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Welcome to Plaid Eggnog!

May 7, 2011

What's in a Name?

We are approaching the 3rd trimester of Julie's pregnancy, so the portentous day is now approaching when we will need to provide a name for a newborn child.

This post is an invitation to offer suggestions. But there is a catch: you have to do more than just throw names at us. We would like your comments to be either:
  1. serious suggestions of names you like, but you must also say why (e.g. Ebenezer - comes from a cool Bible story), or
  2. funny / clever (e.g. 'Minnie Holmes' - a pun of mini-homes), or
  3. about yourself, why you have the name you do (e.g. Julie's dad Gary, named after actor Gary Cooper), or
  4. about your naming philosophy (e.g. do you choose names because of how they sound? ethnicity? popular? uncommon?connection to your family history?) or
  5. what you would have been named had you been born the opposite gender
Will there be any Salome Esmereldas (a serious suggestion made about Julie to her mom)? Can you pun on Page or Golding or Steve or Julie? Dazzle us, O Masters of the Moniker!
-SP

10 comments:

  1. You could always name a girl Paige. I'm kidding.

    We went with classic names, with a biblical middle name. Our son's name is a nod to an historical family member (Anglican bishop) as well. Meaning was important too.

    That said, we didn't share our choices until baby arrived. Kept people sharing their opinions to a minimum.

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  2. Hi guys, I am a little weird and I don't believe in naming children with the same name as living family members because of the confusion factor :)

    So that being said :) I love

    Girl : Mary Anne Sarah (Mary for Jesus' mother who said yes to God's will) and Anne (with an 'e' grant you) as a tribute to Julie and I's love of Anne of Green Gables. Sarah is because Boo thought of Abraham and Sarah when he heard of your pregnancy.

    Boy : Kyler Derryk (I recently heard Kyler and I have to admit I liked the originality of it) and Derryk is just cool.

    Russell Scott. Russell is because of a wonderful friend of mine who died at 22 ( I was 19). They say that who a person is can affect a name... Russell is now a very special name to me... so much so I couldn't use it for my own child but I love it for anyone else. Scott just because it flows well.

    Caroline

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  3. We chose Daniel Winston for a family/biblical name and then a historical figure we admire (Churchill). We also considered Elijah Theodore. We knew we were having a boy, so we didn't go through girl's names.

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  4. Take your father's advice and avoid - at all costs - using the middle name on a daily basis!! He finds that quite painful.
    However - it would be good to keep that
    "Charles"-thing going!

    My advice is to pick a name that is easy to say. No one wants people saying their name in funny ways all the time.

    We haven't promoted any particular names to you - but we DO have lots of girls' names left over - are you interested? (Not likely.)

    Just be sure to choose a name that you really like - because you'll be using it a hundred times a day!

    P.S. All of our kids were given a name from the Bible - some are spelled like the Bible name, and some are spelled the modern way.

    Have fun - it's not an easy job!! "Gram"

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  5. I like biblical names with a great meaning.

    When we got our first boy there was no doubt, it had to be Samuel. We had prayed about having a child for years and years, and when God answered he had to have a name that meant exactly that.

    Our second sons name is Jonathan, mainly because of its meaning also. Gods gift.

    IF we had had a third son his name would be Matthew mostly because I love the name and it also means gift of, the God, the reason our second son wasnt named that is that Matthew would probably not be pronounced the way it is supposed to her in DK.

    I really like the name Tabitha, but not so much the meaning of it.
    Lydia is also a favorite girls name, but not the meaning of it.

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  6. (This is Kim the newlywed...) I'm a name nut but probably won't get a chance to use my first choices for any child of my own; we have fertility troubles. At least I get to use names for characters in my stories, so I always need new ones.

    However...I'm pretty opinionated about names, especially girls' names. I tend to prefer the ones that were popular from the 50s through about the 80s -- all of which are deemed to be "uncool" and out of style now. To me, that just says your little one won't be confused with any future classmates. :)

    I like names based on sound, and to a lesser extent, spelling. Obviously you need not pay any attention to my choices, since they're no doubt rather eclectic...but these are the ones I would consider. My first choices for my own child are in first place, but the remaining contenders are in no special order.

    Boys: Christian, Adam, Scott, Jonathan, Nicholas. I do like Stephen/Steven (the former spelling would serve as a middle name for me, in tribute to my late father, and my brother has the other spelling)...but I don't believe in juniors, so I'd say skip that. :)

    Girls: Susina, Skye, Jenny, Cindy/Cyndy, Susan, Andrea, Janine, Janelle, Christina, Maureen, Julianna. I also like Julie very much, but you already have a Julie, and there's that "junior" thing again...

    BTW: "Susina" is very unusual, I know. I was in a Girl Scout troop with an older girl whose last name was Susina. I fell in love with it instantly and thought it would make a terrific variation on Susan.

    There, I've had my say, so I will shut up now. :)

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  7. Go with something that speaks to your heart. Timeless and elegant for girls, calm and masculine for boys was our theory. You also want people to know if your child is a boy or a girl when they see that name on paper. Trendy and names that are spelled in a unique way just cause yourself, your child and the child's school headaches. Good luck, it is a serious job, naming children.--KB.

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  8. For us, we looked at a lot of sources for meanings of names. Other than that, I have a few other guidelines that I guess I have in place.

    #1 - I am not a fan of aliteration (I like the name Peter, but not with Page
    #2 - Cannot go with names that are glaringly asking for fun to be made (I love the name Reid - but...um...no)
    #3 - Unfortunately, now that I work in a child-care center, it is easy to rule out names based on the behavior of some of the kids ;-)
    #4 - be cautious when looking at Gaelic names - may be asking for trouble - if people can misspell Page, they can mispronounce Eoghann deftly.
    Have fun with this! It is always a fun convo, even when Steph and I are not expecting.

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  9. I'd go with EVANGELINE TABITHA. Evangelium - the Gospel - is a message of Joy and a Miracle with a capitol M, as was the news of Julie's pregnancy. Tabitha is not only the most beautiful of names, but it's also in the Acts 9:36 in the NIV Bible.
    Unless you decide to go with the supercool name Asta - I wouldn't mind that at all ;-)
    ps. I'm concvinced it's a girl :-)

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  10. My husband and I grew up with very common names (Kim & Jimmy) and so wanted more unique names for our kids. At the time we had our first son we liked the names Tyler and Kyle but both were popular so we combined and went with KYLER. Our daughter MARIAH is named after my grandmother Ella's grandmother. With our last child we decided Jimmy would pick a girl name and I would pick a boy name and I just always liked the name GRIFFIN. All that being said, I think you should stick with tradition and if you have a girl give her RAE for a middle name. I also like the name HAZEL after your great grandmother. For a boy I am going to suggest RIVER for New River Beach where you grew up and is one of the most beautiful places in the world. Whatever you choose will be just right... CONGRATULATIONS Julie & Steve!

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