Holly Hall - I was afraid that she would get made fun of!

I love Clover. It's a nature name, which I tend to like, and there's something so fresh and sweet about it. Alas, everyone I've told about it gives me the ol' raised eyebrow look. One person said it sounded like a horse's name, which I can't entirely disagree with. I was a big fan of My Little Pony once upon a time. Maybe that explains my fascination!

I love the name Beatrice.  I could never use it though, it just sounds like an old lady who wears rose water perfume.  Not that there is anything wrong with rose water-wearing old ladies, I just don't want to be changing one's diapers.

i LOVE Cecily for a girl! Pretty much the only thing that is holding me back from it is that my husband hates it.

I've always loved the name Lorenzo but, alas, I only have girls, and now that Snooki is most likely going to use it, it has lost some appeal!

I'd love to use Fiona, but am a little worried about the Shrek connection.

I love Bently or Dakota for a boy but my husband hates both.  I really like Violet for a girl too but wouldn't want her to get made fun of because of her name being a color/flower.

I love the name Barnabas. LOVE it.  Not a fan of "Barney" though, and I have a long last name that makes Barnabas even more of a mouthful.  But such a great meaning: "Son of Encouragement".

I love the name Lily. I think it's beautiful and simple, however I don't want to use the name because my first child's name begins with the letter L. If I did that I think I would feel pressure to name any additional children with names that also begin with the letter L just so they all go together.

I love the name Emma.  I also love Jonah and Channing for boys.  I gave my son Channing for his middle name although I really wanted it for his first name.  My husband said he felt it was too girly. Lol.  Brady was always a favorite too but alas my husband hated that one too.  We are even.  He liked the name Hazel and Serenity for girls.  

I love Salvatore. Not Salvadore, or Salvador, or Salvator, or any variation. First, because my great-uncle and great-great grandfather had that name--as a first name. I grew up hearing the affection in their voices of my mother and her relatives talking about "dear Uncle Salvie," and I thought it was such a manly-sounding, yet kind of tender name. Then to find it comes from "Salvatore"... what an awesome name!

One of the young hosts of the show "Mythbusters," Tory, is actually named Salvatore.

I couldn't get my husband to agree, but that's not the real reason we never used the name. Even though I love it, it's just too "out there" for me. I was afraid of all the weird things people might think about our boy as he was growing up--that he was of a different race than he is, that it's too "foreign" sounding, that none of the nicknames were "normal" either... and yet I dislike very popular names.

I'm delighted with our two boys' names (one of which would have gone PERFECTLY with Salvatore, as a brother's name!), and they really suit the boys to a T. But I still feel sad about Salvatore--the boy who'll never be!

We have a really hard time using the more popular baby names for our kids, and try to stay out of the top 500.  (this is what I use babynamewizard for haha!) But once as a joke I posted a meme about Liam Neeson on my husband's facebook page and said, "Let's name our baby Liam Neeson F____!" (our last name starts with F, not the F word HA!)  Hubby replied that he actually really liked the name Liam, and so did I!  We love it!  And we never agree on Boy names! But it is #15 on the list ---------- totally outside of our name criteria!  Way too popular!  But we are having a hard time giving it up.

Memory... I think it's cute, but may be a little out there for me, plus our last name is Martian, so Memory Martian might be a tad strange.

My secret baby name love is February. I can't tell you why I love it, I just do! There is something about the way it sounds, with all the rolling syllables. Saying it makes me smile, but I just can't get over the whole naming after a month thing... It's not too out there for me, our two daughters are Verity and Gethsemane. :) I don't really care how unusual a name is as long as it holds a lot of personal meaning to our family. So I guess the reason I can't just seem to pull the trigger on this one is because it's meaning isn't very significant to me.

I woulc love Zacharia or Xotchil but they are so hard to pronounce! And the nicknames would be hard to come up with!

Magdalene. I love Maggie but not Margaret, so we could use Maggie as a nickname if we needed to...and I love the way this name looks and sounds. I'm afraid people would think it was too "out there" on a little girl, though...and also that people would say "mag-dah-LEEN", which would drive me crazy.

I love the name Alistair but I hate the nickname Al.  Also it would be hard to spell and spelling it Allister makes it too girly.

I absolutely love, love, love, adore the name Hazel. It even fits our musical theme for girls! The problem? Our last name starts with H and I just cannot bring myself to participate in name alliteration, which I hate. I almost love Hazel enough to use it anyway- but not quite. I have to content myself with suggesting it to friends (two have used it so far!)

double post, sorry

My not-quite-trigger-puller name is Tallulah.  I love, love, love the name and have for years.  At first it was too out there for me, but I've since gotten used to it.  My husband, however, is another matter entirely.  It's way to odd for him and most likely will be forever.  boo! to that!

My picks are not too "out there" but I've received my share of looks. I am obsessed with the name Myles or Miles for a boy. I was told I better hope he isn't chunky. And I like Anya, pronounced with a long a sound, for a girl.

We have four boys, and for the last three we have considered --even been on the brink of -- choosing Axel.  We love it because it's masculine, has germanic roots like we do, and is unusual without being wacky.  The problem?  Problems, rather!  First, of course, the one most people have heard of is Axl Rose.  Second, there's that pesky car part -- with a different spelling, but does that help or mean a life of misspelled name drama?  And then, with the rise in popularity of Alex, I am pretty sure we'd be frequently 'corrected' on paperwork.  So I bid a sad, fond farewell to a strong, delightful name.  

I have always loved the name Ione.  I don't know why I feel like I can't use it.  I also love Allegra, but since it's also the name of an allergy medicine I don't think people can get past that. 

I love the name and the character Eowyn, but I can't bring myself to use it, even as a middle name.  Somehow, using a name from more serious literature, like Dorothea from Middlemarch, seems fine, but using a name from Lord of the Rings feels too geeky.  It's too bad, though!

Ariadne. But I'm definitely too afraid to use it. We wentinstead with the evergreen Anna.

I love the name Evangeline, but I'm an athiest.  I love the sound of it and the "Evan" nickname.  It would also sound wonderful with my last name, but I will never use it becaause I don't like the religious conotations.

Dexter, but it rhymes with too much with our last name.

Oh, so many!-

Casper (friendly ghost) 

Maple (WHY does everyone think syrup?!)

Susannah (will she be doomed to hear "Oh Susannah" for the rest of her life?)

Olympia (no one seems to like it)

Winifred (is it TOO old??)

Zelda (I swear, it's for Fitzgerald, NOT the video game!)

and Clinton (a little too political at this point)

George

I love it, but everyone else seems to have an "ew" reaction and calls it a grandpa name. 

Rhiannon! I love the name but it's so unusual that I'm afraid she would forever be spelling it, pronouncing it, etc. Not that that's bad in and of itself, but I would be afraid that she'd grow to dislike it.

Plus, I don't ever want her to be called Rihanna!

I think I will go for it anyway, though.

I love the name Lilly but i scared everyone would think is was older name.

There are a few names that I love, but am afraid to use.  First is Genevieve.  It has so many great nickname options and is beautiful, but it is so "fancy".  Second is Persephone - nickname Persie.  I feel it is over the top, even though I love the sound of it.  Last is Willow, but it is too much a celebrity name for me right now.

Agnes but with the french pronounciation, which I know I'd never be able to enforce (Ahn-yess)

Ryker

I need a nice Scandinavian name for a baby girl, and I love Astrid, but I know people will call her "ASS-trid" instead of "Ahs-trid" and what about the nicknames? I would love to do it, but can't bring myself, and my husband wouldn't agree, in any case. 

fayette

Salome. I'm worried that nobody will know how to pronounce it.

I absolutely love the name Aisha but am afraid it would just seem goofy on a white girl :)

Oops - forgot to sign in! I absolutely love the name Aisha - but am afraid it would just sound goofy on a white girl :)

I have always liked the name Jemimah. My husband used his veto on it. He was worried about Aunt Jemimah but I thought that would pass pretty quickly.