Here’s the first post, where we lay out the game as we’re going to play it, but the gist is that we are pretending we have a baby to name, and that the baby MUST be given a name starting with a certain letter. From there, you can play it by whatever rules are most fun and least stressful for you, with as little or as much explanation as you prefer. And remember, it doesn’t have to be a name we’d ACTUALLY want to use: we’re just choosing our favorite from an artificially-limited batch of names.
Today’s letter is Y! I found it challenging: apparently in the U.S. we don’t use very many names starting with Y. I choose Yvonne for a girl and Yates (in honor of Sally Yates) for a boy. I initially chose Yasmine/Yasmin/Yasmeen for a girl, but then I was practicing using it (imagining calling my daughter to come downstairs for dinner, for example), and it didn’t feel right for our family. Yvonne is not what I would usually choose, either, but it felt comfortable to use. I’m a little concerned that Yates would be perceived as a misspelling of Yeats, but this is just pretend so it’s okay.
This one is tough. Ysabeau and…. Yale?
My family have many Y names! My mom, sister, brother and me we all have a first or middle name that starts with a Y and I always thought it would be nice to continue the tradition of using a Y name. For a girl I would use Yoliette, as a middle name, because it has the same pronunciation as my own name. Other girl name that I like is Yarianna.
For a boy I’ve always liked Yael and Yamil.
Interesting–I’ve always heard Yael for a girl!
I’m from Puerto Rico and in Spanish is a boy’s name :)
I love that. I treasure girls being named for their mothers.
I know a tweenage Yuri, but I’m going for Yeshua for my boy name.
I’ve always loved Jael and Yael for a girl.
I’ve been thinking about Y and what I would choose! Not a letter I’m drawn to either, but I like Yancy/Yancey (not sure which spelling I prefer). I would pick it for a girl, but I suppose a boy could be Yancy/Yancey too. It doesn’t go with my children IRL, but it does work with my surname.
Can’t wait to learn some new names on this thread!
AT first I was stumped on Y NAMES, but after scrolling the list in Baby Name Wizard, here’s what I decided
Boy: Yuri after the first person in space – Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin
Girl: Yara
I was thinking about this after I posted for Z, and phew, this one is tough.
I like Yael for a girl. I also like Yseult, though I think more people are familiar with Isolde.
I can’t think of a boy name I like, and quick trawl through the internet left me uninspired.
The only one I can even think of is a girl name – Yesenia. I’ve also seen a similar one which will serve as an x name: Xenia!
Yvette and Yardley
Yara for a girl. It was a character on Game of Thrones, the television series—although in the books the character is named Asha.
For a boy, Yuri. I have liked that name ever since I watched Dr Zhivago.
This is hard!
I’d go with York for a boy and Yarrow (like the flower) for a girl.
I like Yarrow a lot.
Love the name York! What a unique and awesome choice.
Ooh, this is tough! I’d go with Yara, and I really like either Yates or Yeats for a boy!
Oh wow, Y’s are really hard. Assuming I don’t have to have husband input, I’d probably go with Yelena for a girl & I think I’d do Yeats for a boy.
IRL, I wouldn’t use Yelena for a girl, as I vastly prefer Helen or Helena (Hell-in-ah). I also wouldn’t use Yeats because surnames-as-first aren’t my thing but the letter Y didn’t leave a lot of options.
Yael for a girl, Yarrow for a boy
Yva & York
I guess I’d lean into the Jewish names with Yael and Yosef. In real life, I’d use these for their Hebrew names, but not for their names outside temple (at least not Yosef, we’d use Joseph for my grandpa).
Love your idea of Yates for Sally Yates! Wouldn’t work for us (with our ast name, would sound too traditionally New England WASP, or at least would sound funny on a bar mitzvah invitation). But I would find it charming on someone else’s little boy.
Yvaine for a girl (would have been baby #2’s middle name if a girl) and York for a boy
Y is definitely a challenge!
Girl: Ysabel
Boy: Yarrow
Girl: Yara
Boy: Yannick or Yves
Y is hard!
Yasmin for a girl, Yuri for a boy? I guess?
Youna for a girl and Yule for a boy.
Oh, and actually I know a very new baby girl named Ylvi from a German speaking country.
Ylvi is lovely!
Yvette for a girl and Yarrow for a boy. I wouldn’t have come up with these on my own, but if my husband suggested them I would be willing to put them on the list if we were having another baby.
I’ve been thinking on my Y names for a few days. Now I am really digging Yvette and Yarrow, especially Yarrow. They are officially added to my favorite names list. Same thing happened with Zinnia after I thought about it, although I posted Zosia which I wouldn’t actually use, as my Z choice.
Yolanda?
We’ve been thinking of using this for a girl –
What do you think?
It’s one of my y picks, I love it! Go for it!
These are all the names I liked from the Y section
of a baby name website:
Girls:
Yalena
Yamini
Yazz
Yeela
Yemina
Ynes
Yojanna
Ysadora
Yau
Yuana
Boys:
Yeardley
Yoni
Yates
Yale
York
Yosemite
For a girl, I would probably pick Yalena, or maybe Yamini or Ynes. For a boy, I would pick Yeelen, named after the film by Souleymane Cissé. It means “light.”
Juuuust a heads up that Yoni means vagina.
I like Y much more than the other commenters here it seems. And more than Z.
I would choose Yves for boy and Yaya for a girl.
But I also like Yarrow, Yasmin, Yesenia, Ylang might be a cool name.
Oh and Yael too! Which I would use if I had any rights to it.
Our tastes are very closely aligned here! My favourites are Yaya & Yael and Yves & Yates. I love Yael but I already have a Jewish surname without being Jewish and I wouldn’t want to be appropriative.
This one was tough! I like Yael a lot, but I don’t think it fits my family. Yvette would be a pretty safe choice with French Canadian heritage. York for a boy, super cool. But ultimately, if I had to choose now for my baby, it would be Yvaine or Yardley.
Yael and Yoni!
Ysabel and Yannick
Yvonne for a girl (actually sounds really good with our hard-to-work-with surname). Might make the short list for must name a baby girl right now, all letters permitted. Wouldn’t have considered it but for this exercise.
Yves or perhaps Yarden for a boy. Yarden is better with the surname.
Could Yukon make it as place name for a boy?
I like Yesenia, Yasmin, and Yara for a girl. I think I prefer Yasmin out of the three, but Yara would fit better with my other kids’ names. Boys are tough, but my favorite is Yves.
Yrene and Yohann
I love Yvaine.
Yves for a boy is so lovely, even though I don’t like Eve for a girl. Yeats/Yates has a great sound.
I like Yvonne (my great grandmother’s middle name) for a girl and hmmm… Yann or Yvan for a boy?
Girl name is easy because it is a family name. Yolanda. My favorite of the family members goes by Yoly and she is such a sunny person.
Boy name is hard. I picked Yves but it wouldn’t work with our last name. But I still like it.
Hmm
Yvette for a girl
Yanos for a boy
Yasmin and Yancy
Yvo + Yvette
Girl: I would feel like I was cheating if I chose a name that didn’t have the same “y” sound that “yellow” starts with, so I probably wouldn’t go with Yvaine although I love it. It would probably come down to Yesenia, Yekaterina (spelled with a “y” to make sure that it was pronounced correctly in English), or Yara, and Yara would likely win.
Boy: I had a student named Yadiel, so that’s out. I think Yorick would win over Yeats.
Yardley for a girl!
I would name twins Yates and Yeardley without a thought.
Independently I would use Yara, but I feel like that is cheating because I used Zara for Z and my name is Sara :)
Loves Swistle’s idea of Yates in homage to Sally Yates. Yes for me.
I like Yardley and York!
Those would be my picks, too.
I would HAPPILY name a girl Yvonne, my best friend’s middle name. And stealing from above, I love York for a boy.
I think I’d go with Yvonne and York. My mother’s name was Lavaughn, but she went by Von so a nod to her. York rhymes with dork which could set him up for teasing, but it also sounds regal. In my pretend world, no one would make fun of anyone because of their name (or any reason), so that’s my choice!
Yolande/a (girl) and Yves. (boy)
This one wasn’t easy.
For a girl: YOHANNA
For a boy: York
Oddly, mine are exactly the same as SalomeEllen’s
Yolande for a girl (It was my husband’s grandma’s name. I’m not terribly fond of any of the Y names so even though none of my other kids have family names I’d use one in this case rather than just pick another random Y name I don’t love)
Yves for a boy (It doesn’t work great with our last name but we have a subtle tree-related naming theme going on in my family and Yves means yew in French, I think)
Yvonne for a girl.
Yves for a boy.
Ysolde for a girl, and a tie between Yeats and Yarrow for a boy. What a tough one!
With our one syllable last name we would need a two syllable first name. Of the boys names I have seen (above and out about on the internet), the only one I could see us using would be Yardley (although it would be a hard sell to the husband). Girls are a little easier. My own middle name is Yvonne, although it is pronounced with the yuh sound at the beginning. So as a nod to that I would probably pick Yvaine.
But overall, Y is just hard to work with.
Ooh I like Yvaine!
I know a beautiful girl whose name is Yuria.
I’d go Yvette or Yvonne, nn Yvie for a girl and for a boy, maybe Yates/Yeats, Yannick or Yancey.
Someone mentioned Yvainne up above and I quite love that for a girl. For a boy … I love the name Iorek, from His Dark Materials, which I’ve always pronounced Yorek (even though that might not be correct?). So I’d probably go with that, even though I prefer the “I” spelling.
Iorek Byrnison! A magnificent, honorable namesake!! <3
Another poster mentioned the name Ylvi, and I’m smitten. As for a boy, I like Yannick.
Yvonne for a girl, it was my grandmother’s middle name. For a boy I like Yates.
Y is such a hard letter. I don’t actually think I would choose any of the Y names but if I had to…
Yoren for a boy
Yara for a girl (assuming I didn’t already have the Z baby I just hypothetically named Zara!)
Yulia (girl) or Yuval (unisex but I like it for a boy)
My wife is Yael; my daughter’s middle name is Yasmin.
I also really like Yohanna and Yesenia.
Oh wow, this is a challenge really!
I had a few ideas for a girl, out of which after all I decided Yelena would be the most realistically possible. I like Helena far more, but if I had a real baby and for whatever reason couldn’t use Helena, I wouldn’t be unhappy with Yelena.
With a boy name it’s so much more difficult! I just have no idea! I think I’ll go with Yael though I think of it primarily as a feminine name since there was a woman called Yael in the Bible, so it feels kind of as if I named a daughter Elijah, even though I know Yael’s in use for both genders. But I can’t think of any other male Y name that I’d like. Yelena and Yael don’t sound too well together but oh well. :D
Yvette and York, though I’d consider Yael for a girl.
Growing up, I had a friend named Yvetta. We lived in Arkansas and the pronunciation was “why-vetta”. She was such a dear, loyal friend I’d use her name in a heartbeat…for a middle.
I like York for a boy.
Yvaine for sure for a girl although Yulia is also pretty.
Boy is harder for me…
Probably Yardley
So Yvaine and Yardley!
Yves for a boy, Ygraine for a girl!
Yolanda for a girl. I’ve got nothing for a boy. When I was a kid we almost moved to a town called Yardley and if we had, that would be a nice sentimental choice, but we didn’t, so it would just be strange.
Yara and Yaeger
For girls, I like Ysele (“ee-ZELL”), Yvette, & Yvie.
For boys, maybe York or Yates.
York as a first, but if the Y option come be bumped to the middle, Yukon.
And for a little lady? I’d be tempted to use Yesterday… with ‘Yes’ as a nickname. (Insert me humming the Simon & Garfunkel hit).
The Beatles!
Just picking my favourite y names, Yvonne and Yves, no question. I love them both and would use in real life if allowed.
If we were doing boy/girl twins and similarity was an issue, my close second for a girl is Yolanda. So Yolanda and Yves.
I also like Yseult (I have a friend with this as a middle name) but it sounds too similar to my name to ever use.
Y is hard. 😊
Yann
Yasmin
Like many commenters I also really like Yara for a girl from Game of Thrones, I think cos I also like many other ~ara names: Cara, Zara, Lara, Tara, Sara. I pronounce them all with a long ‘ahr’ sound, as in car, jar, bar instead of like bear, hair, mare.
For a boy I would use York as I can’t think of any others I like enough to consider. Also my father is from Yorkshire, UK.
Yasmine and York!
Yaelle or Yseult for a girl.
Yves or Yaël for a boy.
Yvette for a girl (my childhood penpal was Yvette) and Yul for a boy (after the actor)
I like Yveline (and I know a Frenchwoman with this spelling – not sure how common it is). I really like others’ suggestion of Yancey.
I really like Yarrow and can’t decide if I would prefer it for a boy or a girl.
For a girl, I first thought Yelena but then several people mentioned Yael and I love that, I think girl would be either Yael or Yarrow.
Boy, I think Yates is okay but would never actually use it outside of this thought experiment. I found Yarren on Babynames and I like that actually! So for boys: Yarren or Yarrow.
Boy names with Y is a challenge! I would pick Yusef because Quentin happens to have an uncle (whom he likes) named Yusef so it would be an honor name. For informational/factoid purposes, Yusef was born Joseph and changed his name to Yusef when he converted to Islam. Yusef has a daughter named Yasmin! And a son named Yael! I am learning a lot about Y names right now!
My girl name choice would be Yolanda I think. I considered Ysolde but decided I prefer Iseult spelling (even though I like the name only in theory and not in practice because out loud it is not as pretty as when I look at it). I also considered Yolande because I prefer it visually to Yolanda but….I like Yolanda better for an actual baby.
I went to college with an Yvonne and it was a surprisingly spunky name!
Y is rough. Just looking at all the names and Y starts to look weird. But, we must soldier on.
Yara for a girl. This is growing on me as I think of it.
And I love the Yates connection Swistle mentioned so Yates for a boy.
Girl: Yola
Boy: Yule/Yul
Y is so hard! Yelena for a girl, but I just can’t think of one I’d love for a boy. Yukon, maybe?
I’ve always liked Yvonne, so I’d probably go with that.
Although no one has mentioned Yana which is another Y name I like.
There are a handful of good Hebrew options for boys: Yuval, Yoel, Yotam, Yonatan. I might pick Yonatan and call him Natan.
For any gender, Yael.
Yana, Ysolde
Yohan, Yarrick
Yana for a girl, although if I was really using it I’d spell it Jana.
Yves for a boy.
I’ll go with Yvette and Yannick.
I’m grateful for the ideas in this thread because I was flailing! I think I would use Yarrow and Yves for any gender.
This is tough! I think I’d go with Yara and Yann.
Yvaine and Yves.
I love unusual initials, so I’m surprised at how few of these names are clicking for me. Especially for boys. After reading “York” a few times, I thought, “Maybe … at a stretch,” but then thought “York the dork,” and that snuffed out the tiny ember of interest I had.
For a boy, I think I’d go for “Yon.” I prefer the Dutch spelling “Jan,” but Yon gives the correct pronunciation, which would be a constant problem in the U.S. with the Jan spelling. My husband is from an all-Dutch extended family, and his parents would have named him Jan (pronounced “Yon”), except his mother’s nickname was Jan-pronounced-Jan, so they realized it wouldn’t work.
Yesenia because it’s similar to my name!
Yoel for a boy, but I had to google it to confirm the spelling.
Yul for a boy.
Yohanna for a boy.
Where I live, both would probably be pronounced with a “J”, and I like them either way.
Yvaine & Yates
Yvaine and Yohan – this was a super tough letter for me and no names came to mind automatically so I borrowed these from previous posters.
Yoanna and Yeats
Yoanna & Yvo
Yara and Yasin
Argh! After reading everyone else’s replies I remembered some others that I like- so I’d change the boy to Yves and the girl to Ylvi. Or Yuri.
This is the hardest one in the latter half of the alphabet!
For a girl, I’m considering Yule. I hesitate because 1) It’s unisex/boy and I generally like very flowery, feminine names and 2) It’s one syllable and I strongly prefer longer names. I tried to think of a good Yule double name, but all I came up with were Yule-Grace, Yule-Dawn, and Yule-Joy, which perhaps try to tell a little too much of a story and so seem too cheesy. Yet if it doesn’t tell a story, it doesn’t seem to make sense (eg, Yule-May, Yule-Jane?). Ultimately, I think I’d go with Yvette, a nice, safe choice.
For a boy, I initially was excited about Yves, thinking it would be pronounced rhyming with “dives,” but when I looked it up and saw that it’s said “eev,” my enthusiasm dried up. I don’t want people to mix up his name with Eve. I considered Yule for a boy, but, again, it’s too short for me, and in one day, I wasn’t able to think of an acceptable double combination. Finally, I came to Yakob. It doesn’t fit perfectly with my family’s names, but it’s a good name with a lot of history.
Y: Yvette and Yakob
Z: Zelie and Zechariah
Boy: Yates
Girl: Yara