{"id":11961,"date":"2016-03-17T08:35:51","date_gmt":"2016-03-17T12:35:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/?p=11961"},"modified":"2016-06-27T18:40:15","modified_gmt":"2016-06-27T22:40:15","slug":"baby-girl-ofsthun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/2016\/03\/17\/baby-girl-ofsthun\/","title":{"rendered":"Baby Girl Ofsthun"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hi Swistle,<\/p>\n

My husband Ryan and I are expecting our first child, a baby girl, in late June 2016. We got married August 29th, 2015 and apparently got pregnant just a few short weeks later!<\/p>\n

Our last name is Ofsthun (off-stune), so I love the idea of having a name that starts and ends with a vowel, to flow into our last name that starts with an O. I was really hoping at some point to find a super cute name that starts with an O (I like alliteration), but the only contender is Olivia – which we do like, but due to it’s upcoming popularity… probably won’t go with. I also have some on the list that only end with a vowel… (apparently I also like names that start with M’s or H’s among the majority that start with a vowel.)<\/p>\n

Here is a list of contenders I compiled over the past few weeks, and then Ryan went through on my iPhone and “thumbed” them up or down based on what he likes. Isla was an early front-runner… but it’s currently at #5 popularity on Nameberry and I don’t want to name our daughter a name that a ton of girls in her school, class, sports team, etc. are also going to have. Granted it helps we already have a unique\/uncommon last name… I still would like to be somewhat original on the first name. I also have been favoring Harper… but Ryan only knows men that are named Harper… so he associates that as a boys name and doesn’t like it (we aren’t trying to go gender neutral either).<\/p>\n

Anyway.. would love to hear your thoughts and suggestions to help out with this process!<\/p>\n

Aria \ud83d\udc4d\ud83c\udffc
\nAurora \ud83d\udc4e\ud83c\udffc
\nAlina \ud83d\udc4d\ud83c\udffc
\nAyla \/ Aila \/ Aylah \ud83d\udc4d\ud83c\udffc
\nEleanor \/ elinor \/ Ellanor \/ Ellanoir \ud83d\udc4e\ud83c\udffc
\nElla \ud83d\udc4d\ud83c\udffc
\nElsa \ud83d\udc4e\ud83c\udffc
\nEliana \ud83d\udc4d\ud83c\udffc
\nEllery \ud83d\udc4e\ud83c\udffc
\nEmery \ud83d\udc4e\ud83c\udffc
\nEverly \ud83d\udc4e\ud83c\udffc
\nEliora \ud83d\udc4e\ud83c\udffc
\nEmbry \ud83d\udc4e\ud83c\udffc
\nElora \ud83d\udc4e\ud83c\udffc
\nIsla \/ Eila \ud83d\udc4d\ud83c\udffc
\nIsadora (Izzy) \ud83d\udc4e\ud83c\udffc
\nOlivia \ud83d\udc4d\ud83c\udffc
\nOakley \ud83d\udc4e\ud83c\udffc
\nElizabeth-Izzy \ud83d\udc4e\ud83c\udffc
\nCosette or Cozette \ud83d\udc4e\ud83c\udffc
\nDelilah \ud83d\udc4e\ud83c\udffc
\nMaya \ud83d\udc4d\ud83c\udffc\ud83d\udc4d\ud83c\udffc
\nJaelyn \ud83d\udc4d\ud83c\udffc
\nRue \ud83d\udc4e\ud83c\udffc
\nBlaise \ud83d\udc4e\ud83c\udffc
\nHarper \ud83d\udc4e\ud83c\udffc
\nHadley \ud83d\udc4d\ud83c\udffc
\nHarlow \ud83d\udc4e\ud83c\udffc
\nWillow \ud83d\udc4e\ud83c\udffc
\nNora \ud83d\udc4e\ud83c\udffc
\nMazie \ud83d\udc4d\ud83c\udffc
\nMackenzie \ud83d\udc4d\ud83c\udffc
\nMakenna. \ud83d\udc4d\ud83c\udffc
\nMicaela\/Micayla\/Mikayla \ud83d\udc4d\ud83c\udffc<\/p>\n

Thank you! Let me know if you have any questions.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

In case the thumbs-up\/down symbols won’t come through for some readers, I’m going to make two lists:<\/p>\n

Thumbs up:<\/strong>
\nAria
\nAlina
\nAyla \/ Aila \/ Aylah
\nElla
\nEliana
\nIsla \/ Eila
\nOlivia
\nMaya
\nJaelyn
\nHadley
\nMazie
\nMackenzie
\nMakenna
\nMicaela \/ Micayla \/ Mikayla<\/p>\n

Thumbs down:<\/strong>
\nAurora
\nEleanor \/ Elinor \/ Ellanor \/ Ellanoir
\nElsa
\nEllery
\nEmery
\nEverly
\nEliora
\nEmbry
\nElora
\nIsadora (Izzy)
\nOakley
\nElizabeth (Izzy)
\nCosette or Cozette
\nDelilah
\nRue
\nBlaise
\nHarper
\nHarlow
\nWillow
\nNora<\/p>\n

I notice that on the thumbs-down list we have most of the -or- and -ar- and long-O sounds. On the thumbs-up list we have most of the -ay- and -na and -la and M- and long-A and -ak-\/-ik- sounds.<\/p>\n

I believe the Nameberry site ranks names by interest\/searches, not by usage. A name can excite a lot of interest and attention without that resulting in a high level of usage. Case in point: I saw articles last year saying that Katniss was one of the most popular girl names of 2014. Well. I mean, maybe it was one of the most popular SEARCHES, but it was used for only 38 new baby girls that year. Compare that to Emma, the actual most popular name of 2014, which was used for over 20,000 new baby girls. This is why for name popularity, my favorite site is the Social Security Administration<\/a>, which shows only actual usage.<\/p>\n

The Social Security Administration shows the name Isla IS gaining in popularity (though nowhere near #5):<\/p>\n

\"(image

(image from SSA.gov)<\/p><\/div>\n

There were 2,122 new baby girls named Isla in 2014. However, there were 19,674 new baby girls named Olivia; 9,564 named Harper; 6,271 named Maya\/Mya. The usage of Makenna and Mackenzie and Makayla is harder to figure out: there are so many spellings of each. Just to give an idea, here are the numbers only the spellings used for at least 500 baby girls in 2014:<\/p>\n

Makayla 2,559
\nMikayla 1,026
\nMichaela 654
\nMikaela 530<\/p>\n

Mackenzie 4,122
\nMckenzie 2,303
\nMakenzie 1,766<\/p>\n

Mckenna 1,388
\nMakenna 1,138<\/p>\n

Another issue is that Makayla\/Mackenzie\/Mckenna peaked in the late 1990s and early 2000s: their popularity appears lower now, but there are so many Makaylas, Mackenzies, and McKennas already in the schools.<\/p>\n

I seem to have gotten distracted by the data base, in my effort to throw support behind the name Isla. One reason is that almost all of the names on the thumbs-up list are either quite popular, or are getting there, or were recently there. It looks to me as if in general your husband prefers popular names. Without looking up the popularity for all the spellings, my guess is that Alina is the most uncommon name on the list, and I do think that would be a very nice option. Alina Ofsthun. I thought of suggesting Olina\/Olena, but that spelling is making me think of product names.<\/p>\n

Melina is pretty—sort of a combination of the Makayla\/Mackenzie\/Makenna group and the Alina\/Eliana group. Melina Ofsthun.<\/p>\n

Or Annika. Annika Ofsthun.<\/p>\n

Or Nadia. Nadia Ofsthun.<\/p>\n

I wonder if you would like the name Oriana. I went to school with a girl named Oriana, pronounced or-ree-AH-nuh. Oriana Ofsthun.<\/p>\n

I wonder if your husband would like Juniper better than Harper. It has the sweet nickname Junie, and the U sound would be nicely alliterative with your surname.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Name update!<\/strong><\/p>\n

We ended up going with Isla as it was always the front runner and Swistlers confirmed my thoughts.\u00a0 Went from Martha to June for the middle name though since she was born in June and to honor my great grandmother who was named June. And it has a great ring to it Isla (eye-la) June Ofsthun (off-stune).<\/p>\n

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Hi Swistle, My husband Ryan and I are expecting our first child, a baby girl, in late June 2016. We got married August 29th, 2015 and apparently got pregnant just a few short weeks later! Our last name is Ofsthun (off-stune), so I love the idea of having a name that starts and ends with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-name-update"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3iyiG-36V","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11961"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11961\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12195,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11961\/revisions\/12195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}