This thread is to share the weird and wonderful places to find names. Whether it is watching all the names in the credits or searching through cemetries for hours on end-all name nerds are on the look out for a beautiful name. What is the weirdest place you have looked for or found a name?
Mine is in chemistry when I was bored and was searching through the periodic table for names (very weird me!)
I do watch all the names in the credits lol!
The weirdest place I’ve ever found a name is probably in the obituaries. I look through those a lot, just to see the names!
I read all the names in theatre programs.
Oh, and the Dedication page in books. They usually mention family members there, and I like to see the sibsets…yeah, I know, crazy ;).
Old tombstones in cemeteries is an unusual hobby for some people.
Old Church records online. I guess it’s not very strange, but I’m not sure most people would know they’re there.
A lot of names I’ve fallen in love with through music, but I can’t say I actually seek out music with names in titles and such just to find new ones. [name]Ernestine[/name] and Sylvelin are song finds.
I discovered Mansikka from a yoghurt cup, it’s Finnish for ‘strawberry’. I really like Mansikka ^^ I also love seeking out the scientific names for animals and plants to find interesting ones. Roseodora, Castanea, Capsicum, Junellia, Caroba…
Also lists of colours, fruits, minerals, gemstones, herbs and such on Wikipedia.
I discovered Persimmon as a name possibility due to a character on a TV show exlaiming ‘A Persimmon! I love Persimmons!’ XD
And Minnow from [name]Ursula[/name] K. LeGuin’s Earthsea series. Books are a good place to look for names, and like someone said the dedications can be wonderful.
Azaro from [name]Ben[/name] Okri’s ‘The Famished Road’ is another favourite 
Not sure where you are from, but in Australia capsicum is used as the general name, not just the scientific name. In my mind this is similar to calling your child Carrot. But I understand that in [name]America[/name] capsicums are called peppers or something.
I’m from Norway where we call them Paprika, and yes, there are girls named Paprika, but it’s extremely uncommon.
And I have to admit I wouldn’t use it, I’m just highlighting an approach with perhaps less than perfect examples.
I always use the periodic table! The periodic table is one of my favourite things!
I look at movie credits a lot, as well as listen to the names on my husband’s video games. There are some strange ones let me tell you!
I look at movie credits, and baby announcements too. Lately I have been playing this game called Dishonored where the main character is called Corvo (pretty cool)!
I also read history, Mandarin and international studies books for my course–there have been a few good gems there as well.
I take every opportunity I happen to be at a cemetery to make note of the more interesting or unusual names I see. I also enjoy looking through class rosters, movie/tv show credits, RPGs, and even the occasional obituary.
However, the weirdest place I’ve looked for a name (or rather, stumbled upon) was me misreading something I wrote then erased as a name. I tend to also mishear things as names sometimes and think, “Wow, that’s a new one for me!”
When we were expecting baby #2 we walked through the book store and looked at all the authors names. Like everyone else we looked at movie credits (we would pause and write down any names we liked!)
Garden books. I like unusual botanicals, both their regular names ([name]Lilac[/name], [name]Hazel[/name], [name]Zinnia[/name]…) and horticultural Latin. I don’t know if Halesia, or Ixora is going to make it as a name though.
Thats a great idea. Might try that when I go to the library next!
I go on google translate and type in words with beautiful meanings then translate them into different languages.
Oh and stripedsocks. I do that all the time. I like [name]Acacia[/name], [name]Kerria[/name], [name]Clematis[/name]. I also do that if I go to large gardens and look at the plant tags.
Seed catalogues
Old yearbooks
Alumni newsletter
Name day calendars
Catalogs … LL Bean, Pottery [name]Barn[/name], especially love Restortion Hardware
Charitable donation lists at synagogue (usually on a plaque) or in the back of programs if I go to the symphony or something
Birth announcement cards online (minted dot com) … I like seeing what the example cards use ([name]Alistair[/name] & [name]Thea[/name], not just [name]Sophie[/name] & [name]Aidan[/name])
I forgot to mention something in particular about movie credits. Pixar movie credits are always a gold mine for name gems and other unusual finds. I guess there is a lot of ethnic diversity at Pixar, which I find really enjoyable.
Looking at credits of films, books and music as people have said, messing around with Google Translate. I also plunder dictionaries, read words backwards and rearrange the letters.
School, & classmates.
Honestly. The yearbook is great… Plus teachers
talk about their kids so I make note of sibsets.
My little sibling is in sports, so the children on
his team plus their siblings names, and the
cheerleaders all provide interesting names.
Some names I’ve encountered:
[name]Natalia[/name]
[name]Vienna[/name]
[name]Caine[/name]
[name]Julius[/name]
[name]Lane[/name]
[name]Hercules[/name]
[name]Dash[/name]
[name]Cyrus[/name]
However, we also have the super common names
including 2 [name]Jacob[/name]'s on 1 team, 2 [name]Isabella[/name]'s on the
cheer team, [name]Alivia[/name], and of course [name]Sophia[/name] with little
brother [name]Jacob[/name]…