Rose writes:

I am pleased to find your blog and hope that you can help me identify a name for our baby girl that is due this month (yikes!). The hubster and I have two boys named Chase and Cole. We used the Baby Name Wizard book to help us name our second child, Cole. We knew Cole followed the same style and went well with Chase and it was a great name for us.

The issue we are experiencing this time around is that the names we (or maybe I should me) like this time around do not follow the same style as Chase and Cole and the book’s suggestions are not to my liking. Here are some names that the Hubster and I like:

Hubster loves names like: Emma, Olivia, Paige, Macy and Ella
I love names like: Annika, Jillian, Charlotte, Hailey, Harper and Joella

Hubster’s style: Names that are really popular right now, his names follow the same style as Chase/Cole (i.e., Paige, Macy)
My style: More traditional names, Longer syllabled names, Not in the top 10 list of most popular, meaning is of importance to me

Our middle name choice for baby girl is probably going to be Kathryn or Katherine. Our last name is Kincaid so we have to be careful our first name does not contain a lot of “k” sounds in it. If you say Kate Kincaid, it sounds bad due to all the “k” sounds.

In the end, we are hoping for some suggestions that follow these rules:
1) The name is easily pronounced
2) The name is not so uncommon that people ask her if it is a family name or where the name came from (my fear with the name Harper)
3) The name is not so incredibly popular that she is signing her projects/papers with her last name initial to distinguish herself from the other two Emmas in the classroom (i.e, “Emma K”.)
4) A feminine name, not one that is androgenous since she will have two brothers (don’t want her mistaken for another boy)
5) No names that are flower or nature’like (i.e., Lillian, Violet) since my name is like that
6) No more C names since we have two C names already
7) We are open to having names that are longer and can serve to have a nickname

Any helpful suggestions for baby girl names?

I think it’s totally fine to have different naming styles for boy names and girl names. I think the divide between the genders reduces the potential “someone is different” problem.

Here are a few suggestions:

Juniper – I know, I know, it’s nature-like AND it’s probably similar to Harper in its “Where did you get that name?” potential. But it has the current-style flavor your husband likes, while also having the multi-syllable, less-common style you like. Juniper Katherine Kincaid.

Piper – Again, currently in style but not very common. I think it’s ADORABLE with the middle name and surname: Piper Katherine Kincaid. “Piper Katherine” is fun to say.

Annabel – One of my own favorites. Annabel Katherine Kincaid.

I also suggest seeing if you can take a name from one list and make it into a version that the other parent likes better. His choice of Emma is too common for your tastes, but perhaps Emmeline? Emmeline Kathryn Kincaid. Or Annabella is like a combination of your choice of Annika and his choice of Ella. Annabella Kathryn Kincaid.

Kristi writes:

Baby boy (after three girls!) will be born soon. He will be our last kid (and only son).

I like relatively uncommon names, but NOT WEIRD. I like Gage and Price (my maiden name, which we will use for a middle since I CANNOT cajole him into using it as a first). Hubby likes Connor, Trevor and possibly Cole. I think Connor and Cole are decent, but too popular. Popularity doesn’t bother him. Of course, he was not one of five Kristi/Christy/Christi/Kristy/Kristie/Christie’s (+ 15 more K/Christine, Kristin, K/Christina’s) in every class. GAH. Trevor I just don’t care for. We both liked kind of a weird one, Ridge, but think it sounds too much like ‘Rich’ (ok, so I take back we don’t like weird for this ONE name). Still, it would be hard to subject a kid to repeatedly have to say and spell his name for the rest of his life…

Our last name begins and ends with ‘N’ so I want to avoid any names that begin or end with n, to ‘n’ey for me. Siiiigh, so very many boys names end in n. HELP. ME.

Our girls’ names are Gracie, Cora and Mary…. old-time names, but we don’t seem to have that same style for a boy… ?

I assume your husband has rejected Gage, and that’s VERY SAD because it seems perfect to me: modern but also old-timey. Gracie, Cora, Mary, and Gage. Nice.

I know you said the name Ridge is an exception to your usual tastes, but I can’t resist looking around a little in that area, just for fun. You wouldn’t like the name Ridley, would you? It’s like Ridge, but less easily mistaken for another name (though there might still be some who would think it was a typo for Riley). I think it has an old-fashioned sound that goes nicely with your girl names: Gracie, Cora, Mary, and Ridley. Ranger would be another option, although because I am a ’70s baby it immediately brings to mind Ranger Rick (a positive association, but, well, a raccoon). Or, okay, one more: Bridger. It has ridge in it but doesn’t sound like Rich. One possible problem is that it looks feminine to me, I think because of the name Bridget.

Too weird? Here are some that are not as popular as Connor and Cole (both Top 100 names, according to Social Security), but more familiar than, say, Bridger:
Asher
Cade (similar to Gage)
Cale (almost Cole, but not)
Elias
Everett
Grant
Joel (almost Cole, but not)
Levi
Lyle
Wade (similar to Gage)

And here are a few that are Top 100 but have less of a common FEEL to them—at least where I live:
Caleb
Charlie
Eli
Isaiah
Thomas

I think my top pick would be Asher Price (Gracie, Cora, Mary, and Asher), but I’m worried about recommending it because the popularity of the name Asher is increasing so relatively rapidly. I feel like pushing the name Lyle because I think it’s so sadly underused, and because Lyle Price has a really nice sound to me.

What does everyone else think? Do any of these names seem normal and yet unlikely to be duplicated in the classroom? Can you think of others?

Remember how I was all tormented about the second edition of The Baby Name Wizard only being available when the first edition was sold out? Today Laura Wattenberg announced on her blog that Amazon.com has agreed to sell only the second edition! I’ve already ordered mine; now I have to go camp out by the mailbox.

Edit 07-10-2009: NEVER MIND! Three people have already contacted me to let me know that their copy arrived from Amazon.com and it was the ORIGINAL edition. And that’s just the ones that arrived by cheetah: I ordered mine with 2-day shipping before I wrote this post, and it’s not due to arrive until Monday. I’ll let you know what I get, and please continue to leave comments in the comment section if you get the wrong thing. I’ve found Amazon.com to be very good with returns, though of course this is still an ENORMOUS DISAPPOINTMENT. I’m going to go look at The Baby Name Wizard’s post about Amazon.com shipping the new edition and see if other people are reporting similar results.

Kimberly writes:

I am due in 3 weeks with baby #2, a girl. We think we have agreed on a first name, but I’m starting to have doubts for various reasons. In addition, we can’t decide on a middle name! The name we have chosen is Zoe. It started a few months ago simply as a suggestion from my husband, but my (almost) 3 year old loves the name and is already introducing the baby as “my baby sister, Zoe.”

We are fairly certain that this is our last child, meaning my husband will not likely get the son he wants (even though he is thrilled with his girls!). I named our oldest child, and suggested he pick a name for this baby. The name he chose was Zoe Jane. For those not familiar with the song or type of music, Zoe Jane is the name of a song by Staind and is about a father’s love for his daughter. While the idea is extremely sweet, I just couldn’t name my child after a song and we are now having a problem agreeing on a middle name. He suggested Grace, which I don’t think goes well. I suggested Elizabeth and he thinks it is too old fashioned.

The other problem (and the biggest problem I am facing right now) is the similarity in sound to another family member’s name. She is the girl’s aunt (my husband’s younger sister), but is still in early elementary school so she is closer in age to the girls than to my husband. My kids will spend every weekday afternoon with her (and my mother in law) while I am at work. Her name is Chloe. I’m worried the names sound too simliar and will cause confusion.

I hope you can offer some input to help us make our decision a little easier.

If your husband is going to choose the name for this daughter, and if it doesn’t bother him to have his daughter’s name rhyme with his sister’s name, then I think having a Zoe and a Chloe will be fine. There will probably be occasional confusions, but it seems likely to be a minor issue.

I think the name Zoe is a particularly difficult one to find a middle name for. I lean toward long middle names:
Zoe Carolina
Zoe Felicity
Zoe Katerina
Zoe Olivia
Zoe Rosanna
Zoe Rosemary
Zoe Savannah
Zoe Veronica
Zoe Victoria

If he likes the sound of Zoe Jane and Zoe Grace, perhaps he would like:
Zoe Faith
Zoe Joy
Zoe June
Zoe Kate
Zoe Layne
Zoe Paige
Zoe Pearl
Zoe Rayne
Zoe Rose

If Elizabeth is too old-fashioned, maybe he would like:
Zoe Elena
Zoe Eleni
Zoe Elise
Zoe Eliza
Zoe Ella
Zoe Isabel

Long have I waited—LONG—for the second edition of The Baby Name Wizard. I believe I started waiting back in 2005, around the time I read the last page of the first edition.

When I heard it was coming out this July, I started planning. I checked Amazon.com every day: “Is it available for pre-order yet? No? How about now? How about NOW?” And finally the day was nigh: it’s coming out on Tuesday. My plan: buy two copies, one for myself and one to give away here.

But OH NOES! It cannot be ordered! We have to wait for stores to sell their remaining copies of the first edition! We have to cruise ACTUAL STORES, sniffing and pawing the shelves to see if they have a Second Edition on the shelf yet!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!

This is torment! TORMENT! The book is NEARLY WITHIN OUR REACH, and yet swinging tantalizingly away from our chilly and trembling fingers.

Ashley writes:

I am due with our second boy in early July. Like a previous poster, my husband and I strongly disagree on names and usually strongly oppose each others’ choices. Currently, we have one son, Leo James Radecki. My husband is Leonard John (he goes by Len). His father and grandfather are Leonard Leo Radecki Sr. and Jr. respectively, so my husband is not a third. The name of my first son was primarily my husband’s choice and he offered it up at the time of his delivery, but I loved the name Leo (and was glad he didn’t say Leonard!) and James is my father’s name. We both would like a name that is not popular and also we both like traditional names, but in a different sense. My husband would also prefer to have a name after a saint. All of the names I like are very popular on the SSA popularity list (i.e. Matthew, Evan, Nicholas, Ryan) and all of the names my husband likes are traditional, just not my taste (i.e Francis, Frederick, Henry, Jacek). Our first son’s name is actually a great example of what we both love in a name, but can’t quite get a hold of anything this time around. My husband is Polish/Lithuanian and I am 100% Scottish. As Leo is a Polish name, I have found the name Alec recently and love that one as well…being that it is Scottish, short for Alexander (who is a saint) and not on the SSA list. We were also looking at giving him the middle name of John, but it is not a definite and are open to whatever sounds good with the chosen first name. Do you have any ideas that would fit our picky criteria?

What does your husband think of your Alec John idea? I think it’s terrific.

I also went to the “Saints” section of The Baby Name Wizard and wondered if you guys might agree on any of these:

Adrian
Evan
Jude
Julian
Nicholas
Oliver

I know you said Evan and Nicholas are already on your list so I assume your husband doesn’t like them—but they’re both saint names so I thought I’d bring them up again.

My favorite option is Oliver. First, because I love that name. Second, because it’s a perfect brother name for Leo. Third, because I think it hits that perfect sweet spot between popularity and tradition. Fourth, because I think it’s great with your surname and possible middle name: Oliver John Radecki.

Emily writes:

We are due with baby #2 on July 3rd. We opted to have the sex be a big suprise at birth so now we are struggling to pick a boy’s name and a girl’s name. Our son’s name is Nikolas (after my brother) James (after my father and grandfater) but we call him Kole. We don’t want the kids names to sound too similar or be ‘matchy matchy’ but to be similar styles.

Boy names we like
Kyle (very very matchy matchy and similar to Kole but hubby likes it)
Ryan
Tyler
Chase

Allen is hubby and FIL’s middle name so we would really like to use that with #2.

Girl names we like
Abigayle
Avery
Ansley

Hubbies mother’s name is Gayle Ann, my mother’s name is Anne Elizabeth. Both passed away a few years ago so we would love to honor them by using parts of their names.

We are open to more suggestions. My sister will be having identical twins in Sept and since I will be caring for all the kids daily I don’t want #2s name to be too similar to any of her picks. She would like to name her twins a combination of Haley, Hannah, Brooke, and Katelyn if they are girls. The boys would be Logan and Hunter.

Our last name starts with a D and sounds like Donkey.

Here are some other possibilities to consider if Nikolas has a little brother:

Alexander
Frederick
Grant
Luke
Reid

And if he has a little sister:

Annabeth Gayle
Annalise Gayle
Anya Beth
Bethany Gayle
Elizabeth Gayle

Angie writes:

I originally wrote you back in December (Baby Boy or Girl Drizzle) for help with the names Ruth or Penelope if our baby was a girl. Well, baby is a boy and we named him Henry Isaac. While we understood Henry is by no means an unusual name and has certainly had a resurgence, we had NO idea how many Henry’s there would actually be. We have met quite a few other Henry’s and many of your readers have mentioned Henry as a potential baby name. Even the nurse at our peds clinic who sees an awful lot of babies, said that Henry is the new name around town. Since yourself and your readers were so helpful with our girl’s name, I feel compelled to write again for help with our boy’s name. I need some nickname help for our Henry. I just don’t want him to get to kindergarten and be one of 5. We like both Hank and Hal equally, but neither really sparkle for us or seem to fit our little guy. What are your thoughts and your reader’s thoughts on Hank or Hal? What are people’s impressions of men with those names? Any other suggestions? His initials as an acronym won’t work.

 
Ah! Paul and I had something similar happen with the name of one of our children. We KNEW the name was common, and in fact we LIKE common names, but we hadn’t realized that it was SIGNIFICANTLY MORE COMMON in our state than in the nation at large—like, almost Top 10 in our state, as opposed to Top 50 in the nation. So although we’d signed on for a Popular Name, it was a bit of a worrying surprise to have (1) another baby with the same name in the maternity ward, and (2) another baby with the same name in the pediatrician’s waiting room, and (3) another baby with the same name in the waiting room at the portrait studio, and (4) etc.

In his preschool class of about 25, there were two other children with the same name. We started looking into nicknames/variations of his name, but he didn’t really want to change to anything else, so we just left it and he went by his first name and last initial—as did the other two boys.

When I registered him for school, the registrar said, “Heh! We’ve seen a lot of THOSE today!”—and then heard herself and added, “….Er, it’s a lovely name.”

But! Time for the good news! He hasn’t had another child with the same name in his class since preschool. I looked up how many boys were born with his name in his birth year, and compared it to the number of Henrys born in 2008 (the 2009 info isn’t yet available), and Henry is only about 1/4th as common.

So I think you can wait and see. If your Henry seems like a Henry and not a Hank or a Hal, I don’t see any reason to force yourself into a change. If he IS one of a group of Henrys in his class, perhaps the others will already be going by Hank and Hal.

What does everyone else think? What do you think of the nicknames Hank and Hal, and can you think of other nickname possibilities? Do you have experience with this issue you can share?