Having a Lot of Trouble with Boy Names

My parents live in Kansas City, so we drove there and just went through all the names we could think of going from a-z. Kansas is a pretty boring state to drive through (no offense to anyone)and we had lots of free time. I'm sure you don't need to drive through ks to do this though ;) Good luck!

Hi there-
We wish you the very best in your pregnancy! We rather liked the names Spencer Alex and Jack Philip. Hope this helps-

we had the same problem and ended up with two boys first. we chose a favorite book series (for us it was star wars) which had many characters we admired. so we feel good when we tell our sons they were named after jedi knights and why we feel the characters are honorable. (but truthfully i see a different pride in my husband's face when he talks of our second son being named after him as well. our son's first name is my husband's middle name). we lucked out in that there is a star wars website with a list of all the characters in all the books. maybe your favorite will have a website too.

When we found out we were having a boy, we started with books or the internet www.babynamer.com and just started reading A-Z and would write down names we even remotely liked. Then we each read the names and had veto power over any name. The very first name on my husband's list was Seth and it was the only one he picked that I actually liked. We ended up with about 5 names on the final list but we didn't actually decide on a name until our son was 2 days old and we ended up going with Seth. Although I think it was a couple of months before I was sure that we picked the right name (even though we never would've changed it).

You don't have to have a name right away, so just keep a running list of any name you might even consider and cross them off as you really decide you just don't like that name. You may find that a few of the names really start to grow on you. Or maybe once the baby comes a name will just click.

Michael J. Fox and his wife had picked out a very formal name for their son but when he was born, they decided the name just didn't fit and they both thought he looked like a "Sam" so that's what they named him.

I would bet money that you are having a girl! Don't worry about a boy's name. If it is in fact a boy, you figure it out when you see him!

This may not work for you, but my husband and I get a big book of baby names and go through it. We write down all of the names that we both like at all, even the ones we are luke warm on. We are both pretty picky so that leaves a pretty short list. We write the names on a white board on the kitchen and they just sit there through the pregnancy. If we think of another one we like we put it on the board. If we decide we really don't like one after all we erase it. When the baby is born we take a good look at him or her and see what name seems to fit. We ended up choosing names that were not at the top of our lists for our two daughters. When they were born there was another name on the list that just seemed to fit perfectly. In fact, my husband had almost completely decided against the name we chose for our second daughter, but when she was born he took one look at her and knew that was her name.

Try thnking of names of characters that you've liked in stories. I'm a huge reader, and that is how i narrowed my list for my daughter's name. With books, sometimes you get an emotional connection with a character and the name just resonates. Good luck. I like the name Toby.

You are so lucky your husband is not stuck on a Jr. My husband grew up in that era where his dad is John and his dad's dad is John. He was little John and had a cousin baby John. Now we have 2 girls and are having a boy in October. Unfortunately, for me he insists on Jonathan, which yes is not technically a Jr. but he is already calling him little John. EEK. I hate Jonathan and don't really want another"lil John". He said I can call him anything I want so I told him that the girls and I would call him Michael(husband's middle name). I just don't want to confuse my son. So I continue to check out your responses and see if there is a happy medium for us. Good luck.

Although I should probably be reading this for other reasons, the Bible has some very unique and timeless names. My baby's name is Jonah Rollie. Jonah is a name that doesn't show up on the top 10 names of the year, but we always get comments on it. Rollie is my mother's maiden name. I like the idea of finding some name in the family- first, middle, or last. It is hard to find one you both agree on. When you do, know that it is right!

I never did figure out a name that clicked for me with my 3rd daughter. One day I was visiting a lot of family and they all just kind of threw out a bunch of names and then they all sort of settled on a name they all agreed on while I just sat and listened. It was somewhat comical since I was the pregnant one. I never could settle on a name, so I ended up just using what my family decided on. It never sat totally right with me...but I kept calling my daughter her name...and somehow as she has grown (she's 2 1/2) I can't imagine her with any other name. I guess what I'm saying is I was so concerned that nothing clicked for me, even the name I named her once she was born. But the click isn't neccessary I'm happy to say...if you have a name you could be satisfied with and never find a name that clicks, don't worry...if you have a little boy I bet not long after his birth whatever his name is would be hard to imagine as anything different.

Go to www.babynamewizard.com and look at the Name Voyager. This site gives you all the names out there that have ever been popolar since the 1880's and gives you graphs on how popular they've been and when. I'm all about using names that aren't common and are very gender specific. We love using this site in looking for baby names.

Do you read a lot? I've heard of a lot of cool names from literature. Maybe one of them will strike you. I even knew a guy in highscool named D'Artagnon (from the 3 musketeers) - he went by D'Art.
A couple of thigs to keep in mind though: Don't go too far out, he will have this name for life and people make unconscious judgements based on names; would you go to a lawyer or doctor names Biff? Be careful of exotic spellings, he will always be correcting people (our oldest is named Alyson, an archaic spelling, but we always have to spell it out). And if you like a nickname, like Bob, give him the full name anyway. He can always choose to shorten it, but it's harder to 'formalize' the given name thats really a nickname - my sister-in-law is named Jenny, and thats what had to go on wedding announcements, resumes, etc, even though Jennifer would have been more formal it wasn't her name.
Let us know what you settle on - it'll give others ideas!

With all seriousness ask your baby who s/he is. Go with the first name that pops into your head.

Take the girl name and find the masculine form of it.

IT'S OK IF YOU DON'T HAVE A BOY NAME--EVEN IF YOU KNOW YOU'RE HAVING A BOY.

So many, many people wait until the baby is born before choosing a name because seeing the child helps them to know if the name is right...you know, choose a name that the baby looks like to them.

No worries on this, K!? It's all ok.

My husband named our children (I would of told him if I hated the name). I loved them all. For the boys they have the same initials as there dad JA (Joey Alan) Jarrod Alan and James Alexander. Our oldest son whom was very premmie and is our little angel we named Alexander Louis (my dad for Louis). If it is a boy remember grandparents and even great grandparents. Chances are it will be different if you go back into your family trees.
Good luck on the name and congrats on the baby!!

whatever you do please give them a name they can grow up with. Little boys become men and it is really hard to take man seriously with a trendy stupid name. Look through history books find a name with a meaning or a family name. Please I beg all my friends and family not to name them something that you cant spell or say. Besides who is going to take a grown man with some unknown trendy name seriously

My vote goes for Caden. :) If I had a boy, that's the name I would have chosen. You can call him Cade for short and it's really cool!

My husband and I had the same problem. For our first child we had a girl name right away, and then she came out a girl. The second time we knew we were having a boy so it took us right up until I had about a week to go to figure out a name. We wanted to name him Jack but that is the dog's name so no go there. Then one day we saw and advertisment for "Super-size Me" by Morgan Sporlock (spelling?) and decided on Morgan Jackson. More often than not, he goes by Moe. Definitely not a name we would have chosen at all. Now I am glad that we didn't name him Jack because there are two Jacksons and a Jack in his daycare class. You never know where you will get your inspiration from. It might take just seeing the baby first to get one that fits. Good luck.

I checked out a baby names book from the library, I know there are more than one. Do a title keywords search on your local library website and put in baby names. I'm sure that will help you. That is how we picked the name Ella 6 years ago which we love... we had never met anyone named Ella before... something wierd happened and it seemed like all of a sudden everyone was naming their daughter Ella, we now run into Ella's all the time, haha! My personal boy favorites are Michael, William, Nicholas, and Thomas. good luck!

Well....M. here's my advice. Boy names are hard, aren't they! Think of things you like. Play with the names call it out loud. I like Spiderman (always have since I was little) so we named our son "Parker" after "Peter Parker" My husbands middle name is Donald so I shortened it to Don...Parker Don

If you last name is long-try to find short names and vise versa
Here are a few ideas- these were goodies:
Clay, Tanner, Tucker, Toby, Eli, Luke, Spencer,
Stone, Cooper, Blake, Austin, Lance, Alec, Garron, etc....

Good Luck! Relax it will just come to you (maybe it's a sign that it's a girl)

Best wishes-H.

If I'd had a boyhis name would have been Jaric (Je-rick) sometimes spelled Jerrick. Anyways, it's polish. Do you know what you are having?
I like the list idea about writing down the names you don't hate and you DH crossing off the ones he does. From there, pack the list with you in your hospital bag and wait til he/she comes. You don't HAVE to name the baby for a week, so you hve time to get to know your little guy/gal.

Hi M.,

My son's name is Curran (sounds like Cur-an). It is an irish name, and it means hero. I love it!

For us it was very easy naming our children. We chose the name of a grandparent and a name we loved that went with it. We also made sure it didn't make a wierd name of the initials. A friend of mine names her boys for Biblical characters that she wants her sons to inspire to be. You could think of why you love that girl's name and then choose similar things for a boys name. Do you like the letter it starts with, the syllables, the meaning, the origin. Not exactly the same but when we named our dog we only wanted a girl name with a German meaning. It really narrowed down our choices and made choosing much easier.

We always had trouble with girl names and have four. I always looked at the meanings and how it flowed with the middle and last name. Watch out for intials too. You don't want SOB, or something that will get them teased in school. Make it a strong name. We have a Jason which means healer and Jonathan which is a beloved gift from God.
I tell my one daughter that a Rosie by any other name would be as cute.
I hope this helps.
C. B

I have a hard time with boy names too, I have two sons. The first one we used a baby name book, (named him Logan Samuel) the second came by accident, we were at the movies at ran into a high-school friend of my husband's with the last name Bronson. (named him Bronson Max). Just keep your ears open and you may find your name when you least expect it. Good luck!

We got our boy name because it was the only one we both agreed on! I let my fiance pick the spelling. (Jaxon) because I thought Jackson was too close to Jackie (my nickname). It's still too close but Jack/Jax/etc is a family name so it worked out.

We went through the baby name book with my going through it (in order) and reading out the names I liked. We ended up with two names (zachery and jackson) and he changed his mind on Zachery later.

You can look into family genealogy... and try to find a name of someone you admire or traits you would like your son to have. There are also some *rules* that you can find on babyname sites... like if your last name starts with an S. Don't name your baby a name that ends with S or it will run together.

Good luck! let us know what you decide!

My husband & I both made a list of 10 girl names & 10 boy names & then compared when we were all done & luckily we had a match that we both liked. We ended up having girls, but a few boy names that we liked were Ethan, Colin, & Brett. Good luck! :)

One thing I always liked doing to get inspiration for potential names was watch movie credits and just write down names that caught my eye. I would put the list aside for a while and bring it out from time to time and scratch off names that i definitely didnt feel right about, and let my husband do the same. i also looked at what i wanted in a name. we wanted something not very common, but not unheard of or hard to pronounce. we wanted a short one to two syllable name. eventually we narrowed it down and let it sit a little tried it on for size by calling the baby by name to see if we liked how it sounded. We are very pleased with the name we came up with and it suits our son to a T. Good luck with the hunt for the perfect name! I'm sure when you find it you'll say why didnt we think of that before?! Have fun!

M.,
My husband and I had the same problem when we were expecting. We had a whole list of girls names that we liked and several that we both agreed on, but boys names were a little harder for us. I had a list of several boys names that I liked but he wasn't a fan of them, and he had a list of names that he liked but I didn't agree with any of them. We finally agreed on Caden Michael. (We chose Michael after my brother's name.) Caden wasn't necessarily each of our favorites but it was one that both of us actually agreed that we liked. I think that's the hardest part; finding a name that both you and your husband like.

My baby boy is now 13 weeks old and I definately think his name fits him. Plus I like the fact that when he gets older he can choose to go by Caden, Cade, or even Michael if he would like to go by a more traditional name.

Good Luck with the naming process. Looks like you got a lot of great suggestions and ideas to choose from.

Sometimes it takes waiting until the baby is born. My husband and I choose not to find out what we are having, so we have to come up with a name for boy or girl. With my first we had chosen Hunter as a boy name. The girl name was easy I would not budge on one I wanted to use since I was a little girl. But when my son was born and we saw him and a glimpse of who he was, Hunter just didn't fit. Needless to say he was named 5 min. before we left the hospital, with a very fitting name. I know some people who look a the meaning of a name rather than the name itself. My sister looked to our heritage, and chose an Irish name. I have also known people who have looked to characters in a favorite movie or TV show. Friends and familiy memebers have also taken votes for which name to use. First you have to decide if you want a classical name or a trend, something popular or something unique, something old fashioned or modern. Whatever you do I suggest you make it something easy to spell and easy to pronounce. All though most kid get made fun of, try not to piuck something that is tooeasy to make fun of, you know like alot of the celebraties do. (For ex: if your last name is House do not pick Maxwell or Porter.) Make sure it is a good name that the child will not be embaressed to have when they are older. Also look at the shortened versions of the name, if they are horrible I wouldn't use that name. (ex: Hollingsworth for a boy, they jut might call him Holly)

We had the same thing with my last pregnancy--we decided on a boy name right away, but couldn't agree on a girl's name...and lucky for us, we had a boy. So maybe you will have a girl, since you are ready for her!

Otherwise, I think there are a lot of boys names out there that are great--I had a much easier time picking a boy's name than a girl's...What do you like, contemporary or traditional? There are so many good old standbys for boys. John, Michael, William, James, Ryan...and so many good newer names. We have a book called The Baby Name Wizard, and there is a website by the same name. It is a really unique kind of name book, and more helpful than the others. Good luck--if you do have a boy, a name will come to you!

My little boys name is Nicholas, I also love the names Alexander, Landon, Anthony, Conner, Braydon and Braxton. Hope these help. Congratulations and good luck!
Angie

My second was a boy, but we thought he was a girl and had no name picked out when he was born. We went three days just calling him Baby, before we found a name that was right for him. In hindsight, I'm glad it happened that way, because it gave us time to get to know him and his personality before we chose his name. Let me know if you want a doula, too!

My husband and I could never agree on a boy's name when I was pregnant with our first child. We had no problem picking a girl's name. We are those who like to be surprised with what gender our babies will be, and wouldn't you know, we got a boy first. So, for 2 days, while I was in the hospital, our son didn't have a name. By this time, I would have agreed on just about anything. My husband found "Jaden" in the huge book of names, and it stuck. We then had to pick a middle name. Just after we agreed on his first name, the lady who cleans the rooms came in and asked what our baby's name is. We told her, and said we were looking for a middle name. She immediately suggested "Nicolas." We looked at each other, smiled and said, "that fits." Point being, you never know how you are going to come up with the names for your kids, unless you already have them picked out. So, it really wasn't worth stressing over with my husband, plus we have a funny story to tell about how our son got his name, the janitor named him. Good luck!

We have two boys, age two and five, so we spent a lot of time thinking of boys names. We wanted names that were strong and unique, easy to spell, with a positive meaning. Our boys names are Kellen and Heath. I also like Boone, Asher, Everett, Tate, Zander, Cade, Bryce, and Logan. For traditional names, I think Aaron, Leon, and Julian are unique. Choosing names is so personal. I think good sources of inspiration are name books, websites, movies, family trees, names of places you visit. We had a short list, and waited until we met the baby to make our final choice. Good luck!

If it's any encouragement, if you're having a hard time, maybe you don't need to be so worried. We have found two boys names we liked in our need for 4. We've only needed two. This time, we were at a complete loss, and we're having a girl. Girls names have been easier for us. As much as I hate the really popular names, our older son shares a name with two of his good friends. It is easier if you have an older child, so next time might not be so hard. Our older son picked out our younger son's middle name and we loved it. I did read a story, supposedly true, about a family where the mom or mom in law kept saying they needed a boys name, just in case. They couldn't get one, and the boy's name ended up being Justin Case. Cute, even if not true.

My sons name just came to me in a dream, if it always happened like that it sure would make it easier. We came up with the girl name one day we were just shooting out names and it got mentioned and we were glad that we had our little girl so we could name her. My son is Peyton and my daughter is Gwen (Gwenyth). I dont think there is anything you can really do but shoot some names out and dont listen to other people especially relatives who dont like the name you will never come up with one if you listen to them. There is always the books too and internet sites i looked at all of them and got no where. If I were to have another boy I really really like the name Sawyer (just thought I would throw one out there) Maybe you will have a girl and not have to worry about a boy name :)

You know i had the same problem when i was pregnant. We couldn't seem to find a girl name it just felt weird. But boy names were easy. Thats how i knew i was having a boy... This may not always be true but with me it was. I would say that when you see that baby you will know what name is right. So i wouldn't get hung up on the name thing, it will come.

Hi M.,
Well, we have 3 boys, so it was challenging for us, anyway. We utilized the Social Security Administration's website. There's all (and I mean ALL) the names of registered children in the US there for years. Your name HAS to be on this exhaustive list! :) I just started a list with every name that I liked- got about 20 this last time, and then went over them one at a time with my husband- It worked for us! :)

I think the idea of going to the Social Security website is perfect! I also don't think that getting too creative with spelling is a good idea. They will DEFNIITELY have to deal with correcting people their entire life. When we were choosing my son's name (Evan Michael), we wanted something strong, a name that would be good for when he is younger and also good when he is grown up, that couldn't be made into a nickname, etc.

I had the exact same problem as you are having--girls name came to me so quickly! Also, once you decide on the name, you might want to refrain from sharing it with others--you will get too much feedback that could cause you to question your decision. (We didn't tell anyone our name choices until AFTER he was born and named.)

You will find the perfect name--best of luck to you and congratulations!

All 3 times, my husband and I would read the credits at the end of movies and TV shows to get ideas for baby names when I was pregnant. We'd actually read them out loud to see how they sounded with our last name. We ended up with Parker and Carson for the boys (their middle names came from variations of family members that have passed away). Congrats & good luck!

ask friends and family members what they like. my step mom named our son because we couldn't agree on a boy name, and we liked her idea.

It was just the opposite for me... I had TONS of boys names picked out but very few girls names. As for boys names, are you into biblical names, common names, etc.... I have friends with names such as Caleb, Dakota, Skyler, Kyler, Jared, Kelton. I have also heard the names, Braxton, Trent. I can't remember any of the names I had picked out when I was pregnant. I hope this gives you an idea of some names...that is, if you haven't thought of these already that is.

Someone told us to watch movie credits for names. There are all different types of names there. We just clicked with boy and girl (and another girl if we have one) names. We also use family names for the middle names (our daughter's middle name is LeeAnn after my dad and mom's middle names and our son is the 4th with the middle name John). This is very meaningful to them and to us and we hope to our kiddos (my husband and I have family names and we love it). Just keep looking and listening and something will eventually click. Or wait until you see a sweet little boy face and something will just pop out! Good luck.

My husband and I wanted both a boy and girl and I got 2 girls!!!! Couldn't imagine it any other way now! I named my second while dreaming...I sat up and got on to her..."Lauren Paige Archuleta, you no better" and fell in love with it!

Boys names that we picked out were

Camden Scott
Caleb Lawrence

Good Luck and let us know what you choose!

I'm a teacher. This is really important. But you ultimately have to choose the name. Try family names. Try names in history. Try people you admire --- whom you know personally or whom are famous --- literature, songs, movies, etc. Try last names as first names. Pick a name that is simple, short, and masculine --- easy to spell and say. Avoid colors, foods, and other weird names etc. like the latest trend with stars. This kid has to live with this name. Pick a name keeping in mind the nicknames that will go along with it. Pick a name that sounds good with the last name. It will come to you. It might not be until the day he is born --- but it will come to you. Have fun!

Two of the boy names we had picked out with our last pregnancy were Grayden and Hayden. We would have used Grayden James or Hayden Thomas.

My suggestion is to continue looking through the name books. We didn't actually pick a name for our children until they were already a day old. With one of our daughters we were down to two names and the nurse gave up on us and started using one of them herself. This may have even helped us choose the other name. When we had our last daughter we had a few we were seriously considering and what canceled one of them for me was when I needed to call and schedule her first check up I was imagining the call and the name just didn't fit our baby.

When you find the right one, you will know. Good Luck!

I'll bet this means you're having a girl!! This same thing happened with my husband and I when we were having a girl. Lots of girl names but no boy's names and when we were having a boy, we couldn't think of any girl's names! Personally, we googled "Baby Names" and went through the lists. Also, we thought of words that had meaning we wanted to bestow upon our kids and looked up the meanings. We ended up choosing Caley because it meant "Brave Warrior" and Luke because it meant "Bringer of Light". Best wishes!!

The coolest online baby name source I've seen is www.nymbler.com. Try it--it's very fun!

You pick names that you like from a list and it offers you other suggestions based on the ones you picked. And you can add/delete names as you go, so it sort of refines the suggestions for you. It's very interactive and interesting and does include names from various cultures/countries, so you may come across some unexpected choices. It's also got a thing to help pick names that go with other names. You could probably plug in your girl name and see if any cool boy names come up connected to that.

A couple of other sites I used are www.babynology.com and www.behindthename.com.

Best of luck!

Hi M.,
We tried to have one regular name and one unusual name. I liked names from the movies. Atticus from "To Kill a Mockingbird", Gregory Pecks incredible character is one you never hear.
Good Luck,
SarahMM

Here are the boy names we liked...

Gunnar
Jack (that IS my son's name)
Andrew
Ryan (Jack would have been Ryan if my stepson wasn't!)

Then I thought Jack Ryan was a great name together

Good luck!

A.

This may sound silly but it worked for us. Watch the credits at the end of a movie. Lots of names there to choose from. Also if you have a name you like but your honey doesn't agree check out what it is in a nother language. We didn't like John, but we do like Ian which is John in Scottish. Just some ideas.

I love the names Wyatt and Payton (my son's name).

This is what worked for us...I would go through an entire baby name book, write down ALL the name that I DIDN'T hate, then I would give that list to my husband who would then cross out all the names that were absolute NO for him. That would narrow the list quite a bit, then we would just take time to keep making that list smaller. Once you get it down to 5 or 10, it is easier to see what you like, and then start playing with middle names, and seeing what fits well with you last name. The way names sound together is very important.