The Baby Name Wizard

Amy Nicole, I don't care for Cason at all: it sounds like a name contrived to rhyme with Jason -- or maybe a way to get to the nickname Casey. That said, I think it's always better to use a meaningful middle name. Jeffrey is a solid name and adds some strength to Cason. There's no reason to think the baby would be called CJ if he's named Cason Jeffrey after his father. Most children aren't called by their initials.

hmmm...

seems that Knox has to be a brother to Kingston in light of Angelina's recent name pick...it's kind of place-y with Knoxville and Fort Knox associations. and perhaps vivienne for sister to sylvie now too?

i see gus in that list of old-fashionedy, lively boy names. i'm curious what the list of 10 (or so) is?

Brad has a Felix in his ancestry too, so if they really wanted to continue the theme they could go with a family name! I doubt they'd use it though. Way too popular in Europe.

http://youcantcallitit.com/

I'll admit that my first thought for Knox is the furry yellow creature who is the Fox's foil in the Dr. Seuss book Fox in Socks. So it very much sounds like a personal name to me.

Thanks ever so much to Kate B., another amy, Miriam, Easternbetty, and others who have written about East African and Arabic naming traditions. I very much enjoy reading all of your posts and tangents--keep 'em coming!

kate b.: nilifanya utafiti huko TZ kwa Maasaini. Huko Kenya, nikafanya kazi ya kilimo na miti (mjitoleaji).

Does Cason rhyme with Jason? nms WHy would he be called CJ? Only if she/they introduce the idea. MHO

I don't see why anyone named Cason Jeffrey would be called CJ unless he or his parents encouraged them. Can't say I care for Cason, but Jeffrey is a nice fallback, if he prefers something more traditional.

This is late in the game to be adding a comment to this post, but I wanted to tell people about another sibset that I had a part in.

Good friends have just had a second daughter and named her Anika (pronouncing it On-ika). I suggested the name of their first daughter, Hollande to go with their rather gutteral and complicated Dutch last name.

I think Hollande and Anika are different, but very well matched. Both unusual and elegant. I had suggested Saskia as a second girl name, but it was a little too out there for them (neither had heard it). I really like Anika, though.

Welcome to a new baby!

:-)

The Tzbit and Pbluk analogy is a classic. Love it, and it makes so much sense!

Maybe my canadian-ness makes different dimensions stand out...but if you're still open to input on the Sylvie siblings, I think they sound a little more like Sophie siblings than Sylvie ones. That is, Felix, Jasper, Amelie, Lucie and Noelle don't have the unexpected quality that Sylvie still has- they've lost it with more than a decade's worth of momentum behind them. Iris (despite rising popularity), Leonie, Hugh, Jules and Theo (if you're not a Brit) still have that unexpected bit, though. Maybe I'm way out to lunch, but my sense is the folks charmed by Sylvie now probably see Jasper, Felix and Amelie on their five to fifteen-year-old acquaintances. Does that sound right to anyone else?

Blythe: I thought exactly the same thing when I saw the sibling lists.

Emei:

I agree with all above who have urged your friend to reconsider Codex and also Mishay. The suggestions Colfax, Dax, and Lennox sound much better, in my opinion. Would she consider Maxim? or Felix? And Marcheline is actually a lovely suggestion as a replacement for Mishay!

And I agree with Blythe about the Sylvie set; some (Noelle in particular, perhaps also Amelie) are slightly more expected and less fresh than Sylvie feels for me. I think Sylvie might be a good suggestion, for instance, for someone looking for an alternative to Lucie. . . but would someone who starts with Sylvie be intrigued by the suggestion of Noelle? Maybe . . .

Of course, Laura has much more insight into these things than I, so I defer to her selections. Can't wait for the book!

I could see,for instance, someone interested in Lucie responding with

To my ears, Eugenie and Frederick belong with Sylvie . . . though I do like Leonie and Iris.

Sorry - a couple of unfinished thoughts that I meant to delete appear above. Must remember to proofread!

Laura, I agree for the most part with your sibsets. However, I have strong feelings on a few of the names.
Jelani-sounds like a weird mix between Gelato and Gelatin with some flavor of Kelani mixed in. What is its actual origin?
Noelle-does not IMO go with Sylvie. It seems more of the Natalie/Isabelle/Kayla sort of thing. Sylvie seems more like Ruth/Beatrix/Lucia.
On other notes:
Codex is just plain weird and not a REAL name IMO. I believe the name they DO like is Lucie. Have they decided Lucie(as in Lucy) or do they like Lucia(as in Loo-chee-a)better. In both cases some names I think would match are Matilda, Jacques, Remington nn Remy, Sylvie, Amelie, Bianca, lots of French sounding yet English names. As far as the "x" factor. Maybe Lennox, Jaxson/Maxson/Saxson, Axel, Rex, and so on. I thought of Linus or Linux but the Charlie Brown and computer connections were too strong.

Re: Cason Jeffrey-I think its a lovely name with or without the nn CJ. If you absolutely didn't want a J middle name (or anything that would make an intial combo that is also a common nn) then you might like these: Paul, Alexander, Richard, Michael, Fredrick, Miles, William. I agree a strong classic name goes best.

re the person considering Cason Jeffrey, but who doesn't want a CJ nickname, why not simply use the older Geoffrey spelling? Concerning the choice of Cason, I will keep my opinions to myself. I don't understand the stressing over CJ. If you don't like using initials, don't use them. It's not as if everyone is automatically called by his/her initials. In fact, very few are. In any case it is impossible to come up with a name that doesn't have initials, unless you go the Prince route and use a bunch of unpronounceable symbols :-).

Amy Nicole:

I like the sound of Cason Jeffery as well.. but I thought I would offer up some other suggestions. Its hard to say what would sound right with out a last name.. but here goes

Cason Sawyer
Cason Parker
Cason Reece
Cason Riley
Cason Owen
Cason Hunter
Cason Bradley

I thought Cason Owen and Cason Bradley keep with the traditional feel but are a bit more trendy. Hope this is helpful!

I really, really dislike Cason. It reminds me of "casein" which is some sort of cheese protein. It also just seems like a trendy, made-up name that will always sound a bit silly.

/my two cents.

Codex and Cason sound dated-futuristic to me, if that makes sense. Like names you might find in 1980s postmodern fiction such as Blade Runner. I'm wondering if that's the zeitgeist that has produced all these odd boy-names I keep seeing: maybe all these people were preteens or kids in the 1980s and read or saw this kind of thing?

Or is it just simpler, and people are taking tired names and adding a new letter? Whatever it is, I'm too curmudgeonly for it. For Codex, what about the lovely and classic Alex? Anything with "Dex" in it just screams "Dexy's Midnight Runners" to me, though I'm certain that reference is a dead one.

As to CJ, I have a Caroline Jane and the first person who tried CJ (my mother-in-law) got a stern glare and that was that. I knew someone unfortunately nicknamed BJ who used to tell people it stood for Bubbles Jose'.

ok everyone, i have a sibling name question for you. My son is Parks. For a brother we were thinking about Jett. But Parks n' Jet is an airport service so... yah. Any good little bro names for Parks David?

Nymbler made a few suggestions that might work(I used the names Parker and David as inspirations as I did not believe Parks would be in thier database).

Julian Everett nn Jett
Benjamin Asher nn Banks(nod + wink to Eo)
Cooper Hollis
Mitchell Daniel
Jacob Mason

Or any of those separately or in combo with another mn. Btw, what's the ln sound like?

Valerie:

Pierce, Rhys, Rory, Beck, Nash, Beau, Rhett, Lance

I think Pierce Dillon (Dylan)would sound nice with Parks David.

Just wanted to add a late 2 cents to the Barack entry. I understand why the African names were chosen but it seemed like an off list to me because I know several Barak's, and all are Jewish with parents who have strong ties to Israel. Only one has a sibling and his name is Nadav.

Thanks Zoerhenne and Melissa C. for the names. Some nice choices! I have to giggle at Pierce(though I do really like it). My parents didn't want "Parks" and in the hospital, when my boy had already had his name for 2 days they said "How about Pierce?"

Valerie(if you are still reading),
That is pretty funny! Personally, I think Dylan Pierce flows better. But enjoy the process and let us know what you decide. The post has pretty much moved on so continue on the other pages so we are sure to notice.

Laura, if you are still reading these comments... I know that generally you don't give name origins/meanings in your book, but might you consider a comment on this name? It's clear that a lot of people think that Barack is associated with the Biblical Barak rather than the actual connection with the Hebrew Baruch (hope I spelled that right). I just think it might be worth noting why your suggestion list doesn't include any Hebrew names...

"The political story simply hasn't developed fully enough to match with historical figures." I *so* appreciated this cautious approach. What happens if he doesn't win? Or if he's a horrible president that some how disgraced the office? Then we'd NEVER think of associating such a person with Coretta Scott King or Rosa Parks etc. I remember being a kid when Walter Mondale (hope I spelled that right too) was running for office. People around me were CRAZY about him. Where is he now? Obviously, Walter isn't the same as Barack from a name stand point. Rather my point is that political winds blow and change so quickly that it seems prudent to let more play out before deciding if Barack is worthy of the stature of other historical names.

I am having trouble with choosing a sibling name for my daughter Lila (leela) meaning lilac flower in Spanish. i think I'm having a girl, too soon to tell. I like unusual names and am willing to keep to floral names like Violette, Azalia and Marigold. Since half are family is Spanish the name has to sound good in both English and Spanish. Other names i have considered are Anais, Jewel, Saffron, Clementine, Rivca and Athaliah. Any suggestions?

Valeria picking a name to match Parks is difficult for sure. I agree that u need to pick an unusual name and i do like Pierce or Sutton. Do u want to keep with the name letter P. In my family we all have M names and it def got confusing but it all flowed very well. A few more sggestions:

Paxton
Prosper
Merritt
Hampton
Ryder

hope this helps!

I once knew of a Kingston who's siblings were called Elsa, Avis and Franklin.
Never thought anything of it at the time but now it doesn't seem to fit with the public perception of the name Kingston.

I have a question about name vibes/stereotypes: I'd like to name our new son Tyrone (county in Ireland) to go with our other son who has a (Scottish) T name but as we're very caucasian in an African-American/Hispanic/Mexican neighborhood, my husband thinks it's asking for trouble/confusion. What do you think?

I'm due in December with child #2, and I'm having a hard time making a match. I went with the naming trend, crazily thinking that I was being original, and named my son Brayden. The name fits, and I love it, but I don't want to go uber trendy this time around. At the same time, I don't want a complete mismatch. I'm not sure if this one's a boy or a girl just yet. Do you have any suggestions.

I know of a Shaedon (pronounced to rhyme with Brayden) who has a little brother named Kelsey. I know its a bit old fashioned for a boy and commonly thought of as a girls name, but I do like it with Shaedon.

Apart from that I like Donovan with Braydon which isn't too popular. Or Elliot?

This is just completely off the top of my head though.

Well, I'd consider Kelsey for a girl, but we have a last name that begins with K, and I can't do the alliteration thing. Also, I'm a teacher, so lots of names have negative connotations for me already. This is so hard!

We had two Tyrones at my high school, one caucasian and one African-American. The caucasian was always known as White Tyrone.

@ HEATHER , Kelsey is ok, what about Kya (pronounced like Kyle) or Kierce

For some reason i've always like the name Araceli, it's not quite floral but I think it's pretty.

Floral

Rozaria

Azalea

Floral Baby Names
Amarantha

Anthea

Blossom

Jasmine

Camelia

Dahlia

Daisy

Flora

Heather

Hyacinth

Iris

Lily

Marguerite

Marigold

Pansy

Primrose

Rose

Rosemary

Shoshana

Violet

Yolanda

sarah:

I do feel like tyrone is an African american name.

Kamisha i love your name list. I do really like Azalea but im worried that it will sound funny with Lila beacsue of the two ending in "A" what do u think.

is Clover and Basil too fem for a male?

Interestingly enough, I don't think the Kingston boy names go AT ALL, but the girl names go PERFECTLY in my mind...

Laura,

I'm really surprised that "Honor" didn't show up as a sis for Kingston. When I was reading all the suggestions, that one felt right to me. Maybe I don't get it yet. ;)

AH

Amy Nicole-
I think she should stick with Cason Jeffrey. My son's initials are JR which I despise. I have never called him that and no one has ever used it for him either. If he doesn't care when he is older, than I won't. I think your friend can easily let family know that she doesn't like "CJ" or simply steer away from it. I made it more of a joke before my son was born but everyone got the hint. I don't think she should lose the family name just because of the initials. And definitely no to the "rhyming" names. He will never want to tell his friends his full name.

I need help. I am pregnant with my third child, a boy, and am needing a name to go with siblings Sebastian and Iris. My husband and I just cannot agree on a name....
Thanks much!

Please Help!! I have two boys age’s 10 years (Tyler Allan) and 21 months (Logan Christopher) and we are expecting our third boy in 6 weeks. I'm having a hard time making a match. I think that most of my prospects and my current boy's names are Bell Tone names - but I'm having a hard time deciding which makes the best match. I just cannot get inspired by any of them. I appreciate your thoughts!! This baby’s middle name will be William!! Thank you!

Avery
Brady
Jaxon
Grayson
Peyton

I have Kaitlyn and Christopher and am expecting #3. We don't know what we are having yet so we are looking for suggestions for a baby brother or baby sister.

I have a daughter named Ava Frances and am expecting#2. We don't know what we're having yet so we're looking for a baby brother's name or a baby sister's name to go with it. Any suggestions?

Oh God. Sylvie was on my shortlist for my daughter in 2003, and I rejected it because I thought it unlikely she'd be blond enough, also because I couldn't shake the picture of a kid with a Gauloise hanging off her lip. Also on the list: Noemie.

I won't tell you what Mitteleuropean name I did give my daughter, but if she had a sister, the sister would be Beate. It just jumped into my head with the power of a vision one afternoon, so there it is.