The Baby Name Wizard

My DH would probably love this. I'll have to suggest it. Of course, we already have a boys name picked out, so it wouldn't be quite the same. I guess in a way I've already started to do something similar. I'm keeping list of names now and once we get pregnant we're going to use that for our basis and throw out names one by one off that list. I guess that way we don'thave to worry about my hormones naming my daughter Urcel Eunice (2 family names). What a fun idea, Laura!

I don't get it...

Abi, I think it's like the Wimbledon system where players are paired off and the winner of each match gets to meet the winner of another match in the next round until you reach the final with just one pair left... or something like that!

Thanks for the cross-cultural translation, Valerie! Wimbledon is a good example...it's a seeded single elimination tournament, pitting names against one another one pair at a time.

Ooooh....or you could do it like a reality show and vote a name off every week.

Only problem with this is..who gets to chose the 64 names? And who decides the seeding?

So, so fun! I'm still drawn to the Baby Name Party idea, too.

I love it. I'm pregnant with my fourth baby and my husband certainly falls into the category of "male partners who just won't talk about names". I think he might really go for this.

You could either take a poll of family and friends and get ideas for the 64 names or each come up with half (I know I wouldn't have any trouble finding 16 names if I didn't have to think about my dh's opinion). For the seeding you could either toss them all into 2 hats (one for boys and one for girls) to match them up or something else like that. Or again, ask for opinions from friends and family.

*cackle* I love it! When trying to gauge my brother and his friend's opinions on names, the only way I could do it was as an either-or game. Noah or Nolan? Etc. It has to be a game or they just don't get it :P

What is it about men and names? Either their choice is set in concrete not to be debated (never mind their before birth contribution to the actual child was about two seconds exertion), or they do the 'whatever you like, dear' thing, until you come up with the perfect name and they 'don't quite like it'...
I'm with Michi - they don't get it!

(Very familiar with March Madness).

But if the names are seeded, why wouldn't you just pick the #1 names? I think the brackets might need to be randomly selected.

OR

There needs an actual contest (Coin flip? Predicting the next commercial? Feats of strength?) to decide what name wins each match up.

My ex-husband would have LOVED this idea! (And my daughter would probably have ended up named "Ryn Lyle". I guess it is that element of danger that makes the game so thrilling?)

We love it! My husband and I are now trying to figure out a way to use this to announce our first pregnancy over the holidays. We live far away from everyone so it would be a fun way to involve our friends and family.
We would send out, by mail or by internet, the bracket sheets, have people fill them out and send them back. Then each week we would give them all the winners from that week and announce who is out of the running. Do you have any better ideas? What should the winner(s) receive?
It's been a fun diversion from my extreme nausea. We have about 20 boys names and 25 girls names that we both would love, just a few more to find.

I think we should do a hypothetical one on here, and everyone submit their favourite boy and girl name. Only then how would we decide the winner in each 'match'... on second thoughts, that would probably be too complex.

This has been quite a week. Four different friends had babies this week! On Tuesday Margaret Christine was born. Friday brought Abby Kathryn. And yesterday brought Declan Kristopher and Margaret MacKenzie (strangely born across the hall from one another--the mothers are good friends and had due dates three weeks apart).

I am amazed that two of the girls are named Margaret. The first one joins big brother John Charles and big sisters Mary Ann and Mary Leigh, so the only surprise with Margaret is that she isn't a Mary Margaret! But the second Margaret joins big sister Gwenyth, so I was very surprised by the name.

This has nothing to do with the Name Madness game. Since I live in the Tar Heel State and in the town of the Duke Blue Devils, I'm very familiar with March Madness. I think I MUCH prefer the idea of Name Madness! That's something I could get really worked up over. Great idea, Abi, although I have no idea how it would work on Laura's blog. Any thoughts, fellow name freaks?

What a fun idea! And remember, it would also work with smaller multiples (32, 16, 8 or 4), if your choices were a bit more narrow.

Elizabeth - I'm thrilled to hear about the 2 little Margarets in your circle! It's one of my favorite names (also it's my sister's name), has strength with femininity, and some great nicknames!

I'm actually horrified to hear of two Margarets. It's my favorite name. Is it getting trendy? Have the rest of you noticed an increase in Margarets?

Maybe we could rank the names according to popularity. Instead of games, the names could compete by seeing which gets used first...hmm, we'd need some way to get a record of births from a particular county or something like that....that way unusual names have a chance at an upset even though the more popular names would have the odds in their favor. Round 2 would only begin after there's been a winner in each of the Round 1 pairings. I'm really liking this idea! It would a great way of seeing who really has a pulse on trends, etc. :)

Shh. Don't tell anyone I told you this.

Saturday I had to stop and eat without my kids. TO amuse myself while the sandwichwas being made, I set up a "girl" bracket of 32 name, randomly placed in slots.

Then, when I left the shop, I checked license plates of parked cars. If the first number on a plate was odd, I struck out the lower name of a pair. If it was even, I struck out the upper name.

"Sylvie" (the name of my imaginary next daughter) beat out "Gloria" in the championship match-up. (And the game was completely on the up and up. No cheating whatsoever!)

This obviously is an outstanding way to pick baby names out!

This is not about the game, but I wanted your opinions.

We are pregnant with our fourth.
We have a girl name but if the baby is a boy we are still undecided. We have always liked Isaac but I am concerned that it is number 50. The other boy name is not even in the top 1000 but it is on a popular TV show and I am afraid that it will gain popularity in the next few years.

Do you think the name Ephraim/Ephrem will get popular?

I hope Margaret is not getting too trendy either - that is our girl name! We are due in the spring and don't know the baby's sex yet (boy name is George, but maybe subject to change). I have not heard of any little Margarets around here so maybe the two Margarets mentioned earlier are a fluke?

I know a set of twins named Eli and Ephraim. They are 20 years old and I have yet to meet a young Ephraim, athough I have heard of a few little Elis here and there.

As much as I love the show your talking about, I highley doubt Ephraim will be taking off any time soon. It's a good strong name, I think it's biblical, but I don't think alot of people will be using it. Which also reminds me, the other male lead, the teenage boy who is Ephram's gf's brother, he has an odd name, does any one remember what it is?

Christina - I believe you're talking about Bright Abbot. I always thought it odd for that character, especially since early in the series (and even a somewhat later on) he was a little "dim".
Rebekah - I like the Ephraim, and I don't think it's going to take off any time soon. The show was cancelled, so little chance of it growing much in popularity.

Cheryl - How fun! Now I'm going to have to do that over my lunch break... :-)

I just played it with seeding by US popularity, flipping coins and 32 boy names and my hypothetical boy is called Ellis.

I played again with the same names to get a hypothetical middle name, so now fictional boy is Ellis John.

i like the name ephraim -- i'm always looking for new biblical names, especially for boys.

Ephraim -- cool name, only have known one in my life (he is in his 40's). (And I am involved in ministry, so know a ton of biblically named kids). Didn't know there was a TV show with one...

If it DOES become popular it will undoubtably take a few years, so you can be part of the cutting edge.

Why is a popular or trendy name considered such a bane to the commentators on this site? I think name trends are very interesting (isn't that the purpose of this blog?), and having a name that is popular at the time you are born is just one additional part of your identity. If someone is intent on giving their child a rare or unusual name, fine, but I don't understand the hatred of all popular names here!

okay, given some thought to the whole baby name madness concept. I see two ways to make it work:

1. Have friends/family give the parents 32 boys names and 32 girls name they like. The names are then ranked in popularity from the friends and family lists on the chart. The parents then does the elimination rounds until they finally come to their number one pick from the names submitted.

2. The parents rank the names, fill in the chart. Then they do a poll of family/friends for each round, eliminating the least popular name in each round.

Could be fun shower game...

Emily - I don't think we all hate popular names - as a matter of fact you'll repeatedly see people saying "I love the name Isabelle/Sophia," etc. But we've all been in a classroom where there are several names that have to have an added initial at the end (for me it was Christy, Kelly, Andrea, for many others is was Jennifer or Susan, etc.). You name your child Emma today and you can almost guarantee that the day she enters kindergarten she'll have to share her name with one or two others and become Emma C. to their Emma J. and Emma S. There is something to be said about a name becoming too popular for a name-geek such as myself and many others on this site. We try and watch the trends not to follow them but to predict them, to start them or to avoid them. I would hate to think that I chose a name for my child based on the fact that 25,000 other people used it. If I'm in love with it, it won't stop me, but I'm not going to choose the name because of the trend.
Anybody disagree with these sentiments?

Bright, yes that's the name I was thinking of, it took me a few episodes to catch on to the name but after that I decided I liked it. It would be hard for a little boy to pull that off though.

I haven't noticed an increase in Margarets, it seems like a name that is always around a little bit. I know two small Margarets (one's 7, the other 5) - one goes by Maggie and the other Meg.

I don't think Ephrem is likely to become popular. To me it doesn't have the right "zeitgeist" - it's much too rare, not close to an existing trendy name, doesn't have any of the popular sounds, and (other than that show I've never heard of) no star appeal. But hey, never say never, right Laura?!

To Emily, I think people today feel like names show their "personal style" and it's harder to make a statement when too many others to share the name. Plus, there is the classroom factor. Although I've noticed people seem much more willing to accept other boys with the same name than girls.

Myself, I think the "avoid a popular name at all costs" thing sometimes goes to far. Parents end giving a really odd name and being pleased noone else is using it. Sure, because everyone is thinking it's ugly or way too weird! LOL.

Thank you for eveyone's opinion about the name Ephraim.

I agree with Christiana. I don't hate popular names. I just don't want to call my son at the playground and have five other heads turn.

It is especially significant to me since I named my little girl Ava four years ago after a childhood friend and had to see it become so popular. groan.....It has a lot of meaning for me and to see it every where is a bit disheartening.

I know that it might seem silly, but I think it is just human nature to want to be unique but not too weird. :)

I agree with Cathie on the going too far to avoid a popular name, but I'll have to disagree with some that you should think about your child in a classroom.

I am a Jennifer born in the 70s. Never really bothered me that there was another Jennifer in the class. I never felt "less" because I wasn't the only.

Then you have the chance factor. My son is Jacob (I can hear the shutters now LOL) and we knew it's popularity before we named him and even discussed whether we should go with plan B. In the end, it's the perfect name for him and holds both religious and family significance for us. So far, he's been the only Jacob in his classes (swim, soccer team, preschool, Sunday school), yet he's has multiples of less common names. In the other class at preschool there are three Annies.

For me, naming is more about finding something meaningful than something different. I much prefer names that are chosen for meaning than a "cool" sound or fitting into or not fitting into trends. But I do enjoy watching the trends!

I know we've had the discussion before, but before I was truly watching the trends at all I liked Isabella and Anna enough that they were in my top 5. Where did that come from? Why does everyone seem to move toward the same names at once? I picked up Isabelle from a short-lived show in 1996 called Relativity and also from Days of Our Lives (Isabella "Belle" Black). I also liked it in Fools Rush In, but even that was from several years back. Anna was my great-grandmothers name (I never knew her, I just like her name and my mom and grandma tell me she was a wonderful lady).

I think there is the possibility of taking it too far. If I was adamant about a name, being in the top 25 wouldn't bother me - or even the top 10. But for now, it's a determining factor.

What do you think of 'Trident' for a boy?

I had my heart set on 'Tristan' nn 'Tri' but I fear it's becoming too popular. With 'Trident' I could keep my favored nn and some degree of singularity. Yes, I know it's both a three-pronged spear (one held by the god of the sea no less! and I've always been a fan of mermaids), and a gum, but not a popular gum. Once people got to know him, they wouldn't think of the gum at all, I would hope. It sounds strong, and works musically with our last name Rxx-xxrts (stress pattern on the first syllable).

This is great! If there's a next time, I'll use this strategy. For the last one, I made up my own version anyway that virtually accomplished the same goal (head to head competition between names), but we were stuck on the last two (Mason vs. Wade) for weeks!

Trident is the name of a nuclear misslie in the UK. Just FYI!

christina,
I don't know any boys called Bright, but I do know one girl. She's probably 7 or 8.

Abi, I love the name Ellis. One of my best friend's son's name is Ellis. He is also 8.

We currently have an 18 month old daughter Annabelle Byrd 'Last Name' and are expecting Scarlett Byrd 'Last Name' in February. Anyone heard of a family with repeating middle names? Byrd is an old family name and my brother and I agreed that all of our respective children would have Byrd as their middle names. You heard about Annabelle and Scarlett, but there is also a Romeo Byrd and an Amelia Byrd. BTW, by sis-in-law is Italian and they live in Italy...

Hi all.
I think that names change as their context changes; it's impossible have a pure, unadulturated response to a name. Even a name one has never heard before will evoke a responses at least partly based on its "sound-alikes."

So a super-popular name, for me at least, loses some of it's power and ability to delight as it is heard again and again. I almost can't hear it the same way anymore.

Tangentially, I promised to report back on the names I encountered at a joint birthday party here in L.A. For whatever interest it hold, here are the names of which I took note:

One Emerson (boy, three), brother of
baby Delphine.

Baby Olivia, sister to 3 year old Isabella. Two Sophias.

Two Ellies (nickname?). Two Olivers, one of them brother to baby Sam.

One each of Cooper, Owen, Aaron, George, Henry, Truman, Maddox, Evie, Pearl, Maya, Ella (only one!) and Gabriel.

That's what I can remember, anyway.

I took a look at the Social Security Administraion listings (http://www.ssa.gov/cgi-bin/popularnames.cgi)

In 2005, 1.6 out of every 1000 baby boys was named Tristan. It would have to be a pretty large playground to (statistically) have 5 Tritans on it.

Of course there is no guarantee it won't get hugely popular down the road. But even if its popularity doubles, that is still only about 1 in every 333 boys having this name.

Trident means "sugarless gum" to me. I say, stick with Tristan.

PS, the only "double name" in my daughter's kindergarten class was not Emily, Michael, or Jacob, but Neil, which was ranked #405 the year she was born. You just never know which is going to be the hot name in a particular group!

Just to clarify: it doesn't mean that I now think, for example, that Sophie is an ugly name. I actually think it is quite lovely.

But I remember years ago, reading a book called "Sophie's Picnic" when I was a girl. Sophie had a soft, hushed and exotic sound to me. It was a name I like to say. I didn't get to say it often.

Now I hear it and say it quite often, and so it has lost it's specialness and mystique for me. This doesn't mean I don't like it anymore - just that my response to it is different.

I used to intend to name my daughter Sophie, but I don't think I will anymore. It just doesn't have the same effect on me. If it did, I would, and I'd say who cares if it's popular?

But because I know how usage changes words, and because I know names to be no exception, I am wary of choosing a name that will be all over the place in a few years. Because it breaks the spell for me.

It might not do that to other people . . . I'm only speaking for myself.

Oh, and I agree with Cheryl. Tristan will never be that pervasive . . . and neither will Trident, but for a different reason! It will remind people of gum.

My opinion is that there is no contest between these two names.

Tristan is a beautiful name.

Best of luck to you, whatever name you choose!

4 out of 5 people will think of gum when they hear the name Trident. :)

Bev: I think of gum too. How about Triton?

Bev: Along Tristan/Triton lines, how about Crighton?

Bev, Tristan is a great name. Instead of Trident or Triton, other "similar" suggestions would be Tristram, Trenton, Tiernan,or Christian. OR, if it's really Tri you love, you could just go with that.(similar alternatives being Ty, Tal or Tay) Good Luck!

Thanks to everyone for comments about Tristan/Trident. I had no idea that Trident was the same name as a missile in the UK!

Thank God for this site. It has steered me clear of bad choices twice. I'm too mortified to reiterate the first bad choice. (I'm not illiterate, I swear!)

I do like Triton; Tiernan is also a great suggestion. Thanks a thousand times!

--Bev

Dear Lord, not Crighton. Are you a Red Dwarf fan having a joke?

Sorry, I used to know someone clever and attractive called Crighton. Wasn't there a comment earlier in this thread about names and context. For me Crighton has (mostly) pleasant connotations. Can't say that I understand your Red Dwarf reference.

Abi,
Thinking about it and the Red Dwarf comment must be a cultural reference. You are in the UK, right? My husband and I are both American living in the NE. I'd love to know what that is all about though since the Crighton I used to know is an ex who's memory has somehow become more pleasant than it should be. Still, I thought Crighton might be an unusual option to Trident or Triton. Bev seems to be looking for a 'T' name though.

I've realized through lurking on this site that our baby name choices of Annabelle and Scarlett are more popular in England than they are in the U.S.

I'd still like to know if anyone has heard of any middle name trends within families or in general.