Guys, what do you like in baby names?

In My Humble Opinion
41

Boys names: something traditional from the family which isn’t hard to spell or remember. I’d name a son Grant, after my grandfather. (It’s sort of a family name.) Maybe Brent, after my uncle. Nobody’s getting named after my father — long story.

No funky spellings. No gender-ambiguous names. No flavor-of-the-month names. If I were to overhear someone else’s new and unique baby name, I wouldn’t use it. Biblical names would be looked at with a wary eye; I want traditional but I don’t want entrenched.

Girls names: no funky spellings. No diacritical marks or apostrophes or hyphens. No conjoined names like Emmasue or Angelinamay — makes it look like the parents couldn’t agree. “Elizabeth” and “Marie” as middle names would be right out.

I rather like the names Danae, Phoebe, and Renee. (Note: no funny marks.) Also Natasha, but only if she has dark hair. :slight_smile:

42

Hijack, but do you have a problem with Italians (or non-WASPs in general)? It’s just that you mention this here and before on another thread I remember you saying that you “assimilated” your wife and now have the WASP family you always wanted. I’m not trying to start something, it’s just that this kind of prejudice seems bizarre in this day and age and I’m struck by the quaintness.

I have to say that I like a lot of the guy’s names better than ones chosen by the women. More traditional and no-nonsense, at least for the male children. Some of you still persist in screwing up girl-names though, grr.

43

Reason Number 82.12.6 why I will never have children is that I would probably name them after whatever fascinated me at the moment and by the time they were grown they’d not only hate me but I wouldn’t have given the subject a second thought in twenty years. “These are my kids- Brigham, Elton, Herod, Göring and Leonidas… and the boys are here somewhere as well.”

But the names that I’d stick with: since my ancestry is mostly British and Celtic and my surname is of Welsh origin I like Gaelic names, particularly Selwyn, Bronwyn and Siobhan (the first two unisexual in practice and the third girls only). I also like Anglicized Russian names (I used to say if I had a daughter I’d name her Kira but then the name exploded). For girls I like Spanish names based on nouns we don’t tend to name kids for in English (Luz [light], Corazon [heart], Mavi [my life], etc.) and for boys I also like Biblical names that are not horrendous (e.g. Hezekiah, Shelomith) but not overused: Isaac, Malachi, Gideon, etc.).

Boringly, my favorite names of all are the ones that I’d have to order a 30 year curfew on if I were President for Life- only 100 people per year could use these until the herd was thinned: Michael, Nicholas, Christopher, etc…

I have an irritation with family names even though there are plenty of them in my family for the simple reason that every Southern yuppie I’ve known in the past 20 years has overdone them, applying them to boys and girls alike until it sounds like they’re referring to their law firm. “I’m taking Taylor, McKay and Bracken over to their grandmother’s today- since I’ve got the 18 wheeler minivan and there’s plenty of room would you like me to pick up Tinsley, Wheeler and Peyton on the way and drop them off at Collins, Doohan and Caton’s house?”

44

Any real, traditional name (“Slade” is not a real name, for instance) that is not in the census bureau’s top 50 popular names and that is spelled in an easily recognizable manner.

45

I prefer religious names even though I’m athiest. They often have a nice ring to them.

For my son, we chose a simple, but not too common religious first name. One that will hopefully suit him throughout his life by either using full form or abbreviation. If he doesn’t like it however, we gave him a solid, traditional, middle name he can go by.

46

I have an unusual, hard-to-spell, easy-to-mispronounce last name. For me, finding names that sounded “right” was THE most important thing. No weird spellings, either. Bad enough everyone in my family has to go through life saying our last name three times and spelling it twice, without having to do the same thing with our first names.

However, to my ear, Joel sounds just fine.

All other things being equal, I’d rather give my kid a name that reminded me of someone I like, than of someone I hate. No matter how well it might go with our last name, no son of mine would be named “Adolf.”

47

I’m another who likes the idea of biblical names - both male and female. However, there are some caveats: I’m not going to go saddling some poor kid (who may be choosing my long-term disability care facility) with Nebanchunezzar. Just ain’t gonna happen. I also like names that are a bit ambiguous with their origin. It’s not easy to find such names, but there are a few.
Boys: Malachi is a personal favorite. A bit odd, but not completely outre, IMHO. And shortens nicely to Mal. Granted, it will be a pain if the boy ever goes to learn French… I’m also fond of Aaron, though not likely to use it. (My father’s name, and he’s still alive - too much room for confusion.) Benjamin, Abraham, and the like also appeal.

Girls: First choice is something simple like Hope or Faith. I’d also enjoy being able to name a girl Nausicaa, but my sister has threatened to kidnap any prospective children I might have to prevent such a fate. Naomi is a nicely ambiguous name, being both OT, and Japanese.

Oh, though it IS a family name, there’s NO WAY I’ll inflict Cyrilla on any girl-child.

48

Care to be more specific?

49

I forgot, my son was born a month after the Red Sox won their first World Series in 86 years, so my first suggestion to my wife was that we name him “Pedro Trot Manny Curt ‘Papi’ Varitek.” But she didn’t go for it.

50

To be fair, “Hunter” is pretty awkward on anyone. Hunter, Tyler (Cooper, Taylor, Madison, McKenzie, etc…) are surnames & sound it.

I like names that sound like a first name more than a last name. Heck, I’d rather name my kids River, Leaf, & Dweezil than Jackson, Miller, & McKenna. Actually, Reed might be ok, or Gilbert, or even something like Sterling–but not an occupation name or something with “son” in it. Those just rub me the wrong way.

Also, I have the “give them their own name” attitude, so I lean against naming them after relatives.

And when a name gets too common, I shy away from it. So no Michaels, Johns, or Christophers for me. Elizabeth is a notable exception to that rule, but it’s shortenable in many ways.

Traditional boy names I like: Joseph, Reuben, Louis, Alistair.
More oddball: Leonidas (Leon for short, duh), Corin, Swift.

Traditional girl names I like: Constance, Elizabeth, Minerva, Claire.
More oddball: Boadicea, Thalia, Euphrosyne (Roz for short, duh).

51

These are good rules for kid’s names. I’d also add that the name should be uncommon, but not so uncommon that no one knows how to pronounce it. My parents did a pretty good job with my name, since you can’t really get much simpler than a three letter name and there’s only one reasonable way to say it. However, I highly suggest not naming a boy a name that rhymes with ‘gay’.

52

This is my favorite website of all dealing with baby names. The commentary on various trendy names is absolutely hilarious:
http://www.notwithoutmyhandbag.com/babynames/

As for me, my last name is Rosen, so I kinda like the idea of thinking of a son named Hunter and a daughter named Willow. Geeks should get the references. But I probably won’t have kids anyway, so it doesn’t matter what I think.

53

I admit that it sounds a little offensive but it shouldn’t be considering the topic of the thread (personal preferences) and the fact that I have recent real-life experience exploring my preferences. I am only referring to my own preferences for my own children when I say that.

Of course I don’t hate Italians and some Italian names are beautiful (as are many other ethnic names).

However, some ethnic identities like Italian can be very potent especially when you live in an area that is heavily Italian like Boston. My children are only 25% Italain yet that side of the family assumed they would get Italian names just like something out of My Big Fat Greek Wedding. I didn’t like that very much. I also put a ban on naming kids after anyone on both sides of the family when people started being too pushy (boy, I sound like a real dick when I write it out. I wonder if I am really like that?)

I would say the same thing if my wife were half-Indian or half-black. I would consider an ethnic name for my children if my wife was part of a culture that needs help being represented or preserved.

54

I like Shagnasty’s approach in general (see post #17). Obviously, I like more classical Hellenic names (& Italian names for that matter), but I think his basic points are adaptable to individual taste.

I would add that I think it’s good to give a child a name he can grow into. I hope I think in terms of what name would be cool to have as a teenager & adult, rather than what’s cute for a little kid. And remember, whatever name you give your child will be normal to that child–they’ll have it from birth.

55

I second (or fifth, or whatever) the comments about strange spelling. Most of that stuff is weird for the sake of weird, and it looks dumb. I’m a fan of the “President of the United States” test. Unusual names are fine, wacky ones are not.

To my ears, the girls’ names I like have a little dignity and music to them. I’m reviewing them mentally, and most of the ones I’m thinking of are foreign-sounding names that end with “a.” How’s that for specific? Cassandra, Julia and Anastasia are around the top of the list favorites. My #1 favorite is a secret (per advice I’ve read on the Dope), but it doesn’t end with an a, so I wouldn’t have a rhyming problem unless I had three daughters - and as my grandfather would probably tell me, three daughters is enough of a problem on its own. :wink:

Boys’ names just aren’t as much fun. But my rules aren’t too different; I like names that have some class and don’t proclaim “Look at me, I’m unique! And this is my brother, Uneek!” Charles is one of my favorites.

As an atheist, I’m not really into religious names, and names that sound really old (Eunice) or young (Tiffany) to my ears are also out. I wouldn’t want to name kids after family members either. Oh, and no “Mc” anything. I’m not biased against Irish people, I just think the trend of making Irish surnames into first names needs to go away - it’s even worse when a name meaning “son of” is used on a girl. I refuse to be a father to a MacKenzie (or McKynzi), McKayla (Maqailaa) or anything of that nature.

56

A name in my family that I would like to see preserved, though I’ll probably never have a daughter and if I did I don’t know that I would use it, is Sahola. It was the name of an 18th century born ancestress of Creek/English ancestry and is a relatively common name among the Creek Indians who constitute a tiny tiny fraction of my ancestry. We’re all blonde and blue-eyed and fair skinned in my family now but I’d love to see our ancestors “of color” represented.

57

Oh, what he said about picking names you & your spouse both like. That’s good to keep in mind.

At the extremes: I could be willing to marry a woman who wanted to name her daughter Electrica (actually a friend’s hypothetical baby name once–her kids now are named Ivy & Neo). But I would have qualms about someone who insisted on naming her son Kevin. Nothing wrong with the name, it just doesn’t appeal to me. Everyone’s got their own taste.

58

What** Shagnasty** said, I mean.

Finally read through the thread. Hey, I’m kinda diggin’ Naomi & Slade.

59

For family reasons, my first boy child (if any) will get tagged with either Jubal, Moses or Grinter. Since no one’s chosen Moses in several generations I think I’ll just rule it out completely and mercifully. My brother was one of the ones to get stuck in our generation, so I guess it’s up to me to take a hit on the next go-round.

For girls, I’ve always liked Victoria and Aurelia.

60

For our daughter we were choosing between Guenivere*, Willow, Rhiannon and Rose. We used two of them. I liked names that had both Mythological roots and Musical Roots. Rhiannon was a great song by Stevie Nicks and a Celtic Goddess.
One of the favorite songs of both myself and my wife is “Guennivere” by CSN written by David Crosby. Willow, we had just read a book by Charles DeLint and liked the name. Rose, I’m not sure, I think my wife liked it.

For Boys we chose between Brian or Kevin. Brian would have been for Brian Boru and Kevin we just liked.

Jim

  • Not the Standard spelling, on purpose.