How Has Your Name Taste Changed?

As for title. [name_m]Feel[/name_m] free to be detailed or general, and to include examples. How has your tastes of “style” changed this year or since when you started being a namenerd or joined Nameberry? [name_f]Share[/name_f] your story :blue_heart:

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It’s just getting more and more ‘my guilty pleasures are my future children’ the more time goes by! :laughing:

I used to love [name_f]Violet[/name_f] [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] and was convinced it was my future daughter’s name. But now I’d choose to pair each of them with something more unusual, like [name_f]Cressida[/name_f] [name_f]Violet[/name_f] or [name_f]Pandora[/name_f] [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f]. The boys’ side even more so, I’m genuinely considering things like [name_m]Bonaventure[/name_m], [name_m]Somerled[/name_m] or [name_u]Oberon[/name_u] which before I thought were ‘out there’ :sweat_smile:

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I used to dislike [name_f]Violet[/name_f] but now I like it too, although I would personally use [name_f]Violetta[/name_f] (the same name in my language) or [name_f]Violette[/name_f] (more romantic)

more like, how has it not changed? :grimacing:

i think my first phase was scandinavian names (magnus, tove, emil, etc.), which then somehow became elaborate vintage names (georgiana, araminta, leopold, etc.), followed up by short english names only (george, thomas, mae, martha), and right now i’m obsessed with international names again - primarily eastern european names (maksym, erzsébet, aksel, etc - but with some french/spanish/norwegian names here and there like luisa, mercedes, halle!). although i still love my plain english favourites!

and my favourite name is ziggy, which doesn’t fit into any category :sweat_smile:

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At least your style was consistent, mine started being generic and now it is a whole eclectic mess (:star_struck:) so we have got:

  1. The [name_m]German[/name_m] names (mainly) / [name_m]German[/name_m] names that are still Paneuropean (mostly vintage or classic)
  2. The Italian names (but rigorously vintage Italian names or romantic and long Italian names! [name_u]Or[/name_u] the Italian names that feel grand and elegant, basically the Italian version of [name_f]Georgiana[/name_f] and Leopold)

Then we have got the subcategories:

  1. The [name_u]French[/name_u] names (Oh, how I use to love these in 2021). They became from the primary category to the minority of my names, but I still love them. They tend to be vintage and obscure [name_u]French[/name_u] names like [name_f]Sixtine[/name_f] and Castille, long and noble/vintage ones like Clémentine, or names like [name_f]Violette[/name_f], [name_f]Rosalie[/name_f], Daphné that sound romantic, and as for the minority in the minority, some of the ones that are currently popular in [name_u]France[/name_u] (Océane, [name_u]Jeanne[/name_u], Victoire…)

  2. The “American 1910s to 1920s” vibe: We have got, [name_f]Marilyn[/name_f], [name_f]Frances[/name_f], [name_f]Mabel[/name_f], [name_u]Vivian[/name_u] and [name_u]Evelyn[/name_u]. Same for the boys…

  3. The occasional Spanish elegant name, that are somehow vintage: [name_f]Leonor[/name_f], and [name_m]Nicanor[/name_m]

Ok I have got it, my style could be defined as “globally vintage and opera/old cinema/old books” vibe of?

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Mine is getting more extra as the time goes. :smile: Used to think 2 middles - too much. Used to think that using a name that happened to be in a Disney or Barbie movie is sadly a no go. Basically my taste is the exact same as when I was a kid, but now I’m more confident in it. :smile:

Edited:

Well, girl names are mainly my old GP :smile: Boy names too, but for boys I’m way more into vintage/ very old names than before. I never really thought about boy names too much. I had 2-3 faves, but I never even considered that I would have a son.:smile: Always felt like a girl mama. But yeah, the name Voldemar, Theodore, August or even Balthazar felt like such old man names, but now I really like them!

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[name_f]My[/name_f] style was a child (until the age of 13-14) was super similar to your current one. It now feels too much for me and does not suit my tastes, but I get why someone else could like it!

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Me too!
Ever since joining, I’ve gotten more confident in liking whatever the heck I want and thinking that I could totally use all my GP names. (In reality, would I? Maybe, we’ll see. But I do love them all.) When I first joined, I would have raised my eyebrows at the idea of the middle name Sunshine, but now it’s one of my favorites! :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

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I joined like a month ago and my taste has skyrocketed into extraaa :smile: Love this forum! :heart_eyes: Sunshine is totally cute! :sunny:

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Well, I’ve been into names for about 15 years so… my tastes have changed a lot. I remember some of the girl names I started getting into as a preteen were usually spelling variants of millennial names like [name_f]Ashely[/name_f], [name_f]Tifany[/name_f], [name_f]Brittaney[/name_f], [name_f]Kandy[/name_f], etc. and unusual-for-America names that came from other cultures such as [name_f]Rica[/name_f], [name_u]Kiah[/name_u], [name_u]Risa[/name_u], Kachine, [name_f]Kiona[/name_f]. None of these names (except for [name_f]Tiffany[/name_f] as a middle) makes it close to my list nowadays lol. Although, I will say that my first “favorite combo” was [name_f]Athena[/name_f] [name_u]Alexis[/name_u], which isn’t half bad!

As for the past year, I took a while off from names but have gotten into them more maybe about a year ago. I’ve been doing a lot of researching and revamping my name lists. For boys, I really leaned into [name_u]French[/name_u] names and nature names while removing some of the older names that I liked but have gotten pretty trendy and popular (good bye, [name_u]Maverick[/name_u], [name_u]Levi[/name_u], and River). For girls, my tastes went from as described above to pretty much only rare and rarely-heard-of names. Popularity was very important to me, but in the past year or so I’ve cared less about it and have allowed more common names like [name_f]Sabrina[/name_f], [name_f]Vanessa[/name_f], [name_f]Stephanie[/name_f], and [name_f]Evangeline[/name_f] on my list. I’ve done a lot of curating and collecting - researching names that I like and then figuring out if I like them for myself. I also used to not care at all about honor names, but I’ve started trying to find names in my style that would honor certain people I’m close to. It’s not necessary for me still, but it is a nice bonus. I’ve been working on completely revamping my UC for the past year because the last time I wrote it was maybe like 10 years ago… and I’ve basically just been expanding my taste and curating new names and combos. I’ve put a lot of work into it and am almost done (just a few more weeks of topics and polls y’all, lol).

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edited for privacy

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I had the exact same phases! I even begged my mom to name my baby sister [name_f]Daphne[/name_f] [name_f]Rose[/name_f] or just [name_f]Rose[/name_f] anything :smile:

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I think my name taste has become more “mainstream” over the years.

Middle school me was absolutely set on naming my daughter [name_u]December[/name_u] [name_u]Fern[/name_u]- it was the first time I ever remember having a connection to a specific name.

When I got a bit older my only goal was to figure out how to spell names as uniquely as possible. I had Zohie, [name_f]Zoee[/name_f], Graysan, Lilhie & Lilhia on my list

Now, I guess I’m thinking more realistically about names. I want my kids to be unique individuals, but I don’t want them to stand out too much, and figuring out how to honor people and things in my life is really important to me :sunflower:

It’s been under the general category of “vintage” for about 10 years, but I definitely used to prefer longer and more elegant, Victorian, classic 2016 Berry favourites vintage, whereas now my style leans towards shorter and zippy, largely closer to 1920s vintage. I also think a more modern flair has been added to my style. I also think my style has a lot more European influence now

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I started being a namenerd when I was just a child myself. I vividly remember falling in love with the name [name_f]Eloise[/name_f] in elementary school – in the early 2000s. I joined Nameberry in 2010, and my tastes have expanded since then, though I think my “style” has stayed somewhat consistent.

I have always loved soft names for boys and spunky names for girls. [name_f]My[/name_f] partner’s taste is more elaborate and unique than mine own, which has definitely changed my naming style in terms of names I would actually give to children.

I don’t think it’s changed that much, I’ve always wanted to use rare names (except for some top 100 guilty pleasure names). I think Nameberry has reassured me to go for bold names.

I think I joined up with a list of favorite names from several genres. Then my style started narrowing down to unique/uncommon first names paired with a classic and familiar middle name. Used to not like classic names but I’ve come to appreciate their appeal. I’ve also come to love honor middle names which wasn’t my style before.

The earliest UC I can find. (3 years ago.)

[name_f]Rose[/name_f] [name_f]Edelweiss[/name_f], [name_f]Emma[/name_f] [name_f]Lavender[/name_f], [name_u]June[/name_u] [name_f]Marigold[/name_f], [name_f]Joy[/name_f] [name_f]Aurelia[/name_f], [name_f]Laura[/name_f] [name_u]Sage[/name_u], [name_f]Anya[/name_f] [name_f]Cosette[/name_f], [name_u]Skye[/name_u] [name_f]Elise[/name_f], [name_f]Carrie[/name_f] [name_u]Dove[/name_u], [name_u]Marie[/name_u] [name_f]Autumn[/name_f].

[name_u]Wesley[/name_u] [name_u]Kit[/name_u], [name_u]Timothy[/name_u] [name_u]Bear[/name_u], [name_u]August[/name_u] [name_u]Brave[/name_u], [name_u]Elliot[/name_u] [name_u]Storm[/name_u], [name_u]Judah[/name_u] [name_u]Lark[/name_u], [name_m]Isaac[/name_m] [name_m]Wolfe[/name_m], [name_m]Ethan[/name_m] [name_u]Warrior[/name_u], [name_u]Levi[/name_u] [name_u]Forest[/name_u], [name_u]William[/name_u] [name_u]Emrys[/name_u].

[name_f]My[/name_f] current UC.

[name_u]Marie[/name_u] [name_f]Lavender[/name_f]. [name_u]June[/name_u] [name_f]Elisabeth[/name_f]. [name_f]Rose[/name_f] [name_f]Madeleine[/name_f]. [name_f]Clara[/name_f] [name_f]Cosette[/name_f]. [name_f]Susanna[/name_f] [name_u]Fern[/name_u].

[name_m]Peter[/name_m] [name_u]Forest[/name_u]. [name_m]Todd[/name_m] [name_m]Bramble[/name_m]. [name_m]Frederick[/name_m] [name_m]Moss[/name_m]. [name_u]Timothy[/name_u] [name_u]Finch[/name_u]. [name_u]Rudy[/name_u] [name_m]Thomas[/name_m].

It makes me happy to see so many favorites on both lists! [name_f]Rose[/name_f], [name_u]June[/name_u], [name_u]Marie[/name_u], and [name_u]Timothy[/name_u] make appearances on both UCs. I also still love [name_f]Anya[/name_f] and [name_f]Joy[/name_f]. [name_f]My[/name_f] girls have stayed much more consistent through the years, but I feel like the vibes from my boy lists still have similar imagery if that makes sense. I think overall my style has become more timeless than it used to be, but I still think my style back then was lovely! I would love to know what y’all think if you have any thoughts.

I think that my taste is still largely the same, but the names that I consider “realistic” have changed a lot. But I’ve gone moved from simple [name_f]English[/name_f] style (Florence, Calvin) → to Scandi (Odin, Lærke) → to elaborate (Evangeline) → Jewish names to honor my community (Hadassah, Uriah) → honor names in general (Imogene, Grover) → back to elaborate but now in a different way (Antigone, Peregrine) → whatever it currently is [short, energetic, perhaps roaring 20s-y?]. I still love a lot of the names listed - some are 100% still on my list - I almost want to apologize to some of them for writing in past tense lol.

Some of these shifts I really remember (yes I did want to pick up and move to Norway when I was in high school). A clear example is that when I was in Zoom classes for COVID, everyone’s name was right there on the screen and I think that made me feel a bit brave. But I remember coming back to in person classes and the professors were calling [name_u]Alex[/name_u] “Alice” or struggling to pronounce “Eliza” and I felt some of my favs turn into GPs before my eyes. I’ve also become more and more convinced on keeping my last name and giving my kids hyphenated last names. Which for a variety of reasons has pushed me towards shorter, simpler names. I think enforcing “practical” restrictions on my names has made me feel a bit less creative about it but it also makes the names a bit more real.

What has stayed the same is my preference towards vintage names that have some sort of meaning or connection to me (even if it’s elaborate and reverse engineered). I also continue to love clunky, geek chic, perhaps unfashionable names - this is something that I think could fit into all of my style evolutions in some way.

When I was a child and teen, I was very much into Biblical names and vintage names. I didn’t care for the names of my peers at all, including my own. (I am a child of the 60s and 70s.)

Now I am more traditional, more classic, and dislike today’s unique names. A factor of aging, I guess.