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

[breeze]

the baby name''s meaning is important, i like this baby girl name: amy, means "Beloved"

 

[Burk]

janine~I believe penn''s name is McKinnley (not sure on the spelling)...I''ve mentioned I liked it for a girl before and he said he hated it as his name. DH came up with Tayva''s name. We saw a Tava (Tah- vah) on a TV show when I was maybe 15 weeks preggo and he thought is was different and kind of cute I wasn''t sure and then he popped out Tayva and that was it. Pretty random.

doodle~Thanks! Boys names were much harder for us than girl names. We had a couple other unique girl names but struggled agreeing on a boy name.

 

[purrfectpear]

Anyone naming their child Veda has obviously never watched Mildred Pierce

Veda was a spoiled, grasping little gold digger without any morals at all, and ended up killing her lover. She was probably the nastiest piece of work I''ve seen in a movie

 

[Linda W]

Date: 11/20/2009 3:03:21 PM
Author: purrfectpear
Anyone naming their child Veda has obviously never watched Mildred Pierce

Veda was a spoiled, grasping little gold digger without any morals at all, and ended up killing her lover. She was probably the nastiest piece of work I''ve seen in a movie

I am sure Miraclesrules granddaughter won''t grow up to be like that.

 

[Haven]

Date: 11/20/2009 3:03:21 PM
Author: purrfectpear
Anyone naming their child Veda has obviously never watched Mildred Pierce

Veda was a spoiled, grasping little gold digger without any morals at all, and ended up killing her lover. She was probably the nastiest piece of work I''ve seen in a movie

My first thought was of the movie My Girl. I so wanted to be named Vada after seeing it. Same name, different spelling.

 

[packrat]

My girl is the only Veda I''d ever heard of too! It''s so sweet and girly.

 

[purrfectpear]

You guys don''t watch old Joan Crawford movies? Mildred Pierce is a classic and so is the slap between Joan Crawford and the Veda character. Crawford really belts her one.

 

[PinkTower]

I am a teacher.
My personal preference is for family names, but that is just my personal preference. I like strong names.

My extreme dislike, however, is for the currently faddish names, which seem, for some odd reason, to often end in an "N" or an "A", such as Isabella, Aiden, Savannah, etc.

Please think long and hard before you name your child the latest craze, and make sure you love your last name's initial. In school, we have to differentiate when we have the bounty crops of Isabella's. We have to have Isabella H., and Isabella C. and Isabella J.

It has gotten so bad that, at the end of the year, I don't throw out my folders, or cubbie labels that say Aiden, Ethan, Olivia, Isabella, Alexandra,etc. This is because I need them again every fall, often in duplicate or triplicate. To top it off, the parent is often ADAMANT that they don't want the four syllable long names shortened, so the teacher and (and the child's peers ) have to give tongue twisting directives while exagerating the enunciation of certain sounds, all day, such as, "Alexandra A. and Alexandria S., please line up. Isabella S. and Isabel K., you are next."

 

[janinegirly]

Date: 11/20/2009 1:16:51 PM
Author: Burk
janine~I believe penn''s name is McKinnley (not sure on the spelling)...I''ve mentioned I liked it for a girl before and he said he hated it as his name. DH came up with Tayva''s name. We saw a Tava (Tah- vah) on a TV show when I was maybe 15 weeks preggo and he thought is was different and kind of cute I wasn''t sure and then he popped out Tayva and that was it. Pretty random.


doodle~Thanks! Boys names were much harder for us than girl names. We had a couple other unique girl names but struggled agreeing on a boy name.

Love the name McKinnley, but I love preppy names or last names used as first (if there''s some reasoning behind it). Too bad that Penn doesn''t like it!

PinkTower: interesting hearing from a teacher''s perspective..had no idea those names were so common, to me they still sound unique but maybe it''s generational. What other names have seen on the increase? No Emily''s?

 

[PinkTower]

No, Emily is falling back in the pack.
Emma is very popular instead. Lily is also a biggie, and so is Ava.

Parents:

Please teach your child to write their name in lower case.
As a teacher, I would rather the child know nothing than to have to unlearn a bad habit.

 

[packrat]

Date: 11/20/2009 4:00:47 PM
Author: purrfectpear
You guys don''t watch old Joan Crawford movies? Mildred Pierce is a classic and so is the slap between Joan Crawford and the Veda character. Crawford really belts her one.

Nope, never seen one of her movies, tho I saw the one *about* her! I looked it up on IMDB and they''re remaking Mildred Pierce for TV. Would her movies be on one of the classic movie channels maybe? I read the summary of MP and it sounds like something I''d like to watch.

oooo sorry, threadjack over!

I like McKinnley, I think it''s cute. I saw the name Creighton once, and thought that was neat. We have a friend named Kylon, and I love that name.

 

[CDNinNYC]

Date: 11/21/2009 8:59:52 AM
Author: Pink Tower
I am a teacher.

My personal preference is for family names, but that is just my personal preference. I like strong names.


My extreme dislike, however, is for the currently faddish names, which seem, for some odd reason, to often end in an 'N' or an 'A', such as Isabella, Aiden, Savannah, etc.


Please think long and hard before you name your child the latest craze, and make sure you love your last name's initial. In school, we have to differentiate when we have the bounty crops of Isabella's. We have to have Isabella H., and Isabella C. and Isabella J.


It has gotten so bad that, at the end of the year, I don't throw out my folders, or cubbie labels that say Aiden, Ethan, Olivia, Isabella, Alexandra,etc. This is because I need them again every fall, often in duplicate or triplicate. To top it off, the parent is often ADAMANT that they don't want the four syllable long names shortened, so the teacher and (and the child's peers ) have to give tongue twisting directives while exagerating the enunciation of certain sounds, all day, such as, 'Alexandra A. and Alexandria S., please line up. Isabella S. and Isabel K., you are next.'

Interesting. My parents were really ahead of the curve 30+ years ago when they named me. My first and middle name is in your list of currently faddish names. I hated being the only one in my class with my name in a sea of Sandy/Sandras, Nancies, Lindas, and Susies. Luckily for me, I grew into my name.

 

[elrohwen]

Date: 11/21/2009 8:59:52 AM
Author: Pink Tower
I am a teacher.
My personal preference is for family names, but that is just my personal preference. I like strong names.

My extreme dislike, however, is for the currently faddish names, which seem, for some odd reason, to often end in an ''N'' or an ''A'', such as Isabella, Aiden, Savannah, etc.

Please think long and hard before you name your child the latest craze, and make sure you love your last name''s initial. In school, we have to differentiate when we have the bounty crops of Isabella''s. We have to have Isabella H., and Isabella C. and Isabella J.

It has gotten so bad that, at the end of the year, I don''t throw out my folders, or cubbie labels that say Aiden, Ethan, Olivia, Isabella, Alexandra,etc. This is because I need them again every fall, often in duplicate or triplicate. To top it off, the parent is often ADAMANT that they don''t want the four syllable long names shortened, so the teacher and (and the child''s peers ) have to give tongue twisting directives while exagerating the enunciation of certain sounds, all day, such as, ''Alexandra A. and Alexandria S., please line up. Isabella S. and Isabel K., you are next.''

I''ve had some form of my name in triplicate in every class from elementary through college. My name is Laura, and there have been Lauren, Lauran, Laurie, and Laure. Always three of us at a time (though only three Lauras in elementary school, otherwise there were variants). So annoying. While I like some of the trendier names like Olivia, Emma, and Isabella, I promised I wouldn''t name my kid something so popular that they had to go through what I did because it was such a pain (though I do like my name now and meet far less people with the same name).

 

[Elmorton]

I adore old-fashioned sounding names. I really like the name Elsie, but everyone seems to associate that with cows. Eleanor, Margaret, Lucy - those kind of names. And for boys, basically anything Biblical (with the exception of Matthew - every other boy born from 1980-1995 was named Matthew, I think). I even like some of the weirder biblical names - Isaiah, Noah (yes, I know these are now super popular, sadly), Ezra, etc. I also looooove middle names that are family last names - ex: instead of "Anna Marie Jones" "Anna Reilly Jones." It sounds so much better to me.

ETA: I also have a serious thing for family names, though DH really doesn't. I have been lobbying to name a child "Olive" someday after I found out that his great-great-great-grandmother was named that, and I love my grandmother's middle name, Izell. He is adamantly against both.

 

[waxing lyrical]

I prefer Victorian era names. Nothing cutesy or frilly. I don''t like names like Kayla, Kaylie, Rylie, Skylie, or anything trendy. Nothing made up or with funky/butchered spelling. It needs to grow with the child and look good on paper. What''s up with names like Precious, Miracle, Nevaeh (heaven backwards), etc.? Those irk me.

Can''t go wrong with classic/timeless names. I also love earthy names, like Willow and Freyja, but they don''t go with our naming style at all.

DD1 - Grace Elizabeth Katherine
DD2 - Evangeline Lily Marie
DS1 - Duncan Lewis Garibaldi (girl name we had picked out was Genevieve Lucille Rose)
DS2 (due next month) - Henry Allen Greyson (girl name was between Penelope Anne Rose and Annabel Lee Rose)

My husband writes prose and poetry. We both love Poe and he adores Homer. That''s where we draw some of our inspiration. Henry''s named after the main character in a prose he''s currently working on.

Grace is the only popular name of the bunch, but I don''t recall there ever being a Grace in any of my classes growing up. Evangeline and Henry aren''t common names and Duncan is mainly a surname.

 

[PinkTower]

Waxing Lyrical,

I just wanted to say that I love, love, all the names you chose. They are classic, and you summed it so well when you said "they need to grow with the child and look good on paper."

I, too, love family surnames as first names, and I used those for my children. The only tricky part is that, if you have children when you are older, as we did, most of the good family names have already been spoken for.

-pink

 

[miraclesrule]

Yes!! I agree with the "duh". Veda doesn''t have the "duh" like the the other three syllable names ie. Melinda, Amanda, etc.

My DD and her DH and I were all sitting at the dinner table talking about this thread and the sanskrit meaning of Veda and my SIL says "Oh yeah, my co-worker told me it''s sanskrit and it was in the Kama Sutra"

I said "No way, I''ve read the Kama Sutra" there is no mention of Veda" So SIL goes and gets his copy and he starts flipping to the back to look everything up. He starts naming off all of these different names and says:
"Man, there are some really cool names in here. Why didn''t we look at this book for names. We are going to pick out the next name from this book...listen to these cool names...yada, yada, yada"

Me and my DD just look at each other shaking our heads back and forth while he has his head in the book. Men are funny.

 

[elrohwen]

Waxing, I adore you kids'' names. They have the perfect mix of classic without being common; exactly my style!

 

[Shoopy]

I never thought of it from the teacher''s perspective but as someone who had a really common name, I never minded the "fiery last initial" in school. I would imagine it gets confusing for the teacher but as a kid its not a big deal. The names I love will always be popular names. My next girl will most likely be Elizabeth and my boy would be Richard.

That''s why this thread is interesting because its all about personal preference. I much rather Sophia be one of 3 in her class than spend her entire school career having to teach people how to pronounce/spell her name correctly. But I know so many people that prefer unique names.

 

[KimberlyH]

Date: 11/21/2009 5:52:48 PM
Author: fiery
I never thought of it from the teacher''s perspective but as someone who had a really common name, I never minded the ''fiery last initial'' in school. I would imagine it gets confusing for the teacher but as a kid its not a big deal. The names I love will always be popular names. My next girl will most likely be Elizabeth and my boy would be Richard.

That''s why this thread is interesting because its all about personal preference. I much rather Sophia be one of 3 in her class than spend her entire school career having to teach people how to pronounce/spell her name correctly. But I know so many people that prefer unique names.

Another teacher, and kids having the same name is not an issue for me. It just takes a bit of reminding ("Last name initial on papers, please!") but saying a letter after a few kids names doesn''t cause me any grief.

 

[bee*]

I think that Pandora said a lot of what I was going to say:
Some names are ruined for me because of people I know that have that name.
I''m not a big fan of family names.
I was it to go well with our surname.
I like Irish names for boys (Cian and Cillian being my too favourites) but hate Irish names for girls.
Don''t like trendy, unusual names.
Don''t mind if the names religious.
Mainly DH and I just have to like the name and I''m not too pushed about it being too popular. My favourite boy name at the moment is Jack and that''s so popular in Ireland at the moment. I also love the name Sebastian. If I ever have a girl, her name would be Charlotte.

 

[Mara]

The funny thing about a lot of the 'trendy' names right now is that they ARE more classic names, but they are just in trend right now. kind of like Isabella and Grace. To me those would not scream trendy like some of the more made-up names, but right now they are very popular.

We like Jacob a lot but it's the #1 name or in the top 5 pretty much almost every year. But it's a very CLASSIC name. However, to someone else's point, there will prob be a bunch of other Jacob or Jakes in our son's class and he'll have to go by last initial or middle name.

Bee ... one of our friends has a son named Sebastian, I love the name, but their nickname for him is Bash. He is not a rough kid or anything but I was like surely Ian or something was better for a nickname? Bash makes me think of him wielding a bat! hehe.

 

[Lanie]

I love the name Sebastian! And Bash is a cute nickname too! I don''t think of it as bashing your head against something, I think of it as "We''re throwing a Christmas Bash!". Sebastian is so much prettier in Spanish, and I told my DH that, but he''s not thrilled with the name. He thinks it''s too feminine. Alas, he doesn''t speak Spanish either, so saying the name with the Spanish pronunciation was out as well.

 

[Mara]

LOL Lanie... I never thought of Christmas Bash just the violent connotations hahaa. Sebastian does sound much better with the Spanish pronounciation but I can also see how it might seem a bit feminine. What is with the men wanting their sons to have MANLY names. Before they become men, they have to be BABY BOYS too.

Did anyone see that article on the list of the top names that are likely to end up in jail or in a violent crime investigation? 3 people sent it to me early in my pregnancy.

The jist was something like if you name your kid (boys esp I believe) something really unique or girly or hard to pronounce or spell they would be more likely to grow up as thugs and end up in jail. Some of the names though didn''t seem that unusual or odd to me. One of them was Luke...which didn''t seem unusual at all!

 

[elrohwen]

I have a gerbil named Sebastian (hey, gotta use up all of the kids names I like but aren''t in my top 2 or 3) and I call him Seb or Sebs

I never even thought of Bash or Ian!

 

[bee*]

Date: 11/22/2009 12:18:22 PM
Author: Mara

aww Bash is such a cute nickname for Sebastian-the only one I''d heard before was Seb. I''m not really sure if it would go with David''s surname though as David has a very common Irish surname.

 

[Deelight]

Date: 11/18/2009 4:02:45 PM
Author: 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).

*shakes head* that women should have thought before she spoke irrespective of that Tayva is a really beautiful name and your daughter is a little cutie


When FI and I have kids we will be going slavic (serbian) first names as they will have an Aussie surname but I generally go for very classic romantic soft names for girls and strong sounding masciline names for boys.

And for the girls they will most likely end in an ''a'' my mum, sister, niece and I all have names that end in an a

 

[Blenheim]

Date: 11/21/2009 5:52:48 PM
Author: fiery
I never thought of it from the teacher''s perspective but as someone who had a really common name, I never minded the ''fiery last initial'' in school. I would imagine it gets confusing for the teacher but as a kid its not a big deal. The names I love will always be popular names. My next girl will most likely be Elizabeth and my boy would be Richard.

That''s why this thread is interesting because its all about personal preference. I much rather Sophia be one of 3 in her class than spend her entire school career having to teach people how to pronounce/spell her name correctly. But I know so many people that prefer unique names.

To clarify my thoughts a little bit... there was one year in school where I was one of two, say, "Jennifer A."s in a classroom and the teacher told us that one of us needed to choose a nickname. Neither of us wanted to. I would have been fine being "Jennifer A" with a "Jennifer B" in the room, but I don''t want my child to be put in a position where basically someone tells them that they need to change their name when they don''t want to. Come to think of it though, this may have been more of an issue with the teacher than with anything else. I''m sure that she could have thought of another way to handle the situation.

The popular names today are being used on fewer babies than they used to be, so this is probably becoming less of an issue anyways. There were 18,587 Emmas (#1) in 2008, but 56,292 Jennifers (#1) in 1978. A Jennifer in 1978 was much more likely to be one of three in her class than Emma would be today.

 

[janinegirly]

blen-good points. My LO''s name made the top 10 list this year (after she was born), so I''m hoping this doesn''t mean there are 3 in her class. None of my friends'' babies have her name (IRL or here), but obv some others must since it''s crept up fast!

regarding the name Sebastian, I think that''s a great name, esp when shortened to Seb! I always thought of it as a French name. To me it is not feminine at all but DH also doesn''t like it so maybe men see it differently.

 

[Erin]

Date: 11/17/2009 8:59:57 PM
Author: kama_s
I love soft, unusual names. I have an affinity with the letter ''s'', somehow they sound soft and flowy to me. I''m also really not into common names. And finally, I like short names, no more than 6 letters.

I have a few beautiful sanskrit names stored somewhere on my laptop as potential future baby names, I definitely want to insert a bit of my Indian culture in there.

My college roommate''s family was from India and I just loved her name. It drove her nuts that people didn''t know how to say it or spell it, but it''s beautiful. Soumyaa.