Name Discussion

trisholio

I am curious if everyone has names picked out for their children. Or also if you have children, how did you pick out their names?  

I would love if people are willing to share their names for their current or future children.  I love to hear other peoples ideas and reasons for picking the names.  

wishiwaspreggo

For now our top two names are Graham (for a boy) and Evelyn (for a girl). 

Both names sound strong to me, like they'll grow into reliable and independent adults.  The names are also super cute for babies I like that I'd be able to call my girl Evie (it's cute and frilly) but she can just as easily ask to be called Evelyn (which sounds much more serious - so she can be taken seriously).  I'd probably end up calling my son Gram-gram or something just as silly that he'll beg me not to call him in public.  But again, Graham is someone you take seriously.

C and I have seriously contemplated names because of our experiences growing up.  My last name is spelled in such a way that most people pronounce it "Booger."  And I have haaaaaaaaaaaaaaated my last name with every waking second of my life.  I'm switching my last name to C's last name after I get KU.  Our child will NOT be a Booger.  I was worried about telling my parents this but they both whole-heartedly agree with our decision.  My mom says she'd never wish our name on anyone lol... Not that I don't love our family, but our name is truly unfortunate.

C goes by a common nickname but her full name is not usually taken seriously, and I have yet to meet someone who shares her full name.  When we were applying for jobs right out of college, she'd never get called if she used her full name, but would frequently get called when she used her nickname.  When I told my mom her full name, she exclaimed "That sounds like a chandalier!" That cracked me up... poor C But anyway, my point is, as parents we are setting our kids up for the future.  When people hear your kid's name, they're going to have assumptions about their character whether true or false.  Having both grown up with unusual or difficult names, we understand how important it is and we want our kids to not struggle with explaining their name's origins or face discrimination because of what we chose to call them.

Sorry, that ended up being more long-winded than I expected, but it's important to me.

AandStilltrying

Currently in the running if we are ever lucky enough to get pregnant:

Girls:
Sydney Rayanne
Emma Lee

Boys:
Jeremy Thomas (Thomas was my dad's name)
Thomas Wayne (my dad's 1st name and Sarah's dads middle name).
Tyler Wayne
Brandon

Jazibel

Let's see we like "interesting" names.

For boys in the past we've considered

Giovanni (nicknamed "Geo")
Dante

But both were perhaps a little too creative to be a good match with our last name which is effeminate and begins with a G.

EV picked the name Kaden and Alexander is her brother's name.  Kaden Alexander G.  We liked that Kaden was alternative but still sounded strong and would be easy to pronounce and understand.  We've since met a ton of "Kaden's" in the under 5 age range.

We like Own Scott for our second boy - but we'll see if it sticks. Again EV picked Owen and Scott is my family name.

For girls these were some of the last ones on our list:

We ended up liking Avalon Josephine (Ava for short) and Joseph is my fathers name

Amaya
Amina
Adara
Coralia
Coralis
Cordelia
Pearl
Violet (middle name)
Coraline **

Avalon Pearl
Avalon Camille
Avalon Colette
Avalon Clara
Avalon Isabel

wishiwaspreggo

@Jazibel - I LOVE Coraline but my only worry is that people would call her "Caroline."  Which wouldn't be the end of the world but it would annoy me (and probably her, too).

firstcomeslove2013

C and I are always talking about good names. We think at this point we'll go gender neutral for any children we have. C has a feminine born name and really hates it. We also love names that are gender neutral!

Manada

We have three names picked out for our kids - all of which are fairly gender neutral.   We aren't sharing them - mostly because it's really easy to be like "ew!  I hate the name kjldfsaj" vs. holding baby dlkjfdkl in your arms and trying not to coo! 

I have lots of gender-specific names that I love, but it is really important to H that we choose something that's not too "girly" or "masculine" for our kiddos.  Plus the names we have are lovely and are names that we would love even if we weren't aiming for a non-gender specific name.  

We came at them all differently.....   One is a sort of lingering "joke" that evolved into a decent name through us joking around one day about combining family members' names.   One is the name of someone (a queer woman) who we admire, like and who does some really great work in the city where we live.   And the last one is one that I'd heard before, and is one of those old European names that doesn't get used anymore - but has a lovely ring to it.  

StacyLH24

We have one name picked out for each.

Liam Keaton for a boy. I have always loved Liam as a name and C got on the bandwagon easily. My Mom came up with the middle name and we both love it.

For a girl, it would be Morgan Grace. C's youngest brother was expected to be a girl and that was the name picked. We would like to use it since he ended up being a boy. My SIL is the one who originally came up with the name. She was very excited when she learned we want to use it.

Beyond those two, I have no idea what we would do for names.

ATXmommas

Z and I have had a difficult time with names. Z is from a Hispanic background (Mexican) and I'm Caucasian. Her parents/family are primarily Spanish speaking, so it's important we find names that both families can pronounce. Plus, Z is a bit more of a traditionalist than I am.

We named our loss baby Daniel Robert. We both loved the name Daniel and I love the English and Spanish pronunciation. Robert is my dad's name.

Daniel will be this baby's middle name. The first name we have in mind is Sebastian (Z's pick). We have a long last name, and my initial reaction was that Sebastian is too long. So, if we end up choosing Sebastian, we will likely call him by a nickname. Ash is what I'm thinking. For some reason, I'm not committed yet, so we'll see what happens when he gets here. Some people we have told love Ash, while others seem to have the reaction Manada speaks of. I think that's why I'm hesitating.

I think we'll end up having two boys and right now boy #2 will be Jude. No reason, just love the name.

Girl name is Eden Vanessa. Eden because I love it and Vanessa is Z's mn. And, initials would be EVE, which I love. Don't think we'll ever get to use it, though!

trisholio

We started talking about baby names early on in our relationship.  We are lucky to have found that we have a lot of family names in common.  We both had a girls named already in mind and we agreed to allow each of us to name one child.  It was a little more difficult to come up with boys names, but I think we have found two at this point.

Girls:

Addalyn Elizabeth (my wife has always loved the name Addalyn and Elizabeth is my moms middle name along with my wife's grandma's name)

Alivia Marie (I have always loved Olivia and we decided we liked both names to start with A.  Marie is my middle name and I have always loved it for my little girls name)

Carter Johnson (We like the name Carter and Johnson is my moms maiden name)

Cooper Edward (once again we wanted two boy names that started with the same letter and Edward is my gi-pops name, he was also gay and passed away 10 years ago.  Edward is also my wife's dads name)

ATXmommas

themommymonster said:

DS is Carl Joseph. He was named after DPs maternal grandfather. Carl is a family name for them. I did not love it when we discussed names, but grew to love his name toward the end of pregnancy. I could not imagine him as anything else. If he had been a girl he would have been Emily Michele.

We are not planning a second, but if we did these would be our front runner names choices:

Girl:
Agnes
Ruth
Edith

Boys:
Walter
Ralph
Theodore

We like "old" names.

I like old names too, but not Z's style. My friend names her caught Lydia, and I love it!

Greysmom13

My little man's name is going to be Greyson Sterling.  Greyson evolved over the months that I have been pregnant, and Sterling is an old family name.  I think Greyson is old sounding, and I have been told it is a very strong sounding name which I like.  I first wrote his name down a few weeks ago when I was filling out paperwork to get him added to my insurance after he makes his grand entrance and I loved it!

ball.and.chain

We do have a girl name and a boy name picked out.  When we started planning on a double transfer, we talked second names and we did come up with a second girl name but no second boy name.  Because we can't come up with a second boy name, I'm convinced we will have two boys (probably not from one pregnancy at this point).

Girl first name is my grandmother's middle name, which is a name we also just like.  Girl middle name is my MIL's first name (we wanted to honor my wife's family in each name bc the kids will get my last name).

Boy first name is a name I have just always liked, and my wife agreed.  Boy middle name is my MIL's maiden name, which also happens to be a not-uncommon boy name.

I have shared with a few close friends, but for the most part we aren't sharing the names, especially with family.  This is partly because of what Manada says; our names are not the type I expect some family members to like and I just don't want to hear about it until it's on the birth certificate and too late to change our minds.

KH826

We have two girl names that we love and a third girl name that is also in the running at some point. Of the girl names that we love, we know which one we would choose for our first daughter already though, so that would be easy.

We have really struggled with boy names and have changed our minds several times. There is one name that I REALLY am loving lately, that my wife just feels "eh" about... There is a boy name that my wife likes quite a lot for a first name, that I would prefer for a middle name.

All of our names are family names... After our respective maternal grandmothers, a great-aunt on my wife's side, my wife's father, my maternal grandfather, etc. They are not all the exact same name as our family members had -- some are family member's nicknames that we will use as a full name, others are slight variations of family member's names.

I have felt for the last week or so that this baby is a boy -- I don't know why, I can't explain it -- and I know that we will probably go back and forth a bit when it comes to selecting his name if that turns out to be the case. If we have a girl it will be super easy since we are decided and on the same page... for that reason alone it will probably be a boy! HAHA

We might share the name(s) we have selected at some point before the birth, but I am going to say not right now... I actually think that I might have shared some of our names on a previous thread on here months ago before we were pregnant. Now that this is real, I feel like holding our names a little closer to the vest -- again, no rhyme or reason for this!

lamaitresse

We've been putting a lot of thought into names, because it's really important to Smurf that the baby have a Japanese name and an English name. Her parents gave her two English names and she's always wished she had a Japanese name, too.

So for a boy we have picked Kieran Kenji.  I suggested Minoru as a middle name, as that was her dad's Japanese name, but she's not a fan of the actual name. His English name was George, but we don't want to sound like Royal Baby bandwagoners even though we actually like the name. I've always wanted the name Kieran, and it helps that it flows well with our last name. Smurf suggested Kenji and I loved it right away.

We're having a harder time with a girl's name. It will probably come down to either Midori Louise or Elena Midori.  Midori is Japanese for green and also my favourite colour.  Louise was my mother's middle name, but we're not entirely sold. And we're not naming our first son after Smurf's dad so why name our first daughter after my mum...? Elena is a variation of Ellen, which is a very common name in my family (at least one in every generation of my mum's family for about 5 generations back), but a lesbian couple naming their baby Ellen...? It's a bit much. LOL  Also, I am part Argentinean, so it would be nice to give baby a Spanish name.

I can't believe how stressful the naming process is!!

wishiwaspreggo

@lamaitresse - a friend of mine is Japanese, and she and her husband found a few names they liked that could be both Japanese and American.  They picked Megumi for their daughter (Meg/Meggy is her nickname) and they named their son Tyler (Or Taira in Japanese).  

karah0011

Our LO name is Kenley.  She does not have a middle name because our last names are combined she we decided not to have 4 names for her.  We went with the Kenley spelling instead for Kinley because my grandpas name is Ken.  To our surprise he has been extremely supportive of our relationships and loves Kenley so much...(hard core Southern Baptist).  Plus we both work in schools and wanted a unique name that we haven't heard a million times.  

If we have another girl we have NO idea for names...

If we have a boy he will be Cal.  We will see though!

YBnormal85

If this little peanut is a boy we will name him Ezra Christopher ( we like the name Ezra,and Christopher after DWs brother that passed away)

If it's a girl Lennon Joy ( joy is after my aunt)

lamaitresse

@wishiwaspreggo - Megumi is such a pretty name! It did make our short list, but we eventually decided against because my ex's name was Meg. The politics of naming can be intense... I'm beginning to understand why my parents didn't name my sister and I after ANYBODY. LOL

2MamazInSeattle

So, we have some parameters...well, lets be honest...I have some parameters/rules. Please don't take offense if your baby name doesn't follow my rules - these are my things is all.

First, I am a Jennifer of the 70's. There is no way in the world a popular or trendy name will land on our list. I hated my name my whole life growing up, as there were 7 of us in my grade in a teeny tiny town. I felt like I wasn't special at all, and since all my sisters got way cooler names than me (re: less popular - Julie, Megan, Kate), I felt like my parents actually loved them more for a period when I was too young to know better.

J owning a coffeeshop is awesome as we get the trends - go in her shop on a Saturday morning and yell "Sophie!" and watch 9 girls run to you. We loved Theo for a boy, and within 2 weeks she texted me 2 pictures of newborn Theo's. Done, outta here. There are plenty of Seattle entitled d-bag names going around too, we want to avoid naming our child to try to get other adults to think we are cool. I think that happens a lot.

I'm not a fan of "yoo-neek" spellings or made up names. I feel like that is equivalent to naming your kid "hi, my parents needed attention and named me something stupid to get it." or "hi, my parents were trying to hard to make me interesting to you." :P We'll trust our kid to be cool on their own.

So all that said, we lost a boy as most of you know at 16w. We had the hardest time naming him! In the end, we opted not to give him an official name, but stick with our nickname we used because that is the only name we had for him when he died. We did know for sure his middle name would be Maxwell or Montgomery - J was born on Maxwell AFB in Montgomery, so that was our nod to her as she wants the baby to have my last name.

I'm cool to share our names since I don't know any of you IRL and can't see the horrified look on your face, and, frankly, I doubt anyone would take the energy to write me a message just to hate on our names. In the running should we be lucky enough to have a baby to name...

Elliott Maxwell - our totally boy frontrunner all along - though Max is in the "Jennifer" category for me, I'm ok w/it as a middle.

Matilda Louise - Our girl name of the moment, it's not been on our list as long as Elliott, but we love it. This is where I LOVE the spelling Mathilda - but I won't do it to her. Louise is J's gramma who turns 90 in February.

There are a zillion names I love but J veto'd - so that helps keep the list short. @herbabymama, as you know, I will be forever jealous if you get a boy because I love Jonah so much!! and @YBnormal, Ezra is the shee-it. Super cool name!

shelly2314

We have names picked out already. One boy and one girl name so...1. Here's to hoping we are pregnant this month and 2. hoping that we don't have to decide on another name in case  of multiples b/c these took us forever to agree upon LOL.

My father is Jewish so in order to respect that culture we cannot name our children after anyone alive.  Also, I have worked in a school system for 10 years so certain names cause by blood pressure to skyrocket )

We have decided (or come to a standstill) on Michael Foster if it is a boy and Elise Michael if it is a girl.  DW lost her father and his name was Michael so we decided to honor him that way. I wanted to use Michele for the girl, but she was not having it.  So...pick our battles, right? LOL.  Foster is from my father's side so I wanted to honor my family as well.Elise comes from my grandmother. Before she died she threatened us to come back from the dead and haunt us if we ever named our children after her b/c she hated her name (It was Elsie). But she is one of the most important people to me so I wanted to remember her and maybe pass on a little strength of hers so I rearranged the letters to get Elise.  

This is all we have so far. I am sure we will continue to "discuss" the options if the test comes out a BFP (fingers crossed) in two weeks!

wishiwaspreggo

2MamazInSeattle said:

So, we have some parameters...well, lets be honest...I have some parameters/rules. Please don't take offense if your baby name doesn't follow my rules - these are my things is all.

First, I am a Jennifer of the 70's. There is no way in the world a popular or trendy name will land on our list. I hated my name my whole life growing up, as there were 7 of us in my grade in a teeny tiny town. I felt like I wasn't special at all, and since all my sisters got way cooler names than me (re: less popular - Julie, Megan, Kate), I felt like my parents actually loved them more for a period when I was too young to know better.

This made me LOL - I'm a Lindsay from the 80's!!  The same thing happened to me.  My mom thought she was being unique (which I find hilarious now) and she was really dismayed when she found out there were tons and tons of Lindsays (spelled in a variety of interesting ways - thank God my mom didn't decide to get TOO creative).  I will not name my kid something trendy, either.  Evelyn may or may not make the cut (because I know two Evies already - one of them named Evelyn Ruth, actually, and she's a little monster).  But I don't want any child of mine to be one of 3 or 4 in every grade they enter.  And then as an adult it's kind of awkward when I work with a Lindsay.  It's weird addressing someone else with my name.  Maybe that's just me.  I hate starting an e-mail with "Hi Lindsay" or "Hi Lindsey" - it just feels weird!!!  And just think, in 40 years or so our names are going to become old-lady-names like Gertrude and Ethel.  And then in 60 years old lady names will be McKenzie and Olivia.

Also, I just found out my friend is going to name her newborn daughter Kaylee, and all I can think of is Caylee Anthony and it makes me sad.  Along the same vein of not asking intrusive questions, I will also never, ever bring that to her attention but I had to get it out somewhere. 

Amber&Reva

Reva loves the name Bryndal for a girl and she would go by Bryn.  I have always loved the name Charlie for a girl but R vetoed this because my last name is Brown. 

As far as boy names we have had a harder time deciding on one, for awhile we were leaning toward Sawyer but I decided I just don't love the name. 

shelly2314

I love the name Kenley!

shelly2314

herbabymama said:

If this baby is a girl the name will be Cora after K's grandma. If baby is a boy the name will be Jonah. I'll let you all know when I do!

What great names! I have always loved Cora

lamaitresse

@2Mamaz - I TOTALLY GET IT. My name is Katy and I hate it. There were five other Katies/Kates/etc. in my class growing up in England. It wasn't quite so bad after moving to Canada... but the issue I get is CANADIANS MISPRONOUNCE MY NAME ALL THE TIME. They shorten the A so it sounds like "catty." Or I get called Kathy. It's ridiculous. My name isn't even short for Kathryn or any variation thereof. It's just Katy. When I was working at the bank, I went by Kate (because only 6 year olds are named Katy, for serious) and people would always ask me what it was short for. No one believed me when I said it was short for Katy. Wow, I could rant about this for DAYS.

Anyway... may I just say I LOVE the name Elliott Maxwell. That is such a strong sounding name. And there is nothing wrong with having naming rules. We also agreed that we didn't want any "unique" spellings/names... but trying to choose cultural names (also important to us) makes that first rule a bit harder to stick to!

My nephew and his wife had their little girl this morning at 6:31 AM. They have named her Sage Aria... Proud to say plants and musical terminology were never even on my radar as baby names.

2MamazInSeattle

herbabymama said:

@2MamazinSeattle - I eff'ing love you. That is all.

I have so many Jennifer friends from our generation. I have one gorgeous lesbian friend who is half swiss and half persian and has an exotic persian last name. Her name is Jennifer. It is so disappointing. To make matters worse, for years she dated a Jen so they were Jenny and Jen. 

There are names from this generation that will surely generate eye rolls for years to come. I can think of a certain boy name that has rhymes with every beginning letter. Quite unfortunate if you ask me. 

My name is Molly and it is most commonly a dog name in my area. It is very disconcerting when I go to the dog beach here, I am turning my head constantly at being yelled at!