Quite possibly the most detailed email ever, but we like that around here

My husband and I have 3 biological children and are now adopting a fourth child, a baby girl from Ethiopia who we have recently been matched with. We want to keep her Ethiopian name, but since we think it will be a bit hard to carry as she grows up in the States, we will use it as her middle name (sorry…we cannot share it with others). So we are considering names as we hope to bring her home in the next few months. There are several limitations to our search.

First of all, our 3 kids are named Tate, Emma and Jack. We want a name that fits well with their names. We did not intend to have a “theme” in naming our kids, but they each have 4 letters and now it is very important to our kids that their sister has a name with 4 letters in it. It wouldn’t have mattered as much to me, but since we are adopting her, it is a way for her to be part of our family identity. There is flexibility as our daughter is Emma, but we call her Emmie. And our son is called Jack, but his given name is Jackson.

Secondly, the meaning of the name is important to us. We wouldn’t want to have the original meaning of the name being “bratty child who wipes snot on others”, for example. We kind of thinking naming a child is pronouncing a blessing on them and so we want their name to represent something significant. That’s why we would like to keep her Ethiopian name as a middle name.

Third, our oldest has an unusual name. I love it. Had I known that the names Emma and Jack would be EVERYWHERE when I named them, I may have chosen ones slightly more unique. We don’t like strange spellings or names that make you go “huh?”, but I have thought it might be nice if our daughter had a name that every 5th child in her class wasn’t named. As far as the kind of names we like, usually more feminine is better than androgynous. Our other names are kind of cute and preppyish. I prefer short vowels to long ones and nicknames that end in the “y” or “ie” sound for some reason.

Finally, we are white people who will be raising an Ethiopian daughter. We will be a blended family and want to embrace her culture and help her find her place as a part of our family. We still have no idea what that will all look like, but my point is that we don’t want her to have a name that seems decidedly “white” as I think Lily might be. We are proud of her heritage and skin color and don’t want to make her something she is not.

My husband is usually easy going, but Luci is the only name he likes. For some reason, though I like the name more than any others we’ve considered, it doesn’t seem perfect to me. I also like Eden, Eliza (Liza), Aubrie or Cambrie(Brie…who wouldn’t want to be named after cheese?), Tess, Iris, Ivey, Lila, Desi(meaning “desired one”) and Quincy (Quin). But none of those fly with him.

Can you help? I know you can’t help convince my husband to be a little less high-maintenance, but can you offer us any others or offer input on the current choices? Thanks!

Missy,

First off--congratulations on your new daughter!! This must be such a very exciting time in your life. I think adoption is a such a wonderful thing and I think it's great that you are putting so much time and thought into your new child's name.

Secondly, let's talk names. I stuck with shorter names since that made more sense than to look for long names with short nicknames i.e. Samantha 'Sami'. I did put the definition next to them so you wouldn't have to thumb through 30,001 names to look it up. :)

Alia (ascender)
Aria (lion of God)
Cora (maiden)
Dara (compassionate)
Elle (light)
Evie (life)
Gwen (white wave; new moon)
Iola (dawn)
Jane (God is gracious)
June (born in the sixth month)
Kira (light)
Leah (weary) --maybe not the best meaning, but pretty
Lena (illustrious)
Macy (sea of bitterness/it comes from Macia, which comes from Mary)
Nora (light)
Rory (famous brillance)
Rosa (rose)
Ruby (precious stone)
Vera (true)
Wren (songbird)
Zara (dawn)

Any winners? I really like them all, but with Emma, Jack and Tate I think of my names, Alia, Cora and Lena are my favorites. They are short but they sound like full names. Lucia is one of my favorite names right now--Luci for short.

For those of you interested in following Missy's blog and her path to becoming a mother of four, here is the link!

Boy names for Amy

We found out we are having our 2nd boy, figures since I had several good girls names I loved! Anyway, my husband and I are having some trouble agreeing on names, and I just haven't found much that I really like. We don't like really trendy or ordinary names, but we dont' want anything wacky either! Our 17mth old son's name is Bryson middle name Charles-after daddy and gpa, (i wanted Bryce he wanted Mason, so we compromised) anyway, we want something that will sound good with it, but nothing that would be corny he suggested Tyson, umm..Tyson and Bryson, love the name but, no thanks, sounds like rhyming twins names, which i am TOTALLY against being an identical twin myself.

A few of my favorite names currently are Blayne and Brenden, my husband likes Carson and hasn't mentioned much else worth mentioning, he usually just shoots down names I come up with, lol. The middle name will be Edward (family name) if it helps, also our last name sounds like 'moss-man', I know that is a factor when thinking of names. So, thanks so much for any help you can give me, we need it! :)

Hi Amy,

Bryson is currently 178 on the SS list so other names that are similar in popularity are Garrett, Miles, Hudson and Leo. Brendan is right there too.

I do NOT recommend Tyson, lol. Tell your husband that I said no way. You could do something like Tyler but otherwise it's just too rhymey.

I like Blayne a lot and Blayne Edward has a nice ring. What about Blaze? Blake?

Brendan is one of my brother's names so I am partial. I also like Brennan.

Carson is definitely climbing up the charts at record speed, in the '90s it was 282 and it's currently at 89. I like the 'son' names better than the 'aden' names so that's good news to me. ;)

Other 'son' names I like are Dawson, Samson (Sam) and Wilson. Do you call Bryson Bryse?

Hopefully that gave you more ideas! You were headed in the right direction, we just need to get your husband to agree. :)

Shannon's baby girl's names

Shannon is in the home stretch and is due in just a few weeks. She and her husband like names like Sophia, Caroline, Emma, Camille, Claire, Isabella and Olivia. Jane may be a middle name option--and Stella is also a contender for the first name as it is a beloved family's members name. Because they have a difficult last name, they want something that is easy to spell and pronounce.

I picked names that are very feminine and just a titch more uncommon but are inspired by the names you like.

Sophia---Lucia
Caroline--Georgia
Emma--Emery (nickname Emmie)
Isabella--Isla (pronounced eye-la)
Olivia--Violet
Claire--Clara
Camille--Elise

What about Estella/Estelle/Stellan for a middle name in honor of your grandmother?
Of your name choices, I like Sophia Jane, Stella Claire and Olivia Jane a lot.

Of my options, my favorites are Lucia Jane, Violet Jane and Stella Elise.

Is anything jumping out at you? Good luck! Please keep me updated. <3

sorry for the delay, folks

Hi guys! Sorry my posting has been pretty sparce--I started a new job about a month ago so right now I am learning how to balance working 40 hours a week (which in the car industry, they refer to as part time--nice, eh?), erratic babysitters, housework, etc. I also was pretty burned out by the whole April Rose nonsense. If you don't know what I'm talking about google April Rose, Beccah, Trisomy and Illinois and you can read the sorid details. This was my first 'wtf' in the blog world. I never realized that so many people on blogspot were connected and worked together. I also never realized that you could make up to $50k a month. I know this is very, very uncommon but I've pretty much decided to stick to babynames. I am over kid pimping (see: Jon and Kate plus 8).

Back to your regularly scheduled (happy) blogging!

Kim's List, take two

Ugh- We are still trying to figure out names...Husband really doesn't like Cal and I really don't like his number one pick Liam. Any suggestions? Tyler Lee (middle name of my brother and father) T___ sounds awfully cute to me but it doesn't go with our unintentional "c" or "k" name choices for the sibset. But your recent blog about matching sibling names together has allowed me to be a bit more open. It had some good points!

What do you think of Carter Elias/or/Carter Elliott??? Thanks again for your help! I check every day now for updates on your blog! Like Cameron and Camden but not sure of middle names. I like your suggestions but we haven't agreed on any of them. I really like Keifer, Kenley (old boyfriend named ken so that is out ) hubby doesn't like them either...

Where does Carter rank? I tried to figure it out on the website but didn't.
(P.S. Thanks again for any help... we are running out of time and the drs say i should go any day- already dialated to 3!!!
I had the girl name all picked out...Keira Ann... but this is def a boy to be here soon.)


Hi Kim! A brief summary for the readers: Kim's other children are Colin, Claire and Keegan. She wrote in a few months ago looking for a K or C name.

Alright, let's get to work. Carter is 65 on the SSA list. I'm not a superfan of Liam either. Tyler is definitely a little more trendy while Colin/Claire/Keegan are of an Irish/Celtic background. But if you love it, do it. I like Carter Elias.

Since you are open to breaking away from the C/K, let's throw some new names out there.

Ambrose
Beckett
Chandler
Connor
Duncan
Dylan
Finn
Henry
James/Jameson
Lewis
Malcolm
Oliver
Pierce
Quentin
Rory
Sean

Names for our friend Jackie!

Hi girls!!

I've talked to Jessica about names and hoping you can compile a list for me??? Pretty puhlease??!!!

Here's some information... if you have time, let me know what you girls can come up with!!

Likes & Dislikes:
-I like traditional names, but not overly traditional and about every traditional boy name out there has been used in our family.
-I don’t mind popular names, but not really popular names since I already have an Aidan.
-I also don’t like really weird, unusual names.
-I don’t like weird spellings of any kind.
-I don’t like weird celebrity names like Apple & Moses.
-I like really girly names.
-Not really a fan of Mc girl names.
-Boy names for girls don’t bother me, but it’s really not what I’m digging right now.
-Also, I’d like a name that doesn’t necessarily stand out and goes okay with Aidan & Cameron….doesn’t have to be Irish though.

Thanks girls! And I love ya!
Jackie.

Jackie!!
So Ive been working on this on and off for awhile now. And really I was hoping Id have more then I do at this point. But I really just want to get my suggestions out and over to ya so I can get more of a idea if Im on the right path. :)

So for girls names I have:
Camilla (been suggesting this one a lot lately. I LOVE it and its #634 on the SSI website what a wonderful yet totally accessible name!)
Maura
Julianne
Courtney
Rory
Cora
Charlotte

And Im almost tempted to say Kirsten hehehe. (as in Kirsten Dunst because our friend Jackie looks a lot like this gorgeous actress)


Boys:
Beckett
Cullen
Everett
Ewan

Hopefully T will add to this list soon! your due date is quickly approaching! Eeeee! so exciting! I cant wait to find out what your having!

xoxo-JJ

I know we have readers

I know people read this blog, I have a handy little tracker on the side that shows me where people are reading it come from. If you were to look at our comments you wouldn't think that people are submitting requests or reading. But they are out there! Not surprisingly, many readers hail from Michigan (our home state!), some dally in from Florida and Alabama, mostly friends I've made as we moved around the country but there are a lot of baby namers in Minnesota, Ohio and even the UK that read this blog. Come out come out where ever you are. ;) There is another name blogger out there, her name may rhyme with Whistle, and DANG does she ever get a lot of comments. I don't even think her name suggestions are that great. But then again I'm totally a snob and a little bitchy depending on the day so it might just be me. I still like that Laura Wattenburg though.

Even if you don't like the suggestions, or think that Madison is the best name EVER, we still want to hear from you. We need validation from the internets. Jessica is a half step from emailing ya'll personally and asking what you thought about the names. It's just that oftentimes we spend a decent amount of time brainstorming (that list of East Indian inspired names took hours, literally) and we want some love. We're not too proud to beg.

At least tell me what your kids' names are. We might steal them for our cool name vault.

Peace!