[name]Do[/name] you have any baby naming rules for your family?
I think everyone… my husband, myself, and each of my children should have their own first initial, so no repeating first letters for our names. This could make things around the house a little easier, marking things with a single letter to demonstrate ownership. It may even help with not mixing up their names (although, I am not sure about that one).
Also, no alteration for our first and last name.
My husband has already stated no feminine forms of masculine names, (Georgina, [name]Josephine[/name], [name]Augusta[/name], etc.).
No family names. Husband’s family has no tradition of passing down names. In my family, only the men pass down names, and my brother has already passed the family name to his son.
[name]Per[/name] Husband’s request, no “weird” names. The definition of “weird” is currently up for debate in our house.
No made-up names, names of flowers, trees, or geographical elements (except for [name]Rose[/name]. [name]Lily[/name], [name]Laurel[/name], [name]Willow[/name], [name]River[/name], [name]Skye[/name], [name]Raine[/name], etc are not acceptable to Husband.), or names of places that aren’t traditional names ([name]Bromley[/name] - no, [name]Georgia[/name] - yes, etc).
I’m much more open to looking at different names. Husband is having a tough time wrapping his mind around naming a child he can’t see, feel, hear, or touch yet. He’ll come around. Or I’ll make him. Whatever comes first.
My husband and I decided that if we choose to honor someone the name has to be related to the name of the person being honored, either by meaning or an actual variation of the name in question. We feel that choosing an unrelated name is basically wanting to honor without admitting you dont like the honoree’s name so it doesnt count. If the honoree suggests a name they would prefer instead thats fine.
Nothing with a negative meaning ([name]Cecilia[/name] is fine, [name]Mallory[/name] is not) or bad connotations.
No names that we are completely unfamiliar with.
No brands, places (he is willing to make exceptions), colors, or things for the most part.
No long names beginning with R (cause our surname is a long name that begins with R), so sadly, no [name]Ramona[/name] or [name]Rosemary[/name]!
No names that are so overtly Catholic that they make my Jewish in-laws uncomfortable…I was specifically told not I “couldn’t” use [name]Christina[/name] or [name]Christopher[/name] cause it was offensive to them…I will hold my tongue on how I feel about all of that! But my husband wants to uphold the rule of no ‘overly religious’ names like [name]Faith[/name], [name]Vera[/name] (faith in Russian), [name]Mary[/name], ect…
Middle names have to be for a reason besides just sounding nice. Personal meaning or to honor someone or just no mn at all. My husband doesn’t have a mn so if we have a son next and don’t have anything special to use we might not use one. Our daughter has 2 mns so I guess we would follow that format if we had another girl…a middle of my choice & a middle of my husbands choice.
My husband also vetoes anything too ‘normal’ or ‘boring’…which I think means classic: [name]Anna[/name], [name]Elizabeth[/name], [name]Eliza[/name], [name]Jane[/name], [name]Joan[/name], [name]June[/name], [name]Jeanne[/name], ect.
Nothing Trendy.
Nothing Popular ([name]Isabelle[/name], [name]Jayden[/name]) or that was popular when I was growing up ([name]Adam[/name], [name]Jessica[/name]).
No virtue names.
No place names.
No word names.
No unisex names.
No made up names.
Must have a cute nickname available.
No Celebrity names.
No made up spellings.
Nothing that doesn’t age well.
No nicknames as given names.
A long history and a literary reference are a bonus.
Nothing too popular.
We don’t name after family so not to hurt feelings.
no unisex or boy names for my girls. No unisex or girl names for my boys.
All kiddos will have “ray” in thier middle name.
Not Very Popular
Not Too Trendy
I Can’t Know a [name]Baby[/name] with the Same Name
Not too [name]Keen[/name] on Unisex
No Alliteration
I Won’t Be Restricted to ‘The Right [name]Way[/name]’ to Spell a Name if I’m Not Comfortable with it’s Appearance
Has to Look Good When Written in [name]Both[/name] Print and Cursive
Since Boys Carry on the Family Name, the Name Needs to Honor Someone.
No boys names on girls–feminine forms of masculine names are fine
No Top 100 names as first names (though I’m considering making an exception for a couple of names)
No awkward initials (I like to monogram things)
No “Juniors” or names of people we see on a regular basis. I think everyone should have his or her own identity, and that starts with a name. I’m in favor of family names, but they can be middles or represent links to family members who came before us.
I don’t make set rules because I’m always going to have exceptions and I hate to place restrictions before I take in the name itself. I once thought, “Why bother with unisex names? They only cause arguments.” Now I love [name]Emery[/name] for either gender! So I’ve learned not to make rules.
No names that rhyme or sound close to a rhyme with the surname or a sibling’s name, or a nickname that will. Eg, [name]Matilda[/name] [name]Hill[/name] is fine as a name, but [name]Tilly[/name] [name]Hill[/name] sounds too much of a rhyme for me to use. And [name]Matilda[/name] and [name]William[/name] could easily become [name]Tilly[/name] and [name]Will[/name] or [name]Tilly[/name] and [name]Billy[/name]. Too matchy-matchy for my liking.
The first name has to flow well with the surname, so no ending in the same sound as the surname initial. Eg [name]Jack[/name] [name]Cole[/name], it sounds like you have to take an unnatural pause between the names to stop it tuning into Jackole. [name]James[/name] [name]Cole[/name] is a much better fit as you don’t have that pause.
No names that would practically invite teasing when combined with the surname, eg [name]Arthur[/name] Cox (half a cock). [name]Even[/name] if I loved a name, I could never do that to a kid.
Nothing overly frilly or too obscure that people will be constantly having problems with spelling or saying.
That aside, I’m not really restricting myself at all. I prefer to use longer names with nicknames rather than just the nickname as a given name, eg I’d use [name]Katherine[/name] nn [name]Katie[/name] over just [name]Katie[/name], but I also like shorter full names that don’t lend themselves as much to nicknames, like [name]Zara[/name]. Though I do like some names that were traditionally nicknames, such as [name]Molly[/name]. So with the exception of it has to not sound too harsh or rhymey, I’m open to pretty much anything as a name.
[name]Even[/name] stuff like using the traditional/most popular spelling I’m not that set on. [name]Love[/name] [name]Madeleine[/name], but only that spelling, even though [name]Madeline[/name]'s the more common variant. I think it’s because I say all three names differently, and I prefer the French pronounciation. In fact that’d probably stop me from using a name if I thought most people would use a different pronunciation the one I wanted when there are multiple legit forms. Naming a kid’s going to be harder than I think, it seems, and that’s not even including trying to find names we both agree on.
lol, [name]Lucy[/name], you realize your second daughter’s name fits both of these categories, right? I was just reading comments and was a bit amused by that. Unless you meant something else by word names…
I don’t have many! At least, I don’t think I do. haha.
Must have a family connection somewhere. There might be a few exceptions on my boys’ list, but that’s because it’s practically impossible to keep a top 10 with 10 interesting ways to honor different people on my boys’ list. ugh.
Must have two MNs. That’s pretty much nonnegotiable, haha.
No 2-2-2 syllable count! Something like [name]Brody[/name] [name]Eli[/name] [name]Lucas[/name] [name]Richards[/name] sounds so bad to my ears.
No FNs too close (or identical) to someone I’m fairly close to. (I absolutely love [name]Joshua[/name] as a FN but it’s my cousin’s name, so it’s a no-go. I’d use it as a MN, though…)
No nicknames as given names! [name]Maggie[/name], [name]Gracie[/name], [name]Annie[/name], [name]Sam[/name], [name]Matt[/name], etc., are all lovely names but for the sake of resumes and wedding announcements and such, I think my kids deserve to have fuller names to fall back on (especially if they don’t like the nicknamey choice I would have given them!).
That’s about it! lol. Biblical and literary associations are a plus, and I like MNs that have references to something I’d like to pass onto my children (i.e.–[name]Aurora[/name] in [name]Isabelle[/name] [name]Aurora[/name] [name]Grace[/name] is meaningful to me because it means “dawn” and I always want my children to know that they can have a new day/new start…). It takes quite a bit to make a name unusable to me, and I don’t care too much about names smooshing into each other or alliteration or rhyminess (especially since that’s all evened out pretty much with two MNs). I’d ideally like sibsets to work together well, but it’s not a deal-breaker if it doesn’t. I’m absolutely loving [name]Atticus[/name] right now, but it pretty much goes with none of my favorites. If it came down to it and [name]Atticus[/name] was my top choice, then I would definitely use it, though!
Each child has one family name and one religious name
No hyphens, initials, jnrs or roman numerals
Anglo-European (ie though I like the sound of some [name]Asian[/name] names I think they would seem unusual on my Caucasian baby so I wouldn’t use them)
On the other hand I’m fine with:
feminisations of male names
Shared initials in the family
words and virtue names
[name]Cadence[/name] doesn’t matter to me (syllables)
Nicknames - available or not
[name]Just[/name] goes to show that we are all looking for different things! [name]Lucky[/name] or we would all be still using the same ten names we were 150 years ago…
1.) Nothing in the Top 50 - I made an exception for [name]Zoe[/name] because it’s my husband’s absolute favorite, and I like it too.
2.) Traditional or widely accepted variant spellings only.
3.) Each kid’s name is distinct in sound - my name is [name]Erin[/name], my brother’s is [name]Eric[/name], and we’ve had a lifetime of confusion.
4.) No initials with negative meanings.
5.) Nothing that’s inextricably tied to one certain person or character - [name]Hermione[/name] is an example.
6.) [name]Just[/name] one middle name.
Only rule is no name beginning with same letter as surname §. I really don’t like surnames as first names and hate double-barrelled. We would try and avoid matching letters for family members (currently D, J and A) but if there was a name we loved with the same letter then it wouldn’t stop us.
It’s not really a rule, but I have a test when I think a name might be too out there for me (I’m fairly conservative with names). I imagine a scenario and use the name.
Examples:
This is [name]Jezebel[/name] [name]Jones[/name] and she will be representing you in court today.
This is Dr Ziggediboo [name]Smith[/name] and he will be performing your surgery today.
If the name makes me feel even more uncomfortable or nervous than I already would be at the thought of being in court or having surgery, then it fails the test.
If the name fails the test it gets relegated to my future cat names list.
Middle names should preferably honor family (although SO says no to honoring living relatives to avoid offending anyone) or have a personal connection to me and my SO somehow. Absolutely no names after either of our fathers ([name]Raymond[/name] and [name]William[/name])!
No yooneek spellings! [name]Ever[/name]!
Not too popular - I don’t want my kid to be [name]Emma[/name] H. out of the 5 [name]Emma[/name]'s in her kindergarten class.
No super-frilly girls’ names or hyper-masculine boys names, i.e. [name]Seraphina[/name], [name]Violetta[/name], [name]Clarabelle[/name] or [name]Rocky[/name], [name]Gunner[/name], [name]Butch[/name], et c.
And the most important rule…
5) If we ever find a name that breaks our rules and we love it enough to use it anyway, we absolutely should.
I was just reading comments and was a bit amused by that. Unless you meant something else by word names…