Kathryn writes:
I’m due June 20 with a boy and would love some input from you and your very wise readers!
We have a 3-year-old girl named Dorothy Elizabeth (called Dorry), who we named after our grandmothers, and we love the name. Now, with our boy, we’d sort of like to keep the family-meaning theme going, but it isn’t absolutely necessary, since his middle name will be Robert, which honors both our dads.
Ever since we got engaged, we have liked the name Vance, my father’s middle name. But when we got pregnant, we found that it had sort of lost some of its allure over time, maybe because we’d just been thinking about it for so long. Also, I love nicknameable names, and Vance doesn’t offer much besides Van.
We also like the name Desmond. Is that crazy? I’m worried it might be a little crazy. Yes, we did fall in like with the name because of the show Lost, but we wouldn’t be naming him specifically after the character or anything. Although we are big fans of the show, which premiered one week before we got married, so it would have some nice meaning for us. But maybe…crazy? Also, I read somewhere that it’s considered an African-American name, and we are not African-American.
Other names we like…Barnaby, Bruce, Henry, and Theodore (until we realized it was actually pretty much “Dorothy” backwards, and that would be weird, wouldn’t it?).
Our last name sounds like “Dale.”
Thank you so much!!
Oh, I love the name Barnaby! That was on my list too!
I admit it kind of appeals to me that Theodore and Dorothy are similar like that! Wouldn’t those be fun twin names? And Dorry and Theo make such cute nicknames. But I see what you mean.
I think Desmond is perfect. Dorothy and Desmond, Dorry and Desi, OMG too wonderful. Desmond Tutu has made the name a popular African-American name, but not in a way that eliminates the name for non-African-American babies. And being on Lost has made the name familiar again.
We have a Lorelei and get asked A LOT about if we named her after the (incorrectly spelled) Lorelai on Gilmore Girls. I don’t mind explaining that yes, we like the show, but no, we didn’t name our daughter after it. As long as you don’t mind that – and as popular as Lost was, I bet you’ll get it a lot – I would go with Desmond. I love it!
It sounds like you want to use Desmond and I almost always advocate for the name you really love, so that’s my pick.
That said I like Theodore, too, and the sound similarity with Dorothy doesn’t bother me.
In case you want some new ideas– how about Griffin?
I live in Ireland and Desmond is a pretty common name (nn Des or Desi). I would think it’s common in Scotland too, hence the lost character. I think it’s cute!
100% a Fan of DESMOND!! It was on my list too until my Hubby vetoed it :(
Dorothy and Desmond sound great together and I love the nn of Dez of Desi!
My vote is for Desmond, too… but something to consider is that you’re starting a pattern. As cute as Dorothy and Desmond are together, are you going to feel locked into the D thing if you have more kids?
I’m normally not a fan of that, but I do love both of those D names!
Good luck!
I like Desmond, and I never even watched an episode of Lost. :)
Although I just want to say: YAY Dorothy! I love, love, love this name and it doesn’t seem like it gets enough credit out there.
Just another vote for Desmond… I think it’s a great strong name that is fabulous with Dorry.
We have a Sawyer, who was named not because of, but during the second season of LOST. We are LOST fans and we were asked that here and there, but not as often as you would think. I think people mostly asked when he was a little baby and “newly named” and now that he’s older people don’t really think about it. And now that LOST is over you’ll probably get it even less than we did considering Sawyer was born and coincided with the biggest years of the show.
Regardless, I think Desmond works perfectly for you guys and if you love it, do it!
Desmond is on my list too. I think it is a great name! I know a Barnaby he is a teenager now but all through elementary school he got teased about his name. Barney the big purple dinosaur…. Now I’m not sure if that program is still really popular or not. Just something to consider! : )
Another association I have with Desmond (besodes Lost) is the Beatles song Obladi Oblada, since the very first word in it is Desmond. This makes me like the name even more :-)
I love Desmond. A great underused name. I like Barnaby and Theodore a lot too, but Desmond would be my first choice here. (I never watched Lost, so I don’t make that association. And the association with the nobel prize winner Desmond Tutu is only positive in my eyes.)
I had never heard of Desmond until recently, when I heard someone say they wanted to name their son Jonah Desmond. I pretty much immediately fell in love. Super handsome and way underused!
http://tweepoppets.blogspot.com
I love the name Desmond. One of THE most handsome men I know (he’s my neighbor) goes by Des.
Here’s one more vote for Desmond. Strong, distinctive, familiar and yet underused. Love it.
Another vote for Desmond here too.
If you want a more subtle reference to Lost, and your surname is Dale, you could call him Alan (Alan Dale is the actor who plays Charles Widmore).
However if Vance is a family name and you’ve always liked it then you should stick with it.
Vince is also a pretty cool name.
Good luck.
Thank you so much for all the feedback! But I’m just curious – does everybody dislike Vance? I think my note may have made it sound like we didn’t want to use it, but it’s definitely still in consideration, unless everyone is anti-Vance…
I don’t dislike Vance, but it sounds dated to my ear, like naming a girl Nancy or Carol. Absolutely nothing wrong with those names (some of my favorite people are named Nancy and Carol!), but somehow off for a baby born in 2010. It’s as though it’s a name not ready to be re-claimed just yet. Your daughter’s name was also popular in past generations, but something about it is lovely and ripe for use again. Just my two cents.
I didn’t think there was anything wrong with Vance – I just liked Desmond more!
I think Vance Dale sounds a little abrupt, both being just 1 syllable, but some people like that.
I really like Desmond a lot and I think it goes really well with Dorothy.
I actually love the name Vance, but agree with the above poster that Vance Dale is a little short and abrupt with the short a sound. I also sort of feel that Desmond Dale is too alliteration-y, but as long the last name is not an actual D, I’d totally go with Desmond over Vance for overall flow.
Oh you must use Desmond, it is a fantastic name! It was on our list until we had several people comment how cute it was that we were naming our kids after the Beatles song, our older daughter is named Molly, so we had to nix Desmond from our list after that realization. =o\