Baby Name "Rationale"

sunset30 · December 2014

My husband and I are having a debate. It means a lot to him to name the baby after a person he admires the traits of. Not anyone we know, he just has like 4-5 athletes and historical figures that have traits that he values a lot and would like our baby to have (hard worker, good person, perseveres, etc.)

My qualifications for a name is that it sounds good/ we like the name, is recognizable (people won't have a hard time pronouncing or spelling it), is relatively timeless and not trendy, and will age well so will suit a child, teen, and adult.

Just curious how others have selected names? He feels my method is too random and I don't love the idea of naming it after some random person we don't even know and will never meet. Names are so tough!

Skrittens · December 2014

We took a mixed approach - honor plus like the name. But - I would not name my kid after an honorable stranger if I wasn't fond of the name.

Our son's first name will be a name we both liked -Greyson- and is also in homage to our cats - 3/4 are gray (we are weird)

The middle names (we have 2 again weird but plan to be one and done and this was important to us) are family names for people who mean a lot to us - he chose one and I chose one.

mermaid1113 · December 2014

For this DD, I found a name I liked, which also happened to be the name of a famous person DH is a fan of so it worked perfect. the MN is to honor my mom.

kelseypie · December 2014

I like your criteria. We have a family name that we live and meets all of the requirements you mentioned, so it's kind of both!

almeyer2013 · December 2014

We have narrowed it down to two names that are both in the family, both normal spellings, and we both like... We are just waiting till we see his sweet face to see if he is a Charlie or Arthur, or if he is someone completely different.

almeyer2013 · December 2014

Initially when I read the title, I thought you were taking of using "rationale" to name your baby... And I was like "lord Jesus! Save this woman from naming her child Rationale.

Whitfry · December 2014

We will veto names if they belong to a person we don't like, lol.

We're naming our son for my FIL. I wasn't able to get to know him for long, but I helped provide hospice care for him, and if my kid turns out half as great I'll be a very proud mother. It was DH's idea and means a lot to him. So that's how we decided on baby J's furst name.

For middle names, DH likes the idea of choosing a name that has connotations of how you'd like your child to be as a person. Hopes for their future. Etc. So we went with that.

All our girl options were actually names of strong female sci-fi characters that we both really love. Which is totally geeky, but also totally us. The names were all standard enough that the references would only be obvious to us, though.

corabrie · December 2014

Our name isn't 100% decided, but we are planning to give our son a first name that we like the sound of and we think is a respectable name. And the middle name will most likely be after my FIL, because he is awesome, and we would love to honor him this way.

We also considered the first name Brooks, after Herb Brooks the coach of US Olympic hockey team when they won the gold. My husband is a huge hockey nerd, and I just like the name.

drudolph11 · December 2014

Middle names were picked first and if it was a boy it would have been SOs grandfather's mn who passed away and for a girl was my grandma's mn who passed away. Then when we found out it was a girl the first name just had to be something we both agreed on and went with the middle name that was already decided. But it was a struggle to finally get a name lol

mangomimosa · December 2014

Your rationale is exactly my own. Thankfully, it was the same for my husband (except he didn't mind if it was trendy -- and DID mind if it was super common despite being classic/timeless). Oh, and he also vetoed religious names. It took us a while, but we settled on Eamon James.

But anyway -- I think it's kind of random to choose some celebrity with personality characteristics you like! Sometimes there are aspects of a person like that that you don't know about because you've never met, and they're actually an asshole. Historical figures are a bit better, but what about finding a name you like and looking at the historical figures who have that name-- then seeing if he can agree? We almost chose the name Beckett (DH wanted it) and I was slightly comforted about it being trendy when I was reading about historical figures with the name.

ngolimento · December 2014

My two criteria where:

Is the name easily mocked/make fun of at school?

Will the name look dumb on a resume?

ruemorgan · December 2014

almeyer2013 said:

Initially when I read the title, I thought you were taking of using "rationale" to name your baby... And I was like "lord Jesus! Save this woman from naming her child Rationale.

yes, this! I'm so glad the thread didn't go that way

ruemorgan · December 2014

My criteria was how the name would sound for a CEO, something professional but would help my child stand out from the rest.

greeneyedgirl23 · December 2014

I have three boys and am pregnant with my fourth!! For me the names were names that I liked , I used some close family members names, some biblical names. My youngest son has his dad's middle name as a first name and his middle name is his grandfathers name spelled backwards which we thought was cool. But it's always hard to compromise.

sunset30 · December 2014

mangomimosa said:

Your rationale is exactly my own. Thankfully, it was the same for my husband (except he didn't mind if it was trendy -- and DID mind if it was super common despite being classic/timeless). Oh, and he also vetoed religious names. It took us a while, but we settled on Eamon James.

But anyway -- I think it's kind of random to choose some celebrity with personality characteristics you like! Sometimes there are aspects of a person like that that you don't know about because you've never met, and they're actually an asshole. Historical figures are a bit better, but what about finding a name you like and looking at the historical figures who have that name-- then seeing if he can agree? We almost chose the name Beckett (DH wanted it) and I was slightly comforted about it being trendy when I was reading about historical figures with the name.

I agree - for the few that are more current I keep worrying that the person will end up in some scandal or something in like 2 years when it's too late to change it. The good news is most of the names he has are relatively neutral and we could say it wasn't after that person but I won't like knowing in the back of my mind he's named after someone sketchy.

Too funny on thinking I would name the baby "Rationale." No, definitely not.

The good news is that I went through my list of names I like and he liked most of them. He actually suggested finding someone with the name he admires. He just doesn't like the idea of our son asking one day "why did you name me this?" and saying that we picked it off a list, and having no meaning behind it.

The bummer is one name we both love (I like the name, it has historical significance to him, and actually has a personal meaning to us both) is Jack. We just don't like how it is so popular now (especially in the form of Jackson).

bdazzld · December 2014

Our first choice ended up being too trendy and is in the top 50--now we have my niece's dog who also shares the name -.-

So my husband offered up Oswin (Dr Who character) as a unique option and I liked it a lot including the meaning--God's Friend-- then adding in a more classic middle name we're leaning towards Josephine or Annette.

No significance to Josephine other than I like the diminutive Josey and it flows well with our last name. Annette is my mother's middle name. She was named after Annette Funicello.

FrecklesInside · December 2014

I REALLY think a child deserves his own name and can develop his own personality outside of the admirable traits of an athlete. I like namesake names in the MN spot, but family names. I honestly don't get namesakes for people you don't even know, especially for a first name.

We choose names that are not super common or popular, but that are classic and that age well. It is important that it is a name with history, that is spelled correctly and that won't be dated in ten years.

greeneyedgirl23 · December 2014

Yeah it's funny you mentioned jack because my youngest suggested we name the baby jack , because he loves jack and the beanstalk which I thought was great. But that is a good name and ppl who name their kids Jackson will probably call them jax( it's so common because of sins of anarchy!!) lol
But I do understand not wanting to name the baby after some random athlete that your husband likes, unless you live the name . With all of this celebrity stuff going on you wouldn't wanna name your baby Ray for instance with the whole ray rice woman beating situation! You know what I mean . I'm sure you'll come to a good compromise, when are you due?

capulet · December 2014

Both our kids have family names as middle names, and #3 will as well. DD's first name is my mom's last name (continuing a tradition of family surnames as FNs on DH's side), and DS is named Lincoln after the president. I like names that have meaning to us that will also age well and suit whatever sex the child is. We haven't settled on anything for #3 yet. We have similar taste in girl names (classic, feminine, not trendy) but boy names are harder. DH in general likes surname-y names a lot more than I do - it's okay with me if they mean something, but a lot of his suggestions for boy names this time are kind of random and don't have the significance our first two kids' names do. We're team green and I genuinely don't care whether we have a boy or a girl, but a girl would be easier to name.

sunset30 · December 2014

@FrecklesInside - the athlete names he's picking for the most part are older ones that are retired / dead (though he has two current exceptions). But I am with you on it being a bit odd to name him after someone we don't know.

@greeneyedgirl23 - I'm due on March 29th so I still have a while......Though I feel like so many March moms already have names picked.

I like the family name idea though there are no names in my family I love and I don't want to show favoritism towards one side or the other (i.e., feel bad selecting my dad's name as a middle name and not his dad, etc.)

greeneyedgirl23 · December 2014

Your only due a few weeks after I am , I'm March fourth. Your right about picking family names , some ppl may get offended. The man I call my father isn't my birth father but he's been around my whole life and was there at the hospital immediately after I had all of my sins. He's just someone I love and admire so much that I wanted to use his name. And j figured with this being my last baby there was no better time! Lol

finallyourturn2 · December 2014

1) not something made fun of easily
2) not weird
3) not too popular
4) not too old lady/old man sounding
5) no names students I have had that were especially a pain in the butt

We ended up with Mariah Grace for a girl and her twin brother still has no name. I wanted sophia Grace and my husband really wanted Mariah so I compromised.

cygnet15 · December 2014

Name meaning (whether inherent or via family namesakes) was the most important thing to me going into the process. We ended up settling on both our maternal grandmothers' names for first and middle names for our daughter. It worked out perfectly since both names also have stand-alone meaning for us and also sound great with our last name.

The only thing that went against how I originally thought I'd make my choice is that DH's grandmother's name (our daughter's first) could currently be considered trendy, as many early 20th century "old lady" names are right now. It is because I love the layers of meaning that our girl's name has for us that I was able to confidently decide that I didn't care.

JenLa21 · December 2014

We choose names we like, and use family names for the middle name. For boys, I prefer traditional or classic names, but for girls I like more unique names. Not weird or misspelled, just not common.

jacqueleen1 · December 2014

I told my husband I had a name picked out for my first boy and girl since I was in high school and if he didnt like them too bad -- this was BEFORE we got married he was informed . I let him pick the middle name and the godparents

ST3WD · December 2014

Whitfry said:

We will veto names if they belong to a person we don't like, lol. We're naming our son for my FIL. I wasn't able to get to know him for long, but I helped provide hospice care for him, and if my kid turns out half as great I'll be a very proud mother. It was DH's idea and means a lot to him. So that's how we decided on baby J's furst name. For middle names, DH likes the idea of choosing a name that has connotations of how you'd like your child to be as a person. Hopes for their future. Etc. So we went with that. All our girl options were actually names of strong female sci-fi characters that we both really love. Which is totally geeky, but also totally us. The names were all standard enough that the references would only be obvious to us, though.

I'm probably going to do this with fantasy or sci-fi characters for a MN, but didn't know how it would be taken on here.

I have some odd criteria that help narrow my selection:

1) I want my children's FNs to be in alphabetical order of their chronological births. My first pregnancy would have been an 'A' name, so this one is a 'B'.

2) It's a tradition in my family for the initials to spell a short word. This means the MN will start with a vowel.

3) The names must fit baby's face when (s)he is born.

4) It's helpful it's somewhere on the family tree, but not required. We tend to stick to some vanilla/traditional names, but every once in a while there will be Fogey.

5) Does it pass the front porch test?

Girls FNs- Bernadette, Bianca, Bailey

MNs- Evelynn, Olivia, Uhura

Boys FNs- Basil, Bernard, Bane

MNs- Isaiah, Olivander, Ulysses

(Commence the flammage. :P )

MeganPobega · December 2014

It was literally the only girl name we liked and have discussed in six months. I've thrown out a few other suggestions but we always come back to this one. Her middle name will be Ann. It was my grandmother's middle name, my mother's middle name, and it's my middle name. I would of liked to use it with my oldest daughter but it did not flow right. Her first name is my great grandmother's name on my dad's side. Her middle name is my great grandmother's name on my mom's side. So it's very meaningful to me.

kaydedid · December 2014

In my family's culture, the meanings and origins of names are super important - the name you choose is seen as a reflection of the hopes and wishes you have for your child. My grandmother's generation even believe that a name with certain origins or connected to 'bad' people is a sort of curse, while 'good' names are a blessing. Extra bonus if the name originated with your religion or ethnic group.
So we went with a first name that comes from our religion (but isn't unheard of/weird) that had a meaning we liked, and DH's middle name, which is also a common family name on both sides.

beccaj25 · December 2014

Peledreamsofrain said:
My two criteria where:

Is the name easily mocked/make fun of at school?

Will the name look dumb on a resume?

My criteria were very similar:

Can you put the words "Supreme Court Justice" in front of it and it doesn't sound stupid?

Do the initials make any weird acronyms or words?

Other than that, we agreed pretty quickly on family names

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