Why do you want this baby to stand out?
Dear Prudence,
My wife is pregnant. She has two kids, “Joanna” and “Jenny” from her late husband. I have “Jonah” with my ex-wife. We didn’t plan on the name alliterations and everyone always comments on it, especially since the kids seriously resemble each other without any DNA shared and are near the same age. My wife wants to give our baby a “J’ name, to complete the set, so to speak. And she thinks it would be weird and off-putting for our baby not to match their siblings. I utterly hate the idea. I have suggested naming the baby after our parents, depending on the sex. It feels more meaningful and less cutesy. She hates that idea. I said we could use the J name as a middle name and use the nickname “TJ” or “DJ” or whatever. “Here are my kids: Joanna, Jenny, Jonah, and Anna Jane, we call her AJ for short.” That doesn’t make me wince. My wife is no-go still. Is this a hill to die on or just a molehill?
— Naming Woes
Re: Why do you want this baby to stand out?
FFS - this is really easy and Julia is a beautiful girl's name.
A better compromise for LW would be to name their new little one with a J name and then a middle name of LW's choosing. Then LW can call new baby by their middle name as their own special nickname for the kiddo. This way they still 'fit in' with the other siblings, but LW can also have the 'special bond' or whatever they're looking for with this new child.
I think it would be very alienating if just one of us didn't have an A name for some reason now, because we're up to 6 people (off of the top of my head). I'm not sure the first generation was planned, but I know once it started happening, it was kind of through everyone.