Retro but unique for Jennifer

I found you on the nest. :) I thought it would be fun to toss our names around with you and see what your thoughts and suggestions might be.It's very possible we are having a girl but it was our unofficial ultrasound and they didn't want to give us false hope. So I am still throwing bothboy and girl names around to be certain. Our last name sounds like Ree - See- Me - Us. Our first son is Broderic Scott.

I am like many of your readers. I like retro names, our names that sound like names but are still unique.So for girls we have Selah as our leading name. (SAY-LAH). We are throwing around Ashlyn, Rose, or Ann for middle names. Ashlyn is to honora family member. Other girls names are Daphine, Calista (Callie), Maggie, and Stella.We definately like names with nicknames and that is my struggle sometimes, if I can't get a nick name out of it I go a bit buggy. With Selah we were thinking of calling her Seely.

Boys are interesting. One of our favorite names is Bennett. :) However, my husband and I recently thought of the name Thorsen and we would call him Thor. We were made fun of a little bit. I am wondering what you think, is it to over the top?? We also like Quinton (Quinn), Byron, Larson, and you suggested to someone else the name Blaise... how do you pronounce that? For middle names I would like to use Donald or Robert and that makes it quite a mouthful with our last name. This is one of my setbacks with Bennett, as you can imagine Bennett Robert R_ is a little long.Well, that's it for me. Looking forward to hearing back from you,

Jennifer

Hi Jennifer! I like your style. Selah is a very cool name, it may have some issues as far as pronounciation. I love your girl names. Stella and Calista are beautiful names with cute nicknames. Selah Rose is very feminine and pretty. For Maggie, what about Magdalena for the first name? Following your vibe I also like

Cora Ann
Evangeline Rose
Lydia Ann
Viola Rose

Well Bennett is a great name. ;) Thor may be a little over the top, with the namesake being the God of Thunder or whatnot. But if you love it, use it! Of your names I like Quinton/Quinn a lot followed by Blaise. You pronounce it like 'blaze' but that's the French spelling. I think the name list it was on was for someone that wanted more European style names. Legend has it that my name was going to be Blaze if I were a boy, but I find that hard to believe since my mom named her sons with traditional names like Shaun, Ryan and Garrett.

Quinton Robert has a nice ring. Do you have a nickname for your oldest? Broderic is a good one, I may have to steal it for my blog. Some random other fun names to think about:

Dashiell (Dash) Robert
Finnian (Finn) Donald
Lennon Robert
Wilson (Will) Robert

Keep me updated! Happy naming.

I'll have a western-world boy's names with an East Indian twist please!

Hi there,

I came across your blog and thought it was terrific. I did a few searches on your blog but could not find this topic.

My wife Pooja and I are about to have our first child. We chose not to find out the gender. I am Indian Catholic and she is Indian Hindu. In my family, we have always had Christian names and vice versa for Pooja. Choosing a name that is appealing to both of our sides is proving to be a tough compromise.

Our ideal is a name that is not too Indian for our western world, yet not too western for her East Indian culture. We were able to get a handful of girl’s names that made us happy, however, we are severely stuck on the boy’s names and there’s less than 3 weeks to go!

HELP!!! Thanks in advance for any advice,

Ian & Pooja

The title of your email made me laugh out loud. Since you are due to meet your little person so soon, I bumped you up in queue. Since you already have some girl names picked out (which I'd love to hear, if you didn't mind sharing), I focused only on boy names. I used a plain old 60,000 baby names book and went through it alphabetically, looking for names that worked phonetically for westerners but also had a neat east Indian meaning. The names are Sanskrit (S), Hindi (H), Indian (I) and Punjabi (P). I'm also including their homophones or not quite homophones for your reading pleasure. Here we go.

Alok (S) victorious cry; Alec
Ashwin (H) first; Asher, Ashton
Brahm (H) creator; Bram
Dandin (H) holy man; Daniel
Deven (H) for god; Devin, Devan
Kavi (H) poet; Kavin
Kiran (S) beam of light
Malik (P) lord; Malachi
Rohan (H) sandalwood; Ronan
Sam (short for Sameen, Sambha, Samuel)
Sandeep (P) enlightened; Sander
Shyam (I) dark; Shia
Sunder (I) handsom;, Xander, Sander
Tanvir (I) strong; Tanner
Valin (H) from Balin/mighty soldier

Of these names, my favorites are Ashwin, Deven and Rohan. I think they are easily pronouncable but unique and ethnic. We have a friend named Vijay but my son writes his name as "VJ" and I can't convince him otherwise. I've always loved the name Sachin (Sach) since college when I had a good friend by that name. Good luck choosing the perfect name for your babe. Please keep me updated!

quick personal post

Hi friends!

I want to apologize for the delay in the posting, I promise to finish answering the few emails I have in my inbox as soon as I can. I just got back from a long weekend in Colorado with my college girlfriends and I'm wiped! We only get to see eachother every few years so when we do make it (or most of us) there is very little sleeping involved. Since this is a name blog, I'll give you their names since a) they have cool names b) it's fun to see where we've all ended up.

Jane--blonde, modern with a twist from Michigan, aunt to twins Jack and Nora

Margo--tiny, gorgeous Korean living in Denver, maternal and organized

Kari--semi-hippie with a love of fashion living in the mountains in CO

Kelly--our marathon runner with a heart of gold (and Greek alter ego Kelitis) in Denver

Gretchen--hilarious San Diego dweller that uses expressions that are not appropriate for this blog but freaking hysterical.

Brooke--my Floridian piece of sunshine, the happy go lucky mama of the often talked about Cleo (she's in the pic, taken in Grand Lake)

and we greatly missed Frances Tania Ramos (two more last names), our Filipina bundle of love, living in the Chicago 'burbs.

Also, I need to say that in my excitement I may have screwed up medication that, ahh, keeps my uterus egg-free. And those few days enough hormone escaped for me to think "Ah, screw it...what's the worst that could happen? You'd be due in February..." EEEK. Talk me off the ledge. I'm supposed to be starting grad classes (again) in the fall and working at my husband's store since the boys are big (4 and 2) and in preschool. Yet here I am debating bringing up the "let's just see what happens" subject with the husband. Exhibit 1: James Ciaran.

Talk me off the ledge. Or. Talk me into a baby with a really cool name.....LOL

an AJ for Laura

Hi, I got your blog site from a friend of mine, that I met through a parenting forum. I am currently pregnant with my second child, due end of November, begining of December. I don't know what I am having yet. but I would like to have a name picked out for when I do find out. Me and my husband have a couple of names we kinda like but don't LOVE....

Our son's name is Alan Joesph Jr... so he and his dad share a name. I would like to have a name that has the A and J in it. so far we have Aaden for a boy, and maybe Alexis for a girl... I really would like John for a boy middle name after my grandfather....I would really love it if you could help.

Thanks! Laura

Hi Laura,

Right off the bat I veto the spelling of Aaden, it is just too Gosselin-y to me. If you really love the name (and Aidan John has a nice ring) I'd go with the Aidan/Aiden spelling. For boys I picked out some cool A names for you

Adrian
Aiken
Amos
Anderson
Andrew
Anthony
Archie (Archer)
Arlo
Auden

and they all sound good with John. Arlo John is my favorite of the group.

Here are my AJ names for girls.

Adriana Jade
Amara Joy
Amelia Jane
Anabelle Juliet
Annalise Jane
April Jolie
Arella June
Ariel Joy
Audrey Jane

I think Jane is a spunky middle name that works with almost any name. Also it's the feminine version of John so it still is a tribute to your grandfather.

Happy naming!

Ashley's List

Baby is still "John Doe D." as we call him, lol. He's nameless and will most likely remain nameless until he is born since mom and dad DO.NOT.AGREE on names at all. Any suggestions? I'll give you the names he refuses to let me name him... Nolan James, Charlie, Zachary James, Ethan James. I could go on and on and on....

His favorite names are:Micheal, Dalton and Grant Jordan.

The names we semi agree on: Christopher Joseph III and calling him Trey (This is pretty much our back up plan, He always wanted a III, Im not a huge fan of having a III but naming him Trey is better.) Trey is a common name for 3rd child in generations that's named as a III. Jack (We both like this name but not in love with it)So feel free to give suggestions, we both are not in love with trendy common names such as Holden, Carter, Conner, Aiden type names. They are all WAY too popular right now and I had a popular name growing up and hated it. (P.S, I have NOTHING agaisnt these names) We like classic, solid names more so in top 100-200 lists. If this boy turns out to be anything like his father, tall and huge with size 18 foot, he can't have a wussy or trendy name. It.Just.Wont.Fit. Let me know if you can help,
Thank You, Ashley

I feel your pain in regards to the III. My husband is a Jr but technically the third Donald in his family. Just the other day we were driving and he blurted out "If we have another boy can we name him Donald?!" We ended up with James because it's my husband's middle name and that was as far as I was willing to budge. At least Christopher isn't an awful name like Donald. I love my husband but I refuse to call any child Donny. With Bennett we were literally arguing while I was on the table (c/s) over his middle name, he wanted Donald and I wanted Jude. I won.

So I racked my brain and looked through the books to find names that were masculine and suitable for a very large man. hehe!

Abram (Abe)
Austin
Ben (Benjamin, Bennett, Benson)
Cade
Calvin (Cal)
Clayton
Jackson
Jake
Miles
Nicholas
Samson/Samuel (Sam)
William/Wilson (Will)
Weston (Wes)
Wyatt

Any winners? I think most of them would work well with a middle name of Christopher, Joseph or James. I like Austin Joseph, Miles Christopher and Weston James. Nothing wussy about them.

Special thanks to Jessica W for her input on non-sissy names. :)

Names for Krista

Hi,

I am a member of Baby Center and came across a post that had your blog.. I have to say that I LOVE your suggestions and thought you may be able to help us out.

We are expecting Girl #3 at the end of September. I've been going crazy trying to find a list of names to even suggest to my husband, who seems to shoot down nearly every idea. I feel like I have no ideas left.

My daughters are named after family members. Their names are Stephanie and Delaney. Now that we have used the family names that we wanted to, we are left trying to pick a name from scratch and it's incredibly difficult. My favorite name right now is Cassidy but it doesn't go well with our last name at all and my husband isn't crazy about it at all so there goes that idea. I also like the name Piper quite a bit and while I think it's adorable on a little girl, I'm just not sure how well it would carry over into the professional world when she gets older.

I am open to all suggestions. I feel like I am revisiting all the same names over and over and can't come up with fresh ideas. I am looking for a name that is not heard every day, is feminine, yet strong. While I do like the old fashioned names such as Katherine, Ruby, Olivia, etc., they just aren't for me.

Any ideas you could come up with would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!!!!

Krista


Hey, Krista
Hope some of these are new and fresh for you!

Macy
Aria
Rowan
Teagan
Avery
Kendall
Molly
Blythe
Eliza
Cecily
Brynn or Brinley
Ashlyn
Harlow.

-J

Amy's names.

Dear Snob,

My husband and I are expecting our third child in June. I heard about you on IVillage. We are having a girl and cannot agree on a name. We currently have a boy Carter and a girl Delainey. Our last name ends with -son so we are trying to avoid -son endings but aren't completely opposed to them. We will take any advice you have to offer. Thanks in advance!

Amy

Hi, Amy

So here is a list of more vintage sounding names. I love these and they are not overly used.
Cordelia
Prudence
Maggie
Ayla
Rosemary
Dalia

these are the more modern ones I thought that went well with Carter and Delainey.
Corrigan
Everly
Kinsey
Tatum
Cadence
Drew
Larkin
Maya
Connolly

And these last two are the names I associate with princesses for obvious reasons. And I too love them both!
Aurora
Anastasia

Interesting article

I ran across an article tonight called Why Your Baby's Name Will Sound Like Everyone Else's. Clearly the author has not heard of the Name Snobs yet. ;)

They mention how names right now, especially girl names, are very vowel heavy and rhymey--Emma, Emily, Bella, Ella. Even with Emma being the number one name will only be 1% of the new baby population as opposed to the olden days when names like Mary could be up to 10% of the new babies in a year. How many of us have an aunt Mary or grandma Mary?

The article quotes name guru Laura Wattenburg, creator of the awesome baby name voyager. I love Laura's dedication to studying the psychology and social trends of baby names but she just isn't snarky enough for me. Girlfriend needs to lay down the law and post blogs telling readers that Neveah isn't really a name and Skyy with two y's just looks ridiculous. She's much more polite than I am.

Anyway, it's a good read and something I thought you all would like to read. Also, I've been told I need to post pics because this blog is boring. So here you are.





Bennett Jude, William David and Maddox Oberon last fall.

Names for Jan & Jason

Hi Baby Name Snob,

This will be our first child (due in early November). We do not know the sex of the baby yet. If possible, I would love to use the middle name LouRee for a girl (after my Grandmother) and Chapin for a boy (after my Grandfather and pronounced Chape-in). We're not dead set on having to use these as middle names, they were just a starting ground for us. We're not much for traditional names, but don't like anything too off the wall like Rain, Summer, or Pheonix. We want a strong name that will sustain into adulthood, but yet unique enough to not blend in with the crowd. Some names that we've thought of but not yet agreed on are:

Girls: Adleigh, Ainsley, Ashlyn, Brylee, Brinley, Reese, Renna, Riley
Boys: Avery, Braxton, Bryson, Jaxton, Brody, Caden, Gavin, Greyson

None of these names are popping out to us. This will give you an idea of what style of names we like though. We don't care what the name starts with. Both my husband and my name start with a "J" and my husbands whole family all have "J" names. Not sure if that is the route to go or not (us all having "J" names too). Our nieces and nephews are Abby Lynn, Andrew Todd, Alexis (Allie) Grace, and Parker Graeme Thomas (all too traditional for us). We'll be the oddballs on both sides of the family and are ok with that.

It's so hard to pick out a name that will stick with your child for the rest of their life. *sigh* We need your help!

At A Loss For Names,
Jan & Jason


Hey, Jan and Jason.
You have a lot of great ideas to start with so that helps a lot as far as what you guys like. So Ive come up with a big list of both boy and girls names for you! Plus I really love the family names you guys are thinking about using for middle names. They are unique and cool. (thumbs up!) I mostly picked names I felt would sound good while keeping the hypothetical middle name's in mind. And I just decided to stay away from the -J -names for now.

these are in no particular order.

Girls~
Embry LouRee
Riona LouRee
Laney LouRee
Maisy LouRee
Rory LouRee
Teagan LouRee
Kerrigan LouRee
Piper LouRee
Madigan LouRee
Ellery LouRee
Annika LouRee
Reagan LouRee
Claire LouRee
Brynn LouRee
Emerson LouRee
Kendall LouRee
Quinn LouRee
Lorelei LouRee

Boys~
Cohen Chapin
Harrison Chapin
Eli Chapin
Harlan Chapin
Thurston Chapin
Rowan Chapin
Gannon
Langston
Ezra Chapin
Mckinley Chapin
Callum Chapin
Brecken ( I think this one is great tho Im not so sure with Chapin as the middle name)
Emery Chapin
Brennen

-Jessica.

Stephanie and Richard's hypothetical unconceived second baby's names ;)

I recently started following your blog, and am impressed. I am a baby naming nut. We have one son named Sawyer James. We originally were told we were having a little girl and then SURPRISE!, we had a little boy. We knew we loved Sawyer so that was easy, then we just sort of "picked" James because we were under the gun to fill out his birth certificate papers. It ended up alright, it flows nicely, but I tend to like more unusual names. We also lean towards nature and literary themes. I am Irish and American Indian and my husband is Polish and Irish. We are trying to conceive number two and will not find out the sex this time. Our original girl name was Harper, but it doesn't feel "right" anymore. Thanks for any help you can give. I look forward to seeing more of your blog.
Sincerely,Stephanie and Richard

I had too much fun with this name list. I love literary names. Some are from writers, some are from characters and all are undoubtedly cool.

For girls:
Alice
Camille
Esme`
Finley
Flannery
Gwendolyn
Josephine
Louisa
Mercy
Sylvia
Willa

For boys:
Alcott
August
Barrett
Beckett
Holden
Finnegan
Langston
Lennox
Marlowe
Oscar
Wilder

I think Harper is a great name. If you wanted to play on the Tom Sawyer-Huck Finn thing, Finley and Finnegan are names that would work. I have a friend with a little girl named Wilder and I think it fits her well. Let me know if any of them are keepers!

Names for Mary

Mary has three children--Hailey, Isaiah and Antonio. She is expecting her fourth baby in December so we don't know the gender quite yet. Her only request is that no names end in 'er' since her last name does. I looked for names that are pretty common, but not trendy and for a Latin or Spanish origin.

Atticus
Cassius
Cruz
Dominic
Marcos
Micah
Samson
Santiago
Quentin
Vincente

Carmen
Christa
Elianna
Gemma
Julia
Laurel
Lola
Maren
Marta
Reina

Amy's names

Hi,
I just found your blog...how cool!

My husband and I are expecting our first, and maybe only, child in early November. My name is Amy Rae. His name is Kevin Andrew. Rae is a family name and must be used for a middle name if it is a girl. Lee is also a family name we will use for a middle name if it is a boy. We are not finding out the sex of the babe :)

Kevin has two children Mikeala Lillian and Christopher.

I am of French-Canadian descent and Kevin is Irish. We would like something not too common but not too different. We both come from larger families so are having a hard time using names no one else has yet. Our last name is two syllables and starts with "N".

I like Sophie and he likes Claudia-Joy.
I like Finnegan and he likes Noah.

Amy

Hello Amy.
I like Claudia Rae a lot! Its not overly used and is also a wonderful French name. Keeping in mind what you like already Ive come up with a pretty decent sized list of ones to look over.

Girls-
Elsie Rae
Margot Rae
Corinne Rae
Avery Rae
Mina Rae
Coraline Rae (This is my favorite)
Clara Rae
Charlotte Rae. (tho Charlotte is getting to be quite popular I think its a very pretty feminine name)
Fiona Rae. (Fiona- Gaelic for 'fair')
Lorna Rae. (a cute poplar Irish name)
Mirielle Rae. (a pretty French name)
Laelynn Rae. (a very popular Canadian name that I have never heard here and like a lot)

Boys-
Warner Lee
Julian Lee ( a great french name growing in popularity at number 61 on the SSA list)
Quintin Lee
Jonah Lee
Harmon Lee
Ronan Lee (Gaelic for Little seal or Ronan king of Leinster) I really like this one!
Rory Lee (Gaelic for Red) super cute too!
Ansel Lee ( a popular French name)
Bryer Lee ( French Canadian)

Second Boy.

Just found your blog for the first time. So fun! My husband and I are expecting baby boy #2 in September. Our 3 yr old's name is Ryan William. We would like to use my maiden name, Clifton, as the middle name. I feel like I keep seeing the same names over and over again and we can't really agree on anything.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Brooke


Hey Brooke.
So Ive broken a list of suggestions down for you into two categories one being more classic names tho not overly used and the other being on the maybe not as seen as often.

For the classics I like.
Henry Clifton
Oliver Clifton
Andrew Clifton
Evan Clifton
Christian Clifton
Garrett Clifton
Reid Clifton

Ok Maybe Andrew is used a lot. But its a classic name I just adore. ;)

For the not as seen as often.
Taran Clifton
Eldon Clifton
Darian Clifton

of course your last name could make or break some of these depending on. Tho I hope you guys like a few of them!

-Jessica.

Beer snob

I just discovered your blog and have "catching up." You have such great name suggestions, so I've been reading everything trying to find the perfect girl name. I have a son name Lucas and am expecting a girl. I love the name Lucas, but am starting to realize that I may have "Jennifer'd" him...as I like to call it.

I'm having such a hard time finding the right name for my baby. My husband hates everything I love, so it's been really hard. I love Stella, Scarlett and Lola...however he thinks I'm totally insane. He likes Amelia, but I just don't care for it for some reason (I like it for other peoples babies...not that that makes any sense).

I've even resorted to using my "beer theory" about baby names since he is a total beer snob. I tell him good names are like beer. No one really likes beer the 1st time they try it. Once they acquire a taste they usually stick with something bland and boring like bud light (My hubby hates BL). Good names are like good beers...an acquired taste!

I know my analogy is a little strange comparing baby names to drinking beer, but I have to relate to him on his level. If you have any ideas for a baby girl I'd love to hear. Thanks!!
Jennifer

Hi Jennifer,
I'm Jessica, Theresa's new guest blogger. I hope I can help you shed some light on a few more possible likes for your soon to be new baby girl! With Scarlett I feel its kinda heading toward the -Jennifer- -Jessica- realm. on the Social security website in 2000 it was 941 and in 2008 it was 210 making a big move heading towards the top 50 quickly. And being a Jessica myself I like to keep a close eye on that ;).

I think Lola is a super cute name and goes well with big brother Lucas. Instead of Stella I would say Estella just to once again shy away from the growing popularity of Stella. Though I do appreciate the name a lot. Some others I think would go well with Lucas and your style while still keeping your husbands like of Amelia in mind are...
Lina
Cora
Camilla
Leona
Marina
Etta
Liza
Lillia
Clara

Zoe or Ainsley?

My husband and I are going crazy trying to figure out what to name our future daughter. I am 20 weeks along, so I still have time, but I would love to be able to call her by a name, rather than "baby".

Anyway, we have narrowed it down to two and I need some help deciding!

First choice: Zoe or Zoey Catherine (which way should we spell Zoe/Zoey?)

Second choice: Ainsley Catherine

Here is our biggest problem... we find that people have comments for each of the names. With Zoe/Zoey, the biggest comment we get is "Oh, that was our dog's name". lol. OR we get "Oh, like the character on Sesame Street?" OR "Like Zoey 101 on Disney?" Blech.

The comments we get about Ainsley are "Isn't that a boy's name?" (really? I could never imagine that being a boy's name!) OR "It sounds made up" OR "That is too popular and could be considered trendy" (I have never met an Ainsley in my life, so this is news to me!)

Anyway, enough of my ramblings... Which one is better? Please help! We are so ready to just pick a name!!!

Thanks, Hayley

Ainsley Catherine! I will put it to a vote for the snob readers and see what they say. Zoe is much more common (58, Zoey at 98) than Ainsley (441). I don't think Ainsley is trendy, I think it's very pretty and old fashioned. If she comes out and she looks like a Zoe, I'd use the without a y spelling. Good luck!

V. Exciting News

I'm back! We survived the trip to the North and it was actually quite pleasant. While I was gone the Social Security Administration released the names for 2008. I wasn't surprised to see the list since the top 25 girls names have stayed the same since about 2004. For boys it's also been consist ant with the mostly traditional names; Nicholas dropped from 15 in 2004 to 29 in 2008 and that was pretty much the only notable mover.

Some Snob favorites debuted in the top 100, Matilda sauntered in at 829, Kenley (thanks Project Runway!) is 998 and feisty Irish Sloane is 999.

I also want to announce that we will have a guest writer on the snob! Jessica, who has sons with awesome names Ashton and Dane, will be answering some of your emails and requests. So please welcome her to the Snob Team.