Just for Fun: ???S About Kids' Names

I cannot stand any name that rhymes with Jaden...entirely too overdone.

I also dislike any girl name that could be mistaken as a fluffy stripper name - Bambi, Candy, Lexy, Skyler

I had names on my list that, while I liked them, I had former students with those names and they conjured up, shall we say, not so pleasant memories.

We did not want to butcher the spelling of a name. We also didn't want anything that made it look like we were trying too hard to be trendy and coming up with a 'cool' name.

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We elimated ex's as well, then went onto family members (unless dead). This meant I didn't care if your 5th cousin was named Paul we are not using Paul. We also tried to stay with a traditional name avoiding Jaden, Cayden, Braden etc... Next to be sticken from our list were the top 10 boys/girls names from the previous year. After that game on. We would wake up in the middle of the night and say how about this? It was fun for us picking a name.

I really wanna name my next child Ava or Joseph. If there is one that is. :)

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Our kids were named after family and our heritage. Luckily our families have awesome names so it was easy.

My husband's grandmother picked out our son's name which we happen to LOVE. She is 96 years old now and when we remind her of that fact, she smiles so big.

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1. Tradtional names were our only consideration b/c our last name is very difficult to spell and pronounce b/c it is very German... no need to make it harder!
2. Family names (named after his grandfather, uncle and great grandfather)
3. Couldn't be shortened into anything "mean" sounding
4. Sounded appropriate for a toddler and an adult

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I just wanted something that was strong. Also, when he gets older, I want to ensure that he can get a decent job! Lol. So I named him Malachi prounced (Malaki) Its a biblical name. I've always loved the way it sounded so that's what I went with.

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My sons name is nicholas (nick). I have yet to meet a" nick" that wasn't handsome or just a all around good guy! It fits him perfectly!

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Well, we accidentally gave our first daughter my husband's initals CS with her first and middle name....so we HAD to do it with our second daughter too, right? lol And we did. Then baby #3 came along and I was SO over "C" names, that we just did the CS initials with her middle names and gave her a name I actually LOVED.

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We wanted simple, very boy names. We have a Ty and a Ryder and I LOVE the names and how they just "fit" my boys.
Ty has his Grandfather's middle name and Ryder has his Father's.

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So originally we were going to name my son Aaron Dean, for, yup, Presley and James. Got sooo much flack from family that I started going through the alphabet. Funny thing is, the boy loved Presley movies when he was little - still watches them with his dad.

Robert was out - I had dated one, Eric was out - he had been beaten up by one in the 4th grade. Garrett was out - he shot Billie the Kid in the back. Colton made him think of horses.

You see where this is going?

Between me and my son's father we had a kazillion reasons to cross names off our list - some of which were absurd.

About the only thing we agreed on was that the child would have my last name. Father has a last name that is also a first name and was teased about being the "boy with three first names" in grade school.

We literally got to the Z's before we found one that we agreed on and liked.

What I didn't realize, until my son started pre-school, was when his name was shortened it rhymes with his(my) last name. Wonderful - I had never, and still, don't call him by the abbreviated version. At least he has grown to find it amusing.

But, as I tell him, he has two middle names so he can pick one to use when gets to college in three years is he wants.

Fun question, thanks.

God Bless

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I agree with the Jaden thing! There are so many Jadens!

My daughters are named Cheyenne and Natalie. I wanted them to be easy to pronounce, easy to spell, so they wouldn't have to constantly be spelling their name. (I hate weird spellings). I chose names that sounded beautiful spoken and looked beautiful written. I also didn't want them to be too modern or too popular (like Emma, which is name I love, but seems like every girl-child I saw was named Emma- I didn't want to name my kid that- so I named my dog Emma, haha!).

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We found our daughter's name because we knew someone with it and loved the name. It is very unique. My husband picked her middle name. We ended up finding out it was in the Bible so we went there to find our son's name. We looked for a unique name and found one. His middle name is my husband's first name. We are now expecting #3 a boy and having a hard time finding one that fits both Biblical and unique. We have one we are trying out to see if we like it. Naming kids is hard work.

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Fun question!!!
Ok so my first son was born in 1995 and I wanted to name him Michael but that was his bio-dads names so that was off the list, ( strong Irish background on both sides of the fam) So then...Patrick was at the top of the list, and then my mom had to come out with, If you name him Patrick I am going to call him Patty.....so then Patrick was crossed off....Almost EVERY name I came up with Bio-dad said no to and vice versa...we both agreed on Tyler and then in my birth class there were two other mama's that had that name picked out as well ( BAd sign) but we stuck with it....I have been upset ever since that we stuck with Tyler...it was The popular name that year and since then we have yet to have a single year in school where he did not have at least one other Tyler in his class! We should have gone with the more unique middle name as the first, his middle name is Rayne.

You would have thought I would have learned my lesson with names...with my daughter I wanted the name Mackenzie so I could call her Mackie so badly ( I knew a Mackie and adored her) but that was vetoed...I liked Zoey and that was vetoed...all the names that my SO liked sounded so old fashioned...I wanted the middle name to be Claire no matter what...so it had to go with Claire...and I really wanted a K name as the first name so we could call her "KC" because SO did not like the name Kasey for a girl...after going through the K's tons of times we both finally agreed on Kristen...we love how Kristen Claire sounds...only her God parents call her "KC" and to this day we realize she should have been a Claire as the first name....

So on to our third little one...he was going to be Luke James, we agreed from the moment we found out he was a boy, he was Luke through the entire pregnancy, Luke even made it onto the First birth certificate = )
SO went home to shower and I was holding "baby" in my arms and just burst into tears because I decided he was not "Luke" that he was most definitely an Alex!!!!! I called my mom and talked to her, then I called my sister and asked if she would be offended if I used the name Alexander
( she has an Alexis ) and she said no, not at all....so then I called Andy ( the SO) and I was crying and telling him the baby wasn't a Luke and he was confused but then finally understood that I just did not like the name, he was a little aggravated and said....so what do you Want to name him??? And i said Alex...Alexander...and he repeated Alexander James? And I said ok...and he said ok and that is how we ended up with an Alex = ) The only child we got named right = ) I had fought for Oscar when I was pregnant but everyone vetoed that LOL...I am happy with our "Alex" it fits him perfectly.

My favorite girl name is Carly...I will not post names I do not like because for every name i don't like I am sure it is someones favorite and that just seems mean spirited. Also, growing up I have rarely met a person who was in love with their own name...I for one have never loved being a B....cannot tell you how many B. Wetsy jokes I have heard...no idea how my mom could do that to me when it was HER generation that had the doll!
My own mom says she has never liked her name that it was too plain...her name is Jane...so no idea how she justified naming me B., I think she was guilted into it by my dad ( I am named after his mother)

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We actually eliminated several names because they were ex's or people we didn't like. It couldn't be in the top 100 (sorry Noah!) and no annoying celebrities could have the name. We wrote down our favorite 10 boys and 10 girls names, and put them on the fridge so we could look at them throughout the day. A couple names we got sick of and crossed off after a day or so. That was it was pretty easy to narrow it down to 2-3 names. Also we found out the sex pretty early with both our kids, so we only needed to pick from one list!

With our son, it was down to Jonah or Elijah, and we said if he had dark hair we'd name him Jonah, or light hair he would be Elijah. He came out a blondie! With our daughter, it was between Amelia and Delaini, and she was born with black hair.

We also didn't want anyone to have trouble pronouncing the name by looking at it, but apparently we underestimated the stupidity of some people. More people mispronounce my son's name Elijah (Eliza, Alisha) than my daughter.

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Both of my kids names just came to me, and once we said them out loud we just knew they felt right. I agree about no ex boy/girl friend names. The only names I dislike is when they try so hard to go unique that it just sounds made up.

For middle names we used family names.

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My 7 year olds name is Emily Rose... a few years later, I saw the movie 'The Exorcism of Emily Rose'.... Oops. Explains a lot though, she's nuts ;) Her dad liked Emily, and I chose Rose as her middle name because it's my mothers middle name. Sweet story, bad name combo though ;)

My 2nd daughter, her dad also chose her name, but I gave her MY middle name as her middle name.

My 3rd, my son... man, it was a battle naming him. My fiance is the 3rd, so everyone expected us to name our son the 4th. DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY ROBERTS, ROBS, ROBBYS, BOBBYS, BOBS, ETC WE HAVE IN OUR FAMILY?! The happiest day was when my FIL begged me not to name our son the 4th, LOL!!

I wanted my son's middle name to be 'Trygve' (pronounced trig-vee); that was my deceased uncle/godfathers middle name and I miss him like crazy. My fiance hated it... but HE wanted his middle name to be 'Maxime' (like the male Russian form of the female's name 'Maxine'... HELL NO. So we compromised on Maxim as his middle name... freaking headstrong Russians!! ;)

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My hubby and I said if we had boys he got to name them...girls I got too. I still got some say in what they would be named. We had started out thinking we would just do names ending in Y. WE had a Brody first. When I found out I was expecting my second..and it was a boy, I wanted him to think outside the box more. We didnt have a name until right before he was born. My hubby love the artist HR. Giger. He did the art work and what not for the Alien movies. I loved how Giger sounded...So, we ended up with a Gieger. When the third was baking...I knew we would have to come up with something just as unique as Gieger! My hub is also a HUGE fan of the movie Lords of Dog town. The skate shop in the movie(and real life) is Zephyr...so now we have a zephyr!

Each i think fits their personalities to a T!! They took middle names after each of the grandpas!!

The names we had on our lists we scratched off are: Lennon(girl), Rocky(B),Zero(both), Jack(both)...I think that is it. It is a good thing we didnt have a girl....i think I would have been stuck forever!

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We stuck to J names :) Names you've heard but are not that common. No I do not have a Jayden :) The middle names were given after certain family memebers.

So as to not offend anyone I won't give a list of names I don't like. but the ones my DH wanted to go with for our kids (Middle names) Magnus, Manning, or Manuel....welll that didn't happen.

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Well I didn't get to use my boy names since we have daughters. I liked Callum and Thaddeus. I toyed with the idea of naming my second daughter Saryn but then I realized that I couldn't name my baby that because of sarin, the chemical weapon.

Names I personally do not like: Mason, Cooper, Bentley, Ava, Layla, Sadie, Michelle.

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It's pretty funny how things go sometimes...

We were DEAD SET against anything in the top 100 baby names - and wanted a name that reflected our love for Colorado - so we went with Hayden for my son (after a small town here by Steamboat) and NO ONE had ever heard of it!!! LOL - now it and it's variations are the most common names around.

I've yet to find a single person named Harlyn - which is what we chose for our daughter. Not sure if that is good or bad but I'm pretty certain she won't be surrounded by "harlyns" her whole life.

We wanted H names, and used family names for middle (Edward and Elizabeth) - weren't too concerned about teasing names because unfortunately our last name rhymes with Fart (at least part of it) so we decided it was just a lost cause...lol...

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My great-grandmother's name was Kathryn and I always loved her name, so I knew forever that Kathryn would be my daughter's name. I know people named Kathy, and Katie, so we call her Kat for short but I love her name because it is very versitle - when she is older she can use any variation she likes (Kathy, Kate, etc.). Her middle namd is Anne - which is my confirmation name and also both my mom and my mother-in-law's middle name (although, neither of theirs have an e on the end :))

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Our names had to match our cultural background - no Spanish or French names when we are English/Welsh/German and Scandinavian, for example. We didn't like any names that show up on the Top 100 lists. They had to sound good. Our youngest daughter has my late mother's name as a middle name, so her first name needed to work with that.

We ended up with two girls with initials RRW, but that wasn't truly planned.

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We chose very old fashioned names and we are continually getting comments from others saying how pleasantly surprising they are. I'd had a gilr's name picked out for years after a beautiful (personality) French girl I knew in my youth - Sylvie. Alas, never got to use it. I liked Rory for a boy, but my husband hates it. We also liked Edward and Frederick - see what I mean about old- fashioned?

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My husband and I agreed even before we were married that if we had a little girl she would be Elizabeth Renee....it's not a family name just one that we both really like.

My second daughter's name was tougher. We took the top 1000 girl names from 2008 (she was born in 2009) and crossed off the ones that were a No. That eliminated about 800. Then we picked 25 names each from the list of 200 that we liked. Those that matched we kept on the list. Then we each picked 5 that we liked and the only one we both liked out of that list was Lauren.

I love the name Avery - my husband hates it. I wanted to name my second one Avery Nicole but ny husband said it sounded too much like Anna Nicole (our last name is Smith too).

If we had a son he would have been Patrick David Andrew - this is a family name - my mom's name was Patricia and our two dearest friend's names are David and Andrew.

I really just do not like the name Tiffany for a girl. I'm not sure why
For Boys I don't really have a preference but I said no off the bat to Michael.

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We chose our kids names/middle names, according to our cultural heritage and the 'meaning' of the names.

Our kids love their names. As do we. And they match their names.

And it just so happens, that our kids initials, are the same. We didn't plan it that way, though. But it makes for easy labeling of their things.

There are some names, that are REALLY madly common in my district: names such as "Maya" and Parker, and Hailey, Jordan, for example.
So I stay away from those names.
And yes, the names with an "en" ending, is very... common.

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After the first 3 kids, I decided we needed to stick with 2-syllable names, and they all had to have a different first initial.

By the time we got to #5, we couldn't agree on any of the slim pickings. #5 does have his own first initial, but a 3-syllable name.

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1. Names of former students that drove me nuts were out! (Christian, Jacob, Sarah)
2. We wanted to include a family name for their middle name.
3. I wanted Bible names for first name.
4. Names that sounded like ours were out.

Our girl name was Emily Vivian, but we had 2 boys. I made a list of 8-10 boy names and had my husband circle the one he liked best. He really wanted to name one of our boys Augustus and call him Gus. Didn't happen.

I do not like names that I can't pronouce upon looking at it. I can't think of a specific name I don't like except maybe Chester.

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we have 4 boys and they all have single syllable names. our last name starts with an h and ends in ey so no names with those beginnings or endings. we also like biblical names and all of their middle names are family names. and we never used our girl names:)

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I loved my daughter's name -Samantha Josephine-for a long time and was upset to see it climbing in popularity but still clung to it. I love the meaning of her name-Listens to God. I absolutely loved the book Little Women as a girl and fell in love with Josephine-call her Jo for short. I love boyish names for girls. And I'm from the south where it is still popular to give your daughter 2 names. She is called Sami Jo right now and insists that that is what she wants to be called. But I love the diversity of her name. She can be Sami or Sami Jo, or Jo or Josie or Samantha. Her name can grow with her.

My son, I wanted a traditional, strong boys name. Love the name Jack, but my husband insisted it's not a real name, just a nickname and refused to name him Jack. So, I chose Jonathan Alexander Cxxxxx. His initials are JAC and Jack is a nickname for John or Jonathan so I justified calling him Jack. He has never been anything but Jack, but again has the choice of several names as he grows. Also, the meaning of Jonathan is Gift of God--can't get better than that!!

I did not do this on purpose and actually had not even realized it until my Mom pointed it out to me. Both of my kids first names and middle names have the same number of letters. She thought I put so much thought and effort into that, but, nope, just a cute coincidence.

I do take a little flack for spelling Sami this way not Sammy. I just thought it would denote that it is a female name, not a male one. Did not realize no one would ever spell it correctly. Oh well.

I have to say even though I chose their names well in advance of meeting them, I think my kids names suit them perfectly!!

I did not have to eliminate family names or exes, etc as I just "knew" each of my kids names.

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Jaydon- is what my daughter name her son. However, adopted, he is now Oliver. I preferred Jaydon. (she had Jayden, I chose the "O", to be a bit different)
My girls, are Emilie May- after a little girl who died in a fire in a book I read...
Desiree Maria- only name her Dad would agree to, and Maria was his Grandmothers name.
Chelsea Elizabeth Kathleen- Alphabetically, while it goes in reverse order, I wanted a "C" name, to fit with the first 2 girls, Elizabeth, was my choice for Emilie second middle name, but I changed my mind, all these "E"s (my last name has 2 as well) so anyways... It has a royalty touch Ilike, and I added it to Chelsea's name. Kathleen is my Dh's moms name.
Some names arent common when you choose them, like Emilie or Emily, in 1989/1990, when I was having her, it was not popular. Now every variation of "EM" names is very much so, but not so much the spelling, her spelling is french.
There are names I dont like, but I dont want to hurt feelings of people who chose them for their kids. I do hate, when a common DOG name, becomes a little boys... but maybe they never heard of a dog named "BOOMER" (heard that once, after knowing a dog named that, weird choice, sorry if you named your kiddo Boomer, but that one seems unlikely.!
My own name, was long an irritant. I was asked over and over as a kid, Chanel? like chanel #5??? I never understood, and really, its J... I still get Chanel...

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Hahaha! Rachel D.: I am a E. Rose. I am also Rosemary's baby. Double whammy! I think it's pretty funny, personally. ;)

Thanks to my uber popular name (which wasn't so when I was growing up) I chose a uncommon, old name for my DD. People look at me like "huh?" .
I have had lots of doubts about my choice over the years, but I really do like it. I hope she does too.
And I love it's meaning. Divine strength, which paired w/ her middle is divine strength pledged to God. Her middle name is a combo of my G-ma's and mom's names.

For DS I wanted a name that also meant strength. I also wanted a Biblical name for him. His middle name is a combination of sentimental meanings-too lengthy and personal to share.

I am on board w/ a strong dislike of all the -den names. They are just so boring to me. I have a all time most hated name ever (and it's unisex!) but I really don't want to hurt anyone's feelings so I will keep my big yap shut. ;)

I have a girls name picked out if we have a 3rd, but no clue if we had a boy.
Our list of names that were/are out because of association is a mile long!

I grew up with a "weird" name (Tiara) so I wasn't about to name my kids anything that might sound made up. And my sister is helen and hated her "old lady" name so that ruled out a lot too..I really can't stand it when people change the spelling of names! Tiphanie is not Tiffany, and shouldnt be, IMHO :)

Our daughters names fall under the literary category. They're feminine and classic. My sisters middle name is one of their middle names.

Emma was my grandmas middle name so it broke my heart that it was #1 in the country those years. Damn Friends and jennifer aniston! Another name that year wasn't as popular and I'd always liked it Plus we saw a street sign when looking for a place of business the day of our ultrasound, it was _______ (our name) park road. If I ever needed a "sign", there it was!

I wanted jack Leland (his grandpas name and my grandpas middle name) for a boy, but alas no boys. I liked Gianna but my husband thought it was too sexy for a little girl. I liked allegra but that blasted allergy drug. Pharma shouldn't use real people names!

I do billing for midwives so could tell you some crazy names! I really personally (no offense to anyone) can't stand some trendy names right now like hazel, rain, and huckleberry! And what's with Mariah carey's baby names? Moroccan Cannon? Did she not say that out loud first? And Monroe for a girl? Not so sure about that. I like some unique names but mostly classics. Come to think of it I still wish I'd named my girls Harper and everly. :)

@Lesley-I love Aaron dean!!

For us, I wanted something personally significant, easy to spell when you hear it, easy to pronounce when you see it, not too popular but not too weird. Our boy name met all but the "not too popular" criteria. Our girl name met all of them.

The one girl name I always kind of liked for a middle name was "Marie," but that was the name of an ex. Bummer.

The main reason I dislike any name these days is it's too common. Any boy name that rhymes with "Aidan" is automatically out. Ditto for Isabella, Haley, Sophia, Olivia, or Emma. And I don't love giving boys names that can also be girl names (e.g., Cameron, Taylor).