I'm bored: Baby names

[emoflamingo]

I'm at a stand still (again) at work where I can't do anything to finish my (time sensitive) project until I am given stuff to complete it.

We are going on Saturday for the big ultrasound and I'm trying to come up with a list of names because I have nothing better to do. The boys' names are pretty traditional. I'm not sold on any one name in general - it was so easy naming the boys because Monkey was just a random name we picked (his middle name is for my brother) and Baby W is named after my FIL.

Boy:
Noah Thomas (Thomas is for my dad - I don't want to do it as a first name though)
Oliver Thomas
Henry Thomas

Girl:
Allison Elizabeth (what Baby W's name would have been if he was a girl - is it weird to recycle?)
Zoey (this was one that H randomly said he liked when I was reading off a list of names)
Charlotte
Clara
Amelia
Audrey
Olivia

Additional information: Our last name starts with a B and is 2 syllables long. It's apparently Welsh, though it's definitely pretty vanilla (no complaints - my maiden name is VERY german!). I don't want to do a C or a W name for a boy (my own hang up about having a sibling of the same gender with the same first initial).


I also have a pretty big family I see fairly regularly, so I already have names that are "off limits" because I don't want a "little/big" or "must have middle name included" situation - I have 3 second cousins named David with the same last name so they all had to go by David XXX.

[msmerymac]

My husband's name is Oliver. It's a good name. What about Isaac or Ethan?

Our niece is Amelia, and I would have put that high on our list if it wasn't her name! I also love Audrey. Both are getting a little popular. I'm not sure how I feel about that. I have a name that never broke the top 100. My brother had one of the top 10 most popular boy names of the 80s and didn't like it.

I like Charlotte and Clara a lot. Allison goes well with Elizabeth - would Elizabeth be the middle name for any of the first names? I think Audrey Elizabeth is really pretty.

[emoflamingo]

Dec 15, 2014 16:14:48 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

My husband's name is Oliver. It's a good name. What about Isaac or Ethan?

Our niece is Amelia, and I would have put that high on our list if it wasn't her name! I also love Audrey. Both are getting a little popular. I'm not sure how I feel about that. I have a name that never broke the top 100. My brother had one of the top 10 most popular boy names of the 80s and didn't like it.

I like Charlotte and Clara a lot. Allison goes well with Elizabeth - would Elizabeth be the middle name for any of the first names? I think Audrey Elizabeth is really pretty.

I think Oliver is my first choice of the boys names.

I don't have a middle name set for any of the girl names except Allison because that was our choice last time around.

My name was #4 the year I was born and I hated having to go with a last initial but in the grand scheme of things, it's whatever. I'm the only one at my office with my name (we have 2 Donnas, 3 Marks/Marcus, 2 Davids, and 2 Johns just in our building lol) so I'm okay now.

[thewop]

I really like Audrey. I'm meh on Allison. I do not like Clara, reminds me of clarified butter. Strange, I know. All the others are a little too popular for my taste. What about Cara or Cora?

I'm very vanilla on the boys names. If I HAD to pick I would go with Henry. What about Ian or Dean? And I LOVE the suggestion of Isaac.

And I hope it's not weird to recycle. We plan on recycling names from when I was pg with DD. We had a hard enough time then agreeing on names, I couldn't imagine having to come up with new lists. Blech.

[emoflamingo]

Dec 15, 2014 16:47:00 GMT -5 thewop said:

I really like Audrey. I'm meh on Allison. I do not like Clara, reminds me of clarified butter. Strange, I know. All the others are a little too popular for my taste. What about Cara or Cora?

I'm very vanilla on the boys names. If I HAD to pick I would go with Henry. What about Ian or Dean? And I LOVE the suggestion of Isaac.

And I hope it's not weird to recycle. We plan on recycling names from when I was pg with DD. We had a hard enough time then agreeing on names, I couldn't imagine having to come up with new lists. Blech.

I think I've fallen out of love with Allison. H still likes it, though.

I'm not sure my H would go for Ian or Dean lol. Though Dean might be possible because we're in the middle of watching Supernatural lol.

We never had to recycle before because we never settled on any girl names before Baby W.

[mrs.jacinthe]

I like Oliver best, given C & W's names. For a girl name, I like Amelia.

Since my opinions matter, I consider this pretty much time to drop the /gavel and go home.

[emoflamingo]

Dec 15, 2014 17:02:22 GMT -5 mrs.jacinthe said:

I like Oliver best, given C & W's names. For a girl name, I like Amelia.

Since my opinions matter, I consider this pretty much time to drop the /gavel and go home.

[Deleted]

I didn't expect to find references to Supernatural and Parks & Rec in a baby names thread! So much win!

[emoflamingo]

Dec 15, 2014 17:22:11 GMT -5 @ksta said:

I didn't expect to find references to Supernatural and Parks & Rec in a baby names thread! So much win!

Last night, we powered through a third episode of Supernatural (we're only in season 6 I think) because I had to know how the situation turned out. And then I jokingly said "man, the kids have to go to bed early tomorrow so we can watch sooner" but it's probably not gonna be a joke. Sorry kids!

[TBM]

I don't feel strongly about any of the names except Clara. Between a zillion Nutcracker ballet performances and the former bloggers who pimped out their Clara for pageclick$, I am completely over the name. And now I will think of it when I use clarified butter too.lol

As for 'recycling' a name....I have strong feelings about that one. Maybe it's just me, but I feel like every baby has a name that fits them, and one name does not fit all. Maybe it comes from never feeling like my name fit me, or maybe from the feelings that I had about my daughters and their names, and how the same name choices would not be a good fit. It doesn't matter whether it is recycled or newly thought of, as long as it is the right name for that person.

[r]

We almost went with Amelia for my daughter! I love that name. I really like Issac and Oliver too.

[prazenjc]

I like Noah Thomas or Oliver Thomas.

As for girl names, personally I think it is okay to recycle. Talia Marie is what Preston would have had for a name if he had been a girl. Made it so easy while we were pg with her. We just focused on the boy names to settle on one.....never really did and was so happy when we found out we were pg w/a girl.

[adhdfashion]

I like Amelia.

[auntie]

Dec 15, 2014 16:14:48 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

My husband's name is Oliver. It's a good name. What about Isaac or Ethan?

That's not a name you hear often in his age bracket. 

It's DS's name. When we picked it 21 years ago, after DH"s grandfather, it was around 400 on the SSA popularity list. I agreed to it because it wasn't overly popular- and then every single young girl who asked about DS as a baby and toddler gushed "OMG, like, I loooove that name". And I said to DH, this is going to become really popular when they all get old enough to breed.

That said, we only ever ran into another Oliver in preschool and high school- same kid, a year ahead of DS. His grandmother was very proprietary about the name- as if she held a copyright on it which is sort of weird. She overheard me call DS at dismissal one afternoon and tried to grill me about picking the name.

The name has grown on me because it suits DS. Especially now that he's using his real name and not Ollie so much.

[AmyRI]

In order of most to least liked:
Noah
Henry
Oliver

Amelia
Charlotte
Allison
Audrey
I think of Zoey, Clara, and Olivia as current trendy names, not classics, so they don't really go with your DSs' names.

I have no trouble reusing names if you still like it. DD's first name is the same one we had picked out if DS had been a girl, although her middle name is different than originally planned. (And I like what we picked for her name a lot better.)

[teengirlsquad]

My sister is Allison Elizabeth - so that's cool

My favorites on your list are Oliver Thomas and Amelia

[magdala]

Since you have two kids already, you need a name that coordinates with the other two without sounding too much alike. I had to yell out at one niece at Thanksgiving and was tripping over Kelly-Molly-Ally (her name and her two sisters names). With three kids, you will, at some point, have to scream all three names. I'd take your top picks and go someplace that you can scream the kids names without freaking out the rest of the world (large playground for example). Any combo that is a tongue twister should be dropped.

And FWIW, all of the names on your list are good solid names. I like Noah Thomas and Allison Elizabeth the best. It is not weird to "recycle" names if you both like them and the names are a good fit with the other children. I would not name a child Christie if I already had a son Christopher.

[sjh722]

I don't think it's weird to recycle. Elizabeth was almost Anneliese. If we have another girl, I think it's still my favorite. We'l see if H agrees.

Boy:
Noah Thomas (Thomas is for my dad - I don't want to do it as a first name though)
Oliver Thomas
Henry Thomas

I like them all. Henry is really popular.

Girl:
Allison Elizabeth (what Baby W's name would have been if he was a girl - is it weird to recycle?)
Zoey (this was one that H randomly said he liked when I was reading off a list of names)
Charlotte
Clara
Amelia
Audrey
Olivia

I am not crazy about Zoey. (Isn't it spelled Zoe?) I like Allison, Charlotte, Amelia, and Audrey. Olivia is fairly popular around here. I don't like Clara, but I do like Claire or Clare.

Also, FWIW, I am a Sarah born in 1983. (So I had to be Sarah lastinitial my whole life. My boss still calls me by my maiden name last initial because there was more than one Sarah in my office when I started.) DD is Elizabeth, which is fairly high on the SS name list, but the popular names are much more diluted now. We really don't run into any other kids with her name. I can think of a couple of elementary aged ones, one or two on GBCN, and several adults of all ages with her name, but I doubt she'll have to be Elizabeth H. her whole life.)

[emoflamingo]

Dec 16, 2014 9:56:20 GMT -5 magdala said:

Since you have two kids already, you need a name that coordinates with the other two without sounding too much alike. I had to yell out at one niece at Thanksgiving and was tripping over Kelly-Molly-Ally (her name and her two sisters names). With three kids, you will, at some point, have to scream all three names. I'd take your top picks and go someplace that you can scream the kids names without freaking out the rest of the world (large playground for example). Any combo that is a tongue twister should be dropped.

And FWIW, all of the names on your list are good solid names. I like Noah Thomas and Allison Elizabeth the best. It is not weird to "recycle" names if you both like them and the names are a good fit with the other children. I would not name a child Christie if I already had a son Christopher.

LOL I have 3 siblings (only one brother) and we got called other people's names a lot. Actually, my grandma sometimes calls me by my cousin's daughter's name or my cousin's name, depending. My nickname and my cousin's daughter's name start with the same four letters, but that's about it.

[emoflamingo]

Dec 16, 2014 10:25:34 GMT -5 sjh722 said:

I don't think it's weird to recycle. Elizabeth was almost Anneliese. If we have another girl, I think it's still my favorite. We'l see if H agrees.

Boy:
Noah Thomas (Thomas is for my dad - I don't want to do it as a first name though)
Oliver Thomas
Henry Thomas

I like them all. Henry is really popular.

Girl:
Allison Elizabeth (what Baby W's name would have been if he was a girl - is it weird to recycle?)
Zoey (this was one that H randomly said he liked when I was reading off a list of names)
Charlotte
Clara
Amelia
Audrey
Olivia

I am not crazy about Zoey. (Isn't it spelled Zoe?) I like Allison, Charlotte, Amelia, and Audrey. Olivia is fairly popular around here. I don't like Clara, but I do like Claire or Clare.

Also, FWIW, I am a Sarah born in 1983. (So I had to be Sarah lastinitial my whole life. My boss still calls me by my maiden name last initial because there was more than one Sarah in my office when I started.) DD is Elizabeth, which is fairly high on the SS name list, but the popular names are much more diluted now. We really don't run into any other kids with her name. I can think of a couple of elementary aged ones, one or two on GBCN, and several adults of all ages with her name, but I doubt she'll have to be Elizabeth H. her whole life.)

I asked that too and he said he liked it better with the y at the end.

I just looked at BabyCenter and they were both top 50 the years they were born (35 and 15 respectively) so I'm not opposed to popular. I think if we had a more generic last name (like Brown or Smith), I'd think differently lol.

[emoflamingo]

Sadly, I'm still not sold on any names except (maybe) Oliver.

My baby is definitely going to be nameless. Unless we let C name it and then we might end up with Grimlock Bumblebee.

[lmdbww]

We had a horrible time choosing names. We ended up with 3 names that we loved out of millions and they were Claire, Olivia, and Amelia. So, DD's name is Claire Olivia (and, much to my dismay, her initials spell COW. Ugh.)

Thank goodness we weren't having a boy because we could not agree on any names. DH's name is Brendan but I didn't want a Jr, and there were no cool family names to recycle (his middle name prob would have been my maiden name regardless). My #1 choice boy name was Gabriel (Gabe), which DH disliked.

Ok Obv i'm pulling for a girl here for you, because i'm most drawn to Charlotte and Clara. lol

[emoflamingo]

Caroline was on the list too but I forgot it. I'm not sure if it's too close to C's name.

(I redid my tickers because I'm that bored, guys.)

[msmerymac]

Dec 16, 2014 7:35:29 GMT -5 auntie said:

Dec 15, 2014 16:14:48 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

My husband's name is Oliver. It's a good name. What about Isaac or Ethan?

That's not a name you hear often in his age bracket. 

It's DS's name. When we picked it 21 years ago, after DH"s grandfather, it was around 400 on the SSA popularity list. I agreed to it because it wasn't overly popular- and then every single young girl who asked about DS as a baby and toddler gushed "OMG, like, I loooove that name". And I said to DH, this is going to become really popular when they all get old enough to breed.

That said, we only ever ran into another Oliver in preschool and high school- same kid, a year ahead of DS. His grandmother was very proprietary about the name- as if she held a copyright on it which is sort of weird. She overheard me call DS at dismissal one afternoon and tried to grill me about picking the name.

The name has grown on me because it suits DS. Especially now that he's using his real name and not Ollie so much.

My husband has never gone by Ollie, although people have tried. He's 40, and when he was born, it was definitely 400 and something on the social security list. We met another Oliver around the same age at a wedding a few years ago, but he said it was a family name going back 9 generations, so... basically since the last time it was a popular name!

My husband is named after the movie/musical/Dickens novel. My in-laws love musicals. My MIL is especially into musicals about British boys, considering Billy Elliot is her new favorite. 

It's funny when we're out sometimes and hear someone call the name Oliver - it's almost always a pre-school aged kid, since it's so much more popular with kids!

[Velar Fricative]

I really like your lists - your girl names were on my list (though DH nixed all of them - DD is Alexandra).

I adore Clara, and of the boy names, I like all three but would choose Noah.

[thewop]

Dec 15, 2014 17:35:00 GMT -5 TBM said:

I don't feel strongly about any of the names except Clara. Between a zillion Nutcracker ballet performances and the former bloggers who pimped out their Clara for pageclick$, I am completely over the name. And now I will think of it when I use clarified butter too.lol

As for 'recycling' a name....I have strong feelings about that one. Maybe it's just me, but I feel like every baby has a name that fits them, and one name does not fit all. Maybe it comes from never feeling like my name fit me, or maybe from the feelings that I had about my daughters and their names, and how the same name choices would not be a good fit. It doesn't matter whether it is recycled or newly thought of, as long as it is the right name for that person.

How do you know if a name fits an infant? Or if it's the "right" name right away? Legit asking, not trying to be snarky FTR. 

When I was pg with DD, I always thought it would be easier to name her once she was born and we saw her and spent some time with her.  Well, after 2 days we still had NO idea which of the names on our list "fit" her.  We thought we would have a magical revelation......but it never happened.  The nurses were all "so....do you want to put a name on her bassinet?"  I had name anxiety for weeks after she was born wondering if we picked the right name.  Now that it's been 3 years I can't imagine her as anything else, and I'm 100% happy with our choice, but I was hoping it would have been easier when she was first born.  She kind of grew into her name. 

[salsaverde]

Boy: Oliver
Girl: Charlotte

I want a baby now...



okay I'm over it.

[Deleted]

Girl: I like Allison Elizabeth. Allison is my middle name and Elizabeth is one of my all time favorite girl names. Zoey is one of those trendy names IMO. Charlotte is also a very pretty name.

Boy: Oliver

[Deleted]

Dec 15, 2014 17:32:00 GMT -5 emoflamingo said:

Dec 15, 2014 17:22:11 GMT -5 @ksta said:

I didn't expect to find references to Supernatural and Parks & Rec in a baby names thread! So much win!

Last night, we powered through a third episode of Supernatural (we're only in season 6 I think) because I had to know how the situation turned out. And then I jokingly said "man, the kids have to go to bed early tomorrow so we can watch sooner" but it's probably not gonna be a joke. Sorry kids!

Luckily I just have a cat who was content to snuggle in to my side as I ended up watching 3 (or was it 4?) episodes last night to finish out season 4. I couldn't stop right before finding out if the apocalypse started!

[emoflamingo]

Dec 16, 2014 13:40:05 GMT -5 @ksta said:

Dec 15, 2014 17:32:00 GMT -5 emoflamingo said:

Last night, we powered through a third episode of Supernatural (we're only in season 6 I think) because I had to know how the situation turned out. And then I jokingly said "man, the kids have to go to bed early tomorrow so we can watch sooner" but it's probably not gonna be a joke. Sorry kids!

Luckily I just have a cat who was content to snuggle in to my side as I ended up watching 3 (or was it 4?) episodes last night to finish out season 4. I couldn't stop right before finding out if the apocalypse started!

Buckle up, it's gonna get rough lol. We are in season 7 and I jokingly told my H that he should just take some time off between Christmas and New Year's so we can catch up and get to the end of season 9. (We don't get the channel they air this show on, ironically enough!)