Name thread spin-off: Do you consider your other chil(ren)'s names when naming this little one? « Back to Group Discussions

[Bena]

Well, I guess the title says it all!!!

[jodieanneanton]

Yes and no. We like to stay on a theme of old-fashioned names. This isn't hard for us, as those are really the only names we both like.  So, we stick with the same theme, but we don't really base our decision on how the names sound together.  For example, when we were discussing girl names, we didn't say, "Lucy, Charlotte and Juliet...hmmm no. Lucy, Charlotte and Rose... Oh, that's much better. Let's go with Rose!" (Rose does sound better with the other names, though... Doesn't it?! )  

[GranolaMama09]

We're also yes and no.  Obviously neither of us were around for the naming of our partner's children but they all kind of work together.  It's more like no we can't use Conley because that's too much like Connor, kwim?  That's about as far as considering the other names goes for us.

[LightForest]

I'm definitely keeping my daughter's name in mind as I think about names for this baby. To a certain degree, I consider how the two names sound together, because I imagine myself (and others) saying the two names together all the time as the kids grow up. But to an even greater extent, I'm also just careful to not get hooked on a name that sounds too similar to my DD's. 

[buko]

That's an interesting question! Obviously not an issue for us at this point, but I do know some families that don't seem to have considered this... Like they have two girls-- Jane Sue and Annabellalisa Priscilladonna and you're just like... Errrrr? Feels like you're setting your kids up with such extremes from birth... Somehow.

[MPsSweetie]

We do, as is obvious from the other thread. We do all As, not too common names.

[spughy]

To a minimal extent, yes - my DD's name is Rowan, so this one will NOT be named after a tree, and will especially not be named Holly if it's a girl.  Although I really like the name Holly, that would be just too cutesy-precious-naming-theme.

Avoiding a theme is more important, for me - although my best and favouritest rule of baby-naming is still the "Stripper or President" test.  Works for boys OR girls.  Say the name out loud - first and last together.  If it sounds more like something you'd see on the marquee of a cheap hotel than something you'd see before the words "Takes Minnesota Primary" in a headline, just say no.  Also, I think it's important to avoid names that are funny when you hear them said quickly or indistinctly.  We liked the name "Katharine" for DD, but since it frequently gets shortened to "Kitty" (which I quite like), it would not have gone with the family last name. Or it would have, but too well - "Kitty Chow".  For the same reason, DH nixed one of my favourites, Dinah.

(One of my best friends is married to a guy with the last name of Burger.  Inexplicably, he really, really wanted to name their son "Oliver".  Fortunately he was overruled.)

[malzimus]

Originally Posted by LightForest 

I'm definitely keeping my daughter's name in mind as I think about names for this baby. To a certain degree, I consider how the two names sound together, because I imagine myself (and others) saying the two names together all the time as the kids grow up. But to an even greater extent, I'm also just careful to not get hooked on a name that sounds too similar to my DD's. 

LightForest, I have similar thoughts. :)  We only have two so far with #3 on the way but we definitely did consider how DD's name would sound when said with DS's, how a name goes with our last name (M...), etc.  Their names both start with Z but their main vowels/sounds are different (Zander and Zayla-I just posted in the names thread about their names).  The Z's were rather unintentional and we're not sure if we'll stay with Z names for any other children.  I do like some A names, especially for a girl, but mine starts with A so I'm not so sure.  DH's starts with W so I highly doubt we'll use that either.

[Bena]

Originally Posted by malzimus 

I do like some A names, especially for a girl, but mine starts with A so I'm not so sure.  DH's starts with W so I highly doubt we'll use that either.

Both my father and I have a name that starts with A and my mom and sister's names start with M.  It wasn't done intentionaly, but I always got a kick out of it when I was a kid!  Whenever we'd play games that we'd pair up, I was with dad (the A-team) and my mom and sister were together (the M-team)...yeah, kinda corny, I know

[akind1]

A little . . I have a Gabriel and a Norah. This baby will either be a Theodore or a Caroline. Kind of old fashioned. Our rules: easy enough to spell/pronounce, not too common. The middle names are both "L" names (Lucas and Lorraine) and I'd like to keep that theme going. So IF I can get DH on board, we will have Theodore Lewis or Caroline Lily. He prefers Edward, which I do not. We'll see.

We purposefully avoided alliteration in first names as it's very common in my family to do that (my dad and his siblings are Tim, Tom, and Ted. My aunt's daughters are Brittany, Brandi, and Brianna. Tim's sons are Jason and Jeremy. My other aunt named her son Thomas Timothy after her brothers. etc) It's very confusing and gets muddled.

I like the stripper or President test.

[Melany]

Perhaps we should have considered the older child's name when we named the younger one. My son is Nathan James. We had always said if we had a girl, she would be Neva after my husband's grandmother. So, when my second child was born, we named her Neva Joy, I really liked the Joy with it. Without meaning to, we gave both children the exact same initials. Now my husband is suggesting that we continue the trend this time around, but I'm not sure I want to.

[akind1]

Melany - that is how my aunt ended up with Brittany, Brandi and Brianna. The first 2 were names she just liked, and by the 3rd, it seemed as if she *had* to go with another Br* name.

FWIW, that is why my son isn't Brandon - it was our top pick for him, until we realized we would be adding to the chaos. LOL

[cabbitdancer]

One rule we have in naming, at the moment, is that the baby can't have a name that starts with the same letter as anyone else in our immediate family. So, no C, no L, and definitely no O (My daughter's name is Olli and I'd feel weird with two O-named kids).

[velveeta]

We definitely like traditional names, and my favorite girl name ever is Lucie, my daughter's name. Now, since my life has changed so much thanks to the late Linus Pauling, I would love to name our baby Linus, if it's a boy. Then we'd have Linus and Lucie... And our last name is van something, just like the peanuts characters... LOL.

So, I dunno what we'll do.

If we have a girl, something else traditional. My husband likes Julia or maybe Heidi.