My darlings, on this Motherhood Monday, I'd love to talk about baby names! Do you have favorites? When Alex and I first found out that we were expecting a child, we were so giddy (and, um, surprised:) that we couldn't sleep. So we found ourselves in our dark living room at 2 a.m. brainstorming names. Our top boy's names were Toby, Julian, Charlie, and Elliot (ahh, I still love Elliot). For girl's names, I liked Sophie, and he liked Samantha, but we couldn't decide on one that we both loved. (Girls names are surprisingly tough!)My friend Nora told us a funny way to analyze names: The Blind Date Test. Pretend someone is setting up your college-aged child on a blind date. They'd ask, "Hey, want to meet my friend Toby?" Now think: How would you picture that person, just based on the name? Would you want to meet them? It's a surprisingly good way to get a feel for the name, don't you think? :)
There are also such cool unusual names these days. Toby's friends include Zelda, Quinn, Sailor, Elodie and Meriwether. (Aren't those all amazing?) The Baby Name Voyager shows you how popular every name has been since the 1880s. (Warning: It's totally addictive.)
So, I'd love to ask: What baby names do you like? Do you prefer offbeat names, or would you stay more traditional? Would you name your child after a relative? Do you like your own name? I'd love to hear your thoughts!
P.S. This baby name book looks great:
(Top photo by Raul Gutierrez)
I like traditional names that have been out so long they're almost offbeat now. Like Josephine or Eleanor or Bernadette or Enid.
ReplyDeleteOoo...I want to flip through "A is for Atticus"...I'd love to someday name my baby after a literary character. I also love the name Toby :)Nice choice.
ReplyDeleteI like Calvin, so that's what I named my baby! I also liked Vaughn, Oscar and Milo. For girls, I liked Iris, Charlotte, and many others I'm sure the husband vetoed.
ReplyDeleteWe chose our son's name for the geeky-nerd factor (seriously). We wanted something that sounded smart but not obnoxious. We still love the name (and P.S., both sets of grandparents hated it!). The name? Spencer (got the idea from Dr. Spencer Wells). We STILL love it (thankfully!).
ReplyDelete--M
My daughter's name is Tessa, I'm still in love with the name Portia but when I told people I was considering it they looked at me like I was crazy (this coming from the girl who wanted to name her future daughter Ophelia, which is beautiful, but so is Portia!) Before we knew what we were having we had a boy name picked out Owen. But I've really fallen in love with the name Parker.
ReplyDeleteI love offbeat names. For boys, I prefer last names as first names: Palmer, Carter, and Smith. And for girls, I love extra feminine, soft names like Aurora, Amelie, and Skye.
ReplyDeleteI've always also had Elliot on my list (it helps that the nickname Eli is equally adorable) or Colin for a boy. For a girl, Layla. My parents always told me that girls should be given slightly quirky names (I'm Claudia and my sister is Maureen) and boys should have classic names (so they don't get teased at school). I love the blind date method!
ReplyDeleteOoh, I did a post on my favs: http://ifzombiesweresupermodels.blogspot.com/2010/05/ey-bey-bey.html
ReplyDeleteI think boys names are soo much harder than girls.
Ooh I love this game! For boys we like Oliver, Theodore, Rupert and Noah, and for girls Matilda, Lucy, Jessie, Lillia and Beatrice. Looks like we'll be having a big family! Also, if we happened to have red headed twin boys, I couldn't resist calling them Fred and George...I do love Harry Potter! xxx
ReplyDeleteI love Sophia! I can't wait to use my babies monogram on our throw pillows in the nursury.xx
ReplyDeleteMelanie
www.LuxuryMonograms.com
I named my baby Samantha. I liked how timless it was. Her middle name is Eliana. We almost made that her first name. Now I wish it wasn't her middle name so we could name our 2nd girl (if we have one) Eliana. If we have another girl we'll probably name her Violet after my husbands grandpa. Boy names are harder. I've always liked the name Breaden.
ReplyDelete- Sarah
http://agirlintransit.blogspot.com
I dreaded deciding on a baby name because it's such a huge thing! I mean, this is an identity we're talking about! So, we didn't even discuss names until we found out if we were having a boy or a girl.
ReplyDeleteOnce we found out that we were having a sweet baby boy, my husband wanted to get him named. We had been calling the baby Jeremy, Jr. the whole time and he thought it was time for a real name. :) He actually made a bracket, like with basketball, of names that we liked. It was really cute.
Our favorite was Jude. We wanted a biblical name, but not one that is heard everyday. Once we decided on his full name, Jude Everett, it just clicked! It was like it was THE NAME he was meant to have. Or as my husband puts it, "We didn't choose his name, the name chose him."
We're getting to meet him face-to-face in about three weeks! EEEK!
I tend to like traditional names. My biggest name pet peeve is crazy spelling. It's just asking for everyone to always spell or say their name incorrectly.
ReplyDeleteSiofra! It's Irish (Gaelic) for twilight fairy!!
ReplyDeleteI also love Carrowyn for a girl! :)
well, i am due to have a baby boy in early june and i really have struggled to come up with boy names (my top girl picks were nora and sophie).
ReplyDeletethe only two we seem to have in mind are noam and asa. i'm actually loving the name noam right now...
since this is more of an anonymous comment, does anyone else like that name? i hope so. we haven't really been sharing it with family or friends for fear of too many opinions, but i am curious what people think of our choices.
boys names are tough!
I don't have a baby yet...but I really like the name Aiden for a boy. However, the last few years it's become very popular, so now i don't like it as much. I reallly love the name Ethan...and i don't think it's as common as Aidan. So if i ever have a boy, it will be Ethan James (James after my husbands fathers name). If we have a girl, Ever since my husband told me his grandmothers name, i fell in love. It's not very common...and i think it's very old...and traditional: Stella. I really liked Olivia, but it was very popular, like Aidan.
ReplyDeleteI love Elliot and for girls I love Emma and Lily :)
ReplyDeletehttp://girlynote.blogspot.com/
I have a friend who also loved the name Elliott and that's what she named her cat. Then she had a baby boy and named HIM Elliott! I can't help but think that the cat was a little put out by that!
ReplyDeleteWe go for nature inspired names. Our first daughters name is Oceana Mercy. Our second, due August, will be Luna Celeste. <3
ReplyDeleteI don't have children yet, though I (we, my husband and I) have names picked. They're family names and they're also reflective of my heritage, which is extremely important to me.
ReplyDeleteI have a serious aversion to "popular" names and hope that the names I chose are never featured as the main characters of some ridiculous novel series. Emma or Jacob anyone? Ruined, just ruined. In my opinion.
I'm also fiercely protective of them. I'm the youngest of my group of friends, whom are all hemorrhaging babies at the moment. I would be DEVASTATED if, after sharing my name choices, a friend "used" one. They are Kelly (boy) and Tallulah (girl).
Oh, one more boy name. I love Bennett to kind of represent Pride & Prejudice =)
ReplyDeleteWell, I am done having babies and I LOVE all my kids names. I guess that goes without saying. I also love my own name. Catherine Leah.
ReplyDeleteMy kids are:
Cicely Zara
Jack Wolfgang
Holden Jacob
Amelia Eleanor.
Cool right? Yeah, I know.
Great post! I love traditional names - my kids are Lucy (your mom also had great taste in names, btw!) and Henry. Also names that are easy to spell and don't have too many syllables (particularly for a girl, I always think if she wants to keep her maiden name and hyphenate when she's older, I'd like to make that as easy as possible for her! And my full name has eight syllables so can relate). Definitely agree that girls' names are more difficult to decide on than boys' names...
ReplyDeleteI'm reading The Paris Wife right now (so good!) and am newly smitten with the name Hadley. Isn't that pretty?!
ReplyDeleteGrowing up as a "Katie," I knew at least 10 other girls with my name. Now I know dozens. So, I tend to be drawn to names that one would not be able to find on personalized pencils. Right now, my favorite girl's name is Corrie, and my favorite boy's name is Curtis (which also happens to be a family name).
ReplyDeleteMi hija se llama AMALIA como su bisabuela...me encanta ;)
ReplyDeleteBsns
Girl: Ingrid.
ReplyDeleteBoy: Rodrick (but my husband hates it), Walter, Norman.
I'm very traditional. i try to think of how that baby will react in 10 years when all his friends are making fun of his name. on that note--my new grandson is Winslow
ReplyDeleteI'm oddly into first names that sound like last names. Or unisex names. For girls, I like Reagan, Peyton and Delaney (Laney, for short). For boys, I like Jackson, Bennett and Keegan.
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I really want a little Samantha Claire.
ReplyDeleteNow, we just need to wait for the little girl to come
I love, love, love, love the name Nerina. Also: Miette, Amelie (liked it before the movie came out) & Olivia.
ReplyDeleteCan't think of a boy's name I like!
Ahh, I'm obsessed with baby names. I like the 'blind date' test. My favorite names are:
ReplyDeleteGirls: Lillie, Colette, Amelia, Everly (!!!) Lucy, Charlotte (Charlie for short) and Olivia.
Boys: Trip (a southern nickname for the "???? the third") Charlie, Jackson, Hank, Johnny.
PS: Are you asking opinions because preggers? : D
We are all about traditional/regal names for boys. We just had our first son, George, and picked out Henry and Peter as well. Girl names are definitely harder for us to agree on. We like Scarlett, Leah, and Lydia.
ReplyDeletefor girls we love alice and piper.
ReplyDeleteboys are much harder for us! henry and benjamin top our list and we both love augustus but i don't think i could pull the trigger!
ahh baby fever!
I didn't have a name for 3 weeks - my mom got fed up with the lady in the hospital and told her she'd send in the damn form herself, she wasn't going to give me a name before she was ready!
ReplyDeleteCharles is a family name, but I love Charlie for a girl, too. I also am newly obsessed with the idea of carrying on maiden names by using them as first names, such as Hobbes or Larson!
We had THE hardest time picking out a girl's name! We already had the boy's name picked out - Scott, after my brother & his dad (ironically, both middle names). But for a girl? It took us until she was born to name her...we even tried the March Madness bracket, but for baby names. (Kind of fun, actually...) One thing I learned, don't judge other people's names for their kids - it's harder to choose than I thought it would be!
ReplyDeletewe named our son alden (though he is often mistaken for aiden, since that is far more common), but took a list with us to the hospital that included wyatt, colm and another that i've forgotten! our girl names were olive and louisa, but we wouldn't be able to use either if we had a girl now, as we sometimes call alden "ollie" and his middle name is louis! i have always loved the name leland for a boy (my great grandfather's name), but it didn't make the cut because of Twin Peaks...
ReplyDeleteI like classic names like Eva and Isaac. I'm wary on names that sound very young and may not suit the person as they get older (i.e. Milly).
ReplyDeleteMy 'real' name is Joanne but i much prefer Jo (only my parents call me by my full name) - for some resaon i've never felt Joanne quite suits me.
I'm not a big fan of my name because it is SO popular amongst girls my age. However, I love that it's spelled in a unique way (thanks, mom!), and that I was named after a popular song that my parents loved. It makes me feel like I was named after a favorite friend or something.
ReplyDeleteAnd, you're right--girls names are definitely harder! I obviously like unisex names. I think a strong girl's name helps build confidence.
P.S. Tell Alex my name was almost Samantha but my dad won that battle!
I named my baby girl Greta and was soooo unsure at the time. Thankfully I love it more and more every day. We also considered Penny, Sydney, and Lila-- all still options for future babes. For boys, all the names we like don't really go with our last name, so that will be a tough one! Charlie was on the short list though :-)
ReplyDeleteAs a personal choice I've decided not to have children but I prefer old fashioned names. This is evidenced that my dogs are named Amos and Milo.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE this topic!
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I chose to do Biblical names for our children and we are due with our first in October and have chosen
Miriam for a girl
and Simeon, Asher, or Ezekiel for a boy!
If we werent doing the biblical names I LOVE
Laiken
Emerson
Kennady for girls
My son is Julian and one of my twins is Sophie-funny those were both on your list! My other daughter is Chloe.
ReplyDeleteFunny you should mention it, Elliot is our top boy name and Joanna is our top girl name. :)
ReplyDeleteIf I ever have a daughter, I want to name her Evelyn Faye, after each of my grandmothers.
ReplyDeleteFor a boy, Oliver Thomas.
This is fun! Babies are a couple of years away for me, but right now I like:
ReplyDeleteBoys: Ben, Charlie, Finn
Girls: Eva Marie, Lila, Anneliese, Charlotte
Apparently I like very feminine girl names and boy names that are really nicknames.
love your baby names. it was so hard deciding on a name for our first that it took us 7 weeks to name him after he was born. So for the first 7 weeks of his life he was know as "junior" or "baby"...
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I like names with history - the strange English and Welsh and Scottish ones (guess it comes with the territory when your name is Bronwyn).
ReplyDeleteI like names like Imogen, which it seems like no one else likes, and Gideon...
And then I like literary names (or, rather, names of characters) like Kerewin from the Bone People or Orin from Infinite Jest...
And I like Sophie, too!
windeater.blogspot.com
If we are lucky enough to have a baby:
ReplyDeleteboy: Orion
girl: not sure -
you're right, girl names are harder!!!
xoxox,
A
oh my brother's name is Julian!! well, he is a twin and the other twin is named Graciel. I just noticed it's funny to see it written but sounds great when pronounced :)
ReplyDeleteI'm born in Germany and I love the old German names so much:
ReplyDeleteFor girls:
Liselotte
Lina
Marlene
Luise
Florentine
Elise
Boys:
Johann
Alois
Joseph
Maximilian
Xaver
Friedrich
Theodor
x,
Tine
http://inattendu.tumblr.com
My husband and I are the exact opposite! We've talked about baby names and can't think of any boy names! But if we have a girl (unlikely, since his family is 4 boys and 1 girl!) we're going with Amelia, because I kind of fell in love with that name during the latest season of Doctor Who and my husband appreciated my dorky inspiration. He also really loves my grandmother's name, which was Province, and Hadley, which was the name of Ernest Hemingway's first wife. Both of those are a little offbeat, but I do like them as well.
ReplyDeleteOh, and since our last name is Tickle, the name Tess is absolutely, 100% out of the question. (Let that sink in for a little bit. Say the full name out loud a couple of times if you have to...)
i love unisex names for girls like, addison, blake, jordan etc...usually the non-traditional names for boys, but my friend just had a boy and named him Jack, so addorable! i thought it was strange at first but im loving it more and more!
ReplyDelete-AR
http://plum-bucket.blogspot.com
I like uncommon but not bizarre names. We named our baby girl Harlee and plan on naming our baby boy when we have one, Ace.
ReplyDeleteI am dying over the name Elodie... that is fantastic. I like boy names for girls, and I am LOVING the name Toby!
ReplyDeleteThis was such a fun post!
abodelove.blogspot.com
my husband and i have been playing the baby name games for ages (and we don't plan on having kids for a while!), so we have our names already picked out! we have a ridiculous number of coincidentally similar names in our families, so we made a point to pick middle names that were borrowed from relatives. and, clearly, we're very traditional...
ReplyDeletegirls: Madeleine Grace, Caroline Keigh, Abigail Blair (note: madeleine and caroline do NOT rhyme. and i suspect i will be fighting against that for our kids' entire existence. and keigh is pronounced key. it's my hubby's mother's name and i LOVE it)
boys: Robert Griffin, James Edward
Boys names are easy, since I've thought of them the longest. I like Aidan, Jackson, Brendan, Nicholas, and Tyson. Girls: Amelia, Olivia, Elodie, and Capucine.
ReplyDeletethe blind date test is hilarious. i tired it out loud hahahha it's funny! i love big. strong. names. like...Cannon. or Benjamin. names are so fun!! lovely post
ReplyDeletexoxo
kelseyannesmith.blogspot.com
Baby names are so much fun! I love hearing about what other parents are considering. (Especially to hear about the "could have named" choices.) I tend to like names that are more traditional but a little unusual--people aren't apt to ask "what's that again" but it's not something you hear a lot. And a personal meaning is even better. I love when someone is named after a favorite relative/literary character/memory.
ReplyDeleteMy middle brother and I got to name our youngest brother when he was born, and being children of the 80's we of course picked Elliot :) (From E.T. of course and Pete's Dragon!). Elliot could not BE more of an Elliot. It's great.
ReplyDeleteI go back and forth between family names and interesting names. I really love Olivia and hope to name a daughter that some day. I have a harder time with boys names, though before my cousin stole it(!) I wanted to use Carter, after my grandmother's maiden name.
We are adopting a little girl and keeping her birth name, but I still have fun dreaming about names!
ReplyDeleteboy faves:
freddy
julian
leo
girl faves:
veda
philippa
petra
On the topic of our own names, as a girl with a boy's name (Brandan) and a nickname that sounds a bit unsophisticated to me (Brandie) I've always struggled with liking my name(s) but then when I think what I would prefer to be named, I've got nothing. Funny how that works.
ReplyDeleteOut of curiosity, do you like Joanna? and Jo? Which do you prefer?
Sailor? Seriously? My nephew's middle name is Pirate. I like crazy names, but for others. I think I'd go with something a little more classic. Funny you mention Samantha and Sophie because those are two names I've always loved for girls. Samantha mostly because then you could call her Sam, and there's something about giving a boy's name to a girl that I just love.
ReplyDeletehttp://nomadic-d.blogspot.com/
Cyrl (name of my muse) and Hudson for boys. Sylvan and Harvard for girls. I have an uncommon name I might have chosen for myself, if I didn't know I'm named after my Mother. Being a junior has caused me to want a name of my own for my entire life.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of the blind date test. Genius! I am not anywhere near having children so this is not something I think about often, but when I do you have given some good advice.
ReplyDeleteI like off-beat names.. Nothing TOO crazy that people would think WTF when our little one enters a room or has a job app. out..
ReplyDeletewe like for a girl, renne, eloise, avi, nicolette, jensen, laurel
for a boy jude, nevins, liam, shey
we shall see! I know what my first choice is!
Also, I was named after my dad's favorite book, Dr. Zhivago. (So sweet my dad). Though it's spelled differently than Lara in the story, I LOVE having a connection and meaning behind my name. Also, I have a theme song from the movie that I walked down the aisle to at my wedding last October :) It's special to have a reason for your name.
ReplyDeleteI am half French and love the idea of giving our future child a French name; Elodie, Henry, Sophie, Madeline. Anything my Meme (Grandma) can pronounce! : )
ReplyDeleteJess
i like offbeat names, unique but not too weird.
ReplyDeleteOur four month old son is named Iker(pronounced like biker). My husband found the name shortly after we found out we were having a boy, and we both loved it! Both of us tend to like more unique names :)
ReplyDeleteYears ago, before kids, I told my husband that I love the name Olive. He hated it and vetoed it if and when we had kids. As a compromise, we named the cat Olive. When we were pregnant with our second, I suggested Eisley for a girl and my husband loved it. But we ended up with a son and no more plans to have anymore kids. I'm surprised that I haven't seen that name out there. I think it's so pretty.
ReplyDeleteOne day I'm going to name my little girl Ellen :)
ReplyDeleteA coworker of mine named her son an offbeat name, but people kept calling him 'the baby', and it drove her crazy! 'The baby' lasted about 6 months before she went to the courthouse and legally changed his name to an extremely traditional, common name.
ReplyDeleteMy favorites are Edythe and Finley for a girl, and Icke and Emmerson for a boy.
Happy Monday :-)
My parents are Fred and Cathy, and they named my brothers and myself Chase, Taj and Gia. They liked different names. I still like the name Fred.... :) though my dad stopped a long lineage of Fred W.J.'s in his family when he changed our names.
ReplyDeleteWhen picking names I always try to envision my kids as adults and see what characteristics come to mind based only on the name. I also always try to think if the name would come across as capable and smart on a resume (because some just seriously don't). My boys are Mason Samuel and Nolan Quinn. For a girl (if we ever have one), I love Tessa and Claire. As for my own name, I like it now, but when I was about 3 or 4, I went through a serious phase of HATING my name and insisted that my parents call me Nurse Jenny Smith (and yes, it was a proper name and must be said just that way, with job title included....oh, and no, our last name wasn't Smith)
ReplyDeleteoh I keep a "Names I Like List" in the nots of my iPhone. every time I come across a name I like, I add it. I'm very lucky to have some great family names too...
ReplyDeleteI'm constantly dreaming of our future children's names! I really love the idea of incorporating family names with some offbeat romantic ones. For a girl, I love Isabella Bernal--Isabella would make for some great nicknames (Isa, Izzy, Bella) and Bernal is one of my mexican grandmother's last names. For a boy, I love Alden David--Alden has such a poetic ring to it, and David is a long standing family name.
ReplyDeleteWe'll see if these names make it into our family tree!
i LOVE these!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI love names that are traditional and in the family. And not hard to know how to pronunce. My personal top list is - girls:
ReplyDeletePiper
Weatherly
Beatrix
Merrick
And boys:
Emerson
Merrick
Lars
Hammish
I know that some are a bit offbeat - but they are old country and that is something I adore!
I like old-fashioned names. For a boy: Wyatt, Henry, Archer. For a girl: Helen, Lila, Cecilia. Obviously, none of these are OUR baby names. (Yes, we already have baby names, even though we're not starting a family for awhile.) But I prefer to keep those secret. *wink* xo.
ReplyDeletep.s. Regarding the blind date test: If I was set-up with a guy named Toby, I would think he was smart, possibly nerdy (in a good way) and a loyal friend. xo.
Our favourite for a boy is Carl; for a girl, Theresa.
ReplyDeleteWe also love Soren and Gemma for a girl, and Adam, Owen and Samuel for a boy.
my son is ethan, not a family name but i just knew he was an ethan. i also loved cole. i wasn't sure what i was having and yes, girl names for some reason were harder. today, i like lavinia (after lavinia fontana, an italian female artist i love). unusual, that's why i like it so much!, i also love elodie that you mentioned to...
ReplyDeleteSummer and River!
ReplyDeleteMy favs! :) I think names related to nature are very cool and strong.
Our baby girl is named Isolde Sophie. We had such a hard time picking the names! Especially boys names! So, luckily for us, we had a girl (although we didn't find out before birth). :) Tobias was on our shortlist for boys.
ReplyDeletei think you went with the right name. but i might be biased :)
ReplyDeleteOoh love thinking of baby names! I have a hard time with boys, but recently thought of one the husband and I agree on: Vance. We also like Clark. But Vance is currently #1. For girls we like Annabelle and Clara. Our last name is kind of weird and hard to pronounce so I want something obvious (but not too popular) for first names.
ReplyDeleteBefore we decided against having children, my fiance and I came up with 3 girls names and 2 boys name: Kenzley, Finley, and Wakeley for the girls and Pax and Saban for the boys.
ReplyDeleteI really love my own name, but I didn't always. I thought it was TOO different when I was little.
ReplyDeleteMy middle name, Fawn, has become a huge part of me now and I adore it.
I even named my daughter Gretchen Fawn -- a little German for my heritage, and a little of me <3
I do think there's a funny question of whom you tell early on if you've picked out a name; relatives and friends can be too quick to judge, but also may point out a bad nickname or rhyme if you haven't thought of it. We don't know yet what we're having, but have already picked Reuben or Zora, depending. But we don't want to tell anyone yet even though we feel so sure!
ReplyDeleteI love non-traditional (but not weird) first names. For a boy I would love the Irish name Eoin. (Pronounced like "Owen.") But I definitely want name my future sons' middle names after my grandfathers, Arthur and Carl.
ReplyDeleteAnd I kind of love French names for girls - Madeleine, Sophie, Clémence...
For boys I like Micah, Judah, Harvey, Sheppard, Adam, Jones and Cedar.
ReplyDeleteGirls are a little tougher but I like Lucy, Maggie, Emma, Charlie, Lulu and Fay.
I could never name my kid anything that reminded me of ANYONE. My husband likes Olivia but my horrible college roommate was Oliva. He also likes Ben and Ethan but both are from Lost. Can't do it.
Toby is adorable but I wouldn't be able to get Toby from The Office out of my head!
I'm from Denmark and I like really old Nordic names.
ReplyDeleteGirl:
Ingrid
Dagmar
Vigga
Wilma
Alma
Esther
Kajsa
Elsa
Boy:
Aksel
Sylvester
Waage
Svend
.... boy names are so much harder :-)
Oh my favorite game! lol
ReplyDeleteLucas Mikhail
Melana Marie
Eleanor Rose
I love all sorts of girls names, but boys names I'm struggling with!! In English I like Matthew, but that's all. I think if I have a boy I will probably go with the Spanish name, Ayose.
ReplyDeletewhat a fun topic! i'm sort of dying to having kiddies (but should probably wait until after our fall wedding to start trying for that ;)
ReplyDeletehasn't stop me and the fiance for discussing it though!
our favorites are:
amelia
eleanor
john harrison
arthur
quinn
its a mix of family and old style names ;)
We find out in 7 weeks if we're having a boy or girl and we can't wait! It's our first baby and we picked the names out the day we found out we were just too thrilled! We love Liam for a boy and Ophelia for a girl. It's so fun to look at names and imagine your baby with that name :)
ReplyDeleteEmaline. Like the Ben Folds song. That's all I've got haha :)
ReplyDeleteI also love old-fashioned names - the ones that everyone knows, but you don't hear as often. Margaret (Maggie) is one of my favorite girl's names, and I love Neal/Neil for a boy (that's a family name on my side, too).
ReplyDeleteI've always thought that if I were to have a girl I would name her Amelia. I love the name. It's sweet and has a vintage feel to it. Plus, it's strange, but I tend to form really close connections with people who's names begin with "A"...my boyfriend's name is Antoine and my closest friend in the worlds name is Amanda.
ReplyDeletewow, toby's friends got some great names! a few that i like are alexia, leia, chloe, naomi, alexander.
ReplyDeleteOur baby boy is 15 months old and we named him Frederick Avery. Fred after my grandfather, and Avery to contemporize it a bit.
ReplyDeleteFuture baby names include Felix (another family name), Helena (after great-grandmas Lena and Helen), Imogene or Vera Rose (Rose is my mother's name).
i love those older names like Louisa (which apparently died in 1970 according to Baby Name Voyager)... ( : We think boy's names are much easier, although I'm sad that names that I thought were unique (Miles, Jackson), aren't anymore!
ReplyDeleteWe have a boy (Noah Thomas) and two girls (Hazel Faye and Olive Beatrice). I also love the name Eleanor for a girl and Benson for either a boy or a girl.
ReplyDeleteI think a lot of the names my fiance and I like are on here, already (like Eleanor).
ReplyDeleteWe've disagreed on plenty of names:
- he loves the name Helmut (his last name is Kiser - I am not naming a kid Helmut Kiser!)
- he doesn't like Max or Bella (or anything at ends in -ella), which I like a lot
- he likes names like elizabeth, ashley and samantha which feel so 80s to me
We both like Otto for a boy (or Jack or Sterling which are family names on my side). Girls we like Eleanor and Franka.
After 14 years of Rowan Edward and 10 years of Lola Sophia we are still madly in love with our childrens' names. Although when we picked Lola, both of our parent thought we were kidding. Even up until seeking her birth certificate! Sailor was on own "short list" for boys as well!
ReplyDeleteI prefer traditional names. My top boys names are Peter and James. I dislike the stranger names because they seem overshadow the people themselves. I, too, like Sophie, but Samantha is awesome-I'm not just saying that because it's my name! I used to not like it because everyone called me Sammy, but now I picture Elizabeth Montgomery. Although she should have kicked Darren's ass a lot more, she's still b(w)itchin'.
ReplyDeleteI love the name Kaiden, or Kayden for a boy. I also love Carter. I think I like the names that aren't as common. But I like that blind date theory...haha such a great idea!!!
ReplyDeletewww.melstevens1.blogspot.com
One note of caution, we have a surname that begins with a "D." Lola Sophia has intials LSD embroidered on her backpack = fail. Maybe her generation won't know what LSD was first.
ReplyDeleteFunny that you mentioned the name Zelda, because my boyfriend and I have already picked that name for our first girl. For me, personally, I think it's an amazingly grand-sounding name. Fully of mystique. It's so royal and ancient sounding. For the record I did not get this name from the video game. F. Scott Fitzgerald's wife's name was Zelda...
ReplyDeleteAnother name we love is Arcade. Very unconventional, I know. He was playing a video game called Fallout: New Vegas, which has a character named Arcade Gannon. I think it's a cool, hip name, that also holds a bit of the grandeur that Zelda does. Plus, A to Z, and the 'd' sound unifies them well.
"My children, Arcade and Zelda." I SO hope we have a boy and a girl so they can have those names. I also hope that we still love them in a couple years when we have kids. I just hope they're not too weird, you know what I mean?
Girl names are tough! The only girl name I truly love is Olive. The list for boy names is longer: Sebastian, Nathan, Oliver, and Charlie.
ReplyDeleteI love the title of this book! My son Max's middle name is Atticus!
ReplyDeleteI like names from my grandmother's era; I feel like they'll stand out between the Mackenzies and Cheyennes and Dakotas. We want to name our future daughter Nora Jane, after both our grandmothers, but for boys, I also love Charlie. I also like Rowan, Hugh, Elias or Eli, Bartlett (a family surname) and scores of others.
ReplyDeleteA friend who also loves throwback names has scoured old ship manifests and gravestones to get inspiration!
We named our son Elliott. He is now 8 1/2 months old. It's cute, fairly classic, and I didn't even remember at the time that it's the name of the little boy in E.T.
ReplyDeletePlease keep up with Motherhood Mondays! I love them.
My husband and I were having this conversation last night as we fell asleep. I am currently on pregnancy bed rest for another 100 days or so (which is why I have the leisure of commenting!) due with our baby boy #2 in August. Our first baby boy is Samuel Anthony....we are partial to strong boy's names with a family connection somewhere in the mix. For this one, we are considering Thomas Adams, Andrew Thomas, maybe Anthony, maybe Adam. All family names. Choosing a good name is HARD!! (And in response to your last Monday post, I was relieved that this one is a boy, too...we have all sorts of cute clothes, and my step-daughter can still be her dad's only little girl, even if she is 15!)(And did I mention we only have four more years of teenage girl drama with two little boys in the mix now?!)
ReplyDeleteBoth of my girls (Emma and Annie) are named after our great grandmothers. My maiden name is Quinn and I would love to use it if we have a third. My name (Morgan) is a last name in our family, as are two of my brother's names (Parker and Brooks). I love the tradition of using family names. The name Toby makes me think of someone who is sensitive, sweet, and has a great smile.
ReplyDeleteWe named our son Griffin William. The blind date game is perfect. You might also like the Nickelodeon Parents Connect site for baby names: http://babynamesworld.parentsconnect.com/meaning_of_Griffin.html
ReplyDeleteYou can find out all kinds of fun information. It even has a section where they show you all the ways kids might twist your poor child's name to tease them. We thought our kid could survive Griffyndor or Griffyndork, ha! It also polls people with that name to see if they like the name. Endless fun for baby name search.
Also, another really addictive website is Behind the Name. If you want your baby to have a name that means "water" or something, you can find one, in probably more than one culture too!
ReplyDeleteThe blind date idea is great! My mom suggested another way to test drive a name: when meeting someone new who you know you'll never see again (for example, on a plane), try introducing yourself as that name and see how it feels and how they respond. It's a good way to experience the name as your future child might.
ReplyDeleteWe ended up naming our son a unique name. At first I was hesitant, but the deciding factor was that my husband loved it so much. I felt that, ultimately, a father should get the final say on naming his son. (And a mother on the daughter!)
I have a lot of family names that I love. Like Gilbert [SO LOVE THIS NAME] and Grady for boys. Middle names Maria or Irene, for girls, but I LOVE french sounding names for girls as well. Elodie is a gorgeous name, but I really like the name Lila as well. It's just sweet.
ReplyDeletehttp://annawalker1992.blogspot.com/
Oh PS
ReplyDeleteI would totally name my kid Atticus! :D
To Kill A Mockingbird anyone?
http://annawalker1992.blogspot.com/
oh baby names!
ReplyDeletegirl: Elliot, Eleanore, Margo, Tess and Jane
boy: Oliver (Ollie), Henry (though, this is my dogs name), Ian and Alexander
i'm having a girl in 6 weeks and still can't decide on a name for her! our shortlist: Nina, Lily, Margot, June
ReplyDeleteI'm so happy to see that my favorite boy name has yet to be written. I don't know why, but the only person I've told the name to is my boyfriend, and he loves the name... we plan on keeping it a secret until we actually have a kid one day.
ReplyDeleteThere are so many beautiful girl names though. I'd want to make it something uncommon. My name is Arielle, and I know about 5 girls with my name. My parents almost named me Peri. I'm glad they went with Arielle, but Peri isn't too shabby either.
I think they tricky part is that you think it is unique and then, oops it isn't. Henry is the only kid in his class with a duplicate name (well he and the other Henry.) Now he thinks his name is spelled H-E-N-R-Y-M. And our first trip to the park with Gus, of the 15 kids there, THREE were named Gus....one "just Gus," one middle name August going my Gus, and our Augustus going by Gus. Oh well!
ReplyDeleteI love Lacey for a girl.
ReplyDeleteThe book looks better than it is; it's not literary enough for those who truly want a literary name. I was really disappointed in it.
ReplyDeleteI really like the name Eloise or Vera for a girl (with Jean for her middle name) and Grady or Wendell for a boy (with Lawrence for his middle name). I love old, out of date names. Not so much for crazy made up names or names that used to be random nouns lol
ReplyDeleteI like both traditional and offbeat names but since I don't have kids I'm not sure what I'll follow through with when it's time :) Julian has been on my list for a boys name for years and I also like Luke, James and Caleb. For girls I like Delaney, Mia, Caroline, and Laurel. I think that's a great idea about the blind date and something else (obviously) to consider are last names - mine ends in an "S" so I don't want any first names that also end in an "S"
ReplyDeleteI love boys names for girls: Ryan and Charlie. Although I also love older sounding names like Bernadette, Vivian, and Bianca. Boys names are tougher for me so I have nothing to add there. :-)
ReplyDeleteI love the stories behind the names people give to their children. My fiance & I couldn't agree on ANYTHING. Everything I suggested got shot down, and I was finally so over it that I jumped at the first "normal" name he suggested.. and Emma, it was.
ReplyDeleteI like names that have been off the radar for a while, but the kid won't have to spend their whole life correcting other people's spelling and pronunciation of their name. I like Violet, Beatrice, Charlotte and Eloise for girls, and for boys I like Henry, Reid and Charles. I like giving the child an option for a nickname to better suit their personality. Like "Charlie" for either Charlotte of Charles, "Bea" for Beatrice, and either "Elle" or "Ellie" for Eloise.
ReplyDeletexox
My daughter's middle name is Meriwether (it's a family name for us)... I've never met another, so I love that Toby has a little friend with that name!
ReplyDeleteWe named our little girl Inge pronounced (In-ga) after her German great grandmother, and 6 months in I'm amazed how appropriate it is for her. I wonder how much our children adapt to their names, or if parents have a sense of their child's personality and name appropriately.
ReplyDeleteis it bad to already have baby names in mind even with no husband in site? it's probably from bouncing baby name ideas with my friends who do have kids :)
ReplyDeletei love traditional names like beatrice, eleanor and miriam, especially because their nicknames translate well in the modern world (i've heard bette, betty and reese for beatrice and ellie or ella or eleanor, and i've always love mimi (probably b/c it's my middle name)
i also like to incorporate my african background, so i love the names sangwani (happiness) and malaika (angel)... ordinary words in english, but sound beautiful in their native tongues (tumbuka and swahili).
i love the names Ezra, Emmanuel and Isaiah for boys.
Okay, back to the monday grind!
I love Jane and Aiden...
ReplyDeleteI have always had a secret little list going in the back of each of my journals since I was 10. I'm most drawn to names from the different cultures in which I've lived. Having a multicultural marriage and living in a diverse European city has its perks - none of these are too crazy!
ReplyDeletegirls-- Raewyn, Siena, Noor, Bea, Anouk, Melati, Zadie
boys-- Ransom, Justus, Remy, Ischa, Dewa
My hubby and I are waiting a few years to have kids, but we've been talking names since our dating days. Names we love:
ReplyDeleteJulian, Jackson, or Gryffin for boys.
Gemma, Sophia, or Ivy for girls.
I think that figuring out names helps you envision a time when you will be a parent, which has helped us as a couple focus on the future with positivity when we feel frustrated with the present. Financially, we want to be prepared for our kids, so talking about using this time alone to work towards that future gives us hope and motivation.
I am choosing to stay child-free, but lots of friends/family are having kids now. The names range from hipster (rocco, cyan) to classic (leah) to retro-cool (veronica, gerald).
ReplyDeleteI tell people the names I like all the time because I know they'll only ever become cat or dog names, anyway! :) I like names that are classic/older: jane, inez, hazel; samuel, parker, fredric.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWe are a bit crazy.
ReplyDeleteWe want our son's first name to be "Waits" as in Tom Waits.
We also like Abraham, and my husband like Otis (like Otis Redding).
And for a girl we like June. It's my mom's middle name.
I've only met a handful of people with my name, Clíodhna (pronounced Clee-ah-na), and very few spell it the same way I do. It's an Irish name so it can be a bit tricky when travelling...but I'm glad my parents chose it because it's nice to be the only Clio in the class and school,
ReplyDelete(there were five hannah's in my year in school...not fun) not to mention that it's a cool name :)
I love the name toby too, great choice! it must be such a hard decision to choose a name he'll have forever!
My parents tried to choose names which were neither too popular nor too strange. I think they succeeded...I don't run across too many other people named Kristina (especially with a K).
ReplyDeleteI like the name Alyse (pronounced Uh-leese) for a girl, but don't know how to spell it so people wouldn't think it was Alice.
One of my friend's friends just named their baby boy Sawyer. I'm in love with the name! But I don't know if it would be appropriate to use since I am distantly acquainted with the parents. How distant does a relationship need to be for a person to use the same name?
Still a long way out for me, but this is always a fun game. I grew up with a somewhat unique name (Laina) and have always loved it. What I like most about it, is that I feel it's a name that transitions well from childhood into adulthood. This is something I would definitely want for my children as well.
ReplyDeleteFor girls: My top name is Audrey Elizabeth - family name (& timeless in my opinion) and tied for second are Elodie & Elise because both are beautiful and I love the nicknames "El" and "Ellie"
For boys: Noah, Nathan, Jack,and Sebastian
I love rarely heard older names! Our son was either going to be simon or oskar. He ended up oskar & i love his name. His sister... Due any day now will be either adelaide or tallulah...we'll see!
ReplyDeleteI do something similar to the 'blind date test'... I imagine them at the age of 40 with this name. I'm not at the baby stage yet (but everyone else I know is) but if I was here is my number one name:
ReplyDeleteSloane! (If you want to take it, go for it, it's awesome!)
My fav names:
ReplyDeleteLenah-Jamia
Jarya
Oriola
Willem
Alexandrya
Ryana
Liney
Jibillsa
I have played the baby name game in my head many times, but my choices are narrowing now that I have been an elementary school teacher for a few years. I would see how quickly trends come and go (one year, three Mekenzie, Mackenzie,Makenzies!). There is also the problem of having a, shall we say "difficult" child in the class the whole year and names that I had loved since childhood would give me a shudder down the spine if I heard them in passing. Now my list of fifty or so favorite names has whittled down to under ten. I better get pregnant before my remaining names are tarnished forever. :)
ReplyDeleteWe just named our baby girl Josie but we call her Jo!
ReplyDeleteMy husband & I have been in love with the name "Emma" for years, but then we learned how popular it was & just couldn't do that to our kid. Shucks.
ReplyDeleteThe mister now likes the name "Terra"-- pretty cool, but I can't shake the thought of... certain celebrities (with different spelling).
All my little name hang-ups are ridiculous, I know it.
I love all kinds of names... Brennan, Liam, Carter, Laney, Hadley, Reagan, Eleanor, Oliver (call him Olly!), Theodore(call him Teddy!), Thatcher, Leo,Lee,Noah and Fletcher just to name a few!
ReplyDeleteI like William Asa, but call him Asa. And for a girl, I like Elizabeth Drake, but call her Eli (not like the popular girl name, but that sounds like "eye").
ReplyDeleteI like less well-known names with meaning. My name is not too common - Nina and I loved it growing up but did not love the fact that my mother had no story behind my name "you looked like a Nina" uh yeah it means little girl I hope I freaking looked like a little girl!!!
ReplyDeleteso my son's - Asher - was picked out many years ago as I perused names for my now 15 year old niece and what they meant. his means Happy and/or Mother's treasure. And he is. and his middle name mean's "friend of God" I figure there is not much in life that you can't achieve if you are a happy friend of God.
If I had girls their names were picked many many years ago from a book I loved as a child - Anastacia (Taci) and Victoria (Tori). I might also like Jake (Jennifer Katherine is my sister's name and this would be a nickname)...
I think how can a child be teased by this name? how can it be abbreviated? how can it be twisted and made to sound bad? will they like it when growing up? will they be able to spell them in school? will every person on the phone mess it up when they call? or when you try to spell it out to them? my other sisters who had more common names - Jennifer, Linda, Diana, Erin didn't really like them much...
My thoughts on relatives' names: My grandpa, the most active, young-at-heart grandpa I've ever met, very unexpectedly passed away from a heart attack in the summer of 2007. My aunt, his last daughter to have children, was pregnant with her first baby (and Grandpa was oh-so excited to meet the bundle of joy). The day after my grandpa passed away, my aunt went into labor. The baby girl received the middle name Emmett, which was my grandpa's first name.
ReplyDeleteIn a situation like that, I would have done exactly what my aunt did. Under "normal" circumstances though, I don't think I would ever name my future children after a relative.
Story book characters though, absolutely!
If my boyfriend and I get married and have children (which I think we're both hoping happens :) ), if we have a girl I would want her first or middle name to be Faith, because we met working at an event called Women of Faith. After we met, we were best friends for 3 years...until one night this past winter when we were watching Iron Man and sitting kind of close and sharing a blanket because his apartment was freeeezing..we both realized we'd reached the friend limit that day - the next time we hung out, we kissed, and now we're together! Anyway: If we have a boy, I'd probably want his first or middle name to be Anthony, because Iron Man's real name is Anthony Stark. :)
Hey,
ReplyDeletehere are my results for a good
name for a boy:
Benett or Phil
For a girl:
Merle or Johanna or Josefine.
Johanna and Josefine are the names
of my grandmas. The names are old but so sweet.
I love the blind date rule--genius! It is embarssing how many hours I've spent on the Social Security Administration's baby names site, where you can see what's popular at different times. I was disappointed ot see that one of my favorite names, Sophia, is #4 right now...maybe a little too popular.
ReplyDeleteI love to choose a baby name! Even now I still like to do it, but this time only for my accessories work. It's really fun and yes, addictive! Hehehe...
ReplyDeleteAnyway, my husband and I, we prefer a unique names and we decided to named our babies with the name of cities in the world. We already named our son 'Kairo'. And if we have a baby girl someday, we're going to call her 'Barcelona'.
So, have fun with the names, dear... Good luck! =)
That book, "A is for Atticus" is actually how we chose our son's name. The best part about the book is that is features the nicknames of the names, which makes it really fun! "Griffith" was one of the names and we fell in love with the nickname Griff. So we chose Griffin, because Griffith didn't feel enough like a first name. I'm so excited to choose our future children's names from this book. It's so fun!
ReplyDeleteI once heard a nice idea; When you are deciding on names, go out to your front door and yell a name that you like at the top of your lungs. If you feel awkward shouting the name, chances are you'll feel awkward calling your child to come inside, sometime in the future.
ReplyDeletewww.bethanesque.blogspot.com
what a fun and exciting time for you guys!
ReplyDeleteoooh baby names! when i was pregnant my husband and i could not come up with any girls' names for the life of us, lucky we had a boy! i love classic names that have fallen out of favor - my husband is graham, and we almost had a jr., but settled on leon instead, and paxton is a family maiden name that was passed on as a middle name.
ReplyDeleteI like off-beat but old school names, like Charlie or Sam. My nephew is Jackson or sometimes Jack for short and I love that. I think you're onto some great ones!
ReplyDeleteMy boyfriend and I agreed about a month into our relationship that, when we have kids, he gets first choice naming a boy and I get first choice naming a girl. He came up with Eric, which would be my first choice for a boy, too--awesome! My favorite girls names are Amber, Abigail and Aubrey--I clearly have something going on with A names!
ReplyDeleteI love names that include "unique" letters... I also want to make sure they sound just as lovely in Spanish and Portuguese, two languages I hope my future kids will speak.
ReplyDeleteGirls: Hazel, Vielah
Boys: Axel, Lux (either of these for a girl, too!)
So much fun!
I love all of the names you picked out :) My husband and I have already decided our future childrens name. Well at least the first boy and girl hah! The boy will be Yusef (Joseph in English) after my late father. He always wanted a boy and wanted to name him Joseph. He got three girls instead! And the girl will be Suzanne, after my mother in law. I can't wait for the day that I'll be able to put a face to the name!
ReplyDeleteThat book looks wonderful, wish I'd had it with my 3!
ReplyDeleteI love all baby names, bc I know how important names mean to parents and I couldn't stand when ever anyone would give me negative feedback regarding the names I was thinking of. It's such a personal choice and if people don't have anything nice to say- they shouldn't say anything at all!!
I like my daughter's blended first and middle name of female & masculine- hers is Vivian James. My boys are Jack and Walker. So I'm pretty simple when it comes to baby names.
I LOVE Elliot too! We almost named our son (Jack) that. As far as girls go, I think Enid, Stella and Olivia are darling! I also love Vincent for a boy.
ReplyDeleteGrowing up with a very Armenian name like Garinee I always knew that I wouldn't torture my own offspring with a name that no one could pronounce but when I found out I was pregnant I was surprised to find that I was naturally drawn to Armenian names. I wanted to stay true to my roots but not choose a name so difficult that it would cause my child a lifetime of frustration when meeting new people. I chose to name my daughter Alique (pronounced like Lalique but without the "L"). It means little wave in Armenian and it fits her personality perfectly...small yet mighty :). It's not SO difficult to pronounce and it will always remind her of her Armenian roots.
ReplyDeletei love the name lila for a girl, but won't ever be able to use it because i think it fits a dark-haired babe and my husband and i are both fair.
ReplyDeletewe named our lil' one finley. finn for short. i love the name soo much, even though it wasn't my idea :).
I had a list of names with my youngest but lead with Stewart or Elliott for a girl or boy (I did not find out). I had a girl and named her Elliott. I don't regret the name a lick. We planned to call her Elle or Ellie but Elliott fits. That is her name and we love that it. I hope you love your choice as much as I love ours!
ReplyDeleteoooh i love graham!
ReplyDeleteEric was always my favorite name for a boy, but since I married an Eric I think I got my fix! ;) Now my very favorite boy name is Benoit, but I know E will never go for it. I just love it, and it would go perfectly with our French last name! Sigh. For a girl I have two favorites: First is Ruby. Second, Charis. I want to keep the name "Grace" in my family (it's mine and my grandmother's middle name) so when I found out that Charis is a Greek word for grace, I fell totally in love!
ReplyDeleteIt's fun reading all the names that others love. Why are baby names so fun??
togetherinadream.blogspot.com
My parents named my sister and I after Jackie O and Caroline Kennedy {I'm Jackie Olivia and my sister is Caroline Heather}. I love my name, but tend to love more quirky and offbeat names. For a boy, I love the name Riley, Jackson, or Tyler. For girls, Brooklyn, Dakota, or Rori.
ReplyDeleteMy new favorite name (although my hubby does not like it one bit) is Opal. Opal Love. I love "love" for a middle name.
ReplyDeleteAs for a boy, I'm liking Costa.
Different, I know.
Love dreaming of baby names.
I named my twins: jake gehrig and nate anthony. if we had a girl(s) we would have gone w/ stella,tallulah or lucy. I thought the same as others when i read your question... are you expecting?
ReplyDeleteGirl names are tough. My husband and I struggled with naming our daughter, but ended up naming her Brooke LeMaire Hornberger.
ReplyDeleteWith a last name like Hornberger, we feel that short names are a must!
Girl Names:
Elsa, Sofie, Olivia, Rosalin
Boy Names:
James, Marcus, Scott, Collin
Oh I just LOVE this topic!
ReplyDeleteMy favorites for girls:
Lina
Vera
Loveday (no one else likes this one, but I got it from a fantastic Rosamunde Pilcher novel and fell in love with it)
Cosette
Viola or Violet
Rose or Lily or Cedarose
Flori or Flora or even Florida
Lumin (absolute fav, fiance hates it)
Eliza
Louise or Louisa or Lola
Atherton
Gertrude
Francis (Franny)
Valentine
Della
Jospehine
Boys names:
Leland (absolute fav, fiance hates it -- he likes Buck and Rudolf :)
Valentine (Val)
Parker
Smith (family name)
boys are much harder for me! I just hope that when the time comes, my man and I can agree on something!
It's scary how you can think that you're being original or interesting and then two years later meet quite a few babies with that 'special' name. Without consulting any books or blogs, I thought 'Wren' would be a the perfect middle name. Little did I know that it would become fairly common.
ReplyDeleteMy short list was: August, Ignatius, and Julian. We didn't go with any of these names because when we met our boy, I knew they were all wrong for him. I could never name a child before I met him/her. Granted people often grow into their names, but I can't make that commitment without seeing a bit of the personality shine through.
Three names I love are Benjamin, Henry, and Susanna. But one name that is growing on me, thanks to the Dutch, is Janneke (yawn-a-ka), which means "God's gift"...how sweet is that? Here's hoping that my future husband likes one or more of these names!!
ReplyDeleteOh that site is totally addicting.
ReplyDeleteLooks like my daughter's name picked in 1910 at #31 and is about #220 now. But my son's picked in '05 at #41 and now about #50. So funny that they are total reverse!
I have always been a fan of unique names. For girls I love the name Piper & Kennedy. And for boys I have yet to land on any favorites. But speaking of land-on I do like the name Landon! Student teaching has ruined lots of good names for me...ugh
ReplyDelete& here are some great ones that my friends have named their children:
ReplyDeleteJosephine
Jubilee
Willow
Evelyn
Augustin (they call him "Gus"! Cute!)
I've always liked the names Morgan, Micah or Henry for a boy
ReplyDeleteOlive, Gretchen, Beata, Ilsa, Lotte or Lou for girls
We are expecting our second boy later this summer and just decided upon his name: August Michael (the middle name Michael being for my father; August being a long ago family name, but not in recent past). My husband and I love it, and so do our friends, but all of our relatives we have told, specifically our parents and grandparents, seem to give almost a shudder at the thought of his nickname - Auggie. Apparently it was sort of a Gomer Pyle type name in recent generations. We don't really care - we're still naming him August. And he can go by whatever he likes. But I find it kind of funny, how names cycle and what not, and what certain people expect from just a name.
ReplyDeleteI did a post about it the other day:
http://misterandmississmith.blogspot.com/2011/04/august-michael.html
I had a baby boy on October 27th and his name is Atticus Clay! Our runner up name was Ahab. If Atticus had been a girl she would be called Persephone Rose.
ReplyDeleteOne of the name-tests I thought was funny was if you could see a ten year old saying "This is my best friend_____", Hearing it as if your child had grown to be a Judge ( The Honorable________) and hearing the name as a grandparent's name (Grandma ________)
ReplyDeletePersonally, I like names that are not common but are not... off the wall either, especially ones that sound like the child was born in a time warp in the 60s to hippies. And not going with unusual spellings. As a teacher, I cannot tell you how many ways I've seen some names spelt. My own name is also an unusual spelling and people never say it right either...
Oh, and our first son's name is Parker.
ReplyDeleteI also love the name Braxton - a family name on my side, but my husband refuses to use it, unfortunately.
When we were thinking about girl names for the current baby our top picks were Charlotte, Shay, Zoe and Audrey.
Ooh fun!
ReplyDeleteI love for boys: Noah, Samuel, James, Owen, and Micah
For girls: Lydia, Grace, Sophia, Magnolia (She'd be Maggie), and Melanie.
I love my name Petra because it's pretty unusual here in the states. Not really that common in Sweden either, where I grew up. For my kids I stuck with traditional names, Hanna, Emma, and James. I feel bad for kids who are named weird trendy names!
ReplyDeletePetra
I always make my fiance talk about baby names on long car rides- I could talk about it forever but I think he gets bored after an hour or so.
ReplyDeleteI've been really into genealogy and incorporating old family names into baby names. My favorite girls'name right now is Ella Jayne. Ella was my grandmother's grandmother's name, and Jayne is my mom's middle name, named for her grandmother's maiden name. My favorites for boys are Ethan, James, Peter, and William, just because : )
I love "Harper" for a little girl.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite boys names are Bodie and Joaquin. Girls names are so much harder for me... I loved Juniper until my sister named her dog that (although I guess its my fault because I suggested it), and a friend just named her daughter Ilsa, which I love.
ReplyDeleteI love this topic and this weekly theme! When I was 3, I was my own imaginary friend - and her name was Abbalulah. I added the ah at the end because when my mother would call me Abbalula, I would always correct her and say "no, it's AbbaluLAH." Abbalulah was a snooty diva with many "children." I don't think I could follow my childhood fantasies and name my future daughter that - but it's funny to think about what crazy names little kids will think up.
ReplyDeleteMy mother named me Laura after the Tony Bennett song - but I never really felt like I was named after anything. I love my name and I think it fits me well. Also, I didn't know any Lauras growing up - and I only know a few now - so I feel blessed that I didn't have to grow up as one of a thousand Ashleys or Jennifers (those were the most common in my hometown).
My partner is Italian - so we talk about Italian names as well as American/English names. I have loved Claire forever, so that will be my future daughter's name. I have a MA in Art History, and as a child I fell in love with Vincent van Gogh's work - so I will probably name my son either Vincent or Vincenzo. Plus, I love that Vincenzo and Vincent stem from the Italian (or latin) vincere - which means "to win". Claire in Italian is Chiara - but I feel like that is a little too trendy.
I don't like my partner's name very much(Maurizio) - even though it is pretty common in Italy. When is the last time you met a Maurice? However, I can't imagine an American or English name for him. How can I explain that he looks lie a Maurizio when he's a blond Italian with fair skin? :)
Other names I like:
Thomas (my brother) or Tomaso
Viviana (hmmm, two V names)
Jackson (my family name, but my older cousin took it)
And if I could give my child a non traditional name, it would be November for a girl. It reminds me a little of Amber, and the Nov sound seems romantic.
Elodie is so adorable!
My daughter is Edith (Edie) Caroline, and my son is Eric Mitchell Henry. In my husband's family, the 1st son is given the father's middle name (Louis Richard, Richard David, David Eric (my husband) and my son Eric Mitchell Henry). You have to think 30 years out what a good name will be, so you are essentially naming your grandson, not your son. I gave my kid two middle names so he can have a little agency with the naming process of his own son :-)
ReplyDeleteI also love Elliot, George, Jack, Benjamin, Claire and Eloise.
I'm still a long way from becoming a mom, but there are some that have been on my "baby names" list for a while.
ReplyDeleteGirls: Amelia, Olivia, Lara, Gemma, Lily, Ariadna.
Boys: Joaquín, Bernat and Gonzalo.
xx,
Ale.
http://leblogdeale.blogspot.com
So funny. My husband and I are 5.5 months and just announced our name...Saylor Belle. Definitely like the offbeat names! :o)
ReplyDeleteFun blog topic, btw!
Disagree! We could not come up with a boy's name but a girl's name was no problem! I find boy names terribly hard to like! :)
ReplyDeleteI love Elliott, Roman, Max (Maxwell). Your friend's advice is hilarious, and very useful :)
ReplyDeletethis is such a wonderful and fun post! when my husband and i were expecting our son, we could not agree on any girl names (before we found out we were having a boy), and the only boy name we agreed on was William. and so our son became William Shigeki (my husband is half japanese and Shigeki is his middle name and his late grandfather's first name). I LOVE his name. we call him both Will and William. for our next baby(ies), these are the names i like:
ReplyDeletegirl: Louisa, Cosette, Matilda, or Lauren
boy: Bennett, Desmond, or Charles (which we probably won't use because we already have a William and well . . . that might just be a little too "royal")
We loved non-traditional first names (family sir names) and traditional middles so they could go that direction if they wanted to. Cannon (my oldest) was my grandmother's maiden name and Peyton (my youngest) was a take on my husband's grandmother's maiden name of Patton. Middles are Katherine and Grace.
ReplyDeleteI am finding it a bit eerie but hilarious that this was your post this morning because I woke up today, laid in bed and then took out paper and wrote down my favorite baby names. So I would love to share!
ReplyDeleteGirls: Faye, Evie, Lila, Nelly, Nora, and now Elodie
Boys: Charlie, Oliver, Quin, Adam, Elliott
And recently I heard Toby as a girl's name and I like it for both. I can't wait to be pregnant and actually go through this process!