probably still is) a lovely, lovely Irish-American lady with auburn hair and a wonderful Irish peaches and cream complexion.
Plus, if you name the baby Valerie Blaise, maybe it will have really good breasts.
I’m partial to “Shannon”. “Joy” for a middle name? Or maybe “Kayla”?
Y’know, I have a Karsten in my family, but she’s a girl. I’ve never seen a boy with that name.
How about Haggis? That is, as we all know, short for Heart-liver-and-kidney-boiled-in-the-stomach-of-the-animal. Eh? Eh? No? Aw. It’s a girls name…
Wow, I leave to change a poopy diaper, get sucked into the vortex of domesticity and you guys just bombard this thread. If I had a mind, it would be blown.
- Tegan is pronounced TEA-Ghan. Not like the former President, Jimmy Carter
I haven’t seen the name in any US baby name books,but in a UK baby name book we found it it and it is Welsh and Cornish in orgin meaning, Fair and Beautiful.
As for the teasing of Keely, I was tortured as a kid for my name ( first and last) and it helped me developed a quick mental upper cut. But Keely does sound like a smarmy Kelly or someone from France mispronoucing it. I will pass along the comments regarding this to My Reason for Living.
-
Carsten is a popular name in northern Europe and it is a fairly common last name in Ireland.
-
If I waited until my daughter was born to see what she looked like ( or if anyone waited to see what their child looked like at birth for that matter) her name would be,
“Walter Matthau.” All children at birth look like a grumpy old man.
I would write more, but 1) My train of thought has derailed and 2) my son is in need of attention.
Keep the suggestions coming!
One more quickie…for Arnold
I love the name Zoe, but hubby vetoed it. The weiner. It is a trendy name, but I could live with that one. Maybe I’ll just nip off to the hospital myself and name the baby while he’s still sleeping.
Cristi - How about I name my daughter, Sacrifical. Then when the arranged marriage takes place with your son, John Lamb…heh…
Idle minds…
Aside from most of DB’s suggestions, this thread has caused me to make a mental note: “Do NOT ask TMs, especially my husband, to help choose names for MY second baby.”
The problem with Gaelic names is that they have become all the rage in the last few years. I like Bridget a lot, and I’m one of the only people I know who likes Gretchen. According to The Very Best Baby Name Book in the Whole Wide World, Tegan is fairly popular in Australia.
Here are a few that I didn’t think you’d absolutely hate.
Fallon
Flossie (just kidding)
Jolie
Keira
Lilith or Lily
Maia
Monet (hey, why not)
Morgan
Paisley (can’t get much more offbeat than that.)
Piper
Rhiannon (I’m seconding that vote cuz it’s one of my absolute favorites.)
Sabryn
Sydney (Do you like scary movies?)
Talia (the Muse of comedy)
Eh?
“Fester, fester, fester…rot, rot, rot.”
I don’t really know. I had a hard enough time deciding what to name my 3. I have a little cousin named Brogan, though. I guess that is one of those names that can be male/female. Anyway, when he was born, his brother and sister came home crying everday for over a week from school. The kids were making fun of the name Brogan pretty bad apparently. What’s worst is my Aunt and the rest call him Brogey.
I like Keely, but it is pretty popular around here. Where I live my kids go to a school that goes from K-12th grade in the same building. Obviously, it’s a small community, and I know of 5 Keely’s in the school. Good luck on your search.
Olive or Olivia
Rhiannon or Siobhan. Love them both.
One thing to keep in mind as well: Will the name be good when she’s grown up? I see lots of little girls, with lovely little-girl names. They are lovely names, for a two-year-old. My daughter’s name is Diana. A nice name for a grown woman, I think, and she’ll be a grown woman for much longer than she’ll be a little girl.
Weird – I was thinking Madalyn Louise even before reading GuyShyGirl’s suggestion.
Although the two l’s can kinda trip you up when saying the three names together.
Madalyn Louise Arndt, you get in here this instant!
Maureen is the other great name mentioned here – think Maureen O’Hara and Maureen O’Sullivan – awesome women.
Seeing ChrisCTP’s suggestion of Talia, I thought of Cleo Arndt, Cleo being the Muse of Epic Poetry I believe…I’d avoid Erato though.
Another nice one is Shea.
Oh, heck, go Tolkien and name her Eowyn or Arwen.
>>Being Chaotic Evil means never having to say your sorry…unless the other guy is bigger than you.<<
—The dragon observes
I have a friend named Arwen!!! We call her Arwy…that in mind, though it’s a wonderful good name, I don’t think that it goes very well with Arndt.
I was about to suggest Clio, as well, but keeping in mind that the middle name will be O’Hara, I decided to leave it out.
“Fester, fester, fester…rot, rot, rot.”
I’ll third the vote for Robyn.
I also like Moira, Holly, or Miranda.
Oh, and Clio is the muse of history. Calliope is the muse of epic poetry, for future reference.
“Fester, fester, fester…rot, rot, rot.”