Thinking names? - Page 7

[Smokering]

What about Callum? I love that it means dove. Nice nature theme there. Or maybe Logan? That's trendy in the US but what about where you are?

I like them both as names, but sadly they have connotations... an obnoxious kid from church, and an obnoxious classmate from my youth, respectively. :p Doesn't help!

I actually really like "Calvin", partly from A Wrinkle in Time, plus just the combination of sounds... but we happen to be Calvinists, so it would probably come off as kind of fangirlish or something. My inlaws would definitely not be impressed!

I'm a Sarah, and having such a popular name did annoy me - I was always Sarah M in class, along with Sarah J and Sarah T and Sarah C, you know? Then again, we do plan to homeschool, so if we had a Liam he would be the only one in his class... so maybe it wouldn't be such an issue? I don' know! I'm not so keen on William, just because I don't like Will or Willie as nicknames (and my family has found through bitter experience that controlling a nickname is easier said than done!).

I quite like Hunter too - it's a family name (well, surname), but that's also trendyish at the moment; and DH is unsure, anyway. It certainly doesn't help that he vetoes 99% of the names I like, and has suggested precisely one boy's name - Alejandro - which seems unsuitable to me for a kid with next to no Spanish blood in him! (And doesn't really match with Rowan, if you ask me.) The fact that we AGREE on Liam is definitely a point in its favour! And yet, and yet... arrgh.

[hilary549]

Smokering- what about Llewellyn?

Llewellyn is a Welsh name, one that I particularly love, but my DH doesn't. You could use Lou for a nickname- i happen to like Lou as a nickname but i think that's all about positive associations. But the name does have an L start, and is not at the top of any lists, i don't think-

[Smokering]

I've considered it... I love the way it looks, but I worry that it would sound too much like "Lou-Ellen" to a person who isn't familiar with the name (ie. most people).

Sorry; I'm not trying to be difficult, vetoing everyone's suggestions! I'm just very picky/weird about names... there are so many names that I love on other people's kids, to the point of thinking "Oh, what a lovely name" every time I see it, and yet I wouldn't use them on my own kids. It makes no sense. :p If I saw you had a Llewellyn I'd undoubtedly be thinking "Awesome name!", but - I dunno, I just can't picture having a son called that. You know? Names are a crazy thing!

[swimming-duck]

So where do you guys get your name statistics? babynames.com is the list that told me Oliver was #10 for 2010, but I realized this is just based on people's lists, not on what people are actually naming their children, so that doesn't really carry any weight as far as I'm concerned. babycenter.com has Oliver at #68 for last year and that's based on people who use babycenter.com and share their children's names. I looked at the social security administration site, which would be the most accurate, and of course the 2010 statistics aren't in yet. But in 2009 Oliver was #98. I'm hoping the stats come in before DD so that we can see where it stood last year. So, I don't know, Oliver might still be in the running. I'm okay with it being in the top 100 names, but I don't want something that's in the top 10. Although, I was surprised that for 2009 Ayden (my DS's name) was not in the top 10. But they don't combine spellings, so that would probably change things! I've definitely met Ayden's everywhere, but I don't feel like I've met a lot of Olivers.

[hilary549]

names are like music, it's really hard to describe why you do or don't like them. i don't mind at all that you don't want to use Llewellyn, just throwing it out there. i think the ssa website is the best for u.s. stats anyway, and i thought they did show related names so you might be able to see aiden/aden etc for Ayden, unless maybe they haven't linked that spelling. but i did see variants on the side bar when i searched clara.

dunno where everyone gets international stats.

can't wait to see what everyone does name their babies. we must post the names afterwards! with the sib names, i love to see what combinations people use. my friend has a Lydia and i'm reallyhoping she'll name her boy Jasper for some reason, but haven't told her that. Or Joseph. i think those go well with Lydia.

[jshannyn519]

I also use the SSA website for baby name rankings. http://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/  They don't have the 2010 name rankings up yet, but the 2009 rankings are a pretty good indication of where a name will be in the whole range of possibilities. They also do the rankings for the last 11 years for a specific name and they'll offer similar names. You just have to type it in. Sometimes they don't have all of the alternate spellings so you may have to experiment with more unusual names until a match comes up.

I just had a conversation with Baby Daddy about baby boy's name. I'm pretty much set on Samuel Edward, but I am willing to compromise. However, he wants a "good ol' country boy" name like, Colt, Rusty, or Stetson. Uh no. First of all, we live in the city. In a pretty huge city. We are not good ol' country boy kind of people to begin with. Secondly, I refuse to name my child after a brand name. It would be like naming him Whirlpool or Nokia. My child is not free advertising for guns or cowboy hats. And then there is the whole issue of the name that a person has affects the way that other people view him or her. That means that college entrance, hiring for jobs and ultimately future earning potential can be either raised or lowered depending on the name that a person has. If you haven't read Freakonomics, I highly recommend it because they have whole chapters on how names and income and social status are tied together.

I'm sure some of this sounds snobbish, but if I know that I can impact my child's future by giving him a name that is considered to be low class vs one that is upper or middle class, I'm going to choose the one that is upper or middle class. One of Baby Daddy's kids is named Diesel and I was forever explaining to people that the child is not my child and no, I did not name him. I have yet to meet one person who thinks it is a good idea to name a child after a type of fuel.

[Smokering]

I got the NZ stats just by Googling "top baby names 2010 NZ". Some official government agency comes out with a list every year - well, two, boys' names and girls' names. I find there's a fair amount of crossover with the USA lists, usually. It's definitely worth checking the list for the country you're in, though: I was going to be Rebecca, but it was very common in the USA where I was born, so they went with something "less common". Unfortunately my parents didn't think to check the Australian stats, so when they moved back home when I was 5 months old, they found I was one of a trillion Sarahs! (So they named the next baby Rebecca.)

[elisheva]

Originally Posted by jshannyn519 

I'm sure some of this sounds snobbish, but if I know that I can impact my child's future by giving him a name that is considered to be low class vs one that is upper or middle class, I'm going to choose the one that is upper or middle class. One of Baby Daddy's kids is named Diesel and I was forever explaining to people that the child is not my child and no, I did not name him. I have yet to meet one person who thinks it is a good idea to name a child after a type of fuel.

No way. I don't think it's snobbish at all. It was kind of funny but a radio station where I used to live in NC a gazillion years ago used to do a "Wayne-Lee-Ray" report. Their definitely unscientific theory was that if you had either Wayne, Lee, or Ray as any part of you name, you were statistically more likely to be involved as either the victim or the perpetrator of a violent crime. Think about it. John Wayne Bobbit. James Earl Ray. Lee Harvey Oswald. Just sayin'... (disclaimer: no offense intended to you or anyone you know or love who has one of these names).

[imogenlily]

I've been considering Ari for our baby boy, but am in a multifaith relationship. DS is going to have DH's super anglo-saxon last name, rather than my Jewish one. Is Ari (anglo saxon last name) weird?

[calynde]

I don't find that weird at all! :-) Ari is a nice name.

[wake_up]

Ari is awesome!  I know a distinctly non-Jewish little Ari, so I don't think it's weird at all.  Love the name.

[imogenlily]

Ha, yeah, I have a non-Jewish first name with a Jewish last name, so I guess it's not so different.

[jshannyn519]

I like Ari! It think it's cute and would probably work well with just about any last name. I have a Kaleb and a Hannah and my last name is about as American as apple pie (and boring too!). This bean is Samuel.

[OrangeMoon]

We're all set name wise for both a boy and girl and I feel sooooo much happier now, lol. We had boy first and middle down, but we couldn't come up with a girl middle name and it was really bugging me. So yay, unless it really doesn't seem to fit we're all set! :-)

[wake_up]

Originally Posted by jshannyn519 

I like Ari! It think it's cute and would probably work well with just about any last name. I have a Kaleb and a Hannah and my last name is about as American as apple pie (and boring too!). This bean is Samuel.

This post made me do a double take - I'm Hannah and DH is Kaleb!  No Samuels around here though :) so I guess we aren't in some kind of parallel name universe...

[jshannyn519]

Originally Posted by wake_up 

This post made me do a double take - I'm Hannah and DH is Kaleb!  No Samuels around here though :) so I guess we aren't in some kind of parallel name universe...

Now that is totally bizarre! Those names do go beautifully together though. :)

[imogenlily]

edited - replied to the wrong thread

[Snowflake777]

Argh, DH is driving me crazy. I've been asking him to make a names list for a month now and he's still dragging his feet. Not that this is any surprise - it took him until 2 days after DD1 was born to more or less agree to a name, and another month after that to fully commit to it.

He doesn't get what the hurry is. It's not like I need to settle on a name immediately, but I'd like to at least get some suggestions/opinions.

I give up.

[Snowflake777]

Ok so he's sent me a list now...

Hmm...the only name we both love has the same first & last letter as DD1's name. I don't want to say the names because it'll make me too google-able, but say DD1 is called 'Lena', and we're both in love with 'Lisandra'.

Would that be totally cringeworthy? We're not into name themes, but can't agree on much else.

[prothyraia]

Liam and Lachlan are on our list for boys, along with Cormac and Llyr. (we have a Rowan too, actually, but ours is a boy!)
 

Originally Posted by Smokering 

Other possibilities include Miles, Lachlan (although, amazingly, that's pretty common here too!)... I quite like Fynn, but I suspect I might go off it in a few months... DH thinks Linden is too girly... I like L-names, because I think it's a gentle sound without being "girly". (I know, I'm weird.) So - anyone have any awesome, preferably Anglo-Saxon or Celtic-derived boys' names starting with L, other than Liam, Lachlan and Linden?