This thread brought up a question. What names would you name either a son or daughter, if you were to have a child?
My wife and I would name a boy Albert, after Einstein, and would name a daughter Clementine. We both just love the name, but I am embarrassed to admit that the direct inspiration for the name, that is, what made me realize that it’s a pretty name, is Clementine Johnson from Reno 911. We’d never admit it to little Clemmie, but them’s the facts…
Joe
Not wanting to break family tradition, I would recycle family names. A boy might be Matthew Thomas (after my cousin and my father, respectively) and a girl would be Hazel Lynn (after my grandmother’s maiden name and my great-great-grandmother’s first name).
I pick Matthew because it’s an M name and I like M names. Thomas gets added because Matthew Thomas has some nice biblical cred. Hazel Lynn just because I like the names and I think it sounds pretty.
ETA: In the off chance I should ever adopt a child here in Japan, I would consider Mamoru or Makoto for a boy, because, again, M names, and I love single character names for boys. A girl would probably also be Makoto. Or Akiko, after a dear friend of mine.
If we had a boy, I’d like Patrick Oliver. Or Oliver Patrick. I really like the name Patrick, and hubby’s best friend when he was in high school was Oliver (Ollie). Oliver died at 16, & I know hubby would like to honor his memory in some way if we ever have a kid.
However, there’s always a chance our son’s name may be Skeletor, depending on how many drugs I’ve had when giving birth 
Hubby likes “Leah” for a daughter, but my dad just named my baby half sister that (well, “just” being 4 years ago now). I like Galiana but hubby’s not fond, though he has agreed that the diminutive “Galya” is a nice name.
Spooky seodoa - Matthew is my pick too (although that said I really like the idea of dating someone called Matthew so if that happened I’m not sure I’d want my son called that too…). If not Matthew then either Darius, Jared or Taman, I like those.
For a girl I really like the name Amelia even if it is a tad aspirationally posh.
We’ve had our names picked out since we started trying, 10 years ago…
Abernathy (Abbey) Rayne for a girl - Rayne after my husbands mother, Jayne.
Devin William Jeffery for a boy - William after my father and grandfather, Jeffery after my husband.
If we had a girl, it’d be a toss up between:
Rosalind (my husband’s pick)
Evelyn (my pick)
Emmaline (a potential compromise)
If we had another boy, it’d be a bit more difficult. So far, the only potential we have is Amit after his closest childhood friend. I’ve got no problems with that.
I’ve been harboring fantasies of being mommy to little Claudia for years. In fact, I was going to name our son that if he was a girl, even though my husband didn’t agree. We chose not to learn our baby’s sex, so I had it all planned out right up to the birth.
Recently I chose a way cool boy’s name: Jethro.
I am 45 and infertile, so I guess that qualifies as fake.
Gabriel, Toby, Rufus, Bruno, Gideon, Jonah. Miranda, Octavia, Leah, Katarina. It would be a big family!
We never are going to have children, but I’ve always held out for Kalynda Rhiannon if it’s a girl, and Judith Christa if its another girl.
My little girl’s name will be Corrina Grace her brother will be Joseph Patrick (middle name is my husband’s first) or Joseph Clarence (Middle name is my F-I-L’s first) and would be shortened to J.P. or J.C.
I’ve always loved the name Reyna. And since both my name and my husband’s starts with R, and so does our last name, it works, anyway. I’ve always liked Rose, but that absolutely doesn’t work with our last name.
For a boy, I dunno, I like Ryan, but my husband’s cousin’s boy is named that. It’s moot, however, since we’re childless-by-choice, and I had my baby-factory removed 4 years ago.
I’ve always liked Aniket fora boy and Shirin for a girl but we’ve quasi-settled on Keshav or Kabir (boy) and Priyanka or Aditi (girl).
They are totally boring names in our culture, trust me :).
Chances are pretty slim that we’ll have any more yard apes, curtain climbers and/or porch monkeys (we were unbelievably lucky just to have the one boy that we have; more would be like winning the lottery twice), but I still have a few leftover names from the list:
Boy: Creek Clearwater, Finn Michael, Thomas Maarten, Winston Smith
Girl: Arden Olivia, Anne Bonney, Renate Maria
Roman Arthur. Two strong names. Roman sounds weird at first, but try saying it for a few days and it turns into totally cool. Arthur, besides the King, is my gf’s treasured late grandfather’s middle name.
Rosella Marie. I want the s sound like “Ro-sella”, she wants a z, like Rose+Ella. She’s playing the “It’s my family’s name!” card, but I’m trumping it with “It’s *my *daughter!”
I actually love the name Clementine and had a cat named that I also love the name Serafina and now have a cat named Serafina (thinking it too “out there” for a real child’s name - Jennifer Garner went for it!)
My favorite girl’s name is currently Lila Elizabeth. Boy’s name is Jason Robert (Robert after my dad and my SO’s dad).
Overlyverbose - I love Emmaline!!
I’ve never wanted children, so these are more than hypothetical.
Girl - Mary Claire or Teresa Marie
Boy - Robert Emmett
StG
Nathan David, possibly, for a boy. I’d planned to go with William Robert until my mom yelled out “Billy Bob!” That killed that name deader than dead.
I’ve always loved Emma Katherine for a girl, but with the rise in popularity of the name Emma, I’m now not certain I’d go with that.
We don’t currently plan on having kids, so the questions pretty much moot, but those are the names I have in mind.
Haven’t really thought about boy’s names, but with girls my favorite names are Elizabeth, Alice, and Rachel. Unfortunately I don’t have a fourth favorite or I’d be all set for two girls
If I were to marry and we were only planning on having a certain number of children I’d want a girl to be named Elizabeth Alice (Alice Elizabeth has a better mouth feel but is more humor-mongering of a name than Elizabeth). If we were planning on having more than one I wouldn’t want to blow my whole wad on the first and call her Elizabeth Rachel.
I’m never having children, but if I were:
girls: Nina, Elizabeth (who would get called Elizabeth by me) [used to be Maya but I think that’s getting too popular]
boys: Avery, Garnet (GarNET, like Stan Rogers’ brother) [and I love Matthew also, and would call him Matthew]
This isn’t at all the kind of thread I thought it would be from the title.
I was hoping for made-up, non-standard baby names, such as Mortthew and Samaniffer. Patrachel … Jancy … Frederob … Lucianne … Ryick …
Oh, well.
I’d name my imaginary baby Grendellina if female and Petrarch if male.