I love this thread! So many good ideas:)
For a girl I love Daisy (DH hates, but DS is named after him, so I figure I get full power for this one -- I don't especially like his name, but did it for him!) and Sunshine (sunny, sun). I feel like both of those could also seem like stripper names, LOL, even though they seem nature to me! I also like, as a pp, Anais (ana-eese).
I really love the name Oscar, but I feel like any time he was in a bad mood he's get called a grouch, just for the name :(
I also like Oskar, Rueben, Beatrix, Jane, Malcolm, Vincenzo, Blythe, Neve
We are very seriously considering River as our little boy's name...
I love the name Nova for a boy, but DH hates it. Not named after the car either. I just like the name.
I'm loving the name Pippa right now...but apparently it's short for Phillipa, which I abhor. I also like the name Jecca.
I LOVE the name Xochitl. I knew people when I was younger with this name, and then met someone else in college with it. It has always stuck with me as a cool name. I feel like I also met someone named Xohimilco, too, I just heard overheard a mom call her daughter this the other day.
first of all, let me just say i LOVE this thread! so many great ideas, wish i'd found it sooner. i found it last week, but didn't have the time to read through them all, so decided to look for it today. i remembered it had the word "chicken" in it and that Smokering started it. did a search with "chicken" keyword and Smokering username...Smokering, do you have any idea how many threads with the word chicken in them you've posted to? a lot!
also, i just recently realized that your username is Smoke-ring and not Smoker-ing. i must say i'm having a really hard time breaking the habit of thinking of you as Smoker-ing.
after reading all the names here, i realize any names we've considered (or nixed) aren't too out there at all, but i thought it'd be fun to post nonetheless.
i loved gus for a boy, dh hated it. he loved otis, i hated it. well, that settles that.
i also loved chance, but dh nixed that one as well. i must say i prefered chance when my only association with it was the peter sellers character in being there and not one of the characters on my favorite soap.
we talked about penny (not penelope, just penny) and ruby for a while. both dh and i really liked both, but in the end decided against them both. just couldn't see either of those names following someone through life.
we seriously considered willow (for a middle name at the very least) for a while because babe was conceived under the willow tree in our backyard, but then that annoying (well, i find her annoying) daughter of will smith and that awful song of hers became really popular and i said, "no, way". turned out we had a son, so it became moot.
i'm a huge nina simone fan and have always said i would love to have twin girls (how do you make that happen?) and name them nina and simone. i actually really like both names and it's such a lovely little tribute to the singer.
dh was really hooked on miles for a while, but he utimately nixed it. he's an avid runner as well as a cross-country and track coach and felt like it would be too much pressure on his son.
so, our children's names are tess and jude. on the rare occasion that someone catches the thomas hardy reference, i like to pretend that we did indeed intend to name our children after hardy characters, but alas we did not. when i was pregnant with our first, the name tess just came to me and i fell in love with it. dh wasn't totally on board in the beginning. he suggested tessa, saying it was more feminine. i was firm and insisted on tess. and he's so glad i did. he definitely agrees that she (now four) is very much a tess, not a tessa. our son jude, was actually named after a beloved uncle of mine. while we didn't deliberately name our children after protagonists in hardy novels, i must say that if we have anymore, we will have to consider continuing the trend. perhaps gabriel or bathsheba.
For a boy: Lucius. My husband HATES it and since Harry Potter mania has taken over my house it probably wouldn't fly with my kids either.
i haven't read any of the harry potter books or seen any of the movies. so, when i hear the name lucius, i think of zira's nephew from planet of the apes.
I like True for a boy.
ooh, i like that too.
ooh, i like that too. and dh and i are HUGE johnny cash fans. my FIL even recited some johnny cash lyrics at our wedding ceremony.
I love the names Piper & Cinnamon, but I'd never feel comfortable giving my own kids these names.
love piper, but the kids' last name also ends with an "er" and it would just sound weird.
Jasper (sounds a little fey with DH's alliterative last name), Magnus and Ronan.
I just try to imagine 1) yelling the name across the playground and 2) that person running for office some day.
love jasper, but it's also the name of dh's best friend.
i love your two name tests. those are great. now every name i hear i imagine yelling across the playground or in the supermarket, etc.
Sadie. But too many people name their pets Sadie. So that's our cat's name. 
i love it too, but can't hear it without breaking into "sexy sadie..." it's also true about the pet thing. i've known lots of canine and feline sadies. i feel the same way about the name riley (and yet i'm hearing it more and more on little boys and girls).
Poppy. Clementine. Ever.
love poppy and clementine (i think clem is so cute). someone in my ddc just named her son ever.
I really like the name Gregory but I HATE greg so I could never name a kid Gregory. Everyone will call him greg.. he might prefer greg! It would drive me bonkers hearing it.
this is how i feel about david, james and michael. love them, but hate dave, jim and mike. dh's name is robert. thank goodness he goes by rob and not bob.
I also like Oskar, Rueben, Beatrix, Jane, Malcolm, Vincenzo, Blythe, Neve
i love the name beatrix, but dh hates it. i think trixie is such a cute nickname.
love both of these.
Girls:
Elise- DH just hates it. I have no idea why. I think it's simple and beautiful.
dh hates it? that's odd. what's not to love?
I love the name Aurora (for a girl), but here in Seattle is the name of a main road known for prostitution so it is out 
oh, no!
I guess this name belongs in here because I'm definitely too chicken to name a baby this name (or perhaps I'm just not crazy):
Howlin
Yea, like howling at the moon, howling like a wolf etc. My husband thinks its AWESOME and I think he is absolutely nuts. He doesn't understand why this is a poor choice of name for a baby (or human even). Sure, it's cool, maybe for a nickname, but not for an actual name. Ugh. Thankfully he's not going to push for it because I absolutely hate it, but it annoys me that I even have to explain why it's weird.
is your dh a blues fan? my dh is and would LOVE the name howlin (after howlin' wolf). glad he never thought of it.
I feel the same way about having different names for my kids...my name is Samantha...way too popular for my liking.
sam, do you mean because it's popular now or was it popular when you were growing up? i'm also a samantha, but it wasn't popular at all when i was growing up. i think i went throughout my entire school career without meeting another samantha. perhaps you're a lot younger than me. i was born in '72. i've always also enjoyed having a "boy" nickname.
That consideration eliminated so many awesome Irish/Celtic names from my list! (I only came across the name Siobhan a few years ago, and had NO idea how to pronounce it... and that's one of the more common ones.)
i love so many gaelic names, the way they sound and the way they look, but just can't bring myself to use them. i am irish on my mom's side, but neither dh nor i have an irish last name. i am scottish on my dad's side and i have a scottish last name, but not a really obvious one (not one that sound scottish).
I'm sort of a big fan of Law & Order SVU because I find the plot twists and the acting and the one liners to be completely campy and hilarious. So I was looking it up on IMDB and saw that "Fin", Ice-T's character's full name is Odafin.
Which I thought was just awesome.
But it's Ice-T's character on Law & Order SVU...
so what, i think it's great. never knew that was his full name. i also love the show.
I've always kind of liked "Grover," but thanks to a certain adorable blue monster...nope.
oh, but he's an "adorable blue monster" and there aren't nearly enough grovers. i say bring it back.
My partner and i have always joked we would name our babies after vices and misbehavior. Like the opposite of calling your kids Charity, Patience, etc.
We came up with Malfeasance, Impropriety, Fury, and Haste.
this is great!
For a girl I love Daisy (DH hates, but DS is named after him, so I figure I get full power for this one -- I don't especially like his name, but did it for him!)
i love daisy (my dh hated it too).
Fascinating! I do like chickens, I guess...
dh was really hooked on miles for a while, but he utimately nixed it. he's an avid runner as well as a cross-country and track coach and felt like it would be too much pressure on his son.
That's what we ended up naming our baby! He's six days old today. :) Neither of us runs (heh; understatement of the year!), and this being New Zealand we use kilometres anyway, so that didn't put us off. We've gotten surprisingly positive feedback on the name so far, although my friend's six-year-old found it hilarious: "Miles, like miles and miles? That's so funny!". Oh, and it turns out our three-year-old can't pronounce it. :p The kid routinely uses words like "hideous" and "complicated"; but no, she got stuck on "Miles". It comes out "Maoles" or "Meowles", or occasionally "Milos".
And DH, for reasons that elude me, refers to Miles either as Max or Wee Baby Seamus. So.... I dunno.
Fascinating! I do like chickens, I guess...
That's what we ended up naming our baby! He's six days old today. :) Neither of us runs (heh; understatement of the year!), and this being New Zealand we use kilometres anyway, so that didn't put us off. We've gotten surprisingly positive feedback on the name so far, although my friend's six-year-old found it hilarious: "Miles, like miles and miles? That's so funny!". Oh, and it turns out our three-year-old can't pronounce it. :p The kid routinely uses words like "hideous" and "complicated"; but no, she got stuck on "Miles". It comes out "Maoles" or "Meowles", or occasionally "Milos".
And DH, for reasons that elude me, refers to Miles either as Max or Wee Baby Seamus. So.... I dunno.
also, i just recently realized that your username is Smoke-ring and not Smoker-ing. i must say i'm having a really hard time breaking the habit of thinking of you as Smoker-ing.
Me too! I actually never read her name as "Smoke-ring" until you pointed it out. 
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is your dh a blues fan? my dh is and would LOVE the name howlin (after howlin' wolf). glad he never thought of it.
Yes, Howlin' Wolf, exactly after the blues artist although I believe DH originally came across the name via a baby name list. With the description of Howlin' Wolf on Wikipedia - I'm terribly surprised that I have never heard of him. It sounds like he was an absolutely amazing musician. I'm going to have to check him out - but he can keep his name (even though we still don' t have a name for our baby due in 3-ish weeks!). 
That's what we ended up naming our baby! He's six days old today. :) Neither of us runs (heh; understatement of the year!), and this being New Zealand we use kilometres anyway, so that didn't put us off. We've gotten surprisingly positive feedback on the name so far, although my friend's six-year-old found it hilarious: "Miles, like miles and miles? That's so funny!". Oh, and it turns out our three-year-old can't pronounce it. :p The kid routinely uses words like "hideous" and "complicated"; but no, she got stuck on "Miles". It comes out "Maoles" or "Meowles", or occasionally "Milos".
And DH, for reasons that elude me, refers to Miles either as Max or Wee Baby Seamus. So.... I dunno.
congrats on your babe! i love the name miles and was a little disappointed when dh decided that he just couldn't do it.
it's always interesting the nicknames that evolve from our kids' names or just what we start calling them. jude's first and middle initials are JM and i've started calling him jem. i wonder if it will stick.
Me too! I actually never read her name as "Smoke-ring" until you pointed it out.
Yes, Howlin' Wolf, exactly after the blues artist although I believe DH originally came across the name via a baby name list. With the description of Howlin' Wolf on Wikipedia - I'm terribly surprised that I have never heard of him. It sounds like he was an absolutely amazing musician. I'm going to have to check him out - but he can keep his name (even though we still don' t have a name for our baby due in 3-ish weeks!).
oh, yes, you must check out howlin' wolf! i agree with you though, not a suitable name for a child. only a blues musician could pull it off.
It's nice to see that lots of others are hung up on "out there" names! My husband has a very active imagination. His two favorite names for our little boy: D'Artagnan (one of the Musketeers) and Leonidas (a hero-king of Sparta). I would ALMOST go for Leonidas... except I don't like the nickname Leo. He really doesn't want to give up on that one.
Ours is a boy, but before we found out, we talked about Azriel/Azrael for a girl. Problem is, while it sounds pretty and I like the meaning (God is my help)... it's also the traditional name for the Archangel of Death. I can't see giving my kid that name! He also talked about Lorelai/Lorelei. He liked it from the Gilmore Girls character, I liked it because of Marilyn Monroe's character in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Unfortunately, he and I are huge dorks and play World of Warcraft... and that's almost identical to my character's name. I wouldn't want my kid thinking I named her after my video game avatar!
Right now I'm trying to talk him into Levi or Elijah, while he routinely comes up with names that are more and more imaginative! Should be fun trying to come to a compromise.
D'Artagnan is pretty awesome! I mean yeah, I'd veto it too. But it's awesome nevertheless. :p
oh gosh, where to begin. ive got a crush on hippy dippy nature names like cedar, willow, moon and sunshine.
wolfgang, cosmo, silvio, bernard.
actually, i might have used any of the four on the second list. i do like unusual names. but i couldnt do the nature ones, though i love them so.
oh, and lord of the rings names. cant forget those
eta cant believe i forgot ursala. or ursa. but i acutally pushed hard for this name irl. also love zelda, the name and the game.
I actually got DH to agree to Eowyn for this baby. Now I am not sure if I am actually going to name her that! I need a good middle name...
I am having twins and need two names for each gender... We have an Ember, Zach and Ronin already.
For girls I think I am set on Annique (called Annie) and Eiry (pronounced I - ree), but for boys I have some names I love that no one else does so I am working on other names...
Versin
Torix (my MIL thinks this sounds like clitoris.. .LOL)
Seric
Brennus
I love the top two names, but I can kind of see my MILs point... Not sure I really like the last one.
I have a son named Phoenix also- I get "was he conceived in Phoenix? har har" or "are you from Phoenix?" all the time- but thats it! Never had a River Phoenix reference...
we were playing around with old greek and Spartan names as well, i love Leonidas, how about the nickname Daas? i know a man names that and it is very good sounding.
we always liked the name Maximus, but i cant stand Max, too much like a dog, and i didnt think i could make it into Xim or something cool like that, so that got nixed
A name I WAS too chicken to name a baby girl but will name her anyway (if this is even a girl!) is Aeliss. It's the Danish form of Alyssa, my middle name and I just love how it sounds. Pronounced A-liss. Some people have complained to me that it sounds like A-list, but I don't care. I think it's pretty, my husband loves it, so that's all I care about! 
Boy names- I've always loved the name Edward, but I can't bring myself to name this baby that if it's a boy...because of Twilight 
We already have William, and now William will be one of the most popular baby names because of the royal wedding. Edward will also be one of the most popular ones soon because of Twilight. Makes me mad! I like classic but unique names...not popular ones!!!
I've always loved the name Melia for a girl (M'leah), but so far my dh hates it. And I would totally do B'lana but probably spell it Belana or somesuch. I also don't think dh would go for that.
B'Elanna really is pretty awesome. Of course, now we've named one kid Miles, we should probably slow down on the Star Trek-inspired names. :p DH could probably be talked into Kira, though.... he has a bit of a thing for her.
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