Anna writes:

Okay. Here’s one for you. And I really do want your honest opinion. Our top favorite at the moment is a little out there, and I’ve never seen it discussed on your blog. I proposed it to my usual Impartial Island Name Tester (My hair stylist. They’re perfect for this. They won’t tell anyone, and they hear A LOT of names), and recieved NO RESPONSE, which I took to mean, “Um…..no.”

We may use it anyway, but if you and your readers tell me what you think, I’ll have at least heard it all.

It’s Barnaby. And I want to call him Barney.

Hear me out. I think it has a pleasant sound. It is an old-timey, unusual name, yet you know how to say it and spell it. It seems of the ilk of Henry and George and all those others coming back into common usage. Actually, we would want to use George as the middle name, after my dad. Barnaby George.

I’m not really bothered by the Purple Dinosaur. My three year old has almost never watched that show, and a child born this year would see even less of it. Also, even if there WAS some teasing related to the dinosaur, I feel like there isn’t much mileage there. “Like the Dinosaur?”… and that’s really it. Maybe the song?

So, I guess what I want to know is, CAN THIS NAME BE SAVED? Or will everyone wince when they hear it and make fun of us behind our backs?

Thanks as always for your wise council,

 
I really really really really honestly like it. It was on our list for Edward, and the main reason we didn’t use it is that it didn’t fit with the “Top 50”-type style we’d been using for the kids so far, nor did it go well with our “I must use it or I will die” girl name (or actually, it went very well, but in a way we didn’t want, and this is getting too confusing considering I use pseudonyms here but you will just have to trust me that all of this is to say I really like the name). I’ve suggested it a time or two or three, generally to parents who are looking for a totally established name with long roots—but also want something distinctive and unusual and kind of FUN. So many of the boy names that fit my own family’s tastes are a little…well, boring to use. We LOVE the name and we want to use it, but it doesn’t THRILL. A name like Barnaby has THRILL.

I think it falls into the category of “names that will startle people when you first tell them, but soon they will be thinking how adorable it is.” Here is where I think the long roots help so much: if you use a Startle Name like Zophinion, you are ON YOUR OWN in justifying the usage. If you use Barnaby, you have THOUSANDS OF YEARS of name-usage backing you up.

Plus, even though the name has recently been almost unused in the U.S., it continues to be familiar. This to me is a huge selling point. With Zophinion, no one has ever heard of it; with Barnaby, people might be startled, but they’ll know the name. It might not be to their tastes, but then, maybe their babies’ names aren’t to our tastes either.

If I used it, I’d want to use Barnaby as-is, rather than shortening it to Barney—but that’s because one of my favorite parts of the name is the -aby ending. So cute! So whimsical! So fun to say!

I’m feeling tempted to push you to use it. I will try to stop pushing now and let other people give their opinions.

Emily writes:

Adley. There is a girl on The Voice with this name. I like it but I don’t know about the rest of the public. What do you think?

It ought to work. Madison opened up the way for Addison; Madelyn made Adelyn more appealing; and I’ve heard people mentioning Ayla now that we’ve gotten used to Kayla. The name Hadley is increasing in popularity (according to the Social Security Administration, it went from #921 in 2000 to #216 in 2010—and that doesn’t count spellings such as Hadleigh and Hadlee and Hadlie), so Adley seems like a natural next step.

And in fact, in 2010 there were 79 new baby girls named Adley, 50 named Adleigh, and 20 named Adlee. (A few more were named Addley and Addlee, but for me that brings to mind the word “addled,” so I’d stick to one D.) Another 18 were named Atlee and Atleigh. And 17 were named Atalie—perhaps helped by the popularity of Natalie. I also found 123 named Adalee, 82 named Adalie, and 38 named Adaleigh, but I’m not sure if that’s Ada-lee or Adda-lee.

The nickname Addy will be both a selling point and a deal-breaker: some people will be looking for another way to get the nickname, and others will think it’s unfortunate that she’ll get lumped in with all the other Addys.

Let’s have a poll over to the right to see what everyone thinks of it. [Poll closed; see results below.]

Poll results for “What do you think of the name Adley?” (356 votes total):

I love it! I’d want to use it! – 10 votes (3%)
I like it! I’d want to consider it! – 47 votes (13%)
I like it for someone else’s baby – 127 votes (36%)
No particular opinion – 28 votes (8%)
Slight dislike – 112 votes (31%)
Strong dislike – 32 votes (9%)

Rayne writes:

After seeing the movie Young Adult starring Patton Oswalt, I wonder why the name Patton isn’t going gangbusters for little boys. It starts with the letter P and ends -on which seems current and it’s extremely masculine. It’s a last name as first name, like Parker. It seems like parents of boys that like Peyton might use Patton for a less unisex name. What do you think?

The associations that come to my mind:

1. War/military, because of General Patton.

2. Patton Oswalt.

3. Sounds like the word “patent.”

4. Sounds like “pattin'”.

When I was checking online to make sure I was remembering right about General Patton (history has always been my worst subject), I found an entire page dedicated to various Pattons, so there are likely to be lots of other associations—a good thing, since it often means the associations are diluted and don’t overwhelm the name.

I see it was used for 45 boys and 5 girls in 2010. That’s up a bit for boys since 2009, when it was used for 32 boys and 5 girls. In fact, let’s look at a longer stretch. Each year will be followed by the number of male babies given the name, then the number of female babies (the Social Security database contains information only if the name is used for at least 5 babies of that sex that year):

2010: 45 males, 5 females
2009: 32 males, 5 females
2008: 28 males, 7 females
2007: 27 males, 7 females
2006: 28 males, fewer than 5 females
2005: 37 males, fewer than 5 females
2004: 20 males, 6 females
2003: 31 males, fewer than 5 females
2002: 16 males, 5 females
2001: 24 males, fewer than 5 females
2000: 15 males, fewer than 5 females
1999: 17 males, fewer than 5 females
1998: 14 males, fewer than 5 females
1997: 15 males, fewer than 5 females

So it looks like it is gradually getting more popular for boys and for girls, but so gradually and at such a low rate of use, it barely shows up.

Let’s have a poll over to the right [poll closed; see results below] to see what everyone thinks of it; and in the comments section we can discuss what we do/don’t like about it, and maybe speculate about why it isn’t more widely used.

Poll results for “What do you think of the name Patton?” (359 votes total):

I love it! I’d want to use it! – 15 votes (4%)
I like it! I’d want to consider it! – 55 votes (15%)
I like it for someone else’s baby – 135 votes (38%)
No particular opinion – 43 votes (12%)
Slight dislike – 91 votes (25%)
Strong dislike – 20 votes (6%)

Beth writes:

As I was driving to my daughter’s class today, a sign I drive by often caught my attention as a name to consider. Maxon. I’ve never heard of a baby named this, but it sounds like so many popular names–Max! Jackson! Mason! that I wondered if someone who didn’t have this name in their family tree would consider it. What do you think?

Oh, interesting! It adds another way to get the nickname Max, and it ties in with the name Jaxon. Or it could be spelled Mackson, if someone preferred the nickname Mac/Mack.

I see in 2010 there were 55 baby boys named Maxon, plus another 14 named Maxen, 9 named Maxxon, and 7 named Maxin. It looks like it appeared in the Social Security database in 1997, but hasn’t really caught on yet.

I wonder why it HASN’T risen more rapidly, considering it fits so well with Max and Jaxon and Jackson? The similarity in sound to the men’s magazine Maxim might help it or might hurt it (312 boys named Maxim were born in 2010). Associations with maxi pads seem like they’d be damaging, but then they should be equally damaging to all the Max names. It makes me think of “Wax on, wax off” from The Karate Kid—but that ought to be just as damaging to Jaxon and Jackson. I wondered if it might be a reluctance to branch out into rhyming names, but that didn’t stop Caden/Braden/Jaden/Greydon.

Let’s have a poll over to the right to see what we think of the name [poll closed; see results below], but let’s also discuss in the comments section why we think it HASN’T taken off.

Poll results for “What do you think of the name Maxon?” (491 votes total):

I love it! I’d want to use it! – 5 votes (1%)
I like it! I’d want to consider it! – 26 votes (5%)
I like it for someone else’s baby – 72 votes (15%)
No particular opinion – 41 votes (8%)
Slight dislike – 193 votes (39%)
Strong dislike – 154 votes (31%)

Amy writes:

This past Thanksgiving my brother-in-law was talking about my other brother in law and said “Well, Brett sure does.” Brett, who is only ten, quickly responded with “Who’s Bretcher?” The fact that Brett thought Bretcher sounded like a legitimate name got me thinking that it really does have a lot of the characteristics current, trendy boys names. It is an English surname, starts with the ever-popular Br sound, has an easy nickname in “Bret”, and as a bonus, it rhymes with Fletcher. What do you think?

I think you’re right: it has a lot going for it, name-candidate-wise. It FEELS like a name.

Going against it is the way it calls to mind the words wretch and retch.

What does everyone else think? Let’s have a poll over to the right. [Poll closed; see results below.]

Poll results for the question “What do you think of the name Bretcher?” (457 votes total):

I love it! I’d want to use it! – 0 votes (0%)
I like it! I’d want to consider it! – 8 votes (2%)
I like it for someone else’s baby – 27 votes (6%)
No particular opinion either way – 19 votes (4%)
Slight dislike – 133 votes (29%)
Strong dislike – 270 votes (59%)

Rachael writes:

We are expecting our second baby in June! Our first is sweet Sylvia and I emailed you about why we chose to keep her name a secret until she was born in 2010. Loooong before Sylvia was born, my husband and I had settled on a girl name and a boy name that we both adored and loved and swore to always stand behind. No one has ever complained about Sylvia’s name, especially since we kept it a secret. But with our boy name, I am much less confident, and alas – I’m stuck in this ancient and sacred promise I made to my husband.

He loves the name Willoughby.

We discussed this name after a few short months of dating and from the moment he mentioned it, I fell madly in love with it, too! It sounds British and sophisticated when I picture a grown up man, yet soft and cute for a cuddly baby boy. We agreed that he could have Willoughby for the first boy if I could have Sylvia for the first girl and that was all fine and good until I got pregnant and…now I’m afraid! I know my family will think it’s weird. I’m not against anyone calling him Will if they really have to, but I think Willoughby goes so well with Sylvia and I hate how “Sylvia and Will” sound together. I’ll be referring to my kids as “Sylvia and Willoughby – cutest siblings ever.” I also know my family will think it’s too long (our last name is four syllables, very Italian, ends in “iotto”). I know they’ll say it’s a terrible name and I’m afraid everyone will hate it!

Should that matter? I still love it – I can’t find any other name I like more than this one. My husband would be devastated if I even mentioned another name to him, but this case of cold feet has me worried to pieces! Talk me down, Swistle. Tell me this name is perfectly okay!

 
Willoughby is definitely in a different league, surprise-wise. It’s not even in the Social Security database for boys in 2010 (which means it could have been given to 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4 boys, but not as many as 5) (it was given to 6 girls), whereas Sylvia was #555.

I’m picturing it on grown men I know (my husband, my brother, my dad, my friends) and it is a little startle every time—in a way that another modern not-their-name such as Wilson is not. If I picture it on a cute little toddler or an elementary school child, it seems adorable.

The girl name Willow is an issue here: it gives a misleading clue. Ditto for girl names such as Shelby and Abby and Ruby and Libby and Gabby. On the other side of the scale is the common boy nickname Will and the -by ending boy names Colby and Bobby and Toby.

Length doesn’t seem like it should be a concern, if they didn’t object to Sylvia: both names have three syllables.

Whether everyone else’s opinion should matter or not—well, it depends. On one hand, no, right? Parents get to name their own children. And it’s classic for the grandparent generation to grouse about the names currently being used for babies: “Too weird! Why can’t people use NORMAL names like the names WE used for OUR babies (which OUR parents thought were too weird)?” And of course there will always be some people who dislike the names we choose, no matter WHAT names those are. And it’s also classic for people to come around to the names once they get used to it on the beloved baby.

On the other hand, this is why naming is such a huge responsibility: our children have to live in this society with the names we give them, and it’s a hard row to hoe to live with a name everybody hates. And within our families and friend circles, of course we WANT people to respond favorably to the name, rather than cringing every time they say it.

So it’s a matter of balance: weighing what we think society/family/friends will think of the name with what WE think of the name. This is one reason I like The Baby Name Wizard‘s test so much: she suggests considering whether you would like to be a child born now and given that name. I also like the test of looking around at grown-ups and imagining them with the name. And of course there’s the careers test: imagine the name on a manager, a waiter, a coach, a lawyer, a teacher, a carpenter.

If a name fails too many tests, I think the middle name slot is an excellent place for it: there is still the happiness of using it, but without the downsides.

Promises to use a particular name shouldn’t be made, or honored. Too much changes between the time the promise is made and the appearance of the actual baby. If you decide you’re not comfortable using Willoughby (and I could be wrong about your feelings: I’m basing it on “alas” and “stuck,” but the more important words could be “madly in love” and “afraid” and “cold feet”), it will be disappointing to your husband, but it’s not something you have to feel contractually obligated to follow through on. My main advice for back-to-the-drawing-board situations is that the task is not to find a name the two of you like better than the name Willoughby, but rather to find your favorite from the names that remain. And also that both parents are responsible for finding the new options: this is not a matter of one parent needing to convince the other to dethrone a favorite.

Let’s have a poll over to the right to see what everyone else thinks of the name Willoughby. [Poll closed; see results below.]

Poll results for the question “What do you think of the name Willoughby?” (519 votes total):

I love it! I’d want to use it! – 39 votes (8%)
I like it! I’d consider it! – 58 votes (11%)
I like it for someone else’s baby – 161 votes (31%)
No particular opinion either way – 21 votes (4%)
Slight dislike – 136 votes (26%)
Strong dislike – 104 votes (20%)

Allison writes:

I was wondering if you could do a name to consider post for the name Jevan. jev-an. Basically just Evan with a J in front. I really like the sound of it but I was wondering if it sounds too made up?

 
Because I know a child named Javon (juh-VAHN), I saw the name and pronounced it similarly (accent on the second syllable: jeh-VAHN). I’m not sure how I would have pronounced it if I didn’t know a Javon (whose name I heard before I saw). We ran into the same issue when we discussed Drewan: some of us saw it as DREW-win, and some of us saw it as dreh-WAN. I see the Social Security Administration has 33 baby Jevans born in 2010; I wish we could find out how they’re pronouncing it.

I like it when an unusual name has an easy way to explain it to others hearing it the first time, and this one has really good ones: “It’s like Evan, with a J in front.” “It’s like Devan but with a J.”

It gives me the same reaction as when I first heard the names Jaron, Joren, and Javon: they don’t sound made-up to me; instead they sound like names from another country or names I just hadn’t encountered before.

What does everyone else think of it?

Meg writes:

So, I’m very early in my pregnancy, however we’re already discussing names. The name that my child’s father is totally stuck on is Briar. I hated it at first (I’m a Jane, Anne, Henry, Nicholas, etc kinda person), but the more I toss it around I’m kinda coming to like it some. I’d love to get your, and your reader’s, opinions. Is this a cute new name that’s kind of “out there” or would we get the same reaction everyone had when Gwyneth Paltrow named her daughter Apple?

The two issues I’ve found so far are the connection to a briar bush, and when said over the phone people can hear “dryer” instead.

Thanks so much!

I can think of two more issues (plus I’d add that it can also sound like “prior” or “Pryor”). One is than when written, it can look like “Brian.” And the second is that if your style tends to be more Jane/Henry, choosing a name outside your usual preferred style for a first child might make you feel locked into finding names outside your preferred style for subsequent children as well. Many people like a name or two in a style category they don’t generally like, but then would be really stuck if they wanted to choose more names from that same category.

I don’t think of it as an Apple-type name, however. I think of it as Unusual Botanical, along with Juniper and Magnolia—not Highly Unusual Botanical with Apple and Spruce. Let’s have a poll over to the right to see what everyone thinks of it. [Poll closed; see results below.]

Poll results (483 votes total) for “What do you think of the name Briar?”:

I love it! I’d use it! – 48 votes (10%)
I like it! I’d consider it! – 107 votes (22%)
I like it for someone else’s baby – 174 votes (36%)
No particular opinion – 33 votes (7%)
Slight dislike – 83 votes (17%)
Strong dislike – 38 votes (8%)

It started as joking around on Twitter. We were discussing how Arwen had used an anagram of a name in a blog post so that people could still figure out the real name but it wouldn’t be Googleable (though she stumped us all with Cessia: she had to tell us to switch the E and the A). Then everyone started doing it with their kids’ names, to be funny. Then Maureen referred to her husband Andrew as Drewan, and I said: “You do realize that Drewan is a GENIUS CREATION of a name. Like, a VIABLE creation. I think this is a Name to Consider post.”

There. I think that brings you up to date on how this came about.

The good things about Drewan:

1. It fits right into the popular -en sound category (Devan, Logan, Mason, Braden, Cameron, Evan, Greyson, Ethan, Nathan).

2. It sounds similar to Owen and Rowan (and of course similar to Drew and Andrew), which I think is very helpful when launching a new name: sounding like established names helps a name to Sound Like A Real Name.

3. It’s a solution for people who want the name Drew for a nickname, but want a non-Andrew longer version for the given name.

The possible downsides:

1. Is it a girl name or a boy name? When I consider it each way, it seems a little too girlish for a boy name and a little too boyish for a girl name (spelling it Drewyn would make it look more girlish). But I call this a possible downside because that’s the sort of thing a lot of people are looking for: a sensitive/gentle boy name, a not-obviously-a-girl girl name.

2. It makes me think of Druids, and it rhymes with the word “ruin.” Again, I put this as a possible downside because many names sound like other words or rhyme with other words, but we stop noticing this when they stop being sounds and start being established names. Isabel sounds like “is a bell”; Violet sounds like violent; John rhymes with con; Lee rhymes with pee; etc.: they’re definitely things to consider, but they aren’t necessarily name-breakers.

********

What do you think of Drewan? Does it have name potential? Remember that when we consider these names, it’s not just a matter of whether we like the name ourselves (though of course we want to discuss that TOO, because it’s FUN), or about whether we approve of invented or highly unusual names: it’s about whether, considering we know people have all different tastes in names, we think a name has NAME POTENTIAL. Does it…sound like a name? And what do we think are the upsides and downsides of it as a name?

In a book I’m reading, a character named Tolliver is briefly mentioned. This name seems to me to have huge potential, and yet it’s extremely rare in the U.S.: not even five babies were given the name in 2010. (The Social Security Administration gives out name data only for names given to five or more babies; Tolliver is not in their database, so it could have been given to one, two, three, or four babies—or to no babies at all.)

Periodically we have a parent mention that they like the name Oliver but the other parent doesn’t like it, or they don’t like the nickname Ollie, or they don’t like the orphan/cat association, or it’s way too common. Tolliver has the potential to solve any of those four problems, as well as solving any problem where the initial O would be difficult but the initial T would not. For parents looking for a highly-unusual-but-not-weird-or-made-up name (a common request here), Tolliver feels familiar despite its rarity because of the popularity of Oliver. And it’s an old established surname name, so it fits in there as well—and would be especially perfect for a family with Tollivers in their family tree.

As to whether it might cause confusion to have Tollivers mixing with Olivers, I think a very close comparison study would be Madelines and Adelines. Probably there is the occasional confusion—but not enough to mean only one of those names can be used.

Mull it over a bit, say it out loud a few times, picture it on some real people of various ages, and then let’s have a poll over to the right to see what we think of it. [Poll closed; see results below.]

Poll results (295 votes total):

I love it! I’d use it! – 14 votes (5%)
I like it! I’d consider it! – 31 votes (11%)
I like it for someone else’s baby – 92 votes (31%)
No particular opinion – 26 votes (9%)
Slight dislike – 85 votes (29%)
Strong dislike – 47 votes (16%)