Mothering Forum banner

The Name Thread

2K views 48 replies 16 participants last post by  Yaliina 
#1 ·
So, we're all at least halfway there! Yay, for us!! I think it's about time to start up the obligatory name thread.

Since we're not finding out the gender of this bean until s/he is born, we are going to have a name picked out for each.

The names which are so far in the very front (read- pretty solid) for first names are Emilia (girl) and Logan (boy). We actually just came up with Logan this week. Previously, we were thinking Kevin or Cavan for a boy. My only hang up with Logan is that it is too popular. I kinda like Henry, but it doesn't end with 'n', plus DH doesn't like it as much, and doesn't care about popularity. My other boys are Nathan and Warren, so we like the names ending with 'n' theme, but can't do anything ending with "son" because that's how our last name ends.

We really haven't narrowed down middle names at all yet, so if anyone has any suggestions, my ears are open. I like a single-syllable name to go with Emilia (I like Dane and Rose), but don't know about how to match Logan. I love thinking of baby names- it seems like something constructive to do.

So, what are your baby names? Are you picking ahead, or waiting to meet your LO to decide?
 
See less See more
#2 ·
all of those names are beautiful!! It sounds like you can't go wrong! I'm looking forward to hearing other peoples opinions about pairing. We've struggled with flow, too.

This has been hard for us because we both start getting sick of every name once we've said it too many times. Which is a problem, since once she's born we'll be saying her name, you know, a lot.

We have the middle name picked out, probably. Her middle name will likely be a Gene, which was my grandma's middle name and the one she went by. My grandma was dear to me and died a couple years ago. Ever since I've gotten pregnant, she has shown up in my dreams regularly. One time I had a dream that I had a miscarriage threatening, and she and my mom were with me, and grandma looked at me and my mom and said, "should I hold on?" As though her soul was intertwined somehow with the baby's. So that name is probably a done deal.

As for the first name, we have this problem where we want her name to have meaning, like apply to our lives in some way. That's how we do with everything, and it can be kind of annoying. So it will probably be a while before we come up with a name that has meaning to us, doesn't get old if we say it too much, and flows with our weird last name. AND we both have to like it, and we're like 0 for 9 on that score so far.

I would love to have a few names picked out and then wait to choose until we meet her. There's no way we could pull a name out of thin air on the day of, but at least we could not make the final choice until we saw her face to face. Problem is, we'll be lucky to find one name we both like in four months, let alone a few to choose from!
 
#3 ·
We have a few contenders, but probably won't choose until after baby is born (well, for sure, since we don't know the sex!).

There are too many girl names we like, but top of the list is Nell (after my grandfather, Nelson). We also like Barbara (Bobbie), Dorothy (Dot/Dottie), Mona, Mabel...pretty much anything older sounding.

Boys are harder. I like August (Gus) best. That and Alvin are really our only two boy names we have going. We haven't even begun to discuss middle names yet...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#5 ·
Lovely names, ladies.

Rosemarino, is Sigrid pronounced the way it's spelled? The more I say it, the prettier I think it is, and I love how unique it is.

Indiana, what kinds of names do you like? Old fashioned, modern, popular, "ethnic"... Do you have a favorite author or a place where you two met or another relative you could name baby after that would be meaningful? I'm sure you will find the perfect name. Go back and re-think some you have discarded. I've actually found lists where we'd discarded our current top pics before.

Four months sounds like a long time, but really, I think it's not very long to generate, narrow down, and vet something that will be such an important and permanent part of the person growing inside us:)
 
#6 ·
Love hearing everyone's names so far! We found out we're having a boy last week so we've been focused on the name search this week. Anyone have advice for balancing family heritage with unique/individual names?

What I mean is that we want our children to have their own individual names (instead of being named after some one specific in our family tree) but we still like to honor our roots. The sound and meaning of the first and middle names are the most important factor, but we also like them to have some significance with family heritage...this seems to be important to grandparents as well.

I guess we're just struggling with picking a name that suits our baby in sound and meaning, while also respecting family ties and roots, and not stepping on either side of the family's toes by picking names that represent one side more than the other. I think this can a sensitive issues especially for women who change their name when married since the maternal side of the family feels like the family name is not being represented. Ahh family politics...much longer post that I wanted! This is why we didn't discuss names for our first born with anyone ahead of time...just announced on birthday :) however, of course family members share their unsolicited opinions gradually over time and now everyone seems to think that we want their input this time around.
 
#7 ·
I love hearing the names so far!

@luckiest, I love the old fashioned names too. My first name is actually Marjorie so that may be part of it :)

@indiana, I agree with @Yaliina to see if you can narrow it down to a "type." There are so many out there!! You could also try looking for names that have a certain meaning. There are some good websites out there to browse or you could just try googling something like "names that mean ______" and fill in what ever that may be... strength, blessing, or something more specific. The name might not be as obvious in its meaning but it is there.

If baby was a boy I already had a name picked out. Richard Everett after my late dad and the city where my in-laws come from. But we are having a girl and it's been more challenging. I really want to give her a name already for some reason. I gave my husband a short list of names I liked and the only thing he could say was, "I'd have to get used to them." That was a month ago. He is an engineer to a T, he really likes to think things through. Over that time I've grown to like two names the most. Poppy Caroline and Harriet (Hattie) Mae. Now to figure out how to get him to have a strong opinion.

I have some friends that say they chose their kid's first names because last name was "chosen" by dad. That would not fly with my husband though!
 
#8 ·
@PortlandRose, we've thought about Harriette (spelled that way because of my favorite author, Harriette Arnow), too! I'm more fond of it than my husband is. I think it's a nice name.

So, we have a lot of things we'd love for her name to mean. We're avid birdwatchers and we've been through lots of bird names. I would love to name her Robin - they're my favorite bird and I love that they sing about the dawn coming while it's still dark, like I love the theological significance of it - but I'm alone on that at the moment.

Then we've considered the possibility of authors, since my grandma was named after an author and so was I. Harriette would be my choice there, but we're not quite sold on it.

THEN there's names from the trip out west where she was conceived. There was a rainbow the evening I ovulated (probably won't put the story that way when we tell it to the public), so we've thought about naming her Iris. That sounds a little intense to me, but there aren't actually very many good names that mean "rainbow," which surprised me. There were also juniper trees everywhere, and we really like the name Juniper, but it flows terribly with our last name. And I don't like "Juniper Gene."

I've also thought about good Indiana names, like native flowers, trees, etc. And theological names. But we just can't settle.

All that is to say, I think we know TOO much about what we want her name to mean, and we just can't agree on the names in those categories!

I'm sure that was more detail than anyone wanted. But it helped to write out. :)
 
#9 ·
HappyMama, I like your post. One of the reasons we were initially thinking about Juniper was the western significance, but also because it has the same meaning and linguistic root as my grandma's name, Gene. (Gene is short for Geneva, which wasn't her name, but it was her namesake's name. Geneva and Juniper mean the same thing and come from the same root word). I thought that might be a good blending of family heritage with a modern, individual name. We still might go with that, but at the moment I think I will want her name to specifically have Gene in it.

All that is to say, if you can find the root of some of your family names, maybe you can find new names that come from the same root but sound different!
 
#10 ·
DDC crashing:)

I'm 39wks 4days with a boy. We are thinking about names still. My DD (8) is Veda Lily (from the movie 'My Girl' for those of you who like older names:). My DS (4) has a family name, Zachary Allen. My late brother's first name, my husband and father's middle name. My middle name is Brady, it's boyish, so this babe will be _____ Brady. We like Theodore (Theo, Ted), Harrison (Harry). I also like the Merlin series and thought Emrys would be a cool name. :thumb

Good luck with your pregnancies and name picks:)
 
#11 ·
We finally have a first name over here! And actually, it's been her name all along. Two years ago, right after I had DS, I had this little spirit baby floating around and telling me it's name. I told DH about it then and now but didn't tell him the name that kept coming up from that babe. DH and I usually do a process of elimination for names, and whatever is on both of our lists, usually is what we name our babes. Linden was the only name on either one of our lists that we loved! Linden also is the name that the little spirit baby told me a few years ago! So, Linden she is! No middle name yet, but DS likes to call her Baby Emy :)
 
#12 ·
We have nothing at all. We always have a very scientific way of reducing the list - and by 9 months or so we will have it down to a boy and girl first and middle name.

Of course I have my favorites, and usually that's what it end up being narrowed down to - which I didn't realize until just now.

Haha!

Anyway, we never ever do any family names. We just keep them out of it totally. This might sound harsh, but I'm pretty laid back and do not deal with politics well. Actually, I avoid it at all costs, so none of our kids are named after family. Plus, I'm really not into any of the names, you know? I just can't fathom naming my kid Margaret or Fannie Mae. I just doesn't sit well with me, but maybe I'm thinking about it wrong.

Anyway, we have never disclosed our names/name before birthday so that nosy family members/friends don't give their thoughts/input. They know when we have chosen the name, it's on the birth certificate and it's final. If they don't like it, well, it doesn't really matter - does it? :thumb

My hubby is a lot more pleasing than I am. I don't care. My family is pretty used to my callousness and my hubby's side - well they just put up with me.
 
#13 ·
@indiana, I understand about having too many things to consider, and you, too, @HappyMama2013. Balancing heritage, significance, popularity, and flow at the same time is quite a challenge. We did pretty well with our first two, I think, and I think the way we did it is that we did tons of research, looked at the family trees, went through the lists, etc. And then we just kept throwing names out to each other until we both decided we really liked the sound of a particular name.

Sort of by accident, all of our kids' names have some family significance. Our first born was named after his dad (same middle name, Thomas), and a first name we just liked (Alexandar). Our oldest son we named Nathan, which we chose for its sound, but turns out was the name of a deceased uncle on his dad's side, and a middle name we just liked, Macalister. Our youngest we named Warren, which was the maiden name of his paternal grandmother, and Parker for the middle, which is a variation of a family name on my mom's side (Park). So far, our top contenders for first names this time don't have any family significance, but we're hoping to throw that in for a middle name. We don't make too big a deal out of the family significance, though, so that neither side feels slighted. Unfortunately, we have a lot of bad names in our families, lol. For instance, my maternal great grandfather's name was Erastus. And my husband's family's names were all things like Delmar and Robert, which don't appeal. We are definitely going more for a name that flows over any significance of meaning or relation, but those are more bonuses to us. :)
 
#14 ·
I was recently thinking about giving my birth middle name to my daughter for her middle name. I've heard of some families doing that. I also love the name and meaning (Ruth) and was super torn but ended up making my maiden name my new middle name after marriage. Does it come off as vain though? What do you think?
 
#15 ·
I don't think it comes off as vain. I've always wondered when it stopped being normal for daughters to be named after their mothers even though it's still normal for sons to be named after their fathers. I do genealogy research as a hobby, and in the 1800s and early 1900s it seems like it was almost as normal to name a girl after her mom as it was to name a boy after his dad.

Especially since you're using your middle name, I think people will see it as sweet and not vain at all. Especially since you gave up that name when you got married even though you liked it. In this way, you're getting it back!
 
#16 ·
We don't give too much weight to incorporating family names, but there are elements of some family names in a few of our children's names. My oldest daughter shares my middle name of Marie, my middle daughter has my mother in laws middle name of Elise incorporated into her first name of Annelise, and this next daughter will have Judith for her middle name, which is my husbands late aunts name. We do try to stay away from using family names for first names, but there is no precedent for that in either of our families so it hasn't been an issue.

We have a much easier time naming girls, so thankfully this one is a girl! We prefer older more feminine names, usually leaning toward French, the name of a saint or biblical in some way if we can for the first, if not then for the middle. Also, we require three syllables for the first name, since our last name is so short. We have decided on Evangeline Judith for this sweet girl.

The few boy names we had on our short list included August or Augustine, Oliver, Sebastian, Jude, and a few others that kept changing. It was a short list of lovely names which we would have taken forever to agree on.
 
#17 ·
@PortlandRose, it's not vain at all! I think it's lovely, and I completely agree with @indiana about it just being silly that it's common to name kids after dad, but not mom any more. I go by my middle name, though, which is Elise @gabeyho), so I dropped my last name when I got married, which I thought was good, because my maiden name was long and hard to spell/pronounce, and my first name is actually the feminine version of my dad's middle name (Lindsay).
@gabeyho, I love your girl's name! It's so classic & pretty without being overly common. And it has lots of nickname options. ;)

AFM: We changed our minds about the girl name we had, and we're pretty sure we are solid on the girl name choice now. It's Madelyn Emilia, although we're still working on the spelling. We like that it matches our boys' names better (both ending in "n"), and we can still call her Emi (which is what our kids have decided they'll call a sister, whatever her name, lol). In fact, her first two initials would be M.E., as well as it being a nn for Emilia. We could also call her Maddie or Millie or Elly (we like the y-ending nn, I guess). Boy name is still up in the air. They're so much harder, especially after having used up our favorite 6 names already!
 
  • Like
Reactions: gabeyho
#18 ·
Those are both beautiful names, @Yaliina ! They were both on our list, too. We're not much for nn, which is kind of funny since all our kids have names that can easily have one or two nn, but we let their extended family play with their names. Esp as they are getting older they are deciding for themselves if they want their name shortened or not. My parents always called me by my full name, Cassandra, but when I got into junior high I started going by Cassie with my friends. After hs I started gong by my full name again, so there are only a couple people left who call me Cassie. My husbands parents luuurv nn, and have a dozen nn for every person, so that makes up for us being boring and proper. [emoji6]
 
#20 ·
@gabeyho I LOVE your name. Cassie is so cute & modern. If we weren't really settled, I'd definitely put that on our list. My in-laws are very nick-namey, too. They call everybody something, and it is often not what you'd expect. They call my oldest Nate-mo, and my youngest Willie Pete (not his name). They call my husband Beezer & they call me Lisermo. But it's all done with love, so ... whatever. :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Rosemarino
#21 ·
Ours are all very traditional family names. We just happened into that. We had a very well used (in hubby's family) name on the list for our first. It was actually my least favorite. I liked a little edgier names. But when we saw my son, that was his name! Our second son ended up being named after my brother, again, kind of a fluke. Our third was born on his Dad's birthday so he got his dad's full name. Again, it just looked right on him! So then we felt like our fourth had to be family or he would feel left out! We stretched it a little that time though. My husband was determined to name him after my dad (His idol, lol) who is named Clifford. My dad forbade it and I was not that excited about it. We had a list but we added Clayton to it, which was my dad's name for his first 4-5 days of life until his parents changed his name. He's always been really bummed about that. Anyway, he did end up being a Clayton. So, now the pressure is on for baby number four! There are no politics to worry about because the only person who cares doesn't really even have contact with us and we don't care what he thinks! Everyone else pretty much keeps their noses out of it. We are just running out of attractive boy names. Left are names like Verne, Abner, Curtis, Frederick.... Just not super my cup of tea.
 
#22 ·
Have you done genealogy, willsmom? Could be you can go further back for more attractive names. Ancestry.com has a free 14 day trial. :)
 
#23 ·
Yes, @Yalina! We have an ancestry membership. And we are considering some names from further back but since the first four are majorly significant, there has to be a good story to go with it. We do have some that were major players in our family history with non-repulsive names so we may go that route. ;)
 
#26 ·
Kind of an update, although this is far from over. :)

I'm really starting to love the name Robin. The more I say it to myself, the more it feels like her name. Robins are my favorite bird - their song, their hop, their jolly way of being, the way they look after their young...even the theological symbolism of the way they sing before the dawn while it's still dark. And my husband and I are avid birdwatchers, so it fits us very well.

The best part of this name is that the robins' evening song reminds me of playing outside in my grandma's backyard as a kid every time I hear it. I grew up in apartments and we didn't really have a space to play outside, so the only time I really heard that sound as a little girl was when I was at grandma's. Even at 32, in a house with lots of robins around, that sound still takes me instantly back to her house every time. I kind of like the idea of choosing a name that reminds me of something I tenderly associate with my grandma as opposed to just slapping her name in the middle, since I'm not even really crazy about it.

Middle names are harder to think of at this point, but also I think they matter a little less. So I'm not feeling as stressed about that.

But the point is that my husband isn't totally sold on Robin, and I'm falling in love with it. He said he needs to mull it over for a while. I hope it works out well, because it's all I can do not to refer to her as Robin or secretly call her that when she kicks and says hi.

ETA: The birds on my new avatar are wrens, btw. Just so you don't think I'm over-committing myself. I just really like birds. :)
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top