Just currious...

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-01-2005
Just currious...
10
Tue, 11-01-2005 - 7:48am

...what do you look for when you're "name hunting"?

DH is *very* conservative whereas I'm a little more "independent" so I look for classic names for fn possibilities and something a little more non-traditional for mn.

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-06-2005
Tue, 11-01-2005 - 8:25am
I'm lucky. My SO & I like the same types of names. We go for the older names that have been constantly used (but are used less often today than they were a hundred to hundred and fifty years ago) for first names and really offbeat or unususal names for middles.
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-20-2005
Tue, 11-01-2005 - 8:29am
I like to look at the meanings of names but dh is much more interested in how the names flow with our last name. He checks everything including what the initials will spell and nicknames that people could possibly come up with. I think he's the only one that would ever come up with those nicknames but he says if he did it someone else will. Our girls have first names that mean mostly what they say with mn names that have a deeper meaning. So far it's worked out okay.
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Registered: 06-01-2005
Tue, 11-01-2005 - 8:43am
We both like classic names (possibly Bible names- not that we are real religious) that are not too common today. For eg. we have Nathaniel for a boy (less common that Nathan, we will use nn Nate) and Leah for a girl. But for the mn we want something with special meaning. Mn Marie for a girl (Mn that has been passed down for generations) and Mn David for a boy (DH name). We also made sure all initals were nothing weird and that the names flowed well.


Avatar for haarlasr
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Registered: 03-27-2003
Tue, 11-01-2005 - 2:17pm

My DH tends to like common, simple names. Some of his favorites for girls when we were deciding were Beth, Julie, Katherine, and Erin. For a boy, he wanted a strong, common name -- John/Jack, Alexander, or Max.

I didn't want anything too trendy, too common, or too unusual. I also like a name that lends itself to at least one nn. My favorite girl names were Amelia/Mia, Eliza, Elena, Ava, Eleanor/Nora, and Margaret/Greta. For a boy, I liked his name choices, but I also liked Isaac, Noah, Jonah, Hayden, Aaron, and Erik.

We ended up taking three compromise names to the hospital with DD#1 -- Madeline, Carolyn/Cara, and Megan. Upon seeing her, we decided on Megan Joy -- the mn was a family name and already decided.

We really struggled with DD#2, and I made lists and lists of names to discuss with DH, only for him to veto most of them. Finally, we settled on Julianna May, nn Annie, and we were pretty confident in that decision before she was born. Both the fn and mn are actually family names.

Choosing a name was very difficult for us, and I wish you luck in finding something you both like.
Stephanie

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-11-2005
Tue, 11-01-2005 - 5:04pm
I like classic names that have a good nn. For example, as of now I like Catherine Grace (Cate) and Samuel James (Sam).
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Registered: 09-27-2005
Tue, 11-01-2005 - 6:00pm
I like somewhat uncommon first names, but nothing too trendy, and more traditional middle names. I try to use a fn that sounds good for a kid and an adult. DS is named Drew Alexander, so I'm going for something that matches that with my next child.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 09-13-2005
Tue, 11-01-2005 - 11:19pm

Birth announcements in the paper are a good source- so are the obituaries! (and a number of international newspapers have them online- www.theglobeandmail.com from canada, www.timesonline.co.uk from london uk, www.smh.com.au from sydney australia). A really good US source is www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames, which has the top 1000 baby names since 1880, which is really useful to gauge how many other kids' will share your baby's name.

If you like unique names and he prefers traditional, maybe you could compromise on a name that was used a lot 75 years ago, but sounds unique now? I teach preschool, and names like Helen, Jane, Louise, June, Alice, Margaret, Rose, Anne and Dorothy/Dorothea are pretty rare, while there are tons of Isabelle/Isabella/Isabels, Emmas/Emilys, Olivias, Maddys, Katies, Abbys, Julias...just to give you an example from the girls :)

-Sisi.

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Registered: 06-25-2004
Wed, 11-02-2005 - 6:31am

I wish I knew what we were looking for!!! :)

I want a name with a lot of history, but that still sounds fresh and spunky. I tend to like girly 3+ - syllable names for girls with cute, uncommon nn's. I'm still trying to pin down my taste in boys' names. Fortunately, dh is pretty agreeable or at least usually comes around to names I like, although his standard response to a new name is always, "it's okay...". If he gets excited about a name, it usually means I get excited about it too, since it doesn't happen real often :)

We also have some 'rules' we try to stick to: we want each kid to have a unique first initial (and different from our initials, too) and a family mn, plus we have a ln that doesn't work with -ia names for girls (like Cecilia, Amelia etc.) and can potentiallly spell lots of unfortunate things if we're not careful with initials.

I think all that leaves us a choice of about two names for each sex :)

ehk8apThanks, mom2jess_n_ky! <
iVillage Member
Registered: 11-01-2005
Wed, 11-02-2005 - 7:01am
I know what you mean about boy names! It's hard to fit them into a particular mold. DH's taste is so "defined" (read: nothing bizare) that it only leaves us with plainer names--Matthew/Thomas/John/Jack..... It seems like the elaborate names for boys (ex. Breckin) feel made up but the elaborate names for girls (ex. Cambree) are stunning. No offence to anyone!
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-20-2005
Wed, 11-02-2005 - 9:25am
I like the trendier names (I think my kids' names are on the trendier side)but not too overused. Middle names are my husbands and my middle names. But I've had 2 sons so here's what we did...Husband's middle name is Edward, mine is Renee. 1st son is Brenden Edward (first born son taking hubby's middle name), 2nd son is Spencer Reed (combining Re from my Renee and Ed from his Edward) so that if we don't have a girl and I can't pass down my middle name of Renee then Spencer at least has some of my name to pass down too. Now I'm due in March with #3, don't know gender, but if it's a third boy he will be Connor Jude (Julie is my first name so we're taking first letters of my first name this time.....Hubby thinks Julian sounds girly and won't use it for a middle name) but if it's a girl she'll be Cassidy Renee! We are both from divorced parents who didn't really pass down anything to us family wise so we want to show our kids a strong sense of family and give them middle names that hopefully they'll use for generations to come!