The Baby Name Wizard

Sushila-We know I'm not cultured so that explains the Father Damien thing. But I do watch lots of TV and I think you missed my question as to who Joshua and Joseph were on ER?

Karyn-thanks it was The Omen I stand corrected.

Eo-Clementine said it very well. I think primarily its a generational thing and also a style thing. My mom was not looking for something popular but yet she wanted something distinctly feminine and "pretty". I could have been named Natalie after my ggrandmother but she didn't go there for some reason. Then of course she wanted an off the charts name for my brother and dad said he must be named after himself and mom conceded.
With my dd I wanted the same as mom but ds was NOT going to be a junior. (Remember that entry to Laura's blog a while back too) Anyway, I could see myself having a "middle-of-the-road" name but I don't think today's MOTR names are the same as they were back then. Additionally, as I'm sure Jennifer can attest to, the popular names aren't the same either. Emily was in the running for our dd but I'm glad it didn't get picked. Many of us here have stated that we absolutely don't want our children burdened with perceived stereotypes of certain names or the burden of the one-of-ten in the same class
situation either. Of course, the stereotypes are also different now as opposed to then. Times change and name choices change! It'll be interesting to note what direction our children go in name-wise.

Back to Laura's post..

My name is Amy (b. 1989)and I would have been Charlie after my dad. I think its totally appropriate and I would have loved to have been named Charlie (even as a girl).

The reason for this probably stems from my rural Canadian village influenced by Gaelic culture. In my town, every boy usually gets a nickname of some kind. Girls usually didn't, though that has started to change--if a girl is unique enough to deserve a nickname, she is called by her father's name. Nowadays, some girls have nicknames unique to them, but when I was there I was called Charlie whenever I'd get local recognition for my art or writing :)

I guess I like my boy name it never really was separated from me in the first place, by me being a girl.

I was the third daughter and presumably a hoped for boy who was going to be called Simon...I don't mind it actually.

SusanSusan - the US Kath and Kim doesn't look too good to this Aussie, but I haven't seen it so can't really say.

Many thanks Clementine, hyz, and zoerhenne, for your thought-provoking answers to that question. I definitely get what you're saying now.

I've been trying to figure out why I feel differently. It occurs to me that that may be because I'm so much older than most of you. (As in, I'm a (rapidly aging) Baby Boomer-- in any group of parents, I'm the oldest, most dragged-out mother of an eight year old it's possible to find!)

Anyway, I don't feel tied to any particular "era" of naming. Perhaps short-sightedly, I don't believe particular names "belong" to my generation more than to others, nor do the currently popular ones "belong" to this generation. I was coveting the names Oliver, Peregrine, and Theodore decades and decades ago, long before they got taken up by the trendy.

And as you know, "hipness" is simply not a factor in my thinking-- it's such a changeable (and fleeting) factor that it doesn't occur to me to take it into account, for either me or subsequent generations. On the other hand, over-use and massive popularity do steer me in the opposite direction.

So, for better or worse, I could as easily see myself in any name I'm drawn to as my progeny...

This is a pretty half-baked analysis, I know! But I'm somewhat convinced that age has SOMETHING, if not all, to do with it...

"I think you missed my question as to who Joshua and Joseph were on ER?"

Joshua was what Carter and Kem named their son (who didn't survive to birth)--when Carter endowed the hospital with a hefty sum for an AIDS clinic, he wanted it named the Joshua Carter Center after that son.

Joseph is Abby and Luka's son. He's called Joe.

Clementine - How would you pronounce Augustine? I ask because my daughter had a classmate with that name who pronounced it
Aw-goo-steen but I had only heard it pronounced uh-gus-tin in English. There is a St. Augustine church nearby, by the way, as well as a St. Aidan so Aidan didn't seem that unusual to me when it started getting popular.

Names of the children at our public library's baby lap time:

Emma
Ellie
Rose
Noah
Cole
Braden
Luke
Theo (my son)
Domino

Domino was a surprise. He is maybe 4 months old.

I heard yesterday that the lead singer of the Four Tops died recently. His name was Levi! That was unexpected.

I met 4 mo old twins the other day.

Angus Don and Audrey Diane

The mn are the parents mn. Much as I don't like Audrey and think it a bit stale, it seemed really fresh on these blonde and blue beautys.

christinepearl, I'm pronouncing Augustine aw-GUS-tin, or when I say it quickly it's more like uh-GUS-tin.

Yes, Aw-GUS-tn for me.

There is a female 2yo Domino in my son's daycare class. I think it's a pretty cute, plucky choice.

another Israeli who would have been a male Yoav!
and ditto Inbal that since I ended up growing up in America not Israel I think I would have resented the name Yoav as I resent (well resent is pretty harsh--but dislike) the name Yael

I probably would choose Barak for myself--a hebrew name that still sounds fine in English

Aww, Yael, that makes me sad! I've always thought that yours was such a beautiful name. Of course I have known a few Yaels over the years so it isn't remotely foreign to me. (I live in a very Jewish neighbourhood in Quebec.)

Another Sarah-
Would have been Christopher David if I was a boy. My parents loooved the name but unfortunately never got to use it (After 4 girls they gave up! Ha!)
I can't see myself as a Christopher. It's common, like Sarah, but just... doesn't fit. I think Benjamin is more the the same vibe... biblical, relatively common, etc. Ben I could see.

My mother and sister and I ended up talking about this (over skype, i'm seriously impressed with my mother's increasing tech-savviness), and added some new interesting bits. I'm the one who is Anne, and would have been James (James Duncan) as a boy. Had my parents had two sons, the second would have been David Alexander- which my sister identified with over James. Her name has two syllables, and is as plain and English as mine- perhaps more so, as Anne works in several languages, and hers is distinctively English. The thing is, from a stylistic point of view, David Alexander is a better match for my name, and James Duncan a better match for hers: multi-lingual first name, longish bog-standard middle versus classic but distinctly english first name, gaelic-influenced classic middle. I haven't any insight, just thought it was curious.

That's neat Blythe, thanks for sharing!

Sushila-I had forgotten about Carter's baby thanks for reminding me. And had you said Joe i woulda remembered that one. No one ever calls him Joseph.

Btw, off-topic but I am SOOOOO sad this is the last season for ER. I LOVE that show.

Also, I pronounce Augustine as Aw-gus-Teen. I think it comes from knowing place names and also the fact that I say Aw-Gus-tis which was my great uncle's name nn Gus.

I pronounce Augustine and Augusten the same -- aw-GUS-ten. The first syllable comes out more like /uh/ though.

yael -- I'm sorry you're not thrilled with your name. I think it's lovely. Perhaps I have a soft spot in my heart for it because the midwife who was with me through my labor (although she didn't deliver my daughter) was Yael. However, like Karyn, I also live in a very Jewish neighborhood (in NYC) so it doesn't strike me as out of the ordinary.

Although I said I couldn't pick a male name for myself, I just remembered a story from when I was born. I was born early, and was very yellow, with little pointy ears. Next to me at the ward was another baby, a boy, born at roughly the same time with the same kind of look. His name was Rasmus. I guess I could have been a Rasmus... on top of which, my birth certificate first was ticked at the boy box, and then crossed out and corrected - doesn't this have the makings for a fantastic gender-crossing changeling scenario? Am I me, after all? :)

Domino? I do remember once coming across someone saying their name at a bike store, and his first name was Disco...

It's sad that Damian is perceived as poorly as it is. It's much more common and acceptable in the UK and Aus than in the States, where people really do shy away from it.

Etymologically it's not at all related to 'demon' or 'daemon' or anything of the sort. It's an ancient saint's name and one of its original bearers, of the doctor-brothers Cosmas and Damian, is perhaps one of the more laudable figures in human history (he was an 'unmercenary physician,' refusing to charge for his services). Several churches across the world are dedicated to St. Damian.

But, alas, it's unfortunately tarnished by close association, phonetically speaking.

Not sure what I would have been named as a boy, but my two little brothers' names are Joel and Aaron, so probably one of those. If I were to choose my own boy name, it would probably be Max. I always sort of thought of myself as a Max anyway because my middle name was my grandmother's first name (Hazel), but she always went by Maxine, and I always wished my parents had used THAT name for my middle name instead, and then I could be called Max.

In my adulthood, I think Sonja is WAY cooler than Max(ine) as a name. :)

Thanks for the answers on Augustine.

I asked my kids today what name they think would work for them if they were the opposite sex and received these answers- Corinne /Lyle and Dominic/Isabella. The other two couldn't see couldn't get past the yuck factor of being the opposite sex.

Oddly enough, my father-in-law's original name was Lyle.

My parents claim they didn't have any boy names picked out for me, since they knew I was a girl - I assume that if I did turn out to be a boy my parents would have given me what eventually became my brother's name - David, as this was my grandfather's name who passed away shortly before I was born. If I had to pick a boy name for myself now, though, I would probably go by Nick (well, Nicholas, but I can't actually picture anybody calling me that) since it's pretty close to Nicole and I used to go by Nicky/Nicki/Nikki (never really got everyone to agree to the same spelling) a lot as a kid anyways.

Re: Astrid
I have never met an Astrid but knew a girl in my youth named Estrid (Wallberg). Has anyone heard of that version?

I posted earlier about Lawrence, my "perhaps" boy name if I wasn't a girl. When in my 20's I acquired a male nickname - Hank (derived from my surname) and felt I wore it quite comfortably. My best friends of that period still mostly call me that. Funny though, I don't think I could have been a Henry!

With all the discussion of names of siblings, real or un-realized, I recalled my mother quoting someone's description of a
perfect family - that everyone had a least one brother and one sister. Comes to four kids, two of each gender!

I had two brothers and did wish I had a sister; My Mom said that if she had had another girl, she would have been Nancy, a Grandmother she never knew.

Completely coincidentally my daughter was looking through a name book this week and picked two names she would have wanted to be called if she was a boy. The names: Tiger and Rock.

I was thinking more about what I would call myself as a male. I always had a list of male names I would've liked on a husband that I wouldn't necessarily use for a child. Martin and Stuart were always top of that list. I think they're really nice but probably a bit too 'old' sounding for a baby. So I would probably choose either one of them for myself.

I haven't got a husband yet, but incidentally I am going out with a Damian. I've always liked the name, but since meeting him my appreciation of it has increased. Amazing what a good association can do! So I think I could now equally see myself as a Damian.

I was reading once about the split in pronunciation of St. Augustine. It was asserted that Catholic theologians and others have the tradition of saying "Aw-GUS-tin" with accent on second syllable, and Prostestant theologians etc. traditionally say "AW-gus-teen", accent on first syllable.

For what it's worth, I've noticed that to be true "in real life". I grew up hearing most people put the accent on the first syllable, but noticed Catholic friends putting accent on the second...

Interesting that the Jewish Bob Dylan gave it the Protestant pronunciation in one of his songs! Can't remember much of it. He sings something like "I dreamed I saw St. AW-gus-teen, alive as you or me"....

I'm ever so slightly alarmed at how many people are saying that "Benjamin" would be their default alternate name. Do you think this means it'll become even more popular as a baby name?

When we gave Banks the name Benjamin, I knew it was popular, but not so sort of "saturated" in the culture, and appealing to lots of youngish people, who might therefore keep using it as a baby name...

I'm an Elizabeth, and am fairly certain I'd have been S@muel Asht0n, both of which are family names. And as a boy name, that one suits me and is one I love. But my brother doesn't have that name: they picked R0ger out of the blue. That's always seemed to me an odd, awkward name that few people have. His middle name is a family name that now reads as female to a lot of people, too. But he's been successful and happy, so there you go.

Re: Enoch, was that in the previous thread? Coincidentally, it was just part of my Captcha name.

Re: The lead singer of The Four Tops, who just died, I don't think his given name was Levi; I think it was Trevor or Travis.

Eo - Personally, I don't see Benjamin breaking into the top 10 in the US any time soon, but it has been a top 100 name for 40 years now; and practically in the top 30 for the past 30 years. Also, for as long as the SSA has been keeping records of given first names (128 years), it has never fallen below #155.

I've never gotten a very straight answer from my mom about what my boy name would have been, but I do know some "short-listed" names:

Marian, Maren
Yael (Mom loves this name, but "W" is a very WASPy last name - it would have sounded funny)

Hugh is the only boy's name I've ever heard her discuss. I guess it'd be ok for my male alter ego.

Just browsing news sites and stumbled onto a photo essay of Obama's family tree.

Learned that his mother was named Stanley Ann Dunham, Stanley for her father but known as Ann all her life.

Google here:
Barack Obama's Family Tree - Photo Essays - TIME

Yael,

For what it is worth i LOVE your name. It is my Hebrew name and I had a necklace with it written on hebrew that I got for my Bat Mitzvah that I wore to college. (My mom said I needed a "sign" for the Jewish boys and I agreed with here.)

Eo, thanks for the insight on the pronunciation of Augustine. As you might have guessed, I live in a rather catholic-dense area.

Opal, I have only seen the lead singer referred to as Levi, although his ln appears to have been changed from Stubbles to Stubbs.

Re: the name Benjamin. It does seem that it has been a quiet classic for a long time now - not that popular but familiar and comfortable. Maybe that is why so many people saw themselves with that name. I might have named one of my kids Benjamin but I have 2 cousins who have sons named Benjamin and I try to avoid using names already used in the same generation. A challenge since I alone have 29 first cousins, most of whom have children.

Heard a father calling his 4 year old or so son "Angus" repeatedly at the toy store this afternoon. Sounded like beef to me,

Eo-There is a Benjamin in Henry's preschool class. He's such a bright, dignified little boy that I've never felt the urge to call him Ben. I think I've confessed in the past that I'm one of those compulsive nick-namers.
Much like my experience with Emily, I've known many Bens, but they're all quite a bit older-teenagers and up.
I hope Banks is enjoying his school year!

Marjorie-Yes, apparently Barack's maternal grandfather wanted a boy-badly.
There was quite an interesting profile about the family in Vanity Fair a while back.

Somewhat on topic...Does anyone have a name you considered for a child and now don't much care for? We were thinking about Sawyer for Jack-maybe it was the Lost influence-and while I still like it for someone else, it really doesn't appeal to me at all anymore, and we didn't even consider it for Henry.

J&H's mom, I think I feel that way about Audrey now! It has been my fantasy name for a second child (which I won't be having) and a child who doesn't have to be named for family. And now it's "stale," and somehow that one passed me by. Boo hoo.

Astrid is smashing -- no child with that name could be anything but hip. There may be one or two other Astrids along the way, but she's unlikely to be "Astrid F." or whatever in kindergarten.

Off topic, but thinking about nicknames made me remember my mom's story about a girl named Sh1rley Wh1tney in her class. Her classmates called her Wh1rly Sh*tney and my mom always said parents really should try out every mean possibility they can think of before naming a baby.

re: Augustine
I would never think to say aw-GUS-tin. Not ever. Not unless someone specifically told me to.
Not to trot out the same reasoning over and over, but I really do think that this is because of how the name would be said in French (... something like o-goos-TEEN), a language that I am surrounded by daily. I myself would say it in English with the French influence as AW-gus-teen, the other option mentioned above.

*
And may I say THANK YOU for the new edit function!

J&H's mom-My son was almost a Zachary. Now couldn't imagine that bestowed on him. It's definitely NOT what his name should've been. Plus I know someone now with that as a LN (didn't know them b4 son was born). I am not a surname as first kind of person in general and it seems weird to have my son have the same name because he is close to this person yet it is not a family member.

Re: Angus, my cousin has a dog named Angus, and my daughter has known the dog all her life. Many years ago my husband and I went to a Genghis Khan exhibit and got a GK magnet. When my daughter was much younger (maybe 3 or so), she was talking about some Angus magnet. I couldn't for the life of me get what she meant until she said, 'You know, Angus ... Angus Khan.' I love that!

Re: names you considered for a kid before that you wouldn't use now. I wouldn't use Elliot, which is what Astrid's name would have been. I didn't love it then, and now I think it's not strong enough compared to her name. My husband doesn't agree, but since we aren't having another, it's a moot point.

I had a customer for several years named Augustine and he pronounced it AUW-goos-teen. He was Spanish speaking, from Chile.

Re: Augustine, I always say "AW-gus-teen" in my head. Even though my background is Catholic, I forgot "ah-GUS-tin" was even an option until it was mentioned in this thread.

Re: Benjamin--without referencing the SSA stats, I've always thought of this as a fairly common (but not date-stamped) name. It seems I've always known at least one Ben or another in my various stages of life. Coincidentally, Ivy is in daycare with two other babies right now--Benjamin and Alistair.

>>Somewhat on topic...Does anyone have a name you considered for a child and now don't much care for?<<

J&H's mom- Definitely! When I was 10 I picked the name Ashley for my first daughter (from Happy Days), and I would have named my oldest Ashley Marie if he had been a girl. We didn't know the gender, so we were using both Eric and Ashley. Shortly after he was born, I realized the complete saturation of that name in our area, and now I'm really tired of it. I never even considered it for either 2 subsequent kids.

My father wanted to name me Aethelstan if I was a boy, but my parents eventually decided on my mother's maiden name, which was Worthington. I'm rather glad they didn't go with it, since I can't imagine any nice nicknames coming out of that. (After I was born my parents decided to hyphenate everyone's last name, so Worthington wasn't inflicted on my brother either)

If I had to pick a boy's name for myself....Zimri, maybe. Or Elan.

An acquaintance named her twin daughters Em!lia (Emmy) and Ed!th (Edie) about 6 months ago. I'd known that one was to be named Edith, but I didn't learn her sister's name until yesterday.

I must say, I was disappointed when I heard that they'd used Edith. It's one of my favorites, and while their mother and I are not close friends, we run in the same circles. My neighbor is one of her best friends, and while I haven't completely made up my mind, I think I am crossing Edith off my list. :(

I am a Jessica(Jessi) and if I was a boy I would have been Alexander, or Alex. As I was reading Lauras post my first thought was I would have been a good Casey I think. So thats my answer.Really interesting question.

My name is Carissa. My parents were seriously considering naming me Monica though. I am so glad that they didn't- it doesn't suit me at all. If I had been a boy my name was going to be Aaron Thomas. I think that name would've fit me if I'd ended up male.

Off topic, but relating to name options...

It looks like my partner (C) and i will be seriously considering the name Shadrach, for a son. It would be the middle name after a very standard first name that he'd share with his father, but also the name he'd more likely go by (partner uses middle name as well).

C really loves it and keeps coming back to it, and I like how much he's drawn to it even though this isn't a first pick name for me. And the possible nicknames seem good: Shad, Shaq, Rock or Rocky. (So, I don't mind that it wasn't first string for me.)

Does anyone have feedback on Shadrach, as a middle? (And no, this isn't a name we'd likely share with friends & family ahead of time, but I would anticipate LOTS of feedback from folks if we were to go with it!)

re: Shadrach- While it's not really my type of boy name, I'm liking it. Maybe because it seems like the less-old-money cousin to Chadwick, a name I've heard a couple of times before (and the name of the then-exclusive private school my dad went to k-12). I like that it has cool nn's too.

I'm not a fan of Shadrach, personally. I just don't like the sound of it. If you're drawn to the nicknames, that's a plus, but I don't like any of the ones you listed... they're all too macho for my tastes, and also a bit too tied to pop culture (Shaq, Rocky). I give it points for creativity though... it's certainly not a name you hear every day. If you do go with it, I think it's an added bonus that your son would have a more mainstream first name to fall back on, in case he doesn't like Shadrach. I'm really curious to hear other people's opinions on the name, as it's not one I'd ever given much thought to before you asked about it.

Just looked up the pronunciation as I wasn't sure-- is it pronounced Shad-rack? I would say Shod-rock, but one of the Web sites gave the former as the pronunciation.

Either way, the name is not my style--it seems a bit heavy to my ears. That said, if you like it, go for it. Barring the Ethel-Mae postulate, he'll be the only one he meets, I'm guessing!

Another thought-- you mentioned your partner also goes by his middle name, and that your son would share the (unused) first name. If you like Shadrach as a middle but not as much as a fn, couldn't your son go by the first name? (For instance if your husband is John Arthur and called "arthur" couldn't your baby be John Shadrach, called "Johnny").

I hope that made sense as I am sick and somewhat in a fog over here..

husband= partner.

I told you I was in a fog!

Thanks for the feedback!

Aybee, yes, your suggestion makes sense. Unfortunately the first name is far too common for me to want to use it (though it's nice enough, I suppose). It's the number one name in the area we're from. That said, it's definitely good to have a fallback "normal" name, as Clementine points out.

And yes, I believe the name is pronounced Shad-rack.