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Babies: 6 - 9 Months
emilydholmes1
member
Timeless Names
emilydholmes1
member
I quarreled today with a friend about how important I think it is that a name be able to age with a person. It was important to us to pick a name that wouldn't sound ridiculous when our son is 30 years old and a professional. Or when his children's friends address him later in life.
I really wonder about some of the cutesy names I hear. I can't picture them as a "grown up". Did you think about that when you named your kid or does it not matter to you?
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Re: Timeless Names
BFP #1 11/28/09 ~ EDD 8/6/10 ~ DS Born 8/9/10
BFP #2 8/27/13 ~ EDD 5/8/14 ~ Natural MC 9/18/13 at 6 weeks, 6 days
BFP#3 3/28/14 ~ EDD 12/7/14 ~ DD Born 11/21/14
BFP#4 6/15/17 ~ EDD 2/20/18
Yes, I thought about this a lot.
And, as a professional that is very active in recruiting for one of the largest companies in the world, I often scratch my head when I get a resume for someone with a cutesy name. I realize I shouldn't do this but, it's really hard to take someone seriously in the business setting when their resume reads something ridic like Apple.
Obviously I love classic names since my daughter is Katherine Elizabeth. But, I really do think a lot of parents are doing a disservice to their children when they name them horrible, off the wall names.
It was important to me, but I gave DH full naming rights (provided it wasnt anything awful). He picked Ryan. I sometimes wonder if that will age well, but I know it's not a cutesy name, so I think it's ok.
My name is Kathryn Blair and I think it's beautiful and timeless. I really like traditional names (baby #2 will be Emily (for sure) or Henry (hopefully)
Right? And it's hard not to judge the CHILD since it really has nothing to do with them but I swear parents don't think these things through.
There are some realllly cutesy girl names that just bother me because I instantly think "oh that is going to be awesome when you are 30 years old."
That's true too. I mean 40-50 years ago names were definitely different. But that was that generation. But you are right that some names as babies sound bad but as grown ups make more sense.
One of my co-workers named her second daughter Ginger Love.
Um, WTF? Are you trying to raise a child that works the pole?
I totally agree. Job well done.
ITA. We named DS Alexander McKay. I call him Mac (as does my family); DH & his family call him Alexander. But he'll have lots of nickname options to choose from as he ages. And when he's applying for jobs, a resume that says "Alexander M. ____" will be perfectly appropriate for any career.
I think, though, that if you're Gwyneth Paltrow's daughter, your career path may not involve a resume in a pile of hundreds.
I, too, love classic names and love what you did with your name.
I liked the name Ruthie for a girl, but realized there would be a vast emptiness between the cutesy Ruthie for a child and Ruth, which is an older name.
Ha, I read Ginger Love and immediately thought stripper.
Then you said pole.
Win.
Nice. Maybe they foresee a career in film. Adult film.
It was really important to me that my baby had a name that would grow with him into adulthood. I think Charlie is adorable for a baby/toddler (and I think suits my Charlie perfectly) and can still be appropriate as he grows up.
FWIW, Charles is actually his middle name, so if he doesn't like Charles/Charlie as he grows up, he could always go by his legal first name which is James.
DH and I both have names that have a long form, with a shorter "nickname" form (i.e.Nicole --> Nikki). We named DD the same way. I like that my friends and family call me Nikki because it feels more familiar, but I would never use that on my resume, etc. DD will also have that option when she gets older.
I will put Chrissie on a resume even though my name is Christina.
I have never gone by Christina and am not a fan of people calling me that. In fact, my OB called me that throughout my entire pregnancy and was actually scolding me during the pushing stage that I never corrected her to call me Chrissie. I told her that I was used to it from doctors, haha.
I agree with you 100%
We for sure thought of this when picking names.
I'm not sure if my son's name 'qualifies' as cutesy or not - I think it is a strong name and not very common.
Is it bad that I thought of this (the cutesy factor) more with our girl name choice than our boy name? Our girl name choices were less 'unique' than our boy name. Does that make sense? (i'm tipsy)
Your tipsy quote cracked me up.
No, I don't think so, but it's hard to say without you name ideas.
DH and I were on the same page for girls' names, but boys names, not so much. I wanted classic, strong names and he was more for trendy names.
Shut up. Nope, never knew that.
And yeah, I think you can be original with a name (like Spencer) without it being ridiculous (like Jadren... heard that one today). Apologies if that is a bumpie's childs name. But really.
We thought A LOT about classic names. I wanted something that was recognizable but still fairly unique because I personally have a VERY COMMON NAME.
Remington Alexander will be a good name. Remy for short, and hell, if he get's annoyed with Remington, he can always go by Alexander.
We picked Ophelia Rose for a girls name. It's from Hamlet. Both my husband's & my favourite Shakespearean play.
I really do feel bad for kids with crazy names. I grew up on an Native Reservation for the majority of my childhood. I heard everything from Princess to Black Hawk. Which is fine for their culture, but in the normal everyday world, they will be judged on their name.
Here's to nicknames based on middle names! We do that, too. And actually, my dad has always gone by his middle name, too. I think it's cool to actually get some use out of a middle name.
We actually decided he'd go by his middle name because his first name is a family tradition (he's the 4th James on my husbands side) so I figured there were too many Jims/Jimmy/James around.
I must say it's confusing though at the dr's when they call James in. I always sit there for a few seconds.
Yeah, I've always wondered. Did you name your son after that tv character?
I have the same problem.
And actually, we got so used to telling everyone his first/middle name while I was pregnant that DH and I both repeatedly write in his first/middle name, no last name, on the sign-in sheet.
I think it's telling how few people have responded to this post. I would never give my child a cutesy name. I tend to think most girl names are cutesy. For that reason we gave J the full name of Josephine so she could have the choice later in life. If we have another and it's a boy he will be Dominic nn Dom and a girl will likely be Cecelia or Francesca. I think this whole made up smushed names or made up ones ending in -lyn, -aden and surnames as first name trend will make for some very unhappy kids in about 15 years.
I am on the baby names board a lot and you should see these poor names these kids are going to receive. My new favorite is a little girl I met named Tucker. I wanted to cry for her.
Francesca Pearl is here! Josephine Hope is almost 3!
I really love the name August!
I have to admit that I have a family friend who had a son in October and used the name August. I didn't love it at first, not sure why. But now that I see it with photos of your little August, I like it more all the time!
What is with that? I know plenty of girls' names were originally last names and/or boys' names (e.g., Meredith), but I don't like all the recent conversions.
I do, however, like "boy nicknames" for very feminine girl names, like "Jo" or "Joey" for "Josephine" or "Alex" for "Alexandra" or "Alexis" or "Frankie" for "Francesca."
I like the boy nicknames too and if H wasn't a Joe, Josie would be Joey. We love Frankie too, which is why we like Francesca.
Anywho, I don't know what's with the surname trend. And now some obvious boy names like Logan and Mason are becoming GIRL names. It makes me sick for those poor boys getting made fun of because these stupid girls parents couldn't find a suitable female name for their daughter. I blame soap operas and Grey's anatomy.
Lurk on the Baby Names board and you will see some doozies. I've seena few recent posts about parents who go into delivery with one "unisex" name that is really a boy's name. These poor little girls will think their parents just didn't want a girl. But, there is no reasoning with stupidity.
Francesca Pearl is here! Josephine Hope is almost 3!
Donovan is sort of a trendy, yuppie name but it's not something that I would look at the resume and say "Oh that kid was born in 2010". I think that's what posters are talking about. If you saw a Jaxon or Madison you'd likely know they were of this current generation. I think the cutesy names we're seeing are things like: McKenna, Karsyn, Paytyn, Emerson. These are not timeless names, IMO. especially the extraneous y's and such.
BTW- I love the name Donovan so I am not putting it down.
Francesca Pearl is here! Josephine Hope is almost 3!
I know I am really late, but I just wanted to add that this was really important to us as well. Lex's legal name is Alexander Thomas III. I put a tremendous amount of thought into what nickname we would use for him. I figure even though he has a very cutsie nickname that gets a lot of crap from people, at the end of the day it doesn't get any more timeless than Alexander Thomas.
Also, I think it is more important for boys to have a timeless name. It's just my opinion, but I think girls can get away with having a cutsie name later on in life.
I love the nickname Lex. I suggested it as a nn, but DH vetoed it.
I think girls with cutesy names will likely have problems, depending on their career fields, but it depends on who's reading resumes.
We chose Ezra because it met all of our criteria. It's not a new or made-up name (it's old -- biblical old), it's not incredibly popular, and it fits as a kid's name and an adult's name.
For the most part, half say, "Oh, Ezra...that's interesting." I assume this is code for "Weird name." The other half usually recognize it from the old testament.