Go say congrats to our Kelsey, who has pregnancy news! Yay, Kelsey!
That puts me in the mood to discuss baby names, as if I’m ever OUT of that mood. I’ve had a question sitting in my inbox 4EVA, and this seems like a good time to dust it off. Shelly Overlook asks:
How about asking if anyone regrets what name they chose? While I don’t exactly regret our choice, I wouldn’t choose it again and there may be a tiny part of me that wishes we’d gone with MY first choice (rather than his). I’m curious if anyone else feels the same.
GREAT QUESTION. I’ve had some regrets about our secondborn’s name. It isn’t actually the name William, as you know, but it’s a name that’s roughly as common. We chose it KNOWING it was common: not only did I consult my dear friend The Social Security Administration (where I found that the name was significantly more common in our state than it was nationally), but when I was in my third trimester I ran into two newborn “Williams” on the same day: one at the pediatrician’s office and one at the portrait studio. I went home in a panic saying to Paul that we MUST START ALL OVER, and he said, “Sorry, too late: that’s his name.” I was relieved, because that’s how I felt, too.
So we went into it with eyes wide open, and we love the name, and it does suit him. But…gosh. When I enrolled him in first grade, the registrar said, “Oh, we’ve got a LOT of those!” That’s…not a happy thing to hear. I find that his is the only name I don’t practically shout out when someone asks my kids’ names. I feel like people are thinking, “Oh. Yes. THAT name again.” All the other kids have names that have been a “happy balance”: common enough to be familiar, uncommon enough that nobody’s had a duplicate in class or in our social/family circle.
So now Shelly and I are very eager to hear: Do you have any regrets about your kids’ names? Did you go too common? too unusual? Did you give in to a spouse and now wish you’d held your ground? And don’t tease me, goldangit: if you can’t reveal the names in the comment section for anonymity reasons, email me at swistle at gmail dot com and tell me what they are! I demand it! …Fine, you don’t HAVE to. But I will be dying of curiosity. DYING.
How do you find out how popular a name is in a state? You know I’m DYING to know your kids’ names. You have my e-mail,
I don’t regret the name exactly, but I was not happy to find out afterwards that daughter shared a name with a “actress” famous in the UK for her big boobs and anorexic looks.
Also, if you live where I suspect you might, William might wind up with one of those cool local nicknames to differentiate himself from all the other Williams in his class. Just wait, his friends might give him one any day now ;-)
That’s such a good question. I don’t have any regrets, though. Our names are familiar, but not too common around here.
My parents don’t have any regret either, so I would never tell them that I have never liked my own name. I think I’m much more a Kate or a Jill than a Lori. :-)
My oldest is Savannah Brooke. I like it and it fits her, but I would probably name her something more classic if I had it to do over again. My other three are Tessa Jane, Sara Beth and Jillian Lee. The Jane, Beth and Lee are all after relatives. We call Sara Beth by both names because Sara is so common, and I wouldn’t have named her Sara if we weren’t going to call her by both.
Hmm, do I have any regrets? I was actually 100% against naming Eddie “Edmund Mason”. It is hubby’s name and meant a lot to him. My argument was that it was such a “man’s” name. Perfect for him as a man, but perhaps unsuitable for a boy? I don’t have regrets though, because he is a perfect Eddie. I don’t know if I could see him as an Andrew, (or Andy or Drew) which was my choice.
No regrets on Caitlyn either, except maybe for the spelling. We can’t get any of that manufactured crap with her name spelled right on it. (They’re all Caitlin) I do love the way it looks though with they “y”. Ed still hates her middle name, to this day. It is Renee and I won’t repeat here what it reminds him of, because it is beyond rude. I was more in love with the meaning than the name and still am. Caitlyn means “pure beauty” and Renee means “reborn”. Once I put “pure beauty reborn” together, that was it for me.
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Why yes, yes I do… and I can’t believe I am about to confess this again. Keep in mind I was a 19 year old idiot when I became “immaculately even” pregnant with my daughter. I decided to name her Nicole, which could be shortened to Nikki…after Nikki Sixx… How young. How stupid. How common was that name in 1990? Very much so. But, I rest upon the fact that I was only 19 and there is only 1 Nicole in her graduating class (who cares if there are only 32 seniors, she’s still the only Nicole), and she goes by Nik now. It worked out in the end. But I still get a little embarassed by it. But not enough that I don’t bring it up in every comments section having to do with regrettable baby name choices. Totally off topic but my word verification for this comment is “clutmows” which sounds either slightly dirty and/or is a perfect name for a rock band.
Side note: This is MrsGrumpy. Blogger is acting up and won’t accept my password…Grrrr.
YES!! Yes…I VERY much regret my daughter’s name. She is my third and her father’s first. He is an amazing father and was so excited to be a dad…and wanted to be invovled in every single step of the pregnancy, etc. I stupidly offered to let him name her.
So now I have a daughter named Hayden. Yes…a daughter. Everyone always looks shocked or dismayed when I tell them her name. I can’t stand it. She is so sweet and feminine with such a masculine sounding name. I hope some day she will grow into it, but in the meantime poor thing always gets called “sweetie” or “honey”.
But her dad still LOVES it, so I guess that is good.
-Diana
I love Matthew’s name even though it is ALWAYS on that common list from the SSA. I have found that people try to be unusual so these common names seems to be used less which always makes me wonderful if these lists are FOR REAL!
It fits him and we have only met one other Matthew (who was actually called Matthew as well…) in 2.5 years. I have no regrets even if there are a lot of Matthew’s down the road because it just seems right, you know?!
I like to think with baby #2 I would like to get a little more “artistic” or creative perhaps but I also love traditional names versus unusual names so there you go :)
I love Matthew’s name even though it is ALWAYS on that common list from the SSA. I have found that people try to be unusual so these common names seems to be used less which always makes me wonderful if these lists are FOR REAL!
It fits him and we have only met one other Matthew (who was actually called Matthew as well…) in 2.5 years. I have no regrets even if there are a lot of Matthew’s down the road because it just seems right, you know?!
I like to think with baby #2 I would like to get a little more “artistic” or creative perhaps but I also love traditional names versus unusual names so there you go :)
I love Matthew’s name even though it is ALWAYS on that common list from the SSA. I have found that people try to be unusual so these common names seems to be used less which always makes me wonderful if these lists are FOR REAL!
It fits him and we have only met one other Matthew (who was actually called Matthew as well…) in 2.5 years. I have no regrets even if there are a lot of Matthew’s down the road because it just seems right, you know?!
I like to think with baby #2 I would like to get a little more “artistic” or creative perhaps but I also love traditional names versus unusual names so there you go :)
Oh, I love this question…my main regret is that I’ll never get a chance to use my grandmother’s name, Margaret, unless, you know, an accident happens. And it’s a girl. And some times I look at our little Helen and while she has a kick-ass namesake (my great-aunt Helen, who was career woman in the 1920s), and feel sorry for her that she’ll never be named Margaret. She, of course, will probably feel only relief, and disappointment that she doesn’t have a cool name like Madison or Taylor.
And my son’s name? No regrets, none at all. If you’d told me seven years ago that I would name my kid Silas, I would have laughed at you. But the name grew on me (and, er, Mike too) so that by the time he was born I couldn’t imagine using any other name. Luckily he was a boy.
I love my kids names, the only thing I get tired of is having to explain how we came up with them! Our parents weren’t thrilled with any of them but we are both very happy with our choices. They are as follows: Batai Atreides, Story Alsatia, Mystery Amadeus, Lyric-Monet Ariadne.
I also wonder if we will regret our future-not-even-conceived-may-never-happen daughter’s name, which is Olivia…..because of our last name. You can email me if you want to know why–I’d actually be interested in your opinion on it.
My daughter’s name is Mya. I fell in love with that name when I heard it while pregnant with her and knew I had to have that name for her. The only thing I regret was the way I spelled it. Other than that, I wouldn’t change it.
Do I have a regrettable baby name story? Why, yes… yes I do. So much so that we’re seriously thinking of legally changing it. Except we already have passports and are leaving for an international trip (with a 1 year old! CRAP!) in 30 days, so it’ll have to wait.
My husband is a weird nationality, and we wanted weird-nationality names. We’re goin’ anon here so you’re all going to have to keep up.
The name rhymes with “again” and is mostly spelled with the same -ain ending among the weird-nationality community. Most Americans would spell it with an -en, and the boy is constantly called something that rhymes with “pain.” We knew this going into it, and I told the husband that we would constantly be correcting people. The husband thought that the slightly shorter -en (versus -ain) sound was so bad (COME ON! It’s not even noticeable!) that he would rather correct the people who pronounced it like “pain.” I deferred.
And WHAT A MISTAKE! It’s ALL the TIME! And then when I correct people they ARGUE with me! What?!?!
So in January, maybe, we might try to have it changed. Except he’s got stuff with his name on it and we’ll have to replace it and then explain the pictures our whole lives. And that pisses me off.
And I’ve already emailed you the name – because I’m a direction follower.
I regret telling people our boy and girl name choices before our first child was born (We couldn’t find out her gender beforehand.) I love Katherine’s name; it is her, but I think people feel more free to comment beforehand, and I wish I didn’t remember some of their reactions. We didn’t share Eli’s name and we aren’t sharing this baby’s name until after.
My kids names are Dane and Owen. I don’t regret either, though I had to be convinced about Owen, because it’s in the top 100 list for popularity and I have a *thing* about that. BUT it’s not in the top 50 (or wasn’t last year) so it’s still relatively uncommon, but not so much that no ones ever heard of it.
Dane gets called Dean a lot and already spells his name to strangers (at 2.5!) so I feel a little bad that maybe his name is too uncommon. But I LOVE LOVE his name and it fits him just right so I still don’t regret it.
I will never forgive my husband if he doesn’t let me name this baby my very favorite girls name (if this baby is a girl) and I don’t have any other girl names I adore.
I wonder all about this too. It’s so stressful giving a child their name. And even if YOU like the name, what if THEY don’t? My mom absolutely hates her name and has a huge grudge against her parents for giving it to her. It’s all so delicate. It’s such pressure picking the perfect name. And then everyone else judges it, too.
I mean, not that I’m planning to have a baby anytime soon, but I like to plan ahead with these things.
What an awesome topic this is!
I don’t regret our name (Ava), even though people just LOVE to tell us how popular/overused/insert jackass phrasing here it is. Surprisingly, it’s not that popular in TX. It’s more popular in places filled with awesome people, such as the states you are all from. Heh.
Also, LoriD: I have always wanted you to be a Jill! I have a…weird quirk about “naming” bloggers. My #1 choice for Swistle is Sarah. Also: Constance. That one is really growing on me. Haha.
Oh, I do love the baby name discussions. I’ve been carefully reading each and every comment so far (and probably all others posted after this). I’ve been dying to know your children’s names, dear Swistle, since I started reading your blog a year ago.
Now I’m really curious about “Annonymous”‘s child’s name. Especially since she’s considering changing it. And I already e-mailed Sara about the Olivia thing. I just love hearing baby name stories.
I have no regrets about my son’s name. It suits him perfectly. It gets mixed up with Zachery sometimes, but I expected that. And actually I liked the name because it was easy enough to shorten like Zachery, but not be as common as it.
I was just thinking about posting how we chose a baby name and other options we had. My cousin was asking me about that this weekend, and I thought “This would be a great blog post.” So, I will work on that today.
Yeah, I sort of regret Ella. I love love love the name, but it’s just as trendy/popular as I feared. I’m afraid she’ll be Ella B. her whole life. If I did it again, I would choose a different name.
The thing is, my other daughter has a very unusual name that is forever misspelled and mispronounced, but I have NO regrets for using that name.
My son’s name, Askur (I’m icelandic and my husbands danish so you know weird names galore)is an old norse name, like mine. And I really wanted him to have an old-norse name. We had several on our list but after he was born we took a long hard look at him and decided that he looked like an Askur. Its an unusual name though, only 23 in the country. But so far we love it!
MrsGrumpy- I actually think its pretty ballsy to name your firstborn daughter after Nikki Sixx, makes for a great story! I keep telling people that I named my son after my first teddybear (Askur) nowhere near a many cool points
Me again. Damn these baby naming posts.
As I obsessively refresh the comments, I’m wondering if the popularity of the PARENT’s name is a factor in regrets, particularly if the regret is related to popularity. I don’t mind a popular name, but my name is fairly UNcommon.
I feel a little like giving out a hug when I hear people saying they regret a beautiful, BEAUTIFUL name like Olivia or Ella, regardless of how “common” it is.
I still LOVE my daughter’s name–although I have had less than a year to get sick of it! We named her Norah Grace. We had known we wanted to name a girl Norah, and then I met a woman named Nora whose last name was Grace, and I just thought–that’s it. That’s her name. People are always telling us how pretty it is. If we have another girl we’re naming her Tobin Sarah (and probably call her Toby), which I think will get us lots more strange looks…
My daughter’s name is Hannah Grace. Lovely name. I compromised with my husband because we just could not agree on a girls name and I was tired of arguing about it. The night we got home from the hospital, the news had the top 10 names for the year as one of their stories. Hannah was #4 (I think) and Grace was #8 or #9. I at that point regreted the choice and freaked out on my husband for not going with my first choice. So far in her short life we haven’t run into any other Hannah’s.
Now, I am due in January with a boy. We are naming him Rocco Nicholas. Long story behind it but I am certain that we won’t be on the top 10 list. :)
TESSIE!! Yes, I hate my boring boring name….
OMG – I cannot believe how many other people felt like this. Ahhh, I feel slightly less like an indecisive freak of a mother now. My favorite has to be Mrs. Grumpy, first of all for admitting it, and secondly b/c back in the day, I was such a Nikki Sixx fan. My favorite number has always been six just because of him.
Sort of in line with what Tessie said in her second post, I’m curious as to how many people dislike their own names and how that factored in to the baby naming decision process.
I don’t like my own name, but it is my great-aunt’s name and it means so much to my mom that I have never told her that I don’t like it. It’s an uncommon name, but there was also a very famous person named it (and I am not named after her). So I get a lot of, “oh, were you named after so-and-so?” I usually just say yes, it’s easier.
I have almost two year old idential twin girls. When we thought we were having one baby we picked Alice Rita for our girl name. Alice was my mother’s name and has been used in my family since they came to the US 150 years ago. Rita is my MIL’s name and I pretty much thought that the middle name wouldn’t count and we can’t name the baby after one grandmother and not the other.
Upon learning the pregnancy was actually a two for one deal, we (meaning my husband) decided to split the names so one would be Alice and the other Rita. So I gave birth to two little old ladies.
It took some adjusting to but now I can’t imagine Rita having any other name.
The good news is that they are not common names. Rita isn’t even on the top 1000 names list anymore. The other good news is that we gave them more common middle names so that in the event they hate their first name they can always go by the middle one.
The less good news is that every single person I meet wants to know if they are twins and what are their names. Then these perfect strangers are disappointed that the names don’t rhyme. Then I have to explain the whole history of why they are named what they are. Still, the one time I lied and said they were Madison and Madyson (different spellings) I got a lecture about the importance of instilling individuality in identical twins.
So now I’ve written my longest comment ever AND revealed my children’s names.
We named our son William (really, not like Swistle’s not-really William!). He is 7 months old, and it’s good for us. He’s named after his paternal grandfather, and his middle name is his maternal grandfather’s.
We like William because it’s classic, and even though in the top 10, I still don’t see too many of them around.
My biggest regret would have been to name him something really weird (that would sound so odd when he’s an adult), so this is fine.
When he was first born, I just couldn’t see him as William and I wondered if we’d made a mistake, but now he’s grown into his name. Also, I said his nickname would be Will (and certainly not Willy), but sometimes he’s called Willy and I just think it’s funny, cute.
Besides, we got to name our dog a cool name – Furley – so all’s good with that.
Swistle – also dying to know your kids’ real names – I kinda like the made up ones too! Also, Henry is soooooo cute – about the same age as ours.
Shoeaddict- On the page I linked to, it’s hard to see but in the left-hand margin under “Baby Name Data” there’s a link to “Popular Names By State.” It’ll only show you the top 100–but that’s usually enough to show you if you’re likely to have lots of classroom duplicates.
Coffee Stained Laura- That is a very pleasing thought!
Welcome to our World- That baffles me, too. Like, the name Michael is SO COMMON, and yet NONE of my kids have had EVEN ONE Michael in ANY of their classes, nor do any of my friends have children with that name. The name Jacob is only one notch higher than Michael, but the typical Jacobs-per-classroom around here is 1-2. Some of it has got to be regional.
Sara- OBVI I will be emailing you STAT.
Michelle- How do you wish you’d spelled it? I’ve seen “Maya,” but I think I prefer your way.
Anonymous direction-follower- I do so love people who give in to me on my baby-name cravings.
Nowheymama- I AGREE. That’s the very reason we told VERY FEW PEOPLE ahead of time what the name possibilities were. Once the baby is named, people are more inclined to just accept it.
Tessie- I love it SO MUCH when you give me names. I like to go look in the mirror and “try them on.”
I also forgot to say that I like Tessie’s name Constance for Swistle. Not Connie, but definitely Constance. It sounds so responsible and all-knowing. Need to know how to get that stain out of your favorite shirt? Constance will know. Can’t remember your favorite margarita recipe? Constance remembers.
You guys are commenting so fast, TEN more came in while I was commenting on the first twenty!
Tessie- I think parents’ name commonness probably DOES factor in, but that it can go either way. I know Jennifers who say they don’t want their child being one of three kids with the same name like they were, but I also know a Jennifer who gave her daughter the name Madison, saying she knew it was really common but that that had never bothered HER growing up, and that she liked always being able to get personalized stuff. I totally agree with you about names like Olivia and Ella (and I’d add Ava to the list): when it is THAT BEAUTIFUL a name, I can’t imagine not using it just because other people are. Of COURSE lots of people want to use it, because it’s an AWESOME NAME. One of my top-favorite girl names is Emily, and that’s been in the top five for years and years and YEARS.
MommyBrain- This is GREAT. Also, people are always kind of disappointed that my twins’ names don’t have any kind of gimmick. I’m a little disappointed myself! I was hoping for a MILD gimmick (not rhyming, but like same starting letter or something), but we didn’t like any names that fit together like that.
i have always LOVED being an alice (while all my classmates were allison and alicia and alli etc), although it is awfully hard to get stuff with my name printed on it.
my sister’s name is elizabeth, and my mom says she always regretted not naming her “lisbeth” (which is what we all actually call her anyway, out of laziness) because it would have been the same idea but so much more unique, while still being a “traditional” name.
What a great question! I picked my first son’s name (Simon) and loved it from the beginning.
For the second boy my husband had a name he adored and I hated. He was willing to consider alternatives but only if I adored the names, which I did not. He proposed a deal: if I agreed to his name, I could have my first choice of names if we tried for a third. It was tempting, since I had a girls name I loved (Vanessa) and he was less than thrilled about. I was considering the deal when
the little guy came 2 weeks early and we were completely unprepared. He was nameless for a few days, which really sucked, and then I agreed to the name my husband loved. He had tears in his eyes when I told him I would give the name a shot.
I am still not 100% and tend to use his nickname, but it is growing on me and it’s starting to suit him. The fun part is that his family expressed their dislike for the name as well, which makes me like it more :)
Okay, first of all, HOW DID I MISS that your kids’ names are fake for the blog? I thought those really were their names. And I am now dying to know what they really are. Henry looks just like a Henry to me! I must know what his actual name is!
Also, my name is extremely uncommon- I have never met anybody else with it, except one friend of a friend who had it as a last name. I think that did factor in when we were naming our daughter- she has a name that’s not really common, but at least recognizable, but we spelled it a less common way. Gillian with a G. She’ll never find personalized stuff, but neither did I.
Our boy’s name is fairly common- it’s a Bible name- Luke- and easy to spell and pronounce. Sometimes I wish we’d “matched” the kids’ names better, but I really love both names so it’s okay.
I am with k in the mirror, I was completely unaware that the kids names were fake!! Apparently I need to pay more attention.
I don’t dislike my name, but when my mom was pregnant, her doctor was positive I was going to be a boy (perhaps I was giving them the bird through my legs during the ultrasound, one will never know)… so I had been named Ryan, and until I came out with the wrong plumbing, they called me that. To this day, I still wish they had named me Ryan anyways! I think it’s such a cute name for a girl. If I ever have kids, and I happen to have a girl, I’m planning to use the name Ryan Olivia. I also love Lucinda (Lucy for short), and Amelia (my middle name, also my maternal grandmother’s name). Too bad I cannot come up with a boy’s name that I like.
I had no idea your kid’s names were fake. But it makes sense now. You’re all Anon-obsessed and all. So yeah, I’m dying to know the real names too!
We haven’t had our first baby yet (only 20 more weeks to go!) and we find out the gender tomorrow. We’ve had a girl name for five years. No altering. No waivering. Just bam! That’s what it will be. The boy name? Haunts me every day. We think we have a name we really like, but I do worry about having a boy and eventualy regretting the name we choose. So tomorrow is the deciding factor: easy street with no worries, or having a Come To Jesus Meeting about our name. I love hearing what you all have to say though, since it makes me feel less alone!
(Madeleine Grace or Theodore “Theo” Thomas–I knew I couldn’t get away with not telling!)
I had to delurk and give my opinion on this. It’s a topic very close to my heart.
I was named Jennifer in 1979 and spent the next thirteen years of school being one of at least five in every class. I hated it. I’ve always sworn that I would name my children the most uncommon names I could think of. My mom likes to point out that they won’t be able to buy license plates (or other various plastic things) with their names on them. I remind her that I never could either because they were always sold out!
I definitely questioned my 1st girl’s name at the hospital: Elena. I had the name picked out for SO LONG before I ever conceived that I questioned whether this little baby I held really was an Elena or if Elena was just a figment of my imagination. BUT, I again love the name and it is good for her.
I am preparing myself to totally regret my 2nd girl’s middle name. Time is running out (due in December), and the arguments aren’t getting us anywhere. I believe the 1st name will be Julia (I’d prefer Juliana, but am willing to compromise I s’pose – hopefully I won’t regret that choice), but my husband is adament that the middle name be Simone after his mom, Simona.
He keeps saying that “it’s not really *her* name b/c she’s SimonA” but I’m not buying it. I DON’T WANT to name my child after my MIL! Middle name or not! And, I’ve NEVER been a fan of the name Simone even without considering his mom.
AND I tell him that his mom will already be honored by “Julia” b/c it was on the list of names she suggested for this baby. ~Yes, she gave us a list of @ 30 names~ She’ll already think she named the baby, so why do we need to add her name to the mix???
AND (ok, can you tell I get worked up over this), he wants to go for a 3rd kid to get his boy. (I wanted a 3rd kid anyway, so that’s fine.) If we have a boy, it’ll be a junior. So that means 2 of the 3 kids will have names from his side of the family, and I will have none from mine. And of course they have his last name. NOT FAIR
Even though everyone says Aiden is totally popular these days, we used it anyway. I have long loved that name and was hugely disappointed when it became popular, but we didn’t come up with anything else so Aiden it was. So far (he’s 15 months old) I have only come across one other Aiden, so maybe it’s popular in places other than Indiana. The only problem we have is with people who have never heard of it and have no idea how to spell it. A-D-E-N? Um, no. It seems obvious to me but I guess it’s not.
I have also always thought Sophia was a beautiful name, and I’ve never regretted naming our daughter that. My husband can’t see either of our kids as any other name, but (even though I love their names) I can still picture Sophie as a Natalie or Aiden as an Owen.
I was almost a Jennifer, or I’d have been a Scott if I had been a boy. Maybe that would also be an interesting post–whether you like your own name or what else your parents might have considered naming us? Or what you might name yourself if you had the chance?
This is totally lame but we used vowels (but not on purpose!). My first daughter is an “A” name, middle daughter an “E” and it was a joke when I was pregnant with the third (I always referred to them as A&E) that I’d use an “I” name but I came across the name “Iris” and that was that. Plus, being born in April sealed the deal.
And, NO…there will NOT be an “O” or a “U” name even though I dream of those little girls anyway. I get asked that all the time.
Okay, so I haven’t named a baby (yet), but when I do I am bent on making sure the name is something people know how to spell and pronounce. My name is Ami (Indian name, Indian girl) and it is pronounced AH-mee, but people are forever pronouncing it like Amy, not that I can blame them. I also feel like I have to spell it for everyone, which is no fun.
I haven’t named any babies yet — maybe we’ll be lucky enough in 2008! — but I LOVE this topic. And, add me to the no-idea-about-the-fake-names crew!
My baby is only 4 months old, but I can’t stop looking at the baby name book thinking “hmm, is she really more of a xxxx?” instead of the name we gave her, which is Lilah. I still love the name, but worry that it’s too trendy (it was my husband’s pick). I also already am sick of telling people how to spell it and kind of wish we had gone with Lyla, even though I don’t like the looks of it…
I also had no idea your kids names were made up for the blog! I am deeply distressed, mostly because I know how you love names and I am now desperate to know what names *you* picked.
My oh my, how I love the baby name posts and responses!
We chose Zoe’s name before she was conceived because I had always loved the name (and I know NO Zoes so I thought it was safe. DUH. That would be because I knew NO kids before I had Zoe.)
I had a panic attack when she was 6 weeks old because I wrote the word “toe” and thought “OHMYGOD. Zoe’s name should have a y on the end! How could I have done this to her? Her life will be ruined!!”
It’s, uh, possible my freakout was hormonally related and I’ve since calmed down about it.
I AM hypersensitive when parent after parent tell me they “almost went with Zoe *long meaningful pause*”. But what, people? You then decided you HATED it?
OK, here is my deal…I have 2-year-old twin girls named Sarah and Abby (short for Abigail). I always wonder if we should have named them the other way around, because I am ALWAYS calling them by the wrong name. I don’t regret the names, but what if Sarah was meant to be an Abby (and that’s why I keep calling her Abby by mistake)? And vice versa…
Both names are in the top ten, and we know a couple other people who have named their daughters Sarah, but it was my husband’s favorite girl name, and he always wanted to name his daughter Sarah. I didn’t know Abby would be as common a name though. We took a music class once that had six little girls in it, and three of those girls were named Abby. Half the class! Oh well. The other girl name I really liked was Emma, and thanks to Friends, that name was #1 the year my girls were born. I had to cross that name off our list because our last name starts with M, and I didn’t want my daughter to be “Emma M” all through her school years. On the other hand, their middle names are after their grandmothers, and those names are much less common these days (Sarah Margaret and Abigail Carol).
My own name is familiar but not that common – there was usually only one other Cindy (sometimes Cynthia) in my class at school.
Me again – because I didn’t write a long enough comment before…
My sister gave her daughter a beautiful name (Aisha) but when she was two, it was decided somehow (probably by the baby daddy who has since disappeared) that she would be called by her middle name from now on. The kid adjusted to the switch just fine, but all of the adults had a hard time remembering to call her the new name. So my family had an actual case of namer’s remorse!
We looooove our kids’ name, Violet. But it’s kind of trendy, which bums me out. What are you gonna do? Violet was the name of the lady who drove my grandma to her waitressing job; I always thought if I had a kid and it was a girl, she’d be named Violet. So we did.
Still totally love the name we chose. We named our girl Bridget Alison and I still adore it. We wanted an Irish name and while I loved Katherine (to be Katie or Kate) I knew that was entirely too common. So I’m thrilled with Bridget’s name. It’s not so uncommon that people go “Where the heck did you come up with that?” but not so common that there will be a thousand of them as she grows up.
Our boy choice, though. Wow, I’m glad she was a girl. We loved the name Aidan. See, the Irish theme here? But I think at the time it was the fifth most popular name according to SSA. But there were literally no other boy names we agreed on. Not a single one.
And I hate my own name – it always sounded too old for me. I have no idea what Bridget will think of her own name, but I did the best I could!
when I had O I was so wonked out on drugs and no sleep that K just named him without my input really – it was a name we had discussed and the only one we both agreed on but I didn’t know if i was totally sold on it (i was hoping for miracle inspiration at the hospital). I think I regretted it for about 2 days because what if it wasn’t the exact right name for him? but now I love it and wouldn’t change it
clueless but hopeful – we have a Zoë too, and just before she was born I had the same rhymes-with-toe dilemma. We decided to spell her name with the umlaut (two dots over the “e”, also called a trema). The teachers always forget to add it, but there’s nothing cuter than a little kid explaining to a grown-up the meaning of the word umlaut.
I love all three of our names, but:
Lauren: it took a long time for her to grow into her name. i wondered if it was a mistake. She was born with red hair and looked absolutely nothing like I expected her to. (note: I still have no idea what i expected her to look like. Just not like THAT.) She kinda looked like I imagined my husband’s sister to look as a baby, so I kept calling her by that name in her head (nooooo!!!) but now she’s redefined the name for me and I can’t imagine her with any other name.
Darren: I love love love his name and was honestly surprised the husband agreed to it. I had it in my head and he actually suggested it and when I saw it was on his list I snatched it up and never looked back. It’s totally unheard of in our area and most people kind of balked at it in the beginning but I think it fit him perfectly from day 1.
kid #3 didn’t have a name until he was 3 days old. I could not get my husband to agree to the name I’d had my heart set on. In the end he surprised me and picked a name I’d liked for all 3 kids but he vetoed every time. Talk about indecisive! He’s just now growing into his name because when he was born I kept calling him “Robert” for some reason. I still do sometimes. For a few days after his birth I wished I went with another, similar name that was on the list. It came down to Jeremy or Justin and we picked Jeremy, but my deep down voice was sayign “Justin.” and it didn’t help that my family saw the list when we accidentally left it on the table, and they all said “oh wow Justin is another great one!” But now, I don’t feel that way anymore. I’m glad I don’t have any regrets!
Oh, and I am a Jennifer, and have never had a problem with it except in 2nd grade when I wanted my name to be Melissa for some reason unrelated to Jennifer’s popularity. And I’m also dying to know what your kids’ real names are!
We have one with an unusual name, Roark. The other is fairly common, I guess… Cole. Everyone struggles saying Roark’s name, so there are times I wish we had named him something else, however I love the name and the reason we chose it AND now I cannot imagine him being named anything else. It fits him.
I have no regrets… my husband might, though. We each had our ‘favourite’ names for a girl, and while I liked his choice and might even use it if we have another girl, I really truly looooooooved my choice. It was one of those ‘epiphany’ moments when the name (with middle names included) came to me out of the blue and it just FIT.
Anyway.. induced labour. Lots of pain. Emergency c-section. It’s a girl. Me strapped to the table saying sweetly “we’re going to name her my favourite name, right?” and him not having the balls to argue with me at that point :) I win, and I love her name. It suits her perfectly! He gives everyone nicknames anyway, and hasn’t called me by my given name in years, so I knew he’d get over it. I’m pretty sure he thinks it’s a good fit now, but he calls her by her nickname all the time anyway ;)
P.S. Her name is Julia and her nickname is Bean – derivative of Jellybean which turned into Julia-Bean and shortened to Bean.
My son’s name is a very popular name but I don’t look at as common so much as classic. His name is popular now but it is not one of those names that will go out of style.
Also LOVE topic, always have – but it’s especially important now because we’re due in March with a girl and we’ve been going over the same two names for months.
Originally we’d decided on a name. There wasn’t a question of what we’d name a girl – it was the *boy* name that was up for grabs. Then, one night Chip & I were eating a piece of cheesecake and I suggested a random name for a boy, and he just LOVED it – for a girl.
So, now we’re in this either/or wasteland of names. Can’t decide. Don’t want to regret our decision. I’ve carefully read all the top names lists… one name is higher on the list of popularity than the other, but I’m not sure if I should pay much attention to it. It’s not like it’s #1 or anything. GAH!
It’s been interesting to read the comments of folks who regret their decision. I wonder if it’s a byproduct of our day & age: we’re so innundated with information, charts, graphs – when our parents and their parents chose a name for a baby, it was pretty basic. And they didn’t have much to compare to, other than the people they knew.
Lastly: I’m totally on board with not telling many people the name before the baby’s born. I have some very opinionated relatives and I don’t really want to hear what they think about the name until it’s pinned on the baby. And then they’re sort of forced to only say **good** things.
I’ve never admitted this to anyone!! I can’t believe I’m saying this out loud now, but YES, I do regret what we named our son, just the tiniest bit. I love the name Ethan, but I have a hard time imagining him as a grown man named Ethan. Maybe that’s just because I don’t know anyone other than 2 year olds named Ethan?
This is the same reason that, while I really like the name Oliver, I hesitate to name our baby due next month this name (it’s my husband’s first choice). Oliver is ADORABLE for a baby, but Oliver the big 6 foot tall man? Where’s Oliver? Oh, Oliver’s out in the garage, having a beer and working on his car and watching sports. Um. No he isn’t. Oliver is in a baby carriage wearing a bonnet. That’s the only place an Oliver can ever be. In my head, at least.
I only regret my son’s middle name, I love his first name. His middle name is my mother-in-law’s maiden name, but it was really important to my husband to use it primarily because his maternal grandfather was so special to him. My MIL and I were on better terms at the time than we are now, so 5 years ago I was OK with it, but now – major regrets. It’s okay, though, I’m due with a girl next month and the decision on her middle name is mine, all mine, bwahahaha!
I don’t have babies. Yet. But my name is Jennifer and I was born in 1982. My husband’s name is Michael and he’s 30. Although I’ve never hated my name, it’s annoying that no one ever says, “Oh, what a pretty name” because, well, it’s everywhere. But my parents still love it and don’t regret naming me such.
My husband and I are trying desperately to find names we both love that are just common enough to not be too “weird” or hard for their friends to spell/pronounce but unique enough to get a few “oh, that’s pretty.” It’s hard. I gotta say.
Good thing we’re not knoced up yet.
Caley~ I think Ethan is a great, rugged, manly man name!
And Oliver to me has always seemed like a grown man, probably British. I can’t ever picture a kid Oliver.
I guess that just means that whatever you go with, there will be people who have a different idea about it.
i don’t regret my daughter’s name… my husband may though! he kinda gave in after he saw what i went through in the delivery room!! :)
(her name is gabrielle elizabeth- nicknamed ellie)
our current problem is naming the baby that i’m now pregnant with. my husband is particularly stubborn about the names he likes now because he thinks i named the first kid. (hey, whatever buddy, you agreed to it!!) this is an issue because he wants to name a girl penelope laine- nicknamed penny… get it “penny lane” (this isn’t a joke). for a boy he wants the middle name to be vegas, as in las vegas. yeah, right.
soooo, if anyone has any really great names that will go nicely with my daughters name i’m totally open to suggestions! ….seriously, help! ;)
My cousin (who is going to heaven for what she puts up with poor soul)and her husband disagreed on what to name their second little girl. She liked a name and he liked a name. While he didn’t mind her name she DESPISED his. So they agreed on hers. And then when filling out the social security card/birth certificate information he secretly put down HIS name and didn’t tell her. Hoping that it would grow on her later. It didn’t. It hasn’t. And it’s been a nightmare to get changed. Poor thing.
*blink blink*
You mean William is not William?
Does that mean…
Henry is not Henry?
Elizabeth and Edward NOT Elizabeth and Edward?
Robert?
PAUL?
Caley– OOOOO, INTERESTING POINT! I think that’s okay, though: I think it’s pure generational. I have trouble picturing elderly ladies as Jennifer, but that’s only because the Jennifers are still working their way up there. In 50 years, Jennifer will be the quintessential old-lady name. And Ethan and Oliver will be the “dad of teenagers” names.
The New Girl- Oh, dear. The thing to do is lie down and elevate your feet slightly. Here, have a little sip of brandy. It’s just shock, you’ll feel better soon.
Yes! Yes I do. My husbands name is Peter, his father’s name is Peter ( he is not a Jr.). SOooo He insisted I name my son Peter. I REFUSED to make him a Jr. which would make him a double phallic name, Jr. So we compromised and his first name is Peter, middle name after my father. However, when I am talking to people they sometimes get confused with which Peter I am talking about!
I’m happy with our names. We named our oldest boy Parker (which was my maiden name) He totally takes after my side of the family and it fits perfectly.
Second boy we were going to name Conner and while I was pregnant came across WAY too many Conners so we switched it to Carson at the last minute- and I’m so glad.
The third boy, we were running out of names until we went to Australia. One of their most popular boy names is Lachlan- and we fell in love with it. People here are still, Huh? Lachlan, never heard of it- but I love it.
Well, both my boys, Luke and Henry, have more common names than I would like. But I am Ser, so my perspective may be skewed. Have you run into many a Henry? It seems to be on the rise.
And the problem with Luke and Henry is that they cannot really be shortened, unless for Henry you are willing to go with Hank. Which I am NOT.
One of my children has a rather uncomnnon name ( according to statistics ) and the other child has one of the Most common names possible. My sons name is Paul Russell. We named him after 2 men in the family who meant a great deal to us. My daughters name is Emily Elisabeth. She is named after women in the family on both sides as well.
I don’t regret thier names, or the spellings. If Emily had been a boy her name would have been Henry James, whichis a boys name I still like. However, we are not having anymore children..so that name will always be the unused boys name I love. If we had two girls, one of them would have been named Jocelyn.
One consideration I had when naming my own children was simplicity in spelling of their first names. My name is an old fashioned, biblically spelled name. I have spent my entire life spelling it out, time and again, for everyone. I never found anything personalized for myself ( and as a little girl in the 80s, this was a rather big deal ! ).
My name is also long. I had a heck of a time as a child ( and at times as an adult ) fitting my name on lines for various things.
So, I did knowingly choose names for my children that are simple, traditional, old fashioned and stylish , easy to spell, and not easy to create stupid nick names for ( because my name has a few nick names and I hate them all ).
Their names will weather well as they get older. I am glad of that. I have always secretly shuddered when people started talking about using nick-name type names for kids ( think names like ‘Buffy ” or “Jody ” or “Skip”. ) And although I know I used a popular name for my daughter, I still don’t regret it. I know 2 of the Emilys in the family who came before her, and both are wonderful ladies. I can only hope for the same for my own Emily. I also knew the Pauls who came before my Paul in the family, and they were good, kind, hard working, and nice men . I hope both of my kids can live up to their namesakes and have lives to be proud of.
Jess – NO HE DIDN’T! oh my!!
Just wanted to add that my name has always been uncommon, especially for a girl, but I have never disliked it. (despite it almost never being spelled right!)
I do think that contributed to me wanting my kids to have “less popular” names.
Also, my husband wanted to name ds1 Danger instead of Dane.
Seriously.
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I was really worried that I would regret Adelay’s name, as it was Jim’s idea and he was originally the one who was in love with it- I had to be convinced. The first few days I was still on the ropes about it. I kept looking at her and thinking, “Are you an Adelay? Are you going to hate us for this name?” But now I absolutely love it. And she is such a unique little girl that she could only have a unique name as well.
As for Eli’s name, that was the one I initially fell in love with and had to kind of coax Jim into for a few hours. I have no regrets, other than wishing we hadn’t felt the need to make it a “proper” name (his full name is Elias, though no one ever calls him that.) I thought Eli sounded too much like a nickname and that people would think it weird that Eli wasn’t short for anything. Instead, it’s just a pain to have to remember to put Elias on doctor’s forms and stuff, and people constantly misread it, think he’s a girl, and call for “Elise” in the waiting room!
OH! Love this topic enough that I am finally delurking! I love all my kids names – Morgan, Liam, Keara and Willem.
There are two things that I would have done differently 1)Keara will never, every find anything commercial with her name on it – they are all “Kira.” 2) I have two boys named Bill and they both end in the same sound.
I love the fact that Liam’s name was so unique (he’s 12) at the time and when I sold bridal I was fitting a grandfather who kept cracking jokes and was so damn sweet I needed to know his name – it was Will. I let my hubby pick Willem, because he really wanted one kid with a German name.
Tess – I hated my name growing up! I’m a Jennifer. I’ve always hated Jenni and in high school if someone called out Jennifer half of the school would turn around. While I’ve come to like my name (Jen – Thank you so much) I really wanted to avoid super common names. On a side note, my Mom and Dad picked my name because they had never heard it before – the day I was born there were 17 other Jennifer’s in the nursery! That’s the Navy for yah!
My name was always unusual growing up, but I don’t recall ever disliking it. Now, of course, there are pretty many Kelseys running around; many of them spelling it wrong, but what can you do? The only thing that ever bothered me was the fact that Kelsey can be a man’s name and occasionally punky kids would make fun of that. However, now that I’m older I am kind of sorry that it is more popular. I always felt like it was unusual (it used to be!) but pretty.
My daughter is Harper and, according to the SS website her name was more popular when she was born than my name was when I was born. I also think her name suits her and it is unusual, but not hard to spell or pronounce. I do worry a little that there will be a rash of Harper’s one of these years, but they’ll all be younger than her so it will be okay. Since naming her, I have heard of several Harper’s. She is named, in a round about way, after the author of To Kill a Mockingbird. Oddly enough, Harper isn’t the author’s real first name. I believe it was her middle name and they put it on the book because the publisher thought it would sell better/be better received if the author’s name wasn’t clearly female!
K in the Mirror: I love hearing that someone has the exact opposite opinion as me! And here I’d thought that Ethan and Oliver were little boys, not men, to EVERYONE ELSE IN THE WORLD (aside from my husband, apparently). You may have opened my eyes to the possibility of a grown up Oliver…
PLUS, since with the birth of #2, I will have to learn to be fair to each, give each the same number of cookies, the same amount of juice, the same color cup (that was HUGE cause for fights with me and my siblings growing up, who got the green cup, or the Mickey cup, or whatever, for some reason), maybe I could get a jumpstart on the fairness thing and give them BOTH names that I end up regretting, and for the same reasons. Then they can’t be mad at me.
Swistle: That is way too weird for me to think about. My mind can’t grasp it. Ethan and Oliver, Dads of Teens.
Okay, now that I just typed out Ethan and Oliver together like that…
Well, I think you may have just witnessed me naming my second born. Is it me, or do those just SOUND really good together??
what? seriously? those aren’t your kids “real” names?? and here I was thinking that you and I shared so much in common…
well. we do have the same carseat. and teddy bear snowsuit (which I bought w/ a tip from you). and kitchen aid mixer. and, i love to eat cookies for breakfast. lunch. dinner.
nope – no regrets on my kid’s names. i love them all, as common as they may be, they are all family names and yet traditional and you can’t go wrong with that combo – at least not in MY book.
OK, I’m FREAKING OUT now. Someone said they’d loved a name before conception then when the baby was born they were worried they just loved the “idea” of her.
I totally feel that. I have my perfect girl name (not Sunshine- the husband loves that name)and have had it for about 6 years. Oh, well, no use worrying now!
As far as my name, there were lots of pople with it in high school and it gets misspelled. It was the name of a carachter on a VERY popular tv show in the early 80’s when I was born.
I like the idea of using family names somewhere in the name.
Swistle, I have a very grave problem with the name of my second-born. (Well, ok, “very grave” is a little extreme, but I think you’ll see what I’m talking about.)
I absolutely love the name Emmett. It’s a family name; it’s old-fashioned; it’s Irish; I just plain old like it.
BUT I work with a fella whose last name is Emmett. I thought about this before Emmett was born. My husband and I discussed it. We both entirely underestimated the level of annoying immaturity which would ensue at my workplace upon naming my son Emmett.
It has started RUMORS!
I mean, seriously? SERIOUSLY? You are seriously making jokes about the paternity of my baby because of his name? SERIOUSLY?
Wow. It makes me angry. More angry than I realize, which is why I haven’t written about it on my own blog. I still love my son’s name. I don’t regret using it. I just wish the Emmett I work with would RETIRE already.
I am loving this topic and the many, many comments!! I think I might just sit here all morning and read ;)
I have yet to name any children but am a baby naming fanatic. I own something like 27 baby name books…haha. My first girl will hopefully be Audrey Kathleen ( I love Abigail too but don’t want Abigail Kathleen) and a boy will be Dominic Elias. Both middle names after my parents.
By the way, add me to the “I had no clue your kids’ names on the blog aren’t real!!” Now I’m dying to hear their real names…I must say, you picked awesome “fake” names. They seem to fit your children very well!:)
So it just occurred to me that by not using your kids real names in this blog, you not only are protecting their privacy, but you have gotten to name them all TWICE! 10 kids names for the price of five!! Brilliant!
Erin- That is so bad! I can’t BELIEVE people.
Ser- I hear a lot about how popular the name Henry is, but I don’t run into many other babies with that name.
Caley- USE IT USE IT USE IT!! It’s GREAT with Ethan! And it’s my top-favorite boy name! Oh I hope you use it!
Oh, Kristen H.- You are totally on to me! I DO like the thrill of having such totally different names for the kids. Like, what if I HAD gone the English royalty route? The names do seem to fit them! Sometimes I have to think for a second about which is the real name!
I love how obsessed you are about the naming subject – I am too! I love to hear about how people came up with their names and all of their second and third choices. I try very hard not to voice my opinions…at least to their face.
With our first we liked the name Grace – but my family had 2 crazy Aunt Grace’s and they grimaced everytime I said the name. And I always loved the name Emily but it was #1 the year I was pg…so I suggested Emma Grace and hubby agreed. I usually do call her Emma Grace, J. calls her “gracie” and she is Emma Grace at school because there is another Emma, too. I know it is common, but it totally fits her and I don’t regret it.
With our second my hubby named her. Well, he liked the name Addison for a boy – I liked it for a girl, when we found out she was a girl, we used it. Addison Rose (family name). I will NEVER regret that one…even though it is moving up in popularity, too. She is the perfect “addie.”
My boyfriend/Babby Daddy/Partner named our son (who is Rito on the blog) when I was 12 weeks pregnant and had no idea we were having a boy. He named him:
Emmett Ramsay
Emmett after Doc Brown on the Back to The Future movies (my boyfriends favorite movie ever) and Ramsay after Chef Ramsay from Hells Kitchen (and I have a such a crush on that man).
My boyfriend is a bit of a nerd, but I like the name and it SO suits my little boy!
We didn’t want a common name, nor did we want some weird spelling way out there crap name either. We thought Emmett was fitting since the last time it was popular was in the 1800’s sometime (although it is getting popular again).
Jebus, girl- 82 comments during NaPloBloMo even! Are you drugging your readers? Using The Force?
Just kidding. I love you!
This topic is great. I’ll send you and email with my kids real names (do I get YOUR kids real names too?)
But I will say here that Marin was my top pick for our youngest. She was Marin for my ENTIRE pregnancy. Then, while I lay getting a blood transfusion, weak and drugged, David swooped in and named her something else. (Or at least that’s how I like to tell the story.)
Her name is beautiful, but for a long time I felt she had the wrong name. At least she gets “my” name on my blog! =)
As far as my own name goes, it is unusual and has never really been in the top 100 or 1000.
Danita Marin
My dad worked with a lady named Danita who was so funny and really cute (an my Mom even liked her) and Marin was a character (a bratty rich kid) on one episode of the Rockford Files in the 1970’s.
People never spell my first name right, or can’t say it. Seriously it is Anita with a D on the front. Not so hard.
I love my name, and am very pleased to never have run into another Danita; although I have seen 2 Danita’s on Jerry Springer (although admitting I seen Springer makes me a little sick to my stomach).
….. My regret is that I’m due in 2 weeks, will probably be induced sometime next week, and still have not found a name for this baby girl. =(
You’re all experts…. HELP ME PLEASE!
My 2 year olds name is Natalie, which we just liked, so we used it. This time around, EVERYONE gives us flack for the names we have picked. (First it was Emma – a cousin really wants the name IF she ever has children) Next was KayLeigh Nichole, which everyone freaked out about…. grrr. The new name we are considering/ hubby is liking the most is from an irish meaning for strong (this baby has been through a lot of stress, drama, medical procedures, and pain meds.) I haven’t told anyone the name yet, so hopefully this doesn’t get around…. Bridget. But with what middle name?
Sorry to turn this into a selfish comment…. =b
OK, I’m delurking in order to take part in this conversation. My own name Siobhan (pronounced She-von with a short e) is pretty uncommon in North America and I have always loved it. I love being the only one in a room/class/company. I don’t even mind the endless correcting and spelling that I have been required to do over the years, nor the fact that there is nothing avaiable with my name on it.
Although I have had no need to name children yet, my preferred names are also Irish Gaelic/Celtic in origin: Niamh (said Neeve), Deirdre, Brigid, Aidan, Kieran. Sadly, none of them sound very good with my husband’s Middle Eastern surname (which is the same reason I didn’t take his name).
Ok, topic close to my heart. And now that I know they aren’t their real names I can comment on my constant amusement that the twins are names for a pres candidate’s wife.
So my daughter’s name, here’s the story: My favorite name for ever and ever, katherine, kate for short. Perfect. My SIL had a Katelyn before we were even thinking about kids so Kate was out. When I got pregnant, we doled out middle names, I chose the girl middle name, Irene, family name. Mr. H chose the boy middle name, Clay, also a family name. She was a girl so I win on that.
Back to first names. I have ALWAYS been against noun and verb names. I don’t like names that are more commonly other words. Mr. H is actually named Rob, a verb name :(
BUT I got stuck on liking a noun name for our daughter and in the end we went with my name and yes, now I regret it. I still love the name but every time I use it in noun form, not referring to her, it feels weird. Mr. H’s name choice was Sarah which is perfectly beautiful but he was naming her after a student of his who passed away and that seemed both inappropriate and sad to me.
Swistle, I will email you Biscuit’s real name :) Think noun with alternative spelling between the name and the noun.
My ex wanted our girls’ name to be “Veronica” after his grandmother and I didn’t like that name so i was going to call her “nee-kuh” which he hated.
Then he left so I took a vote on the internet and among my friends, and sophie came out #1. Didn’t find out till after that “Sophia” was in the top 10 most popular, and there are several Sophia’s at her school, but no Sophies. However, she IS a Sophie, through and through; I couldn’t have possibly given her a more fitting name.
So, I allowed my first son to be named after an uncle on the paternal side. Now the paternal side of that family hardly ever even speaks to us, and I got stuck with the name. It is not an awful name, just really really common. Although the commonality is dropping a little bit. But still. There are a bazillion Michael’s running around out there. Also, his middle name was chosen for my favorite book in the Bible at that time…and I am no longer a Christian, so that kinda sucks, too.
I wouldn’t even change his name and really can’t imagine a different name for him…but if I had it to do over differently, I most certainly would.
Seriously, I love this topic and had to de-lurk. I’m due with #2 in 3 weeks. Our first one, boy, is named Gavin. #2 if it’s a boy will be named Gage.
If it’s a girl, the names we’re tossing around are:
Lauren
Ainsley
Avery
Brynn
Any votes/suggestions?????
Marie Green- YOUR kids’ names are pseudonyms?? Ooof! That is PAINFUL! (1) I thought they were real; (2) I love all three names.
Mandy- I LOVVVVVVVE the name Bridget. It was on my girl list for all four pregnancies. I like it with Elise: Bridget Elise. Potential problem: consonant first name plus vowel surname can create word-initials, now or if she changes her name with marriage. BED, BEE (cute!), BEG, etc. I also like Bridget Olivia, but that gives you B.O. for the initials–no good.
Misty- It seems like “named him after my favorite book of the Bible and now I”m not a Christian anymore” should win some sort of namer’s remorse PRIZE. I think that is my favorite of all the stories.
Jessie: I like both Lauren and Brynn. I like the name Brynn a little better than the name Lauren, but it’s balanced by the preference I have for the way the name Lauren goes with the name Gavin.
Swistle, this is an awesome conversation. And I love that I can get e-mail updates now, so I don’t miss a thing.
I just finished my two-part blog post about naming my son and a few of my other name choses during that pregnancy. It was fun to write about it.
I didn’t realize Marie’s kids were not their real names either. I love seeing the name Marin. I might add that to my list of girls’ names I love.
Jessie- I love your list of girl names. My choices are Lauren or Ainsley.
Mandy- I love Bridget. Hmm for a middle name maybe Hope. I like the ring of that.
There are alot of ways I have seen Mya spelled. The way I spelled it or there is Maya, Mayah, Miah. I think there are more. If I could go back and redo it, I would spell it Miah. I feel better that you like the way I spell it! :)
I love this topic and I don’t even have any babies to give names to yet! I love, love, love my name. It’s unique but easy to spell/pronounce, few people have it and there are tons of spellings. I wish I could convince myself to give my future daughter my name (I never would though). I like that in my family we’re not bound by tradition but I would love to honor my father (he’s brazilian) by using part of his name for a child, probably their middle name (Francisco –> Frances). My boyfriend and I would love to honor his brother Mat*son who passed 15 yrs ago and his nephew who just passed as well, Sam. I’ve never really liked the name Samuel though, Sam is better but . . . we’ll see if we ever get there I suppose. If we do there will likely be a Marcus Mat*son or Marcus Frances and Mat*son Samuel. I think girls will be tougher since I LOVE the name Sloane but am not sure if if I’ll give my future daughter my 1st as her middle name. Sloane Karina? And then there’s the issue of pronouncing it in Portuguese . . . . oh the dilemma. My family is mostly brazilian/portuguese (catholic) and my boyfriend is mostly irish (w/some french & german) but catholic as well . . . oh well, there’s my rant. thanks for listening, i just get so excited about all the names!
Here, I am, late to the game.
I don’t regret my daughter’s name one tiny bit. She’s named after my mom and my husband’s mom. The only trouble I have is with the spelling. I’m forever correcting people. My mother was French and her name is spelled the traditional French way. However, I do want to have more babies because I have more names that MUST BE USED!
Like Piper, and Aoife, and Mason, and Quinn and, and, and…..
Ok, I am a late commenter, but I couldn’t resist this topic.
My almost-two-year-old son is named Oliver. I loved that name then and I still love it now. I love calling him Ollie…love, love, love.
I just had my second son about two weeks ago, and we named him Everett. I love this name, but maybe not to the degree that I love the name Oliver. Maybe because I like to shorten names, and this is a hard one to shorten.
The funny part about naming Everett, is that about two days before he was born I was convinced that I HAD to name this baby Shepherd. It must have been the hormones talking (or maybe watching too much Grey’s Anatomy?) and thankfully my husband flatly refused to name him Shepherd. So Everett it was. However, if we end up having a third boy, we may have to trot out the name Shepherd again, since we have such a hard time coming up with boy names.
I love my daughter’s name. I knew a girl with that name and always thought it was awesome. If she was a boy, she would have been Judah and everyone hated that, so good thing she was a girl.
I loved Ava Grace for a girl for this one (my daughter’s middle name is Joy, so I was sticking with Fruits of the Spirit, you know), but like, 10 people on BabyCenter who are giving birth in April like me picked Ava, and some of them even had Grace too! Man! My name was weird growing up and I hated it but I love it now. My second choice was Aurora (Rory) Grace.
Anyway, babe #2 is a boy, apparently, and we are going with a pretty unusual name, but we are not telling anyone because I don’t want opinions. Er, well, if you gush and say you LOOOOOOVE it, that would be OK. Anyway, his middle name is his grandfather’s first name. My stepson’s MN is his father’s first name. It’s a family thing with them.
My parents were going to name me Brandy, but they bought a dog and there went the name. Good thing, though, because my first real boyfriend cheated on me with a Brandy, and how awkward would that have been? I guess while he was shouting out names in the throes of passion at least he’d be safe from using the wrong name. Anyway, I took lots of satisfaction in pointing out, after that, that my dog’s name was Brandy.
Sorry for the loooong comment.
Well, crap. I’ve been USING my children’s actual names all this time. No one told me NOT to.
kristen h- I also am a mama of an Aidan.Aidan Lynn. Although the spelling is different. He will be four in January. My youngest son is Quinn Allan.
And he is two.
I am so late to this, but I also had to de-lurk to comment on this fun subject.
When I found out I was having a girl, I liked the name Jenna Elizabeth – after my grandmother Jennie Elizabeth. Husband didn’t like that one so much since we are both J names too. So after going through all the names in a huge baby name book on a long road trip, there was really only one name we both liked – Aubrey. We decided to wait until she was born to be sure and Aubrey Elizabeth it was. It just fits her so well. I can’t imagine her being named anything else.
My name is Jill, which I couldn’t stand when I was younger because NO ONE else had that name & I could never find anything with my name printed on it (another 80’s child) but now I like it for the same reason I didn’t – I rarely meet other Jills.
I also had no idea that your kids names were made up and have to join the others that would LOVE to know what they really are.
Imagine my surprise when I first went to see my twin sons …. in the NICU nursery there were three babies next to each other with the same name Samuel ( Samuel was our twin 1) – next to him was a triplet Samuel,and next to him was another Samuel (born one day before my Samuel) with exactly the same surname as ours. !!!!
Hmm it is a worry with twins thing people can narrow down the search.
Absurdly late, but I too love baby name discussions and I love our children’s names.
We have two girls:
Anna Maureen
Emelia Grace
And a future son would/will be:
Phillip James
(None yet chosen for future female)
I don’t regret the name Emelia (she’s only 3 weeks old, too soon to know) but I am nervous that people will forever call her |em-uh-lee’-uh| instead of |uh-mee’-lee-uh| as we intend.
I wish I could have been a part of this conversation sooner!
Fun!!!!!
I LOVE my children’s real names. Absolutely LOVE them. Love them eventhough nobody in the south has the ability to pronounce them.
I’m very curious about your children’s real names, although I already knew they were pseudonyms.
Also, I believe I’m going to start thinking of you as Constance. Tessie was brilliant for naming you this!
With my first daughter we used my husband’s grandmothers name (Rosario) as her middle name. I regret that now.
Also, I regret giving my daughers two middle names. One is sufficient.
Tessa Rosario Hope
Emma Lindsay Grace
Should have gone with Tessa Hope and Emma Grace.
I love this topic! I’ve read through all the comments.
Our daughter is named Camilla. She’s thirteen months old and I like the name more every month. I did have some reservations about it because it’s old-fashioned sounding and because people might call her Cami, which sounds like underwear to me. But we call her Milla for short, which I think sounds a little more modern, and hopefully the fact that she already has a nickname will deter anyone who is tempted to call her Cami.
Her middle name is Claire, and we always get compliments on the combination of her first and middle names. I’ve always loved the name Claire, but I have this hang-up about not using names that are too popular as first names. I have a very unusual name and I always loved being the only Arwen in my class, usually the only Arwen people had ever met. Claire is in the top 100 so it was not a contender for the first name. However, we use it all the time, and our favorite around-home nickname for our daughter is “Billa-Claire”. “Billa” came from “Camilla-Billa” and although I never would have imagined we’d call our daughter something so silly, it is actually a perfect nickname for her. We’ll probably phase it out as she gets older, though.
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Ooh, I know I’m late on this (just linked here from Playgroups Are No Place for Children), but I posted something about this recently.
Short story: NO, I don’t regret our choice for my son’s name (Quentin), but I’m TERRIFIED of running into that sort of problem with #2.
A Rose By Any Other
I still love our kid’s names–William and Henry. But I’m glad we passed up a few–Cameron, Miles, Griffin, Reed–lovely names, but not for us.
This is such a passionate subject. I’m actually feeling enlightened by reading it. I couldn’t help judge those that went with Micheal, Jonathon, Brian, Madison, Jennifer, etc.
My name I thought was fairly common. I was bitter in highschool so I changed the spelling. I wanted it to be more artistic. I wait to name my children until my husband and I feel completely passionate about one. Which is hard because he’s so easy going he would have let me name the children anything. So when I found names that lit a fire behind his eyes I knew I had hit the mark.
Of course his one request was that our first son be Coby Daniel. I could handle that. I was a little sad when I was pregnant but he is such a Coby that I’m completely friends with the name now. Then I was pregnant with a girl. I REALLY wanted Sidda, from Ya Ya Sisterhood? I loved it. My husband would not begrudge me the name but he wasn’t crazy about it. Then one day about three weeks before she was due I saw her name. Elliott. And I knew it was her name. Hubby fell in love with it as well. Poor girl does get mixed up in the insurance records as a boy, but she is all girl. To me the name is full of her personality and gives her nicknames galor. The most popular being Elli. And her middle name Robin, after my mom. Our next son came along and we were stumped. We didn’t know the sex of the baby but we had a hard time with boys names. My husband said it first and I was shocked. I had loved the name since highschool.
River James was born and we thought we’d call him RJ. That was my husband’s favorite surfing spot growing up in Southern Cali. River Jhetties was the spot, but they called it RJ’s. But we call him River, and that is what he is and always will be unless he decides to change it. Which I will give my blessing. I wouldn’t ever want my children to feel too bored or too embarrassed of their names. And so I think I wouldn’t ever be hurt if they decided to go a different route.
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A few years behind on this post but I wanted to share my daughter’s name with you as you love a good baby name story.
Her name is Blythe Olivia (last Name begins with) O
Blythe-came about as my husband wanted an english based name that “meant something” and I wanted something old but unusual. (Used to be a surname YEARS ago)
Olivia-was supposed to be named after my great great grandmother.. and fits the bill of “meaning something” I found out a few hours after I signed the birth certificate that the name was actually Oleva…which I love even more than Olivia, so there is my regret.
Even more odd? And we didn’t plan this.
She was born on Halloween. I was induced on the 30th and was told she would be born in the late afternoon of 30th. She held out for the 31st.
And what do her initials spell? B.O.O. Yup, kind of regret that that happened but since I didn’t plan it what could I do? LOL