I am just back from a series of vacations and road trips, and I am sipping coffee sullenly, preparing to go to the grocery store, and wondering if there will ever be anything fun again. Let’s see if we can think of something fun to do.
Oh! I know! My mom and I refer to “the mall test” for baby names. It doesn’t have to be the mall: the term comes from the days when we did most of our shopping at the mall (convenient for shopping/lunching with children in strollers), but it can be anywhere you’re out and about. We noticed that when we heard a name used in public (often in the toddler play area), it sometimes changed our whole feeling about the name. We might think we LOVED a particular name, and then we’d hear a parent calling to their child using that name and realize we didn’t like the name at all. Or it could also happen the other way: we’d hear a parent call out a name we’d never considered before, and suddenly we LOVED the name. (This happened to me with the name Georgia.)
I recently heard a name used a couple of times by a parent in a waiting room, and then again called out by the nurse, and I wouldn’t have been sure if this name would pass the mall test or not but it DID: Delia.
Have you had any names pass the mall test recently? (It seems like it would be unkind to list the names we’ve seen fail the mail test.) Any names you hadn’t considered until you heard them used in public, and now you love them? Any names you might have thought you were meh about, or even disliked, but then you heard them in action and changed your mind?
A friend mentioned a buddy’s daughter…Della. I LOVED it. I pushed it for our daughter for a long time, but alas, I lost the battle. I still think it is a beautiful name.
Ok, I was going to drop in to say that I thought the mall test would be this: will the name be available on a keychain? Wait, that’s the gift shop test. Both my daughters fail the gift shop test. The younger one is named… Della! I LOOOVE it. It’s a family name from a great great grandmother. Actually when Swistle mentioned Delia I misread it as Della. Once my mil referred to my daughter as Delia…. nope. As someone who grew up with the Delia’s catalogue I could never do it.
I was just at the park and met a toddler named Martha and suddenly it seemed so cute and fresh on a little girl!
If I had a daughter she would have been a Martha! So sad I never got to use the name.
We live near the beach, so I guess my version is the “beach test.” Or any public place where children hang out. The aquarium test? The children’s museum test? Etc.
I recently heard a mom at the beach call her daughter Sloane/Sloan (sp?) and it was instantly incredibly adorable to me, though previously I thought it was a little too “grown up” and couldn’t picture it on a little one!
I’m currently in love with the name Sloane. I wouldn’t probably use it myself but I’d love for my brother and his fiance to use it.
As Swistle knows already, I recently heard a sibling set of two names I probably wouldn’t reach for but I loved them together: Oscar and Jasper.
Sisters Maeve and Fiona at storytime
There’s a little Hank at our church and that made me change my mind about it.
My feelings have definitely changed about Hank over the last couple of years – I think it’s cute on a little one and has serious adult potential too. And it’s just so friendly!
I have a theory that makes the mall test not a test, but an affirmation of a name. There are many names I don’t like upon hearing them, when they are theoretical and not actual but once there is a little baby in front of me with that name, especially if it’s a family member or someone whose parents I love, I really like it, I just get used to it! I remember years ago a friend of mine who lived far away had a Hazel and I thought Hazel? What the heck? But once I saw the baby, even a picture, I was all, oh baby Hazel, perfect name!
This is actually exactly how we ended up calling our son Silas. I *never* would have thought of it as a Name I Liked, but then we were at a wedding where there was a toddler named Silas, and here we are.
My mom has what she calls the graduation test. So when deciding on a full name she would imagine the name being called at graduations.
I have a friend who has a little girl named Harriet, also love Violet for a little girl.
I’m not very likely to hear the names that I like out in public. I have heard some names on tv and grown to like them. That’s how I discovered Wilhelmina and Drusilla. I heard Drusilla on Wonder Woman as Wonder Woman’s sister and Wilhemina I heard on Ugly Betty.
Ryker. I thought it was such a cool, bada** name for several years. Then I was picking up my kids from school and heard, “Ryker! Let’s go! RYKER!” Nope. Did not pass.
Walter. I have heard this name twice for little ones, once on a barely-crawling baby and then on a kindergarten-size kiddo. The second one went by Wally. I never EVER would have considered Walter. Walter????? But when I heard it I was gobsmacked by how cute it was. WALLY?! I mean come on. It is so WONDERFUL on a little kid I cannot even.
I actually heard my oldest kids name at the mall. Maya. A woman was talking to her toddler and I was say four months pregnant and just fell in love with it. She’s nearly 18 now, so it wasn’t a name I’d heard often back then.
We were at the beach a few years ago and I met these two sweet little girls named Ruby & Quinn. Loved it as a son-set! For both my pregnancies I pitched both Ruby and Quinn but hubby wasn’t into it. We now have a Lila & Everly
Helen. Recently heard this on a baby girl and loved it.
I wonder if Nancy is due for a resurgence
We have a neighbor dog named Nancy and that sometimes seems like a precursor to a name coming back into fashion. (My only evidence for this is the number of dogs named Oliver I knew right before Oliver was beginning to become popular for babies.) Anyway, I could totally get behind Nancy as a baby name. Very cute.
I agree on the names of pets being a precursor. I recall similar situations with -belle names, and Max among others.
I am a Nancy, born 30 years after the last peak and I see it coming back soon. Partly because I’m seeing a change in people’s reactions when I tell them my name. For years and years I’d say my name, and people would respond either by telling me their mother/in-law/older relative has that name, or by expressing surprise that I was 20 instead of 50. Lately though I get more of a quirked head tilt and a thoughtful repetition.
I know two baby Nancys!
I have encountered girls who rocked the names Brennan and Keegan.
This is EXTREMELY satisfying to hear, because Delia is top of my list if we have another girl and I am feeling VERY committed to it.
Mall test winners for me include some of those not-quite-in-again names, like Warren and Norman.
I have a toddler Delia and we are so glad we used it! When I read this post and that was the name, it was so satisfying!
I think Diana is due for a comeback. I’d consider using it.
I used to feel the same about Hazel, until I met a friend with triplets and one of them is Hazel. Now I love it!
Augusta, not recent or on a kid but loved it when met someone with the name.
For me it is Judah. I always associate Judah with Judas. From what I understand, Judah was transliterated as Judas by the Greeks in their translation of the Bible so there is/may be a link between the two names. Not being particularly religious, the h/s distinction is lost on me. Anyways. Never would I have believed that Judah is a viable kid’s name given the negative connotation of Judas … until I met an adorable, kind, sweet, big blue eyed Judah who changed my mind. Now I kind of adore it.
Lilia, nn Lily. I have always liked the name Lily, but had never heard of Lilia as a name!
Lilia (pronounced with 2 syllables: leel-ya) literally means “lily” in Polish. It’s used as a name of its own, although less popular than Liliana or Lilianna (used 213 times in 2018, while there were 1106 Liliannas and 3155 Lilianas born that year).
Lilia (lil-ee-ah) was my absolute favourite girls name for ten years when I was a teen/in my early twenties. It has since dropped a little but it’s still right up there. But I never saw or read or heard it anywhere – I don’t know where I got it from!
I have an opposite issue with the name Axel. I thought of as Nordic or cool rocker name, but then I heard others kids calling after an Axel at a playground. I couldn’t figure out why all the kids were yelling “ASSHOLE!” and nobody was doing anything about it. Kind of ruined the name for me.
I came to write the EXACT same thing!
Axel is ruined for me.
Definitely depends where you are, I think – in my British accent this is not an issue!
I recently heard a mom yelling “Gordy!” on the playground. It was so sweet sounding to me! Baby Gordon, nn Gordy?? Love it.
This has been on my list since Lizzie McGuire
A lot of the “cool” names that I’ve heard in person turn out to be not quite so cool when it is said in mom’s exasperated tone talking to a toddler. (I won’t call any out, but those are the mall test fails.)
When naming our third boy, we were stuck on a name. We had a list of five names but none of them were front runners until we sat at the park, and I pretended to yell the name across the playground. That forced a name to the top real quickly. Thaddeus. And that is what our third was named. It had everything I wanted in a name (common but not over used, old-fashioned, biblical). Pretending to yell that name across the playground made me realize how much I loved it.
I never gave the name Judith a second thought until I heard of young one recently. All of a sudden, I was like…”Say, I would love to meet a young Judith, nn Judy or Jude!” Ditto Nancy. And a friend’s daughter has me rethinking Nadine as well. Deborah/Debbie used to be a name that I honestly couldn’t stand…but when I heard it used for a darling young girl, it really changed my mind.
We just found out that there’s a new girl in my third-grade daughter’s class named Shirley!! I was like, I bet you are gonna be BEST FRIENDS!!!
I love hearing this because my oldest daughter is named Shirley. It fits her perfectly and she has such an outgoing personality (which was surprising for me because both my husband and I were shy when we were young). I hope they do become best friends! :)
Lois! She was adorable, and now I wish I could have another baby just to use the name Lois. Alas, we are done done.
I was at the library recently and heard a mother refer to her oldest as “Alan”. To me, it’s such an aged name and I only expect to hear it as a middle. But this kid wore it so well, and it was refreshing.
For me it was Shelby. It is so out of my style but this super cute glasses wearing tot changed my mind.
For me that kind of name was Marianna (pronounced “mar-yan-na”). It fits the category of now in fashion “grandmother’s names” (like Helena or Zofia), but I always considered it a “mothballs & boredom” kind of name rather than “glamorous patina” (if you get what I mean). However, a couple of years ago I heard in a store a mom calling her young (6 or 7-year-old) daughter “Marianna”. And what’s more, she was using the full form of the name instead of a nickname (Marianka, Mania), and it suited that cute girl perfectly. After that I completely changed my opinion about this name and now I even have Marianna on my list of names for possible future daughter.
“mothballs & boredom” versus “glamorous patina” is the PERFECT way to describe those old-fashioned names!
I got my name because my mom overhead it at the mall (30+ years ago)!
I had a eureka-level Mall Test pass when, after this name was discussed in a recent post, I said the name Eulalie (“Eulalie Ava Rose”) out loud several times. (I know, not legit as a true “mall test” — the idea is to be surprised by hearing the name out in public somewhere — but it was the best I could do.) It was a name I would have passed right by in the baby-name book — and I probably did many times. But when the name hit my ear, I instantly loved the name so much I was sorry I was too old to have another baby, because I’d want to use it! (Though the parents of the FIRST Eulalie Ava-Rose might object to my using the whole entire name!) I’ve said the name out loud a number of times since reading that post — and I continue to think it’s the best name ever.
My daughter’s name is Beatrice, and while I loved it when I was pregnant, the first year of her life I wasn’t sure and wondered if I had made a mistake. It read as too heavy for her, and while her nickname (Bea) worked I still felt some regret until I watched a video of me talking to her. I have a (very) tiny lisp/fat tongue (that is speech pathology talk…having done years of it) and the way that I say Beatrice is ALL softness and light and I was like OH. OH YES I LIKE THAT NAME VERY MUCH. Highly recommend the mall test AND the mom-loving-on-their-one-year-old test.
Oh! We just named our new daughter Beatrice, and I am having some regrets. Similarly, what is working for me is to imagine hearing ANOTHER mother say it to her child, or hearing it in a kindergarten class – I know I’d be so charmed by it in those situations. And I think maybe it is just a name that is tough for a newborn but will feel more natural with time. :)
Immogen… She’s so beautiful written out! She’s Shakespearean! She’s underused!
But when I SAY Immogen… nope. It’s like my mouth is full of marbles. Bummer.
I always felt this about Siobhan (shuh-von). So pretty written! So not my thing said aloud!
I know a little Joni and I just love the way it sounds when her mother uses it. She also calls her “Jones” as a nickname. Adorable.
Oh my GOSH why is Jones so cute on a little girl??
Zella!
I think this is the case with Archie! We’ve loved Archibald for years and with the royal family using Archie on an actual person… it seems possible to use and love on a real baby (close to the Mall test, but maybe a tad different). Apple is one that seems to have been the opposite. I’ve never heard it come back from the way people joked about it when Gwenyth Paltrow used it (even though I think its a bit cute, actually).
ZORA I cannot get over this same after a friend of mine used it.
Yay! I have a baby Zora, who is about to turn 1. We found the name on our family tree-it was husband’s great-grandmother. I thought she would be an Ada or a Luna right up until she was born. Her middle came from a comment to my post here!
Olive is my favorite mall test name. My sister’s neighbor was yelling for her Olive to come home and I loved it. I also love actual olives, so I liked the association. Unfortunately, husband did not love the name, so Zora it was.
I new a nurse practitioner named Alpha Zora S. And she totally made both those names pass the “doctor/lawyer/professionalism” test for me. Love the name Zora but my husband doesnt want to use it :( oh well, at least girl names is not where we struggle. Also recently heard a name we love, Florence, on a coworker’s baby (we dont work super closely or live in the same town so it wouldn’t stop me using it) and it only affirmed what a perfect name it is. :)
Loretta. Sounded fusty until I heard it on a young child recently and suddenly it was fresh and beautiful!
I met an adorable little girl named Campbell once and it immediately went to my top three girl names. But, when it came to naming my actual baby I couldn’t quite commit. I still love it, though. I met a tiny Nancy recently and swooned.
We dont have kids yet but I love hearing the names we love on news anchors or as the editors of podcasts. I sometimes wonder if they are stage names because they are so cool and fresh: Soren on radiolab, Phoebe from criminal (all the ladies who make that show have great names), and our number on name, Sylvie, was the news anchor for the French foreign news I used to listen to. Sylvie is more of a middle aged name in France but who cares.
Recently met a tiny Elsie -and thought hmmmm? But the more I hear it the more I love it. She has an older brother Vincent and the 2 names are adorable together
I knew an Ana (Ah-ha) with a little sister named Elsie who was 1 when Frozen came out. Always felt sorry for that mom. Such original names until … glam! Disneyfied!
Harry! I’ve long loved Henry, but was never particularly crazy about Harry, until I heard it on a sweet little boy around 1 year old at a birthday party awhile back. He was adorable, and he made me love the name.
This’s never happened to me; probably because my hearing impairment tends to garble unfamiliar names. One name I did develop an affection for was Tariq/Tarik. There were couple of nice boys with the name when I was subbing in their classrooms. It’s such a cool name and would be on my list if we weren’t so very Brit and Swedish. Ah well. Cultural appropriation isn’t cool.
Same but I do love Tariq!
I don’t know if this counts but as a kid we had 2 kittens and I wanted to name them Bonnie and Clyde. My dad nixed this, saying, he would not be calling “Clyde!” out the front door. They instead ended up being named Sadie and Butch.
I heard the name Minnie, short for Minerva the other day.
I really didn’t think Minnie was a name that was still given out because most people would so strongly associated it to the mouse (as did I…or so I thought), but when I heard it I just about died it was so darling and adorable to hear. It definitely helped that it was an adorable baby girl named Minnie and I”m not sure if it would pass the mall test for me had it been an elder woman, but in this particular case she has the longer name Minerva to fall back on.
But also, Minerva…SWOON! I would’ve never thought twice about that name and always associated it with the strict elderly professor from Harry Potter, but Minerva nn Minnie has officially won me over. Two names I never would’ve though I’d like.
Crazy! I was just coming to write that my husband loves the name Minerva, but I feel it might fail the mall (or park) test. We were in the country recently, and I was trying to imagine introducing “my daughter Minerva” to the neighbours, and wasn’t sure I’d actually be able to do it.
A name I’d never considered that I heard and loved in the park is Leona.
And strangely, since reading your post, “my daughter Minerva” doesn’t sound half as unrealistic to me as it did before!
Hermione! If you asked me academically whether you should use it I would say the Harry Potter reference is just too much, but when I met one in a tea shop I thought it was awesome and fit her so well.