The Baby Name Wizard

Sorry, this goes WAY back, but I did want to let Nina know that "Nine-a" is indeed a valid pronunciation of that name. Or perhaps, it might be more accurate to say that there is a name "NINE-a" which is spelled the same way as her name "NEEN-a." A half dozen of one or the other, as a friend of mine used to say.

And, yes, an earlier poster was correct about hard "g" Gillians, too. They exist...and they're coming after you. No one is safe. ;-)

Claire - I'm in MA. I just checked on the SSA list and I guess that makes sense since it's been a top ten name in our state since 1997. My two children always have a Julia in their classes (although never a double). It must vary by region a lot because my SIL says she doesn't know any in Colorado. She does know several Nevaehs while I doubt I'll ever meet one in real life.

I love the name Julia myself and don't think it sounds overused because it's such a timeless strong classic and it sounds beautiful every time you hear it. I think it sounds really nice paired with Lincoln!

Duh - I posted as Claire. It was me, Cathie, writing to Claire. Obviously I need to get myself to bed.

Alissa--How about Timothy, Leander, Jonas, Andrew, or Jonathan? Also like the previous suggestions.

Astrid -- I love Lucinda. I suppose Lucinda Williams makes it a bit "country," but Lucinda Williams surpasses country anyway. You could nn her Luce, Lucy, Lucky, LuLu, Lou, Cin, Cinda, or Cindy. Or just go with the full name. For all my stuffiness about names, I actually get kind of jazzed when other people pick cool ones.

Oh, and Alissa -- another vote for Margaret.

What do people think of Calista? Is it too tied to the former Ally McBeal?

I do think of Calista Flockhart when I hear Calista. I know a Kalyssa (I showed her mom the name in a baby book today - she was really upset because she thought she made the name up!)

i really like Calista, i think it's a gorgeous name, and it means "most beautiful." i wouldn't worry about it being tied to Calista Flockhard -- at least she's a relatively scandal-free celebrity, unlike Britney and Lindsey and Paris!

Claire-We're sort of near you, and you're definitely right about Sophies and Isabelles!
I think Lincoln and Julia are great together.
Sarah-I do like Jonah, but the one I was trying to "sell," you on was Jonas. For some reason, the s makes it much cooler imo!
I don't know any Wyatts personally, but I do run into them from time to time. It seems to be the name of choice for siblings of Calebs (totally unscientific observation).
It's definitely a cool name, though.
Astrid, I think your lists are great!
Alissa-I also vote for Charlie and thought I'd suggest Phillip or Theodore.
Calista I do associate with the actress, but I doubt it would be an issue for anyone younger than 30.
Cathie-Just for the record, I do like to hear why people chose the names they did, and I'm always interested in name meanings. What bothered me about the example in Laura's post is what I see as the essential phoniness of the story. I can't explain why it bugs me, except that I dislike phoniness in general.
Take care!

Did Hudson's brother's naming situation get any resolution? I did a little think and looked for directions for naming that would sweep a bit further, you know, for fun's sake. Different preferences offer different avenues.

First, I looked for words that had that same manly lastname gruffness about them, like Brock, Bennett, Briggs, Dillon, Brooks, Garrett.

Then I looked for names with New Yorky, place name-y or old time grandeur type names (Hudson is also a name of a designery hotel in NY), which took me to: Brooklyn, Bentley, Royce, Houston, Bromley, Dublin, Camden, Derby.

Then I looked for a few more unusual names that had a similar manly feel: Holton, Bishop, Marsden, Donner, Doyle / Boyle, Cormac, Rex.

If short names are not a must, Hamilton, Brannagan and Michigan might be interesting diversions.
Good luck!

Wow! Over 300 posts! There are several posts that I want to respond but I can't remember who wrote each one so I'll just wing it.

I happen to like Elijah as a brother for Hudson. Hudson to me is a river and but when paired with Elijah or any other old, established name it does sound nice. Better than another surname actually. I can easily imagine reading about, say, the French and Indian War and finding brothers named Hudson and Elijah. But I am a history geek so take that for what it's worth.

Margaret is so pretty and classic.

Johanna Amman is very pretty but I do think Jane for a middle name is repetitive.

More...

Someone mentioned having used their favorite names for pets and not being able to use them now. I remember reading that some younger people were using names they liked for dogs first, as a trial, to see if they liked saying them every day. Since animals have shorter lifespans I don't see a problem.

There is a humor columnist I read whose daughter was named after his wife's beloved dog, Molly.

I think it's sweet.As long as the pet wasn't named Pounce or Snowball or Thumper or something like that.

What do people think of Maia?
(and should it be spelled Maia or Maya)

Going back to the posts about celebs being known by three names (btw I quite like Catherine Zeta Jones - I think the Zeta makes it) but what I was really getting at is: does anyone think this may have influenced the current bout of what I call 'dash' names that seem to be all the rage in the UK?

A few I've seen in the local rag over the last few weeks:
Tilly-ann
Hollie-Mai
Daisy-Imogen
Maddison-Caitlin
Anya-Jade...

Maybe in the States this may be more common, I don't know but I wonder why it's on the up over here - any suggestions?

Ps. Guys you have totally converted me to Margaret!

Pps. Prince Harry is actually a Henry, Harry is his nn...

Thanks for all the great suggestions!
Anna-Edward sounds a little harsh to my ear, although I do really like Henry & Charles. You don't think it's too royal family though?
Wendy-none of the names you picked are in my family! Our last name starts with B though, so I think Benjamin is probably out.
Kristi-I like Julian, and Edmund is an Edward variant I hadn't thought of before. Thanks
Zaneeta-Andrew, Jonathan & Timothy are already taken in my family. I like Jonas, but I'll have to run it by dh-I don't think he'll for for it.
J&H's mom-I laughed when you said Theodore! It's a lovely name, but my mind jumped straight to Alvin, Simon and... Funny the connections we make with names sometimes.
Thanks again everyone! I've got at least a few more names that I hadn't considered before that I can mull over. A lot of them have come up in Nymbler-maybe I'm weird, but it's one thing to have a computer suggest a name vs. getting the thoughts of real live people.

Suzanne, I don't think the name Calista is tied to the actress. I think it's a lovely name - very elegant.

Claire, I love Julia and Lincoln together. I think they make a great sib set. Both have a classic feel to me.

And I love Margaret as name. I don't hear of many Margarets near me.

Katharine, at the risk of wading into a class discussion again(!), the "hyphen-name" here in the States is either 1950s, Southern/country, or very aristocratic. So you have your Bobbie Sues and your Lula Maes (usually no hyphen) calling up either 1954 or images of an innocent bumpkin, and your John-Pauls and Charles-Henrys calling up images of the young master of a mansion. I have to admit that I find the list you posted appalling: poor little Madison-Caitlin is saddled with two supertrendy names glued together. I hope she gets called Maddy-Cate, which isn't quite as awful. Or MadCat, which I quite like!

What we do have here are lots of hyphenated last names because of same-sex parents and women who want to keep their own last name. My daughter has one, and it's none too melodious, but it was a way of ensuring that she "matched" my partner, her adoptive mom, in some way.

Very off topic, but I thought maybe of interest - this morning I found the first newborn "Isla" in the birth announcements of the Telegraph (I remember this name being discussed here not too long ago). Oh, and last Saturday there was a Freya Rosalind - sister to Hermione! So much for our speculations as to how naming would be influenced by HP, and when we'd see the first Hermiones...
For some strange reason, the most popular boys name with Telegraph readers seems to be Archibald, nn Archie - can't say I really fall for that one.

I'm not in to my list either! Infact, I don't get the dash at all! They're such a mouthful to say - I mean can you imagine calling 'Daisy Imogen' in for her tea?! And if (as I suspect) they only call her Daisy on a daily basis - then why the need for the 'dash' in the first place?

Speaking of people with more than one christian name though - I have always loved the name of the poet Christina Georgina Rossetti...

Sarah
I just name my son Elliott in June. We used the middle name Andrew. I am relieved so many people on this post seem to like the name. Our families and friends have not been so kind.
A comment on a much earlier post regarding the pronunciation of Gillian (my daughter's name) being correct with the hard G must be the Celtic pronounciation... While in Ireland, everyone pronounced my daughter's name correctly with the soft G.

Beth-just curious how often you see same sex couples merging their names to form a new one for the children-a la Melissa Ethridge & her ex? I have friends who are divided on this issue, one of them wants to go hyphenated while the other wants to create a whole new name (although in all honesty, the one voting for the new name does have an especially bad last name-so that could explain it). I thought it was really creative when Melissa Ethridge did it, although most real life couples I know tend to hyphenate or use one last name as a mn.

Alissa, I know 5 other same-sex couples with kids. 4 families' kids have hyphenated names; in 1 family the kid has the birth mom's name, in part because the adoptive mom's last name is kind of awful.

We didn't want to make up a new last name for the same reason we didn't want to make up a first name -- we wanted our daughter to be connected to both sides of the family in as many ways as possible. So her first name is my mom's, her mn is my partner's mom's, and her last name is our last names hyphenated (she is free to choose one or the other if she wants, when she's of age). The problem with the new last name is ... if you split, is only the kid left with it? How terribly lonely.

Madison-Caitlin is awful (call me a snob if you must), but I think some double fns are darling. Jack had a
Mary-Claire in his swim class, and I thought it was ridiculously cute. Of course, I don't know if she uses a hyphen.
I'm also fond of Peter Sam from the Thomas the Tank show.
Alissa-I would have thought you were too young for a Chipmunks reference. I once had their Christmas album (and yes, it was an album).

J & H's mom -LOL! I guess I sound younger than I am. But no, I know who the Chipmunks are--and I had some of the albums (yes albums) too.

Beth-very good point about what happens if the parents split. I'd never thought of it that way.

POTENTIAL CONFUSION
has anyone ever put Hudson Louie on a list as Louie Hudson? surnames as first names may invite themselves to clerical errors, especially paired with a last name that is, more often than not, a first name.

EXISTING PEOPLE'S NAMES THAT SOUND COOL
my friend has the name Cecily Dubusker. she will probably surf into this page now.

I recently watched a re-run of a series based in a southern state (can't recall which) called "I'll Fly Away". In it the youngest child was called John Morgan (hyphenation unknown!); his sibs were a sister, Francine (Francie) and an older brother Nathan. I rather liked the John Morgan and it suited him.

I know a fair number of girls with double names and none of them have hyphens. It's pretty common where I live for girls (much less frequent with boys - though I do know a couple: Sam Allen, John Cameron) to be called their first names and middle names. For example, I know a Lily Kathryn, Anne Katherine, Mary Margaret, Mary Garner, etc etc Not a single hyphen in the bunch! Frequently the middle name will actually be a family surname (like the mother's maiden name).

C & C's Mom, how ironic that you just posted! I was going to say the same thing. In North Carolina there are a lot of folks with double names, but most do not use the hyphen. I know of two women named Anne-Marie who do, however (one from Chapel Hill, the other from Miami).

Here are some names of little North Carolinians: Anne Elizabeth, Ada Katherine, Scarlett Jane, and Mary Hunter. The oldest is five.

In real life I only know an Emma-Claire (11 years old) and an Anne-Marie (30).

Other double names I know without a hyphen: Sari Ann (15) and Jeanne Marie (35).

I like the idea of the second name being a family name or a name which has meaning and thought that this was probably a lot more common in the States, thanks guys... still not sold on the names I posted fronm the UK though! - to me the 'Madison Caitlin's' of this world just sound like their parents couldn't make up their mind which to call them!

Regarding 1st and last name confusion, in college I had a professor named Curtis Thomas. Or was it Thomas Curtis? NONE of us could ever remember and when it was time to put his name down on a scantron, we just put both!

Regarding double names, I just visited my sil in Alabama and all of her daughter's friends went my their fn & mn. The boys not so much though. My favorite: Ella Frances.

Mary - I've used several names I love on pets - my son Sam got his name from a horse that meant a lot to me in my teens.
Scope - I prefer Maia - but that's just me. I had a cat some ten years ago named Maia, so maybe I was just ahead of the game as this name is now very popular.
Maddison-Caitlin? ugh! How can anyone call their child 'mad'? And the name was nice when 'Moonlighting' was on - about 20 years ago.

mj: i have met exactly one melora. although i think hers might have been meliora. i think i had a class with her or something, though i can't remember exactly so maybe i am imagining it and you are the only one!

re: aj: i also appreciate aj's comments. sometimes i think they are small-minded and downright wrong, but i also think she brings up some good points and helps me understand where she is coming from.

Jennie W: I'm totally going to copy you and tell people that I chose my children's names because they show what great taste I have. Hilarious!

Re: Juniors: I know one family who named their son after the father because he was named after his father. I think it was done more for the grandfather than the father actually. And the father hates the name and goes by his middle and they do the same with the son, but he wanted to do it anyway.

Denise: I don't think Hudson and Elijah are that different. They both seem to have some tradition behind them and yet also a hip feel. I also don't think Zany would be a bad nn. I could imagine a boy or young man taking pride in this nn. (Of course that kind of personality might drive the parents crazy!)

tess: I think CJ, etc. are cute nn, but they need to stand for something! Like Calvin James or whatever. I didn't know people had names like CJ as their first names without it standing for anything. Oh wait, I think I may have known a Ceejay. Yeah... I think that is a bit silly.

Kristen: Sounds like you wouldn't mind your child being associated with Harry Potter. I guess you might face a lot of folks expecting that he's named after Harry Potter. So maybe you might consider if you would get tired of having to explain this

Sarah: I love the name Ami from Miami Ink too! And I had no idea he was Israeli. Thanks! Also, I knew a Wyatt born a few years ago who was in a daycare with only a handful of other kids--and there was another Wyatt! (This was in Honolulu, btw.)

Suzanne: Besides Ally McBeal, Callista makes me think of the stars (the ones in the sky, not the ones in Hollywood). I guess I'm thinking of Callisto, probably from mythology or something...

Scope: I think Maia/Maya is very popular. I don't even have kids yet but I still know two under ten years old. I think it's a great name, but definitely very popular.

I think hyphenated first names are only good for common names, as in John-David or something similar. But then, I think I'd prefer to have it just be John David (first and middle name).

Re: created last names: I know one family who blended theirs to form Cooperkawa and another couple who hyphenated their original last names but used this as a middle name and took the last name rox. i think this is how it worked anyway.

Re: Calista, I once read an interview with Calista Flockhart herself where she said that people ALWAYS got her name wrong and always thought it was "Calistra". That might be less of a problem now because people are - through her - more familiar with Calista as a name. Something to bear in mind though.

I am the mother of a Jayden. We first read the name in "The Baby Name Wizard" book (no joke - that is what brought me here!) and loved loved loved it! Our #1 and #2 choices for our son's name were Jacob and Aidan, but didn't want to name him something so popular. It has worked out well and while we didn't need any reason beyond this one, it is nice to know of the biblical background.

Now the problem is finding a name for baby boy #2. HELP ME AGAIN, LAURA! We're at a loss because we love Jayden as a name so much...

On Wyatt- I know a couple of under 3's with this name. When the mom of one was pregnant she told me she had picked out Wyatt because (in addition to liking it) she didn't want a name that was too popular. Her older son is named Aidan, and I think she was a little suprised at how many other Aidans were popping up in various toddler classes/activities. Wouldn't you know it, but at her 1st "gym and swim" class with little Wyatt there was another boy with the same name.

On Nina- My best friend's mother is named Nina, pronouced NINE-a.

On Maya- I like this spelling best. I know a very sweet little girl, and also a very sweet dog, named Maya. Doesn't it means "love" in Sanskrit?

Trisha, how about Tristan as a brother to Jayden? Or Darren? Or maybe Seth? Those three names seem to have different styles but to my ear they all sound like they could go with Jayden.

Back after a few day absence. Love Callista as a first name. I think the actress is low-key enough that she's not a distraction to choosing that name: she only makes it higher profile so it's not a total surprise to people.

Yes, people have mistaken Hudson Louie to be Louie Hudson. Funny that after all the thought I put into his name, I DIDN'T think of that happening!

So we're getting some votes for Elijah, huh? It's starting to grow on me again. I truly appreciate the French/Indian War perspective - you made me think they could be brothers. For that I say thanks.

I went to high school with a girl named Jayci. For months I thought her name was spelled J.C. I also went to school with a Jaci (pronounced Jackie), which I always thought should have been pronounced JC.

I am desperately trying to convince DH to let me name the baby Elliot or Linus. I really like both names and they seem to fit my criteria of names that people know but don't get a ton of use. Any suggestions for mn's for either? Also, one name we both like is Cassius, but I'm hesitant because I don't know if it goes with my last name (Carlson). What do you think of the nn Cash and does it go with Carlson?

Sarah - I think Cash Carlson is hard to say - too many repeating sounds. Of the three names you mentioned I like Eliot Carlson the best.

Heather A.- I can't tell you how much your post meant to me! Thank you!

And to all who have weighed in on Johanna Amann- thank you! Going off to eat an entire block of cheese now...

WOW!! Never realized that there were such strong opinions on the name Jadon...I have a Jaiden McKenzie...Thought the name was cute for a little girl..and actually had only heard the name Jayden once...Jayden Smith of course. I am an educated women who thought I was being original with my first born...had I know it would have provoked this type of feelings in people I would have rethought the name...since I do know that name prejudice occurs in real life on the playground.

I like the name Jaiden, Jayden, Jaden, and that is why I picked it...

I suspect that people who choose "Jaden" as a girl's name are, consciously or un-, associating it with the "jewel name" "Jade" (a la Mick and Bianca's daughter).

Those who choose it for a boy are probably making some sort of connection to "Aidan" and all those other popular "-en," "-an" or "-on" names.

Some baby name books give different etymologies for boys and girls even when the name is spelled and pronounced the same. This might be one such case. But the fact is, it's basically a "coined" name and you can claim whatever origin you choose (or none at all)

To MJ.
Now I am really curious about the J. If you read this post please respond. I have never met another Melora in person, although I do know of the actresses, Melora Hardin and Melora Walters. I don't think we'll make the top 100 any time soon.

A rolling stone gathers no moss.A true friend is known in the day of adversity.
张家界旅游

Okay. Me, personally, being a somewhat of a writer, come across many names. I have also experienced many children with rather interesting names. Let's not forget those named Riker/ Ryker because their parents were Star Trek enthusiasts or the occasional "over-the-head" name like Pain. Yes, I have run across high-school students legally named Pain.

But anyway, I do see the creativity in making up names for children as well. And different spellings are unique. Having the very common name of Megan, I think that those spelled Meagan, Meghan, Meagen, and such are just as good as the original. Not everybody wants to be plain. The Jaden/ Jaiden/ Jaydon/ etc. example shows the ability to think outside the box in a very conformist world.

I also like mixing it up. Unisex names that can be used for both genders are a good way to throw people for a thinking loop.

However, names after objects and/ or animals seem unnecesary. Take one of my least favorite, Raven. A human being is not a raven, a raven is a raven. That's like calling you child Lion. It's not right. They're people, and should be distinct from the animals. Also, names like Lyric or Alchemy are... so infuriating.

Then again, I'm not really one to talk about odd names. My personal favorites being:

Anthrielle (f)
Jacelyhnn (m)
Rhaenen (m)
Dana (m)
Dvmitri (m)
Castille (f)
Maribelle (f)

and things like that.

Of course, I'm not objected to names like Ryan, Seth, Cain. They're plain and simple and to the point. Not much too it.

Sorry. I just stumbled across this page and felt I had to add my input.