The Baby Name Wizard

Congratulations, Jennifer & Julie - well done!

Yay! Congratulations ladies!

Well done both of you!

Congratulations!!

Very impressive. Well done, ladies!
- Aiea, The champ of year 2. ;)

Congratulations, Jennifer and Julie! Well played!

@larksong and everyone else that commented on Amelie: Thanks for the comments. Its reassuring knowing that NEs like it, too!!

In response to the names posted last post (in the comments) I really love all of them. And I agree, if I was to repeat first initials (I'm also really drawn to other A names) I would try to make the rest of the name different. For example, I know a brother and sister whose names are similar to Carly and Chandler. Very different sounds, I think, so it doesn't really bother me.

I think the winners' names are notable too. Two of my best friends are also named Jennifer and Julie. They must be around my age!

I wonder if Adele will be a hot name in 2011. It showed up on the top 1000 list in 2010 for the first time since 1969, and lately I can't turn on the radio without hearing "Rolling in the Deep."

Yay! I never play because I live in a hipster zone and everyone is striving to be unique -- hence there are many Stellas here. But I miss all the other trends. Congratulations Julie and Jennifer!

The last thread was about how many kids we have, naming wishes for the future or unmet, and so on. I only have one. She had to be named after my mother or I'd break a 10-generation chain. Her middle name had to come from my partner's mother for balance. I can't have any more, but I wish I'd had another girl for a name to play with (we had a boy name similarly hooked to family). I'm fond of Eleanor, Audrey, and, oddly enough, Justine. I'd probably have gone for Eleanor Justine, nicknamed Nora not Ellie.

Beth-My "odd enough" name is Mallory. Seeing you put Justine up there reminded me of it through Justine Bateman >Family Ties and all.

Aurora-I have had similar thoughts.

Congratulations!

I really like that the winners are a Jennifer and a Julie :)

Re Adele- I was tempted to put it in my rising predictions for 2010, but google told me that Adele didn't really hit America until the very end of 2011. Love the name, and I think the singer's brilliant.

I haven't checked in in awhile, but I've been living and working for a publisher in the UK for the last year. There's a 2 year old Adele on my street, along with a M!lo (about a year- took his first steps at our Royal wedding street party!), sibs Th3a (4) and Sams0n (2), and Ros!e (11 or so), who has 2 little brothers, but I haven't worked out who's related to whom. There's at least one Ed, one George, one Harry and three Williams amongst the under-12s on the street!

I'm really looking forward to the release of the Brit name stats in September :)

*end of 2010, even.

RE Adele:

There's a 5 year-old Adele in my son's kindergarten class. nn Addie
I think it's a name that's definitely on the rise. It's sweet and old-fashioned, has those popular vowel sounds, and a cute nn. I'm not aware of the singer/song referred to, but the name is already on the edge of the radar, and I'm sure any pop culture exposure will help to further the name's use/popularity.

I like Adele a lot as well and definitely on my list of girls names. I also hadn't heard of the singer before.

I'm wondering what gems you all have uncovered from the states' data. I always like to see how different my state's top 10 is to the national top 10 (I'm in Missouri by the way). One big difference was Elijah at #6 up from #24 last year and Eli also expereinced a similar jump from #69 to #49. Both way above national average. I did feel a twinge of pride that Jayden wasn't in out top 25. One oher item of note was that Josephine was in the top 100 (#94) here but nationwide only at 186.

I love Adele... and I think it'd be a really good bet for the swiftest riser next year. It has all the fashionable sounds combined with media exposure, as others have said. The "Addie" nickname hadn't even occurred to me, but that probably further heightens the appeal!

Adele was at the top of the list for my DD for awhile, but it didn't flow so well with our 1 syl LN. Lovely name, though. I tried to warm to Adela instead, but just couldn't love it. There's a baby Adela at our daycare (in the same room with Beata and Nigel--attack of the European sounding babies! lol).

So I'd love some feedback on the flow of the name were strongly considering for the baby boy were having this summer. J@m3s L@wr3nc3 Tys0n. Is it too "s" heavy? Lawrence is a family name on both sides and I've wanted to use it but I am not unsure about the flow. Even though it's dh's mn he's not in love with Lawrence and would prefer to go with Philip in the middle spot. Philip is a longtime favorite of dh's and for a couple of months we thought we were going to name this baby Philip so were even calling him by that name.

Another Laura, I think Lawrence works as a middle name. Philip sounds nice as well, though.

James is on my list of favorite names. We may have babies born with the same first name!

another Laura-May is a crazy month here so had to take a break from scouring the baby name stats for a bit. When I get back to it in a few weeks time (it will be too late probably) but I can tell you a few thoughts then if you like.

About your name question, out of all the combos I could come up with from those names, it works well. See below and place names as appropriate with initials:
J L T=okay
J P T=not great
P J T=no
L J T=yes
P L T=best
L P T=no

re Adele - I have a childhood friend named Adele so seeing it rise now is quite amusing!

Another laura - I think James Lawrence T.... works OK, I don't mind the repeating /s/ sound. However I slightly prefer James Philip T....., it just flows better for me.

another Laura,

A really beautiful, classic name! I had been one to vote strongly for Phi1ip L@wr3nc3 combo in the past, but when I typed both full names out, I really like the look of the JLT variation. Visually very striking and repeated S sound doesn't bother me at all. Also, I like that your last name carries some currently popular sounds, which gives a fresh and modern balance to the weightier L@wr3nc3.

Thanks for the feedback. Definitely a hard call. It's good for some fresh perspective b/c dh has been arguing that James Philip is a no brainer. What's interesting is that when we were considering Philip as a fn we were going to use Nathaniel as a mn b/c I like the Biblical connection between the two men. I think a lot of it will depend on how sentimental I'm feeling as the due date approaches. I know it would be a lot for my dad if we used Lawrence.

Can someone please explain why you substitute punctuation and numbers for letters? F!nn, S@ndra, Ade1e, etc...

I've only seen that when one is writing about a child who exists and who has already been named (and whose name is possibly being mocked). Why disguise a laundry list of ordinary British toddler names?

guestina-You answered your own question. People like to disguise the names of already living individuals (or potentially real) so they are less "google-able".

another Laura - I LOVE James—it is probably my all-time favorite boy name (though I don't think I'll get to use it myself, as my husband isn't a fan). As a name, I prefer Lawrence to Philip (I'm a big fan of Lawrence as well), and the flow is a draw for me, so my pick would be Lawrence. But I suppose there's something to be said for placating your DH. Is it possible you might have more kids after this? Could you make the argument that you want to save Philip as a first name in case you have another boy? (since you were considering it earlier?)

Regarding the state name data—I noticed that in California, Delilah is ranked #84, while nationally it is #187. That's a big difference! (Though looking now at the NameMapper, I see that it has been in the top 100 in California and New Mexico since 2008). I wonder what is driving that? Are Californians more forgiving of biblical villainesses than people elsewhere in the country? I wish we had state data for beyond the top 100.

And, speaking of biblical villainesses—Lilith has cracked the top 1000 for the first time ever! I looked at its trajectory over the past 30 years, and it is fascinating. From 1980 to 1989, it only appears in the Beyond the Top 1000 data three times (7 in '85, 5 in '87 and 5 in '89). That means in every other year in that time period, there were 4 or fewer Liliths born. From 1990 to 1996, it hovered between 7 and 15. Then from 1997 to 1999, Lilith Fair happened, and the name began climbing—29, 63 and 89 over those years. And ever since, it has been climbing very, very gradually (an average of 15 more babies each year), until it reached 253 this year and came in ranked #992. I wonder to what extent it is riding on Lily/Lillian's coattails? I think it is particularly interesting viewed alongside the rise of Delilah. It looks like both these names are on their way toward rehabilitation.

ok, I'm bursting here! I found out yesterday I'm pg--Yay! Kinda shocked because we just quit avoiding pregnancy. It is early, due in mid-late Jan.

BUT my dh is away for the weekend, with a bunch of people, and I want to tell him in person. So waiting until Sunday...

I can't tell anyone else before him, but in the relative anonymity here, I decided it was safe. I've talked to both my parents and almost slipped. And I keep txting dh to come straight home Sunday, don't dally. it is killing me (and I think worrying him). If i don't tell someone, I'm going to go crazy-- so you, my NE friends are the someones!

And to make matters worse, I am going to a celebration tonight (where drinking is a main event) and will have to come up with some excuse... any ideas?

oh, but to really talk about naming a baby... so excited!

Congratulations knp! Oh I know that bursting feeling! So glad you've shared it with us.

As for the not drinking, this is what I've done in the past. Either said that I'm on antibiotics (or some sort of medication) and can't drink, or that I'm on a cleanse and and can't drink alcohol. I worked with a woman who would tip the bartender/waitress up front a $20 and tell her/him to only bring her non-alcoholic drinks when she ordered. I never did that as I was afraid she/he might slip or the drinks might get accidently mixed up.
Good luck!

Congrats, knp!!

knp-Congrats to you and DH! The medication angle is the best one I can think of also for avoiding the alcohol. It is a shame that people have the expectation of drinking at social events, but that's a topic for another board. On the name aspect, I am SOO happy that others continue to get pregnant so I have names to talk about LOL!

knp - Congratulations!!

Medication as an excuse often prompts solicitous inquiries into your health problem. So I think it works if you are known to have some kind of ongoing health problem that could hypothetically be requiring such medication, but not as effective if you're in otherwise good health, since you'll potentially have to answer a lot of follow up questions. Not so much from coworkers, but definitely friends.

Others that seem to require less explanation: you are just getting over the stomach flu/food poisoning (no one wants the details!), you are still hungover from drinking too much last night, you are the designated driver or have to go somewhere early the next day.

If you usually drink mixed drinks and it's an event at someone's home where you are pouring your own alcohol, or if it's outside the home where there's a bartender, you can put together something from the mixers that looks like an alcoholic beverage but is missing the alcohol. You just need to make sure you're getting your drink at a different time than everyone else is - just duck into the bathroom. I wouldn't worry if you ask the bartender directly, though asking them to remember the rest of the night requires more trust.

I've also heard of women getting a beer, dumping it out in the bathroom, fill it up with water, and then nursing the opaque bottle/can all evening, but I think being caught pouring out a drink is much harder to explain, especially if your host paid.

Good luck!

Congrats - knp! Thats great news!

EVie - thanks for the great feedback. I've thought of the saving Philip angle particularly since I do love the Philip Nathaniel combo. As far as placating dh goes he's such a sweetie that all I'd have to say is that I'd consider using Lawrence a way of passing down my name and dh would be happy. But the name does need to flow well. We didn't use Lawrence as a mn for my first son b/c I didn't like the blending "l"s of Paul Lawrence. So I'll only push using Lawrence with James if it flows well.

knp, Congratulations!! So exciting! Can't wait to hear the initial name ideas...

Also, I would love your votes/opinions/suggestions on my 5th boy. With a long, long (and growing) list of girl names (Rosamond, Clementine and Jemima were frontrunners this time), I am fresh out of ideas on the boy side, and actually told my husband he can choose whatever he likes. So, this may be a purely academic exercise in the end, but if you’d like to weigh in…

Sibs (all family names btw) are:

Fiona
Wesley
Annabel Molly*
William
Henry Thomas
Joseph

*Molly was named after a living relative, and over the years has gone by any number of sweet things to differentiate herself among family…Molly Ingrid, Molly Robin, Molly Rue, Annabel Molly and Molly Bird…

Thoughts we've had:

Anthony
August
Frederick
Felix
Gilbert
John (Jack—or Captain Jack Sparrow on behalf of the other children)
MacDonald (Mac)

@Guestina- The@ and S@ms0n seemed particularly googleable, and I just went with it for the rest.

@Another Laura, JLT is maybe a bit lispy but the strong classics overrule it I think. Have you fully ruled out Philip? Pip is such a great nn, and Philip quite distinguished. Phil maybe not so much, but it should be fine getting people to call him Philip- we're so used to the full Alexanders and Williams and Nathaniels that a full Philip should raise any eyebrows (assuming that your hesitation is the nn Phil).

Allegr@ and knp, congratulations!

Allegr@, I love Mac. We almost named our 5th boy Mac, actually, and also played around with Cormac, nn Mac. Is MacDonald a family name? If so, that has my vote. I also quite like August and Frederick (with or without the final "k"). August especially seems dashing and romantic, while still very masculine.
Finally, if you like Frederick, have you considered Patrick? We have a Patrick too and I find the name wears very well.

Blythe - I would say Philip isn't completely ruled out but yes it is Phil that really hurts it and I'm quite partial to one-syllable names. I think my kids are still hoping for a Philip since we were set on that name for a while. Pip has some appeal but since I have a Paul already the repeating "p" sound isn't optimal. With all his movements lately, Flip seems more appropriate =) I actually never saw the appeal of Philip until I overheard a toddler at the park by that name and it was quite charming. Hubby loves it and would go back to it quite easily.

Allegra - Congrats on your 5th boy! While I like the nn Mac the MacDonald is too close to McDonald's and golden arches for it to get my vote. Of your choices listed I like Frederick the best with August a close second.

Allegr@:
I like Felix and August (mostly because of the nickname Gus) the best our of your list.

Another Laura:
I like James Lawrence. It's a very strong sounding name.

@Allegra - I love a lot of your names :) For your 5th boy I'm liking Felix and August. I would also go for Cormac (nn Mac) over McDonald. Patrick is also an excellent suggestion.

Other suggestions:
Campbell
Miles
Sinclair
Angus
Jasper
Alisdair

@knp - congrats!!! Lovely to see another long time poster pregnant. I also blabbed on here withing hours of getting my BFP as it was fun to share. Can't wait to see what you are thinking name wise as I know we share a similar style.

A story some of you NE might find amusing...... I was at a baby shower yesterday and one of the games was a 'match the celebrity baby to the parents' game. Of course I found it dead easy and matched all 20 up in no time. Everyone around me was struggling. I got them all right and the person who organised the game actually thought I had somehow cheated as apparently she spent hours researching to come up with the questions. Everyone assumed I spend too much time reading gossip magazines, when in fact it's just spending too much time obsessing over names and hanging out here and on Name Candy :)

Thank you everyone-- telling you got me through yesterday! (and I was able to order a virgin drink without anyone hearing, and not as much pressure as I expected to drink more! but thanks for the medication idea, that was my backup) Now just waiting the hours until hubby comes home-- I think it'll feel more real once I tell him. :)

Allegra: somehow i feel that Gilbert brings symmetry to your sibset. Or Frederick, but I love Gilbert, and won't be able to use it...

You know, the sounds in Gilbert are not fashionable, and yet the name Gilbert is still always on my long list for each baby, because of Gilbert Blythe. I think you could do it as long as your last name did not have a lot of consonant clusters. Also, the nickname Gib is super cute.

Speaking of Gilbert Blythe, the name Blythe/Blithe for a girl could be kind of nice. Uncommon and with a lovely meaning. I could see it appealing to the same people who like Lily but don't want a top 50 name.

knp-Glad things are working out for you.

Chimu-Funny story about your baby shower. I'm always good with the baby food tasting.

Allegra-Your children names are a bit diverse in style. They seem to lean a little British to me though. They are lovely and I do understand that they are family names. So here are my ideas:

Frederick-I like this one
Felix-this is good too

Peter; Graham; Owen; Vaughn; Lincoln; Mitchell; Sebastian; Preston; Spencer; Stuart; Ian; Arthur; Gavin; Shane

knp, congratulations!!! Can't wait to follow along with your naming process. :)

And Allegr@, congratulations to you, too! Goodness, 5 boys--that will be a handful. :) I'm sorry to see you have to pass on Rosamond and Clementine (two of my very faves), but of course I love August from your boy list, as well. I also like the suggestions of Patrick and Alastair, and I'd add Peter and Silas for consideration.

Oh, I missed zoerhenne's comment before I posted somehow. I see she already mentioned Peter, and I have to second her suggestion of Graham, as well.

Ooooh Patrick! Love Patrick. Wonderful name.

I hate to hijack a thread, but how popular is too popular.

I love Daniel. It's at 8, but in my neck of the woods, it's often dueling for the number one spot. I wouldn't mind so much....but about seven years ago every other boy was being named Ethan. I liked it well enough, but it got tired. I wondered why THAT name in particular.

Now, I'm in the same spot! The only other name I really love is David, but I think that's out for other reasons.

Mommy-to-be: I, too, have gotten really tired of Ethan (although I have to admit I never loved it in the first place). I can't see ever getting tired of Daniel in the same way, though. Yes, I guess they are both Biblical names, but Daniel is a much more prominent Biblical name that has pretty much always been in general use in America. Ethan, on the other hand, is relatively obscure and soared out of nowhere into popularity.

Consider just the endings: Daniel has the classic Biblical ending, "-el" just like Michael and Ezekiel, etc. Ethan has the extremely current, soon-to-be outdated "-en/an" ending of Aiden/Aidan, Caedan, etc. In fact, Ethan and Aidan are extremely close in sound if not spelling, which I think contributes to Ethan burnout.

Daniel, though, is a classic name that will stand the test of time. It is also handsome and strong sounding without seeming inappropriate on a toddler or young boy.

Congrats knp!

Thanks everyone for your thoughts. It is interesting to see Felix, August and Frederick (Jane 6, I also like w/o the k) as favorites. Those 3 were chosen without meaning or family namesakes in mind. John, Gilbert, Anthony and MacDonald are the meaningful, if slightly dull, choices.
Jane 6, MacDonald is not a family name, but almost feels like one, as an author my father read to me as a child, I enjoyed as an adult, and continue to read to my own children. Mac was originally a way to make the MacDonald name more palatable, not the reverse. Otherwise, I agree w/ you and Chimu about Cormac as a better source for Mac. Funnily, I had suggested Cormac to my husband as an independent name, but he found the McCarthy reference too strong, and although I admire his writing, his work is very dark for our taste.
If I dig around, Augustine (not August, but close) is meaningful to my husband, and Felix does have 67-some saints to choose from, and while I’m drumming up Felix meaningfulness, Mendelssohn’s violin concerto in E minor is a favorite.
Patrick drifts around our long list and has come close to middle spot a few times, but lacks personal connection. It is also more conventional than my taste would run if just picking a name for it’s own sake.
Another Laura, I’m okay w/ the golden arches issue (especially if he went by Mac), but I really want to use John (at least as a middle name), and “MacDonald John” sounds like roll call (last name, comma, first name) in the military to me. Maybe I should save it for boy 6;)
allij28, while I think August could be my favorite on pure attractiveness-merit, I don’t care for Gus. Not sure if that is a problem...
Chimu, Felix and August are DH’s top picks, and he leans toward Felix (what happened to my super conservative husband? Felix is a tad hipster??) . I worry a bit about August’s rising popularity, should I not? From your other suggestions, I like Miles, but the M,L,S sounds are soft for my taste, really like Angus (dh thinks cattle), we have a close friend already w/ a Jasper, and Alistair (love) was already a middle name for my last child.
knp, Thank you for the Gilbert vote. A beloved author and a kinda fun name, but dh doesn’t agree, and fell over laughing when I put Gibbie on what he calls my “name matrix.” He did mention (see his aforementioned bizarre republican-turned-hipster conversion) that Gilbert might be okay if he went by Bert...huh?? I’ll see if Jane 6’s suggestion of just Gib goes over better. I agree Frederick works well w/ the sibs. It is the one with no meaning whatsoever…and I just realized that if I want a Mac one day, Freddie could prove troublesome.
zoerhenne, it’s funny you pegged my kids names as British. I have noticed over the years, as I dabble in and out of different naming styles, the one constant attraction has always been a slightly British flavor. I confess I chose Felix and Frederick in part b/c I like alliteration, but I could be overdoing. Our last name is one syllable starting w/ Fr__, and I have always like Fiona with it, but Felix might be too much? of your ideas, dh has firmly vetoed Sebastian for 10 yrs now, and Stuart and Arthur appeal to me quite a bit, and in the same way as Gilbert, but I might need a namesake to go for them. Your and hyz’s suggestion of Peter is one I like quite a bit, and has meaning. i wonder if it lacks flair in my mix of no-flair boy names. I quite like Graham, and might consider for a middle.

hyz, Silas is one I like a lot, but, like Miles, feels a bit soft for me. I am also hearing it around like crazy lately.

Oh dear, I've rambled on...so sorry.

Mommy to be named Dee,
I completely agree with Jane 6 about Daniel. It is a very timeless, classic name, without feeling boring. Ethan, on the other hand, has become trendy, and will seem date-stamped down the road.

Mommy-to-be named Dee: Daniel is a more classic name than Ethan, like others have said. Not trendy at all. It will probably always be around. And I have never met a Daniel I didn't like!