Occasionally I have a dream in which I suddenly have a new baby and realize I haven’t even THOUGHT about names yet. This is similar to the dream in which you suddenly need to take a final exam and realize you haven’t attended class all semester: it’s an “Oh no, I didn’t prepare!” dream. Except that when I wake up from an exam/class dream, I don’t feel the urge to start studying the subject of that dream class, whereas when I wake up from a baby/name dream, I DO.
And so this morning I am wondering: If you suddenly had a new baby, what would you name it? If it’s too stressful to imagine needing to choosing THE ACTUAL NAME, RIGHT NOW, then feel free to play the game in whatever way would be fun rather than stressful (I don’t think any of us need any more stress right now). You can, for example, list a few finalist boy names and a few finalist girl names that come to mind, without choosing the actual winning names. Or you could say where you’d START: like, would you start by browsing a particular section of The Baby Name Wizard? Or you could say some of the general things you’d be looking for, like that you’d want to use a family/honor name this time, or WOULDN’T want a family/honor name this time. If it doesn’t feel fun to work on the first names but does feel fun to think about the middle names, that is a perfectly fine way to answer the question. And you can choose to answer either what you would choose if it were entirely up to you, or what you think you’d choose with another parent.
When I tried to answer the question myself, I realized I must have switched out of the mode of casually working on my mental lists of favorite baby names, which I used to do pretty often while folding laundry or doing some other chore that didn’t need much mental attention. I still have pretty much the same names as I did 10 years ago when I thought we might have one more child after Henry. My boy-name list, especially, has remained where it was, probably because I have never found boy names as fun to think about (or as stressful to choose) as girl names. My girl-name list has shifted a little, but it’s basically the same list as before but with the names shifted around: some old favorites shifted down, some other old favorites shifted up. I would still want to use a family/honor name as a middle name, if possible.
How about you? What sorts of things would you be thinking about if you suddenly and unexpectedly needed to name a new baby?
If my husband wasn’t helping it would be Beckett Arlo or Hadley June.
Also, I would be stressed out about still not knowing the social security baby name data from 2019. 😂😭
This is an easy one !
With no husband input- Lola Wren or Rowan Lawrence.
(Other options: Phoebe, Iris, Gwendolyn, or Sylvie. Wilder, Dashiell, Ford, Dane, Jude, or Tristan)
With husband input – Evie Wren or Tucker Ross
If I had to name a boy TODAY, he would be John Benjamin because my dad & grandfather and father-in-law, grandfather-in-law, and brother-in-law all have the first name of John and go/went by their middle name, and it is also an informal tradition on my dad’s side of the family for boys to go by their middle name. Benjamin is another honor name that I also happen to love. For a girl, I would absolutely give her at least one honor name b/c 9 years later I’m still a little irritated that our daughter’s middle name isn’t my grandmother’s name since she was 1) the first great-grandchild, 2) the oldest daughter of the oldest daughter of the oldest daughter to that grandmother, and 3) she was born on said (great) grandmother’s BIRTHDAY. What was I thinking?!? I don’t know what her name would be, but I’m leaning towards Sylvia Janie (both of my grandmother’s first names). This is assuming that I get to name her myself and don’t have to ok things with my husband, lol.
My family has the exact same tradition! About 7 generations of eldest sons are John Middle, going by Middle until adulthood. And John Benjamin is one of the names. Norman and Charles were also in there. Part of the tradition was that they went by John or Jack once they left home, but my father and brother ended that part and went by David and Ian respectively for their whole lives.
Once it became pretty clear that my brother was unlikely to be having/naming children, we used the family name John for our youngest but didn’t give him a middle. My husband’s family doesn’t do middle names.
My gosh, I could written this comment! For some reason lately I’ve been freshly peeved that my husband vetoed my grandmother’s name (which is also my middle name) for our 6-year-old daughter. She, too, is the first great-grandchild, the oldest daughter of the oldest daughter of the oldest daughter, and she was born a mere week past my grandmother’s 80th birthday.
We did name her a variation of my mom’s name instead, but unfortunately it begins with the same three letters as my grandmother’s name, probably eliminating that name for the future.
Our plan is to be “one and done,” and we have an Eloise Claire. However, I loved thinking about names and talking about them so when I was pregnant, I insisted that we choose 3 names for both sexes. I kept saying “but what if there is more than one baby in there?!” just to keep my husband talking about names.
If we’d had a boy instead of a girl, he would have been Calvin Walter. (both are family names)
Additional boy names: Arthur, Hugo, Carter (an honor name), Milo
Additional girl names: Diana (family name), Margot, Ramona, Dorothy
and I love Rachel Elizabeth after our grandmothers and we considered using Betty as a nickname to get a third grandmother in too.
Our method was to talk about names until my husband wanted to run away from home. Then he loaded all of our favorites into a wiki survey thing (allourideas dot org) and we voted on them until we found The Ones.
ELOISE CLAIRE. ELOISE! CLAIRE!
I am so charmed! You have no idea!
Thank you! She’s a charming little toddler! It fits her so perfectly. Her nickname is Elo or Elosqueeze or just Squeezie
Elosqueeze, OMG! I’m in love.
Cutest nicknames I’ve heard in a long while! So cute!! Especially Elosqueeze. :)
My assumptions for my answers are that I have to name a baby RIGHT NOW, without consulting my husband AND that I want him to be satisfied with the choice.
When I was pregnant my middle child, we were expecting a boy but had picked out three girl names just for fun because I love names. Lucky we did because we got a girl and could pick reasonably quickly at the hospital. The names we didn’t use are Sarah and Rachel, so I’d name a daughter Rachel Jane, where Jane would be an honour name for my twin aunts Jean and Joan (no kidding) and I think Rachel sounds a little better with our Last Name than Sarah does.
Names that we didn’t use but considered for our boys are Benjamin, Gabriel, and Jonah. I’m kinda not feeling these names any more. I’d probably go with my brother’s name Ian, knowing that my husband isn’t a huge fan of naming after living relatives but also knowing that it is a great name and he’d understand that I was in a difficult spot.
So that would give us
Adam, Margaret Naomi, John, and Rachel Jane
or
Adam, Margaret Naomi, John, and Ian
TLDR: Rachel Jane or Ian
First names would be easy and they are two of my didn’t get to use names – one cause I didn’t have a girl that time and another cause it lost out to a family name. So I would have either Mary or David. Middles? I don’t know!!! All my others have family middle names but I’m running out of meaningful ones and I always wanted to use a grand passion kind of outlandish middle name. I have no idea what though…
Mary Charis
Mary Pascal
Mary Easter
Mary December (I like that best!!!)
David Crucis
David Peace (love!!)
David St John
I always thought there would be more babies but I don’t think it will happen anymore. Naming hypotheticals is a very soothing, whistful thought. Probably why I keep reading name blogs :) Gotta stay up to date!
I used to dream that I was looking for a baby that had slipped down under the bedclothes. My hubby would wake to me tossing blankets and pillows off the bed looking for the baby, I don’t do that anymore! I do think that after so many years of mothering my stress dreams will always be about babies kind of like how others dream about school even as adults.
I love your middle name choices! Charis! Pascal! Peace (especially for a boy!)
For a girl, I think I would lean towards Margot, Ivy, or Eden, with a likely middle name of Wren or Willa. A boy would be more difficult. I like Sebastian, Alden, and Corbin. Maybe Sebastian Wilder?
Of course, all of these names were vetoed by my husband. If we were to have another baby, we’d would have thought hard about Willow or Calla for a girl. Our boy list did not have a significant amount of overlap, but I think we could have come together on Declan or Linus. Maybe Cormac or Alcott for a middle name.
If this were a purely hypothetical baby, I would break out the names I love but couldn’t conscience giving to an actual human (mostly because of our last name or the meaning/sound) – Linnet, Caprice, Sloane or Tycho, Howell, or Wells.
Also, THANK YOU Swistle for posting this kind of light-hearted, fun post. This is exactly what I needed this week and I appreciate your writing now more than ever.
If I had to name a baby right now, all by myself? Girls: Helen or Margaret, middle name Louise
Boys: Arthur or Henry, not sure about middle name. Perhaps Gene or Louis?
I already have 2 boys, so picking a 3rd boy name seems more difficult.
We are trying to name our third boy and it is indeed hard!
Girl: We had so many great ones we never got to use that we both loved: Matilda, Cecelia, Ramona, Daphne. But flying solo I would name a girl Sylvia Valentine or Clara Valentine (Valentine is a family name my husband always vetoed).
Boy: Henry Robert. Henry was my all time favorite boy name I’ve loved since childhood. My husband doesn’t care for it and I’ve had another family member use it, but I would still use it on my spontaneous dream baby!
I am due with a little boy soon but I have vivid dreams that it is actually a girl and have to come up with a name at birth. Without my husband’s input, I would name her Annie.
No husband (lol): Frederick or Sylvie
Husband doesn’t like Sylvie, so we would likely use Frederick for a boy and for a girl either Colette or Annette. Gun to my head, I think we’d choose Annette.
If I was naming a baby with my husband and if I was naming a baby TODAY I suppose that would be the case, we had a very hard time with names but we have one (1) name in reserve for a baby for each sex. Our girl name is Grace Beatrix. Our boy name is Jasper Robert, although I might try for a 12 hour campaign to give Robert as the first name.
If I was naming a baby TODAY and also my husband had VANISHED, the girl name of my heart is Diana Grace. I would probably still go with Robert for a boy name (it’s an honor name for my dad).
I love this so much, since I don’t have kids and not planning on having them but I love baby names! My first choice for girls were Alexa and Arya but thanks to Amazon and GOT those are out. So if I was naming a baby girl now it would be Amanda Zoé or Arianna Eloise.
I find boy names less thrilling but I would love to use Vincent as a middle name because it’s the English version of my grandfather’s name, he was Vicente. So maybe Hugo Vince or even Hugo Vicente.
Girl, I’d be choosing between Ishbel, Rowan, Elinor. Probably with Beatrice as a middle name.
Boy, I’d be choosing between Henry, Gideon, Edmund. Probably with William as a middle name.
I also like Robin for either sex.
Funny, hubby and I were just talking about baby names the other day. I am pretty sure I am two and done, and he wants more… but it was a fun conversation nevertheless. Names I would actually use: Peter Middle for a boy, First Geraldine for a girl.
Names I like but would not actually use: Chance for a boy, Tuesday for a girl. Hubby said we can save Chance for a dog, lol.
If I had to name a baby today, it would be as a single mom, so the choice is all mine! A girl would most likely be Zoe Veronica. A boy… Sebastian Gabriel?
Zoe Veronica is amazing !
Thanks!
My all time favorite name is just entirely unusable, because it comes from a cartoon, and everyone would know it came from the cartoon, or else they’d never have heard of that cartoon and they’d say oh how did you come up with that, at which point I’d be forced to admit that it’s from a cartoon.
It is Pepper Ann.
I know that it’s from a cartoon and I still love it! I always liked that show.
Pepper Ann is such a fun, spunky name
Pepper Ann, she’s like one in a million!
Turns out I can still sing every.single.word. And you need to name someone this because she’d have the best theme song ever!
Ok (A) I think that you should 100% do this anyway, and (B) If it’s terribly worrisome, what about a slight tweak? Pepper Anne? Pepper Jane? Pepper Miriam/Mim? Pepper Lynn? Pepper Leigh? Pepper Mae!
Please; you simply must!
Lorelei Louise or Frederick Valentine
This is the post I didn’t know I needed. So fun to think about, so fun to read others’ answers.
If I had a girl TODAY, I would name her Edith Kathleen; Edith because I love it, Kathleen because honor name.
A boy would probably get my mother’s maiden name and maybe my husband’s middle name (because our daughter and I share a middle name, and that would be a fun symmetry).
Other names in the running: Girls – Gwendolyn, Genevieve, Eloise
Boys – Hugh, Rhett, Raleigh, John (I also really like the name Ethan but it was a front runner for my husband’s name before he was born and I don’t know if I like that)
I always appreciate the way you’re like “Answer this question how it makes sense and is the most fun for you.” Thank you. You’re a bright spot on the internet for sure.
A boy would be Leif Leland or Beau Leland. I would push for Leif and my husband would probably push for Beau. Leland was my late father’s name.
A girl… we’ve already named four so I would want to pick something that “fits.” I think maybe Flora. Flora Joy or Flora Estelle. I’d have to give that middle name a lot more thought.
Dearly love Flora, with either middle.
I was just thinking ‘Beau and Flora’!
I cannot narrow it down beyond top threes.
Girls:
Abigail Everly.
Molly Louise.
Adrienne Beatrice.
Boys:
Ethan Graham.
Owen Everett.
Gideon Reese.
I have been dreaming about a third baby (that most likely won’t happen). I would name a little girl Dorothy Matilda. A boy is harder for me, but probably Bernard or maybe Oscar.
Rhiannon Jane (‘Rey’)
Casper Micah or maybe Casper Alexi
Middle names are honour names (with a twist). First names give good gender-neutral nicknames, which is important to us.
Possibly if it was me naming without DH I’d go for River, for either sex.
For a girl, Shaherazade (nn Shara) or Persephone (nn Percy).
Wyatt Wayne (favorite boy name, Kev’s bff, and fun alliteration)
Freya Eloise (my two new favorite girl names)
I’m pretty boring (or classic!) and traditional when it come to names, but here goes…. My favorite boy name is Thomas Anthony. I’ve always liked Thomas (and Tom and Tommy), and it’s also the name of a lot of my favorite saints (Thomas the apostle, Thomas Aquinas, Thomas More). Anthony is my dad’s name and my brother’s name…and my brother has three sons of his own and hasn’t used it! Runner-up (or surprise twin name) is Leo Francis.
For girls, my all-time favorite name is Anna, but I’m not sure about the middle. I like Anna Catherine or Anna Therese. I would also love to use the middle name Joy (my mom’s name), but I don’t like it with Anna. Perhaps Cecilia Joy or Beatrice Joy or Winifred Joy (Freddie!).
Well that’s a nice thing to read! I love my name too!
Ugh, I still have that exact school anxiety dream!
I don’t have any kids (at least human ones). If I had to name a baby right now… hmm it’s hard to narrow it down! Naming a baby August would be fun, although maybe too obvious. I like Leo for the same reason, but maybe I’d keep it in the middle slot.
Honor names I’d want to use: Roslyn, Lawrence, Freda, Earnest, Victoria
Roslyn August
Julia Roslyn
Maya Roslyn
Naomi August
Talia Simone
Ariel Freda (Ari)
Francesca August
Cedar Lawrence / Cedar Julia
Remy Lawrence / Remy Victoria
Julian Earnest / Julian Leo
Ezra Lawrence
Raphael Lawrence / Raphael Earnest
So many of my favorite names in there (Maya! Talia! Naomi! Julian!) and one of top two ever (Remy is my son’s name)!
A girl would be Hannah Claire. That was the girl name I had picked out when I was pregnant with my son (12 years ago!) and I still love it in a way that almost makes me sad I’ll never get to use it even though I definitely don’t want any more kids. I have no idea what I would name a boy – there has only ever been one boy name I really liked (Noah) and that’s my son’s name.
Rupert Julian for a boy, Harriet Beatrice for a girl. (The girl name was much harder to pick, whereas I’m quite attached to Rupert after suggesting it for my second son and having it roundly vetoed by my husband).
Since I had my children both of my grandmothers have died– and grew up in a tradition where we name after people only after they are dead, so my hypothetical new baby girl would be named after them Miriam Elsie or Elsie Miriam.
My hypothetical son is another thing altogether. We used all of the names I would want to use on my two boys, except for the ones that are unusable because of other family names. I think if I woke up and had a baby boy in my arms and needed to name him it would be Hans, Johannes, or Tobias for the first name, and Elon or Gabriel for a middle name. All of these are honor names of a sort, but more distant.
We welcomed a grandson, Hans, to our family this year!
It is a really wonderful name. I had a great uncle Hans who was hands down the most fun, kindest guy. I hope you grandbaby Hans is just as great (if not better!)
I’d honor our mothers, who have always given us the best they have to give and gave far better than they got.
So Theodora or Paulina for a girl, with 3 middle names (my mom, his mom, my maiden).
And for a boy, Paul Heron. For Paula and Sharon. His sisters have bird nicknames. But realistically we’d use her maiden name instead of Heron, siiigh.
Georgia or Clementine for a girl
Joshua for a boy
And since this is just for fun… I was at a ranch and they were looking for a new name for the bull that just came in. Rueben was my suggestion. Cricket was my suggestion for their new mule.
If I had to name a baby TODAY it would be Woe is Me or Regretful Jones.
Kidding. Kind of. But I’m done!
I would definitely use the name Margaret for a girl, and call her Meg. And maybe Louisa for a middle name, or Elizabeth after my sister. For a boy, maybe Benedict, with a family surname as the middle.
My daughter’s name is Margaret Naomi (goes by Margaret at school, Naomi at home). We chose it for family reasons and because it pairs well with our hard-to-work-with last name but Margaret has been a very satisfying choice. pretty sweet spot of familiar-but-underused. In 12 years, we’ve only come across one other Margaret amongst our children’s classmates and teammates. I also really like Meg but it doesn’t work with our last name.
I love Margaret Naomi! Absolutely delightful. I would vote for a Margaret Naomi for president for sure. 😊
You’ll have to immigrate if you want her for your Prime Minister ;- )
Try and stop me 😊
Wrote a great long comment that has disappeared 😣
I’ve been single for over 10 years now and am also ancient, so any baby arriving in my life today would be a total miracle. Assuming that I need consult with no one on the name situation, my choices would be:
Raphael Thomas for a boy
Daisy Rose for a girl
Both of these options were rejected outright by my (now) ex when he and I struggled with names… We had nothing in common on our lists and ended up giving the 2 names we vaguely agreed on to our first daughter (Carla Noémie). Which made naming our second a nightmare (we eventually settled on Lydie Rebecca, which I love now but struggled with when his awful mother told me a much-loved ex of his was called Lydie).
No family names – I don’t have much family, barely get on with the little I have, don’t like their names (William – my dad, and Fraser – my cousin or Hilda – my late mother who was not a good mother) and don’t like naming kids after people (all the eldest sons in my dad’s family are/were William and it just caused confusion and is daft to me).
Vera or Blythe for a girl- middle name Carolina or Eloise
Miles or Gabriel (nn Riel) for a boy- middle name Vaughn
This is fun! I just had my second baby and have been thinking of future names (my husband is bemused).
Assuming my husband hasn’t 0 input, Ames Oakley or Sasha Nathaniel for a boy.
Girl is more challenging. My 2nd is Ezra and I didn’t think of it at the time, but does that rule out the name Elizabeth? It’s an honor name after my nana.
Elizabeth Marigold nn Betty or Birdie or Beatrix Musetta nn Betty.
Love this!
We had two kids, one boy and one girl and were able to use our favorite names. All of them are honor names: Their first names are Norah (girl) and Louis (boy) and their middle names are Dorothy and Richard.
If I had to name another right now, knowing my husband’s preferences but not asking him. I would pick (also honor names):
James Nicholas
and
Anne Judith or Anna Jude
Our actual daughters are Livia Kiev and Josephine Vail.
If I had to name a set of boy/girl twins today, the names would be Marguerite Evora and Anton Caspian* (I almost never fantasize about naming just one more baby, because I feel like a third would throw the family dynamic into chaos, whereas TWO more would at least make an even number). Marguerite gives a nod to my French ancestry and my dad’s very best Aunt Margret. The name Anton is one I do not like, but is my husband’s favorite, and I would accept it in the case of twins because I think “Anton and Marguerite” are great as a set.
If I just had one baby, the girl name wouldn’t change, but if I had to name a boy, and I wanted to buck the geography-related requirement (but give my husband his favorite name as a middle), I would name him Thaddeus Anton. Last name starts with a “G,” making his initials TAG. I find this such a delightful nickname for a wee baby boy I can hardly stand it.
*I am not sold on “Caspian” and picked it because in all my boy-naming imaginings, I’ve never been able to come up with a better one. We already used my favorite, “Oslo,” for the cat.
I have a June already and my gut spur of the moment instinct is Annie or Margaret and Henry. Maybe David. Middle names would be some family surname I can’t decide on and don’t want to post on the internet anyway.
I just asked my husband this question and he said Allison and David. David was our boy name for our daughter but I’ve since fallen in love with Henry.
Swistle, how did you post this question and not answer it yourself?!?
I would use my maiden name Smith for a boy or girl! I’m currently pregnant but it doesn’t really fit with our sibling set: Alfred and Louise.
If this baby were a boy we would name him George atlas. If I could have my dreamy way, her name would be Clementine.
We are currently planning on naming her Josephine Cordelia, which I still find dreamy and perfect for our sweet September babe.
Not to rock the boat, but I think a little Smith fits in great with your current 2.
We are expecting our third boy at the end of September so we are naming a baby right now, and still don’t have a solid name!
For I boy I’m liking Max Riley, Max Oakley, Max Wilder, Beckett Robin, Beckett Fox
If he were a girl he would have been Jane Birdie.
Other girl names… Indie, Margo or Luella
I currently have a Norah, Lucy, Henry and Faye. If I had another baby, it would likely be Reid, Graham or Wade with mn James, Wade or Stuart OR Greta, Edie, Daphne, Elizabeth/Betsy, Phoebe or Bonnie (middle name Kathleen, Helen or Jewel). Middles are all family names.
I have other names I love but can’t use for various reasons (such as not wanting to repeat an initial which means no N, L, H, F, M or J names).
If I didn’t have to consult my husband, I would choose Audrey Lyn for a girl and Nelson James for a boy.
Ooh. How fun.
Girl… Margaret (called Greta) Love (family name). I am so sure my husband would not agree to that middle in real life. If I had to choose another girl name? Maybe Edith?
Boy….much more difficult for me! We already have one named August. Vincent? Otto? Orson?
For me it would be Ingrid Elowen and August Alexander. No doubt!
I could name several future (probably never to exist children) right now. Joining Emmet Amaranth would be:
Waverly Rue
Carrick Sage
Bannon Birke
Moira Rose
Are you a big Schitt’s Creek fan? :)
The second child I’ll always regret not having would’ve been Tess or Nico (my husband agreed with Tess, Nico would’ve taken some convincing).
Unrelated: I’m delighted to see multiple mentions of Sylvie/Sylvia here, as my daughter is Sylvia Natalie.
Same! I just had a Sylvie in April!
I have unprepared for school dreams all the time! Does anyone with a dream fascination know what they symbolise?
My understanding is that they symbolize a feeling of unpreparedness or fear-of-being-surprized by something else! Dream analysis, at its heart, is pretty obvious, in my experience. <3
For a boy, Robin Francis George.
For a girl, Georgette, Beatrix, Susan, Gertrude, or Hepzibah for a first name. Eloise for one of the middle names and either Jemima or Winona for the other middle name.
Easy. Vera Lucie Laetitiae for a girl, Victor Jacques Edouard for a boy.
I have always had Julian as my favorite boy name. However, if I were to conceive this month, which hopefully I do, I’d be tempted to use August for a boy. I love the nickname Gus. I’d have either August Asher or Julian Asher probably. This is without my husband’s input though. Maybe Julian August.
For a girl, I have a list of about 10 names – Annabel, Eliza, Genevieve, Ivy, Violet, Susannah, Josephine, Liliana, Ada … I have one daughter Cecilia already so something that flows well with it. Right now Eliza or Annabel would likely be my choices, again without my husband’s input. Annabel Violet or Eliza Josephine …
Both my middle name (Kathryn, also my grandmother’s middle name) and my husband’s (Joseph, also my FIL and grandpa’s first name and my brother’s middle name) are on our list, so in a time crunch I think the previous consideration and the family honorifics would put them ahead!
Matilda Blythe Ramsey
Finbar James Llewellyn
Hm. I just named a puppy and that was hard enough!
Sudden girl baby?
Margaret Patricia (Margo or Daisy)
Sudden boy baby?
Jesse Patrick
Boy/girl twins?
Jesse Patrick, Margaret Ruth
My fun folding laundry/waiting for the puppy to pee/unloading the dishwasher thought will now be what I would name girl/girl or boy/boy twins. I like names to have some androgyny or androgynous nicknames (I knew a Margaret who went by Max) in case the sex assigned at birth is not their gender as they grow up.
I had my second child in April and to keep myself awake through the long nights, I gave myself the “assignment” to pick a boy’s name and a girl’s name that would fit best with our sibset and last name (Remy and Sylvie). I kept it to what I would actually pick (so didn’t pick cousin names or anything, even if that was my favorite name for that letter). Name nerd much? :D
Here’s what I came up with:
Girls: Audrey, Bea, Cecilia, Daisy, Elena, Freya, Georgia, Hana, Iris, Jordan, Kira, Lea, Mireille, Nina, Olive, Phoebe, Quinn, Ruby, Sasha, Talia, Una, Violet, Willa, Xenia, Yael, Zara
Boys: Adam, Beau, Cameron, Daniel, Emile, Freddie, George, Harrison, Isaiah, Jasper, Kellan, Leo, Miles, Nathan, Owen, Pierce, Quinten, Rhys, Simon, Tatum, Ulrich, Vincent, Wyatt, Xavier, Yuri, Zachary
I think the actual winners would be Audrey or Nina for a girl, and Miles or Wyatt for a boy. Haven’t gotten to middle names yet, but since my husband is adamantly against a third, I won’t worry too much…
OMG Remy and Sylvie and Bea! These three need a children’s book written about them.
Great names on your list as well! Sylvie is a name from my family tree as well.
My favorites here:
Elena, Georgia, Iris, Kira, Phoebe, Ruby, Talia, Yael
Jasper, Leo, Miles, Nathan (another family name), Xavier, Yuri
Hi! New here and so glad I found a group of kindred name lovers!
I would pick:
Boy – Reid Anthony ( Reid after my grandfather Richard who passed recently, he only had a middle initial “a”, no name, and my husband’s middle is Anthony. Both my other boys have middles that start with A too.
Girl- Josephine Ruby ( harder! I love Josephine, and Ruby would be in honor of Richard).
Far from *causing* stress, this is actually my chosen can’t get to sleep quieten my brain activity!
Man though, boys names are tough. I’ve got:
Henry (Hal)
Seth
Rafael
Girls I’ve got too many, ha. But the ones that got away are
Nina Beatrice
Sylvia Blythe
Tess… something
I would name them after my grandparents: my grandfathers were John, Philip, Harvey, and Jack. My grandmothers were Sylvia, Ruth (still living at 101), Hilda, Zelda, and Irene. I think I would go for John Harvey and Sylvia Ruth.
But in my secret heart of hearts, I want to name a daughter Margaret. My husband hates the name with a fiery passion, however.
Hilda and Zelda! Sabrina the teenage witch’s aunts.
My grandmother was Sylvia Irene! Such sweet names!
This is a lovely question. <3
Since I was in 10th grade, my AFAB baby name has been Cleo. I think that I'd default to it if i hadn't prepared. As a middle, I want to honor my grandmother, Patricia; I also want the bb to have something gender-neutral or gender-opposite so that they can switch their name up easily later if needed. (I have one daughter via adult adoption for whom this was relevant, so the issue cuts deep for us.) So maybe Cleo Padraic? (Mimi was Irish.) Cleo Padraig? Cleo Pate? Cleo Fitzpatrick? Cleo Patrick? Cleo Pat?
My grandmother also identified with her sun sign (Leo) and approved Leo as an honorific baby name (she hated Patricia) before she passed away, but Cleo Leo…ha.
"Hope" seems timeless and always relevant.
I have craved a baby since I was five, and named my first baby doll "Jolly," so I always thought that something that could be shortened to "Jolly" would be sweet. (Unless that would be awful? Would I be teaching my child that they were my plaything?) Julian/Jolyon/Julien for an AMAB baby? (I was always in love with the same-named character in Anne Rice's witching hour novels, so this would be a good shoutout to highschool me, too.) Something for an AFAB bb that traditionally shortens to Polly or Molly or Lolly that I could then change up? (Paola or Paloma if I temporarily didn't care about appropriation; Paz, Pierce (my dad's middle name), Mary, Dorothy, Paula).
I think my point is: if I hadn't prepared, I'd default to the things that have been on my list the longest. They feel like the surest things.
Oooh, if I had a second baby without preparation (what am I doing??), another name that I put together in high school & still think about was/is Stella Egan. (I read that Egan meant "fiery, ardent, bright" which seemed just too perfect with Stella.) Then Stella got pretty popular, though. Still. Heart-crunch.
There will always be a “leo” in your Cleo 😉 – seems like a very sweet remembrance tucked in there to me.
This is the sweetest thing to say, and astonishingly I’ve never thought of it that way before. <3. Thank you very much.
The other day it hit me out of nowhere that if I were to have another daughter her name would be Vivian Pauline. I have Vada Siobhan already and though I love, love her name, sometimes I wish I had used Pauline to honor my great-grandmother (who was Minnie, but went by Polly). I’m sure I’m one-and-done, but I’d love to have my little girl crew of Vada and Viv (or Vada and Polly).
If I were to have a boy his name would be August Pierce (unashamedly admitting that Pierce would be after Hawkeye from M*A*S*H).
We accidentally went heavy on hubbys side with honor names- honor names weren’t a goal, but an unintended side effect of picking what we liked. #1 Boy got a name from FIL (though it was independently on my top 5 list so… I was cool with it) and #2 Girl got my MIL’s Greatgrandmothers given name- though she was called by a short/nickname her entire life, so MIL didn’t know to tell us it was a family name. Plus I don’t think we shared our name choice while pregnant so… we (I) just didn’t dig deep enough in the archives to know better. Not that I think it would have changed anything. So this time… to do it again I would pick honor names from my side.
My own given middle name was my maternal grandmother’s maiden name- so I would do that with my own mother’s maiden name- or use my own grandma’s name for a girl. So without husband input- which I would argue for and win based on reasons above, names would be:
Lydia Rose
Owen Smith
I love all the Sylvie/Sylvias — I’m on board!
If I had to choose RIGHT NOW, I’d be choosing from:
Sylvia (Sylvie) Mary
Tessa Mary
and
Benjamin Andrew
Alexander Carson
Without my husband vetoing my all-time favorite Margaret or Annie for a girl, I would probably choose something like Margaret Alastrina (called Daisy or Meg) or Anna Cosima (called Annie) for a girl. (I’m still annoyed that he vetoed Margaret for our 6-year-old!)
With my husband’s participation I would perhaps go for something like Althea Margaret. Or Louise Isabel (I’m torn there, I feel like it’s fusty but also there’s an appealing zing, and I just love Lou). Susannah has always been a favorite too.
For a boy I love Frederick Taylor (middle name after MYSELF! Thank you, Swistle, for beating that drum about how mothers should name children after themselves more!) or Morris Taylor (called Moss)—which would be my unmarried name reversed. I also love the family name Ernest. Maybe Ernest Benjamin, after my husband.
My gut, I think, steers me towards Frederick Taylor or Louise Isabel.
Oh, fun! If choosing by myself, Julian or Anneliese. Middles for both would be my middle, which is my late mother’s last name. Or Jean Esme, two dearly loved honor names – I wish so much that we could have used this.
If choosing with husband and considering actual family names and initials (which I do not like to repeat) then no A, E, F, H, J or L. Likely then either Catherine/ Victoria or Frederick (yes, that breaks the rules, but it’s ALL we can agree on) with the same middle as above.
If we had had another daughter, she would have been named Therese Isabel, with nicknames Tess, Tessa, and Tibbie (our last name begins with a B).
I think I would still pick that name for a surprise baby girl, although I also love Athena, Cordelia, Fiona, Francesca, Hadley, and many more girl names.
For a boy I would likely choose Andrew James or Thomas George.
I think I’d choose Nolan Zachary for a boy and Natalie Kate for a girl. All are names I just really love and Kate is also a nod to my mom. I wouldn’t use them as a sibling set though as I’m not a fan of sibset alliteration. Runner up names would probably be Morgan (boy) or Shane and Hallie. Maybe not the most exciting choices but I love them.
Hester, Marion, Celeste, Marina, Noemi
Hugh, Lars, Tobias, Harold, Leonard
Marina and Tobias are great
Nathalia would be a pretty awesome girl’s name too!
We recently found out we’re expecting baby 2 (in March, why is pregnancy soooo long!?) so this is on my mind!
The only thing we can agree on so far is middle names for a girl will be Anne (my grandmother) and Jessy (my wife’s grandmother) in whatever order sounds best with the first name we pick. I like the idea of honour middles but we already used the honour names we want for a boy (both of our dads). Neither of us was as close with our grandfathers as we were/are with our grandmothers and I don’t like any of their names so we are stumped for boy middles as well as boy and girl firsts. Eek! Luckily pregnancy is long…
If it was me solo naming a baby right now, a boy would probably be Pascal, which my wife hates with a vengeance. A girl would probably be Petra.
If we were naming together the current and very tentative front runner for a boy is Guthrie. Right now a girl might be Sorrel or perhaps Frida (if our first was a girl this is what we’d have gone for but it’s kind of lost it’s sparkle since then). Baby 1 has a Scottish name (we are half Scottish half English) that’s very unusual and unfamiliar in England (where we live) and fairly uncommon but widely familiar in Scotland.
I love Sorrel!
We have Anna and Lydia already and we are done.
James Edward was our chosen boy name for both pregnancies.
Eleanor was the one that got away for the girls. My husband and I both love it, but it doesn’t sound great with our last name. Not awful, but I was looking for better. Eleanor Mary would be the combo, to balance the family honor names.
Well, since my youngest (middle in this scenario) child changed their name, I feel I have a mismatch in the current styles of my kids’ names, but there’s nothing I can do about that. I’d probably continue with my own style.
The boy names on our short list during my last pregnancy were Joshua Taylor, William Taylor, and Ian Taylor. (Taylor was my wife’s grandmother’s maiden name and we had it in various boy and girl combos but we never ended up using it.) I could see myself using any of those three, but I’m most drawn to Ian right now. Noah, North, & Ian.
For a girl, I’d be tempted to use my youngest’s original name (June) as a middle if it didn’t offend them. I find it hard to predict if it would. Maybe Taylor June? Our girl list was never as long as the boy list. I like Morgan, too. Morgan June would be pretty. Noah, North, & Taylor. Noah, North, & Morgan.
We aren’t having any more kids on purpose…but if I had a surprise boy he’d be Luke. I’ve always loved the name but it alliterates with our last name which I don’t like, but after 3 boys and a girl it doesn’t seem to matter anymore. Middle name would probably be an honor name but I’m kind of out of those too. I guess I’d pick a saint for him. Luke William? Luke Colbe? We’d figure it out. A girl would be harder. Do I go with an old unused favorite like Eleanor or Cecily? My husband has wanted Cordelia for a girl during every pregnancy. Something more out there in my style-preference like Guinevere or Arwen? I honestly don’t know! There are so many good girl names to go with my daughter Rosem@ry!
I used to sometimes during my pregnancies wake up all sweaty and anxious worried about twin names, like if I went to the delivery room and suddenly they were like “oops, it’s 2 babies!” what I would do haha.
Girl’s first name would be Sybil. No idea on a middle name, though I lean toward Patricia (honor name) or Cornelia or Minerva.
Boy would be Casper (or Kaspar) Nicolaas, I think.
Our chosen format for baby names is a favorite first, matched with family name middles (husband’s side for boys and my side for girls). We have Rory Donald & Annie Marion, and we adore their names. (I was happy to see in the comments that so many others love the name Annie, too!)
We are still considering a third, and the name would be Nolan George or Sophie Bess.
If we had bb or gg twins, I’d go with:
Nolan George & Cal Henry
Sophie Bess & Hallie (middle name maybe Vada, Victoria, or Eliza)
Fun game! Thank you, Swistle!
I’m single and not getting younger so I’d treat this as my One Great Chance! The girl name is easy. It’s Theresa – my middle name and my maternal grandmother’s first. And in the middle, my mom’s name, which was my paternal grandmother’s first… and which is a form of my sister’s name. All my best ladies! And we’re imagining so there’s no other side of the family anyway. Theresa can be Thea, Reese, Trixie, Tressie, Tress, Tisa, or even Tillie if I swerved and added a Lillian in the middle for an aunt and great-grandmother.
For a boy: my grandpa’s middle and great-grandpa’s first, Basil. And Hugh, just because I’ve always loved Hugh. Basil Hugh or Hugh Basil, though? Hmmm.
Anne Teresa or Jessamine Teresa! I think it would be cool to have a “Jr” for a daughter.
My top boy name right now is Martin. Maybe Martin Michael after my husband. We have 3 boys and haven’t used his name yet. Or maybe Martin Lewis. I love Lewis and it is a name in my family tree. Michael says we can’t use it as a first name because we already have a son named Caspian honoring CS Lewis 😜 I guess I kind of agree. Or Martin John after my grandpa.
Our sons are
Ca$pian I$aiah
L@ne 3liot Jame$ (3liot)
R@f@el Leonida$ (Rafa)
I also love Mathias. Julian. Abraham. Peter.
For girls I love Genevieve, Ariadne, Cypress, Vivienne, Rowena, Esther, Lydia
I love Rafael, Mathias, Cypress, and Rowena!
For a girl, either Cleo Alexandra, Sabrina Anne, or Lila Kathleen. Runners up are Clara, Sloane, and Liza. And for a boy, Ian Hughes, Wesley (Wes) Deane, or Wyatt Richard (all family mns). Runners up are Samuel (Sam), Ford, Nicholas (Nick)
Tess Josephine for a girl, with Iris Clio and Jane Beatrice as backups.
Boys are harder. Elliott Roger would probably win out, with Miles Arthur as second place.
When we had our boy, J0rd@n S@muel, his name if he’d been a girl was Maia Sid___(my grandmother’s 2 syllable maiden name, very important to her and to my mom). The M is for the 3 other grandmothers.
A couple years later, I had changed my mind and wanted Miranda for the first name if we had a girl, but we ended up deciding to stick with just the one child.
If I had to name a girl today, probably would go with Miranda though I still also love Maia. Middle name might stay the same or might be Ilana or Shira (Shira would be for that same grandmother, as her name Sh1rley is not coming back in style, but our last name has Rs in it and it sounds like a lot of R together).
As for a boy name, I had leaned towards Charles (Charlie) for a second boy, a family middle name. But now I might go with Leo or Theo, both names I love but with no family tie-in.
Ooh… Unrelated to anything real life, today I would use Leocadia Jubilee for a girl and Ignatius River for a boy. For real life, naming with husband & considring the three we have, it would be Philippa Hazel for a girl and Malcolm or Barnabas Dailey for a boy.
For years I had an unreasonable, inexplicable private conviction that I would have a third child (two always were the plan) and his name would be Miles. Either Miles Thomas, or Miles Gilbert. As it happened, I did end up with a super surprise third baby but to my additional surprise (since my strange belief was so clear) she was a girl. Although at 4 she seems perhaps nonbinary and I am slightly regretting her name, Grace, despite my love for it—I wish we’d gone with something more unisex. But, the surprise baby boy name: easy peasy, at this minute it would be Miles Thomas.
Girl names would be harder. My first two girls have virtue names, and I think I might like a more subtle name-that-is-a-word but not quite a virtue name… perhaps May or Carol. Blythe and Laurel would be on the list if it wasn’t for close family with similar names. Middle name would probably be Jane or Janet.
Summer Susannah
Eden Elizabeth
Miranda Grace
Jed Frederick
Sebastian Bruce
Henry Clifford
This is a very fun idea! I just had a baby three months ago but here would be my picks if I had another (!) baby today:
Girl: Allie
Boy: Calvin Raleigh (called Cal) or Walker Lee
I love the name Allie so, so much and I pitched it to the best of my ability (it’s classic! actually a very old name! sounds beautiful! fun to write! good with our last name! on and on…) but my husband just couldn’t imagine it.
I also love Allie!
Dalia for a girl, Itai for a boy.
We have two kids, Maya and Adar (boy, rhymes with “afar”), and are definitely done. My wife is Israeli/American and prefers common Israeli names, which is actually great because it narrowed down our choices, a lot, to ones that work well in the US and aren’t already used by family and close friends. I would have had a hard time with the wide open world of names!
My faves without that are Adele and Adrian, both of which are ruled out by Adar.
I should add, of course any name can work well in the US. I just wanted a name that was easily pronounceable and immediately natural to use for me and my family as well.
Ooooh fun. For a girl, I’d go with Maryse Lane. I have a few other first names I love very much or more than Maryse (Mabel, Chloe, Marlowe, Camille, Linden) but I really, really love Lane in the middle name spot and I think it flows best with Maryse, out of my first name spot choices. Maryse is a cool Dutch name that got on my radar when I married my Dutch husband, and Lane is a nod to my mum’s side of the family.
For a boy, I would go with Arie John. Same reason… Arie is a Dutch name I like, and John is my dad’s name.
I’ve been into M names for a while, and so for a girl it would have to be something like Maeve, or Maggie, or Matilda, Margot, Mira… I share Swistle’s known love for the name Eliza, and Sage, Ramona, Hope, and Rose have also been favorites for some time. If I had to pick one, it’d be Eliza Hope.
But this is merely a fictional blog post and I do not have to pick one, and so my second pick is Margot Sage. And I think Eliza Hope and Margot Sage go quite nicely together so in this fictional world we’ll say I had twins!!
For a boy, I can not muster as much enthusiasm. Henry has long been my favorite boy name and so I’m inclined to say Henry Samson. But if this Henry were to be joining his fictional twin sisters Eliza Hope and Margot Sage, I’d perhaps choose Henry Tate, for the satisfying 4-letter-middle pattern.
Eliza, Margot, and Henry :)
And Swistle, please!! Put us out of our misery and tell us what your answer would be! What are your chosen names!?
For a boy it would be Laurent Athanasius
For a girl Esther Magdaline
My husband says Peter John and Robin Rebecca. (He loves the name Robin for a girl, and I’m guessing Rebecca’s for my sister who’s been in a fight with Stage IV cancer for several years now.)
Me, I’m still a tiny bit sad we didn’t get to use Andrew Lewis, though I quite like Peter. For a girl, I’m less settled on any one specific. Rebecca Elisabeth, Lucinda Gerald, Alys Elisabeth. Rebecca, Lucinda, Gerald, and Elisabeth are all names of women in my family, besides me. Elisabeth’s especially common. As for Grandma Gerrie, well her dad was a bit odd. Alys, by a slightly different spelling her parents insist is the Quebecois version, is my best friend’s middle name.
My Girl Name has solidly been Liana, pronounced Lee-ahh-nah – a great-grandmother my father never knew was Lena, my mother’s middle name is Anne, and my parents came very close to naming me Sarah Lee (yes, really!) – I love the combination of those factors and the two meanings / origins – “My God has Answered” in Hebrew and “to climb like a vine” in French. I’d most likely use the very rare name of a beloved grandmother, Cyrilla (pronounced Sir-illa), as the middle – possibly with a second middle. If Liana Cyrilla didn’t work with a last name other than my own, I’d use Tessa Liane.
As for a boy, I’ve always loved Vaughan, even though a friend used it after first hearing it from me. Edwin is the middle name of my father and grandfather, as well as the first name of my stepfather’s brother and father. Vaughan Edwin it is with Colin Edwin as the backup.
Lilia/Lilija Genevieve (or Janet) for a girl, but boys’ names are kicking my sorry butt. Lol. I love Eamon Francis, Rhys Alfred, Ronan Jesse, Lachlan Elliott, Dmitri James, Frederick Asher, Callum Raymond, Soren Victor, Robin Alexander, Rowan Theodore, Oscar, Conrad, Jensen, and Magnus, among others, but nothing is jumping out to me as the “right” one.