Sara writes:

HELP! I’m due in March but we are not finding out the sex until d-day! My husband and I can agree on a few boy names but still haven’t picked one and are very welcome to more ideas. If a boy his middle name with be Thomas after both our fathers. Girl names we can’t agree on at all! We don’t want a super popular name but nothing too out there either. Last name is Moseley.

Names we are considering for boys:
Hudson (I LOVE this but is it getting too popular?)
Bentley (Does it sound ok with Moseley?)
Cooper

Girl names:
Annsley
Addallee (Add-a-lee just for clarification)
We don’t have to have an A name just the only ones we like so far start with A’s!

Any suggestions you can give us?

 
Hudson is indeed increasing in popularity (from #997 in 1995 to #176 in 2008, according to the Social Security Administration, and my guess is that it’s not done increasing. BUT—I don’t think it’s too popular. Then again, I don’t even think the Top Ten are too popular, so it might be too popular for your tastes.

I find the repeating -ley sounds of Bentley Moseley hard to say, but again, that’s purely a matter of taste.

One of my favorite surname names is Archer, and I think it sounds great with your surname: Archer Thomas Moseley. I love that. Archer isn’t in even the Top 1000 yet, though I’ve seen it on a lot of people’s Names To Consider lists, so I suspect it’s close to breaking in. One possible problem: the initials ATM.

Another of my favorite surname names is Wilson. Wilson Thomas Moseley. That name has been hanging around in the 400s and 500s for the last 50 years. That doesn’t mean it won’t suddenly start getting more popular, but it’s a better bet than the names that are already swooping up.

This is a long shot, but I wonder if you’d like the name Fisher? I’d never considered it until I read a book by Joshilyn Jackson that had a child named Fisher in it, and by the end of the book it was my first choice for a middle name for my son pseudonymed Henry, if we’d used Henry for his first name as we almost did. Wouldn’t that be cute? Henry Fisher! Well, but maybe it works better as a middle name than as a first name.

Miller is another good one if you like alliterative names. Miller Thomas Moseley. Miller isn’t in the Top 1000 and hasn’t been since 1943.

Shepherd is a name I would consider using just to get the great nickname Shep. Shepherd Thomas Moseley.

I’m surprised the name Turner isn’t more popular: it seems so USABLE because of its similarity to names like Tanner and Tyler, but it’s barely cracked the Top 1000. Turner Thomas Moseley.

Truman, too, seems like it’s been neglected—it’s another one barely in the Top 1000. Truman Thomas Moseley.

And Lawson! I love Lawson! And there it is, wasting away in the 600s/700s! Lawson Thomas Moseley.

I love the name Anderson. Anderson Thomas Moseley. It’s rising in popularity, in the 300s right now. And there’s the ATM problem again.

More common but still not overused (it’s only in the 200s, though still rising, and the character on the TV show Lost may make it seem more common) is Sawyer. Sawyer Thomas Moseley.

If you weren’t using Thomas as the middle name, I’d recommend Edison: barely in the Top 1000 (didn’t even quite make it in 2008), and with the easy nicknames of Ed and Eddie.

Keaton was rising for awhile, but it’s stayed in the 300s for the last dozen years. Keaton Thomas Moseley.

If you tend to like surname names, one good idea is to look back in your family trees for usable surnames. Then, even if the name does get popular, you still have strong reasons for using it—and you can say, “It’s a family name,” which I’ve found is the best name-reaction-diffusing statement of all.

Now, girl names. I think Annsley Moseley has too much of a matching-endings problem for my tastes, but that’s only my tastes. Addallee Moseley, too, has matching endings, but not as much as Annsley: just the -ley sound, rather than the whole -sley sound, and a 3-syllable name makes it less noticeable than when both the first name and surname have two syllables.

Adelyn is similar to Addallee but without the double -ley problem. Adelyn Moseley.

I think the -ella ending would work very well with your surname. Ooo, here’s a pretty name I just found in The Baby Name Wizard the other day and have been looking for a chance to recommend: Abriella. Abriella Moseley. I love it. I don’t know if it’s an Abb sound or an Abe sound; you could probably take your pick. Abb would give you the nickname Abby; Abe would prevent it if you don’t like that nickname and would prefer Bree or Ella.

I like Rosabella, too, and Arabella. Rosebella Moseley. Arabella Moseley. Roseabella might be too matched, with the -ose- sounds in both names—or maybe it’s a very nice tied-in sound, I can’t tell.

Or Ariella. Ariella Moseley.

Or Mirabella. Mirabella Moseley.

I wonder if you would like any of these names:

Abilena Moseley
Amabel Moseley
Amalia Moseley
Anya Moseley
Arianna Moseley
Aurelia Moseley
Avalon Moseley
Bronwyn Moseley
Calliope/Kalliopi Moseley
Cambria Moseley
Ellington Moseley
Emmalyn Moseley
Harper Moseley
Hollis Moseley
Isadora Moseley
Jensen Moseley
Juniper Moseley
Keelin Moseley
Kerrigan Moseley
Kianna Moseley
Lorelei Moseley
Lucianna Moseley
Verity Moseley
Willa Moseley