Think back to when you first started to think about and enjoy names. Not just for the purposes of naming your children, but in general. [name_m]How[/name_m] would you say your tastes have changed? I was thinking about the names I liked when I first became really interested; I was maybe 16-ish. My tastes were more Nameberry’s style, to be honest. Haha. On the whole, more opened to outlandish, far to the “left,” off the grid names. Many inventions, many trendy names. Now 10 years later, as a married adult who has been through a myriad of experiences, and obviously developed a different worldview, my tastes have become more conventional, more conservative. More based around what a child may have to deal with as he/she carries a name, and not ultimately my desires. When I was 16, I liked names like [name_u]Braeden[/name_u], [name_m]Jagger[/name_m], [name_f]Talia[/name_f] and [name_f]Bianca[/name_f]. While these names are definitely others’ style, at 26 I would never dream of considering them. (I also held the very self-righteous attitude that a baby’s name is the mother’s choice only because she is the one who is pregnant and gives birth. What can I say, I was a teenager and I knew everything…) What about you?
It’s changed in almost every way possible. I’ll post my first name list from sixth grade, one from seventh, one from eighth grade, one from last year, and the current.
Sixth grade:
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[name_f]Theresa[/name_f]
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[name_u]Kari[/name_u]
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[name_u]Aspen[/name_u]
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[name_f]Chyna[/name_f]
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[name_f]Jocelyn[/name_f]
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[name_u]Cody[/name_u]
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[name_m]Cole[/name_m]
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[name_u]Dylan[/name_u]
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[name_u]Logan[/name_u]
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[name_m]Collin[/name_m]
Seventh grade:
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[name_f]Brynn[/name_f]
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[name_f]Kaelyn[/name_f]
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[name_f]Tessa[/name_f]
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[name_f]Kelli[/name_f]
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[name_f]Nahla[/name_f]
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[name_m]Collin[/name_m]
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[name_u]Carter[/name_u]
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[name_u]Dylan[/name_u]
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[name_u]Tyler[/name_u]
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[name_m]Ethan[/name_m]
Eighth:
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[name_f]Siddalee[/name_f]
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[name_f]Adelyn[/name_f]
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McKayden
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[name_f]Brynlee[/name_f]
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[name_f]Kaelyn[/name_f]
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[name_u]Hudson[/name_u]
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[name_m]Trey[/name_m]
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[name_m]Maddox[/name_m]
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[name_u]Carter[/name_u]
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[name_u]Chandler[/name_u]
Ninth:
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[name_f]Adalyn[/name_f]
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[name_u]Brooklyn[/name_u]
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[name_u]Avery[/name_u]
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[name_f]Lila[/name_f]
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[name_f]Sadie[/name_f]
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[name_u]Carter[/name_u]
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[name_u]Kieran[/name_u]
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[name_m]Nolan[/name_m]
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[name_m]Jasper[/name_m]
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[name_u]Hudson[/name_u]
Now:
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[name_f]Lila[/name_f]
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[name_f]Maeve[/name_f]
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[name_f]Iris[/name_f]
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[name_f]Sadie[/name_f]
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[name_f]Adalyn[/name_f]
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[name_u]Carter[/name_u]
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[name_m]Jasper[/name_m]
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[name_m]Torin[/name_m]
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[name_m]Ronan[/name_m]
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[name_m]Archer[/name_m]
Good question. I have had the same experience. My earliest name lists are full of fanciful ideas. Then when I started thinking more seriously, they became less fanciful. When I actually had the clock ticking towards my DD’s due date, my list was nothing I could have imagined as a teenager.
Naming another human being -and I think people should really know that difference, not a baby, but a human being who is an adult most of their life - is a huge privilege and responsibility. It’s more than a creative exercise. Some people put more restrictions on themselves than others, but most people having children will consider the child’s surname, names already used in the family or social circle, personal associations with a name from both partners. I’d say my more romantic style has turned classic.
But I’d add that, at least for me, there’s been another change - once I had my DD and began to be around kids and parents a lot, my sense of what’s popular, what’s hipster, what’s edgy, what’s not, has been expanded. For a future child, I may be less concerned about the ranking of a name, although I still don’t want anything Top 10. And I might be more daring than I would have been with my DD’s name, because the landscape of names has totally changed.
After I joined Nameberry, my taste gradually moved from mostly vintage/eccentric aristocratic with an international vibe (think [name_f]Jemima[/name_f], [name_f]Lavinia[/name_f], [name_m]Waldo[/name_m]) to highly unusual international/mythological ([name_f]Sidonia[/name_f], [name_u]Vesper[/name_u], [name_m]Fabius[/name_m]). Most of my eccentric aristocratic favorites are still on my list, though. What hasn’t changed is the ‘wow’ factor that I always look for in a name.
My taste has always been so eclectic that it’s kind of hard to say how it’s changed. I also didn’t keep lists or think about boys’ names much until I joined NB a few years ago, so these are just recollections.
When I was really little, I liked:
[name_f]Claudia[/name_f]
[name_f]Emilia[/name_f]
[name_f]Isabel[/name_f]
[name_f]Annika[/name_f]
[name_f]Helen[/name_f]
[name_f]Alice[/name_f]
[name_f]Sarah[/name_f]
[name_f]Elaine[/name_f]
[name_f]Sonia[/name_f]
[name_f]Sahara[/name_f]
and the only boys’ name I remember liking was [name_u]Max[/name_u].
Later, my favorites included:
[name_f]Adelaide[/name_f]
[name_f]Genevieve[/name_f]
[name_f]Amelia[/name_f]
[name_f]Maeve[/name_f]
[name_f]Cecilia[/name_f]
[name_f]Cleo[/name_f]
[name_f]Ileana[/name_f]
[name_f]Adela[/name_f]
And then in my early Nameberry days I remember loving [name_f]Emmeline[/name_f] and [name_f]Senna[/name_f]. I can definitely trace how my taste has changed over the past two years; it’s basically gone from “random” to “berry favorites” to “even more random, but with a classical/mythological/quirky flavor.”
I never stopped loving [name_f]Isabel[/name_f], [name_f]Sonia[/name_f], and [name_f]Cleo[/name_f], and have since come back around to loving [name_f]Alice[/name_f] and [name_f]Emilia[/name_f]. Also, I totally had [name_u]Vale[/name_u] on my [mental] list in my early teens! There’s a [name_u]Vale[/name_u] Road in my area and I’d always planned to use it as a quirky middle. And now the celebrities have beaten me to it.
I’ve always liked names in general but probably the first time I started making note of what I liked was around 8 or 9. I was really into [name_m]Little[/name_m] House on the [name_u]Prairie[/name_u] and I loved the names of [name_f]Laura[/name_f] and [name_f]Mary[/name_f]'s dolls, [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f] and [name_f]Emmeline[/name_f]. I also like [name_f]Caroline[/name_f] and I kind of forced myself to like [name_f]Laura[/name_f] even though in hindsight I really didn’t. Never really thought about boys names back then
When I got to Middle School thats when I started to get into trendy, unique, mispelled names. I remember really liking Lindall and Arsinoe for girls, as well as [name_f]McKenna[/name_f], [name_u]Tate[/name_u], [name_f]Suri[/name_f], [name_f]Kate[/name_f], [name_f]Lucia[/name_f], [name_u]Skylar[/name_u], [name_u]Blake[/name_u], [name_u]Leighton[/name_u], [name_u]Sailor[/name_u], Syler, and [name_u]Remy[/name_u]. I don’t remember any of the boys names I liked in Middle School. I know there were some but I’m drawing a blank. I think maybe [name_m]Kyler[/name_m]/[name_u]Kai[/name_u].
In early high school I was big on the name [name_u]Emerson[/name_u] for a girl. I though it sounded so smart and classy while being “different”. I joined fanfiction that year and made my pen name [name_u]Emerson[/name_u] [name_f]Rose[/name_f]. I also continued liking [name_f]McKenna[/name_f], [name_f]Kate[/name_f] and [name_f]Lucia[/name_f] and I swore that if I had a daughter some day she would be [name_f]McKenna[/name_f] [name_f]Josephine[/name_f] or [name_f]Kate[/name_f] [name_f]Isabella[/name_f]. I also really liked the name [name_m]Nathan[/name_m]/[name_m]Nate[/name_m] for a boy a worried for the future when I would have to chose between using [name_f]Kate[/name_f] or [name_m]Nate[/name_m] because I couldn’t have two kids with rhyming names.
Around 15/16 is when I discovered Nameberry. I didn’t join right away but lurked a lot and quickly learned that most of the trendy/unique style names were frowned upon here. I don’t think I was too in love with the style either because I quickly fell back into love with old fashioned names, the first of which being [name_f]Violet[/name_f] which explains my screen name. So far I am still in to names with a vintage flair to them, but not a lot of it. For boys I can’t really describe my style but I definitely like a lot of British boys names, surnames and names that end in vowel sounds for boys. Its definitely a big jump from [name_m]Nathan[/name_m] and [name_m]Kyler[/name_m].
Ehh I can’t really describe what my naming style is, but I know that I went through a phase where I really liked all sorts of [name_m]French[/name_m]-y names. Now I still like them, but I find a lot of my old favorites for girls to be too delicate for my tastes. I was also more strongly opposed to word names and gender-bending names, but I don’t really care about those things anymore; in fact, I like a lot of uncommon word names and I even like a few boy names on girls (such as [name_u]Claude[/name_u]).
In general I think my attitude has relaxed to a point where even names I don’t necessarily like, I don’t hate either. I think naming a kid (or a pet, or a character) doesn’t have to be so stressful, it should be intuitive and fun and just feel right.
My taste hasn’t changed much. My favorite boy name was [name_u]Reeve[/name_u] when I was 12 and it still is (at 28). Girl names have always been more difficult for me, but we’ve had the same top girl choice for over a year now ([name_f]Mira[/name_f]). The biggest difference after NB and other name research is that I’m attuned to just how common/uncommon names are right now and what area we’ll be going for when we have children. Also, of course, I have my husband’s tastes to consider which wasn’t an issue of course when I was 12 (hence I won’t actually use [name_u]Reeve[/name_u]). I categorize names now into that that are usable (it’s actually a narrow list), names that I think are great but not for our family for whatever reason, and names that are middle name/pet name/otherwise GP. I have found so many highly unusual names on NB that I wouldn’t actually use for a child, at least for a first.
My top name loves went from [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] to [name_f]Constance[/name_f] to [name_f]Althea[/name_f] to [name_f]Oceana[/name_f] to [name_u]Evelyn[/name_u] to [name_f]Alice[/name_f] and finally settling on [name_f]Freya[/name_f]. SO i suppose i went from classical English names through to goddess and nature phase and finally settling on all of those combined.
Boy names i was always a bit relaxed on, went from [name_m]Zachary[/name_m] to [name_m]Cole[/name_m], to [name_u]Aiden[/name_u]/[name_u]Hayden[/name_u] to [name_u]Seth[/name_u] and finally settling on [name_m]Trent[/name_m] as of three days ago.
[name_f]Non[/name_f] of my names from childhood has translated over into names i would use now… I’m not such a fan of long frilly girl names anymore.
When i first started to like names at about age 10 i loved frilly names like:
[name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f]
[name_f]Constance[/name_f]
[name_f]Emily[/name_f]
Boys:
[name_m]Zachary[/name_m]
As a teen i came obsessed with name meaning (but not for all names)
my mixed bag included::
[name_f]Krystal[/name_f]
[name_f]Althea[/name_f]
[name_f]Oceana[/name_f]
[name_f]Lavinia[/name_f]
[name_u]Raven[/name_u]
[name_u]Blaze[/name_u]
[name_f]Hannah[/name_f]
[name_f]Kate[/name_f]
[name_f]Isla[/name_f]
[name_f]Jade[/name_f]
[name_f]Jacqueline[/name_f]
[name_f]Willow[/name_f]
[name_f]Savannah[/name_f]
[name_f]Claire[/name_f]
[name_f]Ava[/name_f]
[name_f]Robyn[/name_f]
[name_f]Scarlett[/name_f]
[name_f]Ivy[/name_f]
Boys:
[name_m]Kurt[/name_m]
[name_m]Cole[/name_m]
[name_u]Hayden[/name_u]
[name_u]Aiden[/name_u]
[name_m]Connor[/name_m]
[name_u]Noah[/name_u]
[name_m]Leif[/name_m]
In my 20’s i loved:
[name_f]Alice[/name_f]
[name_f]Freya[/name_f]
[name_f]Scarlett[/name_f]
[name_u]Evelyn[/name_u]
[name_f]Viola[/name_f]
[name_f]Ivy[/name_f]
Boys:
[name_u]Finn[/name_u]
[name_u]Ashton[/name_u]
[name_m]Nathaniel[/name_m] ([name_m]Nate[/name_m])
[name_u]Seth[/name_u]
[name_m]Cole[/name_m]
[name_m]Connor[/name_m]
[name_m]Trent[/name_m]
I am with you on that team, and agree 100% wholeheartedly.
Yes, it changed over time, but now I feel my current list is for good.
I was ten or eleven when I decided the following:
- I’d name my kids [name_f]Deirdre[/name_f] [name_f]Ann[/name_f], [name_m]Cecil[/name_m] [name_u]Finn[/name_u], [name_m]Oliver[/name_m] [name_m]Soren[/name_m], and [another one I can’t remember].
- I didn’t LIKE names such as Khrystyne, but I didn’t see what was wrong with them [me now: GAG]
At twelve, I joined NB.
- through my first months, I started to actually make lists…with names like [name_f]Rainbow[/name_f], Starfall, and [name_f]Bitsy[/name_f] on them. Luckily they were never my absolute favorites (those were [name_u]Finn[/name_u] and [name_f]Lileas[/name_f]).
Now I’m thirteen.
- my favorite boys’ name is still [name_u]Finn[/name_u], but I prefer [name_f]Lily[/name_f] or [name_f]Elsa[/name_f] as opposed to [name_f]Lileas[/name_f] for girls.
- Anything goes–but I don’t like [name_f]Rainbow[/name_f] or Paylee (which I used for a character once)!
I emigrated in my early 20s (now in my mid 20s) to a country with a different language and very different names, so that changed things a lot, especially when I got to the point in my life when I realised that I wasn’t going to be having English children (well, only half-English). So I basically had to throw out most of my old ideas and start all over again. It was a lot of fun exploring Icelandic names and naming data finding out what I liked and would consider using. Still my tastes have changed, though - at first I thought I would name a son Kári and a daughter Sóley. I still really love those names, but for various reasons I have changed my mind and Kári and Sóley have slipped down the list considerably. I expect my tastes will continue to develop throughout my life, to be honest, so when I name my children, it will be representative of my tastes at that time. I’m confident I will choose something I will love forever, but realistically I will probably find new favourites as time goes on. The closer I get to actually naming a human being, I think the more seriously I actually think about it, because it’s not just a game anymore.
I’d say my tastes in English names have also changed over time, pretty much in accordance with how actual naming trends have changed. This is not intentional, but I guess I’m pretty representative of British tastes, and as such the names I like tend to be the names that a lot of other people like, hence quite popular. When I was very little, for example, my favourite name was [name_m]Jack[/name_m], which later become the UK number 1 for many years. When I was around 12 or so I was convinced I would one day have a son named [name_u]Finlay[/name_u], which then exploded in popularity so I clearly wasn’t alone (just that I was too young to actually do anything about it). Now I would never name my baby [name_m]Jack[/name_m] or [name_u]Finlay[/name_u], for many, many reasons (although I do still think they are great names).
My naming taste has not really changed much! I have always had high respect for vintage/classic names. When I was a little bit younger I loved these names for boys:
[name_m]Matthew[/name_m]
[name_m]Alexander[/name_m]
[name_m]Harry[/name_m]
[name_m]Zachary[/name_m]
[name_u]Riley[/name_u]
[name_u]Hunter[/name_u]
[name_m]Wyatt[/name_m]
[name_m]Geoffrey[/name_m]
[name_m]Brandon[/name_m]
[name_m]Jason[/name_m]
[name_m]Brodie[/name_m]
[name_m]Bruce[/name_m]
[name_u]Dylan[/name_u]
[name_m]Luke[/name_m]
[name_u]Carson[/name_u]
I don’t know why but I always loved the name [name_u]Carson[/name_u] it’s so adorable.
For girls I used to love:
[name_f]Mary[/name_f]
[name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f]
[name_f]Amanda[/name_f]
[name_u]Julie[/name_u]
Alexz
[name_f]May[/name_f]
[name_f]Jacqueline[/name_f]
[name_f]Prudence[/name_f]
[name_u]Shannen[/name_u]
[name_u]Piper[/name_u]
[name_f]Holly[/name_f]
[name_f]Phoebe[/name_f]
[name_f]Alyssa[/name_f]
[name_f]Paige[/name_f]
[name_f]Rose[/name_f]
[name_f]Brenda[/name_f]
[name_f]Maria[/name_f]
[name_u]Rene[/name_u]
[name_f]Beth[/name_f]
[name_f]Winona[/name_f]
[name_f]Annalee[/name_f]
[name_f]Aimee[/name_f]
[name_f]Louise[/name_f]
[name_f]Cassandra[/name_f]
[name_f]Carol[/name_f]
[name_f]Anne[/name_f]
[name_f]Arrietty[/name_f]
Most of these girls names I still love to this very day! So I don’t think it’s changed much though.
However when I was younger I hated [name_m]Henry[/name_m] but I love it now though. And when I was younger I never ever thought about [name_m]Macaulay[/name_m] but now I love this name and I would use it in a heart beat.
I used to love some of the most popular names in [name_u]America[/name_u] at the moment ([name_f]Isabella[/name_f], [name_m]Jacob[/name_m], [name_u]Noah[/name_u], [name_f]Olivia[/name_f], etc.). Then I switched to very old, vintage names with dust all over them. Only recently has my list of names changed to modern, slightly vintage, a little bit popular names. If I’m being honest with myself, my current favorite names are all over the place, but there’s nothing wrong with that! 
When I was younger I often named stuffed animals [name_u]Max[/name_u] or [name_f]Emily[/name_f]. At 8 I named my goldfish [name_m]Tommy[/name_m]. At 9 I liked [name_m]Gideon[/name_m] for a boy and [name_u]Sam[/name_u] for a girl. By 13 I was in love with [name_m]Gabriel[/name_m] and [name_f]Faith[/name_f].
When I was in high school I loved [name_m]Isaiah[/name_m] which morphed into [name_m]Isaac[/name_m].
Overall my name taste hasn’t changed too much on my boy’s list. Classic and Old Testament names come up a lot. Although my GP list is filled with names like [name_m]Anton[/name_m], [name_m]Leif[/name_m], Varik, Ask.
Girl’s are a different story. I can’t truly find any names I love for a girl. It started as [name_u]Sam[/name_u], then [name_f]Arabella[/name_f] (which is still sitting on my list), and then I had to adjust for my OH’s tastes. Names like [name_f]Lilith[/name_f], [name_u]Blair[/name_u] and [name_f]Milena[/name_f] are on our lists. My list looks to be a bit more [name_u]Berry[/name_u] taste. [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f], [name_f]Lenore[/name_f] and [name_f]Sylvie[/name_f] are all on my own personal lists.
The girls names I used to like tended to feel more masculine to me, although I guess my taste has always been feminine to others. Now, I consider names that have a more unisex or masculine nn option in case my daughter doesn’t want to go by something so feminine. [name_m]Even[/name_m] though, I would love to have a little girl with a frilly [name_f]Ophelie[/name_f] type name do martial arts or boxing or something, in addition to dancing Additionally, I’ve become more fond of frilly, french sounding names for girls.
For boys, I used to like (and still like a few of) what I consider softer names (e.g., [name_u]Ryan[/name_u]). After seeing them get taken by more girls, I’ve started going towards stronger names that I hope will stay towards the boy side (e.g., [name_m]Erik[/name_m], [name_m]Anders[/name_m]).
The one thing that hasn’t changed is my dislike of unisex names because I like to know whether I’ll be meeting a man or woman, especially when it’s a doctor. I guess nowadays you just have to ask man or woman, but I liked just knowing from the name.
In the end, I pass all my names across my parents. They will be brutally honest, so I know whether or not the name will work well in my family. They also give great ideas for family surnames that would work as middles, so they influence my taste more than anything else. Nameberry has opened me up to a lot of names that I like, but none that are really usable for me. If I don’t go the single mom root and have a husband, then I might have to change my style more than I have
set 1:
[name_f]Rachel[/name_f]
[COLOR="#006400"][COLOR="#00FFFF"][COLOR="#FFA07A"][name_m]Peter[/name_m][/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR]
[name_m]Pheonix[/name_m]
[name_f]Kate[/name_f]
[name_f]Zara[/name_f]
[name_m]SET[/name_m] 2:
[name_f]Annika[/name_f]
[name_m]Peter[/name_m]
[name_m]Pheonix[/name_m]
Kaiti-[name_f]Thea[/name_f]-[name_u]James[/name_u]
Czarina
[name_m]SET[/name_m] 3
[name_u]Holland[/name_u]
[name_m]Jasper[/name_m]
[name_m]Pheonix[/name_m]
[name_f]Sylvie[/name_f]
[name_m]SET[/name_m] 4
[name_f]Beatrix[/name_f] [name_f]Isobel[/name_f] [name_f]Renee[/name_f]
[name_m]Jasper[/name_m] [name_m]Wolfgang[/name_m]
[name_f]Seraphina[/name_f] Sineva [name_f]Cate[/name_f]
[name_f]Freya[/name_f] [name_u]James[/name_u] [name_m]Bow[/name_m]
[name_f]Anika[/name_f] Fuschia [name_m]Pheonix[/name_m]
My stuffed animals were always [name_f]Emily[/name_f], [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f], [name_m]Matthew[/name_m], and [name_u]Michael[/name_u].
In my tweens, I cared a lot about names that were after fictional characters and I also liked names that were A, K, L, and Y heavy. My favorites at the time were [name_f]Zylla[/name_f] (from A Swiftly Tilting Planet) and [name_f]Andromeda[/name_f] (from [name_m]Harry[/name_m] [name_m]Potter[/name_m]). I also really like Dandelion for some reason?
When I first started Nameberry, I would describe my style as “cool”. I liked [name_f]Poppy[/name_f], [name_f]Ramona[/name_f] “[name_f]Mona[/name_f]”, [name_u]River[/name_u], and [name_m]Rhodes[/name_m].
Now, I really love classic, pretty names. I feel like it’s kinda stagnated now, which isn’t exactly a bad thing, but I’m a long way from having kids and I feel like I’m just rearranging the same names and saying it’s “fresh”.
The kids living in my dollhouse were called [name_f]Lily[/name_f] and [name_m]Tom[/name_m]. I never even liked [name_m]Tom[/name_m] though, I just thought it was a name normal people have.
When I first started liking names my favourites were [name_f]Annika[/name_f], [name_f]Marie[/name_f] and [name_f]Saskia[/name_f], all very common for girls my age. Maybe it was my way of wishing I was more “normal”
[name_u]Early[/name_u] teens, I developed a taste for weird, mostly short names (“Of course I can name my daughter Sua! I read it’s a legitimate name in Taiwan!”) That was about when I started considering popularity and kicked [name_f]Emma[/name_f] off my lists.
Lately, I’d describe my style as 3 syllable, a-ending for girls and 2-3 syllable, classic, consonant-ending for boys. Also now I put more thought in matching sibling names etc.