Baby Names: What makes you like/dislike a name?

[kiett98]

Date: 11/17/2009 8:57:24 PM
Author: Octavia
I like traditional names (Elizabeth, Sophie, Michael, Joseph, etc.) but don''t like that they''re so popular right now. Fortunately, our children will have to have names that sound okay in both English and FI''s native language, so it rules out pretty much any of those names. There are some beautiful girls'' names in his language, but it''s going to be hard to find a boy''s name.

I have a longer list of names I wouldn''t choose to name my child (not that I don''t like them for other people, but wouldn''t want to be saying them over and over for the next 18+ years):
Place/street names (Madison, Savannah, Austin, Trenton)
Names that sound like hybrids of two others (Ryleigh, Jayden)
Names (or spellings of names) that end in -ee (Ashlee, Caylee)
Names that sound like nicknames, but aren''t (Kai, Jace, Liv)
Overtly religious names
Anything that sounds really trendy (as opposed to just popular)

I could go on and on...apparently I''m really picky. Yikes.

My name is Kai, but that isn''t how I spell mine. And people do ask me all the time "what is your name short for?" When I was younger, I used to tell my mom I wanted a regular name like everyone else, but now I love my name and how it is rare to meet anyone with it.

 

[Clio]

Octavia speaks for me! I agree with her entire list of dislikes.

I prefer old, classic names. That means that they will be popular, but that really doesn''t bother me. My own children are Sarah, Emily, and Thomas. Nothing trendy, oddly spelled, or made up.

I also only used family names. In my family, it''s not a problem that cousins share the same name. In fact, it''s considered a good thing! I can think of nothing better than to have my children share the names of people I love dearly.

I used family surnames as middle names, which is very common where I''m from. I get all judgmental, though, when people just pick random surname-type names to use. I can get a little rigid about names...

 

[E B]

My husband and I are picky in different ways. I tend to go for classic, more unusual, 'old-fashioned' names, steering clear of the top 50, ideally the top 100. Gender-specific, easy to pronounce. He likes classic, but common...think top 10. Our lists have very little overlap, especially our girl lists.

Miraculously, we both loved my son's name (Henry), so that was it. Easy peasy. And somehow, we were able to agree on a couple of names for both sexes for baby #2. Classic/old-fashioned (for me), but not too "out there" (for him).

 

[princesss]

For boys I like very, very traditional names. If it''s been the name of a King of England/Scotland in the past 400 years, it''s probably on my list (top names: Henry, James, and George). I don''t like long boy names, and I really dislike names that end up being shortened with a -y (Billy, Jimmy, etc. - and yes, I know James can become Jimmy, but if I name my kid James there is NO WAY I''m letting anybody call him Jimmy).

For girls I like more feminine names (Avery, Eva, Amelia, Emery, Madelyn), especially names ending in -y or -a. I tend to avoid

I don''t like two part names for either gender (no Jimmy Bob or Emma Lou for me), and I don''t like androgynous (I''m pretty sure I spelled that wrong) names, or giving somebody a name more common to the opposite gender.

 

[MustangGal]

Are "don''ts" were:

Not too trendy
Not in the top 50/100 names (DH and I both have very common names that are still on that list)
No crazy spelling (those extra Y''s people add drive me nuts)
No place/location names
Goes with middle/last name (we had family middle names already chosen)
Not too long
Didn''t lend itself to being made fun of by kids
No bad people associations
A name that would stay the same, and not be converted into a nickname (i.e. Matthew = Matt)
No one we knew had the name already

I tend not to like the "ie" on girl names, they sound too bubbly/cheer leader-ish. Yet the girl name we picked out was Shelby Mae (my great grandmother''s middle name). When we found out we were having a boy, it took 2 months to pick a new name, in the end it cam down to Kyle and Garrett. I honestly didn''t really care about the meanings of the names.

 

[anchor31]

We wanted the names to sound good both in French and English, and we stayed as far away from family names as possible. Of course, it has to sound good with the last name, and we tried to find names that couldn''t be deformed easily by children. We are not changing the way names are spelled or going for very unique names either. I always have to spell my name and it''s annoying! DH didn''t want any flower names for girls.

 

[MonkeyPie]

I am not terribly picky about names, but I have found some I dislike because I associate them with a person/situation. My husband LOVES the name Enzo, but I work with a guy by that name and he is sooo socially awkward. He also likes Mariah, but all I think of is bratty little girls or divas with that name.

We have a fairly common last name, so it''s easy to find names that sound good with it, but they are almost always hispanic in origin, which my husband hates. He wanted our kids to have names that were unique, not common, and I have to agree. (My name is common in pronounciation, uncommon in spelling - unless you live in France!) DH has a very common name, in all ways, so we tried to find something different.

If we are having a girl (find out Friday, yayyyyy!), she will be Isabella Rose. We are still working on a boy name hehe.

 

[Burk]

Names are such a personal thing. We like unique. My name was very popular at the time so I share my name with many. I didn''t want that for my kids. Our daughter''s name is Tayva. We realize it''s not for everyone, but it suits her perfectly and we love it. One lady actually told me she felt sorry for my daughter!!! Again, not saying everyone should love it, but did she really need to say that out loud?!?!

 

[Clairitek]

Date: 11/17/2009 8:57:24 PM
Author: Octavia
I like traditional names (Elizabeth, Sophie, Michael, Joseph, etc.) but don''t like that they''re so popular right now. Fortunately, our children will have to have names that sound okay in both English and FI''s native language, so it rules out pretty much any of those names. There are some beautiful girls'' names in his language, but it''s going to be hard to find a boy''s name.

I have a longer list of names I wouldn''t choose to name my child (not that I don''t like them for other people, but wouldn''t want to be saying them over and over for the next 18+ years):

Place/street names (Madison, Savannah, Austin, Trenton)
Names that sound like hybrids of two others (Ryleigh, Jayden)
Names (or spellings of names) that end in -ee (Ashlee, Caylee)
Names that sound like nicknames, but aren''t (Kai, Jace, Liv)
Overtly religious names

Anything that sounds really trendy (as opposed to just popular)

I could go on and on...apparently I''m really picky. Yikes.

ITA with everything you said Octavia!

Side note- Didn''t you get married recently?

 

[princesss]

Date: 11/18/2009 1:49:01 PM
Author: Burk
Names are such a personal thing. We like unique. My name was very popular at the time so I share my name with many. I didn''t want that for my kids. Our daughter''s name is Tayva. We realize it''s not for everyone, but it suits her perfectly and we love it. One lady actually told me she felt sorry for my daughter!!! Again, not saying everyone should love it, but did she really need to say that out loud?!?!

Who the heck says stuff like that????

 

[Burk]

Date: 11/18/2009 2:32:20 PM
Author: princesss

Date: 11/18/2009 1:49:01 PM

Author: Burk

Names are such a personal thing. We like unique. My name was very popular at the time so I share my name with many. I didn't want that for my kids. Our daughter's name is Tayva. We realize it's not for everyone, but it suits her perfectly and we love it. One lady actually told me she felt sorry for my daughter!!! Again, not saying everyone should love it, but did she really need to say that out loud?!?!

Who the heck says stuff like that????

I know, right?!?!? Not like I think she should love it, but can't one keep those thoughts in their head?

 

[elrohwen]

Date: 11/17/2009 7:31:04 PM
Author: packrat
Aw thanks Haven! It''s funny-I don''t care if people don''t like the names we gave our kids..but I LOVE when people DO like them-it thrills me to no end!

Is it like Fam, rhymes with lamb or Fam like Fahm? I see a beautiful dark haired/dark eyed little girl. It''s exotic sounding, to me..so pretty!

I''m not much for names with nicknames either..I''m kind of a freak about it too. Maybe b/c JD''s name is his initials, and my name is shortened? I dunno why..I guess I figure if I wanted my child to be known by X I would''ve named them that. My brother has a nickname that he''s been known as since he was a Freshman in High School, so about 15 years, but it has nothing to do w/his name, so that doesn''t bother me.

My parents both go exclusively by nicknames and *hate* their full names, so they chose Laura for me specifically because it could not be abbreviated. Haha. It was funny when one of my HS teachers gave every student a nickname. The best he could come up with for me was "Laur".

It could be worse though! I knew a woman whose husband was named "Mac". I asked her what it was short for, and she said it wasn''t short for anything - he had an awful family name (something Scottish) and every guy named that had picked a totally random nickname. She couldn''t figure out why they kept using the name since every person who got it hated it. If she and her DH had kids they swore they wouldn''t continue the tradition.

 

[Octavia]

Date: 11/18/2009 1:51:57 PM
Author: Clairitek

Date: 11/17/2009 8:57:24 PM

Author: Octavia

I like traditional names (Elizabeth, Sophie, Michael, Joseph, etc.) but don''t like that they''re so popular right now. Fortunately, our children will have to have names that sound okay in both English and FI''s native language, so it rules out pretty much any of those names. There are some beautiful girls'' names in his language, but it''s going to be hard to find a boy''s name.

Side note- Didn''t you get married recently?

Whoops! Haha. Old habits die hard, I guess, especially when things are burning in the kitchen! Should have read it over again before hitting submit...

 

[elrohwen]

Princess, I agree with a lot of your top names! I love more old fashioned names, especially those that sound "British" in origin. Lots of those are currently at the top of the lists (like Emma) but I won't be having kids for 5-10 years, so hopefully the lists will change a bit. My name was extremely popular - I had 3 in my class at all times from grade school through college, so I'd like to choose something at least out of the top 20 if possible. Nothing with strange spelling, nothing that's totally unique, and nothing that starts or ends with the first letter of our last name.

I wanted James for a boy, but SIL is dating a James and will possibly marry him. Since they would be the only aunt and uncle, it would be a bit weird I think. Even if she breaks up with him, probably still weird. Darn! I love Henry though, so I might have to talk DH into that.

For girls I love Ava, Emma, Ella, Amelia - mostly shorter names, and apparently those that end with "a". Haha. The longer feminine names are so pretty, but our last name is too long already. And I don't mind nicknames, but I don't want to pick a long name that will be turned into a nickname 100% of the time; I would like to use the full name.

DH is really picky ... even naming our bunny this year was an epic struggle. I had a huge list of names (all human names; I'm weird about naming pets and always pick human names) and he hated allll of them except Otto. Haha. I have a feeling kids will be difficult because he seems to hate every name.

ETA: I don't care about meanings at all, only how the name sounds and what it makes me think of.

 

[janinegirly]

Great ques--and so true that it is a personal thing--often tied with how we wre raised . our own names. What I like/dislike is probably the opposite for others!

I dislike names that are very generic or cutesy or are shortened nicknames that make a nice name too cutesy.

I love names that have family meaning and are somewhat distinguished sounding. This is probably more relevant for boys. For girls I have a tendancy to prefer French names.

The thing is (as we all know), can''t always get our perfect name since DH''s opinon/prefereces have to be taken into account!

 

[princesss]

Date: 11/18/2009 2:33:01 PM
Author: Burk

Date: 11/18/2009 2:32:20 PM
Author: princesss

Date: 11/18/2009 1:49:01 PM

Author: Burk

Names are such a personal thing. We like unique. My name was very popular at the time so I share my name with many. I didn''t want that for my kids. Our daughter''s name is Tayva. We realize it''s not for everyone, but it suits her perfectly and we love it. One lady actually told me she felt sorry for my daughter!!! Again, not saying everyone should love it, but did she really need to say that out loud?!?!

Who the heck says stuff like that????

I know, right?!?!? Not like I think she should love it, but can''t one keep those thoughts in their head?

Seriously

Well, not that my opinion is worth beans, but I love the name Tayva (and was pretty enchanted with Saraya, too - not that I stalk the mommy threads or anything).

 

[Haven]

Burk--People will never cease to amaze, huh? Tayva is a beautiful name, for a beautiful girl. I love your avatar pictures, it''s like she''s growing up right before our eyes!

 

[Tacori E-ring]

I feel like this thread could get ugly b/c names are SUCH a personal thing. I like a variety of names but my DH was SOOOO picky. It is a miracle we found 2 names we agreed on. I am glad I chose the name I did b/c I actually get a lot of compliments on it. I really like names that have the same first letter in the first and last name (of course my name and my maiden name was like that). I also like more uncommon names b/c mine is SO common. DH''s is more uncommon so he likes more common. Funny how that works out!

 

[ladypirate]

Date: 11/17/2009 9:26:49 PM
Author: fiery
While I don''t care if I choose a popular name (DD is #7 on 2009 top 10 baby names), I do not care for ''unique'' names.


I''m also a fan of traditional names: Elizabeth, Mary, Richard, John, etc.


I''m not a fan of this new trend to add ''y'' and ''k'' to everything and I really don''t like unique spellings. For example, people went from spelling Christopher (which I love) to Kristopher (which I got used to) to Kristofer (eh) to Krystofer. Really?


My name is a very old name that I don''t see people use that much anymore. If it weren''t so vain, I would have given DD my name because I seriously love it the most lol

\

Aww, FI''s name is spelled Kristoffer! I don''t think it''s that trendy...

 

[radiantquest]

I think that I have been through 10 names. I started naming my dolls and all told my mom this is what I am going to name my son/daughter. My tastes change so much.

Although I don''t plan on having children I have name restrictions should I need them

I don''t mind if the name rhymes with the last name as long as it is cool sounding
No bad initiasl
Nothing bizzare
Not too trendy
I know that this sounds terrible, but no names that already have like a ditzy sound to them.
I also don''t like names that do not go with your age. Like my mothers name is Nancy. Fine for an adult, but not for a little girl. Know what I mean? Or Ashley sounds like a little girl name, but not a womans name.
And I know this is not fair, but I don''t like names that I have met somewhere else in my life and I didn''t like the person.

I wonder if any of you have had experience with names. Like for instance I don''t tend to get along with Nicks or Sandys. For some reason I have met many of them and have never been friends with one Nick or Sandy. Not that they are bad people or are unlikeable. Just odd to me.

 

[fisherofmengirly]

Burk,

Have you said what the new baby''s name will be? I adore the name Tayva and have been waiting to see what this baby would be christened as....

 

[Burk]

Princess~Thank you!! It also makes me happy to hear you liked Saraya...we were getting way more mixed opinions on it than we did with Tayva, but I think we would have gone with it since WE liked it had this baby been a girl. Maybe the next one.

Haven~Thanks! So crazy that my avatar pics are now of a little girl...no more baby!

Fisher~He will be Kade Braxton!

 

[LtlFirecracker]

These are really interesting lists, and I am going to "borrow" some points off of them when the day comes for me to choose a name (whenever that is).

However, somethings you can''t predict, and while you might control for a situation today, it doesn''t mean in 20 years from now things will have changed.

For example. My name was very uncommon when I was born, and there was no one right spelling for it. My parents took it out of a baby book and did not alter the spelling. They wanted me to have an uncommon name. Well, when I was 11 the name was used on a major TV show and now the name is much more common. I have seen 3 children with the name this week. And the funny thing is that a different spelling was used in the younger generation. So now I have a more common name with a weird spelling which my parents never wanted! I still love my name.

The other thing is the idea of not wanting the name associated with someone famous who is not very popular in the press. Famous people come and go, and you will have no idea if someone with a similar name will get famous and do something stupid in your child''s future.

 

[packrat]

Goh! I tried replying a few times from work today and it kept giving me an error message so I got torked off and quit. Not my job tho..trying to reply.

I just wanted to tell Burk again how much I love the name Tayva! The boys name you have picked out is really cute!

 

[swimmer]

Burke, I love Tavya! Some people should have a mute button.

 

[pennquaker09]

Burk, I love your daughter''s name. I''m not sure how to pronounce, as I''ve never seen/heard it before, but I do like it.

I''ve always hated my name. Which is kind of odd because, like I said, I love Southern Preppy names. And my name is pretty southern and VERY preppy.

 

[Burk]

packrat~Thanks so much! I love your kids names, too!

swimmer~Thank you. Amen to the mute button!

penn~Thanks. It''s pronounced Tay- vah. We were originally going to spell it Tava but thought would be even more confusing since there was no way to know the "a" was a long "a" in the beginning. Still gets confusing this way, but I think better than it would have been.

 

[janinegirly]

Oh now I''m dying to know pennquaker''s name...souther and preppy, yumm!

And Burk, count me in as one who loves the name Tayva. I had no idea that''s how it was pronounced though since in my head I say the "y" (tie-va). How did you come up with it, is it a combo of names? I''m sure you already went through this, but I''ve never known..

I had a lot of names on my list that DH nixed, Charlotte, Audrey, Madeleine. He likes cutesy nick names plus our last name is super long which is a factor to consider too. So we had to compromise. I used to love the name Chelsea but that was 10yrs ago before it got a bit overused. My own little girl''s name is unique to me (I don''t know any others!) but it just broke the top 10 list which I''m not too happy about

. I have so many freinds with Olivias and Sophies...all lovely names and it''s fun to see how trends sway.

 

[Mara]

well we are struggling with naming our little boy, i didn't think it'd be so hard. greg is typically super easy going but on names he is being very stubborn. we have gone through a few hundred or more. neither of us can really agree. we don't even have one name we both really like right now... and it is usually me saying 'do you like this' and him saying 'no'. i told him he had to come up with some suggestions!

there is a name i love and have liked since i was 14 and he doesn't like it, says its not manly enough, and no good 'nickname'. he also likes very american names with common nicknames (aka mike, tom, bill aka michael, thomas, william) whereas i love euro names as i work for a global company and i work with guys who have names like ian, stefan, miles. every time i say a full name i like aka jacob he goes 'jake?'. or when i said stefan he said 'steven?'.

we scroll through movie credits at the end of every movie asking each other if we like diff names. so far none.

one of my friends with 2 kids said... 'don't worry, after you give birth to that baby he will give you whatever you want for a name'... but i don't just want him to 'give in' to my choice of a name, i want him to really like it too. since we told a few friends and family what my top two favorites are now they are all calling them those names now even though they know we can't agree.

anyway greg says when he comes out we'll know what to name him. i am still feeling him out on the two names i like. i think he might be warming to the one i really love...he stopped saying 'no' to it, and now says 'that isn't decided yet'... AND once he actually called the nugget by the name hehe. i didn't point it out to him. plus this name sounds great with our last name...and i just keep imagining some good looking distinguished guy with this name, of course i want that to be our kid 30 years from now!

that all said, in general i tend to like slightly unusual names but not so unusual that no one can pronounce it OR spell it, and i also don't like very very common names that everyone has. i tend towards more euro names, and love some of the scottish and irish names out there. oh and i love that a lot of old fashioned names are coming back and replacing some of the more trendy names... aka the older names like sophia, clara, edward are making a resurgence.

 

[doodle]

Burk, for the record, after seeing you on another baby name thread, "Tayva" got added into my personal "oooh, I love that" list, so "take that!" to the lady with no mute button, haha! I went to college with a guy named Kade, and I liked his name a lot, too. Until him, I had never heard it before.

Miracles, same with Veda--love it! And Haven made a really good point--I have the same issue with a lot of the "duh" names (my two best friends in the world are a Melinda and Amanda, so DH and I have talked about this a lot because the Amanda was the one who introduced us and is a mutual bff; I''d love to name a daughter after her, but the "duh" bit of Amanda makes me crazy!), but Veda doesn''t do the "duh" thing at all. I wonder if it''s specifically because the "D" is preceded by a softer vowel...heh, I''m overthinking, but yeah, anywho, my point was that I LOVE the name Veda and it solved my "duh" issue, so that one''s on my list now, too, and all of my children will have "John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt" long kind of names at the rate I''m going because I just love too many names!

DH knows that my one name requirement should we ever have a child is that our child be named partially in honor of one of my best friends, who died several years ago, so we will have a Joseph or a Morgann or some derivative thrown into the mix somehow. I''m really into names that have personal significance (as in, being after a beloved person, place, etc) but I don''t really like most of the more common names in my family--there''s about 348756304765 Richards in my family, and three times that of Annes and Elizabeths. I''m kind of mad about the Ava craze because I''ve always loved the name, but I remember how many Jennifers I went to school with and how confusing it was for them (there were 4 Jennifers in my second grade class!), and I wouldn''t want to do that to my kid. Maybe the Aidan/Ava craze will wane before I have to worry about it since those are two of my favorite names!

The "what my child may be in the future" argument is interesting, too. I remember reading a poem in college that was something about how there will never be a senator named Heather. The stereotypes associated with some names are so fascinating! I mean, like I said earlier, if I have a son, it''d be a Joseph, but I''m reeeeally overly aware of what I could pair that with because, living in the South, it''d get all Clampett-ed up, and I don''t want my kid to be Billy Joe, Danny Joe, Bobby Joe, or as George Carlin once joked, Billy Joe Carl Bob Danny Frank!