The Baby Name Wizard

First of all, I just wanted to let people know that this is d@isy_k@y, but I created a new account so I could use a different username. My husband and I just found out yesterday that we are expecting a baby. YAY! And since I use my former username on a family site, I didn't want them to be able to google it and find what names we are considering b/c I'm sure I'll be bouncing a lot of name ideas off of everyone here.

Anyway, on to other things. Yikes! I'm terrible at this guessing game. I guess that doesn't say much for the name nerd in me. My only thought was that the C category may be France.

I'm surprised I haven't seen this on FB - I'm there pretty often. It would interesting if it actually worked. Ha! I had to laugh at the Georgia names - too funny.

A Middle East somewhere or an Islamic Eastern African country.

B one of the Pacific Islands?

C is a little random for France, I'm guessing Andorra or Liechtenstein or one of the Channel Islands if they count?

D Nigeria?

E Bangladesh? There's too many weird two letter names for it to be India or Pakistan.

F Pope? That's totally thrown me. Think it must be another African nation as I'm assuming the majority of people in many countries in Africa aren't on Facebook, and therefore it's the higher classes with Western names, and Pope!

A looks like a mix between a Persian country (like Iran) and a Slavic country (eastern Europe/Russia), so I'll go with Azerbaijan, or Tajikistan.

C is obviously French-speaking ...but I don't know. Willy? Doesn't seem like France. Patrick? If Quebec were a country I'd guess that :-)

D looks like Morocco or Algeria.

F I'll go with Australia

NJ - totally agree with E likely being Bangladesh btw. Nurul is a common name, and I see a lot of abbreviations for first names for the Bangladeshi folks I know on Facebook, hence DK and HJ.

A. I'm guessing something in Central Asia; Kazakhstan, or maybe Uzbekistan?

B. Somalia? Ethiopia?

C. Belgium, or another small French-speaking country

D. somewhere in the Maghreb; Algeria or Morocco?

E. I have no idea. Gonna go with NJ and JenDixie and the Bangladesh guess, since India was the only thing I could even come close to guessing.

F. The weird thing about this list is that it's all male. So a former English-speaking colony where there are lots of males online? South Africa? A Pacific Island? Kenya?

Wow, this is tricky.

I'll guess:
A-Kazakhstan
B- Mongolia
C- a former French colony in Africa like Algeria
D- Senegal
E- no idea, so I'll go with Bangladesh also
F- ??? Tonga???

BTW- many congratulations, Empathy, on your pregnancy. I look forward to accompanying you on your naming journey!

this is the first time I'm commenting even though I read pretty regularly.
I had to get in on this though.
Is F Vatican City?

Weird and interesting all at the same time. I love the commentary Laura. I am not a Facebook fan, nor any good at geography. I have no clue on any of these except I do have these observations.
A-seems some kind of mix between Slavic and African
B-no clue
C-something like Norway or Sweden or something
D-Middle Eastern
E-Middle East or African
F-Canada?

PPP-Thank you for the pronunciation help. :) Yes you are a good tutor! I rather like "Shan-nay" but darn I forgot how it was spelled now. I've memorized Saoirse :)

Joyce, LOVE your guess about Vatican City!!! The idea of all the cardinals posting and then the pope posting under the name "Pope" cracks me up.

The other guesses look good to me. I was going to guess Uganda for D.

C- Norway or Sweden? With all those French names in there? Surely you jest! :)

Oops forgot to add my congrats to Empathy! Thanks also for notifying us about your sn change.

A - One of the -stans. Kazakhstan?

B - Mongolia

C - Absolutely no idea. Must be a tiny, possible French-speaking island. Willy? Kaneza?!

D - Senegal, maybe. Definitely French-speaking northern Africa.

E - Maybe Malaysia? The names seem both Indian and East Asian.

F - I'm gonna guess Vatican City, as lots of people make "joke" pages and I can't imagine a country in which Pope is actually a common name.

This is really interesting - I'll hazard some guesses:

A. I'll guess Uzbekistan for the mix of Islamic and Slavic names and the telling name of Ulugbek, with Turkmenistan or Azerbaijan as second guesses.

B. I cheated on this one and Googled some of the names - I think it is Mongolia - good guess Valerie!

C. I really don't know. Clearly a place with French influence, but not Muslim-French like D, and some English influence as well. My first guess would be a central African country, like Rwanda, Burundi or either Congo, but I suppose it could also be Haiti.

D. French West Africa - probably Senegal

E. A Muslim country, but I'm going to guess not in the Middle East - I'll say Indonesia or Malaysia.

F. I have no clue, but I'll second the guess for South Africa.

F - Vatican. Of course, bet it's joke names! I just kept thinking, these are all popular 'Western' names, and I've never heard of Pope as a name!

Mongolia - hadn't thought of that, to me the double uu is Hawaiian so that's why I went with one of the Pacific Islands.

The French one is confusing me! I think the ex-French colony guesses are right.

F couldn't be South Africa, there's aren't any Dutch influenced names (Joost or Wessel or Pieter). Those would be the names of the rich, white men using Facebook. Also, there aren't any women, and South Africa at the upper class level isn't as sex-segregated as to have no women involved.

Oh ha yeah of course Vatican City. It's averages Joes giving a fake listing, and then a bunch of joke pages for the Pope.

Ok, I'm going to be REALLY bad at this, but I'll play anyway. Here are some wild stabs in the dark:

a: Croatia
b: Uganda
c: Haiti
d: Syria
e: no clue
f: Boston

A) Uzbekistan

B) Mongolia

C) Rwanda

D) Mali (I'm an Amadou and Mariam fan)

E) Albania

F) Ireland

HA! Love the "Georgia" mistake. I studied Georgian in college and it's not the first time I've come across similar mistakes.

Georgian is a very consonant-cluster-happy language. The names are surprisingly palatable (no pun intended) to an American reader. Fun.

Long time lurker, first time poster. This one is just intriguing!

A - I'll guess Uzbekistan or Kazakhan. Definitely Central Asian.

B - Mongolia seems like a good guess here. Thinking of places there with double vowels like "Ulaan Baatar".

C - French speaking African country that is also Catholic (because of Patrick). I'm guessing Gabon or Cote d'Ivoire.

D - I'd guess Senegal or Mali. Definitely French West African.

The other two I have no clue on!

If F was Vatican City wouldn't the other names be more Italian sounding? Also don't the Italians call him Papa or something similar to that?

SO interesting. Here are my guesses:

A – Ukraine or Azerbaijan
B – Mongolia
C – Someplace that was colonized by the French at some point; Haiti, Monaco, Guiana, Polynesia?
D – Niger
E – Sri Lanka
F – Someplace very Catholic… I don’t suppose Rome gets its own statistics?

May I jump in also with a name question? I'm expecting our second. First is Micha3l T1mothy (family name, no choice on that one!). We'll find out in a couple of weeks whether this one will be a girl or a boy. I'm kind of thinking Thomas for a boy (classic, I like the nicknames, good patron saints :) and for a girl I have long been in love with this one: Laur3n Mercedes. My honest question is, does "Lauren" sound dated to you at all? I know it peaked in the 90s and has been trending down, but still in the 30's range. Since I tend to think of people like Lauren Bacall, though, it doesn't seem like it belongs to only one decade like Jennifer (or like my name, which is also an uber-typical 70s name).

Mercedes is a family name and I'd pronounce it the Spanish way (mer-ceh-dehs, not like the car). I figure it's a nontypical middle name, it sounds pretty, and since it's a middle name I won't be always worrying about pronunciation.

Final note is, our last name is standard two syllables like "Laffer". Do you all feel that a double first consonant is a "no" in all circumstances? I figure if it's just for one kid and not a matchy or sing-songy thing it works.

Obviously I'm worried about this name I like so much! You guys always have great thoughts though, so I appreciate your comments!

empathy,
congrats! i'm excited for you!

kallie,
to me, laura is more timeless than lauren; however, lauren isn't really dated to me like something like jennifer or stephanie. i think lauren bacall was like...the first lauren, if i recall.

you'll find that people on this board are split as regarding double initials/alliteration. i quite like it, unless it's rather extreme like lauren laurence or henry henderson. lauren laffer sounds fine (and fun!) to me.

both of your choices sound great. :]

kallie - I can relate to your indecision regarding alliteration. Dh and I love, love, love the name Teresa but am uncertain due to my last name which starts with a T and has an s in the middle. We've had 2 daughters and picked other names but if the next ones a girl I think we won't resist the Teresa temptation this time. So, before I would have told you that the L alliteration doesn't sound that terrific, but now I'm incline to say go for the name you love. Just don't pick an L for a middle name =)

Ok… so it’s a slow day at my office and I just spent about a half an hour gazing at the map. Even with some diligent searching I was only able to confirm three of the challenges Laura gave.
A – Uzebekistan
B – Mongolia
F – Vatican City

I know the statistics will be skewed since these names weren’t tracked via a reliable process like through the SSA – they’re a sampling of Facebook users not necessarily of the nation. However, after looking at the statistics for Taiwan, I think they’re going to be skewed even further. The top names listed for that country are Kevin, David, Eric, Jason, Michael, James, Andy, Chen, Jerry and Yu. Weird since I didn’t meet even ONE person with any of those names when I was there… But I did learn that many Asian cultures randomly assign their children “English” names in addition to their proper Chinese names for use abroad or on forms, etc. In addition to being mostly random, the English names are very fluid. I know a couple who gave their son the English name Derek, but say he turns 16 and decides he wants to be known as Mike, no one will even blink. Since FB is an English site and many characters don’t translate well into names, perhaps people from these nations have a tendency to use their “English” name instead of their given names?

As a naming oriented side-note, in Taiwan I was generally introduced to people by their Chinese names but younger people especially were excited to share their “English” name with me. Since people can assign themselves whatever name they want I came across a few weird ones (mostly ‘old’ names on young people), including this BEAUTIFUL girl who went by Milky. I’m guessing she had read it as a description, “Milky white skin” or something and thought it sounded pretty. I REALLY wanted to point out to her that it wasn’t a name… but she was so earnest, I didn’t have the heart.

Oh and I forgot to say CONGRRATULATIONS!!!! to Empahty. I'm very excited for you and look forward to hearing your naming journey!

@Kallie - I think Laur3n Mercedes Laffer sounds beautiful and classy. I don't see Lauren as dated at all. I've only known ONE in my lifetime (she's my age, late 20s) so the name actually seems pretty fresh to me. And I've always liked the name Mercedes (pronounced exactly the way you're doing it, not the car).

I found D: Senegal Go Valerie!

Qwen-Very observant-thanks for sharing!

Kallie-I like the name Lauren and know a 5 yo with this name so it still pops up now and again. I think of it as from the 70's but classic. (Btw, since you are new to the board I will confess I LOVE all things 70's so not the best person to ask LOL) It's not so much like Stephanie but more like Elizabeth or Jennifer which I also know a 6 yo with this name. Regarding the full name and the alliteration, I don't mind it either. Like emilyrae said, the more sounds in common the worse it gets. My maiden name was alliterative (sounded like Stay Strong) and no one commented so I think it will be fine.

And C: Burundi (I had never heard of this country! small country near Rwanda)

But now I really need to get to work... thanks Laura!

And C: Burundi (I had never heard of this country! small country near Rwanda)

But now I really need to get to work... thanks Laura!

No time to guess at the moment, but just wanted to say congrats to Empathy! Can't wait to hear your name choices.

Kallie- I'm not a huge fan of alliteration in names but i think it works better with certain names/letters than others (like emilyrae said). For example, though Lauren and Laffer both start with L the initial sound is not the same (lau vs. lah). I don't find Lauren dated and have only known one personally, though I did recently meet an elementary school aged Lorraine FWIW.

Sorry about the double post: before I go, Turkey would have been a good one too:
o Mehmet
o Mustafa
o Murat
o Ahmet
o Ali
o Emre
o Fatih (I keep reading this one as Faith)
o Hakan
o Hasan
o Onur

Now I'm really going to get to work!

I was also peeking at the map, and I have to say that Vin Diesel and Linkin Park are surprisingly popular in Uzbekistan! Happy I got at least one guess right though.

But you know, Belgium, Burundi, they both start with B right? :P

Thank you for the congrats, ladies! It means a lot. I'm looking forward to posting names DH and I agree on, but we haven't sat down to discuss names yet. He laughed at me b/c I just found out yesterday that I'm pregnant, and I'm already asking him about names. :P

Kallie, I'm kind of split on the alliteration issue. I think it can sound totally fine in some intances, but I think it's all about the balance of the two names. For example, we have a son named Solomon, and our last name also begins with 'S' and is one syllable. To me, with Solomon being 3 syllables and our last name being 1 syllable, it sounds balanced and nice. Had our surname been two syllables, I think it would have sounded off. As far as Lauren "Laffer", to me it just sounds off balance. But I don't think it's so off that it should keep you from using the name if you love it and can't see yourself using any other name.

And, for the record, I am officially going to get NO WORK done for the rest of the day. WHY is Vin Diesel so popular everywhere from Colombia to Qatar to Central Asia?! I think this website is my newest addiction...

Fascinating - spent over an hour on that site!

A Uzbekistan
B Mongolia
C Burundi
D Senegal
E Brunei
F Vatican City

(first time commenting, but love the blog - no kids, just love names and how people get their names).

Congrats, Empathy!

Kallie: I think of Lauren as a bit dated, but still fairly classic. Another to consider is Laurel. And I love alliteration.

All right, people: DH and I are expecting baby number 6, and I don’t know yet, but I have a strong feeling this one is a girl. So, our number one name is Beatrix/Beatrice (unless she is a blonde; we haven’t thought of a blonde name yet). Help us decide which version is better!

Pros for Beatrix:
- It’s even rarer than Beatrice.
- It has a spunky, quirky feel.
- It sounds like it came straight out of the middle ages (anyone actually know?) and that’s really romantic in my opinion.
- I like girls’ names that end in hard sounds. They are so much more interesting.

Cons for Beatrix:
- It’s close to Bellatrix, and that sounds very witchy post-Harry Potter. On the other hand, it does lend it a cool, fantastical sort of air as well.
- Another Potter problem: her last name would be P@lmer, and I’m worried that Beatrix P@lmer would be confusingly close to Beatrix Potter.
- I don’t like Trixie.

Pros for Beatrice:
- Such an attractive heroine in Much Ado About Nothing. Our other daughter’s name is Juliet, so then both girls would be named after Shakespeare heroines. My husband and I were both English majors, so this would be sort of a nice, subtle theme.
- Seems more classic.

Cons for Beatrice:
- Does vaguely remind me of a disagreeable priest who taught a seminar during which he assigned the Purgatorio and then insisted that everyone refer to Beatrice as “bay-a-TREE-see-a.” Which is just silly. Also, therefore, sort of reminds me of Hell, since I never made it past mid-Purgatorio in the Divine Comedy (and thus never got to the Heaven part), even though it was assigned me THREE TIMES.
- Not a huge fan of the “triss” sound.

Finally, any middle name ideas for Beatrix/Beatrice? I’ve pretty much exhausted all the family tributes I wanted to make with the first five babies, so this middle name will be whatever I want it to be. I’m finding it surprisingly hard to think of nice names that sound good with Beatrix/Beatrice, though. The middle name cannot start with M, O, or R.

I know that lots of people like Beatrix/Beatrice on this board, so let’s hear the votes! Or tell me you hate them both! I have very thick naming skin.

Jane, Mo5: I love Much Ado About Nothing, so that wins me over to that side, but I do like the 'ks' sound better.
Also, Beatrice and Juliet seem like sisters more than Beatrix and Juliet

As far as mn: since your other children have mns from family, I'd try to make it super special- a loved character? (so she's not left out)
or what about Beatrice Jane?

Jane MO5-Congrats! I like Beatrice better but mostly because I enjoy the classic, traditional spellings of most names. However, Beatrice Potter is too close to Beatrix Potter for me :P
Here are some other choices if you're interested along with some mn options. (and if you could remind us of the others for sibset ideas that would be cool-did I mention I LOVE Nymbler)
Cordelia-hmm recent posts about this one
Celeste
Geneva
Renata
Charlotte
Alice-I sense a Nymbler conspiracy LOL!
Cecelia
Sylvie
Francesca

Beatrice Allegra
Beatrice Marin
Beatrice Violet
Beatrice Noelle
Beatrice Marceline
Beatrice Virginia
Beatrice Felicity
I think it needs to be a long flowing name in
the middle spot.

@Jane of 5: I like Beatrice better, I do think Beatrix P@lmer is too similar to Beatrix Potter.

I second the Beatrice Jane and Beatrice Violet suggestions, or perhaps
Beatrice Cla(i)re
Beatrice Anne
Beatrice Collette

I know that Collette is a bit random, I was just trying to think of a 2 syllable with an emphasis on the 2nd syllable, since I think that works better with the emphasis of Beatrice.

jane, mother of five (soon to be six!),
ha. you are cracking me up; i love that you pick out names for babies of different hair colors.

could you tell us your children's names? i'm just curious--i love hearing large sets of siblings!

if it were me, i'd absolutely pick beatrix. for whatever reason, though the names are very similar, i love beatrix and don't really care for beatrice. for reasons i can't pin down, beatrice sounds like an old woman to me, but beatrix sounds young and spunky. i'm also not a huge fan of the "triss" sound. i don't really think either harry potter or beatrix potter hurt the name.

however, it's your call! the shakespeare connection is kind of cool (i was an english major too--hurrah!), and i'm sure i would change my mind about beatrice if i knew an adorable little girl with that name.

oh, maybe you could use bea or bebe instead of trixie? i like trixie on a little girl, but not an adult.

for middle names...hmm. maybe:
beatrix eve
beatrix faye
beatrix felice
beatrix adelaide
beatrix kate
beatrix adele
beatrix lark

@Empathy, congrats! I love Solomon's name so I can't wait to hear what you're thinking of for baby #2.

@Kallie, I prefer Laura to Lauren, but don't find Lauren dated. Rather, it's sort of timeless to me along the lines of Elizabeth. And the alliteration wouldn't bother me at all. The one Lauren I know IRL (late 20s/early 30s) also has an L-ln. I think it sounds great!

@Jane Mother of Five, I *love* Beatrix. It's sweet and spunky. I wouldn't be put off by Potter being too close to your ln; I don't think it is. If I were having another girl, Beatrix might top my list.

However, I agree that Beatrice and Juliet match in a very handsome way so, for you, I might have to vote for Beatrice. As for a mn, it should definitely be something meaningful since the other kids have family names.

Love the FB name guessing and I can't wait to see the final results!

Jane, congratulations!!! It sounds like I'm in the minority, but I have to ditto emilyrae on Beatrix--I love it, but for some reason Beatrice just doesn't appeal. Beatrix seems cool and interesting, while Beatrice makes me think of a little old lady with a tight perm. Be@trix Palmer doesn't bother me at all, and Beatrix also doesn't make me think of Bellatrix at all--they're just very different in familiarity/association to me.

Empathy, congratulations to you, too!! :) Can't wait to hear what names you're thinking of!

Kallie, I do tend to like alliteration, but I think I like it better with different numbers of syllables--like, I think I'd prefer Lucinda Laffer, or something like that, but if you really love Lauren, I think that's fine. Lauren does sound a bit dated to me (I seem to know a lot of 20 somethings named Lauren, including multiple cousins). I prefer Laura or Laurel (which I love), but again, I think Lauren is totally fine, and you should go with it if it's what you love.

@Jane of 5: You're the one with twins John and Patrick right? Or James and Patrick? And maybe there was also a Charles? I was just trying to decide if your boy names would change my middle name suggestions.

congrats to our newest "Great Expectations er... Expectators?

On the Beatrice debate: I know of 2 irl, one is 7 and occasionally is called Beatty, while the other is 25 and goes by B (not Bea). Also, the immortal Beezus Quimby provides another literary nn, or in Olympic spirit, Beezy Madden. Not a Triss in sight ;p

@zoerhenne: Seanait? I'm also secretly in love with Damhnait (DAV-net, little fawn), but it has been vetoed due to resemblance to da** it. Sigh...not so secretly now, I guess :)

PPPhd--ooh, I agree with you and your DH--Damhnait has a lovely meaning and sound, sooo sweet, but yes, I think the spelling is a problem. Neat name, though!

Jane of 5- i prefer Beatrix, i agree it has more spunk! also Beatrice Palmer and Beatrix Palmer both bring to mind Beatrix Potter for me so I don't think it makes much of a difference in that sense, though both names are lovely. I would love to know your other children's names (I'm newish here and don't think we've virtually 'met' before). That'd give me a better sense of mn choices. Though i think Beatrix Adele is lovely.

Thanks, hyz!

There's a folk/rock singer here in Newfoundland called Damhnait Doyle. She occasionally does op/ed pieces for the Telegram under the by-line "Dav.net", kind of a pronunciation guide/URL all in one!

@Linnaeus: from last thread, it occurred to me that with your interest in poor, ill-advised Aethelred, you might really enjoy a novel called "The Last Light of the Sun" by Guy Gavriel Kay (a Canadian, and great name, btw). It's kind of equal parts historical fiction, alternate history, and fantasy, and centres on the dynamic between the Angles, Welsh, and Vikings, by other names. The history and mythology is fairly sound - usually is in all Kay's books. Sorry for the bibliophile plug!