We had DDs name picked out well in advance (family name), but went back and forth considerably on her MN before we finally settled on a, "final answer". If this little one is another girl, it will be the same way, because we have the FN chosen, a few ideas rolling around for girl MNs, but no consensus on boys' names. At. All.
It didn't help that we accidentally found out DD would be a girl last time, so it took the pressure off to decide on a boy name the first go round. :/ So we really are starting from square one there. We like family names, but a couple of classic ones are already taken by my brother's boys, and DH is set on any son <i>not</i> being a 3rd. 🤦 So...??? I just get crickets, and he hasn't said he is totally loves anything I suggest, either. He says you need to meet the baby first.🤷
Curious to see along what lines other people are thinking!
@tyrion_ Blair is on my list too! My husband and I are opposite- we have solid boy names but are at a loss on a girl name that we absolutely love just yet.
I literally have not one clue for either girl or boy. Not. One. It was the worst choosing a boy name for my son, because I'm so picky. Really looking forward to everyone's ideas!
No idea. Since we've had two girls, we still have our boy name. Two actually. The first one that we'd settled on if 1 was a boy was my favorite. Unfortunately, that name alliterates with the girl name we chose for 1. So I didn't want to use it for 2 if 2 was a boy because I didn't want people to think we were on the "ę" train or whatever. The one that we would have done if 2 was a boy, H really liked. I was ok with it, but I didn't love it. So I'm hoping now that we've had a second child who isn't an "ę" that we can go back to that first name if 3 ends up being a boy. I don't mind the alliteration with a non-alliterative name in the middle. And we plan to have four children, so we'd probably deliberately try not to alliterate with thr fourth.
No idea about a girl name if we have another girl.
I go through lists of baby names and other BMB's name threads and pick out what I like and run them by H. He tells me ones he thinks of. 2's first name was actually originally one I suggested off another BMB's list.
This is the worst part of this process. My first born was hard, but DH found her name, and he fell in love, and so I let him have it because I was exhausted and needed the search to end. Her middle name was a breeze because it was just a name I had loved for a long time, and I'll be candid, it's shared by a character from a video game my husband and I played together a lot when we were dating/engaged/and honestly still play together sometimes today after the kid goes to bed at night.
We've got a doozy of a last name, and half his family speaks minimal English, and mostly Russian.. the English speakers in his family have a thick Russian accent, so we came up with kind of a list of rules for our kids names.
1) It must be said how it is spelled, and spelled how it is said, no tricky letters no teachers guessing how to say it on the first day. 2) Consider the scan-trons. My husband and I both have decently long names... his is so long it actually didn't fit on one going through school. We intend to do better by our kids and make that process easier. 3) First names MUST be derived from an ancient god, goddess, or mythical being (but also follow the above rules). 4) Because DD's middle name is from a video game, her sibling will also be saddled with a middle name from that game, we already have a list of those for both genders with several possibilities to go with different first names.
Adding a child feels hard now because I also kind of want it to "fit" with the rest of the family. My husband and I have a google drive document going with some things we don't hate.. no real winners yet though. None of the names from my last pregnancy are on the list, so we are at square 1 with added rules now lol.
We have a long list of rules, too, and DH doesn’t seem to like any names. The only name he likes is our son’s name, but we can’t exactly name baby “DS”2.
With DS, it was relatively easy because he was conceived in Scotland and we wanted to give him a Scottish name. We liked a lot of names very similar to the one we chose, but those are out now because it would also be weird to have two boys with variants of the same name.
DH also has a huge family so that rules out a lot of names. We don’t want some random cousin to think we named our son after him.
I love the idea of family names but we nixed the idea with baby #1. My family is Puerto Rican and our family names don’t really go with my husband’s Irish last name 🙃 we didn’t think it fair to just use his family. So, everyone gets a new name!
DH is really annoying and won’t discuss names until 30+ weeks. For DD we chose an “M” first name after my husband’s grandmother and a “D” middle name after my grandmother. This time we will probably be looking for “E” and “F” names. Hoping to find out the sex this week/next week so I can start making a list!
@RedBaramid I totally agree with your rules #1 and #2.
I’m pretty much just here to lovingly judge everyone else’s name options. I have a spreadsheet with my top choices. Of things go as they did last time, DH will veto what he doesn’t like at some point, with the option for me to save 1 from veto, and I will choose from what’s left when she’s born. If it were a boy, we had a very clear top 2. Girl names are harder for me because I love so many different styles.
My sister is a L&D nurse. She texts me when she gets good (and outrageous) names in her unit. We are pretty settled on our girl name but it's helpful for DH & I to think through boy names. We have no idea for a name if it's a boy.
DD's name just came to us and we both loved it. It's 4 letter's and if this one is a girl, we want to do that again. We don't have any hard & fast rules if it's a boy. DH doesn't tend to like traditional names so Andrew, Zachary, James are out.
I know I want the name to start with a B. Our last name starts with a B and the alliteration sounds really smooth. We have two solid options for boy name and a family name for the middle name that goes with both. The girl names are tough for us! I want something original that starts with a B so I'm avoiding Beth, Bailey, Brittany, .... Open to suggestions! We are team green so we need to be prepared with one of each that I confidently love!
I am loving this thread... Thank you @WishesSheCouldCook for starting this up!!
We have our girl's name set for a while now with my grandmother's name for the middle name. We actually had a different girl's name super early on... like 12 years ago when first began dating. But over the years two people we know have name their girls that, so we had to change it up.
For boys, we will have hubs name be the middle name and we are unsure are the first name. I would really like to have a family name, but we will see. Going for the NIPT today so really hoping we get fast results and know next week!!
@riatortillaxo For girls how about Briana, Brianne, Bianca, Brielle, Bernadette, Brooklynn, Brooke, Bernice, Beatrix
Me: 33 DH: 36 Dating 4/2008 Married 6/2016 TTC #1 9/2019 BFP 12/13/2019! EDD 8/27/2020 Baby Girl
Trying to gauge popularity level for Blair as it's currently on my short list for girls, but also have a fear of being blindsided by a name being super popular in 2020 unexpectedly?
@jojokoodles Blair is hovering around the same # popularity as my daughter’s name. I had the same fear when I chose her name. But her name, although it’s gone up slightly in popularity, hasn’t become super popular. I feel Blair will do the same thing. Also, I am clearly biased 😂
Re: popular names. My daughter is named Mia and even though we loved the name (and it was one of the only ones we could agree on) I was super stressed that she would be one of 3 Mias in her class because it’s a top 10 name. But she is actually the only Mia in her whole school right now, interestingly there are two “Mila”s which I seriously considered because I thought it was less popular!
Guys, right now... despite all the rules, my husband and I are awkwardly in love with Persephone, which breaks out rule 2 on length by miles... but it's so lovely, you know? It can be shortened to Percy(and Percy next to our DD's nickname, Ro, is heart-breakingly cute to us), or we've even said Sephie maybe even. The chosen middle name to go with it is short, so maybe they would even prefer that has they got older.. but I need some reasons to hate Persephone besides that she was Hades wife and the stories around their marriage are sketchy.
@tyrion_ love all your names... some of those are on my list (clark, graham, and henry). We were set with a girls name and kept joking that we would be in trouble if it was a boy b/c boys names just feel harder for us.
are there any sites or books y'all are using and finding helpful? and will you share the name before the birth or keep it private? I'm eager to figure out a name b/c I think it might help everything feel a little more real to me.
@rivercitynik We learned last time that my father in law cannot disagree politely. He gave so much shit for our child's name.. a child that he now adores with a name he sings at her. While I freely bounce ideas around with my two best friends, we will not be publicly announcing a name until birth this time. I don't have thick enough skin to take criticism on something I consider such an important decision. If they wanna shit on the name after baby gets here I wanna see them try it while holding that baby in their arms. I also think it's harder for people to complain about a name once it's final and on paper(though those people exist, it will happen). If you share a name I think you open yourself up to opinion and suggestion so my hard lesson was I need to nope out of that. Some people have kinder friends or family though, some people have thicker skin. I guess share at your own risk.
@rivercitynik I have looked at babynamescience.com and its pretty cool! We have a 1 syllable last name so it's been hard for us to try to get a first name with more than one syllable. I will take your last name and put it with first names that will flow.
I have always loved the nickname "Gwen" but having a 1 syllable last name I'm not sure it will sound right. I have a 1 syllable first name too but I married into my last name so🤷🏼♀️
*MY* list for girls names I like so far (DH is not on board with any....yet😂) - Charlotte - Evelyn June -Gwendolyn Marie - Delaney Blair
the middle name will definately be a family name. If we have a boy we are both lost! It took FOREVER to come up with DS's name!
@rivercitynik I've been spending some time on Nameberry the past couple of days, but that's pretty much it. I'm also open to other recommendations! We'll probably share our name given that we actually figure it out before the birth - which isn't looking too promising currently. DD's name is a traditional Scottish name with Gaelic spelling that no one can pronounce. After all the crazy looks we got for picking that one, I can't imagine it'll get worse than last time, so it's whatever. Lol. It's not their kid anyway.
I have been stuck on Edythe Hazel for the last month! Which is weird because I absolutely want another boy but I cant find a single boy name I like this time. Or I find something I like and then I stop liking it because I worry about how other kids will react to it. Like I really like Beau Alexander.
DH and I aren’t finding out the sex of baby until birth! My husband is set on naming baby after himself, girl or boy lol. Charley if it’s a girl and Charles/Charlie Jr (CJ) if it’s a boy. Which is also his grandfathers name.
I am not sold on that idea.
I do love the idea of a unisex name though!
Dh is going to be super stubborn with picking a name, I can just feel it in my bones.
I have a small list, Finley is one name I love but is it weird that it’s an ex’s last name?!
If we are having a boy I want to use Thomas as the middle name. That was my dad's name and he passed away in 2017 so this will be the only baby who doesn't meet him and I want them to have a part of him too.
The tricky part is the first name. Both of my boys names shorten to one syllable so I really need a boy's name that does that as well. I really love Jackson Thomas and we can call him Jack but my husband hates Jack. He said he likes Jackson though.
As for girl names I have no clue. My mom's middle name is Rose and when my sister had her daughter she really wanted her to use it but my sister doesn't like it so it's still up for grabs.
I know quite a few people are keeping the gender a surprise... but am I the only one on team finding out whose being lazy about picking names and waiting until I find out the gender? Lol. I'm excited to pick a name and I think hubs and I will be good teammates about it, but I'm also pretty indecisive. So, I'm setting myself up to choose just two names instead of four.
@faith_2911 We didn’t start the name discussion until after we found out it was boy this week. We had a girl name because I randomly mentioned that I loved the name Blair a year or so ago and he said he also did as well.
For all of those worried about popularity, don't. You could name your kid a top 10 name and they would never have another in their class until college. Or you could name them name #523 and they will have 2 others in their class. Seriously, I know so many little boys named Kai and Wilder, but not a single Elijah or Mason. Name popularity isn't what it used to be cause all of us in the Jennifer generation are terrified of our kids being 1 of 12 Jennifers in school, so collectively as a generation we are picking from a wider variety of names. If you want to know more about name popularity and statistics, the SSA list that comes out each May is a great place to start.
^^^ WSS there was a time when the top ten names might represent millions of babies, but now that same top ten might only be 5-10% of what it once was (I'm just making up numbers here) because there are So. Many. More. Names!
And think about it too, like once upon a time, if you liked a name, you would never NOT name your child Michael or Mary or Elizabeth or John because you knew someone down the street who named their kid that, or even a cousin for that matter! It was just a given that you would meet other Mary's or Michael's or whatever and it was a normal part of life on Earth. 🤷 So personally I wouldn't worry about stressing the über uniqueness. But to each their own!
Oooh names! I am so opinionated about names and I love coming up with ideas. I take the whole naming thing way too seriously and over-analyzed the crap out of DD's name. However, I am very happy with it and have had only good feedback (at least to my face). I tend to like really classic names. We're going to follow the same criteria we used last time once we find out the sex.
-nothing too popular: I always check the name ranking on BabyCenter for reference, but in reality it's more like ruling out names that I hear a lot in my peer group. DD has met 3 Coras here and we've only been here for 6 months!
-no one syllable names: I feel like it sounds best when first and last names have a different number of syllables, especially with a one-syllable last name.
-nothing with a confusing pronunciation or spelling: DH's last name is only one syllable but it basically looks like a misspelling and sounds like a sneeze, I get so sick of spelling it out for people. So no Aislin or Siobhan.
-make sure the initials don't spell anything weird: our last name starts with C, so no Danielle Isla.
-make sure the name "flows" nicely: We ruled out a few last time that ended in hard consonant sounds and it was just too much of a mouthful rolling into the last name.
-check the meaning: sometimes names have an unfortunate meaning and kids WILL find out (ie. Cameron means crooked or broken nose, which I thought was hilarious in high school when that was the name of my friend's crush).
-consider family names: my dad is a crazy genealogist so we have a family tree going back centuries. After DH and I wrote down our initial list, I looked through the tree and actually found DD's name (great-great grandmother) and a lot of other really good ideas. You don't need a family tree that involved either, just going back a few generations you might find a gem. I feel like it's the best justification if you pick an uncommon name and can be like "it's a family name," because what could anyone possibly say? Haha.
On that note, I felt like it was important to pick a name that doesn't carry any negative connotations in the family. There was a family name that I loved but then found out (before DD was born fortunately) that it was also the name of my grandfather's estranged child from his first marriage, which was a whole Thing. So that got crossed off the list.
@tyrion_ FWIW I know a male Blair. I feel your concern about family names "going with" the last name; DH's name is clunky and Hungarian so I have just sort of decided anything I like is not going to "go" with that. All the names on your list are great; I love classic names like that (though I babysat a real pest named Connor back in the day so that name is tainted for me).
@RedBaramid Are you looking at Greek/Roman mythology specifically or from any mythology. Full disclosure, the only Persephone I know is a terrible person so I am NOT trying to talk you out of that name BUT I also feel like there are a lot of great options that meet your other criteria (ie. Kore, an alternate name for Persephone, pronounced Ko-Ray or the modern variant Cora, Hera/Juno, Diana, Athena). Do you have a maximum number of letters/syllables in mind? As far as the actual myth is concerned; DD's name is derived from a mythological figure whose story is also weird and tragic. I don't think that's a deal breaker per se, but it will be a connotation the name will carry with it. Also, the nerd in me is curious which video game you're talking about
@charhar0820 DH and I nixed anything that was ex-adjacent. We even tossed a girls name we like because a common nickname was his ex's name.
@faith_2911 I was team green last time until we were totally stumped on a girl name, which it turned out we needed! I'm not seriously putting together a list until we know the sex, which will be almost another month when I have my NIPT.
@riatortillaxo I hate to be "that guy", but I always think of Braxton Hicks when I see the name Braxton ! Are you thinking more modern or traditional?
Ok so with my daughter my ex named her Hailey Marie. If she had been a boy she was going to me Aiden Michael.
My son is Daniel Jacob. I picked it because I named him after Danny in Stephen Kings book the shining. Its my favorite book. If he had been a girl the name was Ripley Jean. Since we will never know what the 2 pregnancies I lost genders where we are going to use Ripley Jean again if its a girl.
If this baby is a boy then it will be Andrew Ryan. Andrew coming from the character Andy in Childs play.
Names I love but won't use are
1. Shoshanna
I love this name! It heard it in Inglorious Bastards and a episode of bobs burgers. Its a Jewish name and we aren't jewish or have any jewish history. So I feel it would be inappropriate for us to use.
2. Shiloh
Love this name. dh hates it.
3.June
I love this but would probably only use it if due in June which I'm not obviously.
4.Wendy
Love this but Dh hates it.
5. Lydia
Dh loves this name but its not a favorite of mine.
6.Hazel
Love this but dh thinks two HA starting names would be weird.
7.molly
I just love this name but DH doesnt.
8. Delilah
I live this but it reminds dh of a crazy ex gf his brother had.
Loretta
Love this. My family hates it sincw my stepdad has an ex wife named this.
Priscilla
Love this but my grandma has a stillborn she named this. I had no idea until i mentioned the name.
Leona
I have never met a leona i think the name is pretty but my daughter's dad is Leon so it would be weird.
1. Tristan
I love this. Dh hates it because he went to school with too many
2. Aiden
Still love this but it was a top 10 baby name for boys the year I had my daughter.
3.Dax or Daxton
Love this but dh stupid sister stole this name from me to name her pet ferret!!!!
4. Quentin
Love this bit dh says its too long.
5.Forest Michael
We both love the name Forest but probably won't use it ever.
Pregnancy #1 DD 08.30.2007 Pregnancy #2 Natural Miscarriage at 6 weeks 03/2014 Due date 11/9/2014 Pregnancy #3 DS 02.23.2015 Pregnancy #4 Missed Miscarriage at 11 weeks 11/2018 Due date 5/22/2019 Pregnancy #5 Positive test 12/11/2019 Due Date 8/17/2020
I am absolutely loving everyone's "B" names! My name is Maddilynn Marie My oldest daughter is Brooklynn Marie And my (middle) is Bailynn Paige And our newest will be Odette Jo Lynn We decided to skip out on a B name because I am overly obsessed with Odette, but we had to keep the "Lynn" my husband likes to call us, "his lynns" Nicknames for them are: Brook or Brooki Bailey And Odie Jo
Re: Baby names
It didn't help that we accidentally found out DD would be a girl last time, so it took the pressure off to decide on a boy name the first go round. :/ So we really are starting from square one there. We like family names, but a couple of classic ones are already taken by my brother's boys, and DH is set on any son <i>not</i> being a 3rd. 🤦 So...??? I just get crickets, and he hasn't said he is totally loves anything I suggest, either. He says you need to meet the baby first.🤷
Curious to see along what lines other people are thinking!
No idea about a girl name if we have another girl.
I go through lists of baby names and other BMB's name threads and pick out what I like and run them by H. He tells me ones he thinks of. 2's first name was actually originally one I suggested off another BMB's list.
We've got a doozy of a last name, and half his family speaks minimal English, and mostly Russian.. the English speakers in his family have a thick Russian accent, so we came up with kind of a list of rules for our kids names.
1) It must be said how it is spelled, and spelled how it is said, no tricky letters no teachers guessing how to say it on the first day.
2) Consider the scan-trons. My husband and I both have decently long names... his is so long it actually didn't fit on one going through school. We intend to do better by our kids and make that process easier.
3) First names MUST be derived from an ancient god, goddess, or mythical being (but also follow the above rules).
4) Because DD's middle name is from a video game, her sibling will also be saddled with a middle name from that game, we already have a list of those for both genders with several possibilities to go with different first names.
Adding a child feels hard now because I also kind of want it to "fit" with the rest of the family. My husband and I have a google drive document going with some things we don't hate.. no real winners yet though. None of the names from my last pregnancy are on the list, so we are at square 1 with added rules now lol.
Hoping to find out the sex this week/next week so I can start making a list!
@RedBaramid I totally agree with your rules #1 and #2.
DD's name just came to us and we both loved it. It's 4 letter's and if this one is a girl, we want to do that again. We don't have any hard & fast rules if it's a boy. DH doesn't tend to like traditional names so Andrew, Zachary, James are out.
Open to suggestions!
We are team green so we need to be prepared with one of each that I confidently love!
We have our girl's name set for a while now with my grandmother's name for the middle name. We actually had a different girl's name super early on... like 12 years ago when first began dating. But over the years two people we know have name their girls that, so we had to change it up.
For boys, we will have hubs name be the middle name and we are unsure are the first name. I would really like to have a family name, but we will see. Going for the NIPT today so really hoping we get fast results and know next week!!
@riatortillaxo For girls how about Briana, Brianne, Bianca, Brielle, Bernadette, Brooklynn, Brooke, Bernice, Beatrix
Dating 4/2008
Married 6/2016
TTC #1 9/2019
BFP 12/13/2019!
EDD 8/27/2020 Baby Girl
Graham
Clark
Henry
William
John
Connor
Jack
Wilder
Nicholas
My husband made me put Jack on there. It’s the only name on his list. He also said ‘NO’ to all these names. I’ll just keep repeating them to him.
Trying to gauge popularity level for Blair as it's currently on my short list for girls, but also have a fear of being blindsided by a name being super popular in 2020 unexpectedly?
@tyrion_I really like all those names! I wanted to name ds1 Graham, but H mixed it, I tried Oliver next and he nixed that as well. So, ds1 is William.
are there any sites or books y'all are using and finding helpful? and will you share the name before the birth or keep it private? I'm eager to figure out a name b/c I think it might help everything feel a little more real to me.
@rivercitynik I have looked at babynamescience.com and its pretty cool! We have a 1 syllable last name so it's been hard for us to try to get a first name with more than one syllable. I will take your last name and put it with first names that will flow.
I have always loved the nickname "Gwen" but having a 1 syllable last name I'm not sure it will sound right. I have a 1 syllable first name too but I married into my last name so🤷🏼♀️
*MY* list for girls names I like so far (DH is not on board with any....yet😂)
- Charlotte
- Evelyn June
-Gwendolyn Marie
- Delaney Blair
the middle name will definately be a family name. If we have a boy we are both lost! It took FOREVER to come up with DS's name!
@mrswheeler812 I like Edyth. Those older names are making a comeback!
@gsmomplus1 I love Delaney!
@tyrion_ I like Wilder! Unique and so cute!
@tyrion_ I love your list. DS2 is William (Will)
If we are having a boy I want to use Thomas as the middle name. That was my dad's name and he passed away in 2017 so this will be the only baby who doesn't meet him and I want them to have a part of him too.
The tricky part is the first name. Both of my boys names shorten to one syllable so I really need a boy's name that does that as well. I really love Jackson Thomas and we can call him Jack but my husband hates Jack. He said he likes Jackson though.
As for girl names I have no clue. My mom's middle name is Rose and when my sister had her daughter she really wanted her to use it but my sister doesn't like it so it's still up for grabs.
hubs: 26
ttc #1: 4/19
dx: PCOS
hubs: 26
ttc #1: 4/19
dx: PCOS
Boy: Braxton or Beau
Girl: Brynn, Brie, Bria, Blair, Bella, Brenna
Not sure what my husband's girl ideas are yet. We've been independently coming up with ideas and will compare. Still browsing for girl names.
And think about it too, like once upon a time, if you liked a name, you would never NOT name your child Michael or Mary or Elizabeth or John because you knew someone down the street who named their kid that, or even a cousin for that matter! It was just a given that you would meet other Mary's or Michael's or whatever and it was a normal part of life on Earth. 🤷 So personally I wouldn't worry about stressing the über uniqueness. But to each their own!
My son is Daniel Jacob. I picked it because I named him after Danny in Stephen Kings book the shining. Its my favorite book. If he had been a girl the name was Ripley Jean. Since we will never know what the 2 pregnancies I lost genders where we are going to use Ripley Jean again if its a girl.
If this baby is a boy then it will be Andrew Ryan. Andrew coming from the character Andy in Childs play.
Names I love but won't use are
1. Shoshanna
I love this name! It heard it in Inglorious Bastards and a episode of bobs burgers. Its a Jewish name and we aren't jewish or have any jewish history. So I feel it would be inappropriate for us to use.
2. Shiloh
Love this name. dh hates it.
3.June
I love this but would probably only use it if due in June which I'm not obviously.
4.Wendy
Love this but Dh hates it.
5. Lydia
Dh loves this name but its not a favorite of mine.
6.Hazel
Love this but dh thinks two HA starting names would be weird.
7.molly
I just love this name but DH doesnt.
8. Delilah
I live this but it reminds dh of a crazy ex gf his brother had.
Loretta
Love this. My family hates it sincw my stepdad has an ex wife named this.
Priscilla
Love this but my grandma has a stillborn she named this. I had no idea until i mentioned the name.
Leona
I have never met a leona i think the name is pretty but my daughter's dad is Leon so it would be weird.
1. Tristan
I love this. Dh hates it because he went to school with too many
2. Aiden
Still love this but it was a top 10 baby name for boys the year I had my daughter.
3.Dax or Daxton
Love this but dh stupid sister stole this name from me to name her pet ferret!!!!
4. Quentin
Love this bit dh says its too long.
5.Forest Michael
We both love the name Forest but probably won't use it ever.
Pregnancy #2 Natural Miscarriage at 6 weeks 03/2014 Due date 11/9/2014
Pregnancy #3 DS 02.23.2015
Pregnancy #4 Missed Miscarriage at 11 weeks 11/2018 Due date 5/22/2019
Pregnancy #5 Positive test 12/11/2019 Due Date 8/17/2020
My name is Maddilynn Marie
My oldest daughter is Brooklynn Marie
And my (middle) is Bailynn Paige
And our newest will be Odette Jo Lynn
We decided to skip out on a B name because I am overly obsessed with Odette, but we had to keep the "Lynn" my husband likes to call us, "his lynns"
Nicknames for them are:
Brook or Brooki
Bailey
And Odie Jo