Yeah, but I don’t care if other people’s daughters have skank names!
Will your little Ptolemy have a sister named Cleopatra that he can marry?
Ptolemy is actually the anglicized version of the Greek name Ptolemaios, which means “warlike”. Cleopatra is from Kleopatra, “father’s glory”.
I beg to differ. Well, Brittany you can have, but Jessica has a long and proud history, being the name of Shakespeare’s heroine from Merchant of Venice.
Brittany falls into my category of skank names because it’s a place name. Brittany (and it’s mispelt cousin, “Britney”) is the name of a French province. Any name taken from a physical location is automatically skanky. Arabia, China, Africa – those are all STRIPPER NAMES. Your darling little Arabia will be dancing at the local titty bar off the interstate. You don’t want to give your daughter a STRIPPER NAME, do you?
Full Disclosure: Female here so I will not be offering suggestions
Ok, I have to ask, what is your definition of a trailer trash name? Can you give us some examples. 
Also, imagine in 50 or 60 some years when all the nursing home residents are named Brittney or Emily.
“Now Brittney, it is time to time to go Bingo.” “Emily, we need to get your teeth so we can clean them.”
Jacqueline, Audrey and Serena - obviously I like traditional names.
When picking baby names, I went for
-classic names
-non-top 20 names
-preferred one with easy demunitive (jacqueline, jac, jackie, etc but that didn’t work for the other two)
-liked the original greek/latin/french meanings
-avoided names that could be easy teasing targets
-avoided names that had poor personal connotations (Jane didn’t make the list because the skank ho broke my heart)
Penelope was a name I really liked but my wife didn’t. Veronica was one my wife loved and I can’t stand.
From the book Freakonomics, by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner:
Most Common Low-Income White Girl Names
- Ashley
- Jessica
- Amanda
- Samantha
- Brittany
- Sarah
- Kayla
- Amber
- Megan
- Taylor
- Emily
- Nicole
- Elizabeth
- Heather
- Alyssa
- Stephanie
- Jennifer
- Hannah
- Courtney
- Rebecca
The Twenty White Girl Names That Best Signify Low-Education Parents
- Angel
- Heaven
- Misty
- Destiny
- Brenda
- Tabatha
- Bobbie
- Brandy
- Destinee
- Cindy
- Jazmine
- Shyanne
- Britany
- Mercedes
- Tiffanie
- Ashley
- Tonya
- Crystal
- Brandie
- Brandi
All data from the 1990s.
Somehow, I don’t think Boston Harbor Jones would end up there. (One of my favorite place names given to a character in fiction. Not something I’d saddle on any kid of mine.)
Three different spellings of Brandy in the top 20? That’s painful.
While I have never met a Mercedes in real life, I noticed a long time ago that every single model I’ve seen calling herself Mercedes has long, straight, brown hair, skin-tight jeans or leather pants, a very snug T-shirt, mirrored sunglasses somewhere in the picture, and a studded leather belt. She is often adorned with some sort of “tribal” accoutrement, usually a beaded choker or a feathered roach clip, and 90% of the time she is posing with a motorcycle or a tricked out car.
What’s up with that?
I met a real Mercedes once. Guess what she did? She was a stripper. In high school. Yes, she was a senior at my school when I was a junior, and had just turned 18 and started working. Talk about self-fulfilling prophecy with those kind of names…
I don’t really want to say the names I most love because I don’t want to give anyone any bright ideas. 
Yes, being at least reasonably uncommon is an important factor. You have to distinguish yourself in this world, do you really want your kids having generic names and turning into generic people?
Yes, I have issues. My real first name is Michael. My dad’s name is Michael. My grandfather’s name is Michael. My uncle’s name, is also Michael. There is another Michael in my building. I don’t think I’ve ever had a class in school where there wasn’t another Michael. I meet a new Michael almost every day. And when I was a kid, my mom would tell me whenever Michael was the #1 most popular name, again, that year, like she was proud of it. (I was born 1985)
At least it’s not still that high up there for new babies (I don’t think/hope). But parents, please listen to me: don’t ever name your kids Michael again. I will spit on you.
It’s an old SNL skit with Nicholas Cage. The couple are trying to pick out names and he keeps shooting then down because kids might make fun of whatever the mom picks.
I was bored long while ago and I picked out my future children’s names.
Boys:
Jacob Matthew
Christian Gabriel
Isaac Joshua
What sucks is I absolutly love the name Israel. In fact, I wanted the name to be Jacob Isreal, but my last name’s Green, so it would be Jacob Isreal Green. grumblestupidlastnamegrumblegrumble.
And I adore the name “Elizabeth” for girls, my the girls names are going to be:
Hayley Elizabeth (I don’t really carey about the spelling for ‘Hayley’)
Audrey Elise
In meaning, “Elise” is just another form of “Elizabeth.”
And then I noticed there was a pattern with my boy’s names. Oh well. Shame my wife’s not going to have any say in the names. I’ve called dibbs already, even though I’m not even dating anyone.
P.S. I’ve have some other names saved up in case they’re needed:
Noah
Joseph
Raynoldo (my grandfather’s name)
This is my method for naming pets - I quite like the name, but there’s no way it would get approval from my husband. So the cat’s been named Sophie. He named his dog Bella (ugh, that name is so over done these days).
Cazzle’s post reminded me that my own husband prescribes to the same theory about names. Every hypothetical name I toss up, he relates it to someone he knew, whether he liked or disliked them. I just rule out the “common” or “bogan” names.
The current preference currently rhymes with his own name. Which is fine by itself, because it’s also the name of his best man. So, if were to be used, in conjunction with the practice of using the father’s name (ie, my husband’s name) as the child’s middle name, the poor child would be saddled with Rory Corey Surname.
At least, that’s the name we’re telling everyone we’re going to use. 
I prefer some good manly names. Like, Laser, Razor, Blaser… Blade, Thor, Crusher
I actually knew a Thor.
I don’t currently plan on progeny, but you never know. Thing is, I have a long moist German grumble of a surname that not a lot sounds good with. The name would have to be very simple.
For a boychild, Robert, my dad’s name, would probably be choice number one. Harry or Jan would work too. (I had forebears named John and Henry but never liked those names.) I have a cousin Elias who is a great kid, and always liked Eli, too.
Girls’ names? There’s Jan, of course. Or Ella. I love Lis, a Scandinavian shortening of Elizabeth, although it might be awkward if she wanted to go into commercial real estate. I sorta like the name Risa, although it’s a little apt to be mistaken for Lisa.
Perfect…if you have a surname like Morey or Lawrie or DellaTorre. 
There is also the cultural factor. Some names sound fine in one language or culture, but horrible when moved to another context.
I knew an Indian fellow by the name of Ramee Updias. Say that out loud.
Oddly, a Google search finds no one with the name “Updias”.
Not a guy, and not having kids, but wanted to mention a few things!
My name is Lynn, too. I feel I, as a Lynn Marie, have two middle names and no first name!
I am surprised and pleased that China Guy said my favourite girl name: Serena.
And I know a girl whose middle name is Mercedes. She is not a “typical” Mercedes at all. (Intelligent, nice, talented musician, etc.) I guess having it as a middle name negates the Mercedes effect.
That’s my mother’s middle name. I’d guess that it’s a very popular middle name - I know three or four women who have it.