I [name_u]LOVE[/name_u] this tag! I watch the videos all the time, but like you don’t want to make one of my own.
Girls
[name_f]Davina[/name_f] or Evanie – I grouped these names together, because the reason I couldn’t use them is pretty much the same. I love the sound, the look, the uniqueness, everything about [name_f]Davina[/name_f]. With Evanie, I just love the way it sounds, even though I’m not a huge fan of how it looks. The reason I can’t use either of them (other than a firm veto by my BF) is that my best friend named her daughter Dayvanie. Both [name_f]Davina[/name_f] and Evanie are close enough to Dayvanie that I would feel weird using them, even though my friend doesn’t have a problem with it.
[name_f]Rowena[/name_f] – [name_f]Rowena[/name_f] was one of the first names I ever loved. To me, it looks so feminine and beautiful. It’s also very unique here in the U.S. and I think that it would suit any daughter I would have. However, it has gotten a hard veto from my boyfriend, and its not worth fighting about for me.
[name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] or [name_f]Tessa[/name_f] or [name_f]Bonnie[/name_f] – [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] is such a classy name to me, and I love that there are like a million different nicknames that you can use with it. It’s not overly common where I live, and I think it would be very sweet on a little girl. [name_f]Tessa[/name_f], too, just has that balance of being perfectly feminine and cute, while also being a name that a girl could really make her own. [name_f]Bonnie[/name_f] is also a love of mine, although its fairly recent. However, all of these names are ones that my boyfriend has a very negative association with, and I wouldn’t want him to be reminded of that negative association every time he looked at our daughter.
[name_f]Claire[/name_f] or [name_f]Clara[/name_f] – I adore these names. While I wouldn’t necessarily want to use it for a first name, I think that [name_f]Claire[/name_f] is very dignified and works really well in the middle spot. [name_f]Clara[/name_f] is more my style for a first name, and I would totally use it. It is a more classic alternative to a name that I absolutely love ([name_f]Cara[/name_f]), and is more wearable than [name_f]Cara[/name_f] in a Spanish speaking area ([name_f]Cara[/name_f] is the word for face). However, my boyfriend’s sister has a daughter named [name_f]Claire[/name_f], and although she lives halfway across the country and we would never see her, the family is small enough that it would cause some drama if we used either [name_f]Claire[/name_f] or [name_f]Clara[/name_f] for our kid.
[name_f]Mercy[/name_f] or [name_f]Mercedes[/name_f] – [name_f]Mercy[/name_f] is the first name that I ever remember falling in love with. I read it in a book when I was around 8 years old, and I just thought it was the perfect name. It was sweet, easy for an English speaker to pronounce and spell, and had a beautiful meaning. I adore everything about it. The only thing that ever turned me off about using it was that it was so simple. I have always looked for names with a lot of nickname potential so that I could use the one I liked, but the options were left open for the kid to choose once they were old enough. That’s how I came up with [name_f]Mercedes[/name_f]. It’s a name that has two gorgeous nicknames ([name_f]Mercy[/name_f] and [name_f]Sadie[/name_f]), is fairly recognizable, and as a bonus can be pronounced by the Spanish speakers around me. However, my boyfriend doesn’t like [name_f]Mercy[/name_f], and [name_f]Sadie[/name_f] was the name of my grandmother’s dog, so its not really usable in my family. However, I would kill to see someone else with a daughter named [name_f]Mercy[/name_f]! So precious.
[name_f]Araminta[/name_f] – The first time I heard this name was in a book about [name_f]Harriet[/name_f] Tubman. Her birth name was [name_f]Araminta[/name_f] [name_m]Ross[/name_m], and I just thought that was such a beautiful name. I also loved that it was a way of honoring a historical figure that had done such amazing things in her lifetime. I still think the name is gorgeous, and fell in love with the combo [name_f]Araminta[/name_f] [name_f]Harriet[/name_f]. So gorgeous! But unfortunately, this is another name that my boyfriend has vetoed. He asked me if I made it up the first time he heard it, and I am afraid that might be a more common reaction than I’d like to admit. So unfortunately [name_f]Araminta[/name_f] is a no go.
[name_f]Juno[/name_f] – I adore this name. I think it is so cute and simple, not heard too often, and has a powerful mythological association. However, the first time I ever heard it as a viable option for a baby was the same time that the whole world did, when the movie came out. [name_m]Even[/name_m] though I don’t think of the movie when I hear it, I’m a name nerd and I know that most people aren’t. The pop culture association is so strong with this one that I just can’t bring myself to use it, no matter how much I love it.
[name_f]Amelia[/name_f] or [name_f]Sophia[/name_f] – When I was a teenager, [name_f]Amelia[/name_f] and [name_f]Sophie[/name_f] were both very high on my list. I loved that [name_f]Amelia[/name_f] had so many nicknames to choose from ([name_f]Amy[/name_f], [name_f]Mia[/name_f], etc.) and that it also sounded beautiful on its own. [name_f]Sophie[/name_f] was a name that just blew me away. It had the right sound, the right meaning, it was perfect. Over time, I steered away from [name_f]Sophie[/name_f] as a first name and more toward [name_f]Sophia[/name_f] with the nickname [name_f]Sophie[/name_f], but my love for it endured for a long time. However, it appeared that those names were high on a lot of people’s lists. As it stands now, both are far too popular for me to use as a first name for a future daughter.
[name_f]Louisa[/name_f] – Oh [name_f]Louisa[/name_f]! It makes me so sad to put this on the list, put I have to admit that the likelihood my grump of a boyfriend would ever consent to it is pretty much zero. When he hears it, he thinks of a great grandmother’s name but when I hear it, I think of a super cute little girl with a nickname like [name_f]Lulu[/name_f] or [name_f]Lula[/name_f]. It’s just such a great name, and its a name that would age well, I think. It’s been vetoed consistently since I brought it up to my BF a while ago, and there is probably no way I could make him see the light on this one.
[name_f]Genevieve[/name_f] – This name is a fairly recent addition to my list, but its one that was pretty much instantly shot down by my BF. Neither of us are [name_m]French[/name_m], we live in an area where [name_f]Genevieve[/name_f] might be hard to pronounce or spell by the average person, and he doesn’t like that it kind of close (at least in the first part) to my mom’s name ([name_f]Jennifer[/name_f]). I like that it has the nickname possibilities of [name_f]Gigi[/name_f] and [name_f]Evie[/name_f], that its unique for our area, and that it is close enough to [name_f]Jennifer[/name_f] that I could swing it as an honor name, but not so close that it wouldn’t be original.
Boys
[name_u]Hunter[/name_u] – This is my dad’s middle name, and for as long as I can remember, its been my top middle name for a boy. From day one, all of my favorite combos had [name_u]Hunter[/name_u] as a middle, and I never really thought that would change. Then I met my boyfriend. His brother is named [name_u]Hunter[/name_u], and he is not the type of person I would ever want to name a baby after. Because its his first name, and only my dad’s middle name, it would kind of seem like we were giving the name to our baby for [name_u]Hunter[/name_u] rather than my dad. Sadly, I’ve had to face the fact that using this name would probably not be the best idea.
[name_m]Elijah[/name_m] – I love this name. I practically swoon every time I hear it. It is so perfect for a little boy, and works well with my boyfriend’s last name. In reality, there isn’t really any reason why I wouldn’t want to use this, except that it is rather popular for my taste. Still, that wouldn’t deter me that much if it weren’t for how much my boyfriend dislikes this name.
[name_m]Alaric[/name_m] or [name_m]Alistair[/name_m] – I heard the name [name_m]Alaric[/name_m] on a TV show, and immediately fell in love with it. It was so unique, edgy, and masculine that I couldn’t help but to adore it. [name_m]Alistair[/name_m], similarly, was the name of a character on a video game that I loved (my absolute favorite game), and I thought that giving my son such a dignified and unusual name (in the U.S.) would really be nice. However, I don’t think I will be using either, as my boyfriend isn’t a huge fan, and I think any siblings would have to be named similarly unusual names.
[name_m]Ford[/name_m] – This is a recent love, heard while watching baby name videos on YouTube. It’s a bit out there for me, which is why I would never use it, but I think it is so cute!!
[name_m]Duncan[/name_m] – This was my mother’s maiden name, and I have entertained the idea of using it for a while as a way of really honoring her. Sadly, my boyfriend’s last name is very short and starts with D, so it becomes a little much said out loud.
[name_m]Dashiell[/name_m] – I love this name! [name_m]Dashiell[/name_m] with the nickname [name_u]Dash[/name_u] is so cute, but it doesn’t go well with the potential last name. It becomes an alliterative tongue twister when said out loud.
[name_m]Wyatt[/name_m] – I love how this name sounds. It’s not over used, in my opinion, and it is very southern, which I like. The only reason I wouldn’t use it is that my friend recently had a baby that she named [name_m]Wyatt[/name_m].
[name_m]Wesley[/name_m] – I like this name, but there are two reasons I probably wouldn’t use it. First, my best friend has had this name on her list for a while as a potential sibling for the kids she already has. Because I know how hard it is to come up with a name that your spouse likes, I would feel bad if I used it. Secondly, my boyfriend has a bad association with this name, so its not like I could use it anyway.
[name_u]Finn[/name_u] – I adore this name, but it sounds really dumb with the last name. I would consider finding a longer alternative to it, but I’m not really as into any of them as I am into the simple cuteness of [name_u]Finn[/name_u].
[name_m]Nathaniel[/name_m] – This was the first boy name that I was set on using, and I probably would use it if I was given permission. As it stands now, though, this is the top name on my sister’s list and because I like names so much, finding another one to use isn’t really that big of a deal to me.
