I dreamed last night that I had a baby unexpectedly, didn’t-know-I-was-pregnant style, and it was a girl, and of course I hadn’t had my usual eight months or so of thinking about baby names. And, as is the way dreams go, I couldn’t find a baby name book, and I couldn’t gather my thoughts properly, and I kept getting distracted by other things.
BUT, in the dream, the first name that came to my mind was Josephine. Then, as I scrambled to think of more options, I came up with Rose and then Genevieve. Those are all actual names from my actual baby-girl-name lists, but not necessarily in order of which names I would actually use on an actual baby girl, so I was interested to see which names my dream-brain accessed first.
What I am wondering is: If you had a baby girl to name, right now, unexpectedly, what names spring FIRST to your mind (and/or after a very short delay, as in my dream)? You’ll have to play this game FAST to avoid contaminating the results, but you can ignore names that spring to your mind if they’re names you dislike.
(If you are in any way similar to me temperament-wise, you will need to be reassured: this is only a game; the names don’t actually have to work with your surname or with sibling names or with what the other parent would want; none of this is in any way binding; the point of this game is to see which of the names you like come first to your mind.)
Eve Eloise
I had a similar dream one time. I was suddenly in a hospital bed, holding a baby girl with a pink hat. In the dream, I named her Kate Lucille. So funny because I have never really considered either of those names IRL.
If I had to name a baby right now, I’d probably go with Sophia Mae, two names I have loved forever and did not have the chance to use.
It’s unclear if I’m actually having a dream right now… because the first name that comes to my mind is Josephine.
Margaret, nickname Meg. Or Margie. Or Maggie. So many nicknames!
My late aunt’s and grandmothers’ names, especially as I share a name with one grandmother and my mom shares with another. But when I had a dream baby a few months ago I named her … Isobel Maris. Neither of which is on my list at ALL, although I did wake up mulling over whether I like Maris.
Agnes. It was my grandmother’s name and I’ve always loved it but didn’t get a chance to use it.
Sonia, Miriam, Wren
And then Susan, Elsie
Juniper 🤷♀️
I dreamed recently I had granddaughters named Catherine (Cate) and Theodora (Thea). Also grandsons named Isaac (Ike) and Nicholas (Cole). Not quite the same because in the dream I had not named the children, but since it was my brain that created the dream, I guess I did. And I’d be happy to have grandkids with those names, even though none of them were ever on any of my lists.
Our next-in-line girl name we never used was Taylor (family surname), so that’s where my mind goes first. But Susannah, Leah, and Caroline follow soon after.
I hav a Catherine and a Nicholas so I think your dream self did a good job!
Julia and Amelia (possibly with nn Mia) have been my go-to girl names for a while. Mara is also in there as one I’ve loved. As I intentionally “played the game,” I got a little mental surprise with Daphne and I’m not sure I would ever actually name a baby that but I do like it as a concept.
Helena
(I am very surprised by this! It’s not a name that I’ve ever considered but it was the first thing that came to mind).
I love Helena. I pronounce it hel-ay-na.
Wendy or Sabine!
Lidia, Emory, Bianca…great names I will never get to use, but I give freely to people who ask me!
Bianca
Diana
Inez
Diane Elizabeth
I am probably not playing tame right, but…Archibella.
My daughter’s actual name is Ann. The other day I was joking I should have given her a middle name that would have made her full name Ann Archie. I looked up the feminine form of Archibald. It’s been stuck in my head as surprisingly usable ever since.
My next “planned” name would be Eleanor. A family name my husband vetoed before, but after naming 3 children with him I have realized he vetoes about everything without constructive reasons, so I would just get him to come around to this. Ha! We haven’t done official nicknames with our others, but I really like the nickname Nell and how it fits with our last name. When I first read this question though, the “gut” name that appeared was Katherine, possibly nicknamed Kit or Kitty. It’s my middle name and I never wanted to use it, even though my husband did. But for some reason it’s suddenly warmed to me! Also, I can tell I still have some naming/nickname regret for my 3 real children. My husband really didn’t want nicknames, but I am so drawn to them, and wish I had advocated harder, as I’ve found he really comes around to just about anything after the real child is here!
Am I the only one who wishes for another child just to get to name another? I am way too tired/getting too old for a 4th, but besides the heart tug I get when I see a newborn, I mostly just wish I got to name one more little person!
Me!! I would have 10 kids if it were just the naming part. And if I employed 3 nannies and a chef and a housekeeper. And a surrogate. Lol
Maybe we should play the “if I had 10 kids” name game sometime…
Eliza. I think it is my most-regret-not-using name.
Zoe Veronica! Don’t have any kids and likely never will, but that’s the combo I wanted to use if I ever did have a daughter.
Daphne, which is what I wish I had named my daughter and have never been able to let go of. And then Phoebe popped into my mind, not sure why…but that’s the game, right?
I love Daphne and Phoebe.
The first one was Julianna, which has always been a favorite but not my top one.
Not looking at the other names yet, mine are: Oona, Ozma, Mabel, Maude, Alice and Calliope.
Lilia/Lilija Genevieve (or possibly Janet for my late mother who passed away in July. Genevieve is a very subtle way to honor her, with similar sounds in the first syllables while Janet is very direct and I love Lilia/Lilija. It honors the Latvian and Scandinavian parts of my heritage. Not sure which way I should go with the middle name. I definitely prefer more traditional names though). That’s the first name that pops into my mind. I’ve had it picked out for a while. I also love Irēna Judith (ih-ree-na), Vera Abigail, Freya/Freyja Rose, Saoirse Margaret, Fiona Ivy, Susanna/Zuzanna Audrey, and a bunch of other names. I’m Irish, Latvian, Scottish, and Scandinavian/Viking so a lot of those names, but a lot of uncommon classics too.
Love these!!
Ivy (one I love that doesn’t work with my last name) and Hyacinth sprang to mind unexpectedly?!
how fun! I don’t have kids, never desired kids. LOVE LOVE LOVE NAMES. First to come to mind was my long-perfect name I’d used as a baby name in a story I wrote: Br1n M4ll0ry (see, I’m even still protecting it from search results!). Then my cat’s perfect name, Delia. Then my two paternal grandmothers: Marguerite (Margi) and Nielsina (Senie).
Love Delia! 🙂
Lydia or Louise, which are on my beloved shortlist but husband doesn’t care for them.
First thought for a boy was Lucas, which is a fine name I’ve never strongly considered for my own.
Tessa. I wish it was my name.
Phoebe, Fiona, Freya
One of my favorite name games is thinking up names for triplets. The three names above are the ones that most often come to mind for this. If I had a dream where I had to name one baby girl, I suspect that Freya would be the one my dream self would choose.
I love all 3 of those names! They’re beautiful. ❤
If Swistle needs a blog post idea, naming fictional triplets would be a good topic!
Sub-categories of fraternal/identica and different boy/girl mixes…
Lorena
Sylvia
Octavia
Rose
Azalea (probably as a middle)
It probably says something about me as a person that I basically already have an I-didn’t-know-i-was-pregnant baby girl name list xD
I immediately started overthinking this, but here are the names that clamored into my mind reasonably untainted by the overthinking:
Millicent
Tabitha
Elsie
Heidi
Rosemary
Last night, I heard that 1970s song “Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)” for the first time in YEARS, and man, what a bop. I can’t get it out of my head. There’s something so precious about it. Great name, many great nickname options. I’d sing the song to her, for sure. :)
Mary Clare
Eve Frances
Names I never got to use. I occasionally ponder witness protection names. What would I choose for myself? (Not likely to actually happen!). Mine would be Mary Frances. Mary will forever be the perfect name in my eyes. (Should say that Maree is a pseudonym and not close to my actual name).
When I read through the comments I kept thinking about the name Julie. No idea why. I loved Julia as a teenager and wished it was my name but I’ve recently realised I prefer the E ending now (see also Dianne over Dianna, Annelise over Annalisa etc).
I’m also having a whistful thought that was it’s now out there Mary can no longer be my witness protection name. Brains are weird!
We tried for a baby for a long time, with no subsequent baby coming to live with us. Ada and Felicity and Fiona are consistents on my girl list that we didn’t get to use.
Carys Margaret
Carys is beautiful!
Vivienne and Felicity would be my twin girl names. I think they’re smashing together.
YES!! I forgot to list these two – absolutely on my list.
Margaret, Romilly, Edith! irl Edith doesn’t work with one of my existing children’s names and Romilly isn’t quite my style but I love them both, and Margaret is what we would’ve used if either child had been afab.
Eloise! Edith! Veronica!
I think at least the first two would be at the top of my list if I were to suddenly get pregnant. Not sure that my husband would agree, but he is not part of this game!
I had a dream like this and I think I ended up naming the baby Azalea. Which is not my style, and also doesn’t fit my requirements e.g. not starting with A. It was the right name for the baby though.
If DH and I actually had a baby tomorrow, I think she’d be Briar. (Or Casper if male.)
Cecily popped into my mind first—it’s what my second would have been if he’d been a girl. And Arwen, one of my husband’s faves that I couldn’t quite get behind lol
I love Cecily! I love Cecilia too, but a bit too high on the charts for me.
Miranda is what I thought of first – the name I was proposing if we had a second child who was a girl. (Maia would have been the girl name for the first, and I still like it, but when we were considering a second I came to love Miranda more.,)
And then Gina popped into my head – not a name I’d ever considered or that I would likely use! Miranda Jean, maybe.
Julia came into my head next. That, I would use.
I love Maia. I’ve considered Mairéad, nicknamed Maia. My maternal grandmother’s name was Mary. Julia is beautiful too, but too popular.
She would definitely be Rose, which was the close 2nd choice for each of our daughters and is my husband’s favorite. It wasn’t my favorite back when we had kids, but it has grown on me over time.
Ivy, Anna, Alexandra, Catherine or Katherine/Kate, Lily, Violet.
Charlotte, Caroline, and Genevieve came to mind. I had planned to use Evangeline if we had a girl so these aren’t too far off. If I didn’t have to compromise on names, I would have chosen Clare.
Annabel, Eliza, Thea. All have been on a list at some point.
Penelope! Sarah. Harlowe. Arden.
Louisa, Ophelia, Camille. The last has been on several lists of mine; the first are names I have never considered.
I took a minute off, thought about other things, and then tried again: Delilah, Hermione, and Mirabel. Apparently my brain goes for rather fancy, multisyllabic names in a pinch. I could see using Mirabel, maybe.
This was fun!
I had a gender surprise baby in Sept who is a boy, but the girl name we had picked out was Louisa, and Ophelia was one we strongly considered despite it being out of our comfort zone slightly (still love it!!)
I once had a dream I had a baby girl named Helena. Not at all one of my favorites, but still cute.
But every time I imagine a baby girl on my arms, I think about some form of Rose, just because of beautiful rosey cheeks.
Dorothy Clare nn Dot
Maren.
Or a rhyming name with my given name (Marissa) – so Carissa, Clarissa, Larissa. I could have a Rissa Jr. I’m
Elodie Annalise
Antonietta
Winifred
Ava (the top 5 name I wouldn’t let myself use) and Paige (the name that was vetoed). And Rose as a middle- my nan’s name, she hated it and forbade me to use it- but it was so perfect I should’ve gone for it.
This is also why I didn’t choose Sophia with my first baby! She was born in 2012 and Sophia was the number one most popular girl name on the SSN list for that year. I was in love of the idea of a baby Sophie but was worried she would get called Sophia with it being so popular. Now that she is 10, it is clear that she is so not a Sophia/Sophie though, so I think it worked out ok :)
Rebecca, Lucinda, Alison (??), Alice, Sara, Phoebe, Anne, Elisabeth
All short list names for my kids except Alison. Where the heck did Alison come from? lol.
My surprise baby girl would be Ruby Jane. Ruby was our top name for baby #1 but she was unexpectedly born with flaming red hair, so it was a 24hr scramble to find something else. Baby #2 and #3 were both boys, so Ruby is still in my back pocket. My husband says we are done, buuuuuut
Rosemary, and I’d actively nickname her Ro so people wouldn’t be tempted to call her Rose. Rosemary was always on our short list and it most likely would have been our first child’s name had he been a girl. I then did have two girls but Rosemary somehow just didn’t feel right for either of them, so we didn’t use it. I absolutely love my daughters’ names and wouldn’t want to give up either of the names we did use. But when I asked myself just now what I’d name another girl if she showed up tomorrow, Rosemary is still the name I wish I’d had a chance to use.
I also have had a dream like that, a few years ago… and I named the baby girl Cleo, a name I like but wouldn’t have been on my list, per se. Although after the dream, I’ve always liked the name much better!
My top “having one more baby, surprise, it’s a girl!” name is Mabel, though.
This is so hard. If I ever get pregnant with a girl naming her will consume my pregnancy 😂 I’ve had 2 boys.
Potentially Margaret, Eleanor, or Eloise — family names/family inspired names.
Lorelei
Lorelei is beautiful!
I found out early in my pregnancy that I was having a boy, so if this were a surprise boy in a dream, I would have several sorry-they-got-away names all ready to go from the boy name list.
My extensive girl name list never got narrowed down any further than maybe Leonora? But when I try to think quickly what to name a surprise girl in a dream, the names that come to mind are two that I was thinking would be nice on girl twins, Sunniva and Elidia, and also forms of Mary to use as jumping off points for middles like Mariana and Malia.
Love Leonora!
Margaret
If I had a fourth, this would definitely be in the running! But it’s from an earlier time in naming for me. I remember writing it in my notes during university classes! Margaret Clare. Nn Meg. I have since fallen out with my sisters Meg and Clare, so I’m glad I dodged that bullet and went with Maud!!
These days I’m into different names like Celeste, Alexandra, Louisa, etc. But if I got pregnant I think Margaret would sneak back in there. Definitely Margo – I can see doing Margaret nn Margo.
I wonder if we could play this game with boys’ names (though I always feel like girls are more fun!)
My boy name would be ……. William. Yeah, not as fun 😜
Simone, Bridget, maybe Calla
Calla and Simone were vetoed by my husband. Bridget is kind of an outlier for me, but I think it would be so cute on a little one.
Have Bridget and Calla on my list.
Aurora, Jane, Lane, Delaney, Evangeline (nn Eva), Ava
Ooh, fun!
Astrid, Ingrid, Blythe, and Phoebe.
Henry, Heath, Wells, and Gus. 💛
I love the girls names! All great. I love Henry for a boy but it’s too popular. Lol
I LOVE your names. If we had Cecily, Carys, and Margaret (Margo) to one list and Hayes to the other, we would be favorite-names-twinsies
Love Cecily, Carys, and Margaret/Margo. Can’t use Margaret or Margo as first names though because I have cousins with those names.
I only got to name boy children and Meredith is the one that still works for me. Also Sally, after my grandma who would have turned 100 later this year.
Laurel is the first to my mind easily, but after ten seconds I come up with Valley. I’m also definitely in line with those “can I justify one more kid in order to name one more” folks!
Georgia, Nella, Marissa
Greta!
I have Greta on my list too.
Elowen
Sophie Jane
Helen
I love Elowen! That’s how my grandson first pronounced his older sister’s Top-10 name — so sweet!
Evelina. I’m post-menopausal and have grandkids, so this would be beyond unexpected!! I’ve always liked Evelina. I married my current husband in my 40s and his beloved grandmother was Evelyn, so Evelina would be perfect.
The only other name that came to mind was my high school favorite, Heather, which I would not use.
Evelina is on my list too. So beautiful! I like Heather too but I have a cousin with that name.
My high school fave was Shannon. Actual child was named Jordan. Apparently I like rivers….
Rose- partially because you put it in the post, but also because it’s come up in my brain a lot recently.
I was just talking with a stranger who called her daughter “Jo-Rose”. At least, that’s what I thought- nope, she did the frequent parent thing of running through all the names around her, and called her Joe (the husband) Rose (the daughter). But I’ve been delighted by Jo-Rose since! Josephine Rose, perhaps?
I love Rose and variations already, so I think my dream’s self would jump at the opportunity.
I had this sudden-baby dream a few months ago. That baby was Anna Grace and we called her Annie. Neither name was ever on any of my lists but I find it charming now! Annie!
It was so out of nowhere that even my dream self was asking why we didn’t name her Claire or Sloane. (The actual names on my list from back when I thought we might have a third baby).
Winifred. Followed quickly by Felicity and Frances.
Rosa
Leonie, Leona
Theodora
In real life, the names I feel wistful about are Anne (Annie!) and Theodora…and maybe Harriet, because my husband loves it so much it’s become charming to me.
Aria, Magnolia, Wren
Ann-Marie
Briony
Victorine
Mirabella
Araminta
Felicity Liane
Amara Celine
Talia Corinne
I’ve not named any children yet but, my gut name(s) for my (future) daughter(s) are Alyssa Louise, Maria Celeste, & Johanna Rose. Interesting since only Louise (& some variants), Rose (& some variants), & Johanna are on any of my lists. I’ve never thought of Alyssa before, though lately I’ve been crushing on Alice & I specifically don’t like Maria of all the Mary names.