# Help me name my baby **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 11, 2003, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-name-my-baby/174506 "2003-05-11T16:12:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![ace22](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f05b48/32.png) [@ace22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ace22)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2003, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-name-my-baby/174506/61 "2003-05-13T16:39:38Z")
My suggestions and rules- 1. If you are going to give your child an odd first name, please for goodness’ sake give them a normal middle one so they can at least go by that. 2. Matt is the greatest name. Ever. Boy or girl. 3. Don’t just avoid rhyming; avoid having the same sound at the end. My last name ends in a long “ee” sound, so I will have to try to keep from naming my children anything that is most commonly shortened to something ending with a “y” (i.e., Jennifer to Jenny, Jacqueline to Jackie, etc.). 4. Avoid anything that a stripper would use, or anything that is commonly a boy’s name (except Matt, of course). ---
**Author:** ![DeVena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dec6dc/32.png) [@DeVena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeVena)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2003, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-name-my-baby/174506/62 "2003-05-13T16:41:44Z")
Just a note: My sister is a Laura, but she never really liked her name. Her elder daughter’s middle name is Lauren. ---
**Author:** ![hedra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/779978/32.png) [@hedra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hedra)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2003, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-name-my-baby/174506/63 "2003-05-13T17:04:06Z")
Make sure you can yell it with authority. Laura Lynn is difficult to yell with authority, IMHO. It runs together. Go look up genealogies for irish last names (say, yours), and see what you find about 100-200 years ago. I found some very good names for our lists that way (using our own family tree, but it goes back to 1600’s and earlier on some branches). For easier help, you can go to [genealogy.com](http://genealogy.com), go to their family home page search (in “community”), enter your last name (no first name), and it will give you every first name for that last name that is listed on an of their home pages. You’ll get some historical names (and some hyterical one, probably), and perhaps some ideas. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9dc877/32.png) [@Mr\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2003, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-name-my-baby/174506/64 "2003-05-13T17:40:00Z")
Emmaline Ivy Lee Clara Flora Elliot Helena May ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2003, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-name-my-baby/174506/65 "2003-05-13T23:18:47Z")
Isolde ---
**Author:** ![sidle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee59a6/32.png) [@sidle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sidle)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2003, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-name-my-baby/174506/66 "2003-05-13T23:38:52Z")
Laura is great. Who can fault Laura? Classic, simple, elegant. Once upon a time I didn’t like it because Melissa Gilbert, who played Laura Ingalls, was (and still is) the most annoying person on the planet. However, _Little House_ is (thankfully) long gone. I say go for it! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-name-my-baby/174506.md?page=3)