Ask Design Mom Week — Baby Names
Question:
I'm wondering about baby names. I love love love your kids names and wonder where you got them. Is there a story behind each one or are they just favorites? Also, do you have any favorite resources for baby name finding? Ideas for baby #6? Thanks! — Sarah
photo credit hereAnswer:
For Ben Blair and I, baby names have sometimes come easily and sometimes taken forever to decide. What we look for: well-recognized names (not invented ones), easy to pronounce, possibly fallen out of fashion — so that they're relatively unusual. If they have family connection, that's even better. Our baby name stories in brief:
-During my first pregnancy, once we knew it was a boy, he was instantly Ralph Wallace Blair. Ralph is my dad's dad. Wallace is Ben's dad's dad (and Ben's middle name). We really liked the name Ralph. And my father passed away while I was pregnant with Ralph, so we like honoring his family.
-Once Ralph was picked, we felt like our future kids' names should fit with it — maybe come from the same time or generation. We decided on the name Maude at a family funeral on Ben's side of the family, where we discovered it on two family gravestones (Ben's great grandmother and great aunt). At the last minute we added Emma as a middle name, because there was some nervousness that the name Maude would be too unusual. So she's Maude Emma Blair. (Sometimes we regret the Emma. It's a little random.)
-The name Olive we found in a book. It was the name of the mother of a great man (can not remember for the life of me what the book was). I could imagine two old ladies named Maude and Olive playing canasta at a card table and I knew it fit. Olive's full name is Olive Jean Blair. Jean is my mother's middle name and a popular name on Ben's side of the family as well.
-Oscar was suggested by our friends. It was on their short list, but they ended up not using it. The full name is Oscar Stanley Groberg Blair. (Stanley is my maiden name. Groberg is Ben's Mom's maiden name.) Once, someone (mis)heard the name and said, wow, Oscar and Grover? You guys must really love Sesame Street.
-I have no memory of where or when we decided on the name Betty. But we deliberately did not give her a middle name. Because Betty Blair sounds so great — like the name of the alter ego of a superhero.
-We don't know what we're naming baby #6. We've decided we won't even think about it till we know if it's a boy or a girl. Any suggestions?
I'd love to hear your name stories, Dear Readers. How do you come up with names? What are your favorite name sources?
Labels: ask design mom, baby
posted by Gabrielle of Design Mom at Friday, November 06, 2009
134 Comments:
I don't have any kids yet, but I have fun checking out names and their popularity (I don't want my kids having as many friends with their name, like I did). This is the best site I've heard of for looking up baby names. It also has a neat feature that tells you the peak of the name's popularity, which states it is the most common in, and what siblings of a kid with that name have (keeps names similar if you are going for that).
Here's the site: http://www.babynamewizard.com/
How about Alice, Bailey or Evelyn(Evie)?
I grew up on a farm and we had a small herd of cows and my dad actually kept a baby name book in the milkhouse so that I could refer to it when picking out names for the new calves. Since then, I've acquired a few more name books, and have always loved to name things. We don't have any children (yet) either, but when we do I'm convinced they are each going to have 11 middle names because I won't be able to narrow them down. One of the things that first drew me to your blog was your kids' unique names! My husband and I both have some fun ideas for names...but my worst nightmare is that some film star will name their kid that name and then it will become too popular. :)
i always loved alice (my maternal grandmother's name), which my sister has claimed for her first girl. I'm also fond of emmaline and rose.
for boys nicholas and charles (and of course, samuel, which we used earlier this year).
We have Paige Donovan and River Warren. Paige was just a favorite name and the Donovan came because she was born 3 weeks early on my Grandfather's birthday (Lawrence Donovan), so I took it as a love note from heaven! River was just what my husband insisted on naming our son...but he has turned out to be our calm, peaceful, nature loving boy...totally a River, and Warren is my husband's middle name.
I've already decided to name a daughter Matilda (after my mom's mom). My Grandmother has "hinted" that she would love a great grandchild named after her so I'm doing it. I'm leaving all my other preferences open just in case my future husband hates the name Matilda and I need some bargaining chips. haha.
Having said that, I couldn't possibly name one daughter Matilda and name the other Heather. It just doesn't work. I have the baby name wizard book (it's amazing) already and love to look through it. Olive is definitely on my list.
I have a 5 month old baby boy, and my husband and I decided on the name Cy Jason. We knew that we wanted the middle name to be Jason after a good family friend, but it took us months and months to come up with a name that we both loved. I am an artist by profession, so while stumbling through names, I came upon Cy Twombly (an artist). My Red Sox fan husband agreed, thinking of the famous Cy Young. We think Cy is the perfect name for our baby, not common, but not unheard-of. We love it, and we even like the option for an easy nickname, CJ.
All of the other names on our future-baby-name-list come from family: Ivy Ellen, Evelyn Suzanne, and POSSIBLY Serge Paul. We both love the idea of honoring family, and not having really weird names.
I don't think I have any suggestions- you've done such a great job yourself! I do love the name Jenny for a girl. You don't hear that any more these days!
Steph
I was convinced I was having a fourth boy this time around and his name was to be Oliver (Ollie). I love that name, and it fit with our other boys' "old man names": Louis Victor(Louie); Benjamin William(Benny); Charles Thomas (Charlie); and our surprise girl, Meredith Ann. Your names are fabulous! But my unused name probably won't fit with your family since you have an Olive :) Good luck!
http://www.nymbler.com/ is a pretty neat naming site...
I love the sites that predict what names your children's siblings might have--we've found that all three of our kids have "recommended" each other's names, if that makes sense (Abigail Grace, Juliet Elizabeth, Isaac David).
As far as selection goes, I like names that are unusual, but not odd. After we named our first daughter Abigail, I belatedly realized that it was one of the most popular names in the country--hence Juliet as the second baby.
We have Finn William and Maeve Mary. William and Mary are my in-laws' names. My husband and I both wanted to honor our Irish heritage, so we picked Gaelic names. We couldn't agree on Finlay or Finian or Finnegan, so we stuck with plain old Finn. It means "fair-haired/fair-skinned" in Gaelic, which is exactly what he is.
Maeve means "intoxicating". She is only five, so the jury is still out on that one!
our current favs:
paige olivia
elise
matilda
katherine (kate) mae
lola grace
taylor joy
josephine (joie)
lauren campbell
jane
vera
brooke
gwyneth (gywn)
boy names:
levi ryan
luke james
caleb
river
jake
samuel
asher
canon
I love your thought process, as well as your kiddo's names. We're expecting as well- and have a James currently. So the generational thing ("two old ladies playing cards" idea) is on our minds, too. Fun post. Thx.
My cousin also prefers old-fashioned names for his children - and because they live in DC, I have no qualms about sharing them since your kids will probably not be in the same class at school :) They are Margaret and Theodore (Teddy).
I love the name Lulu. My husband refuses to ever let us use it if a little girl ever comes along...so I hope that at least someone I know will name their daughter Lulu so I can enjoy it with them!
I also love for boys:
Simon
James
Geoffrey
Jorgen (how's that for scandinavian?)
Bruce
Roy
and for girls:
Mae
Adelaide
Hazel
Pearl
Ruby
Opal
Esther
Edith
Estelle
good luck and can't wait to hear what you're having!
I have a Benjamin and a Jackson. I liked both names because they were from the early 1900's and a little old-fashioned. Jackson has become more popular lately, but seven years ago it wasn't known at all. Both are strong male names. The only obstacle we ever faced with either name is that Jackson is often a last name, and Scott (which is our surname) is often a first name so he's usually called Scott Jackson (at school and such), I love the names of your children, especially Olive. If I were to have a girl I'm naming her Georgia. I've been sitting on that one for nine years with hopes of using it someday. It would go well with your children's names as well...you can steal it if you like :)
We have very similar criteria for choosing names for our children. My husband was insistent that it wasn't in the top 50 most popular list of names. I fell in love with Audrey and we chose Louise after her great grandmother that I never was able to meet.
We are 5 months pregnant again. If it is a boy, I really like Henry and Alvin for a middle name again after the great grandfathers.
Our daughter Alexis is named after my grandfather, Henry Alexis. It's a bit unfortunate that the name is so common now, because it really is a family name that I'd always planned on naming my daughter, even when I was a child, but oh well! I also have always loved boys' names for girls, so we call her Alex.
Her middle name is "Rhys," pronounced "Reese." The spelling is Welsh, to honour my husband's United Kingdom homeland; also, it's a boy's name, so again with the boys'-name-for-a-girl thing.
Also: as I do with every pregnant woman I know, can I suggest the name "Karen" for your little one? When I was a kid, you couldn't swing a dead cat without hitting a "Karen." Now? NO ONE NAMES THEIR KID KAREN. I fear it is becoming an old-woman name! :)
K.
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I don't have children yet, but I've always loved imagining these kind of names. Amelia is one of my favorites.
My 9 year old is Sloan Abriel Sloan. Yes you heard me right, Sloan Sloan. Sloan was my maiden name & marriage didn't work out with her biological father so that is how she got such an unusual name.
My 4 year old is Zoe Evelyn Swanson. Zoe because my husband & I have always loved that name. Evelyn is my Grandmother on my fathers side name. I wanted to honor her. She is one of the sweetest people I know.
My almost 3 year old is Aris Paige Swanson. We were watching the movie "The Holiday" & we thought people in the movie were calling Kate Winslet's character "Aris". I thought what a pretty name! Her name ended up being "Iris" but due to accents it sounded like "Aris". So Aris it was. Paige has always been another name I loved & that is why we choose it for her middle name.
Sloan's Last name hasn't become Swanson yet. However my husband says she's still a Swanson :)
Abe and Hazel :)
We just decided we are trend setters because a year or two later, whatever name we had picked makes it to the top 5 most popular names, even though we try to go with family names (Ethan is the exception because my dad didn't want anyone to use his names, Edward Eugene, but we wanted to honor him and went with and 'E' name). We are hoping we bucked that trend with our fourth. We've got a Jakob, Ethan, Sophia and Clara.
As for yours, I think a Pearl (if it's a girl) would fit in perfectly. She would fit in the little circle of canasta players, Maude, Olive and Pearl...As for boys, I like Edwin (that was my second choice for and 'E' name).
Fun to read that there's another Maeve! When we chose it, we'd only heard of one other, and now we know of several. I don't know if Maeve and Maude work, though! Our other daughter is Elena, though everyone mispronounces it. I do like other reader suggestions of Evelyn, and Evie. It's a nickname, though, so if I was to choose a non-shortenable name, it would be June for a girl, or Harmon for a boy. Back on the family tree.
We like to honor our family but not give them the exact same name. Our first is Lucas Scott, we loved the meaning of the name Lucas (bearer of light) and Scott is my husband's name. With our second our friend suggested the name Asher. We both really kind of liked it. We told my husbands family and they hated it, I mean HATED it. That was the end of Asher. He is Joshua Patrick instead. Sometimes I still wish we had gone for Asher. The Patrick is for my mother, Patricia. Our baby girl is Kate Elizabeth. Kate is for my mil, Kathleen, and Elizabeth is for me (my name is Lisa, but I like the name it is derived from much better.) I love naming babies! It is so fun and so stressful at the same time!
I just wanted to say that I'm truly loving the "Ask" segment. It's so personal and fun and interesting and community-ish.
I'm hoping for a baby girl next time, so I can use "Celia", a derivative of my name (Cecilia) and a little bit old-fashioned.
I love your kids' names--they are beautiful and go so well together! My daughter is Juliet--we choose it because it was beautiful and relatively unused. My favorite sites for name-searching are:
youcantcallitit.com
whatalovelyname.com
nameberry.com
nymbler.com
Can't wait to see what you choose!
I always thought looking at baby name books or websites was silly, because I wanted my kids' names to have real meaning and value. Then, when I was pregnant with my daughter, my husband stumbled across the name Bria, and we knew it was perfect (it means strong, valiant, and courageous in Gaelic). So even though you have to spend a lot of time wading through names you would never choose, baby name books and websites really do help.
So funny...tonight at dinner we were trying to figure out names for your baby-a girl one, and a boy one. Also, the kids wanted to keep it to 5 letters since all the other kids are 5 letters as well. We came up with Bruno ( a cool smart guy at Sam's school) and Fiona. There you go 5 letters each! Do I win a prize? Love, Kathryn C.
I've named all of my kids family names. I love for them to have someone to look up to, and a story to tell about how they were named. My younger brother's name is JAMES. My parents were living next door to an older couple who were never able to have children. They took in my parents like their own family and when my mom had a boy, they decided to name him after their neighbor, James. Love it.
As soon as you announced that you were pregnant I had the PERFECT name!
Penny. Five letters--just like the rest of your kids. Fits in that generation. So darn cute.
I don't have a great boy name picked out.
I also, like old fashioned, classic names. So our two little guys are Milo Franklin & Oliver Sam. My husband picked Milo, and Franklin is my grandfather's middle name. Oliver was my pick for a boy name, I thought it sounded good with Oliver, and Sam is my husband's grandfather's middle name.. So they each have a grandfather's middle name. If we have another boy next, he will be William Roland. But I want him to be called Liam. I haven't done a nickname before. William is my Dad's first name, and Roland is my father in law and Husband's names. So every single name is after a grandpa or great grandpa.. Maybe William or even Milo would go along with your family's style of names!
I am not yet a mother, but have always been in love with names. My baby name list is ever-changing, but my favorite girls name ever is Cora. I also really enjoy reader's comments of Evelyn, Pearl, and Matilda. My favorite boy's name is Griffin, but I also really love Sullivan. Also, I have to thank you for not changing your kid's names on your blog in the name of anonymity because I think that's just dumb. Happy name picking!
Oh, I'm so glad you asked, because the minute I found out you were expecting, my mind IMMEDIATELY went too....WHO is going to predict the name. To me, your kids names CLEARLY go together. I love this. I love it when names are unique but go together. My sisters and I are cheerleader names: Lindsay! Kristy! Courtney! I like that. My kids names are both unique and all three of their names are 5 letters each, on purpose. This is how they go together.
For you, I have been thinking:
Mabel
Hazel
Harriet
Tilly
Frank
George
Sal
Stanley (can you use it as a first name even though Oscar has?)
I have come up with a few winners for friends, so I am hoping I win!
I love the old school names. I was torn between naming our youngest daughter Lucy (a family name) or Jane (which you never hear anymore). We decided to name her Lucy Jane. It fits her to a tee.
Honour or Bridget.
I too like the old fashion names that seem to be creeping back to style. My children are Owen, Miles, and Lila!
stella.
amelia.
nora.
gretta.
We named our children after trees. It started as an accident, and then once you start it's hard to stop. We also made sure that there is one family connection, somewhere. We have Aspen Metta (Metta is my paternal grandmother's name.) Jonathon Cedar (my husband's name is Jonathon and we call our son Cedar.) And Olive Samantha (Olive is my maternal great grandmothers name and my hubby has a grandfather named Oliver.) It's super fun to have slightly unusual names. I never thought I would like the "Theme" route, but I do.
My daughters names are Greta Mae and Jade Rosalind. Their first names are just ones that we both liked and were able to agree on and their middle names are family names.
We tried to keep our names out of the top bunch, then we named our daughter Sophie May, and Sophia exploded... and everyone thinks her name is a nickname for Sophia... May is for my mom and her mother. OUr next daughter is Violet Ann for my husbands great grandma. We think they go pretty well together, but thank heavens we haven't had a boy, we never agree on boy names...
We tried to keep our names out of the top bunch, then we named our daughter Sophie May, and Sophia exploded... and everyone thinks her name is a nickname for Sophia... May is for my mom and her mother. OUr next daughter is Violet Ann for my husbands great grandma. We think they go pretty well together, but thank heavens we haven't had a boy, we never agree on boy names...
I love the name Hazel, and it would fit right in with the "5-letters" thing you guys have going on, but it's become super popular of late.
Pretty sure you need a Tucker.
Doesn't everyone?
I have a Tucker and it is just wonderful.
:)
Oh! I have a Jack too. You might like to get one of those as well.
I only have the one, her name is Ivy Emily Jean. I always loved the name Ivy, Emily is my mothers name and Jean is my Grandmothers name. I would love to have another little girl called Edith after my great-grandmother. People have commented that my daughter has an "Old lady" name...But as a much older Ivy reminded me, Old ladies were little girls too. I adore your childrens names!
I am single and at an age that I know I won't be having my own children, even if I do get married at some point.
Here are some of my favorite names:
Girls:
Marinda
Marissa
Myra
Ellen
Eloise
Cecily
Cecilia
Louisa
Jane
Mae
Sadie
Alice
Hazel
Lola
Willow
Willa
Ivy
Lily
Jennah
Daisy
Sally
Boys:
Jasper
Henry
Walter
Will
Jack
Jackson
Charlie
Finn
Findlay
Dane
Ferne? or maybe Geneva Grace?
I have good stories about my kids' names. When I was pregnant and working with my son, I had to do some research on the inventor of Gatorade, James Robert Cade. Did you know that man has done a TON of wonderful medical research? So much more than a sports drink. My husband and I fell in love with the name "Cade" (as did thousands of other people that year, but not so much the year before...) and his middle name is for my brother who died as a child, Eric. Cade Eric is five and a happy kindergartener.
For our daughter, my husband and I differed in opinion about the best name. I was enamored with Claire. My husband liked Cara (Care-a not Car-a) and while I liked it, it wasn't LOVE for me. My husband said that I could pick and Claire was "fine" but I didn't want him to feel "fine" about her name. I finally came up with the idea of putting the two names together and came up with Clara (sorry, Sally!). Her middle name, Anne, is for my husband's beloved and passed grandmother. Clara Anne is seventeen months old and a sweet little spitfire.
Our children both have a first name we just simply liked, paired with a middle name that is a family name. Our oldest daughter is Reilly Hayes (Hayes is a family name on my husband's side & it is his mother's middle name (Lida Hayes), his middle name (Owen Hayes), and his brother's middle name (Joseph Hayes)- although his brother goes by "Hayes". Our second daughter is Reese Amelia. Amelia is on my sid of the family. Her grandmother's name was Amelia. I love choosing baby names. I have a very strange name that people cannot spell or pronounce, so names have always intrigued me. Good luck!
We were going to name our now 14-month old son Ryken. 7 months in everyone had talked us out of it (I still love it tho) So, we changed it to Kaiden, then a week before he was born lying in bed (while I was on best-rest) we had the tv on, but we weren't watching it- we heard the name Brecken. Instantly looked at each other and smiled. We both knew that would be his name. His middle name had already been picked the moment we knew it was a boy. Del, for my brother, dad and grandfather. So, now we have our beautiful Breckan Del Canada. :) Olive is a beautiful name, it's on our list if we have a girl!!
I love that all the kids have 5 letter names! Definitely stick with that. My rules are you have to be able to pronounce it when you see it.
I love Christy's suggestion of Penny. That's just heartbreakingly sweet.
I'm also a big big fan of http://www.babynamewizard.com/voyager
Check the book called The Baby Name Wizard. You can look up a name and it gives you "brothers and sisters" names. It was spot on when it listed my boys (Simon and Max) as brothers of Isabelle (my daughter). Crazy.
our first is a 'II' or 'jr.' or whatever you'd like to call it. his name is jake. not jacob, just jake. we knew we wanted an equally 'all boy' name for the next. so...our second's name is pete. just pete, not peter. on our third go round, we got a girl. i saw the name betsy in movie credits, and we both loved it. people told us that our kids had retirement home names. and, actually, i dig it. when our fourth was bakin' we had a really hard time deciding. we wanted to go with a nicknamey girly name. at first, it was going to be maisy, frankie, or tilly. in the end, we named her after my mom, and she's rosie. it totally fit. she would have been gus if she was a boy. if we ever have more, i am nuts about nellie (my grandmas name was mary nell) or tilly. i, also, love arnold (arnie) for a boy (my grandpas name). but, gus, ned, or al (my dad's all time fav boy name for very sentimental reasons)for a boy. happy naming. it is one of the best 'bonuses' among many to having a new little bundle to love.
ps sarah, your name list is phenomenal!
for you...
girl:
polly
tilly
nellie
willa
gigi
cece
boy:
abe
leo
jasper
ike
arthur
arnold
howard
I've tried to resist, I might as well play along with this name game. It's a fun topic. A name is such a big decision--it can be a blessing or a curse (or a little of both if you're me). :)
My picks for you are:
Paulette
Pauline
Maxine
Vivian/Genevive (Viv)
Elaine (Lainey/Laine)
Laurel
Penelope (Penny)
Roger
Clark
Warren
Good luck! You seem like a wonderful mom!
naming people is hard!
I'm a nut and after I had my first baby I decided that all my kids have to have the same # of letters in their first names.
Daniel Joseph - named after my dear sweet cousin who passed away at the age of 5 from Lukemia. He was buried the day I gave birth to my baby, his parents gave me the blessing to go ahead and use the first name of Daniel. Joseph is my father's first name and my brother's middle name.
Amelia Elise - I pushed hard to have her first name be Elise but hubs didn't like it. We wanted to call her Abigail but after a while I ended up not liking it so we switched to Amelia. Now after we named her we came back to visit my family (we lived across the country at the time) and had a party for her baptism. We came to find out that Amelia Elise was the real name of my great grandmother. She went by Julia! But my grandma, who was 85 at the time, was so pleased that we named the baby after her mother but we really had no idea!
Hannah Lenore - We actually had three names picked out for her: Hannah, Lorelei, and Adelaide. We were really stuck on Adelaide for a while but everyone around us sort of hated it we got a lot of "are you SERIOUS?" so we nix'd it. Then I realized that my other two kids both had six letters in their first names so that took care of the decision for me! Her middle name is another story, my husband told me I could pick her middle name on my own. Now it takes me so long to order at a resturant that I've taken to reading the menus online before we go so I'm prepared, so naming a person by myself was an issue for me. I had no idea what to name her and about a week before she was born I just started praying and the name Lenore came to me. Later on I looked up the meaning and found out that Lenore = light. Hannah means Grace. I thought the two went well together.
So those are my stories (and thank you for asking!) I love your kids names, they are all very classy.
boys: Wesley, Tristan, Riker
girls: Matilda, Ruby, Grace
Ok, I too LOVE your name choices and wish I would not have given one of my kiddos a middle name. Our last name is Love, so I have always "cutened up" the names, because I did not want them to sound like stripper names. :)
We have a Gabrielle Amelia. Do you get called Gabbie? I really like nick names, but I pictures her name, in full, on a business card and liked it.
I also have a girl, Finley Elisa. The actress, Angie Harmon has a Finley and I have liked it for a long time. The funny thing is my second choice for her was Emory and Angie Harmon now has an Emory that was born on Finley's first birthday. WIERD!
Name suggestions:
Calliapie
Lucy
Ruby
Henry
Thomas
Thanks for a great post and have fun deciding on a name.
Do you share your picks or wait till baby arrives?
Hey congrats on baby #6! And I loevd reading your name stories. Our four children are Grace, Jeremiah, Charlotte and Willa. Betty Blair is a stroke of genius, btw. I hope the pregnancy goes well.
We named our boy Kilian as I always found it a sweet old-fashioned name for a boy. In addition it was the name of a relative who died long ago during WWII. We also found out that it was the name of an Irish missionary who came to Europe in the Middle Ages - hence you find some small villages in Southern Germany and Austria called St.Kilian.
We live in multi-lingual environment now and Kilian works well in several languages (e.g. English, French, German).
we named our 2 girls rory and alix. my husband wanted some name that were a little more gender non spcific, but i think they are a little feminine as well
rory is one i've always liked for a girl, ever since watching a documentary on RFK's kids-his last child (born after his assasination) was a girl that was named rory.
alix is the name of a relative who we love and hardly ever see. since we livein new england near quebec, many people want to pronounce it like 'aleex' (the proper frenceh way), but we pronounce it like 'alex'.
we also had quinn or harper (for a girl) on reserve and milo or owen for a boy.
the right name will come to you when the time comes...i think you've done a great job with the names so far!
I am going to suggest Lucy and Jack
How about Elizabeth, Evelyn, Vivian, or Helen?
For a boy maybe Turner, Jack, or Jonas?
Baby names are the best. I am a bit obsessed with it. Maybe because I have 2 kids, and my husband got to name both of them. Hmph! Although I do love my Stephen and Elizabeth.
Oh my goodness! I can't believe how much I'm loving the comments on this post. Keep them coming, please!
Tons of great ideas. Plus websites and books I want to check out.
I especially love getting a glimpse of how people approach naming. The patterns they pick. The stories behind the names.
Thank you!
We have several lovely family names to use for a girl, but are having a boy. Anyway, here were our ideas for a girl:
Lida (makes me think of the song Lida Rose from The Music Man)
Lorraine
Viola (my Grandmother's name, although everyone eventually called her Vi)
Cadence (as a drummer, my husband loved it, but it was a family name as well)
My daugher Lila Frances (Lila is my sister's name and Frances is my mother in law's middle name) was alllllmost Beatrice. I still really love Beatrice, although Beatrice Frances is kind of a mouthfull. Such good nick name potential too. (BeBe Blair? Cute!!) My son's name is my maiden and my husband's middle, Miller Lee. I like how it rolls off the tounge. I grew up with a boy name Silas Moon though, and have always thought that was the coolest name. I wonder where he is.
You didn't mention that all of your kids' names are 5 letters long but I'm assuming that's not accidental.
Here are some 5 letter name suggestions that might fit for you:
Sally, Frank, Edwin, Clara, Alice, Joyce, Grace, Chuck, Lewis
I have a huge running list of baby names I've been collecting for years. But, I'm not sure it will make it any easier once I get pregnant!
mymcmlife - Fun 5 letter suggestions. And oddly enough, our 5 letter names did come about accidentally. We didn't have a 5 letter plan. But now that my kids noticed the pattern they're pretty sure the next child needs 5 letters too.
Of course, my instinct is to purposefully pick a name without 5 letters -- just so I don't feel forced into the 5 letter thing.
Oh this is SO fun! I've loved reading all these comments because my husband and I are in the midst of trying to come up with a name for baby boy #2. Our older son is Lucas which we just love. I've been lobbying hard for Oscar for #2(I think those names sound so good together with the "s" and hard "c" sounds) but for some reason my husband just doesn't like Oscar. We've been leaning toward biblical names but I've loved some of the ideas people suggested in the comments!
Clyde?
Mavis?
Kiernan?
Just some ideas I had!
P.S How do you manage 5 soon to be 6 kids... especially when they were younger? What is a typical day in the life of Mrs. Blair...
I say Thor.
Or Bedusa.
Please -- not Edith or Pearl! You can take old fashioned too far, I think.
I like Annie or Hazel; Isaac or Clyde.
Julian would fit with Oscar and Ralph for a boy. I love using family names but unfortunately I was blessed with a family with horrible names. My Dad is Melvin Roy. My Grandfather is Odie Ray.
But we do love using family last names for our kids. My youngest is Lillian but we named her Lillian Day, Day being my Grandmother's maiden name. She was Dorothy Day and one of those wartime beauty queens, her little town had a big parade at the end of the war and crowned her Miss D-Day because she was, of course, Dorothy Day.
Dorothy would be a good match for Olive and Maude now that I think of it.
Based on your current names:
Girls:
Della (from O'Henry's "The Gift of the Magi")
Irene
Hazel (others have mentioned)
Ginger
Alice
Gwen
Martha
Ruth
Boys:
Milo
Max
George
Frank
Leroy
Harvey
I like babynamewizard.com, too!
I only have one child so far, and she's Aine (AHN-ya) Lea (LEE) Douglas. Douglas is my grandfather, who passed away just before she was born. It's also my father's name. Aine is a very common Irish name (translates to Anne or Anna) but unique here in the US. It popped in to my head when I was pregnant and just seemed to fit. Lea is an alternative to Lee or Leigh as a name, but it is also a word that means 'meadow' or 'grazing pasture.' It is used in a Robert Burns poem that my husband and I both LOVE. (Sweet Afton....which, by the way, I think Afton would be a great name). Also, my first name means 'hill' and (married) last name means 'valley,' so it seemed appropriate to give her a geological name too!! She gets called Aine Lea quite often. The 'Douglas' is reserved for when she's in BIG trouble ;o)
I'm hesitant to share any of my other name ideas for future children of mine because I like unique names :o) But they are also all combinations of traditional Irish/Celtic names and family names.
(Afton is not one of them...so it's fair game!!)
P.S. Thanks for sharing your stories! I love well-thought-out names and the stories that go behind them!!
We have two boys, Andrea and Maximiliano. I wanted Maximo instead, but my husband didn't like it. I regret it and call him Maximo anyway ;-)
Name suggestions?
I love the name Grace for a girl but we are an international family and where we live they would pronounce it grass.
Charlotte, Louise, Henry, Jack?
Just put your names in Nymbler.com and a few more good ones came up
Henry
Gilbert
Ernest
Jasper
Polly
Ida
Louise
Lucy
Good Luck!
All these stories remind me of one my parents tell about naming me (my name is Whitney). They jokingly told my great-grandmother Mabel that they were going to name me after her, thinking she would be flattered.
She was horrified! "Don't you dare name that child Mabel! I hated that name! When I was a child, every farmer had a cow named Mabel and it was awful!"
It still makes me laugh. And no, Mabel is a fine name, I just like mine better.
(I have one son, Nate, and we chose it because it was the only boy's name we could agree on. If we ever have a girl, it's going to be very hard, but we like Sophie and Megan.)
Our baby girl is Juliet. That seems to fit with yours pretty nicely...
I love Whitney's comment. My mother and grandmother were both named Maude. My mother hated it -- and also said every cow around was named Maude. She forbade my sisters and I to name our babies after her. I rebelled and named my 2nd "Sophie Maude." She loves her name so much that she prefers to be called Maude.
A friend of mine has a baby name art business and is constantly into baby names. Her blog is http://www.babyceesblog.com/. You and your readers might like her point of view.
we named our son asher thomas. asher means happy and blessed. enough said. :-)
We also like the names Louisa and Davis for future children.
We named our kids Felicity and Alexander. Felicity was unusual without sounding like we made it up, and it means "happiness". Alexander is a family name - 8 generations! - and it's classic, and I loved the meaning, so it was a no-brainer. If we were to have more children I like Oliver for a boy and Juliet for a girl.
How about Dottie? I think Dottie Blair is as cool as Betty Blair!
There are some great suggestions here - I love Alice, Hazel, Della, Sadie, Henry, and Jasper.
Sybil is my grandmother's name, and I've always thought that it's classic and lovely (and could be spelled a number of different ways). Susan is my mother's name, and I think it's got a nice old-school vibe.
I love love love this discussion and can't wait to hear what you and Ben (and kids) decide on for the newest Blair.
Seems like my life revolves around baby/kid names - it's like a hobby collecting the most interesting ones. I'm a PT vision screener (and PT baby name artist) and every day I hear the most amazing names ever. Today I vision tested a class where the kids were named Success, Precious, Furtuna (not a typo), and an Absolut. Never a dull day name-wise!
http://babyceesblog.com/
we have an olive too! It was my husband's favourite name, i wasn't entirely sure when pregnant but it so suits her and I love it!
I also love Kitty, Mabel, Minnie, Adelaide and Loulou. Mabel goes particularly well with Maud and Olive I think!
Of course I love my kids' names:
Charles August ("Charlie")
Juliet Annise
Emilia Rae
But I didn't get to use a couple of favorites: Helena for a girl and Bo for a boy. I also like Shea and Campbell for a boy or girl. A friend just named her baby Lisette and I like that too.
Can't wait to hear what the Blairs pick out! Do you ever let the other kids chime in?
I love your children's names. I love names! When a baby is born I don't care anything about it except what the name is. LOL. In choosing our names we want them to have special meaning to us and still be unique, but pronounceable. We also love when names concur a visual.
I have two daughters:
1. Flower Opal: My nickname has been flower for over 10 years because my friends thought I was a flower child. I have always loved it and new that would be the name of my first daughter. opal is my mother's name. i love picturing a flower with and opal center.
2.River Dawn- River signifies our love of nature and camping. Dawn is my middle name. I love the picture of the river in front of a sunrise.
Our next child will have the middle of my husband's grandfather's middle name of Freeze. If it's a girl it will be Juniper(freeze) for our love of movies. Juniper is the name of the main character in my favorite movie. If it's a boy it will be Lennon(freeze) for our love of music. Obviously lennon is from the beatles. :)
We always try to incorporate family with our children's names:
Hailey Sue
for my grandfather, Robert Hale
and grandmother, Susan
David Michael
for my husband's father, David
and my husband, Michael
Nora Lynn
for my husband's grandfather's sister, Nora
and my mother, Lynette
Good luck coming up with the perfect name for your new little one!
We named our daughter Brighton after our favorite snowboarding resort. We got to know each other there when we were dating. So we named our daughter after the place that made her existence possible. I love names with significance. Not necessarily for anyone else, but between you and your partner.
My favorite names of all time (which I cannot use because my DH disagrees) are Agnes (girl) and Ari (boy). Totally different styles, totally unique, and perfectly lovely.
I second the Baby Name Wizard, and Nymbler (same author, I believe). GREAT sites for name help!
I already commented with the name Matilda and The Baby Name Wizard book (it really is a great book), but I love names so much I had more to share.
I love the name Jack because it makes me think of an old timey news reporter. It would also carry on the J names in our family (he would have cousins Jacob and Joshua).
I also love any name that gives nickname options and names that have a family connection. I would even go so far as to pull up the names of ancestors and choose just from those and not even look at a baby name book.
Another thing I like is to ask the siblings (or cousins) what names they like. My sister named me (from a list of names my parents liked) and one of my brother's sons (8 years old) offered a totally new suggestion for my sister's youngest boy (now 20 months). They were struggling to find a name that felt like it fit and Jacob fit just right. Of course, the 3 year olds were all for naming him Elmo Diego so there's that to consider.
Our first son is name Alexander, Xander for short, after the character from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and from my husband's mission in Russia. I still love the name, but get tired of correcting the Z to and X. Our second son is named Atticus from "To Kill a Mockingbird". My husband named him and I am still coming to terms with it. I do love that he is named after a great literary character. I think that these names would fit in very nicely in your family:
Boys:
Frank
Suel
Morris
Girls:
Alice
Faye
Cora
I think the hardest part about choosing a name is that you and your husband have to agree. I have often chosen name I thought for sure he would love and get turned down flat, and the same for him. We always start at books and ancestors, along with friends.
We have 2 boys and 2 girls, Karissa Rose, Warner Andrew (goes by his middle name), Alexis Kathleen, and Spencer Christian. We tried to pick names that people had heard of, but there weren't too many around. I have 2 hard and fast rules, 1 - their initials can't spell anything (hence a son that goes by a middle name since his initials would have spelled "AWE"), this has been a challenge since our last name starts with an "E". 2 - Their first name can't end with a long "e" sound because it gets confusing to people who can't tell where their first name ends and their last name begins (I have this problem, hence the rule). All of our children also have a middle (or first) name of an ancestor.
2 after paternal grandmothers 1 after 2 great grandfathers and My oldest son is named after my father whose first name is Warner, but also goes by his middle name. It was fitting since I come from a family of all girls, and Andrew was the first grandson. That said, I tried to convince my husband to have him go by Warner, but lost that battle.
As for name ideas I always loved, and will never have
for a boy:
Peter
Ivan
Greyson
Jonathan
Patrick
for a girl:
Brianna
Addie (Adelaide)
Kathleen (for a first)
We named our daughter Vivienne and call her Ivie (pronounced Ivy) for short.
I love Josephine, Ruby, Pearl and Lucia for girls.
Our son's name is Samuel. Also on our list is William, Malcom, Asher, and Arthur.
Girls:
I love, love Ruby
Ramona
Elsie
Charlotte
Boys:
Douglas
I have three girls, so it's hard to come up with boy names :-)
Very interesting. I'm snobby about names, and always wonder why people name their children certain names. Knowing the story behind the name makes me a little less judgmental.
A little less.
Not that I have room to talk. My children have what others probably deem very strange names. And they all start with S, which was not intentional.
To each his/her own.
ooohh, this is fun! How about:
Clara Hank
Alice Eddie
Pippa Milo
Scout Gus
Ruby Jasper
May Magnus
June August
Sadie Felix
Millie Toby
Bertie (or Birdie)
Oops, that was supposed to be a list of girls names and a list of boys, but somehow they got squished together.
i know this is an older post- but oh so fun! i can't resist!
please name your maybe next girl mabel. i can't get over how sweet that name is.
i read the comment from the person who fears naming her child and then a celebrity chooses the same name. that happened to our little levi.
my kids are
dylin rachel- my husband wanted a little girl named 'lenny'. we chose dylin thinking we could call her lenny/liny. we never have. she was conceived in ireland and we wanted a gaelic name for her. rachel- my husband's great grandmother
levi david- god gave me levi's name. i know that sounds weird, but it's true. and david is my husband's middle name. so we went with that.
When I first began reading your blog and saw the names of your children, I could not believe my eyes because they were all names I just love. Especially Ralph, Betty and Olive... My husband's taste in names doesn't quite parallel my own though, so unforunately I won't be able to use some of my favorites, but maybe you can? I suggest (both boy names) Linus and Ansel--I think they would work nicely, no?
I too am pregnant right now. We should be finding out the sex of our little bundle on Monday-can't wait!!
A name that I love right now is Dora. It's my grandma's name. I know that Dora the Explorer is popular right now, but that won't last forever right.
P.S. I support your intuition to go for a name that doesn't have 5 letters. Don't be pigeonholed!
I was so so happy to see you have a Maude. I grew up hearing stories about my Dad's spinster aunts, Mae and Maude. Years ago my sister and I were pregnant at the same time and she was going to use Maude and I was going to use Mae. We both ended up having boys. I have three boys Henry, Peter and Oliver. Henry is a family name and the other two just fit(all have family middle names). I hope that my next one will be a girl, I'm all out of boys names. I'm totally in love with the old lady names. Mae, Penny, Louise and Harriette are some of my favorites.
I know the person that asked you how you named your kids...so this is the first time i am on your blog.
I only have one daughter who is 4 months now and we didn't decide on a name until the day after she was born.
My husbands name criteria: Had to originate from somewhere that we are from (ie our ancestors - scottland, germany, and a few other places). It had to be a strong name that would look good on a lawyer's business card. It could not look like a nick name. His top picks were - Ainsley, Fiona, and Isobel.
I just needed the name to be some what original but not weird, and if it could be a family name it would be a bonus. My top picks were - Paige, Lydia, Blair, and Sydney.
After we met her i was finally able to decide and we went with Isobel Paige. The only criteria that wasn't met was there is no family name.
Thanks for sharing your stories, I really like Maude but i don't think my husband would ever agree to it.
A name is a gift that you give. The best gifts are the ones that reflect the person you're giving it to. I recommend picking a name that best fits the child, even if it means waiting until after the baby is born. I am passionate about names and have talked to hundreds of people about their names and I believe the most interesting ones are those that have stories behind them. Thanks for your post.
With your permission, I'd love to do a post for you to help find the perfect moniker for #6. :-)
Oh how I adore names...
Usually my first question to anyone else with childerns "So what are their names?" Having a VERY common 70's baby name, I had three very close girlfriends in high school with the same name, Amy. I really tried picking names that were not super common but where not like "Apple Seed Bottom".
So with my daughter we went with Avery (I loved its meaning elfish leader) , I at the time not heard it but one other time. Now of course it is like number 30 on the name list, so I was little upset by that. And her middle name Belle was an easy choice it was my husbands grandmothers name. So Avery Belle is our little princess.
Reason for my late post on this is due to me having baby number two only 5 days ago.
I had a little boy who we names Nolan David. I fell in love with Nolan (the champion of the people) and David was after my husbands brother and grandfather.
Great post thanks, off to go nurse!
oohhhh, I finally found the website I had come across at one time. It is very neat, because it lets you put in names you like (or your children's names) and gives you other suggestions that go with your style. You may come across something you love....
http://www.nymbler.com/
We don't have any children, but the hubs and I are planning on 'trying' starting summer 2010. We've had a girl's name picked out for quite a while... Mayadelle. It's my grandmother's name. Apparently she didn't love it as a child, but I think it's so sweet. We'll probably call her May, but possibly Adelle. It's such an unusual name, but definitely seems to have an aged quality about it. My grandmother is the only person I've known with this name.
My husband loves the name Atticus. I really wasn't that into it at first, but it's really grown on me.
So that means so far we have:
Mayadelle Lords
Atticus Lords
The other names I really love are Henry and Harrison. I just like them. :) For girl's names I also like Clare, Clara, Adeline, Emmaline, Irene, Norah, Evelyn and Sariah.
All my favorites! Good luck!
Girl-
Blythe
Mabel
Oakley
Alice
Lucretia (Lucy for short)
Louisa
Beatrix
Eliza Jane
Bronwyn
Hazel
Adella
Eleanor
Boy-
Finn – Phineas or Finneas
Alden
Emmett
Sterling
Roman
Bronson
Bingley
Graham
I have two names to suggest: Clyde and Gladys! These are my grandparents' names, and I've always just loved them. And I've never met another child with either name. And they, I think, would go great with your other kiddos' names. Just so you know, my grandpa would call my grandma "Happy Bottom!" Isn't that cute?
My brother and his wife named their daughter Elizabeth, but they call her Elsie.
My favorite girl's name at the moment is Sophia or Sofie, I can't decide which i like better. :)
Can't help you with the boys names, I don't have any that I love right now.
We didn't find out the gender of any of our children - they were all a surprise - so had to pick both a girl's and boy's name. The first name my husband and I agreed upon was Mietta (meaning 'sweet little one') for a girl. It took us a while to agree upon a boy's name, but we finally chose Gabriel.
When our first son was born, he didn't look like a Gabriel, so we had to think again. We finally chose Luc Preston. Luc (using the French spelling) and Preston after my grandfather (and his mother's maiden name). A very unusual name in Australia - but (unfortunately) more common in the US.
Our second child, a boy, didn't look like a Gabriel either. Again it took a day to name him. This time Nicolas George. Nicolas (using French spelling and pronunciation) and George, after his paternal great grandfather.
Finally, we had a Mietta Hazel. We didn't have to think about this! Mietta O'Donnell was a famous restauranteur in Melbourne (where I am from). Hazel is after my mother and her great aunt.
I am eternally grateful to my husband who was insistent that we used family names as second names.
We have since met a number of Lukes and Nicks (many of whom are brothers) - we hadn't any idea how popular these names were at the time - but were thankful we chose the more unusual spelling. We haven't yet met another Mietta.
Not more kids for us, but I love the names:
Amelie
Poppy
Tessa
Maddy
Marion Louise (p grandmother's name)
Ella Winifred/Winnie (m grandmother's name)
Henry
Alister (dad's middle name)
Edward (mum's maiden name)
Reid (my maiden name)
We just had our first 4 months ago and for a while it looked like he might not get past BB (Baby Boy) in the hospital but in the end the family ties pulled through.
My whole life I have thought of names
Bo, Penelope, Roxcy, Jesse, Kasey, Lucious, Kit (short fro Elizabeth), Kip, Asah and was holding true through out my pregnancy for one of these but then when he was born, I could not decide.
My husband is from New Zealand and because of his accent we say many names differently and I thought it pretty much ruled out any name with an 'r' but he said it would be cool because then he would know his parents are from different countries. I was still not sold on it.
He was routing for Lars (my maiden name is Larson) but he says Lahs and I saw Larrrs. Wouldn't that just be annoying for him but after he was born the idea of calling him after our dads seemed so important and right so we now have Peter Larson and funnily enough stateside he is called Baby Lars and in New Zealand he is called Baby Pete. How lucky for this little boy to have 2 names!
Edison....we love our Eddie. When I was pregnant the second time, my son (William Turner...it was before Pirates of the Caribbean) was sitting on my lap we were reading a book. He didn't talk well yet but he could say the name of the boy in the book Edison. My husband came out of the kitchen and said boy or girl I think we should name the baby Edison. We hadn't yet found out what we were having but it turns out it was a girl. The name stuck. And she loves being an Eddie or Edison or Ed. Edison Paige. And then, loved the lets not know what were having game so much....for our third we decided not to find out till they were born what we were having. We picked the name Cameron Jay for a boy or Emelia Jane for a girl. And Emelia Jane was born. She is our tom boy full of life and energy! GOOD LUCK.
our baby boy was named McAllister before we even knew he was a BOY.
It's his father and his grandfather's name... so he'll be a third!
I just read East of Eden, by John Steinbeck. In the book it John talks of his of his Mother, Olive. Mother to a fabulous son. Is that the book?
Calvin or Nina are my picks for your cute family :)
Evelyn Caroline for a girl and Earl Anderson for a boy. Best wishes for a happy, healthy little whoever.
While pregnant we couldn't agree on a name until one day while riding in the car my husband suggested Calvin. As soon as he said it I felt the baby move for the first time. We figured he was telling us something and the name stuck!
For girls I love the names LaRue and Hazel. My middle name is Earline (pronounced er-lean) it's a family name. I love it as well though it often does get mispronounced.
For boys I like Spenc.
When we named our son, we had similar criteria as you: unique, but not too weird. So we decided on Hugo Simon. Now, faced with naming baby boy #2 due to arrive in February, it's an even bigger challenge to come up with a name.
Thus far our list consists of: Malcolm, Jasper and Angus. Such joy to name a new baby!
i love mabel, autumn, gentry and vera for a girl. i will never have a girl so i long for these names. my boys are drake, tanner and deacon. i would have NEVER agreed on tanner, but he was over a week old and my husband would not budge. his middle name is pete (family name) and i was certain i would call him pete. didnt happen. peter is adorable as well. best of luck. naming a baby can be an exciting yet somewhat daunting task.
I love the name Evelyn (my mom's name), Lucille or Lucy, Annie, Cole, Lula, Avery, Roy (a little country but I think it's still cute), Charlotte (Charlie for short). Good luck with the names!
oh and Ruby too. That was my Grandmother's name. Love it!
My daughters are London and Daisy: London b/c my husband spent time there and loved the city, and it sounded so feminine to me. Daisy happened when were visiting NYC one summer and we walked past a mother and 4-year old daughter. Not even pregnant yet, I heard the mom say, "Come along, Daisy!" and knew that 'if ever', I would name a daughter Daisy. (Ironically enough, we moved to NYC 18 months ago!) McAllister is the name of my son, we chose it b/c it's the MAIDEN NAME of a well-loved and amazing great-grandmother whom I actually remembered growing up. Well after his birth I researched out her father and grandfather and found out they were amazing men in their own right.
So:
London Emilie
McAllister J (just the letter after my FIL)
Daisy Caroline (which to this day I still dislike the middle name, it was all my husband's idea. When we fight, 4 years later, I'll still say, "and I don't even like Daisy's middle name!")
Name Voyager for us, too: Our Audrey and Marian hit peak popularity in the 1920s, so the 3rd needed to be near the same era. Reuben: 1890. aw, close enough.
I love the middle name variation you have going: 1, 0, 2...
(we have a doubler middle, too)
Alma or Amelia
For a girl: Stella
For a boy: Arthur
I know this is a bit late but I'll post anyway. My grandmother's name was Iona, which she hated but I think is unique, and my husband's grandma is Ruth Beatrice. My greatgrandmother was Jeannie, which I also think is lovely. I love the idea of going with family names. As for boys some unique family names include Willis, Francis, Howard, Herald and Fredrick.
I also want to toss in the name Ethel for a girl...
Names that I think fit with your current brood are Audrey for a wee lady or Angus for a little lad.
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