Sorry Washta, didn’t know you were English. But Jamie isn’t among the most popular names there either, so I resume my endorsement. 
Sorry but I’m not, actually. Born and raised in the US - West Coast - but hubby is English. I’ve lived over here 4 years in May.
Jamie is looking very good to us - especially for a second/middle name.
In case you’re interested, washte means ‘it is good’ in Sioux. 
True dat. When I was a kid, I thought I had a cousin Hymie, who was a botanist living in Arizona. I think I was in college before I discovered that he is really cousin Jaime, a Mexican, who is married to my mom’s first cousin. Hey, I’m a New York jew–everybody I know seemed to have a relative named Hymie somewhere in the family tree…I assumed I had one too.
Wow. My sig! I had forgotten what it even said. ::must remember to uncheck the sig box:: Damn, I hope they change the default on that soon!
A lot of these names are really great…but I am very fond of a good Irish name. Erin James, Lindsey James, Lindsey Erin…however you want to arrange/rearrange them…sounds good!
I am also very fond of the name Ella, Anna, Julia, Addie…I teach young children so, I have a ton of them.
GOOD LUCK AND CONGRATS!
I have to start out by saying that for me one of the huge factors in choosing our baby-to-be’s name was how it sounded with our last name. Not knowing yours, I would have a hard time suggesting much.
However, I am going to bite the bullet and be not humble, and suggest the name Lily or Lillian. I don’t know anyone named that, but it has the touch of Emma-ish old fashionedness that I like. Lillian James sounds good to me.
Now, time for the… <hijack>
When are you due? I’m due with a little girl of my own the first week of February. Congrats and nice to meet another Doper soon to pop!
</hijack>
How about Theodora, call her Teddi
Winnifred / call her Freddi or Winnie
Augusta or Augustina / call her Gus?
Good Luck!
james is a form of jacob.
you could try out jacobina, or jakobine (german girl name).
I don’t know how I missed seeing this yesterday and this morning, although it was probably because I tend to pass over “help me name (whatever)” threads because I have no talent for names. Most of my cats end up with obvious ones like “Pumpkin” (he’s orange and round) or “Tuxedo” (he’s black and white).
So I’m not going to try to suggest anything, just offer my congratulations to both of you.
I beg you to give your daughter a name that has a nickname. My sister in law is an Amy and hates that there are no good nicknames for it.
I recommend Jacqueline. It can be classy if she wants it to be and Jack or Jackie when she’s little. And it has the J connection. I’m a Nicole called Niki by most and Nic by my parents.
I like Old Testament names:
Rebecca, Rachel, Beth and Tamar
and old lady names:
Hannah, Rose, Lilah, Evelyn, Lillian, Anna & Isabelle
Congratulations, Washte!
Extra points for picking one that’s both.
Jill! What a great name for a smart, classic girl. Never mispronounced, never misspelled, never mistaken for the opposite sex. Not too frilly but still all girl, Jill gets my vote.
“Lindsey” is English, not Irish. (Late reply to Bosda: “Allura” isn’t Irish either. Maybe you’re thinking of “Attracta”, but please Washte don’t even consider that one!!!)
Erin’s a bit faux-Irish, but it’s a nice name, I’d go with that.
Well, I’m not sure what you mean by “cultural” names; my culture is Midwestern American, so I suppose my preferences are rooted in that. Hard to say. Although I’m not in danger of becoming a father any time soon, I’ve thought about names, and here’s a few I lean toward:
Frances— I just love this name. Some feel it’s a bit old-fashioned, but hell, they used to say the same thing about Emily and Emma. Everything old is new again!
**Abigail—**I was surprised to discover that this one’s been pretty popular in recent years. I like it.
**Lyn—**It’s got plenty of spellings, and they’re all good. Elegant in its simplicity. I’ve never liked it as a boy’s name, though.
**Carol—**I don’t know if it’s old-fashioned or not, but it’s not as common as it used to be. I like it. It’s also my mother’s name, though, and time is fashioning her as old, as she turns seventy in a couple of months.
**Janine—**This is a nice little name, and it’s also my sister’s. It seems like one that would be more popular than it is.
**Anna—**Elegant and simple, like Lyn.
**Appalonia—**This one’s got plenty of panache. It’s old and Greek, but lovely. It was also my grandmother’s, who’d be turning 99 next month if she were still alive. I’m not sure where her Polish immigrant parents came up with that name. She always went by Paula, which is another name that I like.
**Rebecca—**I like this name a lot, but it’s got an almost comic alliteration with my last name, which has plenty of plosives in it, like so many Polish names, so I’d never be able to name a daughter this.
**Astrid—**This seems to have some currency in Brazil. It refers to the stars somehow. I like it.
**Lydia—**Wasn’t this the country that Crœsus was king of? At any rate, it’s nice.
**Sabine—**Still popular in France. Refers to the Sabin women, I believe. It’s nice.
**Zoë—**Pretty popular these days. Nice name. Greek, isn’t it?
**Yvonne—**What can I say? I like French names.
Valerie—This one seems like it should be more popular than it is. Get in on the ground floor before a whole generation picks up on it!
**Castine—**A Canadian friend of mine named a daughter this. Even she doesn’t know where she came up with the name, but I think it’s lovely.
**Molly—**Like **look@hergo!/b] said about Jill: not too frilly, and all girl.
**Freyja—**A Midwestern friend of mine of Danish ancestry is called this, as her American-born parents were fond of ethnically Danish names. Freyja is the Norse goddess of fertility.
**Sophie—**Such a sweet name.
**Washte **, congrats! I like Erin of your potentials best. It’s not that Jamie isn’t a nice name, but I grew up with a Jamie. When we were young, the subs taking attendance always expected a boy, since the boy’s diminutive can be spelled that way too. Unisex names are good in theory, but then, all the boys I’ve ever met with my supposedly unisex name (Shannon) have had the same problem as Jamie did and hated it.
[QUOTE=LilyoftheValley]
However, I am going to bite the bullet and be not humble, and suggest the name Lily or Lillian. I don’t know anyone named that, but it has the touch of Emma-ish old fashionedness that I like. Lillian James sounds good to me.
Lily is a very nice name. I thought of it for a baby character in a story I’m writing, but it didn’t go well with the the parents’ last name. So I picked Calla instead; it makes people think of lilies, of course, and it’s in keeping with the slightly quirky names of the rest of the characters. Boy, aren’t you glad that I don’t get to name real people? 
A couple of you have said that you haven’t heard of any babies named Lillian or Lily. Just for the record: I know 3 Lillians under the age of 3. We had discussed the possibility of naming a future child Lilly after my husband’s grandmother, but decided against it because Lillian/Lily seems to be skyrocketing in popularity.
I wonder if it’s going to be one of those things where everybody thinks it’s kind of unusual, but all of a sudden, there are 6 Lillies in the playgroup.
“Old person” names are definitely trendy right now, as I discovered to my dismay… We were really afraid that a baby with an old man name like Arthur would seem really weird, but we inadvertently jumped on the latest trend. It’s pretty funny to see a bunch of toddlers with names like Arthur, Lillian, Jacob, Sophie, Harry, and Rose playing together. Throw in an Irving and an Ethel and you’d think you were at table 8 at your cousin’s Bar Mitzvah.
My personal favourite is Jacinta - it’s Greek in origin and means beautiful. It’s what I’ll name my daughter if I’m ever fortunate enough to have one. I also like Grace, was contemplating that as a middle name, till someone pointed out that “Jacinta Grace” sounds alarmingly like disintergrate!
Yes, “Old person” names are quite trendy these days. I think the days of Dakota and Cameron are waning and the days of Martha and David are back.
I teach preschool and I’m seeing less and less of the unisex “last name as first name” Taylor and Riley and more of Sophia and Georgia and Rosa and Jacob and Charlie and LOTS of Henry.
Sophia is a beautiful name, and it means “wisdom” (hey, I did learn something in Philosophy class).
I also like the suggestion of Jacqueline. Jacqueline James sounds very powerful, I think. Plus, then you’d have the option not only to call her Jackie, which is a good nickname, but you could also call her J.J., which she might think is pretty cool as a teenager!
Washte & Kal I am so happy that you are finally going to be parents! I have kept the two of you in my thoughts and have sent positive vibes to your bump!
Now comes the hardest part of all, (labor is easy) naming the baby.
My thoughts, which have no value on Ebay, about Takoda and **Jaime **.
Takoda sounds like a dyslexic SUV. It is slowly dying off in popularity and frankly, should have never risen.
Jaime can be a very sexy name, but every since I saw Stand and Delivery and heard the spanish pronunciation of this (male version) *Hy-mee * - frankly, I can’t get over it. *Mad About You * hasn’t been the same. However, totally understanding honoring your Father thing, what about having her have the middle name of **James **. My dad’s name was James. It’s a Grand Old Name. That would be way-cool in my book.
**And Now, the moment you’ve been waiting for:*Shirley’s Name Pick For Baby Washte & Kal * **
I love names.
I like classic names.
Cutting edge names without the RenFair/LoTR geek thing.
Ethnic names, especially uber-ethnic names like Hildegard ( hildy). However, given *Kal’s ** rom heritage and their seemingly unpronoucablity to them, much like the Welsh. "His name is Grwn. It’s pronounce, “Luxury Yacht” but we call him, " Eyechart."
Blind Date Names.
Anything but trendy, unless it is a classic, but not being done to death: Emily, Hannah, Sara, Alison.
Here are my picks just for you, my close personal friends:
**Audra
Imogene
Hermione **( this is brought on entirely because of Harry Potter and I just love it. Not sure if I’d have the cajones to name any other daughter of mine.)
Josephine. Josie or Jo for short. #1 runner up for our daughter should the first name could not commit to a life time service. Well, it was my #1 pick. Meh.
**Augusta ** Gus for short.
**Philinda ** saw it on a gravestone near hubby’s parents house. Always liked it.
Vanessa and **Natasha ** are excellent blind date names. I mean, you daughter is already going to be a hottie, why not make her droolable even more when she is 18 and posing for Maxim.
**Piper ** I went to school with one and always thought this a way cool, beautiful, spellable,yet not trendy name. Lyn would be a good name. Piper Lyn James.
**Henri-Ann ** I worked with a Danni-Ann (Who went by Danni for after work and Ann for Business, no she wasn’t a hooker.) and I’ve always liked Henry and thought of this variation was kinda cool. IMHO. could make her family name Hank. Henri-Anne James. Really confuse telemarketers and college admissions. Naturally, my husband poo-pooed this one too.
I cannot wait to hear the final decision and of her arrival! I wish I were a bug on the wall when she arrives to see the happiness on your faces.