C. writes:<\/p>\n
We are desperately seeking guidance in our first baby naming venture and were really hoping for some input.\u00a0 We are due in about 10 weeks with our first baby (a little boy!) and are at a complete <\/i>loss for names.\u00a0 Although there are a few names we like and can agree on,\u00a0we can’t use them for various reasons (names of a pet, names of a family member or friend’s baby, etc):\u00a0 Nathan, Landon, Ben.<\/p>\n
A little background on us:
Our last name is 2 syllables and begins and ends with a “T” – we wanted to stay away from names that start and end in a “T” because we think it sounds to sing-songy and matchy. For some reason we think names that end in “N” seem to sound good with our last name but are open to anything. We don’t really have a strong cultural heritage but we have many family names and surnames that are unique and we will probably use one of them as our son’s middle name – Foster, Fabian, Conyers, Truman, Gill<\/span>. We found that choosing girls names was a breeze and there were many that we loved – Piper, Hadley, Adalynn, Morgan, Sawyer.\u00a0 Choosing a boy name just seems so much more difficult!<\/p>\nWe want to pick something that sounds masculine yet maybe a little preppy at the same time and is older\/classic but not commonly used (if that makes sense).\u00a0 At the same time, we don’t want something that is so uncommon that it sounds strange or is something that people have never heard of.\u00a0 We want a name that is less commonly used then something like the traditional Adam, James, Thomas, John, Michael, etc.\u00a0 We do have\u00a0two names we are considering but are hesitant to use at this point:<\/p>\n
Harrison (worried that people will call him Harry; we do like Harris as a nickname and maybe if we implement that we can avoid the Harry altogether?; we like Harrison Foster.) <\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Leighton (feel like that is becoming really popular as a girls name and with that spelling seems feminine; maybe Leyton Foster? but don’t want a strange or made-up\u00a0spelling either).<\/p>\n
Please help!\u00a0 Maybe there is a fabulous name out there that we are simply overlooking?\u00a0 Maybe we just need reassurance that our little boy won’t be teased with a name like Harry?\u00a0 Looking forward to hearing your input.\u00a0 Thanks in advance!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I suggest Sawyer. I see it on your girl-name list, and it seems to me it suits your boy-name preferences too. In the United States the name Sawyer is currently used more often for boys (the Social Security Administration reports 348 girls in 2010, versus 2,198 boys); because the rest of your girl-name list are all names used much more often for girls, I think Sawyer would fit better in your family as a boy name.<\/p>\n
Harrison seems like a very good choice, too. I think you can probably avoid Harry by using Harris as a nickname; but if not, I think Harry Potter has made the name Harry significantly more usable than it used to be. Along the same lines as Harrison, but with no Harry:<\/p>\n
Anderson
Davis
Davison
Garrison
Jameson
Nicholson
Robertson
Sullivan
Wilson<\/p>\nYou’re right about Leighton: the Social Security Administration reports 449 new baby girls named Leighton in 2010, versus 216 boys. The spelling Leyton was given to 25 girls and 144 boys, so it looks like that spelling is indeed considered more masculine—but the larger number of girls with the spelling Leighton gives me pause about using the name for boys at all: some names survive such a tip (Cameron, for example, which is still used for both boys and girls), but many don’t (some famous examples are Ashley, Evelyn, and Lesley). The similar name Payton\/Peyton, which came before Leyton\/Leighton, has gone even further and is now given mostly to girls by a wide margin. Perhaps Leighton could go on your list for possible future daughters, and for boys I’d suggest instead:<\/p>\n
Carson
Easton
Hudson
Keaton
Langston
Lawson
Lennox
Lincoln
Lachlan
Logan
Patton
Spencer<\/p>\nName update!<\/b> C. writes:<\/p>\n
So we are happy to report that our son was born (a week late) on July 13th.\u00a0 We waited until we saw him to decide on his name but ended up deciding on Harrison Foster.\u00a0 Thanks to all for reassuring us that Harrison was as great of a name as we thought it was.\u00a0 I was worried that people would call him Harry – a nickname that I was desperate to avoid.\u00a0 So far, everyone has been very receptive to his name and nobody has even attempted to call him Harry.\u00a0 At this point I can’t imagine him with any other name.\u00a0 Thanks for all your help! <\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
C. writes: We are desperately seeking guidance in our first baby naming venture and were really hoping for some input.\u00a0 We are due in about 10 weeks with our first baby (a little boy!) and are at a complete loss for names.\u00a0 Although there are a few names we like and can agree on,\u00a0we can’t […]<\/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-6200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-name-update"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3iyiG-1C0","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6200","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=6200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6200\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}