The Baby Name Wizard

I've been thinking about my fantasy triplets, and I realized there were some names that were SO out there that I've had to throw out so long ago that I totally forgot about them when writing my initial list. Here's my super-ultra Greek mythology fantasy list (for girls, boys names tend not to be so interesting):

Pandora, Ariadne, Calliope

I desperately wish Pandora could be used without teenage boys teasing her about "her box", which is not the best connotation in today's slang. It's such a lovely name. I'd use it in a heartbeat otherwise, regardless of how unusual it is.

Cristina,

I love Jonah and Jonas, and I think they're a little more distinctive than Joseph in terms of popularity. However, Joseph called by his full name (not Joe or Joey) doesn't seem to happen all that often, so that could be nice as well. To get the nickname Jos (which i assume is pronounced Joe's), you could conceivably name him Joseph or Jonas. I rather like Jos as a nickname for Jonas. Jos. is the abbreviation for Joseph, so it wouldn't be unheard of to just pronounce it as it's written as a nickname, I'm sure.

I had to laugh at the "looks like a Hazel" comments. When we named Rowan before his birth I had to disregard the meaning (little red one) since everyone in our immediate families were blonde/blue as children. Then Rowan was born ... a red-head.

I don't know about this triplet game. I have this fear of having twins, so if I were pregnant with triplets I would be freaking out, and not about the names. But I'll throw my hat into the ring with triplet names I would never actually use.

Girl trips
Lucy, Penelope, Daphne
Linnea, Juniper, Aurora??

Boy names are so much harder for me. There is the rather staid
Edward, William, Thomas
Or maybe something like
Oscar, Everett, Felix

Speaking of Felix, it recently dawned on me that Felix and Phoenix are one letter sound different. They seem so very different to me though. I wonder why that is.

If I were feeling really over-the-top and cruel, I could go
Phoenix, Peregrine, Griffin

Okay, I'll stop now. :)

Fantasy Triplets:

Jasper, Augusten, Everett
Jasper, Augusten, Dashel
Everett, Oliver, Dashel
Augusten, Oliver, Dashel

Girls are much harder for me. I think my top hypothetical names for girls right now are Opal, Zinnia, Lark, Esme, Violet, Willa, and Ivy, but I'm not sure I'd use any of them on a real child except for Willa. I could also go with more classic names like Clara, Eloise, Lucy, Josephine, or Cecelia. Luckily, we're only planning on having one more child, so I'll only have to make the girl-name decision once, if at all!

Kimberly,

My daughter is named Phoenix. Once or twice, people have thought I said "Felix." The other name I get occasionally is "Venus."

To your over the top list, you can add Phoenix with Falcon!

Katie--

One of my best (and favorite) students was named Pandora Vanessa, and she reached adulthood without any noticeable scars. a tattoo or two, but no scars. She told me that her brother was named Tobias Gandalf, so I guess her mom was a little out there, but no harm done.

Cristina--

Jos is the Dutch nickname for Joseph/Josepha. The J is pronounced as Y in that case.

I love it that a few people have actually mentioned "Peregrine", one of my all-time favorites. I like the sort of 'romantic wanderer' aspect of the name. I used to think the one drawback would be the lack of a satisfactory nickname other than "Perry" (which I do like and used as a middle name for Banks, for family reasons). Then I realized that one of my other faves, "Piers" would be a super Peregrine nickname...

Could I add "Josiah" to the Jonah, Jonas, Joseph mix? "Jos" would indeed be a nice short form for that name as well. And there are other great nickname possibilities...

Regarding Jonah and Jonas, my nephew is named Jonah. One side of his family is Spanish-speaking. Apparently, the Spanish translation of Jonah is Jonas (pronounced "ho-NAS). So half of his family calls him Jonah and the other half calls him Jonas.

Keren- Thank you for sharing your naming story for Phoebe-- it gave me goosebumps to hear how it worked out. A question for the Jewish naming tradition: Which is the name on the birth certificate? And can someone describe the "naming ceremony" that was mentioned?

On Edwin, Edward, Edmund, etc.- my MIL is named Edwina, and her father is Ed. I always assumed she was named after him and that his name was Edwin. Turns out he's an Edward- I guess it's just that there's no fem. form of Edward? Or is there?

Kaitlyn- I think Gladys is beautiful. I visit regularly with a lovely 88 year old woman in my community named Gladys, and I like to imagine what she would have been like as a child. The name has grown on me so much that I'm happy to hear of its use on a little girl!

And, late in the game, my fantasy triplets (German's my first language, so names that work in both appeal most, not that DH would go for most of these):

Leonora, Katja (Katya or Katia?), Mathilde
Markus, Simon, and Bjorn (with o Umlaut)

On the topic of Greek mythology/literary names, I absolutely adore the name Ajax (nn. Jax)! Unfortunately, it doesn't flow with our last name. Also, I have a bro-in-law named Jack. So, no Ajax for us.

But I will make the Greek fantasy triplet for boys:
Ajax (Jax), Perseus (Percy), and Orion (Ryan)

Weighing in on the Ed* controversy, I'm starting to love Edward nn Ted (or Teddy on a young child). And I love William nn Will. Would it be awful to have a Will and a Ted? I immediately think of those horrible Keanu Reeves movies about Bill & Ted...

For fantasy triplets:
Margaret (Meg), Jane and Claire
William (Will), Edward (Ted) and?? James maybe or
Owen, Colin and Liam

For NB--

Typically the name on the birth certificate of a Jewish child born in the US is the vernacular (in this case English). And that is the name used on the marriage certificate and all other legal documents. The Hebrew name is used on the ketubah (marriage contract), for being called to the Torah, and on the tombstone. Thus my father was Edward in all aspects of his legal and daily life, but he was Eliyohu when he was married and was buried. His mother, however, always called him Ellie (not Eddie), and jokingly she would call him Eliyohu ha-Tishbe (Elijah the Prophet).

Sometimes parents will simply use the Hebrew name for all purposes, so we have people like Chaim Potok. Chaya has ranked in the top ten names for white girls in New York City. There is a child of my acquaintance named Jayden Schlomo, one parent Israeli, the other Pennsylvania Dutch. I only have one name--Miriam--which is essentially the same in Hebrew and English. The pronunciation is very slightly different, and of course the spelling is different, given the two different alphabets.

As for naming ceremonies, Jewish boys are named at the bris (circumcision). There was no traditional ceremony for naming girls, but in more egalitarian circles, a brief baby naming ceremony for girls is, like the bas mitzvah, a recent invention.

Interesting article on googlegangers (they put an umlaut on the a) in the NYT today: http://tinyurl.com/5aftx5 .It even mentions them name Cecil, Kaitlyn!

I have a googleganger, finally, and love it! In England my fairly unusual German surname made me unique. Whenever we went on holiday to a different part of the UK, I would look for our last name in the phone directory and never once found it. However, with the number of German immigrants in the US I've seen it more online here, and one day discovered my google ganger. What surprised me was that she was African-American (her husband has the German heritage), a lovely woman who has written a few times and sent me a pic when her baby was born. have any of you had experiences with googlegangers?

re Jewish naming ceremonies - girls are generally named when the father is called up to the reading of the Torah in synagogue, and a blessing is said for the whole family including the new baby. In our (orthodox) synagogue I was able to stand alongside him with the baby for the blessing - a really special moment.

When my mother was named her father was called up to the reading of the Torah. The rabbi who was giving the blessing asked him in a whisper what name he was gving the baby. My grandfather whispered back that she was being named Steshy - after a favourite aunt who had died. The rabbi said:'There's no such name as Steshy, you can't call her that. Think of something else.' My grandfather coldn;t think of anything else. The time for the blessing was upon them. The rabbi said :'It's March, let's call her Marsha' So my mum - English name Shirley - has the Hebrew name Marsha - which has no family connectons at all. Later on they had another daghter and she is called Sylvia with the Hebrew name that was the aunt's unabbreiated name - Stesha. My Mum has always felt rather cheated!

re: sloane and harper,
i prefer Sloan, like the band, which i am listening to right now. Harper, along with names like Atticus or Holden, sound like 10th grade required reading list names (a sentiment shared by at least one other person on another blog entry on here, methinks).

I have seen Emme pronounced Emmy at least a couple times I think.

re: Sloane: omg my husband wanted to use this name from Ferris Bueller too. I don't like how it sounds like slow, but overall maybe something i could live with. i think he has forgotten about it though.

Cristina: I would've said the Joseph was the most boring but the story about your daughter is adorable!! I think Jos. might be an old abbreviation, you know like Jas. for James. Wm. for William. I also agree about using it for Jonas or Josiah.

Cristina- The creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel/Firefly is Joss Whedon, short for Joseph. I think you might be up against the Joe tide if you call your son Joseph though. I think Joss would work for Jonas, but it might be stretching it for Jonah.

I admit to not being big with the Harper, Sloane, Holden, Atticus, Darcy, Byron names. I guess they do sound like a 10th grade reading list, but I am thankful that people seem to be reading instead of watching WWE (like some namers on the bad baby name blogs a few threads ago)!

Can anyone think of a good mn to go with Eloise? We are in a real pickle with mns at the moment and I dont want to do the Grace/Rose/Marie/Anne etc mn route - it feels like a bit of a cop out.

Rjoy: I don't like Rozetta with a Z ... but Rosetta is a name I've been considering for a few months, but I keep going back and forth on whether I would actually use it. I personally like the association with the Rosetta Stone; seems to give it some historical interest, but I also like the name Petra, so maybe I'm a geologist at heart...for a while I was toying with Rosetta and Petra for fantasy twins.

As for Edmund: I'm in the middle of reading Jane Austen's Mansfield Park, and the main male love interest is Edmund, and he's kind, compassionate, handsome, etc...so a very positive association for the name

After a few days thought, I've come up with some more fantasy triplets:
All Boys: Roland, Henry, Arthur (nn Arlo)
All Girls: Gwen, Cora, Mary
Combo: Arthur, Mary, Gwen or Arthur, Roland, and Gwendolyn

and the accompanying middle names...
Roland Theo
Henry Luke
Arthur Levi
Gwen Elyse
Gwendolyn Lily
Cora Daphne
Mary Lucille

wait a minute...I can't have arthur and gwendolyn together, can I? too much like arthur and guinevere...

Alexis- How about Eloise Pearl, Eloise Ruth, Eloise Catherine-just 3 that seem old-fashioned and euphonious to me.

Cristina -- I will admit to a love of Joseph, and I think Jos would be a great nn. As long as you got there first and he liked it, I think you could make it stick. (I'm thinking of Eo with her Benjamin nn'ed Banks). That said, Jonah and Jonas are both nice, too. I slightly prefer Jonah of the two, but would vote first for Joseph.

Kate -- While parents of a certain age *might* make the Bill and Ted connection from boys named Will and Ted, I think that would be the exception rather than the rule, and given what great names they are, I wouldn't let it deter me.

Kristin -- Matilda is a name I *loved* for a girl ... until I was pregnant. Then, somehow, I just couldn't do it. I think I was partially stopped by the Mattie nn. Seemed like she'd be lost in a sea of Madisons and Madelines/Madeleines with that nn. I still really like Matilda, though.

Keren -- Your story of your grandfather being commanded to change your mother's name on the spot was priceless. I would have had the same reaction as your grandfather and been in the position of having someone else name my kid. Can you imagine? Yikes!

Alexis -- I can't help thinking of Matilda as a possible mn for Eloise. I think that sounds nice.

Thanks for the help. I like both Matilda and Ruth as mn.

susan-I am just curious. What draws you to the name Rosetta? I don't know what it is about it. I just like it. Petra is nice, but other than the city, it reminds me of the model. Not a bad connotation. With Rosetta, I just don't want her called Rosy.

Alexis-How about these:

Eloise Claire
Eloise Mae
Eloise Maeve
Eloise Victoria
Eloise Faye
Eloise Marian
Eloise Maren
Eloise Viola

Ok-I could go on. How are those. Are they in the right direction?

Ok Alexis-Here are some more. I can't help myself!

Eloise-
Blanche
Claudette
Magdalene
Caroline
Josetta

Rjoy: I have to admit, I only starting thinking of the name Rosetta last year, when I saw an article in People magazine about the actor Balthazar Getty and his wife Rosetta. She looked very sophisticated and beautiful, so that became my impression of the name Rosetta, and I started toying with it as a future baby name. As time went on, and I forgot what the woman from the magazine looked like, the name became a little less appealing to me. It's so fascinating how strongly we can link a name with a person or personality...I guess it just shows that the person is really more important than the name: the right person can carry off just about any name.

Alexis: I like some of the previous suggestions (Eloise Matilda, Eloise Josetta, Eloise Claire) and also: Eloise Susannah, Eloise June, Eloise Camilla, Eloise Ramona

I've already chimed in on most of the subjects currently being discussed. For those I haven't here goes:
I like Sloan/e better than Harper. I grew up when there was a show with Barbara Eden called "Haper Valley PTA". I just dont care for the name much. Does anyone else remember that show? Also, another name in the same category for me is Skyler/Skylar. Have you considered that name?
Full name for Jos-I like Josiah.
MN ideas for Eloise=Claire, Violet, Michelle, Beatrice, Helena, Gabrielle, Delilah, or Fiona.
Rosetta is nms. I prefer a softer sound like Rosalie.

BTW, the Jewish naming stories are fascinating to me.

Cristina,

Jos is a really great nickname. The only thing is, people may think the real name is Joshua or Josiah. Joseph is a magnificent name and has a long history. I am partial to Jonah because I have a friend with that name. The Greek variant is Jonas. I always think of Jonah as a gentle name and indeed it means "dove."

Alexis, A few more names I like with Eloise are: Eloise Delfine (Delphine), Eloise Chantal, Eloise Celeste, and Eloise Solange. Eloise Claire, already named, is also excellent.

Thanks everyone for the mns. So many good ideas - I will put them through to the DH and see what he thinks.

Right now I like Matilda, Ruth, Claire, Victoria, Susannah (but my MIL is a Susan, so I am not sure how that will play) and Chantal. I love Caroline as a name, but I think it may be strange with our last name.

What about Eloise Isla? I like the two vowel initials.

I own a company called Mabel's Labels so see all sorts of fab names and naming trends. I've got five kids and think I've done a decent job in naming them:
my boys are Maginnis and Clancy, my girls are Posy, Spencer, and Jessamy. I was given a very hard time by all when I named Posy, but now everyone loves it. Does anyone remember reading Ballet Shoes when you were a kid?

--
Julie Cole
Mabel's Labels Inc.
www.mabel.ca

Sorry not a "P" name fan. I cannot get behind any of them. From Pamela, Persephone, Penelope, Posy, Peregrine, Paul, Peter, Phoebe, Prudence, or whatever. They all sound horrible to my ears. Does anyone else have letters they love the sound of or absolutely can't stand? Is that how the "Z" naming trend has come into play lately?

Zoerhenne -- I don't know that I can't stand the *sound* of it, but I'm not a big fan of the letter G. I don't like how it looks. That said, I actually *do* like some G names (Gaston and Gaspard being two of them), but I'm not sure I'd ever be able to use them IRL.

K leaves me cold.

Keren & Miriam- not sure if you're still posting on this thread, but I just got a chance to come back & read- thanks for the responses & stories on Jewish naming. I, too, am fascinated and am enjoying learning about it. Thank you!

I just found out that the name Miley exsisted before Miley Cyrus! The host for the google video series on privacy is an Asian American woman named Maile, (pronounced like Miley).

For my entry in the pool I said Arianna, Claire, and Sebastian. I wish I could go back and change it to Gavin, Sebastian and Claire. Who knows, I might still win, but I think my second idea is much stronger. I have never heard of a single little boy named Gavin and Sebastian (aside from one cousin) and now I am seeing them pop up everywhere.

Sorry if this is not entirely relevant, but can any of you help me find a site I found so useful when I had my twins? I was convinced it was part of this Name Voyager site but now it is nowhere to be found.

The site did this: You typed in a name you liked, and it came up with a whole bunch of options in the same "style" or even nationality. It was so cool. ANd now my friend is stuck on a name for her daughter and I cannot find the link anywhere for her.

An assistance would be greatly appreciated!

Christina-Is it Nymbler.com you are looking for? Good luck!

Re: "addison"'s rising--- could possibly be attributed to the character Addison Shepherd (played by Kate Walsh) on Grey's Anatomy-- who got her own spinoff show (private practice) in 2007. She's a successful, beautiful, intelligent woman, and both shows are popular.

Regarding the question as to what you would rename yourself, I actually did!

I've changed both my first and last names. Meaning was important.

Voron Xarya (pronounced "VOAR-n ZAHR-yuh") comes from Russian and means "raven" and "dawn/dusk" (my Russian dictionary says it refers to "the glow on the horizon before dawn or after sunset" so, it's a combination of "dawn's early light" and "twilight's last gleaming".
I started using Voron in late 1994, I changed my last name to Xarya when I got married the first time in Jan 1997.
Interestingly, they launched the first Space Station module "Zarya" less than two years after I picked Xarya. And in 1996, "Zaria" (from the same root) first made the top 1000 list for girls, though I had not heard of it at the time.

My wife (who legally changed her first name too) and I are thinking of naming our son (due October) "Xerxes", after the Persian emperor... (Corvin, Lucien, Sebastian, Alevander and Orion are top contenders/potential middle names as well)

Max may be linked to the popular books by James Patterson about Maxium Ride (a.k.a. Max). I have been considering the name for about the past 2 years, but due to the recent rise in popularity it's a no for me.