Names for Abbey

Abbey came across my site through ivillage (and I think through Camille, thanks girl!). Her requirements:

*I would like it to start with an "A" for the fact that Brandon (my husband) and Braxton (my son) are fairly close in nature.
*My husband does like "Ali" for a name, but I have it okayed by him that it could be used as a nickname.
*He also said if it comes down to it he is open to anything.
*The only name that we feel is ok with right now is "Alyse" pronounced Alease.
*The middle name will be Kay after my mom who passed away when I was in 5th grade.
*I do like names that aren't that common. I feel my son's name is different enough, but not too out there.

Braxton is in the 200s according to voyager so your names are alphabetical, with the definition and current rank behind them. I figured I'd do a little extra work since I only had to research one letter. :)

Adair (beauty) n/a
Adaline (noble) n/a
Adora (beloved) n/a
Ainsley (my own meadow) 454
Alia (ascender) (n/a but its homonym Aaliyah is 84)
Alice (truthful) 346
Alison (form of Alice) 288
Annalise (from Anna) 676
Arabel (beautiful) n/a
Ariel (lion of God) 188
Arden (valley) n/a
Aria (musical term, solo song) 566
Ashlinn (dream) n/a
Audra (noble) n/a
Avril (April) n/a

I like your name choice, Alice and Elise are two of my favorite names. Of my list, I like Ainsley Kay, Annalise Kay and Alia Kay the best. Alison is closest to Braxton in popularity and Ali works as a nickname, too. Lots to think about! Good luck naming your little girl. I am a pale shade of green with envy over here.


p.s. I love that you and your husband are each using your letter for the kids' names. I know too many people that have a husband named John Thomas and name their kids Thomas and Jonathon. Where is all the love for the mothers? Rock on, mama!

Janel's names

[Dear Snob]
My husband and I are at a dead lock. We don't know if our little one is a boy or a girl. I like Aidan, Liam, Riley or Moses for a boy. My husband likes Alexander (but I hate Alex and I know the kid will be called that by our families), he doesn't mind Riley or Moses (but he is afraid Moses is too unique but I like unique). For a girl I like Emily, Gracie, Riley, Brianna, Beverly. He likes Helen (which I hate) and he likes Gracie. For middle names I would like to use our grandparents names Beverly, Grace, Rollie, Marie, Lee or Adam.

My husband likes history names, Helen of Troy, Alexander the Great, etc.. I like kind of different but not too unique like Moses, Riley, Liam, etc.

Hi Janel!
Aidan, Liam and Riley are all top 100 names right now while Moses is hanging out at 464. It's unique but it's not unheard of. With my son James I was bound and determined to not let anyone nickname him Jim, Jimmy or Jamie and it took some work but he's just James. Alexander is tough because it is a longer name and the urge to shorten it may be too much for your family. Is Xander an option? Since your husband likes names with a historical background and you like unique names, here's a boy list.

Adams
Beckett
Carter
Charles
Clinton
Cole
Desmond
Edmund
Grant
Henry
Hudson
Jackson
Julius
Lincoln
Louis
Magnus
Malcolm
Monroe
Raleigh
Theodore
Wallace
Walker
William
Wilson
Wyatt

As far as some extra girl names suggestions, we can come up with a few newer names just by adding or removing some letters. :)
Emily---Emery, Emme
Gracie--Gracen, Graciela
Riley--Ryanne, Rilla
Brianna--Brynn, Anna, Brenna
Beverly--Everly

I really love Beverly and I think it's posed to make a come back. It's been off the charts for the last decade and it peaked in the 1930s. I do like Everly as an alternative though.

And for your husband, I made him a list of historical women, most names of queens with some biblical names and the odd explorer or activist.

Anne
Amelia
Beatrix
Charlotte
Delilah
Elizabeth
Eve
Gloria
Isabella
Jane (Lady Grey)
Juliana
Lucy
Matilda
Rosa
Sofia
Victoria

Of the names from your list, Moses Lee is my favorite. Of your girl names I like Beverly Grace, Riley Marie--and I think Rollie is a cool name, too.

Good luck naming your sweet babe! Keep me updated.
Love, the snob

Names for Alison

This is a toughie! Alison and her husband cannot agree on a name for their baby boy. She likes Theodore, Ewan, Luke and Hugh while her husband suggested Edmund, Lawrence, Lee and Keagan--and he would really prefer it to not be in the top 100. They live in the DC area but Alison is from Thailand originally and she would also like a name that Thais can easily pronounce.They have a four year old girl named Maia.

I actually have several lists! First I tried nymbler but the eclectic mix of names from Alison and her husband had nymbler spitting out gems like Clifton, Leonard and Bertram. I did like

Basil
Cole
Eli
Ellis
Leo
Lewis.

Next I did some research on Maia: the name actually stems from three different languages. In Hindi it means 'God's creative power,' in Greek it's 'mother' and in Latin it's 'great.' Of the Sanskrit names I thought Ashwin and Rohan might be good matches with Maia. Then I went on to the Greek names and came up with

Ambrose
Apollo
Damian
Dorian
Jericho
Matthias
Nicholas
Peter
Sebastian
Thad
Theo
Xander.

Of the Latin names I liked

Adrian
August
Bennett (from Benedict)
Calvin
Dante
Dominic
Julian
Levi
Marcus
Maximus (so much cooler than Maxwell)
Miles/Milo
Silas
Victor
Vincent
Xavier.

And one random Japanese name: Kaemon.

Did I help or make it worse? ;)

Kim's List

Kim from Illinois wrote in for help with her fourth child's name. She has three children Colin, Claire and Keegan. She's looking for a K or C name that is uncommon but not too out there. She and her husband like the sounds of Cal, Caleb and Carter but they wanted something with a little more kick for their baby boy. It's a good thing you said you liked Irish names because most of the names that I thought worked with your sibset are Irish. :)

The number after is the current rank on the SSA's website.

Cade 293
Calden (Cal for a nickname) n/a
Callum (ditto) n/a
Camden 219
Clinton 755
Cullen 769

Keane n/a
Keaton 357
Kellan 882
Kenley n/a
Kevin 39
Kian (rhymes with Ian) 664
Kiefer n/a
Kieran (one of my favorite names) 571
Killian 836
Kingston 355 (jumped from 942 in 2006!)
Korrigan n/a
Knox n/a
Kylan 776

John and Georgine's List

Their baby girl is coming soon! The proud parents have three kids, Marshal, Gia and Blake. They like the names Nina and Gabriella but nothing has them sold yet.

I tried to play matchmaker with Gia since Marshal and Blake work so well together.

Angelica
Angelina
Bianca
Cecilia
Claudia
Ella
Eva
Daria
Gemma
Georgia
Jana
Johannah
Lucia
Magdalena
Marina
Mira
Mirella
Nicola
Orabella
Raya
Roma
Sofia
Susanna
Violetta

In Defense of Aidan

"You must hate Aidan!" I've had that reaction from more than one person after I told them that I write a blog about baby names and trends.

But I don't. I actually love the name Aidan. It's Irish, it has a good meaning and it's a strong name without being an overused classic (I know, James is an overused classic, I admit it).

Aidan didn't appear over night, in the 1990s it was at 311, with Aiden at 860. However by 1996 Aidan had shot up to 166 with Aiden trudging along at 474. By 2007 Aidan had peaked at 54 and Aiden surpassed it by landing at 27 on the Social Security baby names list. I won't even start with the Adans/Aydans/Aidyns. If you put them together it's still only at 40.5 on the chart, right between Evan and Isaac.

I used to think that Aidan only exploded after Sex and the City's Aidan but the charts don't back up my theory. My new theory is pretty simple: people like Irish names. With the mini explosion of Conners and Ryans in the '90s people looked for similar names that weren't as popular with their playgroup. The 2000s have been more open to foreign and unique names. Ava is a far cry from Amanda, which was the sixth most popular name of the 1990s.

I've belonged to several playgroups and messageboards in the last few years (Michigan, Florida, Alabama) and the majority of the members are +/- five years from me. I also have at least 15 friends with sons named Aidan/Aiden. I have no data other than my opinion but it seems to me that the under 30 year old moms tend to go for Aidan while the 40+ moms tend to go for George.

So I don't hate Aidan. If anything I think Aidan has helped jumpstart a new era of babynaming--we hardly bat an eye when we hear about baby Finn, Isla or Kieran. How could anyone hate Aidan after listening to the name said with an Irish accent?

Ashley's List

Ashley emailed me a couple weeks ago, our mutual friend Kimm hooked us up--at least if it's Kimm from Michigan, otherwise I have no idea.

Ashley has two children, Reileigh Marie and Reece Gavin. They are expecting baby in early fall. She likes the idea of another R name but they can't seem to find or agree on any R boy names. Her girl names are Reaghan and Reanna and she likes Dixon and Mason for boy names. I really like Dixon (it's not in the top 1000! Bonus!).

I tried to look for R girl names that were of English/Irish/Welsh origin to mesh with Reileigh and Reece but I only found a couple. I liked a ton of R boy names though.

Girl suggestions:
Raina
Rhiannon (good song by Fleetwood Mac, too)
Romy
Rowan
Ryanne

Adair
Ainsley
Bailey
Caitlin
Carrigan
Claire
Darby
Darcy
Delaney
Ellery
Finley
Kennedy
Madigan
Maeve
McKenna
Sloane

Boy suggestions:

Ralston
Remington
Rhett
Roland
Rollin
Ronan
Rory
Rourke
Ryder

Archer
Ardan
Carter
Declan
Donavon
Keane
Killian
Owen
Meade
Sullivan

I think baby #3 needs a strong 1 or 2 syllable name. It all depends if you like the sounds of all the names together, I suggest yelling "Reileigh, Reece and Seraphina!" and compare it to "Reileigh, Reece and Maeve!" :) Let me know if I came up with any names you may work with.