# What are you favorite (first) names? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 7, 2008, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-favorite-first-names/466808 "2008-10-07T04:47:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Silver\_Tyger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-favorite-first-names/466808/1 "2008-10-07T04:47:38Z")
You can throw in surnames if you want. And not necessarily things you’d actually name your kids. Maximilian - a gorgeous, powerful name. Alyss - a horrendous misspelling of Alice or Elise, depending on where you put the accent, but it looks damn cool David - probably my favorite classic man’s name ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-favorite-first-names/466808/2 "2008-10-07T04:56:24Z")
Nemesis - Beautiful, beautiful name. Would love to name any potential daughter this if it weren’t for the weird attention it’d garner. Little Nemesis would be in therapy before she was six. Miriam - A more realistic daughter name. Damn pretty, sounds like a fantasy name that happens to be real. Nike - not pronounced like the shoe or the Anglicized version of the goddess, but more like nee-kuh. Lovely, classic name. I have a fondness for gender-neutral names, especially for girls. Robin, Kim, Alexis, names like that. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-favorite-first-names/466808/3 "2008-10-07T05:20:41Z")
[Bob Zany\*]Bob Zany is just my stage name, my mother named me Big Dick McGurk… It takes a woman of vision to name her son Big Dick[/BZ] \*I think it was Bob Zany, but I am not sure. ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-favorite-first-names/466808/4 "2008-10-07T05:21:02Z")
I dated a girl in high school named **Lindsay**. I was married to a girl named **Deidre**. Both favorites of mine. ---
**Author:** ![Nightingale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecae2f/32.png) [@Nightingale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightingale)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-favorite-first-names/466808/5 "2008-10-07T17:45:44Z")
I love the name Susannah. . . used it for my daughter’s middle name, actually. I think Peter is a lovely name for a man. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-favorite-first-names/466808/6 "2008-10-07T18:17:20Z")
I’m absurdly fond of Old Testament prophet names. Also Aloysius. My naming philosophy, though, is that you should give a child a conventionally-spelled and easily pronounced first name and reserve your creativity for the middle name; also that anyone who randomly capitalizes letters mid-name should be shot. ---
**Author:** ![jali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecae2f/32.png) [@jali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jali)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-favorite-first-names/466808/7 "2008-10-07T18:19:38Z")
I love the name Russell. I like Olivia and Sydney for girls these days. (My daughters are Brooke and Dalerie) I like Cameron for boys right now. (My guys are Charles and Jack) ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-favorite-first-names/466808/8 "2008-10-07T18:20:41Z")
Clare or Claire Not fussy about the spelling Paul or Michael ---
**Author:** ![Time\_Stranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5fc32e/32.png) [@Time\_Stranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Time_Stranger)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-favorite-first-names/466808/9 "2008-10-07T18:26:09Z")
For men, Patrick and Dmitri are my favorites. For women, I love the names Josephine and Stella. Also, I always liked my grandmother’s name Arilla, but only when people put a bit of a Spanish flair on it. Sometimes in the South, it ended up rhymed with gorilla, which was less than ideal. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-favorite-first-names/466808/10 "2008-10-07T18:27:54Z")
I really like the name Medb (or Maeve) pronounced “Mayve”. I also really like the name Aoife pronounced “Eefah”. Both of these names are extremely common here. For weird names I would love to call a daughter Bealtaine or Samhain, they’re the Irish for May and November respectively and also the names of pagan festivals that occur around those times. The first one is pronounced “Byallthinna”, the second one “Sowyn”. ---
**Author:** ![anu-la1979](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/47e85d/32.png) [@anu-la1979](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anu-la1979)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-favorite-first-names/466808/11 "2008-10-07T18:32:34Z")
Guys: Aniket, Keshav, Saurabh, Udaiyan/Uday, Sergei, Arkady Girls: Shirin, Nefret, Adithi, Priyanka, Mohini, Anuradha, Dagmar, Agnes (pronounced A-nyez) In my defense, I do hail from the ethnic group associated with almost all the names I listed, so they sound as common to me as “Robert”. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-favorite-first-names/466808/12 "2008-10-07T18:33:14Z")
Elizabeth Alice Rachel If I have a daughter my first choice would be Elizabeth Rachel, since Elizabeth is the most beautiful name ever (and by definition, my daughter will be beautiful.) Alice is my second favorite name, but Elizabeth Alice would be a bit too…much. Rachel would balance it out. So if I had a second daughter or my (non-existent) wife would strenuously object I would want to name her \_\_\_\_\_ Alice – but not Elizabeth or Rachel, since “Rachel Alice” sounds a bit harsh, and I havent’ come up with a good alternative name to use as the first name, and wouldn’t name her Alice as a first name to avoid AiW namecalling. I don’t have a particularly favorite boys name, only I know that mine isn’t particularly euphonious (and my last name definitely is not, but oddly enough they do balance each other out when put together.) ---
**Author:** ![anu-la1979](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/47e85d/32.png) [@anu-la1979](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anu-la1979)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-favorite-first-names/466808/13 "2008-10-07T18:38:02Z")
Also, when I was growing up in MA, every other girl seemed to be named Margo/Margot/Margaux. But it’s not a name I hear very often anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-favorite-first-names/466808/14 "2008-10-07T19:00:44Z")
I always said that if I ever had a daughter, her name would be “Nova.” I always said that if I ever had a son, his name would be “Bennu.” As it turned out, I had neither. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Tyger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-favorite-first-names/466808/15 "2008-10-07T19:09:24Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I’m absurdly fond of Old Testament prophet names. Also Aloysius. My naming philosophy, though, is that you should give a child a conventionally-spelled and easily pronounced first name and reserve your creativity for the middle name; also that anyone who randomly capitalizes letters mid-name should be shot. I’ll accept camelcase and apostrophes IF you’re from a culture where that’s relatively normal (so, like, African American or Hawaiian\*). - yes, I know it’s not an apostrophe. Glottal stop, innit? Basically your choice of names should reflect the traditions of your culture. And not just the latest fad. Misspelling names just to make a new name is silly and is only okay in fiction, and then only with good reason. Mercedes is another gorgeous name. Too bad you can’t really use it anymore, at least in the US. ---
**Author:** ![HelloKitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecccb3/32.png) [@HelloKitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelloKitty)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-favorite-first-names/466808/16 "2008-10-07T19:15:31Z")
I like this thread as I am trying to come up with names for my baby girl, scheduled to arrive the first week of January. My favorite girl names: Christine - my sister’s name, so it’s taken Savannah - other sister just named her new twin girl Suzanne Leanna - currently first in the running for the new babe Noelle - in 2nd place Boy names: Keith - I like the strength this name conveys Connor Liam Ian Sterling ---
**Author:** ![The\_Batman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/22d042/32.png) [@The\_Batman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Batman)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-favorite-first-names/466808/17 "2008-10-07T19:35:43Z")
I like language neutral names, particularly those that are written and said (more or less) the same in English and in Spanish: Minerva Aurora Diana Barbara etc… And also “mexican” names, most are a variation of nahuatl and mayan words: Cintli Citlali Nicte Xochitl Guadalupe - but only if its the full name, not Lupe. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-favorite-first-names/466808/18 "2008-10-07T19:37:10Z")
> [@HelloKitty](#): > > I like this thread as I am trying to come up with names for my baby girl, scheduled to arrive the first week of January. Pick one of the ones mentioned in this thread – if you pick a “new” and “original” one chances are everyone will have it! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-favorite-first-names/466808/19 "2008-10-07T19:44:06Z")
We’ll be naming our girl Josephine Violet, Josie for short. I also like Audrey, Claire, and Natalie. If Josie were a boy, she’d have been Duncan James. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-favorite-first-names/466808/20 "2008-10-07T19:51:34Z")
Some because I have good associations, some I just plain like, and some are a little of each. Kristin Kristi Kerri Elizabeth Bethany Ophelia Jack Dmitri Lorenzo Quentin [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-favorite-first-names/466808.md?page=2)