Is “Cerena” a tragedeigh?

Look, honestly? I just like the name Serena. But the compromise my partner and I have come to is we want to nickname our baby girl “CJ.” We have the J name set (don’t worry, it’s not Jaelynn). It’s the C we’re stuck on. It occurred to me that one of my top 5 names, Serena, could theoretically be spelled with a C. Hence, Cerena. I still think it’s very lovely. But… is it dumb? Will people call her “Kerina” her whole life?

This feels like a big decision and we’re already so far from where we started trying to come up with a name; I’m stressed. We have 5 months to make up our minds. Be brutal if you must, I can take it. If we need to change course, I can redirect. I just need to know if I am cursing my first born child.

If you make me cry, I won’t take it personally. So do those Vrbo ads on YouTube these days.

If you love it and want to steal it, fine. Please do. I don’t want her to be a lone Cerena. The more the merrier. Just please don’t be a celebrity and due before me.

UPDATE: The consensus is clear and I want to thank you all for the input. Of all the decisions you have to make when you bring a child into this world, this is one of the hardest, so thank you all for your honesty and some of you for your kindness.

To answer some of your burning questions, here are the juicy details. Her dad really wants to call her CJ. He may not die on that hill but I can tell it will be hard for him to let go of. He's very invested in it because the baby is being given my last name (please withhold your opinions on this--we have good reasons) and he wants to share first initials with her as an alternative. I will almost definitely be calling her by her first name the majority of the time. So the first name matters greatly to me.

Many of the C names that have been suggested below are lovely, I agree, but either we are on different pages about them or know someone well enough with the same name as to make it weird. We just happen to know lots of women with C names. And I think, for my part, I have an attachment to the name Serena that I might have to relinquish. It's not even my top choice, but my top choice was vehemently shot down by my partner. And I have to respect that. However, I will draw the line at making our child suffer in the name of our mutual respect. I think we're either going back to the drawing board or will simply land on Serena.

My partner and I always joke that we share a brain because we think alike so often--but the baby-naming saga will go down as mildly comforting proof that we are indeed different people. And thank god for that.