For a boy, I think we'll probably go with Alexander Walter (family name of H and my dad's name is Walter).
For a girl, I don't know where to even start for a first name. The middle will definitely be Frances since both H and I have women in our families with that name.
We did family names with our first, which I love: Henriette Josephine but don't love any boy family names. My husbands a Jr. And doesn't want to saddle that on his kid. For a girl, we're pretty set with Penelope (I have my degree in Classical Greek and he has Ph.D. in ancient philosophy.) boy.... No clue. I like Rufus (of wainwright fame) nickname Roo, but maybe sounds too much like the family dog. August is a family name, but I'm not sure I'm on board with months. Thoughts on Rufus? I also like Roosevelt and Washington. (If you're sensing a theme, I just wrote a book for Nat geo kids about the us presidents and those are my favs and Washington is family name on my side).
Which Roosevelt? My DS was 6 weeks on his first Halloween and I dressed him like Teddy.
Oh gosh, we probably won't even talk about this until we're closer to third tri! We took forever with DD but managed to have a top three. We didn't even make our final decision until at least 24 hours after she was born. Whoops
Ha, I was thinking about names before we even started to TTC. For girls, I like Natalie, Evie, Lila, and Laurel. For boys, I love Dylan and DH likes Cameron.
We love way too many names. We could name a whole city of girls, but have fewer boy names. the problem is our last name is extremely german and very long so all the names I love, tend to clash with it. We named our daughter Violet Paige.
Some of my favorites are Ophelia, Eloise, Maxine, Camelia, Penelope, Nora and for a boy: Harvey, Ralph, Humphrey, and Crosby.
But what middle names go with any of those boy names?
Lurker.
James, Lee, Lynn, John, Sean, Lyle (basically, any single syllable name) pairs nicely with most names. There are less conventional optons out there, like Vaughn or Claude as well.
Another good "rule" is to vary the amount of syllables. Harvey, Humphrey and Crosby all have 2 syllables, so a single syllable or 3+ will generally flow better than another 2 syllable name. Nicholas, Alexander, Matthew, Oliver etc.
Harvey Nicholas Ralph Gabriel Humphrey Lyle Crosby James
We cant agree on a girl name to save our lives- I throw out options at least once/week and we have two names on a short list that neither of us really love. We made the mistake of sharing our girls name choice for DS had he been a girl (Evelyn Kay), and DH's grandma said, "Oh thank God you had a boy!" Our DS is Silas Lee. For a boy we both like Eddie (Edward), which is a family name on DH's side, but we haven't given a ton of thought to a middle name. It took us quite a while to find a name we both loved for our DS.
@FlyChick Oh Teddy all the way. I'm obsessed with him! Just read an awesome book by one of my fav authors, River of Doubt by Candice Millard. It's about his post president trip to explore an unknown tributary of the Amazon. Great read !! I also like Theodore and Teddy but dh is afraid of Ted nicknames like his uncle.
We have Fletcher for a boy since I was pregnant with my daughter and Grant as a back-up in case I change my mind. For girls? Nothing. We have about seven names we keep tossing around and can't land on any we agree to.
B born 7/15/13, C born 3/2/15, #3 on the way May '17
I’m a modern man, a man for the millennium. Digital and smoke free. A diversified multi-cultural, post-modern deconstruction that is anatomically and ecologically incorrect. I’ve been up linked and downloaded, I’ve been inputted and outsourced, I know the upside of downsizing, I know the downside of upgrading. I’m a high-tech low-life. A cutting edge, state-of-the-art bi-coastal multi-tasker and I can give you a gigabyte in a nanosecond! I’m new wave, but I’m old school and my inner child is outward bound. I’m a hot-wired, heat seeking, warm-hearted cool customer, voice activated and bio-degradable. I interface with my database, my database is in cyberspace, so I’m interactive, I’m hyperactive and from time to time I’m radioactive.
DH and I have been batting around ideas lately and we both really like Eleanor Frances for a girl.. (frances is non-negotiable - it was my mom's name).
Boys names we disagree a lot on... we know the middle name will be Michael (after DH's dad and brother) but we can't get a good first name. Part of the issue is that I'm a teacher - and so many good boy's names I have associations with (some bad - some good).
We have middle names 99% picked. If it's a boy I want him to have my dad's name as his middle name. If it's a girl I want Rose, it has a lot of significance and actually came to me in a dream so I've become attached to it First names are always up for discussion haha! We have a...less than popular naming style so we like to pick one quick so people have time to get used to it haha!
Formerly ChoicesMom "Squishy" 2007 "Lyric" EDD Nov/4/11 - c/p Feb/11 "Fishy" 2012 "Bean" 2014 "Lux" EDD Apr/21/17 - c/p Aug/16 "Kokonah" EDD May/24/17 - m/c Oct/16 1 surprise - 1 Noonie - 1 preemie - 3 gone but not forgotten - One more on the way!! Grab bag of mental health disorders Pancolitis
If it's a boy, we have to use the middle name Milton or break 8 generations of tradition on my SO's side (Milton is his middle name too). If its a girl, we have more creative control, but my family does tend to give middle names after other family members. I'm thinking Marian (From my sisters' middle names Marie+Ann). We are also working with a one syllable last name. My SO and I are into rpg gaming so we already have a lot of names we like for characters. We haven't talked about names for a real, new person though. When my niece was born and my sisters and I talked about names we liked they joked that I wasn't allowed to name babies because the names I liked were "weird". Boy names: Abraham (I like the versatility of the whole name or Abe/Bram), Theodore (same with Theo/Ted/Teddy), Wolfgang, ... I can't think of the others right now. Girl names: Josephine (my g.grandma's name), Bronwen, Aderyn (which isn't a "real" name, but just means bird in Welsh), Gwendolyn, Madeline, and I like Guadalupe, but we don't have any hispanic/latino heritage/ancestry on his nor my side so I would probably never use it to name one of my children. I just think it sounds pretty.
What would you do if you wanted to use a family name but your in-laws are incredibly jealous of your family?
I would love to do susan Eloise and have the child go by Eloise, but I know for a fact that my MIL would be so upset if I named our child after my mother, even if the baby didn't go by it. I would be willing to name a boy after someone from their family, but there isn't a combination of my mom and her that would work.
@Jkp7749 I'm sorry you're in that situation. I don't know if there is a way to pick the name that is best for your child without (some) hurt feelings. My middle name, Mayrose, comes from one grandma's middle name and other grandma's first name. Sounds like you already tried those kind of combos. A friend of mine gave her daughter two middle names. Would that be an option for you?
I also remembered I like the name Fern too. I forgot that this morning.
We've known since 2005 if we have a boy he will be named Dorian Giovanni. Dorian for my favorite Oscar Wilde novel and Giovonni because we wanted to incorporate an Italian sound to go with the Latin sound of Dorian since we are both of Mexican Italiano heritage.
For a girl that's all little more Difficult. Although we picked out Skye Lena as a girl name at the same time as Dorian, my first pregnancy I carried to 12 weeks and knowing she was a girl, I truly consider her my little Skye. Me and DH don't really discuss the loss to much and I'm sure he doesn't know I feel this way
It feels wrong to rewrap the name around another pregnancy
What would you do if you wanted to use a family name but your in-laws are incredibly jealous of your family?
I would love to do susan Eloise and have the child go by Eloise, but I know for a fact that my MIL would be so upset if I named our child after my mother, even if the baby didn't go by it. I would be willing to name a boy after someone from their family, but there isn't a combination of my mom and her that would work.
I would name your baby whatever you and your DH decide. Don't let other peoples opinions stand in your way, its your baby. If they are annoyed, oh well. I am sure they will get over it as soon as they see that cute little baby face.
I'm a little late to the thread here but.. I have a long list for both girls and boys. My top choice for a girl's name is Cameron Elizabeth, DH had said in the past he does not like that name, but now that we're actually pregnant who knows. Also, my DH said he is picking our boy name, so I think I'll have more leeway for the girl. DH is Jacob David, his father is David Jacob, and his father is Jacob, so DH wants our boy to be David Jacob. I dislike the name, but its hard to argue with
We were team green with DS, so we've discussed names ad nauseum. We'll probably use our unused girl name, Eleanor. Boy names were really difficult for us before, and we could only agree on Nicholas, which is DS's name. Boy names are so difficult!
Fur daughter: 02/2011 Human sons: 11/2015 & 05/2017 *formerly kayemjay*
MH picked DD's first name, which I was totally ok with because it's my grandma's nickname. I picked her middle name. I told him that I get to pick this baby's name. So for a girl I'm thinking Avery Jean (Jean is after MH) and for a boy Deacon James.
@Jenshoes I love Cameron for a girl! My H isn't sold.
I'm like so many other posters here and have a really hard time with girl names. I have multiple first and middle name combos for boy names, but very few I like for girls. The ones I really like are Elliott and Cameron (I know, the only girl names I like are boy names) but H doesn't like either of them. I also like Clare but H says its "too French," whatever that means.
We have two girls and picking their names was relatively easy for us, but we could never agree on a boys name! DD1 is Halle (named after my grandfather Hal) DD2 is Paige
We have briefly discussed names this week and have already agreed on Emma if it's another girl. For a boy we are throwing around Max, Owen, Ryan, and my husband really wants Tyler. I'm not sold on Tyler (I do like Ty though). Tyler is my husbands middle name so I know he really wants it. I'm trying to convince him to just use it as a middle name but we will see.
Married 03.09.09 Sweet Baby H 12.21.11 Sassy Baby P 03.26.14 Little Brother Due 05.22.17
We are kinda stuck on a girls name. DS is named Collier and we are sticking with the same initials. Both my son and DH have initials CJH. For a boy we will go with Camden James. Today we discussed maybe going with Camden for either gender. We really love the name and feel it's gender neutral. For a girl it would be Camden Juliette. We shall see, we have plenty of time to decide!
If it's a boy, DH really wants to name him Lyon (like the animal-lion) his dad's middle name is Leon and I guess he thinks it's a clever spin on that. But I HATE it. Hopefully it's a girl so we don't have to deal with boy name drama
MH is so excited the other night he decided that we need to pick out our babies name before falling asleep. I told him it would probably change a few times but we came up with Tyler James for a boy and Reagan Ann for a girl. Will be fun to see what the names really turns out to be
@FlyChick - If we have a girl, her name will be Frances after my grandmother. (I really want a boy, but would hate to miss out on an opportunity for that tribute.)
@Jkp7749 - It sounds like you actually want to be agreeable, but I think you should stand your ground. This is YOUR baby, and you shouldn't feel guilty about choosing a name that is special to you. Your MIL had her chance to choose names for her child(ren) and now it's your turn. Finally, I am sure there are exceptions to this rule...but I think most girls are closer to their own mothers than their MILs. That shouldn't come as a huge surprise to her.
@amybee5 we can only thank MH for that as he was very persistent. But I should also say we've had a list of our favorites for almost a year so we mostly just went off of that
@NurseK2016 that would help, I'm beginning to think we should have started the process a long time ago. Love the names, James is a strong contender for a middle name for us too as it runs in the family
@amybee5 James is my FIL's name and Ann is both my mom and my MIL's middle name. I love using family names to pass down. I really wanted to use Irene or Clare, my grandmother's names, but MH wasn't super thrilled with either of them. What have you guys come up with so far?
@emilyalso I do want to be agreeable, I'd hate for her to be sad about the name every time she heard it, but you are right- I don't know many who are as close to MIL as their own mom. I thought that maybe if we shared our options for a boy name and a girl name an use one of their family names for the boy option then maybe she wouldn't be upset? Do you think knowing tht the boy opion would have been named after her family would ease it a little?
My middle name is the same as MIL's name (and I don't want to name it after her and not my mom) and my grandmother's names are not pretty, nor are they really women that i'd want to name someone after, so short of my mom's name there aren't really family name options. I know it'd mean the world to my mom. My MIL is very dramatic... they literally moved a state away right after we moved to their town bc we didn't spend enough time with her... and on holidays, she will count the time that we spend at my family's house and pitch a fit if it isn't the same or more at her house. I'm so torn I don't want to make things hard for my husband but I'm a bit tired of her.
Re: Early thoughts on baby names?
For a girl, I don't know where to even start for a first name. The middle will definitely be Frances since both H and I have women in our families with that name.
DD: 6
DS: 2
DD: 6
DS: 2
James, Lee, Lynn, John, Sean, Lyle (basically, any single syllable name) pairs nicely with most names. There are less conventional optons out there, like Vaughn or Claude as well.
Another good "rule" is to vary the amount of syllables. Harvey, Humphrey and Crosby all have 2 syllables, so a single syllable or 3+ will generally flow better than another 2 syllable name. Nicholas, Alexander, Matthew, Oliver etc.
Harvey Nicholas
Ralph Gabriel
Humphrey Lyle
Crosby James
For a boy we both like Eddie (Edward), which is a family name on DH's side, but we haven't given a ton of thought to a middle name. It took us quite a while to find a name we both loved for our DS.
G - Logan LeeAnn
B born 7/15/13, C born 3/2/15, #3 on the way May '17
I’m a modern man, a man for the millennium. Digital and smoke free. A diversified multi-cultural, post-modern deconstruction that is anatomically and ecologically incorrect. I’ve been up linked and downloaded, I’ve been inputted and outsourced, I know the upside of downsizing, I know the downside of upgrading. I’m a high-tech low-life. A cutting edge, state-of-the-art bi-coastal multi-tasker and I can give you a gigabyte in a nanosecond! I’m new wave, but I’m old school and my inner child is outward bound. I’m a hot-wired, heat seeking, warm-hearted cool customer, voice activated and bio-degradable. I interface with my database, my database is in cyberspace, so I’m interactive, I’m hyperactive and from time to time I’m radioactive.
Boys names we disagree a lot on... we know the middle name will be Michael (after DH's dad and brother) but we can't get a good first name. Part of the issue is that I'm a teacher - and so many good boy's names I have associations with (some bad - some good).
Girl: Abigail Joy (Ann or Quinn)
Boy: Logan Frederick (Late grandfathers name)
@mamatowildones I love the name Juliana Grace... we named my DD Julianna Grace almost 2 years ago! Great choice!
My Ovulation Chart: http://www.fertilityfriend.com/home/CallMeMrsChaos/
Formerly ChoicesMom
"Squishy" 2007
"Lyric" EDD Nov/4/11 - c/p Feb/11
"Fishy" 2012
"Bean" 2014
"Lux" EDD Apr/21/17 - c/p Aug/16
"Kokonah" EDD May/24/17 - m/c Oct/16
1 surprise - 1 Noonie - 1 preemie - 3 gone but not forgotten - One more on the way!!
Grab bag of mental health disorders
Pancolitis
This one will likely be Carter or Charlotte (my husband likes Cora though).
Boy names: Abraham (I like the versatility of the whole name or Abe/Bram), Theodore (same with Theo/Ted/Teddy), Wolfgang, ... I can't think of the others right now.
Girl names: Josephine (my g.grandma's name), Bronwen, Aderyn (which isn't a "real" name, but just means bird in Welsh), Gwendolyn, Madeline, and I like Guadalupe, but we don't have any hispanic/latino heritage/ancestry on his nor my side so I would probably never use it to name one of my children. I just think it sounds pretty.
I would love to do susan Eloise and have the child go by Eloise, but I know for a fact that my MIL would be so upset if I named our child after my mother, even if the baby didn't go by it. I would be willing to name a boy after someone from their family, but there isn't a combination of my mom and her that would work.
I also remembered I like the name Fern too. I forgot that this morning.
For a girl that's all little more Difficult.
Although we picked out Skye Lena as a girl name at the same time as Dorian, my first pregnancy I carried to 12 weeks and knowing she was a girl, I truly consider her my little Skye. Me and DH don't really discuss the loss to much and I'm sure he doesn't know I feel this way
It feels wrong to rewrap the name around another pregnancy
DD: 6
DS: 2
I would name your baby whatever you and your DH decide. Don't let other peoples opinions stand in your way, its your baby. If they are annoyed, oh well. I am sure they will get over it as soon as they see that cute little baby face.
I have a long list for both girls and boys. My top choice for a girl's name is Cameron Elizabeth, DH had said in the past he does not like that name, but now that we're actually pregnant who knows. Also, my DH said he is picking our boy name, so I think I'll have more leeway for the girl. DH is Jacob David, his father is David Jacob, and his father is Jacob, so DH wants our boy to be David Jacob. I dislike the name, but its hard to argue with
Human sons: 11/2015 & 05/2017
*formerly kayemjay*
I'm like so many other posters here and have a really hard time with girl names. I have multiple first and middle name combos for boy names, but very few I like for girls. The ones I really like are Elliott and Cameron (I know, the only girl names I like are boy names) but H doesn't like either of them. I also like Clare but H says its "too French," whatever that means.
DD1 is Halle (named after my grandfather Hal) DD2 is Paige
We have briefly discussed names this week and have already agreed on Emma if it's another girl. For a boy we are throwing around Max, Owen, Ryan, and my husband really wants Tyler. I'm not sold on Tyler (I do like Ty though). Tyler is my husbands middle name so I know he really wants it. I'm trying to convince him to just use it as a middle name but we will see.
Sweet Baby H 12.21.11
Sassy Baby P 03.26.14
Little Brother Due 05.22.17
Children: 1 (girl, 3 years)
TTTC #1 since April 2015, Started Treatment Dec 2015
5 Cycles of IF treatment until BFP! (IUI, Gonal-F, Letrozole)
Born: May 22, 2017
TTTC #2 since September 2020, Currently in Testing phase
@Jkp7749 - It sounds like you actually want to be agreeable, but I think you should stand your ground. This is YOUR baby, and you shouldn't feel guilty about choosing a name that is special to you. Your MIL had her chance to choose names for her child(ren) and now it's your turn. Finally, I am sure there are exceptions to this rule...but I think most girls are closer to their own mothers than their MILs. That shouldn't come as a huge surprise to her.
My middle name is the same as MIL's name (and I don't want to name it after her and not my mom) and my grandmother's names are not pretty, nor are they really women that i'd want to name someone after, so short of my mom's name there aren't really family name options. I know it'd mean the world to my mom. My MIL is very dramatic... they literally moved a state away right after we moved to their town bc we didn't spend enough time with her... and on holidays, she will count the time that we spend at my family's house and pitch a fit if it isn't the same or more at her house. I'm so torn I don't want to make things hard for my husband but I'm a bit tired of her.