I’m looking for names for my 4th and my 5th right now and I’m founding many names that I love but that I will never see myself using.
So I was wondering, what are your five names that you love but you’ll never use?
The rules are: no names vetoed by partners, no names vetoed because they were used by close friends or family and no names that you can’t use because they are too similar to your other kids or pets.
Basically the names that you love but doubt about them in a real child for any reason that doesn’t involve other people.
Mine are:
[name_m]Merrick[/name_m]: I love this name but it sounds way to masculine and rough compared to my other kids names.
[name_m]Icarus[/name_m]: I adore this name, but I consider it way too unique compared to my other kids names
[name_u]Noah[/name_u]: It perfectly fits my sib set but it’s number one right now in my zone so it’s a big no no
[name_f]Seine[/name_f]: I just love it for a little girl but I don’t see it in a grown woman. Also it’s way to unique for me.
[name_f]Hermione[/name_f]: [name_u]Love[/name_u] it buuuut the [name_u]Harry[/name_u] [name_m]Potter[/name_m] association is way to strong to ignore. (I feel the same way about [name_m]Clifford[/name_m], I love it, but the red dog association ruins it for me)
My eldest daughter is called Hermione! It was an ‘out-there’ choice but I really love it and she goes by Mimi so it’s not too strange!
There aren’t many names that I couldn’t use going by the rules listed but these are two I can think of:
Emma: I LOVE Emma so so much, but I know far too many of them for it to be usable and although I can see it on a little girl and a grown woman - I know too many 40 somethings called Emma
Gloria: I really like this name (mainly because of the song) but I can’t see it on a little girl - only on a grown woman
[name_f]Emma[/name_f] feels the same way as [name_u]Noah[/name_u] for me. And the age vibes of the name are really important.
I only have one, but it’s [name_m]Sayre[/name_m]. I always said if I have a girl, it’s [name_m]Sayre[/name_m]. And then of course the time came and people found too many flaws in it and now I can’t use it
[name_u]Addison[/name_u] - we both like but it feels way too average with our other names. It’s also a lot longer than our other names
[name_u]Reid[/name_u]- We both love it but I don’t love the combos we have for it as a first name. It just suits the middle name spot much easier. And it is shorter than all of our other boys names.
[name_u]James[/name_u] - I love the name, but have an association with it I’d rather forget altogether
[name_f]Katherine[/name_f], et al. - Yet again, I have a couple of associations with it I’d rather forget. Exceptions are [name_u]Kai[/name_u], [name_f]Kaia[/name_f], [name_u]Kaj[/name_u], [name_f]Kaja[/name_f], [name_f]Carine[/name_f], [name_f]Carina[/name_f], [name_f]Karine[/name_f], [name_f]Karina[/name_f], [name_f]Karen[/name_f]
[name_u]Michael[/name_u], et al. - I can’t spell the name and I won’t put that on my child. Exceptions are [name_m]Mikel[/name_m], [name_u]Micah[/name_u], [name_f]Miki[/name_f], [name_u]Mickey[/name_u]
I absolutely adore the names [name_m]Tobias[/name_m] and [name_f]Talula[/name_f]. [name_u]Toby[/name_u] and Tallie/Lulu. Unfortunately, [name_m]Tobias[/name_m] and [name_f]Talula[/name_f] are the names of my dog and cat.
[name_f]Nike[/name_f] Alas, the name of the goddess of victory has been completely ruined by a sportswear company 
[name_m]Hugo[/name_m] Far too popular, and I don’t like it enough for me to ignore that fact
[name_m]Angelov[/name_m] Guilty pleasure. The only association I have with it is the villain in one of my favorite movies, afraid it might just be a bit much
[name_u]Jody[/name_u] I only like it for a boy and I feel like you have to be a southern dandy to pull it off. Maybe if I ever move to the south I’ll reconsider
[name_u]Sequoia[/name_u] Difficult to pair, no intuitive nn I like, doesn’t quite feel like “mine”
[name_m]Sayre[/name_m] is gorgeous. I’ve always wanted to use it!
three names I absolutely love but can’t use because I have no affiliation to the culture/language are Eyerusalem, Ashraqat, and Mumtaz. Eyerusalem is one of my all-time favorites, and I fell in love with Ashraqat and Mumtaz from studying Arabic, but I’m much more comfortable with using a name from my culture 
ahh, so many…i’ll try to narrow it down to five!
cheyenne: love love love it and it both works well with my current girls’ list and would serve as an honour, but i really feel like it’s inappropriate to use since it’s the name of a native american people!
jericho: for some reason this is kind of where i draw the line at feeling “excessively” biblical - i’m alright with biblical names but since it’s a place rather than a character it just seems too weighty, especially since i’m not a christian.
sabine: gorgeous, gorgeous name (plus a connection to my favourite book of all time, the magician’s assistant, but unfortunately it sounds too similar to my surname to be usable!
enos: i love a good two-syllable biblical boy name starting with ‘e,’ but it’s just too close to anus
cecily: okay, this name sounds lovely, and also the meaning “blind” is actually surprisingly versatile in creating combos with interesting meanings, BUT i assume at some point my kid would want to know why i chose it and i would have to explain that as a child i found cecily strong on snl so hot that it made me realize i was gay lol
I wouldn’t use alot of names on a child, however I might use them for fictional characters. I don’t know if this counts…
Balthazar- unweildy
Booker - sounds too much like booger
Logan - I’m unlikely to truly use this
Genevieve - unwieldy in English
Gabriel, Israel, Ishmael - I have a personal rule against biblical names
[name_f]Vera[/name_f], because it is a name of my father’s second wife. [name_m]Alexander[/name_m] and [name_m]Vladimir[/name_m], because they were used in my family a lot. [name_f]Lilia[/name_f] and [name_f]Rosalina[/name_f] due to religious reasons.
All of these names I love but they are outside of my usual style and I wouldn’t want to use them:
[name_u]Sutton[/name_u]
[name_u]Scout[/name_u]
[name_u]Palmer[/name_u]
[name_u]Reagan[/name_u]
[name_f]Blythe[/name_f] - love this name, but I really dislike “B” names for some reason. I think the only one I could ever use is [name_f]Beatrix[/name_f]
I love [name_u]Scout[/name_u]. Is one of my favorites gender neutral names
[name_f]My[/name_f] 5 are
[name_u]Palmer[/name_u]- Doesnt really fit the “vibe” I want for my childrens names. But I do love it!
[name_m]Alarik[/name_m]- I love this name, however the “Rick” ending sounds a bit harsh, and can’t think of a nn besides rick.
[name_u]Jameson[/name_u]- I love this name so much, however, I can’t stand the name [name_u]James[/name_u] or [name_u]Jamie[/name_u], and I feel like it would automatically be shortened to that by friends/family.
[name_m]Evander[/name_m]- One of my personal favs, i’m not sure if people would pronounce it right though, and doesnt so much flow with my last name.
[name_f]Winona[/name_f]- I despise the name “Winnie” and again feel like it would automatically be shortened to that.
[name_f]Adelina[/name_f]
Skyllan (like Skylynn)
[name_u]Bryce[/name_u]
[name_f]Kyla[/name_f]
[name_u]Everett[/name_u]
Only three names come to mind right now…
[name_f]Claudia[/name_f] - love the name, hate the meaning (“lame”).
[name_f]Salomé[/name_f] - so beautiful and the accent makes the three-syllable pronunciation more clear, but I still think the people would pronounce it wrong all. the. time.
[name_f]Fern[/name_f] - it’s a pretty nature name, but the fern is an iconic symbol here in [name_u]New[/name_u] [name_u]Zealand[/name_u] and many of our national sports teams are named after the fern e.g. [name_u]Silver[/name_u] Ferns, [name_m]Black[/name_m] Ferns, Tall Ferns. I have friends here who have used it for their girl, but I’m just not sure I would given the above.
[name_u]Holly[/name_u], [name_u]River[/name_u], [name_f]Bella[/name_f], [name_f]Lily[/name_f], [name_u]Parker[/name_u], [name_f]Aurora[/name_f], [name_u]Echo[/name_u].
Last name is Woods…
[name_m]Wilbur[/name_m]: the pig association ruin it for me, though I do like the movie.
[name_m]Bartholomew[/name_m]: [name_u]Love[/name_u] this name, but I’m not crazy about the nn [name_m]Bart[/name_m] bc it’s rhymes with fart, and the Simpsons association.
[name_f]Kaitlyn[/name_f]: even though I do like it, it’s weird to name, bc I had a crush on a girl name that.