Gabriel has only ever been shortened to Gabe . . . maybe when he's older the Gay part might happen, but meh. It's hard enough that Gauge/Gage is common in our peer group and often it is uncertain who is being called over.
Most of our animals have had distintly animal-sounding names (mama kitty, Bing, Freckles . . ) so a kid and a pet sharing a name would be unlikely.
I've been stalking this thread for a while and thought I'd jump in. :)
My two kids are Judah and Galilee (I wanted something Biblical but not common...).
I have never had any "back up" boys names, and boys names have been so hard for me. I somewhat like the name Seth for the meaning; he was the baby that Adam and Eve had after Abel had been killed, and since this is a Rainbow baby for us after two losses, I think it is quite fitting. It's a little more common than I would like, but I think I can give this baby a crazy middle name to spice it up, haha. I LOVE Silas, but it is growing by leaps and bounds in popularity and it makes me nervous that my Silas might be "Silas C." in his kindergarten classroom, you know what I mean?
My girl names have all been "taken" in the last year. I wanted another "Bible Place Name" for a second daughter (if this baby is a girl) but my niece was recently named Eden (my SIL definitely stole that name from my "list" but oh well, what can you do?) and two friends used Moriah this year as well. So I'm left with maybe Ariel (which is another name for Jerusalem and fits my theme kind of, but my two year old daughter is obsessed with the little mermaid, so I don't know how she'd take it if her little sis was named that) or Magdala or Magdalene. I am leaning toward Magdala (nn Maggie) since it is a Easter-related name and this baby will be born near Easter (mid to late march).
I don't know! Haha. It feels good to type all this out, since I am much too nervous to talk about names in public because most people recoil in horror when I share my name choices, haha. "What, Galilee?? She could never be a doctor or lawyer with that name!" LOL. Whatever. I like it and that's what matters. :)
I'm loving all your name choices and am excited to hear what you all decide on for your babes!
You probably saw that I am having a boy, so we are definitely going with Rowan. My other sons are Ethan and Caelan, so Rowan fits beautifully. Very sweet. We think the middle name will probably be Tadhg (T-ay-g) meaning wise poet or storyteller in old Irish. Excited we found the perfect name. Not too common in the North Shore from what I know.
I think Rowan Tadhg is awesome! And it does fit just perfectly with your other boys' names. :)
Thanks, Chapsie.
Chapsie- Your post with the non traditional biblical names made me think of a name that I heard and remembered liking right away. Someone I know named her daughter Shaddai. Right when I heard it, I loved it. Too bad it would be weird for me to steal it and also... it doesn't fit with my theme of early 1900s names. 
Anyway, thought you'd maybe like it.
I've always been sort of interested in names and stuff... Including downloading name data from the social security administration and analyzing it for fun. Boys names ending in N are really on the rise, as are girls names starting with A.
My first daughter is Clementine, and here are some of my current favorite names... Husband hasn't seen any of these yet. Last time I showed him a list and he basically picked Clementine off of it, so it might work like that this time. Now that I look at my boys list, there's a lot of cartoon characters or artists on it, I wonder what that's about?
Girl:
Penelope
Twyla
Amelia
madelaine, I think the names Clementine and Penelope sound like a super sweet sibling pair! I like all of your choices, though. Ansel has an especially nice ring to it. Do you know its meaning?
I was just thinking that the name Zoe might be a nice choice. I looked it up and was SHOCKED to see that it was ranked at #31 in 2011!!! I had no idea the name had gotten so popular! Has anyone noticed an uptick in the number of little Zoe's in your area?
I've noticed the uptake of zoe's... It used to be my fave name somewhere in the whereabouts of 10-15 years ago. I am wondering what spurred on the new popularity.
I coteach a childbirth class once a month and there has been a Zoe in almost every class - either the babe on the way or an older sibling.
CabbitDancer - It's a nice name isn't it? 
I think Geoffrey is lovely and I don't see why you're brother would have more claim to it than you but if you feel he does then just ask him! 
Sara79 - thanks for the alternative spelling idea!
Writermama12 - I LOVE Piper but as I already have a Phoebe, well, that just looks like I'm a Charmed nut or something. I also love Rowen although I grew up with Rowan as the spelling. It's a gorgeous name and was on my boy short list as well - except I grew up with it as a girl name (one of my good friends growing up) and couldn't make in GN or boy in my head for me but can totally do that for others (does that make ANY sense?).
Scruffytoo - I love all your names! Very unique without being 'weird' and pretty to boot! 
akind1 - Those are lovely names - I really liked Theodore as well but we nixed it due to a friend that has that name!
JuliaGoodie - I love Rowan Caspian and Rowan Phoenix!
All with the last name debate - We have the same issue but not I suppose. I have no issue whatsoever giving the child DP's last name but maybe it's because I plan (hope!) to get married to him one day. We just have to wait for our divorces to be final and for baby to be born. He's already got his two children from his previous marriage with his last name and my DD has my maiden name (which I don't even have atm, I have my ex's name). Honestly, if I could get away with it if (when) we get married I'd love for my daughter and I both to take his name but her father's involved just enough to veto that. Unless of course he drops out in the next few years before it happens which is entirely possible since he just had a new baby. I'm really frazzled atm so I hope this doesn't sound wonky - I'm not trying to offend anyone. It's just my position on the issue although I 100% understand the other side!
I've been stalking this thread for a while and thought I'd jump in. :)
My two kids are Judah and Galilee (I wanted something Biblical but not common...).
I have never had any "back up" boys names, and boys names have been so hard for me. I somewhat like the name Seth for the meaning; he was the baby that Adam and Eve had after Abel had been killed, and since this is a Rainbow baby for us after two losses, I think it is quite fitting. It's a little more common than I would like, but I think I can give this baby a crazy middle name to spice it up, haha. I LOVE Silas, but it is growing by leaps and bounds in popularity and it makes me nervous that my Silas might be "Silas C." in his kindergarten classroom, you know what I mean?
My girl names have all been "taken" in the last year. I wanted another "Bible Place Name" for a second daughter (if this baby is a girl) but my niece was recently named Eden (my SIL definitely stole that name from my "list" but oh well, what can you do?) and two friends used Moriah this year as well. So I'm left with maybe Ariel (which is another name for Jerusalem and fits my theme kind of, but my two year old daughter is obsessed with the little mermaid, so I don't know how she'd take it if her little sis was named that) or Magdala or Magdalene. I am leaning toward Magdala (nn Maggie) since it is a Easter-related name and this baby will be born near Easter (mid to late march).
I don't know! Haha. It feels good to type all this out, since I am much too nervous to talk about names in public because most people recoil in horror when I share my name choices, haha. "What, Galilee?? She could never be a doctor or lawyer with that name!" LOL. Whatever. I like it and that's what matters. :)
I'm loving all your name choices and am excited to hear what you all decide on for your babes!
I love both your names!! Judah was also on my short list for a boy but DP vetoed it. I think the intimate meaning for your family behind Seth is lovely!!! I absolutely understand your concern with the commonality of Silas - I was a Melissa T. etc from middle school forward and I hated it. I swore I wouldn't give my kids names that were way off on the weird scale (to me) or common. So I've got a Phoebe. DP's son is Connor but his daughter is Abigail - she's got another Abigail in her daycare class! Argh. But it has special significance to DP so I understand why he chose it. Lol, but here I am with Charles as our boy's name although we intend to call him Basil. Most of our family seemed not to like that and we thought about 'President Basil' and 'Chief Justice Basil' and 'Dr. Basil' and decided that perhaps a slightly more common name giving him the option when he grows up would be a good idea. Plus, it's our only (and last) baby together so if it's a he, he's merging our familes - we couldn't NOT use Charles. DP's grandfather's name was Charles as was an uncle. My grandfather, father, and brother are all named Charles (my brother doesn't plan to have kids and if he does, isn't going to use Charles.). Obviously we like Magdalene! Lol, we have no questions that a girl was Magdalene from get go. It was my back up girl name when Phoebe was born in 2009 and DP loved it as much as me. I love the alternative though as well. Magdala is gorgeous in it's own right. We're also going with the nickname Maggie. Ariel is also very pretty but I'll be honest, there was an Ariel in my school and I always thought of The Little Mermaid...but if I loved it enough I would use it anyway. Who knows, maybe your two year old would love a little sister named Ariel!!!
So, as for us our official decisions are Charles Basil Rhys Mc..... for a boy (double middle names) and Magdalene Sophia Claire Mc... for a girl to be called Basil and Maggie respectively. We're not sure though if the girl is a double first name 'Magdalene Sophia' Claire or a double middle name Magdalene 'Sophia Claire'. We figure we have time in that department. I'm honestly leaning towards the double first name. Snot to write out but even Maggie Sophia works to my ears. We got a really good giggle out of her name though! Please note, I picked all three names independently of the other years ago and was just so tickled they flowed together. We realized the other day that her name is a Gnostic Christian and/or Da Vinci Code enthusiast playground! (Magdalene for Mary Magdalene. Sophia for the spirit of wisdom sometimes referencing Mary Magdalene or Mary, Mother of Christ and sometimes as the Holy Spirit. Claire references the St. Clair family that is supposedly the descendant of Christ. AGAIN, this was COMPLETELY unintentional - we just thought it was hilarious when we realized it. Also, no offense meant to anyone or their beliefs.) 
Granolamama, I was in a similar situation with my DS1. He had his bio-dad's last name and then we got divorced a year after he was born so I raised him but he always had a different name than me (but no big deal, just awkward). Then, several years later, I moved across the country with my boy and got married. I kept my maiden name for feminist purposes and I had DS2 with new husband. DS2 has our names hyphenated. So, DS1 decided he wanted to change his name to our names hyphenated to feel more a part of the family he lives with all year. He was eight or nine when he first mentioned it. We thought it would be a HUGE deal, so we said we'd keep talking about it to see if he would change his mind. Nope, the kid just became more certain that he wanted to share our last name. So, I supported him by filling out the paperwork and filing it with the court. It was actually easy! The father gets a copy of the form mailed to him and he has like a few weeks to contest the change in person in court. This man would never do that although what he did instead was bully me and my son for a year afterward about it. He really made DS1 feel terrible and guilty and like he ruined his dad's life. What a melodramatic dope! DS1 was even considering changing it back just to try to make bio-dad happy, but then reconsidered and told me he thought his dad was manipulative, mean, jealous, and immature. An 11 year said that!! I couldn't believe it. But, I tell you, I am so glad we took the risk and supported his brave decision. He feels empowered and yes more a part of the family. We couldn't be happier.
My DD's bio ignored her for 18 months after having spent the entire pregnancy harassing me. (I threw him out and then found out a few weeks later I was pregnant. My state won't allow pregnant women to divorce.) I gave her my last name since when the divorce went through I intended to go back to it. Then exDH1 decided that a 2 year old he's IGNORED FOR 18 MONTHS OF HER 24 MONTH LIFE should have his last name. I threw a fit because that's just RIDICULOUS. We compromised and agreed to hyphenate my maiden-his last because my lawyer told me the court would agree to the name change automatically and it would be just his last name. So instead of going back to just my last name I took the hyphenated. Well, when the divorce papers went through they remembered to change mine but not to change hers! I didn't want it changed so I stayed quiet and bio didn't seem to notice. Then last December I got married and took his last name but then we realized we'd made a colossal mistake and separated 2 months later. Then in comes DP and we just KNOW. So, once baby is born exDH2 and I will be able to rectify our hasty mistake. Eventually, in a few years DP and I will probably get married. So, DD and I haven't had the same last name yet unfortunately. As you said, not a problem just annoying sometimes. We'll have the same last name (finally) from whenever my divorce is final until such time as DP and I may get married. If DD asks for it so that she's the same as everyone else I don't think exDH1 will be able to stop her but she's only 3 atm so that's aways away. I'm sorry that your 11 year old's father is like that but I'm glad he's able to see it for what it is - I wish my DSS could see it. When your mother tells you that Daddy's new girlfriend is the reason he no longer loves you what does that classify as other than manipulative?! I trust that eventually it'll all straighten out - in the meantime it's just interesting.
GranolaMama! Thanks for your sweet reply to my post. I had only just heard of Magdalene a few months ago and I loved it immediately. It has a rich history and beautiful sound to it and is unique and special enough for my tastes. :) Are you going to find out the gender before the birth? I find out on Oct 25th and I think I have to force myself to wait until then before I agonize anymore over names, haha. Then, I can focus my efforts on only one particular gender. I'm starting to get really excited about having another baby around! This will also likely be our last little one, so I want to cherish everything!
P.S. I also really like Charles Basil Rhys-- It's a really great combination that will give him options one day when he becomes president or Chief Justice. :)
no way! i never would have guessed florence was so popular! i always assume that things like naming trends are pretty similar between the us and canada but this is a good example of how that is not always true!
scruffy too, Davis sounds like it could be a really nice first name to me! I wish one of our last names would work as a first, but really, NO. 
And I can understand wanting to be able to pass on your name, especially if he already has passed on his. My husband is an only child, but has a lot of extended family with his same last name. I'm not sure if my brothers will ever have kids, and my cousins on my dad's side belong to my aunt, who took her husband's name, so I might be the only option for the family name to be continued for my grandparents. That makes me want it a little more. Though they'll probably just think I'm weird for not taking my husband's name in the first place! LOL.
chapsie, I think Magdala is really pretty, too!
Lightforest, I definitely know some baby Zoes...
GranolaMama, it sounds like it makes complete sense for your baby to have your partner's last name. And I'm amazed you've got official names picked out already! They both sound great, though I particularly like the girl's name... Of course, I also love names that have good family history behind them!
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