Some help with baby girl's name

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-10-2006
Some help with baby girl's name
14
Wed, 10-25-2006 - 6:54pm

I have been lurking here for the past couple weeks and I really need some help. I am due December 18th and I am starting to freak out about our names. We will be having a baby girl and we would like her mn to be Hope (it's also my mn). The biggest problem we are having with our names is that they are VERY VERY popular. Everyone says the same thing "Pretty, but you know that's REALLY REALLY popular right now right?" Then they usually follow it up with "But, if you really like it you should use it." I feel so torn b/c we like the names but I don't want my daughter be 1 of the 5 girls in her class with that name.

As a side note, I have been trying to do a little research of popular names in my area (Long Island, NY) and the woman I spoke with that works at Babies R' Us said the ones she hears the most are Sophia, Ava, Gabrielle & Isabel.

So with all that said...here are the names that are at the top of our list:

Ava
Abigail
Mackenzie

Thank you all SO much!
Daniele

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iVillage Member
Registered: 08-01-2003
Thu, 10-26-2006 - 12:32pm

Ava and Abigail and very very popular

Mackenzie is not - it had a little rush in the mid-90s, nothing to chart-topper status

I like it - Mackenzie Hope - that would be my pick

good luck

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-29-2005
Thu, 10-26-2006 - 12:51pm

I know how you feel. I had the same thoughts when we were naming our youngest dd a few months back. We were pretty much down to Abigail or Aveline, and dh was/is really in love with Abigail, but I was concerned about it's popularity (sorry if you've read any of this before LOL).

During our discussions, he brought up a great point. He basically said there's a big difference between a classic name that happens to be enjoying a surge in popularity and a trendy name that shoots up -- and often back down just as quickly -- and will seem dated in a few years.

From your own list, Abigail and Ava, while popular, are still classic. Unless you're planning on spelling them Abbygayle or Ayvah, which I know you're not , nothing can change that. Mackenzie, on the other hand, may not look as popular on paper, but it is part of a huge trend of masculine and/or "Mc-" names for girls, so there are a bunch of other similar names out there, and it WILL seem trendy and dated, KWIM? Even Kenzie on it's own would get tossed in with all the K names currently popular, so it's popularity/trendiness is much harder to ignore.

FWIW, we came up with a bit of a compromise for our dd. We did name her Abigail, but use the nn Aila (from the end of the name) rather than Abby, so she will have a choice once she's in school. If there are three Abigails and two Abbys in her class, she's still safe, because she can simply go by Aila. ;) A similar solution may work for you, either by using an alternative nn for Abigail or possibly a less common full name for Ava (Aveline, for one, or Avalon, Avonlea, etc.). Or you could even get both names -- sort of -- by going with the Hebrew form Avigail. You could even use Ava as a nn if you wanted.

Just some ideas. :)

HTH

~Kelli


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iVillage Member
Registered: 01-07-2004
Thu, 10-26-2006 - 2:42pm
hello!! well, yes ava is popular-i like it myself, but dont think i would use it. that being said i also know 3 mackenzies and no abigails...you dont have to go overboard with being unique though-my oldest dd is named violet (shes 6) and my youngest is isabelle(shes 2). even though isabelle is popular on the grand scale, i know of only 1 other one-and shes actually isabella and is 1 year younger than my dd...i have not come across any in my dds school yet or from anyone else i work with(and ive worked with many many people in the last 8 years at my job). hope is a gorgeous middle name-i chose grace to go with isabelle because i wanted an uplifting/Godly middle name-it was between faith and grace. heres a few suggestions that i like with hope:
angelique
elaina/alaina
alexandra
ashlynn
aubrey
evalynn
madeline
cassidy
chartlotte
or
jenna/gemma.
you really have to look at your area too-and see what names are the popular ones-around here-the most popular one ive come across is kaitlynn(and all the various spellings). mackenzie and madison are a close second. good luck to you!!
joanne
maman2goons@aol.com
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-21-2006
Thu, 10-26-2006 - 4:23pm

Its crazy how the trends go, especially since it seems most people would really prefer to have a "special" name for their little one. Still names get wildly popular and suddenly you have 6 little Hannahs in your circle. (I use that example because I have a 12yr old sister named Hannah and she must have at least 10 other Hannah's in her aquaintance!) FWIW, MacKenzie, McKenna, Mc ETC, have been ragingly popular nation wide for several years now and do seem tired IMHO.

If you like a MAC/Mc name and to keep from having a daugther be "the son of" (that's what Mac means in the Scottish naming system. MacKenzie means "son of the wise ruler"), have you considered Michaela? Phonetically its pretty much said Mc-Kayla, but to me it looks much more classic on the page and has been around a long time. Mica or Ella both work as nns. Michaela is simply the feminine of Michael (like Daniele is the feminine for Daniel) and means "Who is Like the Lord?"

I really like the pp idea also of using the Hebrew Avigail. That's a great combination of your two names.

Avigail Hope or
Michaela Hope

I like them both... WDYT?

http://picasaweb.google.com/expectantlegacy/FamilyShots#slideshow

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