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30 July 2008
Boobies!→[More:]Just found out it's a girl! Yay! Now i need help deciding on a name. Suggestions please.
Yay! Girls are awesome. But I'm not going to suggest anything because it might make me want to change the name that we've picked out... Maybe in 5 or 6 weeks?
(my friend had twin girls two days ago: Marnie and Zoe)
My sister in law just had a girl named Vivian. Then again, so did Angelina Jolie (like, four days afterwards. Brangelina copies off my family!), so you might want to avoid that one.
I have always liked the names Samantha and Alexandria, because I think its cute when girls' names can be shortened to boys names. Yay gender-bending!
Stay away from the mainstream. My girl likes all the plain jane names (oddly, I kinda like Jane, and that's one she doesn't). I like my names unique, but not wretchedly unpronounceable.
I would pull on your background and give her a middle name taken from your heritage in Ghana. A first name would get butchered by English-speakers. I know you Ghanaians are crazy-proud (and with good cause!), so that shouldn't be too hard.
I won't suggest anything in particular, but try to pick a name that evokes the qualities you would like most in your child. If I ever have a girl, Thalia (or Nathalia) is on the short list. Thalia was the ancient Greek muse of comedy, and I want my child to bring laughter with her wherever she goes (if necessary, I will send her to study under jrossi, no matter the cost). I'm a big believer in the power of names. Not because it's got any mystical significance; a child named Lola is not destined to be a harlot, for example. But context and associations have subtle effects that add up over time.
I like Oprah's babynamer.com site, because it gives you not only the derivation of a name but also things like alternate spellings (are people going to be continually asking her if it's "Lori" or "Laurie"), teasing names, and so on. You can learn a lot. For example, my name (Nathaniel) means roughly the same thing as "Theodore" ("gift of god" or "god's gift(s)", depending on your interpretation). I find that to be neat, and it's useful if you can't see naming your kid "Theo" but like "Nat" (or vice-versa). I consult that site pretty often when naming characters in my works of fiction, but sometimes it's not necessary. One of my characters is named "Miguel" (Michael), which means "one who is like god". That's funny, because in the story, he has god-like powers (but doesn't know it; at least not at the outset). So yeah, the power of names. Wow!
I've always liked Sarah and Natalie. I'd exercise caution tho with trendy names like Zoe or Madison, as just in Denver alone I know of about a hundred "Zoes" within the ages of 0-3 right now, and Madison was likewise everywhere a few years back.
Congratulations! Little girls are so great. I have a 2 year old boy and among his pals right now, there are at least 3 Hannahs, 2 Lilys and 1 Lillie, 2 Claires, 2 Addisons, 2 Erins, 3 Stellas, 1 Ella, 2 Annas and 2 Paiges. And in his Gymboree class, there were 2 Emersons. Both girls. We also know an Emma and an Emily. And a couple of Camerons, one of whom is spelled Kamron.
One of his friends is Aliah (ah-LEE-ah) which is a really pretty name. And he just went to Vivian's birthday party.
Girls' clothes are sooooo cute. Every time I shop for Jack, I can't help wandering over to the girls' section and playing with all the little dresses and ruffly things.
Congratulations! I never had the opportunity to name girls but I like the following:
Alexa, Carly, Emma, Emily, Kiona (Native American), Kayla (I myself always wanted a Kayla Rae), Veronica ('cause Ronni is such a cute nickname), Zoe. I like names that are different, but not so different that everyone is naming their kids the same name. (like Caitlyn, Brittany, and Ashley a few years ago). I also like traditional boys names for girl - Sydney, Shannon, I even went to school with a girl named Stuart, which I thought was really cool. Oh, and Kelsey, Kendall, and Meryl. Sorry the list is so long, but I love perusing baby name books.
Is Stella really a popular name now? Damn. It was my grandmother's name and it's always been pegged for my first girl, but I hoped it would be passed over in the 'grandma names are cool' thing happening at the moment. Bummer.
Francine doesn't seem to be very popular. Then again, it's not a very nice name.
Name your daughter after a character in a book who you would like her to emulate. Then give her the book once she can read.
I do actually know someone who's older sister is named Bambi. Please don't do that. Or Tiffany, for that matter. I have a hard time taking grown women seriously when they have "fluff" names.
I can't offer any specific suggestions without knowing full names. I think it's important to say the names/name combinations out loud.
I had very strong opinions about the names that we selected from and I discovered that the names on my short list all sounded right to me in terms full name readings and was as short name readings.
It sometimes drives me nuts when daycare calls my son Stewie because to me he is Stuart and that sounds very different.
We chose names that turned out to be fairly uncommon or somewhat out of vogue, but not really by design.
We used several baby name books and when something stood out, we wrote it on a sticky note and put in on the back of the bedroom door so we could look over them all. Then we sorted and sorted and got the list down to a scant few.
With our daughter, we went in knowing her name.
With our son, we went in with two names and we made the choice on hair color. Maxwell Cornelius really belongs on a child with dark hair. Stuart Donovan belongs on a child with red hair.
Yeah, you know, I was all excited about the congrats part, ramix (congrats!), but I really think the waiting to meet the child before naming it has some strength behind it. Is it true that US-ian hospitals have become sort of draconian about what is the name of this child? Like the Dad, say, has to know to fill out the form? Another example of reduced care for birthing mothers? Because, I'd totally want to meet a kid before I named it.
Maybe something Celtic? Aoife (ee-fa or also ee-fe. The stress on the last vowel is less pronounced in the second example.) A very old Irish name meaning 'beautiful or radiant'. May also come from Eve.
Aoibheann (eve-een) Aoibhinn means 'lovely', the name is also sometime a diminutive of Eve - 'little Eve'.
Saoirse (seersha) [my brother named one of his daughters this] Means 'freedom'. The name became popular after Ireland became an independent state in the early part of the 10th century.
Múireann (mwir-in) Means 'sea white' or 'long-haired' and was the name of a mythological mermaid who was transformed into a woman.
Iseult (ee-solt) In Arthurian legend Iseult was an Irish princess who married the king of Cornwall and had a love affair with his knight Tristan. May also derive from the Celtic Goddess Adsulata.
See here and here for more. I like them because they're not pronounced the way they look, of course, and they roll off the tongue pleasantly.
Doesn't anyone else have the tradition of family names? In my faily all girls are Lovisa, and all boys are Otto. Then you add their "own" name in front or back of that so there's Anna Lovisa, Klara Lovisa, Aina Lovisa, Sara Lovisa and so on - Otto Helmer, Otto Gustav, Otto Erik etc. Had perle been a boy she would have been [something] Tor Otto. Now She's Perle Petra Lovisa.
(I'm not a Lovisa, I drag around my mothers sisters name in honor of her instead - she died very young.)
I like Helen, Gertrude/Trudy, Grace, Beverley, Rebecca, Patricia, Mathilde, Rose, and Ann/Anne/Anna. I also like Una/Oona. Oh, and Agnes, especially when pronounced the Dutch way: Akh-nesh.
Also, Astarte is a tremendous and truly classic name, as is Anat, which I find beautiful as well.
Mudpuppie Quonsar. There really is no other choice.
(My daughter's middle name, Louise, is after a dog I had 35 or so years ago. I just like that name. Daughter is both proud and aghast that I would have chosen the name for that reason.)
Congratulations! I know I'm late to the baby naming pool but I tell you, if I was damn fool enough to have another kid and that kid was a girl, her name would be Sophie Lucinda. Or Lucinda Sophie. Or something else that I haven't thought of yet. Check the baby name voyager - it's fun and hypnotizing to watch.
Oh and yeah, thanks for the suggestion, brujita, but Felicity is a pain in the ass name to be stuck with and it's driven me crazy all my life. I don't HATE it or anything but when I went to name my kids I came up with names (Audrey, Miles) that were unusual enough so they would probably be the only kid in their class with that name but not so unusual that it would be the very first time anyone in the class, including the teacher, had ever heard it. Which happened to me a lot and then everyone had to comment on it while I wanted to sink through the floor.
Congratulations, ramix! I like Lila. I should have named my daughter Lila instead of a name that is currently threatening to break the top 10. Oh that just makes me so angry.
And I really like Felicity. Oooh...and Iris. And Dot (short for Dorothy).
Okay, in the past two years I have gotten to know three Felicity (now four with you!). They were all under the age of five though, must be catching on!
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