Baby Name to Discuss: Moses

21 Replies

Rachel writes:

I have two kiddos; Lucy Allison and Asher Scott. Seriously, I thought we were being all original when we gave them those names. Sad, no? At least they’re classics.

So, we are thinking about having a third and I must know…

Is naming a child Moses a bad idea?

I remember when I was in high school, and heard for the first time of a baby being named Noah. I was SO SURPRISED. This is not the way I would have put it at the time, but my reaction was basically “OMG, religious much??” Like, why not just name him Peace That Passeth Understanding Smith and be done with it?

And of course now a scant twenty ten (*cough*) years later, Noah is a perfectly ordinary name, used by even completely non-religious people, and there were two Noahs in my son’s class last year. The names Isaac and Isaiah and Elijah are similar: formerly they would have been used only by particularly religious families, and now they are used by anyone.

I have a feeling Moses will be the same way. Right NOW it sounds a little…celebrity, because of Gwyneth Paltrow—but I suspect that will wear off and then we will have another name to add to the boy category. And thank goodness, because that category is MIGHTY SKIMPY.

Baby Girl ___ K. Tsai

29 Replies

Michelle writes:

hello! a friend of mine sent me a link to your blog knowing that we’re still trying to figure out a name for baby #3. we’d love your help! we found out that we’re having a girl and can’t seem to settle on something we both like. i’m due in three weeks!

our other children’s names are michael and allison. we call them mikey and allie. the “t” is silent in our last name, and is pronounced “sigh”. so here’s where we’re at:

* my husband’s top pick is lauren kara tsai. i like it too, EXCEPT that lauren doesn’t really shorten into a nickname (besides laurie, which i don’t think we’d use since saying it and spelling it wouldn’t be any shorter than lauren itself), and i would like to have a cute nickname for this baby since both her siblings go by nicknames. the other reason i’m not thrilled about lauren is because her siblings (ages 4 and 2) will be calling her “warren” since their “l’s” sound like “w’s”.
* we’d like to have the middle name start with a “k” since both her siblings have “k” middle names. just something to link them all together. i do like cara, but kara looks a little weird to me. so we’re also stuck on middle names as well.
* prefer not to have the name begin with a P, M, or A since those already in our family and we’d like each child to have their own letter.
* we’d like a clearly girl’s name that is easy to pronounce and is spelled traditionally. this is because my husband has a name he really hated growing up and wants to spare his children the angst, and also because our last name is a little tricky– no need to make it even more complicated for the poor kid.
* cannot begin with an “s” since something like “sophie tsai” sounds too cutesy and/or silly.
* husband doesn’t like names that sound too “harsh”.
* i tend to like “j” names, but haven’t found one that isn’t too common– like jennifer or jessica.

some names we’ve tossed around:

* emily
* olivia (husband doesn’t like)
* cara
* julie

names we can’t use due to close friends or family already using them:

* joanna
* jenna
* naomi
* megan
* kaitlyn
* kayla

looking forward to hearing your suggestions! thanks!

My friend Mairzy and I both like these kinds of names, so I immediately called her in on it. Mairzy writes:

As fun as the exotic names are, sometimes it’s nice to slip back into comfortable basic names. I enjoyed hanging out with Allison and Lauren this time around.

My top choice would be your husband’s: Lauren is a good name. I have a sister named Lauren, and we (the family) call her La. It’s not a nickname that would carry a girl through her life, but it is short and cute. I don’t know if “Wa” is any improvement over “Warren,” but at least they grow out of it.

I, too, love J names. Here are a few others to consider:

* Jillian (or Gillian)
* Julianna
* Jessie
* Janae
* Jane

For middle names, K is a versatile letter. Kate is pretty much the denim middle name: it goes with everything. Kayla is another easily-matched one. Other K possibilities:

* Kathleen
* Kay (nice and short, although still rather middle-aged in style)
* Kelly
* Kimberly? If you used a short first name like Jane?

My favorite choice would be Lauren Kate. Best wishes on #3!

Thanks, Mairzy! And I agree: Lauren is a great choice. It’s true that Laurie isn’t shorter than Lauren, but a lot of nicknames are like that: Jimmy for James, Annie for Ann, etc. And it’s great with the sibling names. And the “Warren” thing will be short-lived.

I love the name Emily even more. Love love love. It’s been high on my girl list with every pregnancy. Michael, Allison, and Emily. Mikey, Allie, and Emmie. Emily Kay Tsai. Love.

For J names, how about Jacqueline? Jacqueline Kay Tsai. Michael, Allison, and Jacqueline. Mikey, Allie, Jackie.

And I like Jillian. Jillian Kay Tsai. Michael, Allison, and Jillian. Mikey, Allie, Jill.

Or Josephine. Josephine Kay Tsai. Michael, Allison, and Josephine. Mikey, Allie, and Josie.

My top two choices (tied) are Emily and Jillian.

Let’s take a vote! Poll over to the right! [poll closed; see below] (I like Cara and Julie, but am leaving them off because they don’t have nicknames; I’m leaving Olivia off because one parent doesn’t like it.)

[Poll results:
Lauren/Laurie: 23 votes, roughly 14%
Emily/Emmie: 72 votes, roughly 43%
Jacqueline/Jackie: 7 votes, roughly 4%
Jillian/Jill: 39 votes, roughly 23%
Josephine/Josie: 27 votes, roughly 16%]

[Update! (08-29-2008) Michelle writes:

hello again!

so sorry for the belated update– but baby lauren kara tsai is now here! caught us by surprise by coming 16 days early, but we’ve been enjoying every minute of her. yes, even the 4 am minutes. :)

we did end up going with our original name, though i DID make a valiant effort to sway him toward “emily” on the ride to the hospital since i’ve fallen in love with the nickname “emi”. but no dice. but now that she’s here, she just *looks* like a lauren to us. still no nickname for her, but maybe she’ll come up with one herself if she decides she wants one!

thanks again for all the suggestions! emily will definitely be high on the list should #4 be coming along someday…

michelle]

Baby Girl G., Sister to Lance

18 Replies

Sarah writes:

I need baby name help and I know that you are an expert so I would love some ideas. Our surname is one syllable and starts with G. We are expecting a baby girl in August and we already have a 2 year old boy- Lance Edward (initials spell LEG and though he has the same first and middle name of Lance Armstrong, he isn’t named after him). Lance is named after Lance Mountain my husband’s favorite skateboarder and Edward is my grandfather’s name.

I have consulted the Baby Name Wizard book for sibling names that go with Lance, but I didn’t really like their suggestions. My maiden name is Hannah which I originally wanted to use but the husband vetoed it. Other family names my husband didn’t like, but I did were Emma and Anna. We each kind of have names we like, but aren’t 100% sold on them and are open to any and all suggestions. I like the name Lily (lance and lily, it sounds nice together, and I don’t mind the names being kind of nursery rhyme like- like jack and jill) and he likes Olivia (i do like olivia, but I don’t know if I am ready to commit to it). I have been trying to find middle names that went with either name to see if I would prefer one name over the other, but no such luck.

I worry that both Olivia and Lily are too common of names and I don’t want our daughter to be like me growing up, Sarah was really popular growing up and I hated being one of many Sarah’s in school because unlike all my other friends I was always known as Sarah Hannah and not just Sarah and also my husband’s name Jeff was fairly common and what is even weirder and off topic is how many couples we have met that are Jeff and Sarah, it is kind of freaky! Anyways, I like Olivia and Lily, but I am open to all suggestions or if that is too much to ask for I will be happy with middle names for Lilly or Olivia.

Thank you so much for your time and for your consideration.

 

Okay! So you want to avoid overly-common. I’m going to open a new browser window for The Social Security Administration’s Baby Name site, because that’s my favorite tool for seeing which names are likely to get more common, and which are likely to get less common.

The name Olivia is in the Top Ten right now, and has been since 2001. The name Lily is less common (#27 in 2007) but on the rise:

1990: #583
1995: #319
2000: #124
2005: #39

As you know, I’m not opposed to common names. But I also understand wanting to avoid them. Here’s the problem: it looks to me as if you LIKE common names, as I do. Here are the names you and/or your husband like, with their 2007 popularity rankings:

Olivia: #7
Lily: #27
Hannah: #9
Emma: #3
Anna: #25

Lily and Anna look like your best bets for “no repeats in the classroom,” although of course there are always flukes: in Rob’s class last year there were two Noahs, a name ranked #24 the year Rob (and those Noahs) were born—and yet there were NOT two Jacobs (#1 that year), Michaels (#2 that year) or in fact two of any other more-popular name.

If you want something SIMILAR to the names on your list but less common, how about:

Annabel (#798) (Annabelle is #196)
Clara (#228)
Eliza (#334)
Fiona (#352)
Flora (not in the Top 1000)
Georgia (#296)
Josephine (#224)
Lena (#453)
Violet (#231)

A caution: these names are rising in popularity. The names on your list fall into The Baby Name Wizard‘s “Antique Charm” category, and that’s where most of the names from that list of suggestions fall, too. That style of name is popular right now, and it’s hard to tell which name will be the next Isabella (from #895 in 1990 to #2 in 2007) or Ava (from #953 in 1990 to #4 in 2007).

Let’s look at the names with the sibling name (I won’t include the names from your list that either you or your husband have rejected):

Lance and Lily
Lance and Olivia
Lance and Annabel
Lance and Clara
Lance and Eliza
Lance and Fiona
Lance and Flora
Lance and Georgia
Lance and Josephine
Lance and Lena
Lance and Violet

I agree with you about Lance and Lily together: I think it’s sweet without being sing-songy. The names both start with L, but after that they’re completely different and so they avoid matchiness. If you plan on having more children, will this make you feel trapped into using only L names? If not, then I think Lance and Lily is great.

I also like Lance with Clara, and with Eliza, and with Fiona, and with Lena. I would choose a favorite, but I can’t: I think Lily, Clara, Eliza, Fiona, and Lena are ALL great.

Let’s vote! The poll is over to the right. [poll closed; see below]

[Poll results:
Lily: 58 votes, roughly 35%
Olivia: 19 votes, roughly 11%
Clara: 33 votes, roughly 20%
Eliza: 26 votes, roughly 15%
Fiona: 16 votes, roughly 10%
Lena: 16 votes, roughly 10%]

Winner!

1 Reply

The Pay it Forward contest is over. My computer geek brother made me a customized random number generator, and I used that to choose Mrs. M.

Congratulations, Mrs. M! Email me (swistle at gmail dot com) with your mailing information, and I’ll get your book on its way to you!

Pay it Forward Contest

63 Replies

I am entering my own Group Effort Pay it Forward Contest. That is, I am running a Pay it Forward contest on this Baby Names site, and it is a separate contest from the one you can also enter at the Swistle site.

The complete and overly-exhaustive rules are over through that link, but the basic idea is that to enter this contest, you leave a comment on this blog before noon on Friday July 4th, U.S. Pacific Time. If you win, I send you a prize. When you get the prize, you run a Pay it Forward contest on your own blog. If you don’t have a blog, I will choose a second commenter, and that will be the winner of your Pay it Forward contest.

The prize for the Baby Names Pay it Forward will be a copy of Laura Wattenberg’s excellent baby name book The Baby Name Wizard. If this isn’t a prize you’re interested in, don’t despair! Go over to the list of other participants—there’s sure to be a prize or two in there you’re interested in winning.

The comment can be anything (“Me me me!” “You are SO RAVISHINGLY BEAUTIFUL!” “I am entering”), but if you feel tongue-tied, why not leave the most unusual baby name you’ve ever encountered?

Baby Naming Issue: Masculine and Feminine Versions

14 Replies

Lola writes:

In your opinion, what type of rule applies to male/female form of a name within a family?

I’m expecting a baby girl in a few months and we like the name Danielle. Our 10 years old nephew’s name is Daniel (nickname Dani). We are a close family, we live 1/2 hour away and spend most holidays together. On the other hand, they will be 10 years apart…

Thank you for your input!

This is especially tricky since they’re using the feminine nickname (Dani) instead of the masculine (Danny).

Here is the thing: If I were you, I think I would choose not to use the name Danielle in this situation. But so much depends on how fond you are of the name Danielle. Is it the name you’ve cherished all your life, the only name you both agree on, and the name that makes you think, “That’s my baby”? Or is it “a name we like”?

I don’t think it’s worth the hassle, but I can see how someone else could think otherwise. What do the rest of you say about it? Would you use the name Danielle in this situation?

Baby Boy Edison

32 Replies

Christy writes:

I had my big ultrasound this morning and we found out that we are having a second son. Yikes. Boy names are so hard, and I don’t know how you managed to come up with four of them.

Our last name is really close to “Edison” and our first son is Soren Kyle. My husband is very proud of the fact that Soren falls somewhere in the 900s on the Social Security list for 2006 – he refuses to use a common name. We are NOT Scandinavian (mostly German and Irish), so I don’t necessarily want another screamingly Scandinavian name, but I still want something that “fits” with Soren’s name. Here’s our measly list of possibilities:

  • Liam: I think it might be a little more trendy than my husband realizes, but he likes it and so do I. If I had to name the baby today, this would probably be my choice…but I don’t love it.
  • Finnigan (Finn): This is my husband’s newest fixation. My feelings about it are similar to my feelings about Penelope, his girl name obsession – part of my really likes it, and the other part thinks that perhaps it’s just a bit too much for the world to handle.
  • Isaac: We had settled on this for a 2nd boy before this baby was ever conceived…and then this acquaintance/friend of my husbands who lives across the country used it – now it seems too common to him.
  • Richard: This is my father’s name and also my husband’s grandfather’s name. I’ve never liked it, but recently it just keeps popping up in my mind – his grandpa is a great man who is dying and loves our first son and would be REALLY honored to have a namesake. If we used this, we’d probably use Alan, Grandpa’s middle name, as well. My concerns: I’m not sure the world of names is ready for the return of Richard and not sure if it’s too closely tied to the nn “Dick” in peoples minds. If we don’t use it as a first name, I’d like to throw it in as a middle name, though I wouldn’t eliminate an otherwise great first name that doesn’t work with it.

Here are some of the girls names we were considering before we found out that we’re having a boy. Maybe they’ll spark some other suggestions? Here’s the list:

Miriam
Fiona
Penelope
Sonja/Sonia
Susannah
Marina

That’s all we’ve got. Help!

Indeed, let’s not tell your husband that the name Liam broke into the Top 100 in 2006. It’s a great name, and what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him—especially since, as you say and I heartily agree, boy names are SO HARD. Liam is good with Soren, and good with your last name: Liam Edison.

I think if you used the name Richard you could steer people away from the unfortunate nickname: people would WANT to avoid it. Perhaps you could switch your husband’s grandpa’s first and middle names, and go with Alan Richard? Alan is out of the Top 100 and seems to be in a holding pattern there. But neither Richard nor Alan seems like a good style match with Soren.

Here are a few more suggestions (ranking source: Social Security Administration):

Archer (not in Top 1000); Soren and Archer Edison
Callum (not in Top 1000); Soren and Callum Edison
Griffin (#242 in 2007); Soren and Griffin Edison
Jasper (#471 in 2007); Soren and Jasper Edison
Malcolm (#565 in 2007); Soren and Malcolm Edison
Oscar (#121 in 2007); Soren and Oscar Edison
Ruben (#245 in 2007; Reuben is #939); Soren and Ruben Edison
Tobin (not in Top 1000); Soren and Tobin Edison

From that list, my favorites are Jasper, Ruben, and Tobin. Jasper Richard Edison (JRE) sounds great to me, and so does Tobin Richard Edison (TRE). With Ruben, I might use Isaac: Ruben Isaac Edison (RIE).

Vote in the poll at right: [poll closed; see below] what would you name Soren Edison’s little brother? That’s a long list of options, so why don’t you choose two or three if you want to.

[Poll results (266 votes total):
Liam: 36 votes, roughly 14%
Finnegan: 29 votes, roughly 11%
Richard Alan: 12 votes, roughly 5%
Alan Richard: 4 votes, roughly 2%
Archer: 28 votes, roughly 11%
Callum: 31 votes, roughly 12%
Griffin: 16 votes, roughly 6%
Jasper: 46 votes, roughly 17%
Malcolm: 18 votes, roughly 7%
Oscar: 14 votes, roughly 5%
Ruben: 9 votes, roughly 3%
Tobin: 23 votes, roughly 9%]

Name update! Christy writes:

Here is a long overdue update on my baby’s (who is now nearly one and fast approaching non-babyhood!) name: Richard Alan. My husband’s grandpa did die about two months before Richard was born, and it just seemed appropriate. He goes by Richard publicly, but we’ve taken to calling him Richie among our little family. The name has really grown on me.

Thanks for all your help!

Baby Naming Issue: Anna with an L

12 Replies

Anna’s mom writes:

Help! I need some advice/help desperately. Although it’s rather a moot point as my baby is a teenager. When she was born I educated myself as much as possible on baby names. I wanted timeless, beautiful, classic, and most importantly, a name that could not be teased. I chose “Anna Caroline”.

Beautiful, no? Problem is, our last name starts with an “L” and now she is signing all of her papers “Anna L.” HOW DID I MISS THIS???? As far as I know she has not been teased, and I am hoping that the rising popularity of names like Annalisa will help. It’s funny because as I search baby sites, middle names beginning with “L” such as Lee, Lynn, and Louise are often recommended for the name Anna. Do these people not know or care that their daughters will be called Anna L.? Or am I making a much bigger deal than I should out of this?

 
I’ve touched on the problem of “Annal-” names (especially when the second N is knocked out, as in Analyn and Analise), but hadn’t thought of it with L-surnames. Hm. (*thinks*) Well, I think for me this falls into the category of things I would want to be forewarned about but wouldn’t necessarily consider dealbreakers. Other things in this category include initials that mean something but not something bad: EMT, LID, HI, IQ, etc.

If your daughter is deliberately signing her name this way, and she’s made it to teenagerhood without anyone noticing the issue, I’d say it’s a relatively safe thing. But what about the rest of you? If your surname started with L, would you avoid the Anna-type names? If you have a non-L surname, and you used Anna for a first name, would you avoid L middle names?

Changing a Baby’s Name

20 Replies

Isabel writes:

It’s Isabel again! Surprise! :)

So there’s something Luke and I have been considering for awhile… should we change Brody’s name? He’s never seemed much like a Brody to us, but now that he’s home we really can’t deny it. Brody just doesn’t fit the boy! We’ve already looked up most of the process – where we are it’s pretty easy, and inexpensive, to do.

We’re considering the name “Kemp.” It really fits him, and the meaning is fitting – it means “fighter.” We’d probably keep his middle name the same – Nathaniel.

We were thrown a curveball at delivery (we thought we were expecting 3 girls!) and didn’t have much time to consider boy’s names. We’re really regretting that now.

So what do you think? Should we change his name? If you think we should, should we go with Kemp, or another name? Should we keep his middle name, or go with another one. Our last name is 2 syllables, starts with J, ends with N.

 

If you’re pretty sure the name doesn’t fit, this is the moment to change it: it’s early days, and you have an excellent and understandable reason for wanting to do it. Everyone else will probably still be too distracted by the fact of the triplets and by the “two surprise boys” element to really care what you do with the names. If his name doesn’t fit him and you decide you want to change it, I think you should do it immediately.

On the other hand, I can understand a hesitation. Announcing a baby’s name is a big deal, and it’s assumed to be a permanent choice. Changing it at this point is almost certain to result in at least a little kerfuffle: a few people will be disappointed or upset, and there will be paperwork to do (doctor’s office, insurance cards, etc.). Some people’s relatives would make a stink about it, pretending not to be able to remember the new name, or saying over and over that they just can’t understand why you had to change it. But if you change it now, when he is only 2 months old, most people will soon forget he was ever any other name.

I’m in favor of the change in this case, for two reasons: one, you sound pretty certain that the name was the wrong choice; two, I’m very interested in the concept of changing a baby’s name, and so out of pure self-interest I’m eager to know someone who did it. Perhaps you could write a guest post on how you found out what would need to be done, and how it went when you did it, and what you thought of the decision afterward, and what other people thought of the decision afterward.

The name you’re considering for the rename is Kemp. When I hear that name, I have two immediate associations: Jack Kemp, and hemp. Neither one is, to me, a dealbreaker.

Let’s try the name with your other two children’s names: Schuyler, Alexander, and Kemp. One problem I see here is that the name Alexander is so much more common than the name Kemp: Alexander was the 15th most popular boy name in 2007, and it’s been in the Top 200 almost constantly for the last 200 years (source: Social Security Administration). Kemp, on the other hand, hasn’t even been in the Top 1000.

What about knocking his middle name into the first-name position, and using Kemp as the middle name? Kemp is a nice match for Alexander’s middle name Kale: Alexander Kale and Nathaniel Kemp. Alex and Nate make nice brother nicknames. And the popularity of the name Nathaniel has been very similar to the popularity of the name Alexander over the years. Using the middle name may also help calm any upset over the name change.

Let’s put up a poll for this, over to the right [poll closed; see below]. We’ll vote on whether or not you’d change the name at this point, and whether you think Kemp or Nathaniel or “other” is the best choice for the new name.

[Poll results:
Change it to Kemp Nathaniel: 14 votes, 7%
Change it to Nathaniel Kemp: 167 votes, roughly 84%
Change it to some other name: 4 votes, 2%
Don’t change it: 15 votes, roughly 8%]

 

 

[Name update! Isabel writes:

Swistle, sorry it took me so long to get back to you on this! As you can imagine, things are pretty crazy with triplets at home!
Anyway, we decided to go with the name Nathaniel Kemp. It’s perfect! Thanks everyone for your suggestions!]