The Baby Name Wizard

Our son's name is Peter Joseph. Joseph certainly goes with Mary! From LKB's list, Peter Gabriel stood out. Love the name, but I wouldn't choose it unless you're a big fan of the musician!

Irene's mom: Shakespeare has gone in and out of fashion. For a while several hundred years ago he was considered very lowbrow. Hard to imagine!

Question--is there a way to search all the posts and comments in this blog? If not, there should be! It would be very helpful....

I agree that Mary Claire sounds nice, but there is also a women's magazine called Marie Claire, which takes a bit of the shine off for me.

The saints names talk is so fun! I'm Catholic too and really love Maximilian Kolbe as a saint and have considered Kolbe as a mn. I hesitate for a first name because of the similarity to Kobe (Bryant). I like Kolbe better than Maximilian because I really want the clear connection the saint. What do people think of Kolbe?

Switching gears to old fashioned names. My mother is Thelma (age 50) after her grandmother. My mother really wants one of us to continue the tradition and name a daughter after her. My mom always loved the special connection with her beloved grandmother. My sisters and I just don't like the "sound" of Thelma though so we've agreed to name the first granddaughter Thelma but always call her "Thea". Thea hasn't become super trendy has it?

Thea is a great nickname for Thelma. I hadn't ever thought of that. Thea rarely shows up in the SSA statistics so I don't think that it is currently trendy, but I could see it being "discovered" and becoming popular.

My maternal grandmother's name is Thelma as well as my paternal great grandmother. As much as I would love to name a child after my Nona I just didn't like the name Thelma. Do you mind if I tuck this possible nickname away in my mind?

Gemma - of course you can save Thea for possible use! I'm glad you like it! We've debated for years about a good nickname because none of us (4 sisters) could envision a tiny little Thelma. The runner up to Thea is Tia/Tya (tee-uh). We've nixed Tya because we also speak Spanish and that's the word for "aunt" in Spanish. My mom is often called Thel or by her initials.

Back to Neely for a moment (mostly because it's my name and I so very rarely see it)...I've seen Neely as a surname much more often than as a first name. Also, a (male) character named Neely appeared in the recent John Grisham book Bleachers. Most Neely/Nealy/Neligh etc. I've met are around my age (early 30s), likely b/c of the Jacqueline Susanne book/movie "Valley of the Dolls".

I know an Israeli woman, about 32 years old, with the name Nilly, pronounced "Neely". I don't know if it's a common name there, but it's the first I've heard it.

Love the fact that "Thelma" was once a very glamorous name (and no doubt will be again!) I remember reading in one of Gloria Vanderbilt's memoirs, that her mother's twin sister's name, Thelma, was always pronounced "Telma" without the "h". I don't think this was eccentric, I think in the Twenties and Thirties a certain segment of people did pronounce it that way, although there were always adherents of the "Th" sound as well...

My Aunt Thelma was also nicknamed "Thel"; with the "Tel" pronunciation, though, I could see other nicknames opening up, including "Telli" (shades of Telly Savalas!)

Gloria Vanderbilt's mother and aunt, Gloria and Thelma Morgan, were famous, lovely young socialites in their day. Thelma was the woman who Wallis Simpson "stole" the Prince of Wales from!

Re: how to perform a search on this website

There is no *official* search box, but you can search this entire blog and its comments by typing this into Google's search box:

site:thebabynamewizard.ivillage.com/parenting

... and following this phrase with a space and the word you are searching for.

So, if you are looking for the name Mary, you'd type in:

site:thebabynamewizard.ivillage.com/parenting Mary

Make sure there is no space between "site:" and "thebabynamewizard."

Thanks, AF! Excellent!

Woops, Peter Gabriel didn't register to me at first, but thanks for pointing it out! I would not condone naming someone Peter Gabriel unless you are intentionally naming them *after* Peter Gabriel. It is a nice name though, probably my first choice otherwise. My favorite of the bunch is Peter Emmanuel. Runners up: Peter Ambrose, Peter Nicholas, Peter Sebastian, Peter Vincent. I think Emmanuel is a beautiful name that's not used too often, and it definitely has a Catholic vibe to me. I wonder if its lack of obvious nns. is holding it back as a first name...

Color names: I love Scarlett, Hazel, Indigo, and Ruby too!

Christiana: I like Megan best, Lara least. I associate Lara with Croft and Flynn Boyle, which for me are not good associations.

chel: I think Mary is going to (or should) come back. I like it as a classic and would considering using it if I weren't sort of... at odds with Christianity. Oh, I think Linda should be brought back too though. I also like Mary Terese.

emrose: Kolbe does remind me of Kobe Bryant. What about Colby? Sounds the same, but at least on paper, it is a very different name. Actually... maybe the L does make a difference in sound...

Also, I just wanted to add that I tend to think of Linnea best suiting a blond girl. I've never read Linnea in Monet's Garden, but I know Linnea is a Swedish name, and the only Linneas I've ever known have been fair skinned and blond. Not to say it wouldn't be lovely on a person of any coloring, but it's definitely not what jumped into my mind with the description that Hyz gave of her future daughter! I think Violet, Scarlet, Hazel, and Ruby fit perfectly and are all very rich, luscious names.

For Thelma, Thea is a cute nickname. Thelma and Gloria Morgan were from Argentina so Thelma was pronounced the Spanish way. Thalia and Theresa are also pronounced with the "T" sound instead of the "TH" sound in Spanish so Thelma would be Tell-ma. You could just use the name with the Spanish pronunciation. Telly is a cute nickname.

Hyz: I had to laugh when I saw your post--we have very similar taste in names. We're currently trying to name our son that's due to arrive Feb 2. On our short list we have Rowan, Orson, Everett, and Emmett. I love Ellery as well but it's out due to conflicts with my dh's ln. This week the contest is between Rowan and Orson.

Hmmm ... obviously (or not so?) the first we is Hyz and I and the second is my DH and I. LoL

I apologize for going off-topic, but I have been dropping in on this blog for a while and its crunch time! I am due next week and do not know the baby's gender. I'd like suggestions particularly on middle names. My first child is named Clara Jane.

If its a girl, the first name is between Dagny and Greta:
Dagny Maureen
Dagny Ann
Dagny Rose
Greta ?

If it is a boy, it is between Clyde and Edmund:
Clyde Gerald
Edmund Oar (Oar is a family name)

Thank you!

OT: I heard an absolutely fascinating conversation with Steven Pinker today. He has written several books on language and thought-among other things he explains how certain words came to be swear words. He also had several really interesting things to say about baby naming.
Here is the link, if anyone wants to hear it. It's good stuff, name junkies!
http://kuow.org/programs/weekday.asp
PS-Sorry if this is profoundly geeky.

Amber: I vote for Edmund Oar. I really like Edmund. I am not familiar with enough Dagny to really know my opinion. My initial pronunciation does not seem to match all your other name sna d options...

Amber: My favorites are Dagny Rose and Edmund Oar. I love Dagny -- what a pretty name you just don't see very often. I also love Rose (one of my favorite mn's ... though it's a very, very popular mn apparently ... if that matters). I honestly prefer Edward to Edmund, but to each her own :) ... Edmund still sounds nice.

Amber - I like the name Dagny, but any fan of Ayn Rand will immediately associate it with Atlas Shrugged, which consistently makes whomever's list of Top Ten Most Influential Books. If that's ok by you (perhaps that's where you got it?), then I'd say it's a lovely, strong name. Depending on ln I like Maureen and Rose. Greta is lovely, too, and doesn't have such a distinct connection to any one cultural figure.
I vote Edmund for a boy, just to avoid the C-C sib set (but that's just a minor personal preference, I think Clyde is a nice name).
BTW, congrats!

Amber--I vote Edmund Oar and Greta... I like Clyde, but not so much with Gerald. Edmund sounds classy to me, and Oar is of course unique and a nice word as a family connection. Dagny sounds a bit harsh to me, like Cagney (& Lacey?) or Dabney, but maybe it's just because I'm not familiar with it. Maybe Greta Rose?

Kimberly--I think your list is awful! Ha ha, just kidding--obviously I like it. :o) Does young Mr. February have any older sibs whose names will help decide between your current top choices?

Amber - I just wanted to tell you I LOVE Greta! Congrats!

Kolbe does look like Kobe (Bryant), but I am not sure that should be a dealbreaker. My own ds is Coby and my dh is Brian, so when he was first born, I heard a lot of Kobe Bryant comments. It was right after Kobe Bryant was in legal trouble and so I think his name was in the media a lot. I can't remember the last time someone said to me, "like Kobe Bryant?" I think the greater issue with Kolbe is that people will spell it wrong - I think most people expect Colby. Amazingly, most people spell my ds's name correctly without asking. the most common mix up is people calling him Cody instead of Coby.

oops - I made that last post to emrose. It was not written by emrose.

Amber - be very glad you're not in NZ or Australia. Dagney would give her the nickname 'dag' which, to put it succinctly, is the dirty wool on a sheep's bottom! Although, 'rattle your dags' is an affectionate way of telling someone to get a move on.

Amber, I vote for Greta and Edmund. I love Clyde, but with a sister named Clara, it starts to become a tongue twister, and a little bit too matchy for me. As far as Dagny goes, I think it's an interesting name, but it feels really odd to me with Clara. Clara Jane seems so simple and very fashionable right now. It's light and airy. Dagny is much more off-beat, and also a little bit heavier and harder. I think mn. Ann helps balance it a bit, but Maureen, while it sounds great, again seems too far from mainstream in relation to Clara Jane. I think Laura has written before about "fairness" being something to consider in sibling names. It's something I think about a lot, which is why Clara and Dagny irks me a bit. As an extreme example, i wouldn't name sisters Gertrude and Leilani. Anyway, I love Greta and think it sounds much better with Clara, but if you love Dagny, go for it. Dagny Ann or Dagny Maureen sound great. Greta Maureen or Rose work too. I'll get back to you with more middle names for Greta!

Amber - I much, much prefer Dagny. To me, Greta sounds harsh and guttural, while Dagny sounds graceful and light, like classical music. Clara is also very musical, so I feel that Clara and Dagny go extremely well together.

I don't know if any of the middle names are quite right with Dagny. I like Maureen best, but the differences in cultural heritage seem strange to me. Rose is ok, but Ann isn't quite right.

I did immediately make a connection between Dagny and Ayn Rand, but I think I may be in the minority. It's not necessarily a bad thing - Dagny Taggart was a strong and independent woman.

Edmund is much, much more likeable to me than Clyde. Clara and Clyde aren't good together, and though Edmund may have complicated connotations due to C.S. Lewis, I don't believe most people will make the connection.

Dagny just strikes me as weird--cuz I've never heard it before. So... I suppose if I knew you and your family I would get used to it after awhile. (I guess I'm thinking some of your family members might have the same reaction.)

I also love both Clyde and Edmund, but agree with other posters that Clyde and Clara might be kind of cutesy.

This was my idea.

I first blogged about one-hit wonder names at Nancy's Baby Names on July 3, 2007:

http://www.nancy.cc/2007/07/03/one-hit-wonders-from-the-1950s/

I have since published 7 more posts one-hit wonder names:

http://www.nancy.cc/2007/07/12/one-hit-wonders-from-the-1940s/
http://www.nancy.cc/2007/07/26/one-hit-wonder-baby-names-from-the-1880s/
http://www.nancy.cc/2007/08/02/one-hit-wonder-baby-names-from-the-1920s/
http://www.nancy.cc/2007/08/10/one-hit-wonder-baby-names-from-the-1900s/
http://www.nancy.cc/2007/08/27/one-hit-wonder-baby-names-from-the-2000s-so-far/
http://www.nancy.cc/2007/09/07/one-hit-wonder-baby-names-from-the-1960s/
http://www.nancy.cc/2007/09/25/one-hit-wonder-baby-names-from-the-1910s/

After reading all the comments I trust you guys know what you're talking about.

Help! We are at a baby-name standstill.

What do you think of the following for a baby boy? (Our last name is Rew so keep that in mind)

Ari
Asher
Brighton
Jonah
Liam
Noah

I love them all but am unsure about having so many R's to pronounce. Ari Rew is a bit of a mouthful, no?

Nancy - Good for you. Don't you think it's possible some people had the same idea independent of you? I think the topic came up when a reader of this blog wanted to know if anyone had information on one-hit-wonders. But, as I said, good for you.

Sarah R., I really love your list of names! You have great taste!

I have a hard to match last name as well, so I know where you're coming from...I have to say, though I love the name, Asher Rew sounds like it should be followed by Gesundheit!

I think Brighton is the best match, followed by Liam. They work, I think, because there is a required pause after saying the first name...Brighton (pause) Rew, while Noah Rew could easily morph into one big Noahrew.

The best strategy would be to seek out names that end in -n, -m, -t (I'm sure there are other workable letters out there) to force people into taking that brief pause between fn and ln.

Maybe avoid names ending in vowel sounds and letters that are commonly used alongside R. Gregrew, Ericrew, Kirkrew, for example, don't seem to work as well.

I hope this is a clear explanation! Best of luck!

Sarah -- Ari Rew sounds awful to me... like you said, too many R's. (I've never understood how people can use the name Rory! I literally can't get my tongue around it.) Similarly, I don't like Asher Rew. The r-r sounds run together and again make it hard to pronounce comfortably. I think Brighton and Jonah sound the best with your ln, but Liam and Noah are okay, too. They all have pretty diff. vibes, though. Brighton sounds like the British prep school kid, Liam sounds fairly Irish/Scottish. Jonah and Noah don't sound incredibly Jewish on their own, but taken with Ari and Asher, they make me wonder if you're going for a Jewish sound? Anyway, they're all good choices, but I'm not sure exactly what style you're going for.

p.s. Is anyone else baffled by Rory? Am I the only one who finds it difficult to pronounce? It makes me think of the town on Cape Cod called Truro, which I find even more impossible to say!

Nancy, your website is really cool! I bookmarked it and plan to use it a lot! Thanks for sharing your information here.

kristin dawn, I see what you mean about the slight pause after brighton, which I think is definitely one of the reasons it sounds best to me, but I have to disagree about Liam. I don't think Liam forces as much pause as Brighton, and it sort of bleeds together for me. Liamrew. It reminds me of V'Imroo, which if I recall correctly from my Hebrew School days is a Hebrew word/phrase and part of a prayer, albeit it terribly transcribed here!

Amber: I vote Greta, but that's probably because I'm Australian. As said before to me it has the sheep's matted tail wool effect. However the more common meaning of dag is someone who's unfashionable, untidy and uncool. But so long as you're not planning a move to Australia any time soon I guess it wouldn't really be an issue.

I think Greta is very a very sweet name.

Sarah R: I agree with Ari Rew being a bit difficult to say. I like the sound of Liam best, followed by Brighton. I like the harder ending sound if m or n with your surname. For some reason the flow of Jonah Rew and Noah Rew just don't sound quite right to me, I think it's the uh-roo sound. It's a shame because they're two of my favourite names. I'm almost having a similar issue with Asher, but not quite as much.

Also congratulations! I'm sure whichever one you choose will be fine as they're all lovely.

Kristin Dawn said "To me, Greta sounds harsh and guttural, while Dagny sounds graceful and light, like classical music."

Bizarrely, I feel the exact opposite! Sorry to offend anyone, but to me Dagny is one of the least female attractive names out there. Maybe because it reminds me of "Gag me!" or "Doggy", I'm not sure. I remember feeling so, so sorry for the Dagny I met in jr. high.

Greta, to me, has a much lighter feel to it, very elegant... ala Greta Garbo.

oops - should "least attractive female names"

I'm sorry to say it, but I sort of agree with Suzanne. I didn't want to say it before, because if you're already set on Dagny, I certainly don't want to offend. But it's a shocking choice to me next to Clara. It sounds completely UN-melodic to me, and very harsh and unattractive. It sounds dark and cumbersome. Angular and crude, grey and oppressive. I'm sorry if this sounds harsh! I'm glad to hear that some people really like the name, it just goes to show you how subjective these impressions are. I just wanted to throw in my 2 cents, since I do feel so strongly about the name, in case any of this talk of Dagny makes you reconsider your choice. Anyway, best of luck choosing a name. I'm sure that if I knew a little Dagny, it would grow on me over time.

Amber-Greta is one of my current favorites. Darling, spunky, classic-a perfect compliment to Clara, too!
I just don't think Dagny is pretty, but it is unusual. I do think it's likely there would be some name calling with the first syllable (I think teasing issues are usually overblown, but there are some names that provide bullies with oversize targets).
Honestly, though, I just love Greta so much that I'm probably not objective!
Of course, you could also use Margaret with Greta as the nn.
Edmund gets my enthusiastic vote if you're planning on using the nn Ned.
Otherwise, I guess I'm only lukewarm on it, but not for any real reason.
Clyde is a name I feel like I should like, especially since I love Clive and Cyrus, which seem similar, but for some reason I just don't.
Sarah R-I like several names on your list, but I'm honestly not crazy about any of them with your ln. Forgive me if that is terribly unhelpful.
For some reason, I think you need a slightly longer fn.

Here's an old name that I personally think is very cool - Erasmus. Or does is have some negative baggage I am not aware of? The shorter variant Rasmus is quite popular in the scandics.

It seems also that the names Annika and Linnea have found avid fans on this board. Here are a few more scanic origin names that might pique someone's interest.

Female:
Alva
Asta
Malin (MAH-lin)
Mette
Ebba
Eirin
Frida (FREE-dah)
Freja (FREY-ah)
Lovisa (lo-VEES-ah)
Liv (yes yes, as in Tyler)
Evelina (eveLEEnah)
Saga
Sidsel / Sissel
Pernilla
Vendela
Vilda / Vilde

and a new rising star: Tindra, meaning to sparkle or twinkle

Male:
Anton
Albin
Arild
Birger (BIR-yer)
Espen
Geir
Hampus (HAHM-poos) (teasing potential hereby acknowledged)
Niklas
Matias
Melker
Morten
Joakim (nn Kim, or Achim in German)
Pontus
Rolf
Rurik (RUH-rik)
Torsten
Claes
Stian
Trond

Responding to multiple threads:

I like Dagny, but cannot separate it from Atlas Shrugged (not necessarily a bad thing). I hear that Atlas Shrugged will be made into a movie in the near future and if it is successful, Dagny could become synonymous with the character even more, since it is such an uncommon name. That said, I do like it. (Esp. Dagny Rose) If you are a fan of Atlas Shrugged, go for it! I love hearing names with obvious literary connections.

I like Peter Dominic.

I know a Mary Claire and she is all positive superlatives in my mind! No one ever calls her Mary--she's always Mary Claire.

And, for the last name Rew, I like Liam best. I like the name Noah, but Noah Rew sounds kind of like kangaroo to me! Liam Rew sounds great!

My two cents!

Nancy, I'm sure Laura thought of the same thing. Saying "this is MY idea" is silly. Laura really expanded on the point while you just listed names. Your site is cool too though.

As for Dagny, "dag" is even a not so nice thing to call people in the US

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=dag

so I wouldn't go there.

I much prefer Greta to Dagny. Dagny is a name that I have never heard, and don't really understand. And I don't think that it goes very well with Clara-which is such a cute,pretty name.

I think Jonah Rew sounds the best out of the options given for your last name. It's a little longer than Liam,and for some reason I've always thought that really short last names need a little bit longer first name to balance everything. This is just a personal preference though.

And whoever asked about Rory, I have never been able to pronounce that name or Roy for that matter. It's Wowy and Woy when I'm trying to say it.

Erasmus has such a great association! I loved Praise of Folly, but don't really like the name. But the assoiciation would offset the ugliness of the name for me.

Oh yeah, and I think we are going to go with Peter Vincent. Thanks everyone for the suggestions!

I think Greta is sooo very pretty.
Have a happy healthy delivery!

Of the existing names, Julia, I quite like "Jonah". "Noah" is starting to seem a bit colorless to me through over-use, perhaps. But maybe some people feel this way about Jonah too? To me it is crisp, and almost Dickensian when paired with "Rew". I also think of Jonah Goldberg, who writes for National Review. He's young, high energy, very smart and witty. "Jonah" strikes me as youthful, intellectual, and sporty too.

Interestingly, I considered "Brighton" years ago, but for a girl. Were I to see it with no other info, I would probably assume it was a girl's name. But perhaps that wouldn't be a factor for you...

Tend to agree with J&H's Mom and chel that your short last name would look great with a long one. Are there any other Bibs. that appeal to you-- Gideon, Ezekiel, Nehemiah, ("Ned" would be such a neat nickname for Nehemiah), Lazarus, Zebedee? (I think there was a Zebedee!)

Gosh, I misaddressed the above to Julia. I meant Sarah R. Sorry!

Hyz: Nope.. Mr. February is our first. For better or for worse, my taste in girl names is more along the lines of Ophelia, Evelyn, and Eleanor so it makes choosing a boy name even harder (since, hopefully, Mr. February won't be an only child forever). Based on my favorite girl names, it would make more sense to go with Everett or Emmett. But I could also go for names like Linnea or Sylvia for a girl. Sigh ... at least I have a while to decide ... LOL