What Are Your Top Two Favorite Baby Names Right Now?

184 Replies

A question for those of us looking for something quick and light to do today: What are your top two favorite names right now, one boy name and one girl name?

You can interpret this question however you like: as the top two you would actually use for an actual child, or the top two you’d use if you weren’t prevented by one thing or another—whatever you’d think of as “your two favorite names right now.” I suggest doing this fast/fun rather than careful/accurate, to avoid unfestive hand-wringing.

184 thoughts on “What Are Your Top Two Favorite Baby Names Right Now?”

  1. Abby@AppMtn

    Can I cheat and say three?

    Rosemary for a girl, nickname Romy, followed by Theodora, nickname Thora.

    Leif for a boy – probably Leif Christopher Clark for a full name.

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  2. Alisha

    I love the name Findabhair (sounds like Fynn-ah-veer) for a girl, but I couldn’t use it because I’d feel guilty for giving her a name she would always be explaining how to spell and pronounce.

    I love (and plan to use) Jameson for a boy.

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  3. Ashley

    Dean for a boy. Love it.

    I can’t decide for a girl! I really love all the frilly -line names for girls right now, like Evangeline/Emmeline/Rosaline, but my #1 would probably be Aurora (nn Rory).

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  7. Lanie

    I would have named my next daughter Gwendolyn or Cordelia (Gwen or Cori) but having a boy, and still don’t have a fav boy name!

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  8. Mary

    Marin for a girl and Leonard for a boy!
    Although I do have a massive fondness for old fashioned male names like Ambrose.

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  16. Kathryn

    Mary Margaret (Maisie)
    Thomas Paul

    Siblings to Maximilian and Francis :)
    Looking forward to having some more babies soon! We have a little Catholic saint theme happening ☺️

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  18. Blythe

    So many!

    Girl: Felicity Kate/Claire and Merrin Patricia (Both names mean happiness!!)

    Boy: Jesse Patrick (family names) and Lowell ___________

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  23. Jessica

    Margaret nn Maisie, with Harriett/Hattie a close second
    Amos for a boy

    So sad I’m done having babies and won’t get to use them!

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  35. Colleen

    Girl – Lucy. If we have a girl, this is her name. Luckily, my husband is totally fine with this =)

    Boy – so hard to choose! Brendan, Calvin, and Donovan are current obsessions.

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  38. Erin

    For a boy, Daniel and Jonathan are longtime favorites which, sadly, my husband doesn’t like.

    For a girl, I have no idea. I was loving Rose for a long time but lately I haven’t been loving it as much. I’ve always loved the name Ivy, another my husband has vetoed.

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  39. Sheri

    If I were lucky enough to have a second, big sister Afton Rhys would have

    Carys Quinn or Freya Wren for a sister or
    Malcolm Stirling for a brother.

    It’s looking like i may be “one and done” at 41, though. *sigh*

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  40. StephLove

    I would use Ian for a boy in a heartbeat When I was pregnant with my daughter it was in our top 3 for a boy and for me it was #3 but I like it best now of those three names. I’d be stumped if I was having a girl. Susannah perhaps, or Caroline? Neither feels quite like it. But I am never having another baby…

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  48. M.Amanda

    If Surprise! I had a new son or daughter to name tomorrow, William or Paige.

    I’m not expecting and we haven’t even decided for sure whether to try for another, but we decided just a few days ago on William for a boy, after my husband’s grandfather. I love it. We were less in agreement over girls names, but I think I would push for Paige, even though it’s a bit of a departure from my usual style.

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  51. Vanessa

    Baby due in spring….

    Yvonne, nn. Eve for girl
    Ephraim, nn Remi for boy.

    French Canadian/Irish heritage, so bilingual names are a must! Sisters are Agnes and Irene. Agnes thinks we should just o for gold and name Baby “Irene two”. True quote. :)

    Thoughts?

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    3. mountainmama

      Haha! I’m expecting my third and my eldest, Fiona, said if this one is a girl we can name her “Fiona 2”.

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    1. Anne

      I would love if Prince George had a sister named eleanor although I think Alexandra is more likely. I hope you’ll do a royal baby name post swistle!

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  56. The Other Gail

    If they are only my babies, Deirdre nn Dearie and Andrew nn Drew.
    If they are babies with my BF, then Fiona and James Andrew.
    But, we are aged out of having babies.=-(

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  60. Emily

    We are expecting our first and not finding out the gender, so this is on our minds right now!
    For a boy, I love Elliott. I’m having a harder time for a girls name…
    I like Violet (doesn’t work with our last name and getting more popular), but I think Arwen is starting to grow on me.

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  61. Tara

    I love and hope/plan to use one day: Sadie Harper and/or Benjamin Adam. Love them alone, love them as a sib set. Just love them.

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  62. Toniette

    My kids are Felix, Blythe & Eloise- besides their names…
    Love Fiona for a girl, can’t use it (to close to my son’s name)
    And Kemuel for a boy- if our fourth is a boy that’ll be it.

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  65. Stacy

    Eden and Levi.
    I was hoping my last baby was going to be b/g twins because I so badly wanted to name them Eden and Levi. But she wasn’t a twin, and hubby didn’t like Eden. And hubby says no more babies :-(

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  69. Lauren

    James for a boy, nickname Jimmy.

    Margaret for a girl, nickname Meg. Possibly Nancy, it’s growing on me and it’s a family name, unlike Margaret.

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  76. Tilly

    I was only going to add Hamish and Hannelore but then I read the previous comments and remembered how much I love the name Blythe.

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  84. Megan

    Seth and either Julia or Ruby (love Julia, Jules and Lia; dislike Julie, and love Ruby but think it’s too something for a first name as an adult)

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    1. Swistle Post author

      Okay! It’s a hard game: my mind FLOODS with possibilities! But if I make myself choose FAST, I choose George and Eliza.

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  88. Lindsey

    Norah and Knox. Just found out on Tuesday we’re expecting #2, so hopefully we’ll be welcoming one or the other in 2015!

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  89. DrPusey

    If I were naming boy/girl hypothetical twins today, I’ll surprise myself by picking two of my grandparents’ names: Iris and Calvin. (they were grandparents on different sides, though – not married to each other!)

    One of my cousin’s kids did use Iris. I think we’re done with childbearing for the side with Calvin in the family tree, so if it pops up again, it will be from the next generation who didn’t know him personally.

    I have been really tickled and pleased at the renaissance of Calvin as a trendy baby name.

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  91. Kim

    The girls name I’d use is Sabrina Faye. It doesn’t really fit my husband’s style, but the middle honors an aunt, and the first – well, when I was in labor with my youngest, I asked my husband out of nowhere if maybe we should call her Sabrina instead, (His perfect response was that he was not going to tell our 3yo that the sister she’d been calling Julie for months was now Sabrina.)
    My boy would have been Gregory. I still like it – classic with a Celtic feel.

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  96. Laura

    My real life contenders for a girl are a tie between Marlowe, Mabel and Camille. For a boy, my top pick is Arie.

    My top picks that I’ve had to give up are Chailyn for a girl (pronounced Kaylin) and Julian for a boy.

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  98. Sasha

    Oh man, this has been so fun to read! My current favorite boy names are Max and Alexander, and girl favorites are Susanna and Julia.

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  99. Ashley

    Annie & Rory. Hands down.

    Annie is the decided name for our first daughter. Rory is on the table for a boy (and the one my heart wants most!).

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  102. Erika

    Louisa (Isa, for short) for a girl, Desmond for a boy. Sadly’, I won’t get to use these did hypothetical baby 3 because best friend named her daughter Eloise (too close) and Desmond was a nickname for an ex. Gah!

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  103. Katie

    Have a long list of favorites, but my two favorites that I’d have no reservations about using are Isabelle (would sometimes use nn Belle) and William (would exclusively call him Will).

    A couple others that I am really enamored of right now but would require some consideration before using are Willa for a girl and August for a boy.

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  104. Mary Katherine

    Just spent a few months living in Ireland, so I’m really loving Irish names right now. Favorites are Oisín (OSH-een) for a boy and Niamh (Neeve) for a girl. But, living in the U.S., I’m not sure I could ever bring myself to curse my child with a lifetime of having their name mispronounced. Perhaps they can be middle name contenders…

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  109. Amanda

    My husband and I both love Persephone, but can’t quite bring ourselves to use it as a first name. It will probably wind up as a middle name if we have another girl at some point down the line. Octavia is my favorite first name pick right now.

    We just named our latest boy Rhett, which I continue to love!

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  110. Kerry

    Martha. I was realizing the other day that I can’t even hear what used to sound heavy and dowdy about it anymore.

    For a boy…Cary? But only if it wasn’t my own son. Maybe in the middle?

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  113. A

    For boys: current crush is Shane, long time favorite is Morgan

    For girls: current crush is Zoe, long time favorite is Josie (just Josie, not short for Josephine)

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  114. Kelsey D

    Oh jeez how do you pick??

    Boy names: Walter or Arlo or Jude

    Girl names: Magnolia and Emmeline

    But then I LOVE Frieda and Fiona.

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  115. Elizabeth

    Girls: Sonya, Mercy, Annabelle,

    Boys: Soren, Julian, Sullivan,

    (all names I wouldn’t actually name my own kids but there’s something I love about them)

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  116. Grace

    Easy!
    Eliza is my all-time favourite number one that my husband happily agreed to; and Owen, which I see as the sweetest name to give a son (husband has vetoed as he has met girls with this name!).

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  121. Rayne of Terror

    Beatrice and Verity were our two top girl names for our second son and I still love them both equally.

    We do family names for our boys so if this was real life our choice would probably be Robert nn Robin or Lawrence nn Lars.

    If I was naming on my own, I love historic names like Woodrow or Clyde.

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  124. Joyce

    Lucy and Barnaby.
    I see that Lucy is well represented in the comments.
    Also, today I’d like a Fred (nn) of either gender.

    Reply ↓
  125. Laura

    I am done with actual child naming (thank goodness!) and as such I have two names on my sad can’t use list.
    Boy: Gabriel (my favorite despite naming two boys, but was unusable for us)
    Girl: Sonia (my girl name for both boys, unlike some the name never soured)

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  134. Lilly Handmade

    Wilfred and Penelope, Wil and Nel. If I had Boy/Girl twins tomorrow that’s the names I’d campaign for.

    I think Wilfred is lovely (so British! so nickname-able! Familiar yet fresh! Old man charm!) but I never, ever hear it. It’s my dad’s name, but he uses a different name. I’d love to use it on my future son. Swistle, do you think there’s a reason it’s not come back with the Williams and the other old man names? We’re hearing Freddie and Archie and Bertie, where’s Wilfred?

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    1. Karen L

      I’ve been meaning for a long to suggest a topic for discussion: names we are ready to hear revived. Wilfred would be in there, I think. I am also ready for Agnes and Phyllis.

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  140. Erin

    I have a Gavin and a Norah.

    Would have preferred Lawson and Holland – both of which are family surnames, but husband vetoed.

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  142. Issa

    The two I’d use in a heartbeat (gah I wish) are Meredith and James. The others I adore but don’t know that I’d actually use are Piper, Addison, Beckett and Leo.

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  145. Brynn

    Desmond and Caroline are my go-to names, but I also love Harrison and Elliot for a boy and Sophie and either Emmeline/Madeline for a girl (I really like -line names, haha).

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  154. LCAmazing

    I’m late to the party, but I still want to play, and I’m adding my favorites prior to reading the rest of the comments so that I won’t be influenced.

    Girl name: Vera Helen
    Boy name: Omri Gilbert

    Reply ↓
  156. Jamie

    For a girl, I am really loving Sara. It just strikes my ear as very pretty. I think it would be a lovely sister name to my Chloe. Sara Lark or maybe Sara June.
    For a brother, I love Elliot James.

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  157. Frankie Anne

    Wanting to use Gray for a boy’s first name..but can’t think of a middle name to go with it.
    I struggle with boys names but love too many girls names!

    Gray and Bristol

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  158. LB

    Boys: Cormac and Sebastian

    Girls: all time favourite is Elsa but would never use it now because of Frozen :(. Also love Greta.

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  160. K.D.

    Definitely late to the game but couldn’t NOT share my names:

    Josephine “Posey” Rose
    +
    August “Ace” Christian

    …but there are so many more!

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  162. Karen

    I’ve been in love with Coralie for a girl and Jesse for a boy, and I am 5 weeks with number two, but husband is against them both. Sigh…

    Reply ↓

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