Guilty pleasures vs. usable names

General Name Discussion
1

[name]Share[/name] your top guilty pleasure and top usable name for girls and boys. Also, what is your definition of guilty pleasure vs. usable name? Please include middles if you have them.

Guilty pleasures:
[name]Nicabar[/name] [name]Ozias[/name]
[name]Cerelia[/name] [name]Orchid[/name]

Usable names:
[name]Genevieve[/name] [name]Claire[/name]
[name]Joshua[/name] [name]Cael[/name]

A guilty pleasure is a name I love but could never use because of likely teasing/mispronunciation/misspelling. A usable name is one that is familiar, but the middle can be unusual. Usable names must have a nickname if the name isn’t quite right.

2

GP
Zabava (mispronunciation and it’s actually quite funny sounding in Russian) and [name]Beata[/name] (bea-tuh) for a girl
Svyatopolk (m/p and the old name image) and Rhadamanthus (well, you see) for a boy
Usable
[name]Sophronia[/name] [name]Primrose[/name] [name]Circe[/name] nn [name]Nina[/name]
[name]Amyas[/name] [name]Vivian[/name] Cerdic nn Am

3

My definition for guilty unusable names clearly matches your own. I would use them in middle spot though.

[name]Temperance[/name]
[name]Etain[/name]
[name]Ondine[/name]

4

A guilty pleasure name is one that I wouldn’t use, whether that be due to being too popular, too uncommon, too associated with a pop culture character etc.

My top guilty pleasure names are probably February [name]Saga[/name], [name]Esperanza[/name] [name]Temple[/name], [name]Aeneas[/name] Faramir, and [name]Sherlock[/name] [name]Indiana[/name]. My top usable names change all the time, but right now they are probably [name]Viola[/name] [name]Thisbe[/name], [name]Ottilie[/name] [name]Cora[/name], [name]Jonah[/name] [name]Thomas[/name], and [name]Arthur[/name] [name]Klaus[/name].

5

My definition of an unusable guilty pleasure is a name I can’t imagine on any type of person. I avoid names that are over the top, hard to pronounce etc. because I don’t know what kind of person my child would grow up to be. For example, [name]Olympia[/name], [name]Melisande[/name], [name]Perseus[/name] and [name]Ultan[/name] are some of my favourite guilty pleasures. But I would never, ever consider using them because frankly, I think those names would be torturous for someone who has a meek, shy and unassuming disposition.

I try to keep my usable list grounded, nothing too out there or unwearable. Nothing so unfamiliar they might end up hating having a name so different to their peers. It has to be reasonably well known but not overly popular, a simple, familiar spelling and a name that would suit someone from any walk of life.

Guilty Pleasures
[name]Olympia[/name]
[name]Octavia[/name]
[name]Anastasia[/name]
[name]Araminta[/name]
[name]Sophronia[/name]
[name]Calliope[/name]

[name]Barnaby[/name]
[name]Orlando[/name]
[name]Rowan[/name]
[name]Ivan[/name]

Usable List
[name]Daisy[/name]
[name]Lucy[/name]
[name]Evelyn[/name]
[name]Layla[/name]
[name]Rosalind[/name]

[name]Philip[/name]
[name]George[/name]
[name]Noah[/name]
[name]William[/name]

6

Guilty pleasure to me is a name I absolutely love, but it has issues I can’t cope with. For example, I love [name]Zenobia[/name], [name]Ambrosia[/name], [name]Ginevra[/name], Zenira, [name]Benicia[/name], Catharinella, [name]Titania[/name], Nausicaa, Lazaria, [name]Aziza[/name], and Megaera, but they all have issues with my last name (z and b are off limits as a starting letter, for example) or there is something particular that comes to mind that I don’t want my child to have to deal with.

Usable names on my list, however, are names most people would consider GP. I have long, frilly names that some would consider over the top, and others that are “too rare” for most tastes, like Tellura, Cambina, [name]Miuccia[/name], [name]Campana[/name] and Tristania.

7

Some of my guilty pleasure names are:

[name]Moses[/name], [name]Solomon[/name], [name]Zion[/name], [name]Abraham[/name], [name]Isaac[/name], [name]Myles[/name], [name]Daniel[/name], [name]Vincent[/name], [name]Anthony[/name], [name]Reilly[/name], [name]Sullivan[/name], [name]Quinn[/name]

[name]Ireland[/name] (DH absolutely despises it wah), [name]Ondine[/name], [name]Siobhan[/name], [name]Zipporah[/name], [name]Sinead[/name], [name]Odette[/name], Nalla (this borders on being on my list all the time), [name]Belen[/name], [name]Sylvia[/name], [name]Esmeralda[/name], [name]Penny[/name], [name]Ruby[/name], [name]Lily[/name], [name]Sophia[/name], Sioda.

8

Guilty pleasure for me are names that seem too out there for the area I live in, would present pronunciation / cultural association problems, won’t work with my last name, or feel too trendy. I’ve been known to take names off my GP list and add them to my usable list, though. Sometimes I think I just need to get used to a name. Here are some of my favorite GP names.

BOYS
[name]Absalom[/name]
[name]Alonzo[/name] - (this was my great, great grandfather’s name - I’m fascinated by it)
[name]Apollo[/name]
[name]Brantley[/name] (trendy but I’m crushing on it)
[name]Beauregard[/name]
[name]Ebenezer[/name]
[name]Erasmus[/name]
[name]Hamish[/name]
[name]Ichabod[/name]
[name]Jethro[/name]
[name]Jupiter[/name]
[name]Lindsey[/name] (on a guy)
[name]Love[/name] (also on a dude)
[name]Roscoe[/name] (I have a feeling this might move to my normal list eventually)
[name]Rufus[/name]
[name]Uriah[/name]

GIRL
[name]Andromeda[/name]
Galadriel
[name]Guinevere[/name] (connecting your kid to a famous adulteress is probably not a great idea)
[name]Jemima[/name] (shakes fist at negative cultural associations)
[name]Odessa[/name]
[name]Quenby[/name]
[name]Snow[/name] (would use as a middle)

9

My GP names skew too cutesy or too heavily associated with something or someone…

[name]Allegra[/name] [name]Beatrice[/name] (allergy meds)
[name]Elton[/name] [name]Henry[/name] ([name]Elton[/name] [name]John[/name])

[name]Honey[/name] [name]Wilhelmina[/name] (I would consider [name]Wilhelmina[/name] [name]Honey[/name])
[name]Beauregard[/name] [name]James[/name] (I would put [name]Beauregard[/name] in the middle…[name]Francis[/name] [name]Beauregard[/name] is my favorite)

I couldn’t use something with a note of silliness, that’s my main concern. I don’t personally gravitate towards the ott, the hard to pronounce, the culturally unfamiliar, so my main problem is reigning in the cutesy stuff! I like names like [name]Bunny[/name] & [name]Kit[/name], but I imagine a lot of people would dislike having a name like that, so I consider [name]Bernadette[/name] & [name]Charles[/name] with those nn instead!!

10

To me, GP names are any names I wouldn’t admit to liking in the real world (or anywhere but on Nameberry/similar sites.) For me, they’re mainly way, way out there names like Tiamat or taboos like [name]Lucifer[/name]. Usable names to me are anything I wouldn’t mind being named (can you tell I’m a long way off from actually having children?)

Some more:
Tinamou
Ishtar
[name]Moxie[/name]
Sheherezade
Astarte

[name]Azrael[/name]
[name]Tamerlaine[/name]
[name]Cymbeline[/name]
[name]Septimus[/name]

11

To me, guilty pleasure names are names that I love but would be hesitant to use for whatever reason.

Current favourites:
[name]Amaury[/name] [name]Philip[/name] [name]Theo[/name]
[name]Archibald[/name] [name]Charles[/name] [name]Inigo[/name]
[name]Anna[/name] [name]Ingrid[/name] [name]Alexandra[/name]
[name]Matilda[/name] [name]Olga[/name] [name]Marina[/name]

Guilty pleasures:
[name]Charles[/name] Illyrio Mithrandir
[name]William[/name] [name]Adelin[/name] [name]Hugo[/name]
[name]Evelyn[/name] [name]Dagmar[/name] Visenya
[name]Saga[/name] [name]Caroline[/name] Rhaenys

12

Usable names:
Boys: [name]Jude[/name] [name]Thaddeus[/name] and [name]Daniel[/name] [name]Ford[/name]
Girls: [name]Josephina[/name] [name]Margaret[/name] and [name]Phoebe[/name] [name]Georgia[/name]

Guilty Pleasures
Boys: [name]Reef[/name], [name]Ian[/name], [name]Canaan[/name]
Girls: [name]Calandra[/name], [name]Marni[/name], [name]Dagny[/name], [name]Francisca[/name], [name]Liberty[/name], [name]Love[/name]

13

Shvibziks, you are a rare bird. I love your taste. Here are some mix-ups of your names. [name]Hope[/name] you don’t mind.

[name]Amaury[/name] [name]Adelin[/name] [name]Charles[/name]
[name]Amaury[/name] [name]Philip[/name] [name]Inigo[/name]
[name]Amaury[/name] [name]William[/name] [name]Inigo[/name]
[name]Amaury[/name] [name]Felix[/name] [name]Fyodor[/name]
[name]Archibald[/name] [name]Hugo[/name] Theodosius
[name]Archibald[/name] [name]Hugo[/name] [name]Fyodor[/name]
[name]Archibald[/name] [name]Henry[/name] [name]Alexander[/name]

As lovely as Mithandir sounds, its LOTRness makes it a true GP imo.
And Illyrio… I haven’t seen Game of Thrones, so I don’t have the association. [name]Just[/name] sounds like a masculinized Illyria to me. There’s [name]Ilario[/name], which is an Italian form of the Ancient [name]Roman[/name] Hilarius. Might be slightly more useable because it’s got some history.

[name]Amaury[/name] [name]Malik[/name] [name]Ilario[/name]

[name]Anna[/name] [name]Ingrid[/name] [name]Alexandra[/name] is very royal! It’s sad to bury beautiful [name]Ingrid[/name] in the middle, though I admit the flow is fantastic. Would you consider doing a compound name, “[name]Anna[/name] [name]Ingrid[/name]”?

[name]Matilda[/name] [name]Olga[/name] [name]Marina[/name] has too many A-endings for my ear. The star of this combination is [name]Olga[/name], imo. Such a beautiful, stern, deep name.

Visenya would be great with [name]Olga[/name], but I wish it had history beyond The Game of Thrones. Drat! What a cool slinky sound.
Instead of Visenya:
[name]Olga[/name] Verusha Myrrine
[name]Olga[/name] [name]Victoria[/name] [name]Maris[/name]
[name]Olga[/name] [name]Ksenia[/name] [name]Maren[/name]
[name]Olga[/name] [name]Marina[/name] Bjørk

[name]Olga[/name] [name]Marina[/name] [name]Mathilde[/name] (“mah-TEELD”)
[name]Olga[/name] [name]Marina[/name] [name]Maude[/name]

And [name]Dagmar[/name]. I’m mad mad mad about [name]Dagmar[/name]. I was seriously thinking I’d name a daughter [name]Dagmar[/name], but decided it was too random for an American kid. Please use it.

[name]Dagmar[/name] [name]Xenia[/name] [name]Alexandra[/name] (Double X! Vulgar? Perhaps, but I like it.)
[name]Dagmar[/name] Embla Vilhelmine
[name]Dagmar[/name] [name]Matilda[/name] Pipaluk
[name]Dagmar[/name] [name]Ingrid[/name] [name]Maude[/name]

Oh your names make me so happy!

Frustratedauthor: Your boys’ list gave me chills. [name]Ichabod[/name], [name]Ebenezer[/name], [name]Absalom[/name], [name]Alonzo[/name], and [name]Lindsey[/name]? Get it girl!

Geeknamesyo: What on earth is Tinamou? That’s the cutest name ever!

14

See, I have this problem. I tend to acquire guilty pleasure names, and within the span of a week or so swirling them around in my head, I decide that they are, in fact, usable.

[name]Valentine[/name]
[name]Artemis[/name]
[name]Isadora[/name]

[name]Jacoby[/name]
[name]Roscoe[/name]
[name]Jade[/name]

15

My guilty pleasure names are those that are too religious or a little too over the top.

Guilty Pleasures:
[name]Rhapsody[/name] [name]Aphrodite[/name]
[name]Leopold[/name] [name]Jebediah[/name]

Usables:
[name]Thisbe[/name] [name]Rapunzel[/name]
[name]Rhett[/name] [name]Wolfgang[/name]

16

[name]Ah[/name], I’m so glad you like them, and obviously I don’t mind at all :smiley:

I absolutely adore [name]Amaury[/name] [name]Adelin[/name] [name]Charles[/name], [name]Amaury[/name] [name]Felix[/name] [name]Fyodor[/name], [name]Archibald[/name] [name]Hugo[/name] [name]Fyodor[/name] and [name]Archibald[/name] [name]Henry[/name] [name]Alexander[/name]. I’m especially intrigued by pairing [name]Amaury[/name] with [name]Adelin[/name] because I’ve looked for a way out of the whole ‘[name]William[/name] [name]Adelin[/name]’ thing (it’s such a lovely combination, however, [name]William[/name] [name]Adelin[/name] ([name]Henry[/name] I of [name]England[/name]'s son) apparently was spoiled rotten and that’s pretty much all that is known about him, so I don’t know how good a namesake he is).

Actually, Illyrio is not so much a ASOIAF reference (because Illyrio Mopatis isn’t that great a namesake) as it is an appreciation of the name and the sound of the name. Mithrandir is very much a gp name, but having been an appreciator of LOTR from a young age, I actually could see myself using it (just have to find the right combo, which is pretty hard because what goes with Mithrandir).

I’m one of those odd people who actually is contemplating naming a daughter [name]Anna[/name] [name]Ingrid[/name] [name]Alexandra[/name] and then just calling her [name]Ingrid[/name]. I just love how the name flows (and I also feel less of a plagiarist putting [name]Anna[/name] in front of [name]Ingrid[/name] [name]Alexandra[/name] (curse you Norwegian Crown Princely family, curse you!)). [name]Anna[/name] [name]Ingrid[/name] - perhaps hyphenated even - sounds lovely though :slight_smile:

My initial combination was [name]Maude[/name] [name]Olga[/name] [name]Marina[/name], but I swapped it with [name]Matilda[/name] because it would add another namesake ([name]Empress[/name] [name]Matilda[/name], who I seem to have developed a historical crush on). And I agree that [name]Olga[/name] is a pearl, it’s really a shame that it’s so hated. I love [name]Olga[/name] [name]Victoria[/name] [name]Maris[/name], [name]Olga[/name] [name]Marina[/name] Bjørk and [name]Olga[/name] [name]Marina[/name] [name]Mathilde[/name] ([name]Mathilde[/name] is such a lovely name, though extremely popular here in Denmark).

[name]Dagmar[/name] really is a wonderful name, very strong and beautiful. [name]Dagmar[/name] [name]Xenia[/name] [name]Alexandra[/name] is a wonderful combination (and the double x isn’t vulgar at all) and actually is has such strong links in history. [name]Maria[/name] Feodorovna (wife of Tsar [name]Alexander[/name] III) was a Danish [name]Princess[/name] whose real name was [name]Dagmar[/name] (or [name]Marie[/name], but she went by [name]Dagmar[/name]). [name]Dagmar[/name]'s daughter was named [name]Xenia[/name] and her sister was named [name]Alexandra[/name] (as in [name]Alexandra[/name] of Denmark, [name]Queen[/name] of the United Kingdom). I also love [name]Dagmar[/name] [name]Matilda[/name] Pipaluk.

Your combinations are so lovely, thank you for taking your time to make them :smiley:

17

I have so many unusable names that I like ;_;

Guilty Pleasures:
[name]Wilhelmina[/name] [love, love, love this name but I feel like my daughter would get teased for having such a big name, but I’ll probably use it anyway]
[name]Tuesday[/name]
[name]Sunday[/name]
[name]Wednesday[/name]
[name]Clementine[/name]
[name]Winnie[/name] [Curse you, [name]Winnie[/name] the Pooh]
[name]Huckleberry[/name] [OMG I love this name ;_; [name]Huck[/name] is such a cute nn but yeah can’t use for same reason as [name]Wilhelmina[/name]]
[name]Finnegan[/name]
[name]Oberon[/name]
[name]Cullen[/name] [“Hey [name]Cullen[/name], have you ever read Twilight?”]
[name]Sailor[/name]

Usable:
[name]Mavis[/name]
[name]Frances[/name]
[name]August[/name] [Idk if I like it better for boy or girl though]
[name]Miranda[/name]
[name]Orlando[/name]

18

Usable and eccentric:
[name]Marigold[/name]
[name]Sailor[/name]
[name]Mavis[/name]
[name]Winifred[/name]
[name]Nella[/name]
[name]Zephyr[/name]
[name]Erasmus[/name]
[name]Ignatius[/name]
[name]Waldo[/name]
[name]Revel[/name]
[name]Darwin[/name]
[name]Atlas[/name]
[name]Luther[/name]
[name]Caius[/name]
[name]Roscoe[/name]
[name]Dashiell[/name]
[name]Linus[/name]
[name]Polly[/name]
[name]Greta[/name]
[name]Guinevere[/name]
[name]Mabel[/name]
[name]Odette[/name]

Guilty pleasure:
[name]Vesper[/name] and Hesper
[name]Hero[/name]
[name]Ursula[/name]
[name]Ripley[/name] (for a girl…YES I KNOW)
[name]Salome[/name]
[name]Thisbe[/name]
[name]Columbine[/name]
[name]Halcyon[/name]
[name]Valentine[/name]
[name]Holiday[/name]
[name]Pilot[/name]
[name]Romer[/name]
[name]Starling[/name]
[name]Ferdinand[/name]
[name]Auberon[/name]
[name]Orlando[/name]
[name]Erasmus[/name]
[name]Merlin[/name]
[name]Quincy[/name]
[name]Sparrow[/name]
[name]Adelvice[/name]
[name]Fox[/name]
[name]Valor[/name]
Solace
[name]Allouette[/name]
[name]Jemima[/name]
Valkyrie

Though if I had an adventurous partner, the sky would be the limit…

19

Oh my goodness, I’m so glad I’m not the only one who totally guilty-pleasure-likes that name :smiley:

20

All my top usables are in my sig. And a GP name for me is basically anything that’s not on my top lists! I love way too many names. My style is classic/biblical/plain, nevertheless there are a lot of other names that I find gorgeous but couldn’t ever use. Unless I have 100 children. They just get squirrelled away in a filing cabinet in my head and are occasionally taken out and admired.

So as my GPs encompass most other normal names, I’ll give ye a few of the more out there ones:

Appelin - delicious
Bawden, Hender, Jenken & Rowlyn - break my ‘no surnames as first names’ rule
[name]Herschel[/name] - always wondered why this reminded me of chocolate. I’ve only just remembered the American chocolate bar :confused:
Leoffalan - a mediaeval smoosh. But a cool one.
Locryn & Guenedoc - a couple of magical dudes
Mawgan - I would be accused of making [name]Morgan[/name] kre8tiv
[name]Sigvard[/name] - name of a Swedish prince who, when a young lad, was the cutest little boy. [name]Ever[/name].
Vortigern - Name of an old warlord. He’s so snazzy. Like Voldemort’s younger and trendier brother.