Finally got my husband to talk names with me for about 45 whole seconds! The only progress we made was confirming that we both still want to use Thomas as a boy middle name (it’s my dad’s and his grandpa’s first name). Beyond that, no progress over here.
@leahrnmom I have an Eleanor! I love it. It has great nickname options but we also call her Eleanor a lot. To us it was a strong female name, and Eleanor can be anything!
@leahrnmom I personally think it’s a mouthful, but I also think if you love it you should use it! Might be difficult when babe gets older and you’re trying to discipline by yelling first and middle name haha.
Fun fact: my family called me by my first and middle name as a baby and small child. Bridget Jeanne. I couldn't say Bridget as a toddler, so I would introduce myself as Baby Jeanne. 39 years later, and my family still calls me Baby Jeanne. Lol
We are having trouble coming up with middle names for girls, and any names at all for boys except that we both like Jacob. Our last name has 11 letters and 4 syllables. Oof.
So I edit podcasts and on one of them the guest is named Ursa and I'm OBSESSED. She's so articulate and funny, so that helps with the association. It's definitely uncommon but I don't think it's too weird because of the constellations Ursa Major and Ursa Minor. It might fit a pet better than a human but I don't care...right now, I'm swooning. This baby is probably a boy (just because of odds) but if it's a girl I'm adding Ursa to my very long list of possible girl's names.
It's ok if you hate it, honestly, I'm not fragile, but if you met a little girl named Ursa, what would you think?
Breaking news! I think we have a strong front runner for a girl: Maya Jewel. Maya was the first name my husband actually got excited about when I suggested it last night. Jewel is one of his great-aunts that he absolutely loves and is a really awesome person. We’ll be using my last name so I like the idea of using a middle name from his family and honestly, his family is a hot mess and there aren’t many people we’d want to name a child after.
After we talked about it for a few minutes he was like “did we just officially add a name to our list??” Our plan is to go into the birth with 2-3 choices per sex so we’ve still got a ways to go.
Charles Henry Sydney James Samuel David Joseph Liam Dell
So we like classic, family names. But 3 boys in and I’m running out of family names. Help me brainstorm something I haven’t thought of yet. My husband is a Jr and I refuse to have a third or name a kid after my ILs so Liam was the nod to him—it has a similar meaning to his name.
Names we’ve tossed around but never chosen: Thomas Theodore ((I go back and forth on this one)) Nathaniel Julian Lucas
I also am a fan of nicknames. All of our boys have a solid formal name and every one of them has a nickname.
So I love the name Isaac and it’s a family name but I don’t think there’s a single good nickname. We also are considering a name that kind of nods to Granville but isn’t Granville. Ha. It’s a family name. Like Grant or Graham?? I kind of like Grayson but is that trendy and popular? Ugh.
What classical boys names am I missing that aren’t currently British princes like William, George, etc. I am really actually rather grumpy with myself for using Liam and Sydney as middles names now because I could totally use them as a first name by the time we hit 4 boys.
We’ve had our girl name sort of picked out forever… Julia or Juliana. MH wants Marie after his grandmother’s middle name ((and my pause is that his mother, sister and niece all share the name and they are very proprietary over things they consider to belong to their family so I can see them not seeing it as an honor from MH to special women in his life and instead that I’m stealing “their” name.)) I’m considering Julia Ann, Julia Lynn or Juliana Lynn after middle names in my own family.
And to make it more complicated our last name starts with a B so I thought that ruled out B first names but then my friend named her son Bennett and they have a B last name so am I being weird about the alliteration?? 😂 Points for anyone who reads all this and cares to offer suggestions.
@starkette there ya go! Pregnant brain over here has me all wrong. I do really like it… especially with the constellation as a nice little tie in. Like, we named you after stars.
@starkette if you want honest opinions, I’m not a fan. But to each their own 🤷🏻♀️
Editing to add I didn’t mean to sound like a jerk. It’s just not my style but I’ve know many kids who have weird names and rock them. The kid makes the name. (Also we have weird names too so No judgment). I think I keep hearing Ursula and I can’t unsee the Little Mermaid.
@mdfarmchick I really like Isaac as well, but also can’t think of a nickname other than maybe Izzy? And it doesn’t seem like that would be your style. What about Ian? Kinda too short for a nickname though. I personally think Grayson is too trendy but it’s also been trendy for awhile so maybe it’s not considered trendy anymore?? If that makes sense?
Of your other ideas, I like Thomas (will be our middle name if it’s a boy), Lucas and Julian the best but the others are solid choices too!
A double B name I think would be fine! What about Benjamin?
Other ideas: Alexander, Zachary, Gabriel, Daniel, Anthony
The cool thing with names is that they are all unique to preference, but whatever you choose will probably be fitting for your child!
I like names that are classic, recognizable, unique, and elegant. I like ones that are 2-3 syllables, but easy to pronounce. I also like elegant names that tie to nature, location, or colors. A few examples I love, but won’t be using are:
(Boy) Sebastian Emmerson Austin
Boston
(Girl) Octavia Scarlett Emerald Jasmine
I have some more examples, but they are still on the table and we won’t share the name until birth. We won’t be using any friend or relatives name in the baby’s name in any way. (Our reasoning: My brother got stuck with an uncles first name as his middle, and that uncle ended up holding a grudge against my family for 15 years over something petty. He recently made things right, but that was almost my brother’s entire childhood. We also have a lot of family members and none of their names stand out to us anyway. It’s so precious when a baby is named after a loved one, but we decided to keep it all unique to our little one.)
We are definitely doing 2 middle names! Anyone else?
@itsme215 that’s the same nickname I came up with for Isaac and I don’t love it. Haha. We’ve talked about Benjamin and Alexander but we have a disagreement on the nickname; H wants Alec and I feel like Alex is more natural. 😝
I like Gabriel but then hate the nickname Gabe. Maybe I can get away with calling him G. 🤣 I can’t decide about Grayson because I love the nickname Gray… and it feels like it was really popular when I was babysitting and it may be less popular now? I should check nameberry.
@starkette I really like Graham. Maybe I can talk MH into Graham. I love some of the names you listed so I am going to mention them to MH.
@mdfarmchick you’ve got a lot of strong boy names. Other ideas that seem similar: (sorry if these are already listed or names you already have, it’s hard to scroll back and forth)
Ethan
Andrew Calvin Owen Oliver Tobias Levi Victor Simon Hugh Miles Jack Titus
We are fairly certain on baby’s name since we think it’s a boy. Our deal was that if baby was a girl she would have my last name and if baby was a boy then he would have dad’s last name. We are currently engaged to be married but I’m not sure if when we get married I’ll be taking his last name or keeping mine.
Lincoln William will be his name unless something else comes along that knocks our socks off. No significance with his first name but middle name is my late father, as well as my baby brother and older brother’s middle name.
TW Infant loss
My baby brother ended up being still born as a result of a MVA that my mother was in while pregnant with him. It ultimately came down to either him or her and they saved her.
@mdfarmchick Graham could definitely have a nickname of Gray! I think our vibe is very similar. If this baby is actually a girl, I’ll shoot you the boy list I’ve been lugging around for years lol.
@mdfarmchick I will tell you, my guilty pleasure name that mh has vetoed many times- and is now on my pets list- is Cecil. I really like “old man” names haha.
My sister named her baby Theodore and I love it for him! But she calls him teddy and over annunciates it all the time so it’s Ted-dee, but totally separate words and it drives me crazy. I much prefer Theo as a nn.
Awww Cecil is adorable and MH will absolutely veto it. Or maybe not. He actually put James on the list ((and we picked it)) after vetoing it previously. 🤣
@paytonpedro Cecil was my BFFs favorite boy's name! She ended up having 3 girls. That's so funny, though. Small world!
I love the name Cyrus but our last name is Stark and the "s" sound runs into each other too much for MH's liking. Boo. Oh well.
@wigglyicecream Lincoln William is a fantastic name! Definitely swoon worthy. Also, I'm so sorry about your brother. That must've been so hard on your parents.
@starkette Ursa isn’t the style of names I have on my list, but I can see it as an “any age” name, and it fits really well with the other names of your girls! I love the constellation tie in. Especially as Ursa Major is on the Alaska flag!
@mdfarmchick I think Zac makes a good nickname for Issac, but depends if you like how it sounds! I also love Theodore/Theo and Grayson/Gray. It’s so classic! Gray and Theo (or the full versions) make great middle names if you go with a different first as well!
@mdfarmchick I have a friend Graham who went by Gray growing up (and still does with his family) because he's the sixth. I definitely prefer Graham => Gray to Grayson because Grayson is so popular - there's one in every lower grade class at my kid's small grade school.
Anyone else name their kids on a theme? All our kids have a slight nod to Star Wars, their middle names typically. But they’re not so out there. DH says we don’t have to continue it but it would feel weird not to at this point. Nobody would ever know if we didn’t because they’re not so blatant.
@and_peggy I love that (even though I’m not a star wars fan- I’ve never seen them). I love when there’s a theme. We have two traditional/old American/English names that could almost be classified as western, almost. Mh and mil keep suggesting off the wall polish/Slavic names and as much as I love them (one is my great grandmothers name) I feel like it would be weird to have it in the sib set with my other two.
@and_peggy We're historians so we name our kids names from the time period (that also sound normal to modern ears.) Middle names are after beloved relatives. DS 1 has a Roman name, DS2 is Byzantine, and we're definitely going medieval with this next one but are waiting to find out sex before we come up with concrete choices.
@paytonpedro my husband’s family was all names that begin with J. His dad and brothers were all M. His grandpa was all Ws. And I definitely could not do a single letter theme for my kids. We broke that tradition.
I wouldn’t call our kids names traditional at all but I think they’re classy in terms of not sounding weird at any age. And they’re not common so there shouldn’t be 4 of them in their classes growing up.
@wisewitch222 okay I love that! Really neat and a a fun way to honor what you love.
I really want something with Italian influence but all the lists I find are like Luigi and Guseppi. I just want a nod to my Italian Heritage. Currently my fav for a boy is Luca but i think my husband is ambivalent.
@and_peggy I think I mentioned this before, but my husband and his brother are named for John Wayne characters (Ethan and Sean), and we want to continue that if we have any boys.
Re: Let's talk..baby names
We are having trouble coming up with middle names for girls, and any names at all for boys except that we both like Jacob. Our last name has 11 letters and 4 syllables. Oof.
So I edit podcasts and on one of them the guest is named Ursa and I'm OBSESSED. She's so articulate and funny, so that helps with the association. It's definitely uncommon but I don't think it's too weird because of the constellations Ursa Major and Ursa Minor. It might fit a pet better than a human but I don't care...right now, I'm swooning. This baby is probably a boy (just because of odds) but if it's a girl I'm adding Ursa to my very long list of possible girl's names.
It's ok if you hate it, honestly, I'm not fragile, but if you met a little girl named Ursa, what would you think?
@itsme215 omg that's absolutely adorable! I love the combo. Jewel as a middle name is really nice.
Charles
Henry
Sydney
James
Samuel
David
Joseph
Liam
Dell
So we like classic, family names. But 3 boys in and I’m running out of family names. Help me brainstorm something I haven’t thought of yet. My husband is a Jr and I refuse to have a third or name a kid after my ILs so Liam was the nod to him—it has a similar meaning to his name.
Thomas
Theodore ((I go back and forth on this one))
Nathaniel
Julian
Lucas
I also am a fan of nicknames. All of our boys have a solid formal name and every one of them has a nickname.
What classical boys names am I missing that aren’t currently British princes like William, George, etc. I am really actually rather grumpy with myself for using Liam and Sydney as middles names now because I could totally use them as a first name by the time we hit 4 boys.
have weird names and rock them. The kid makes the name. (Also we have weird names too so No judgment). I think I keep hearing Ursula and I can’t unsee the Little Mermaid.
5.5.16 | 8.14.17 | 1.30.19
Zac could be a nickname for Isaac.
Other classic (but not overused) name possibilities:
Patrick
Peter
Jasper
Simon
Harrison
Asher
Elliott
Caleb
Emmett
Jude
Jonah
Wesley
I like names that are classic, recognizable, unique, and elegant. I like ones that are 2-3 syllables, but easy to pronounce. I also like elegant names that tie to nature, location, or colors. A few examples I love, but won’t be using are:
(Boy)
Sebastian
Emmerson
Austin
Octavia
Scarlett
Emerald
Jasmine
I have some more examples, but they are still on the table and we won’t share the name until birth. We won’t be using any friend or relatives name in the baby’s name in any way. (Our reasoning: My brother got stuck with an uncles first name as his middle, and that uncle ended up holding a grudge against my family for 15 years over something petty. He recently made things right, but that was almost my brother’s entire childhood. We also have a lot of family members and none of their names stand out to us anyway. It’s so precious when a baby is named after a loved one, but we decided to keep it all unique to our little one.)
I like Gabriel but then hate the nickname Gabe. Maybe I can get away with calling him G. 🤣 I can’t decide about Grayson because I love the nickname Gray… and it feels like it was really popular when I was babysitting and it may be less popular now? I should check nameberry.
(sorry if these are already listed or names you already have, it’s hard to scroll back and forth)
Ethan
Calvin
Owen
Oliver
Tobias
Levi
Victor
Simon
Hugh
Miles
Jack
Titus
5.5.16 | 8.14.17 | 1.30.19
My baby brother ended up being still born as a result of a MVA that my mother was in while pregnant with him. It ultimately came down to either him or her and they saved her.
I love the name Cyrus but our last name is Stark and the "s" sound runs into each other too much for MH's liking. Boo. Oh well.
@wigglyicecream Lincoln William is a fantastic name! Definitely swoon worthy. Also, I'm so sorry about your brother.
@itsme215 I love Jewel so much as a middle name!
@mdfarmchick I think Zac makes a good nickname for Issac, but depends if you like how it sounds! I also love Theodore/Theo and Grayson/Gray. It’s so classic! Gray and Theo (or the full versions) make great middle names if you go with a different first as well!
5.5.16 | 8.14.17 | 1.30.19
I wouldn’t call our kids names traditional at all but I think they’re classy in terms of not sounding weird at any age. And they’re not common so there shouldn’t be 4 of them in their classes growing up.
@wisewitch222 okay I love that! Really neat and a a fun way to honor what you love.
5.5.16 | 8.14.17 | 1.30.19