Brooke writes:

My husband and I are expecting our first baby, a girl. We still need to name her. It’s not that we disagree about names really, we just don’t ever decide! If I were to characterize our name choices though, I would say that I typically like more unique names while he likes names a little more on the traditional side.
Names we like:
Ella (I like this one a lot, my husband a little less so. Eloise is my mother’s name so that’s another reason I like it.)
Elle (Same as above)
Brynn
Quinn
Aubrey (my husband’s current favorite)
Virginia (I don’t like this at all but my husband does…I should rephrase, this is my Grandmother’s name and I love her very much I don’t want Virginia as my daughter’s name…AND we both have sisters named Jennifer/Jenny/Jenn.

My only problem with Ella is that I don’t want a name that becomes the next Jessica or Jennifer so that she’s always Ella J in school b/c there are like 4 of them in her class. How did it become so popular?!?!?!? boo!! Are any of these other names on the verge of that popularity too? Maybe we could do Ella or a form of it as a middle name and still honor my mother that way? Just a thought.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

We’ve discussed before (too hurrying-to-catch-up to find links right now, but eventually we’ll have a FAQ) that even the very most popular names today are only about 1/4th as popular as names such as Jennifer were when THEY were the most popular. So there isn’t any such thing right now as the next Jessica or Jennifer: if there were four Jennifers in a classroom before, there would now be only one of today’s #1 name.

But I get what you mean: even if Isabella isn’t as common as Jennifer was, even if it’s only 1/4th as common, it still can easily result in being Isabella R. and so forth. Although even this situation (1) isn’t too awful, and (2) can happen even with a name that’s statistically unlikely to duplicate within a classroom.

Ella is indeed getting very popular (a = not in the Top 1000 for that year):

(screenshot from SSA.gov)

Would you consider actually making your daughter a namesake and naming her Eloise? It’s a wonderful name, and much much much less common than Ella:

(screenshot from SSA.gov)

You could even nickname her Ella, but she could use Eloise if there was another Ella in her class.

If Eloise is not your style, the name that comes to mind looking at your list is Brielle—but that doesn’t work with your husband’s list at all. Hm.

One of my friends named her daughter Audra. It has the sound of Aubrey/Audrey, and it’s good established name, but it’s uncommon. Audra Eloise, maybe.

A very unusual choice would be Aquinnah, which is what Michael J. Fox named one of his daughters. It has the Quinn you like, but it’s…well, it’s longer. It has the rhythm of the name Virginia and some of its sound, so maybe it would be a name you’d both like. Aquinnah Eloise.

Another very unusual choice is Elodie. (It rhymes with Melody.)

Aubrey and Brynn have so many letters in common, I’m tempted to combine them—and it feels like there MUST be a name that sounds like both of them.

Name update! Brooke writes: “We ended up with a name we both adore, Quinn Eloise (Eloise is my mother’s name).”

Emily writes:

I can’t believe I am writing to you because I feel like this is a problem I really should be able to solve myself (or at least in conjunction with the hubs), but my due date is approaching and no name has been locked in, and I’m starting to FREAK out. Baby girl Campbell is scheduled to be delivered 10/18/2010. She has an older brother Kellen Christopher (soon to be 3). I guess my real problem is that WE LOVE Chloe, but feel that it’s much too popular.

Anyway, other front-runners that we agree on are: Kyla/Kyra, Keira, Casey, Claire. I feel like no name from this list is special enough, and I do not like any of these names as much as Chloe. It doesn’t help that I told Kellen her name was Chloe early on and he refers to her as such, and just says it sooo damn cutely.

MY other front-running options that he has rejected but that I still hold a shred of hope for are: Ellery, Kenzie, Carley, & Quinn. Ellery is my most recent favorite discovery.

I like alliteration in general, and want her name to coordinate with Kellen. I also want it to be as special/equally unused as his, but my husband really doesn’t like names that are “last names” “made-up names” “highly unusual names”, although it’s worth pointing out HE suggested Kellen, and I had never heard of the name when he did (I guess a few football players have it.) I guess it’s also worth noting that we will probably use Jaine as a middle name as it’s a nice “mash-up” of our mothers’ names – Janice & Lorraine.

Any help would be appreciated! Thanks –

I am going to tell you what to do. It’s rare that I INSTRUCT rather than SUGGEST, but here I go: use Chloe. You love it. It meets all your requirements. Your son is using it, adorably. USE CHLOE. YES, it is common; I care not, because I think love trumps it: “a name my parents LOVED” is better than “a name my parents settled on because it was less common than the name they loved.” Not even 6/10ths of 1 percent of girls were named Chloe in 2009, or not quite 6 Chloes per 1000 baby girls. For comparison, nearly SEVEN TIMES that many girls per thousand were named Jennifer in 1974: over 40 Jennifers per 1000 baby girls. (Source: Social Security Administration.)

USE CHLOE. You know you want to. Doooooooo ittttttt.

Fine, I will list a few names in case you can’t bring yourself to use the name Chloe:

Camilla
Carissa
Carys
Clara
Clarissa
Cleo
Cora
Corinna
Kara
Karenna
Kiana
Kiara
Phoebe
Zoe

Cleo may be the best option on the list, since it’s the same sounds as Chloe but in a slightly different order—and yet it’s not even in the top 1000.

Name update! Emily writes:

Dearest Swistle, I know I already replied in the comments at how delighted I was that you posted my question and gave me the final push in the right direction, but I thought I’d give you the official word (and include a pic – Is that allowed? I don’t recall seeing many people doing it). Anyway, you & all your readers were right, we totally loved & wanted to go with Chloe, and we did, and we are very happy. There were a few duplicates of OTHER names on our short list in the maternity ward while we were at the hospital – and all the nurses said Chloe may be popular nation-wide, or in my state, but that it was not popular AT ALL in my area, so I was even more delighted. I also thought about how that was a research route I never even tried, finding out name popularity by hospital, and thus kids we are likely to encounter at the playground/go to school with etc. Anyway, great advice – THANKS SO MUCH TO EVERYONE =)

Meghan writes:

My husband and I are stuck on naming our second daughter. Our first daughter’s name is Emma Grace. We are both perfectionists, and thus have gone back and forth so much on her name that we are stuck. She is set to arrive October 15. We chose Emma after the Jane Austen novel (my husband was NOT a fan that it was the #1 baby name at the time; I had chosen her name for 9 years and did not care about how popular it was.) We love traditional, old-fashioned names, but nothing too rare. We also really want it to sound like a sister name without being too similar (We have friends/family with sibling names like Audrey and Natalie, Natalie and Lily, Payton and Taryn; all sound like they should go together, while still being unique.) We are hoping for at least a 2-syllable first name that is feminine and classic. So, here are names we have considered:

1. Lillian Claire (Lillian and Clara are my husband’s gread-grandmother’s names); nickname Lily
2. Abigail Claire (nickname Abby)
3. Margaret Claire (nickname Maggie; I don’t like that this is so similar to my first name of Meghan)
4. Annabelle Claire (too many nicknames for Annabelle?)
5. Madeline Claire (don’t like Maddy though, and would like it pronounced with “lyn” ending without changing the original spelling)
6. Clara?

Thanks much!

I know an Emma and Abby sister pair, so Abigail was going to be my suggestion—and I see you have it on the list. I think Emma Grace and Abigail Claire is perfect.

If I were narrowing list, I’d remove Margaret and Madeline, because of the points you mention.

For Clara, I suggest the middle name Rose: Emma Grace and Clara Rose.

Let’s have a poll over to the right. [Poll closed; see results below.]

Name update! Meghan writes:

Thanks again for all the name help! My husband made the final name decision: Clara Lillian, and we love it! We decided that Lily was just too popular, as was Abigail- especially in Southern Caliornia where we live. So, we went with using both great-great grandmothers’ names, and we think Clara’s name is sweet and classic, just like big sister Emma’s. Thank you!!

Gretchen writes:

I just ran across your blog today and am so excited for your input!

My husband, Dominic, and I are expecting our first child around October 9th. We opted to keep the gender a surprise so we won’t know the gender until he/she is born. Our goal is to have 2-3 boy and 2-3 girls names picked out … that we agree on, then we’ll decide for sure once we see their smiling face :)

Our name goals are:
-Unique, but not crazy (per Dominic’s request … I love crazy)
-Flows well with our last name, Bossio
-Perhaps incorporate our heritage … German and Italian

We are on the same wavelength when it comes to girl names … our top ones are Tallulah (we’d nickname her Lula, still searching for a good middle name), Elsa Kathleen, Jemma Janell, Belle Francine and Petra Louise.

Boy names have been the trouble, we don’t agree on much and the ones we do agree on don’t POP for either of us. This is what we have considered:

AGREE
Miles
Dean – family name so could be a middle name
Rocco (Dom’s #2), I’m concerned about it sounding too “mobster” with our last name
Noah
Liam
Reid

Dominic’s Favorites
Peyton (Dom’s #1)
Anthony
Cooper

Gretchen’s Favorites
Wilder (my #1)
Bennett
Lennox
Koehler (Koehl, prounounced Cole)
Brodie
Reuben
Edgar (Eddie)
Ryder
I’m thinking we are to the point where we just need something fresh … any ideas?

Thanks for your help!

Name update 10-07-2010! Gretchen writes:

Thank you so much for the help … turns out our little surprise was a girl, born on October 2nd! I loved reading all of the boy name input though and will definitely tuck them away for future children. We decided on Jemma for our little one. We just knew the moment she was born … she wasn’t a Tallulah or Elsa, she was a Jemma! We chose Janell as the middle name after her paternal grandmother.

Louise writes:

We are expecting our second daughter on October 1st and are getting to the final stages of trying to name her! We have decided to continue a few trends we began with our first, who is Charlotte Sunny Louise. She goes only by Sunny. We wanted her to have a ‘sensible’ first name to fall back on if she found Sunny too silly/childish/ridiculous later on in life. For now, Sunny suits her to a tee. It suits us too as Charlotte is so popular. Her second name is my name. For our next child we would also like to give two middle names (a family tradition), one being a more unusual name that we would use as a nickname. At the moment we have Ava Scout _______. I know Ava is super popular, but we both like it (a feat in itself) and we would call our little girl ‘Scout’ anyway.

I would describe my style as a mixture of vintage, hippy and literature derived names. Names like:
Violet
Evangeline
Bellamy
Tallulah
Juniper
Indigo
Madeleine
Audrey (a family name)
Jolie
Valentine

My dear husband Jacob is a little more traditional and likes Ashley, Abigail, Laura and Eleanor. He would name our child ‘Laura Ashley” if given half the chance!

I suppose what I am hoping for is suggestions for the second middle name and even possibly suggestions of the first name (instead of Ava) as I’m still not 100% on it. Our last name is a but tricky to work with due to its strong ‘ooo’ sound and ‘ah’ ending which unfortunately has put me right off Tallulah and Juniper. With the two shorter first names I think a three syllable second middle name sounds best to my ear. I’m not a huge fan of alliteration in names which has deterred me from using a second middle name which begins with an S or B sound or that uses V (because of the V already in Ava).

As you can see, I am over-thinking things and I would absolutely love a fresh perspective! Any help or suggestions you could offer would be greatly appreciated!

Since your first girl’s second middle name is a family name, perhaps you could continue that as well. Are there any good girl names on either side of the family tree? Grandmothers, aunts? Or you could give all the girls your name as the second middle name. Normally I think baby name enthusiasts recoil at the idea of duplicating names, since it means fewer fun choices to make—but in this case, where she’ll have two middle names, it seems like a shared second middle name is itself a fun choice.

If not, your husband’s choice Eleanor would be nice there: Ava Scout Eleanor.

If you want something very similar to Ava but less popular, there’s Eva. Eva Scout Eleanor. But other parents are also noticing the Ava/Eva thing, so Eva may soon be just as common. And Eva Bruna may be too close to Eva Braun. Ada, Ida?

For something completely different than Ava: Josephine. I like that name so much with Charlotte, and with Bruna. Josephine Scout Louise Bruna.

It sounds like the Scout part is decided on, but if not, here are a few more possibilities: Birdy, Daisy, Dolly, Pippa, Poppy, Romy, Tilly. Josephine Poppy Louise Bruna?

Name update! Louise writes:

Just letting you know that our little girl finally decided to show her pretty face on October 10th! We named her Ava Scout Evangeline and have already started calling her Scout, which seems to suit her well. Thank you so much for your input, we loved hearing your insights and getting feedback from other readers. Keep up the great work!

Madeline writes:

Help! We’re due with both our 1st & our 2nd baby (boy/girl twins) September 30th and we CANNOT agree on names!

Well, that’s not entirely true. We can agree on a girl name (mostly). But! We even have a few issues with that.

The girl name that we both love is Mirabelle (love the sound/style, love the meaning {wonderful}, and love the nickname Mira) but my own name is Madeline & Hubby’s name is Matthew, so if we give baby girl an M name do we have to give baby boy an M name too? These 2 will likely be our only children, so if we DON’T give our boy an M name, will he feel left out? But if we DO give him an M name is that just too many M’s all in one family? And though we don’t plan on having more children what if someday we DO (“surprise” pregnancies seem to happen quite frequently in my family) have another? Will we have to think up YET ANOTHER M name? Maybe we should scrap Mirabelle altogether just to avoid the headache of to M or not M?

Yet when I think of the name Mirabelle I see my daughter. That IS her name as far as I’m concerned, & I really can’t bear to give it up.

So, here’s the real problem. What to name Mirabelle’s brother?

If we go with an M name…Well, I honestly can’t think of ANY boy names starting with M that I like. Actually, I can hardly think of boy M names at all! We can’t go with Matthew as we don’t want him to be a Junior and I detest the name Mark in all it’s variations…So what else is there? Why is naming a boy so much harder than naming a girl?!?!

We want something at least a bit unusual, but still familiar, you know? Our tastes seem to run toward more old fashioned names too.

If we weren’t going with an M name (which I kind of think we should, but would really like your/your readers opinion on) these are some of the names we’ve been tossing around, just to give you a feel for our style:
Clifford (called Cliff)
Felix
Vincent (called Vince)
Elias (called Eli)

Any & all help appreciated!

To M or not to M?

If going with M as many suggestions for boy M names as possible!

If not going for M what name from our short list sounds best, and any other suggestions to add to it more than welcome!

His middle name will be Adam (after hubby’s father) and our last name is Hunter, if that’s any help at all.

Please help! Time is running out & at this rate I fear we’ll end up just calling him baby boy M. Hunter forever!

P.S. Sorry this was such a novel! But I’m literally waking up in the dead of night panicking about this whole name situation. Ahhh!

Ah! Interesting question! I think of “same initials” issues as occurring MOSTLY among siblings—but on the other hand, one of the kids has the same initial as me, and I do feel a bit as if he “has to share”—while the other kids each get their very own initial. And when both parents have the same initial and so does one of the children, well that makes it even more of an issue.

A further issue is that I have a soft spot for twin names that coordinate a little bit: when naming my own twins, I was hoping VERY HARD for names that had the same initial or the same number of letters/syllables or ANYTHING that made them “go together” (Edward and Elizabeth are pseudonyms and exactly the kind of coordination I was looking for ((both E names and both royalty names)); their real names, sadly for me, have nothing in common with each other). So that makes me lean toward M names for both your twins.

Yet I ALSO think that the name itself trumps: that is, if you have a boy name you love, and it doesn’t start with M, I think “We loved your name SO MUCH” is better and more important than “We didn’t want you to feel left out.”

And if you MIGHT have another child later, I’d say using both M names this time makes you pretty surely stuck next time: I’d STILL stand by “the name itself trumps”—and yet, geez, that would be hard to resist, especially with the first two kids having their twinness as well as their matching initials.

If you merely “loved” the name Mirabelle, I might suggest you look for other names you love. But if it feels like “your baby,” then I’d say it’s a done deal: her name is Mirabelle.

In short: I can see why you’re lying awake. And since you already have excellent possibilities for a non-M name, I think what we should do is find you some M names. And if you decide to use an M name and then DO have an unexpected baby later on…well, then we’ll find you ANOTHER M name!

Boy M names:

Maclane Adam Hunter; Mirabelle and Maclane
Madoc Adam Hunter; Mirabelle and Madoc
Maguire Adam Hunter; Mirabelle and Maguire
Malachi Adam Hunter; Mirabelle and Malachi
Malcolm Adam Hunter; Mirabelle and Malcolm
Marius Adam Hunter; Mirabelle and Marius
Marshall Adam Hunter; Mirabelle and Marshall
Mason Adam Hunter; Mirabelle and Mason
Matthias Adam Hunter; Mirabelle and Matthias
McAdam _____ Hunter; Mirabelle and McAdam
Macallister Adam Hunter; Mirabelle and Macallister
Mead Adam Hunter; Mirabelle and Mead
Micah Adam Hunter; Mirabelle and Micah
Miles Adam Hunter; Mirabelle and Miles
Milo Adam Hunter; Mirabelle and Milo
Mitchell Adam Hunter; Mirabelle and Mitchell
Morrison Adam Hunter; Mirabelle and Morrison

My favorites for unusual-but-familiar are Malcolm, Milo, and Miles. I think Milo is my favorite from those: I love it with your surname and I love it with Mirabelle. Milo! I vote for Milo.

For something even more unusual, I think Maguire is a good choice. It’s not even in the Top 1000, and yet it seems easy to pronounce. It’s good with Mirabelle, and in fact I think it’s a pairing that makes both names sound even better: Mirabelle and Maguire, Maguire and Mirabelle.

Mead(e) is another highly unusual choice—yet doesn’t seem nutso in its spelling or pronunciation. I don’t think it flows as well with Adam as some of the other options, but I think that’s okay.

I’m not sure Malachi fits in STYLE with Mirabelle, but I like the way the rhythm of the two names goes together. Mirabelle and Malachi, Malachi and Mirabelle.

There are only two things keeping me from pushing you to use Macallister: (1) the repeating -er with your surname, which I think is okay but not ideal, and (2) I can’t find a spelling I like. The name Alistair is hard to use in the U.S. but such a good name, and the “Mac” toughens it perfectly as well as giving a good nickname. But…McAlistair? MacAlistair? Macallister? Nothing looks right to me, and they all look so LONG.

Matthias is a variation of Matthew, and yet sounds so different it feels like a completely different name. The one problem: if both father and son want to use the nickname Matt.

McAdam is an interesting way to namesake Adam, and gives you the good Mac nickname. But it has the same spelling problem as Macalister and it leaves you stuck for a middle name.

Of the Mc/Mac possibilities, I think my favorite is Maclane. Mac nickname, and the spelling is okay. Mirabelle and Maclane, Maclane and Mirabelle. Mac and Mira—cute!

But I throw my support behind Milo. (For non-M names, my favorite is Felix.)

Name update 10-02-2010! Madeline writes:

Thanks so much for all of your suggestions! The twins were born September 28th @ 10:00pm & 10:02pm, healthy & beautiful at 8lbs 7oz 21 inches & 7lbs 9oz 21 inches respectively! We DID decide to go with another M name but not because we felt like we HAD to, only because there was one name from your list that we’d never considered but instantly fell totally in LOVE with.

We’re so happy with our new babies, Mirabelle Jane Hunter & Milo Adam Hunter! & BOTH of their names totally fit them to a T!

Carrie writes:

Help! We are due with our second child, a girl on September 16th, (um, next week). Our 3 year old is named Allegra Grace, last name Watson. Allegra is my grandmothers middle name, and Grace came to me in a dream early on when my husband and I were dating. Early on with this pregnancy I felt strongly that this one have a name that was, well, strong, possibly with a refrence or connection to the sea, and not overly crazy feminine. I really want a name that isn’t popular, but that people can pronounce, if given a moment:) Names we love, Esmee, Josephine, but I’m worried about them being too popular right now… I love Elspeth, it may be my top choice, but my husband has a hard time with how it rolls off the tounge. My husband would like a Mae to be involved (as this is his grandmothers middle name), but I’m worried about it sounding, well, too southern, or hokey? Names my husband really likes, Viola, Maebel (but that I can’t stand)

Other names we like Lorelai, Clover, Willow, (but it’s popular in our area) we both like botanicalish names. But really we seem to be stumped…any help would be appreciated!

Thank you!

I have one word for you: Marin. MARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRIN. Strong! Not overly super-femininista! Connection to the sea! Perhaps Marin Josephine? Marin Mae is pretty cute, too.

There’s also Marina or Marinda or Maris or Marney, if you prefer.

Morgan and Meriel mean “bright sea.” Nila means “river.” Ria and Rilla both mean a small stream. I’ll bet Marilla, then is a combination of “sea” and “small stream.” Marilla Mae is adorable. Sarita means “river.”

Nerissa and Nereida mean “sea nymph.”

There’s Brooke, of course, and Raine, and River. The names Kindra and Kenda mean “water baby.” Lynn means “waterfall.” Sailor. Keeler.

(Meanings from Baby Names Made Easy and 100,000+ Baby Names.)

For non-sea names that use Mae, Maelle is pretty—although I just now realized that when said aloud it can sound like “male.” Maelin might be better, although the Mae/L combination is still iffy.

One of my favorite botanical names is Magnolia. Another is Fern: people constantly credit Charlotte’s Web for their baby name choice Charlotte (#68 in 2009), but in that case we should also be hearing of baby girls named Fern. And are we? No: not even in the Top 1000, and only 26 new babies named Fern in 2009 compared to 4140 new Charlottes (source: Social Security Administration). Fern Watson. Or it would be a good middle name. Acacia is pretty, too, but maybe too similar to Allegra. Iris, Laurel, Juniper. Meadow is similar to Willow but less common.

Name update! Carrie writes:

By the time we came to a name decision she was 2 days old, (better than 4 days old, which our first was before she was officially named). The last 3 contenders were Lorelai, Elspeth and Josephine. I loved them all, so I let my husband make the final decision. He chose Elspeth Josephine Watson:) Because it was my favorite. I have an awesome husband. Even though it wasn’t his favorite necessarily, I think (like with our first), he goes through the c-section with me, and the aftermath, and figures I should be able to have the name I love:) But she looked like an Elspeth. Red hair and gray-blue eyes, fair complexion, most gorgeous little creature I had seen since her sister!

Thanks for all the ideas, it was helpful to have names to bounce around, even though we came back to the ones we originally loved:)

Sara writes:

I’m due September 21 with my second child. Like our first, we didn’t find out the gender and are stumped with boy names once again. Luckily, our first child is a girl and we named her Marin Nora. The first name means sailor (my husband races sailboats) and the middle name is after my grandma. If we have another girl, we are 99% sure we’ll name her Kinley Josephine. Kinley is my husband’s middle name and the middle name is after my grandpa, Joe.

When we were pregnant for Marin, I reluctantly agreed on the name Carson for a boy, but was so relieved when we didn’t have a boy! The middle name would have been (and will be with baby #2) Kinley – as it is a fourth generation tradition to have the first boy’s middle name be Kinley.

My husband’s only consideration is Grayson. I don’t like it – for no explainable reason. Names that we have talked about, but don’t “speak” to us are … Conner, Ryan, Gavin. If it were up to me, it would be Grant. I also love Bennett or Benjamin and a new favorite, Tyson.

Marin’s name is unheard of in the area we live and hopefully won’t be come “popular” for awhile. So, I’m also struggling with this baby having an “original” name, but nothing too out there. I also love the fact that Marin’s name has the sailing/water reference too. Help! Oh, and our last name is Webb.

I suggest Caspian. It’s uncommon but not unfamiliar, and the Caspian Sea gives it a water reference. Caspian Kinley Webb; Marin and Caspian.

You could go straight for Sailor: again, uncommon but not unfamiliar, and similar to the currently-popular name Sawyer. Sailor Kinley Webb; Marin and Sailor. It has a slight feminine association because Christie Brinkley named her daughter Sailor.

The Baby Name Wizard says Keeler means “boat-builder.” Keeler Kinley is a little much but also sounds good to me. Keeler Webb; Marin and Keeler. But I hesitate to recommend it, because Keeler sounds a little feminine to me.

Leif Ericson was a famous sailing guy, and while Leif Webb seems a little abrupt, Ericson Webb is nice and reminds me of both Grayson and Carson. Marin and Ericson.

And there’s Christopher Columbus, of course, and Christopher Webb is a wonderful name.

Lachlan is a nice name and means “land of lakes.” Lachlan Webb; Marin and Lachlan.

Name update! Sara writes:

I appreciated all your comments and it caused us to go back to our original list when we were pregnant with our first child. An old favorite emerged and seemed perfect for a boy – which we ended up having! Beckett Kinley Webb was born on September 18. We are getting lots of compliments on his name, which means “dweller by the brook.” Thanks again for your help!

Tracy writes:

We need some baby naming help. Our unknown gender baby will be born Sept 20th.
I so joyously get to have the final choice on this child’s name because my husband did on our 1st child.
But we need to agree on the final 3. Brody Charles is the name of our 3 year old son.
Now our last name is Short and it dose not flow well with every name on our list(s).
Please can you and your lovely readers help us narrow it down to 3 boy names and 3 girl names? And please tell me what names would be just awful with Brody or with our last name or just simply are……sometimes you just don’t see or hear what others do. Finally, We would love some new suggestions. Especially our boy list. The list hasn’t changed since we had our son.

Here is our list of boy names:

Eli Joseph (this was the name I wanted with our 1st boy)
Levi Joseph
Liam Reese
Owen
Desmond (not sure if this is a goes well with Brody)
Cohen
Luca (this is my guilty pleasure name. I love it but don’t think it will age well?)
Griffin Rhys (mostly b/c of the nn Fin)
Dylan Forrest (we are nature lovers so it suits us)
Greyson Michael Short
Tyler Stuart (my husband dislikes)
Cole Elliot
Rhys Michael

**the name Rhys/Reese we both really love. I feel we can not except that it doesn’t flow that wonderfully, as a first or middle name, with our last name. Am I right and just in denial?

Names that we both ‘ho hum’ about:
Gavin, Nigel, Jasper, Samuel, Ezra and Cohen
Elsie, Elise, Willa, Marina, Chloe, Lily and Julia

Names we can’t use because friends or family has:
Sofia, Louie, Nicholas, Matthew, Finley, Jack, Jacob, Ella, Ellie
Vivienne, Sadie, Molly, Grace, Hayden, Audrey, Noah, Benjamin,
Harrison, Henry and Oliver.

This is our girl list:

Fiona (this might be too classic with Brody)
Isla (this was my number 1 choice for many years until it got popular)
Freya
Lola
Olive Esme Short ( my husband dislikes)
Ivy Juliet
Quinn Isabel
Quinn Bennette (Quinn Short? Not sure if I like.)
Olivia Quinn
Violet Elisabeth
Luella Flynn
Meredith Kate
Ava Maisie (We know Ava is so popular but it is the only name we like with Maisie)

Our son’s middle name is after one of his grandpas. We don’t feel we have to use a family name.
So here are some family names thatwe could use in the middle.

Joseph, Michael, Kevin, Paul, Stone and Stuart.

Elizabeth, Lee-Ann, Isabel, Jean, Olive, Chelsea, Maisie and Helena.

Thank you so much!

Oh, fun! Yes, let’s make lists!

I agree that Rhys is (1) a great name and (2) hard to use with your surname. I wonder if you’d like Reed/Reid or Reeve? They’re still not great as first names, but might work as middle names.

Levi Short makes me think of a cut of jeans. And Luca, even though I KNOW it’s a boy name, seems feminine to me. Some other possibilities:

Camden Short; Brody and Camden
Carson Short; Brody and Carson
Ethan Short; Brody and Ethan
Keegan Short; Brody and Keegan
Lawson Short; Brody and Lawson
Mason Short; Brody and Mason
Riley Short; Brody and Riley

And now for the fun choosing! My top three boy name choices with Brody are:

Eli Joseph Short
Liam Stuart Short
Owen Joseph Short

And my top three girl name choices with Brody are:

Fiona Jean Short
Isla Jean Short
Violet Elizabeth Short

Name update 10-12-2010! Tracy writes:

Our baby boy was born Sept 20th. Healthy and beautiful.

We chose the name Liam Rhys Short.

Thank you all for your input!

Liann writes:

My husband and I are due with our first baby, a boy, on September 20. Long before we got pregnant, I would make lists upon lists of baby names, and boy am I glad I did… I can only imagine how much harder finding the right name would have been if i didn’t already have those lists. As of right now, we have it narrowed down to three names. I would love your feedback and your readers feedback, but also any new suggestions, if you think a name just doesn’t flow. This baby will have two middle names, the second of which is my maiden name, and our last name sounds like Sny-kiss (with a long I sound in the first syllable).

Our current list is:

Emmett Rhys O’Keefe Snykiss – We both really like this name and how the whole thing flows. I particularly love Rhys in the middle – as we couldn’t use it in the first spot because it would blend into our last name. And I love Emmett, I’m just not sure it won’t get too popular with the whole Twilight situation, of which I am not a fan. Should I even be worried about that?

Arlo Desmond O’Keefe Snykiss – Arlo has been a favorite of mine for a while. It took hubby a little while to warm up to it but he recently told me it’s one of his top picks because it feels like it’s an old school name and he thinks are little boy has an old soul (I LOVED hearing that from him because our naming conversations have been mainly one-sided). Desmond is a name that has only recently been on our radar, mainly because of the character on LOST. We would not be naming him after the character, but the association does not hurt in our opinion.

Tate Henry O’Keefe Snykiss – Tate is the newest name to our list. And while we do like it, I have become worried about the bully nick-naming possibilities (particularly regarding a certain body part), and I don’t know if it’s inevitable. I have also noticed that Tate crosses the gender barrier slightly and I’m not really interested in having a gender neutral name for my son. Is Tate really going to the girls? And we chose Henry because it is my grandfather’s name and we could not come up with any other options for middles for Tate. Any suggestions?

So that’s it. We would love to have a few solid choices to go into the delivery with and hopefully once we meet him, one will just seem right. Thanks!

 
Would you want to reverse Tate and Henry and consider Henry Tate O’Keefe Snykiss? Tate might not go completely to the girls, but I do consider it a name that can be either for boys or for girls.

I don’t think of Emmett as Twilighty—but I’ve only read the first book. Perhaps Twilight fans can weigh in on this.

But dude, you’re not leaving me with any other work to do! Emmett Rhys and Arlo Desmond are both spectacular names. I think all that’s left to do is a poll, which I’ll put over to the right. (Poll closed; see results below.)

Name update! Liann writes:

I want to thank you and your readers for your input on our son’s name. The little man arrived on 9/23 at 7:59 a.m., 8lbs. 8.6oz., and 19 3/4 in. long. However, my naming fears came true and none of the names on our final list seemed to fit. So, we went back to the drawing board and consulted our lists, where we found the perfect name for our new baby boy.. Duncan Henry O’Keefe Snykiss is happy and healthy and we could not be more pleased with him and his name. Thank you again for your help!