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Picking names
Ninto
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So, my story is short. My wife and I are on our way to having a child, and we can't decide on a name. Lee is top on our list for boys, and for girls...Stella.
But, we're still going back and forth and there's so many options we can't decide.
I'm hoping you guys have some great suggestions, because all those baby name books are F'ing USELESS. Chlotilda? Really??
But, we're still going back and forth and there's so many options we can't decide.
I'm hoping you guys have some great suggestions, because all those baby name books are F'ing USELESS. Chlotilda? Really??
Ninto on
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http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/
God damn I have a lot of nieces.
O_O is that werid?
(mom's name in hawiian + bf's mom's name.)
btw, please feel free to jack the name if you like it.
I also really love just Hoi.
The SSA link is great, thanks! The only issue with it is that we don't want anything too common, or too Trendy, or too wierd...you know how it goes
First person to get the reference can have a cookie.
I like the more traditional names in general. Thomas, Charlie, Henry for examples as boys names.
Girls, well, I always remember my uncle and his wife having the argument:
"But that sounds like the name of a stripper...." I expect you can imagine the rest.
Boy name: Aiden
Girl names: Carmen, Hannah, Daisy, Celest
The golden flowers of Lothlorien, of course
Some of my favorite names...
Samantha
Robin (for a girl or boy)
Rae or Ray (girl or boy, respectively - I'm biased on this one though :P)
Carmella
Luke
The Best in Terms of Pants on JCCC3
Here are some of my nephew and nieces names which to me are pretty original:
Boys - Fox, Crew, Ty
Girls, Pepper, Olive, Aurora, Georgia, Marygold.
Arch,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_goGR39m2k
I knew a Liam. He was sort of a tool.
You just added a J to my Aiden idea. Cheater.
Instead of tossing out specific names, I'm going to offer some guidelines.
- Using bizarre spellings of existing names does not make them original. Elyzibeth is still going to be called Elizabeth, but she's going to spend her lifetime painfully explaining how to spell it. Ditto Kayt, Robynne, Jessyka, Leesah, etc. Save everyone some trouble and just spell it normally.
- Choose a name from within your own culture. If you have Hawaiian ancestry, then absolutely, choosing a name from that tradition would be a respectful and thoughtful and neat thing to do. But if the past five generations of your family have lived and died in rural Ohio, don't give your kid a name that means "peaceful mountain stream" in Maori or something just because you think it sounds cool. That's like the stereotypical white kid who doesn't speak or read a lick of Japanese getting a kanji symbol tattooed on his arm because somebody told him it meant "badass samurai warrior ninja from hell."
- For the love of God, don't pick something based on current pop culture. There are measurable outlying spikes in names, especially for girls, depending on what movie was released the year the kids were born: Belle, Ariel, Mulan, etc. There are going to be so many Bellas and Edwards running around kindergarten classrooms five years from now. So many. Don't let your child be one of them.
- When my parents named my sister and I, they deliberately chose very short names so we didn't get stuck with a nickname we didn't like. It kind of backfired. I am doomed to be blunt, curt Kate for the rest of my days, and when people wanted to get under my skin back in high school, they just called me Katie anyway because they knew I hated it. So, you might as well give your child the option of *having* a nickname. An Alexander can be Alexander, or Alex, or Alec, or Sandy - that can encompass a wide range of personal tastes.
- Some names just never go out of style. Something like Katherine or David might seem boring and unoriginal, but they're good solid names that aren't tied to any specific fad or time period, and while a David may not ever hear the sentence "Oh wow, your name is so cool!", at least they're never going to hear "Haha, Hermione is such a stupid gay book name!"
- No matter how many names you have on your lists, and no matter how carefully you plan out ideal combinations of first and middle names to go with your surname, all of that is going to go out the window as soon as you see your child for the first time and realize that the single name that perfectly fits her tiny perfect newborn self is something you hadn't even considered until you actually saw her. So go ahead and plan - it's possible that the right name will indeed be forethought - but keep an open mind.
All good advice.
Anyway, here are some names that I think would be nice with your last name that are classy and "solid".
-Oliver
-Richard
-Daniel
-Liam
My top two would be Oliver and Liam, with Richard being very close.
EDIT: Yes, Alexander is a fantastic suggestion. Also, I can't really provide any solid girl names, because I haven't thought about that before for some reason. Maybe Julia?
Trust me on this, it makes life far easier.
EDIT: And no, it's not some faggy reference to Final Fantasy
Lee, I'm not so sure.
I might have called my daughter Posy, but it doesn't work in the language where we live. Posy Barker? Hmm...
I've always liked Sam for a boy.
What's your ethnic background? My parents are Irish, so I nearly chose a traditional Irish name.
I find most of the Biblical names boring - God how many Davids, Sarahs and Peters do you meet?
To be honest, I think a lot of Kate of Locksys's advice to be a bit conservative. There's nothing wrong with an unusual name.
Lastly, I think my middle name is really boring, and I don't know many people who like theirs. Middle names always seem to be the dumping ground for the names that lost the fight.
Generally speaking, I tend to second Kate of Lokys' advice. Conservatism, in naming your child, is not necessarily something to be feared.
*cookie*
I hope that I'll pursuade the mother of my children to at least have that as a middle name for a girl :-)
Really? I hate my middle name. It annoys me whenever it turns up on anything.
How's about Sarah. I like that name. Too common though.
I would say that if you want your name to continue through your children, give it to them as a middle name.
@gamefacts - Totally and utterly true gaming facts on the regular!
Girl: Saira (means princess), Anisa (means one who is loved), Zohra (Pesrian for Venus)
Boy: Can't think of any
When I have to come up with names for stories I'm writing, I use a random name generator. I don't just pick the first name that shows up; I usually generate 50 and rifle through them until I see something I like. Your choice is obviously a bit more important, but maybe some of those combinations will inspire you.
And last but not least, what might be most useful to you (or not), is Nymbler. It lets you choose a bunch of names you like and suggests other names based on your preferences. Kind of like how Netflix will suggest movies for you based on what you've rented. As you see new names you like, you can add them to the queue and it will modify the suggestions.
As for general advice, Kate knows what's up.
I love my middle name. Its exotic, yet familiar.
"Ejan"
Pronounced Ian.
Some middle names are just cooler.
First of all, fuck David. I know like seven Davids. I have also encountered at least two people with my exact name, first and last. That's not a cool feeling.
Second, my name was absolutely normal. I got bullied and teased. It's almost like bullying exists regardless of what your name is!
Also I don't understand why people get genuinely upset when you call them a certain variation of their name, raise your child to not be like that. It's like getting offended at certain words regardless of a speaker's intent. If someone says "Mikey" to me it's unusual but I know they're talking to me so I respond. It's a pretty simple exchange. But if someone said "Mikey" in a really dickish way, like "Hey Miiiiiiiiiiiiiiikeeeeeey, he likes it!" then I'll be annoyed about the way it was said.
STELLLLLAAAAA!
But that might just be me. I've always like the 'K' names; Kyla, Katherine, Kaitlin, Christa, Christine, Kaia, Kelsey, Kailey, Kara etc.
For a boy, I like taking from the Old School; Saul, Silas, David (Dave is a great nickname), Johnathan, John, Nathaniel, Nathan, Michael, Mikhail, Elijah, Jonah, and Daniel.
More 'off the track' names I've liked include Isabel, Elsabet, Sara, Logan, Brado and Stryker.
All of the boys in my family (great-great grandfather and down) have ancestral middle names, usually a first or middle name from one of their grandfathers (any side).
Middle names are a good thing; I don't have one and it was annoying up through about high school. It would've been nice to have the option to "go by" something else. Also if you're going to give a non-traditional name or a name from a distant language/culture then also giving a name from the local language/culture can help integration.
My wife works with kids, largely from middling to affluent white families. Irish names spiked in popularity about 5-6 yrs ago and old fashioned names seem to have been making a resurgence, at least in that demographic.
IMO you should really think hard if you're going to name your kid some odd name after a character in books. Do you really want your kid to have to explain the etymology everytime there's an introduction, or have to bullshit and say "oh my parents just liked the way that sounds" if they didn't care for the particular work?
Seriously, regular name. You don't need to be a unique snowflake and have an unspellable name.
Be wary of names that have four million different variations. My name is Meghan and there's at least a 75% chance my name will be spelled incorrectly the first time and at least a 30% chance it'll still be incorrect after that.
Also don't pick names that are TOO popular. Maybe something in the top 50, but not the top 10. You don't want your kid to be Sarah B. her entire life.
Personally, I like older names that are not instantly old. Abigail and Meredith for girls, Jeremy for boys. I think the nickname Abbie just absolutely adorable. However looking at the popularity Abigail has gotten popular again and seriously, fuck that I've had that name picked out for at least a decade.
The trends I've noticed lately are irish. Lots of irish-names going around, probably because they sound "normal" while, well, not. They've always been somewhat popular, but they seem to really be big lately. It could also be that they sound english without being biblical.
Some very pretty names are those that are popular in other languages/countries. For girls, many french names are naturally pretty sounding and don't sound at all weird, such as Corinne or Aimee or Brigitte. Of course, the spelling thing brought up above makes a lot of the international variations kind of moot -- is Amy the only way? Don't ask an Aimee that question. Same with Emily/Amelie/Amely... or maybe Amelia?
I think the only boy name that's not an option for you is Robert, unless you want your kid to be Bob Barker.
pfft... my middle name is wheaton...
http://www.wheaton.il.us/
thats right, im named after a fucking town...
although that makes my intitial SWD (which is sweden)
@gamefacts - Totally and utterly true gaming facts on the regular!
I wish I had a good solid name like those. My name (Ryan) is not unique nor does it seem really all that masculine to me. It's a little frustrating. Plus, I get no nicknames with it.
It is a good name.
I was called William throughout my childhood, and came to think of it as childish for some reason. Possibly because a lot of my parents' friends insisted on over-pronouncing it. My dad was known as Bill, or Wullie to his close friends, so I didn't associate it with him. I just decided one day at the end of primary school that I'd be known as Will and it's been the same ever since. I don't even think of myself as a William any more.
@gamefacts - Totally and utterly true gaming facts on the regular!
My late grandfather's initials is FAG.
Not even joking.