The Baby Name Wizard

Thanks everyone for the feedback re. Lachlan, particularly Cleveland Kent Evans. I did wonder if a prominent Scottish figure might have influenced the trend but it's nice to have someone who actually knows the facts!

Personally, I like a good Scottish name, the boys names in particularly seem so solid - a welcome change from all the Irish names that are currently so popular in the UK (think: Liam, Erin, Kiera, Niamh, Ryan et all)...

You raise an interesting phenomenon, Katharine. I've noticed that many of the former British colonies are top-heavy with Scottish names and influence. As one with dual Canadian-American citizenship, I noticed this while living in southern Ontario. You've probably encountered it too, Marjorie, as I believe you are Canadian...

I think Pierre Berton or some other historian explained that the Scots had influence beyond their mere numbers, partly through through their dominance of the banking and finance industries in Canada. Perhaps this held true in the other former colonies?

To this day, the names "Gordon" and "Margaret" and "Ian" are disproportionately represented in the older populations in Canada...

I do love "Hamish". "Sybella" not as much-- too, I don't know, self-consciously "frilly" for my taste. I love "Sybil" though and think it would be so cute on a tiny girl

I noticed Nolan came up a few posts back, and it reminded me to ask about the name! Nolan is on my long list right now, and I'd love to hear some reactions to it... Jasper is our only child so far, and I'm expecting another boy! Other contenders right now are Oliver, Oscar, Leander (nn. Leo), Eli, Elliot, Simon, Nigel, Willem, Milo, Everett.

The Hamish and James thing bothered me, too, even though both are perfectly nice names. I wonder if they even realize they gave their two children the same name. Maybe if I have three boys I'll name them Paul, Pavel, and Pablo... ;)

Jasper's mom--I don't love Nolan, but I'm not sure why--theoretically I like the sounds in it, and it's a solid name. I think maybe it seems sort of stuffy/uncool to me like Roland. I think I like Leander (nn Leo) the best with Jasper, and I still like Everett, Simon, and Oliver a lot to go with Jasper, too.

Jasper's Mom: I don't like Nolan much. It seems very androgynous to me... which is strange, because I usually like androgynous names. Maybe it's just cuz I've met a couple Nolans I didn't like? The name conjures a pasty, doughy face to me. But I guess this is just because of those I've known.

I'd maybe stay away from the -er names. I'm not liking Simon, Nigel, or Willem either. I think maybe I'm just in a picky mood. Love your E names and Milo though. Milo kind of strikes me as a nn... do you like Miles?

In regards to the 'Libby can't go by Elizabeth'/ 'Max can't go by Maximillian'- nicknames are shorter, to make the names less complicated..

However, my younger brother Max gets called Maximus by me. I feel like I can't affectionally shorten his name, and somewhere along the line I must have decided he too deserved affection! Coming from a friendship group where we're all nickname users 'Adi/Adrienne, Lashes/Laura, Ems/Emma, Fraz/Frazces' etc one syllable names don't work!

"come on, like no one knows the names of their grandparents' friends? Or old ladies from their neighborhood or church/synagogue/mosque/temple? Or their friends' grandparents? Or more distant relatives? Or old ladies who taught them piano/math/whatever?"

I have one remaining grandparent (Jean), and no, I don't know her friends. I don't live anywhere near her. I'm an atheist so I don't meet old people in a place of worship. I think it would be pretty odd if you knew your friends' grandparents (unless they lived in the same place, maybe). I do have a great Aunt (Ruth) and I remember the name of my great-grandmother who died when I was little (Daphne). I also know the woman across the road (Audrey), a woman in the village (Jean again) and a blind woman through volunteering for Guide Dogs (also Audrey). That's my total. I suppose that's partly why I can't stomach the name Audrey on children, even though it seems to be becoming more popular. Thank god Jean hasn't caught on.

OT: I've always been called Abi, ever since I was old enough to tell people not to call me Abigail, which I'm not a fan of. My Dad used to call me 'Grubbygail/Grubby' when I was little, but apart from that I've never really had a nickname. I don't see Abi as a nickname, per se; it's just my name.
University is full of ridiculous nicknames, I find. Here are some that just stuck for my Uni friends. Stoke (Laura - she's from Stoke), Spaff (Catherine - long story), Tiny Little Betty/Betty (Jen - there were two Jens, and she's short), Dollar (Tim), Pale Jerry (Tim), Shit Jerry (Tim - no he doesn't appreciate), Ben&Jerry (Ben), Joefish (Joe), Phallic (Alec, of course), Halifax (Tom -lived in Halifax Halls and there are lots of Toms).

By OT I actually meant on topic. I realise it usually means off topic. Oops.

I love the topic of nicknames and this blog "spoke to me". As a mother of 4 young boys, Ben, Charlie, Tee and Ned..I can say that their nicknames suit these cute boys perfectly. I can't imagine any of them going by their given names at this point. That said, there is a sense of relief knowing that all 4 boys will have that option to use their given names as adults if they choose. We have purposefully kept Benjamin, Charles, Thomas, and Edward alive for them (by using those names when it fits) so they will feel comfortable making a switch down the road. It's fun to have a classic formal name and be able to add a youthful touch to it. Makes me happy to say their names - their nicknames, especially.

One thing complicated by this is when you want to get your child's domain name, you end up having to get two: One for the formal and one for the nickname.

I used this site - I'm glad I did it (especially for my sons, whose surnames won't change - at least one hopes :-) ): http://www.getonthewebtoday.com/GetYourNameToday/BabyNames.aspx

Thanks to all who responded! I think we are just going to start calling her Apple-that's what middle names are for, right? And I can find plenty more reasons for MIL to get under my skin!

Anyone know how the nickname Sasha relates to it's formal name Alexander or Alexandra? I've always seen that name listed as a nickname for those names but I don't see why. My daughter is Alexandra and we do exclusively call her Sasha. But whenever we have to tell people that we call her Sasha, they look at us confused. The names don't seem like they belong together.

I really like the name Mary Sadira...as I'm sure you're all sick of hearing...as a double first, but I think it sounds too pretentious for some situations, and
I like some of the nns. Is Maisie (May-Z; I dislike May-C)too far removed?

Other Mary Sadira nns:
Mary
Sadira
Mira
Siri
Madira
...any others?

And <<<<3333 Mairead/Maisie!

Oh--could someone clear this up for me: Of Callum and Colm, which is Irish and which is Scottish? THANKS!!!!!

The nickname Sasha for Alexander/dra is Russian.

just going to add to the discussion--

Hubby's name is James, no one has ever called him that, from birth he was Skip (he and his dad have same first and middle name so they had to resort to something totally unrelated)

Best friends's hubby is William Joseph and he's been Joel all his life

Grandma in law is Catherine by birth but is known by all as Caddy

Lastly, I do think people test baby names on dogs...growing up i new lots of Madison/Maddie dogs and now that name is everywhere for little girls. In college everyone had a dog named Kaya and now, not surprisingly, it's popping up in toddlers we know (funny note on that...do your homework...Kaya is code for reefer...Bob Marley sings all about it).

I guess I'm in the minority, but I think Shep Seinfeld is a great name. Not crazy about Shephard, though. Shep Seinfeld sounds very New York to me. Like a baseball player for the Yankees. Perfect for one of Jerry's kids.

My parents named me Nikki. Now that I'm an adult, I really wish they had named me Nicole. I think Nikki is not a name that people take seriously.

Although we loved the name Josie, we named our daughter Josephine to give her the widest range of options when she gets older. Of course, now we call her JoJo 95% of the time.

Well, our little boy arrived 11/2/07 at 8:39 am. We settled on Clark Randall after seeing him. He has a full head of very dark brown hair! It seems nn-proof, but of course that may change!
We're both healthy and doing well, now back at home.

Congratulations, Kagey. I very much like "Clark". It sounds serious and intellectual, and there's the fun pop culture association with Superman! Not to mention Clark Gable. Great name, and glad you're all doing well...

As a mother of a Drew, Drew is a welsh name meaning "wise." we chose it after learning that is in fact is its own name and not just a nickname. Just wanted to put that out there.

congratulations kagey! clark randall is such a cute name!!

Cindy: For me, knowing some other nns for Alexander helped me understand where Sasha came from. I'm sure you know folks nowadays use Xander, but I have heard there is an older nn, Sander, and also Sandy. I guess that path helped me hear the "s" in the "x."

Hi, I love the nickname Josie, but am not a fan of Josephine. Does anyone have suggestions of alternatives? There is the French name, 'Josiane,' for instance. Any other ideas?
thanks!

Aw, RobynT, you just haven't met my little Nolan. He's a wirey, spunky little blue-eyed blonde who's just turned "fwee". Currently he is doing a cha-cha in his Transformer underoos. He'd change your mind, I'm certain. :)

I've been reading the earlier Lucy discusion with interest since this is the leading contender for baby #4 due in Feb, but I just can't shake the feeling that she needs something more formal for diplomas and resumes. We are leaning toward Lucienne with Lucie as a nick for the very reasons Laura mentions in the entry. Will the name purists forgive me for using a technically full name as a nickname?

I named my daughter Madelyn and call her Maddy. I am pregnant with a son we will name William and call Willie. I love the traditional names and also love the nicknames. And when I call my daughter by Madelyn she knows I mean business!!

I hate when people ask me the name of my children (Giovanni & Santina) and then proceed to ask me what I am going to call them. WHAT DO THEY THINK??? I call them by their names.....that is why I named them what we did. I sometimes get so sarcastic and look at them and say, as serious as I can, "We will call him Harold and her Bertha" just to make my point!

My parents gave my older sister and I real names, but famly members gave us nicknames, that is still used today. I am 30 and still answer to my nick name. My sister does to. When she was in preschool she told the teacher to call her by her nickname. I think if you give a child a nickname it has to be different from there name. That is a nickname. My name is Ramica. I go by Mica because people tend to pronounce the name wrong, I also go by my nickname but I have grown out of it so I am tell family to call me Ramica or Mica. My dad will always call me by my nickname because it is easier for him and that is ok with me.

I am in favor of full names for birth certificates and nicknames for everyday use, until the child is old enough to decide a preference. However, I do think you need to think twice about a full name for which there is a nickname you dont like. When I was pregnant, we were considering the Alexander if it was a boy, and I was planning to call him Xander for short. But, I really dont care for the names Alex or Al, and of course my BiL started to refer to the baby as Alex, which really sat the wrong way with me. (Of course if the child chooses to go by that name, that is just the way it is, but until that point, I get to decide. :) ) In the end we had a girl, so it was a moot point, but I have since reconsidered and Alexander is not on our list of possible names, since there are several variants that I just dont care for.

How about nicknames with letters? My son's name is Aiden James and some would like to call him AJ. I also liked Denny. Right now I just call him Aiden. He's only a month old. I will see what name "fits" him as he grows.

My third child is Ellie, short for Elinor. My youngest is "Max" short for Maxwell (named for an uncle: Maxell - no "w") The people down the street named their 4th child just plain "Ellie" and the 5th baby they just had, just "Max" Weird coincedence but I am hoping their Ellie is young enough to be in the grade after my Ellie. I really like "Ellie" and I didn't love "Elinor" but it was after family members. I wanted her to have a formal name with choices. I know the 2 Maxes will be in the same grade and guess he will either be Max G. or go by Maxwell. My husband had wanted just "Max" but I insisted on a longer formal name.

I feel strongly about giving formal names because I grew up as "Wendy" and always felt like I should bob my head from side to side as I say it in a sing-song voice (although it doesn't seem like that when I hear the name for someone else) I started being called by my full first name "Wendianne" when I got my first job. I liked it and never went back to Wendy. At my wedding, people could tell how long others had known me by what they call me. Only my longest friends call me by Wendy. My adult-made friends call me Wendianne and the closest of my adult friends often just say "Wen"
I know I only got the long version of my name as a result of my grandmother wanting her name given to her 1st grandchild. So my parents mashed together Wendy and Anne then gave me my grandmother's fn for a mn. I feel grateful for that meddling my grandmother did!

I have a beautiful daughter named Charlotte Sophia and was horrified to discover how popular her names are. Charlotte was my dad's aunt, and my husband's aunt Rose Sophia is a favorite relative. We wanted to nn her Lottie, but my husband just can't help calling her Lulu, and I always call her Charlotte. We don't want to end up with equally popular names for this baby - what do you think of Colette Sandrine or Colette Sabrina? Is it breaking the nickname rule not to name her Nicolette? Is Lottie and Letty as sisters just too cutsie? P.S. I love Sandrine (family name Sandra) but my husband hates it and says it sounds like sangria wine. Any thoughts?

Way back to the comments on nicknames having nothing to do with given names... A good friend is Thomas Peter Lastname. He went by Kai all through school and college. Now goes by Tom because it sounds more professional (but still doesn't like Thomas).

Another family I know has a GT (first and last initials) whose wife calls him Gary, LE (first and middle initials) because, well, it matched his older brother. Then when the girl came along they didn't want an initialed name and named her Kathryn (with the option of Katie for a nickname). Wouldn't you know it... now as a teen she goes by simply KT.

My daughter will be a year old in a few months and I named her Madyson Elizabeth at birth. Sometimes we call her Mady and other times Madyson. I think both are cute and i actually named her Madyson so i could call her Mady.

I was given a nickname as a first name and I have spent my entire life telling people, 'No, my name is Cathy not Catherine, Caitlyn, or Kathleen.'

It would be nice to have had the option of choosing the nickname...

I have a sister-in-law who has about 4 different nicknames for her 3 year old. She calls him 2 in particular which aren't even close to his real name, one she got from a movie that when I told her what it meant, she laught & kept calling him the name. I'm sorry but you encourage them being somewhat dumb if you're not calling them by their real name. They need to learn to respond to their name for when they grow up and not be used to being called little cutesy names for years to than have their name changed to their real name when the parent feels like they want to call them by it. It's just, she hardly ever calls him by his real name so I wonder whether he knows his real name. Oh well, to each his own...

As an "Amanda" and sister to a "Kathleen", I have heard my share of nn. We both hate the nn associated with our names, though. So we have both chosen to go by our full names with one exception; our family and my husband call me "Man" and and our family and her husband call her "Kat". But if anyone tries to call us by those names, we freak. I have 3 children Kelsey, Aidan, and Andrew. Kelsey occasionally gets shortened to "Kel" by family but the boys do not have their names shortened at all. When the kids were each born, I specifically said not to call them anything other then their names. And mostly everyone respects that. The kids still have the "princess" and "bud", along with some strange ones Aidan's nn to only his aunt is Goober. I have no idea why. Andrew is often called "Goober's brother" but he's only 3 months old and we haven't really picked nn for him yet. We base their nn on their personality more than anything else. I won't ever criticize what they named their baby. It's the parents' choice.

As a given Mandy, I've had countless people mistakenly call me Amanda and its a little unnerving to have to explain to people that the name I use is not a nn. Likewise, as a professional, Mandy just doesn't seem to garner the respect I perceive Amanda would (it still makes me feel like I'm 8 years old).
Give your child options for adulthood, don't stick them with a cutesy kids name that they will end up resenting as an adult.

As a given Mandy, I've had countless people mistakenly call me Amanda and its a little unnerving to have to explain to people that the name I use is not a nn. Likewise, as a professional, Mandy just doesn't seem to garner the respect I perceive Amanda would (it still makes me feel like I'm 8 years old).
Give your child options for adulthood, don't stick them with a cutesy kids name that they will end up resenting as an adult.

My husbands family is VERY into nicknames. His great aunts name is Talitha, but we all call her Tichi. My MIL and her two sisters all go by nick names or shortened forms (Melanie-Millie)(Kimberly--Kim), with one having a nickname for a name (Mikki). My husband and I plan to name our children "formal" names and call them by shortened forms or middle names. This way they arent stuck with really formal names (Lillian) as children, but still have the option when they are adults!

I hate nicknames!! With my name being Christina. I LOTS of nicknames Chris, Chrissy,Christine,Christy,and Tina. That is why my children's names Erin, Eaton, and Kale. No braking there names down.

I am a person who uses my nickname. My parents named me after my dad's Aunt Kathleen, but my mom wanted to call me Katie. Some people call me Kate (my husband), Kathleen (professionally and when I am in trouble), Katie (my friends and family) or Katie Marie depending on who you are in my life. I wanted to change my name to Katie officially until I found out how special my Great Aunt Kathleen was to my dad. That connection is priceless to me. Nicknames can be a pain when you get older, but I am proud to have the chance to change my name a little bit if I get bored.

ooooh a subject after my own heart! I love this topic, my mom is always saying she will re name my kids when I have them, she HATES the names I love, I have always thought naming a child with a nicknamey sounding name sounded kinda trashy. My all time favorite boys name is Brady, but it's too cute, so I was trying to figure out how to extend it, Well then the Braden explosion happened. I personally do not like the name Braden, but figured the child can always go with Brad, Brady, Den, or Denny, although I cringe at the name Denny, bad association! lol And Sophie was an easy fix, Sophia, nice timeless name that is pretty. I also love Maggie, but can;t do that to a kid, so Margeret she will be named with a plethora of nicknames available to her, Meg, Meggie, Marge, Marg, Maggie and Mary. I love flexible names, they are so much easier on a child, especially if Braden has 5 other Bradens in his class... I went to school at one point with 4 Stephanies and 6 Michaels (Mike) it was rough.

I really dont see the point in calling your child by a different name.My first son is called Elliott and my second is Noah. I loved Harrison and Finlay but knew they would get Harry or Fin at school no matter how much i called them by their full name. Even when i mentioned names when pregnant people asked if i would be shortening them, so thats when i decided i needed names that couldn't be.I just dont see the point of naming your child then actually calling them something else you cant have liked the name much in the first place.

I completely agree with this article. I'm naming my girl Ruby Elaine but she will be called Lainey. And when she is grown she can decide on whichever name she feels like! I love it.

I guesss i can go both ways because my daughter's name is Anya which is short for anastacia but i don't like dat name and didn't feel the need to put so therefore i gave her an interestin middle name that can be used at a nn
so her name is anya may and i call her nana so some names even though are short there can always be found a nick name for it

When my husband and I were trying to pick a name for our daughter - we WANTED a formal name with a nickname. Neither one of us has a name that can be shortened so we wanted our daughter to be able, later in life, to choose who she is. We decided on Maggie first then Margaret for the BC. Funny thing is - at the doctor's office etc. they always use Margaret and I have to actually remember that they mean us!

This post is so interesting and has given me a lot to think about. I have always wished that I had a name that had a nn or a longer version, perhaps Amelia or Amethyst instead and have pondered going by my middle name of Kathleen, just so I could be a Kathy. I'm expecting my second son, who will most definately be a Nicholas, despite not liking Nicky. I really like Nic as a nn, but am afraid everyone will want to spell Nick. My first son, who is 2, is a Gabriel, and has taken to calling himself that, though when he first started talking he named himself Gabe-Gabe.