Boy or girl, you should name your kid Gilgamesh
Just don’t name it John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt. Because that’s my name.
Gah. I think we need a new Straight Dopism: “Every name more exotic than Jane or Robert shall be instantly derided as basically child abuse, and no matter what the name, Jane or Robert shall be suggested instead.”
The OP likes (slightly) unusual names- presumably she already knows names like “Peter” and “Katherine” exist, and they are not really what she is going for. Not everyone likes the same things you do.
I’m a 1980 Jennifer, because my parents chickened out on the name they chose, blanked, and went with the first name that came to mind and I hate every minute. All my life I was one of at least three or four. Even in my last job there were four of us, and so I was universally known by the charming nickname “J-Flow”. Lemme tell ya, I’d much rather be pretty much anything other than “J-Flow.” I’d rather by KrystyLexus than J-Flow.
And them, some lady with my exact same name went and got infamous. So people laugh at me for that, too. And it’s affecting a lot of things now- I put a distinctive fake middle name on my resume so people don’t think I’m her. It’s a problem. Even the most boring name in the world can end up a problem.
Meanwhile, my best friend growing up was “Starla.” she has always loved her name- which represents her mother’s hopes for her. Way better, IMHO, than a name that represents your parents embraceing inoffensive blandness out of fear and pandering to people they don’t even know.
I like Natasha. Tasha is a good solid nickname. Jillian is nice, too. It’s not even all that unusual.
Emmitt’s not that uncommon a spelling. I found Emmitt Smith, Emmitt Thomas, Emmitt Douglas, Emmitt Peters, Emmitt Miller, Emmitt-Leon O’Neill, Emmitt Thrower, Emmitt T. Jackson, Emmitt Webster, Emmitt Lawrence, Emmitt Kenealy, Emmitt Nervend.
Okay, the last one’s a cartoon character.
Natasha by a mile, that’s a pretty kickass name.
I voted for Emmet but only if you spell it properly. “Emmitt” is just so…GRR, I looked at it for awhile and wondered if you meant something other than Emmet because the spelling is so odd.
Corbin sounds a nerd who needs a swirly. I dunno, no concrete reason, I just don’t like Corbin.
Another fan of Natasha. The rest don’t really spin my beanie. Jillian makes me think of Ann Jillian who I remember thinking was hot when I was twelve or thirteen.
But, heck just pick whatever name you like. Don’t let us brow-beat you :).
I, too, am curious about #1’s name. These choices seem pretty widespread to me, stylistically, and while overall I’d prefer Cecily to Natasha, it makes a difference if #1 is named Alexi or Nigel, you know?
FYI, popularity levels of the names in the US:
Emmitt: as mentioned above, an unusual spelling of Emmett; it’s back in the top 1000 names after a long time off of it.
Emmett: Quickly rising in popularity - has rocketed from 740th most popular name to 273rd in the last decade
Corbin: Has stayed pretty stable over the last decade, in the 250-300th most popular name range. It’s part of the larger popularity of boys’ names ending in -n or -en, I’d guess.
I neither love nor hate Corbin or Emmett (although I agree with everybody above who advises against Emmitt). Both seem OK to me, but neither stands out relative to the other - neither is exactly my style. Just out of curiosity, are you guys also fans of other Western-ish boys’ names like Austin, Cody, Levi, etc? Corbin doesn’t exactly fit in that category, but it has a similar sound.
Natasha: Peaked in popularity in the mid-1980’s; last year it was #459 and falling.
Cecily: Hasn’t been on the charts since 1991, although I wouldn’t be surprised if it came back in style. It’s got the profile that appeals to parents right now (sounds ‘old fashioned,’ but without any sounds that parents don’t like, like ‘th’ or consonant clusters.) Cecilia has also been in the 250-300th name range for the last decade, plus Cecelia and Celia are both at around 750 and slowly falling. It’d be my pick among your three girls’ names.
Jillian: has been somewhere between 100 and 200 for most of the last 30 years, and seems surprisingly stable there.
Jennifer Garner?
Aniston?
Connely?
Lopez?
Hudson?
Jones?
Love Hewitt?
Tilly?
Gennifer Flowers?
Remember Arnie on LA Law? Corbin Bernson. For me, there’s a Corbin, Ky., so that’s what I always think of. Birthplace of Kentucky Fried Chicken, so there’s that.
You should have formed a band ;).
Hey! That’s my name, too!
So I guess that it probably makes me pretty weird that I’ve only ever known of one person named Emmett/Emmitt, and of course Mr. Smith spelled it with the “i”.
Corbin is between Corbin Bernsen and Korben Dallas. I don’t recommend the second spelling, but it’s got sufficiently awesome connotations.
I like all of your girl-child choices better than either of those, particularly (Na)Tasha and Cecily.
Natasha will quickly be shortened to Tasha if that matters to you.
Cecily? That’s an island near Italy, right?
Cecily is an old-school British name that goes back many hundreds of years. For example, Cecily Neville was the Duchess of York in the fifteenth century and mother of both Richard III and Edward IV. It’s related to Cecil, Cecilia, Celia, etc. It has nothing to do with Italy AFAIK.
Or changed to Ah, Satan for the clever kids.
nm
I think you must be younger than I am, because the only one of those that sounds to me like an old lady name is Hazel. Some of my schoolmates had kids named Abigail, Olivia and Laura, so those must have been on the upswing again in the 1980s.
Officiated a slew of 11 year old soccer games a couple years back. Every girls team had three Emmas, two Abbys, two Madelines and one Madison.
OK - *that *made me laugh! Possibly for the first time this week.
Don’t forget to weigh in the shortening factor. A boy named “Corbin” will probably get called Cory; “Emmett” will probably get called “Em,” unless you steer people toward “Mit.” If your main concern is rarity, then I’d go with Cecily, as I work with kids and have known a fair number of Natasha’s and Jillian’s over the years.
My family calls me by an alternatively-spelled nickname from my middle name. It’s a masculine spelling, and I always disliked it–and I especially disliked having to spell it repeatedly. I now go by my first name.
The thing about alternative spellings is that if they’re written, people mispronounce them (It’s a bad sign if you have to add “pronounced”), and if you speak them, people misspell them. I once knew a girl named Flesha–saw it written down and pronounced it “Flesh-ah.” She was not happy. But “Emmitt” won’t be mispronounced.
And everybody saw that news story about the woman who was ticked that people kept mispronouncing her daughter’s name, right? It was spelled “La-a” but pronounced “Ladasha.”:rolleyes:
Given the choices, I’d go with Corbin for a boy, Cecily for a girl. Either way, best wishes!