Names You Like That Aren't Usable For You

Not sure if this had been done before. But list names that you like but couldn’t use got whatever reason

Note: these only apply to use as first names, most I’d consider as middle names
[name_f]Flora[/name_f]- won’t use because it’s the name of a pet
[name_f]Lucy[/name_f]- also wont use because it’s the name of a pet
Any names I like that are top #20

[name_f]Makayla[/name_f] - a spelling variant of my sister’s name - S/O and I have both said that if my mom hadn’t used this 18 years ago, this would be our #1 for a daughter!
[name_u]Shelby[/name_u] - [name_m]SIL[/name_m]'s name
[name_u]Jordyn/name_u - S/O’s ex
[name_f]Eleanor[/name_f] - My cousin is using this for his baby girl due in [name_u]July[/name_u]
[name_u]Ashley[/name_u] - S/O and I both have cousins named this
[name_f]Kendra[/name_f] - see [name_u]Ashley[/name_u]

[name_m]Wyatt[/name_m] - relative’s name
[name_m]Liam[/name_m] - relative’s name
[name_m]Lucas[/name_m] - relative’s name
[name_m]Joshua[/name_m] - [name_m]BIL[/name_m]
[name_m]Jackson[/name_m] - too close to [name_m]BIL[/name_m]'s name
[name_u]Ryan[/name_u] - a cousin has this name, as well as my dad, my FIL, and my uncle all being named [name_m]Brian[/name_m] - it seems a bit much!
[name_u]Dylan[/name_u] - ex-boyfriend’s name

I also wouldn’t use close relatives names as first names under most circumstances

Circassian/Lazuri/Irish names because I am not belong to these ethnicities… Ayas and Rüzgar they were vetoed.

[name_u]Ruby[/name_u] and [name_f]Elodie[/name_f] are names I love that don’t sound good with my surname OR my S/O’s surname.

Then there are the names we like that are taken by at least one family member:
[name_f]Sophie[/name_f] (wouldn’t have sounded good anyway, but still)
[name_f]Suzanna[/name_f] ‘[name_f]Suzy[/name_f]’
[name_f]Emma[/name_f]
[name_f]Vivienne[/name_f]
[name_m]Thomas[/name_m]
[name_m]Daniel[/name_m]
[name_m]Samuel[/name_m]
[name_m]David[/name_m] (x4!!)
[name_m]John[/name_m] (S/O likes it, I do not, so quite thankful for the relatives!)
[name_m]William[/name_m]
[name_m]Benjamin[/name_m]
[name_m]Edward[/name_m]
[name_m]Peter[/name_m]

[name_f]Cecilia[/name_f] and [name_f]Claudia[/name_f] - meaning “blind” and “lame” respectively.

[name_f]Arianwen[/name_f], Eirwen, & [name_f]Gwyneira[/name_f] ~ Would sound silly on my children but I have them saved for future pets!
[name_f]Elowen[/name_f] ~ Ditto.
[name_f]Mireille[/name_f] ~ Too many pronunciation issues but I love it.
[name_f]Thalia[/name_f] / [name_f]Dahlia[/name_f] ~ Also can’t get over how many different pronunciations there are!
[name_f]Orchid[/name_f] ~ My favorite flower but comes from a Greek word meaning ‘testicle’.
[name_m]Francesco[/name_m] ~ Too many [name_m]Frank[/name_m]'s in my family honoring my grandfather [name_m]Francesco[/name_m] “[name_m]Frank[/name_m]”.
Esmée ~ Can’t get over the spelling in [name_u]America[/name_u]. Also the Twilight association & the Es-me pronunciation.
[name_f]Emilia[/name_f] ~ Someone close in the family named [name_f]Amelia[/name_f].
[name_m]Octavius[/name_m]~ I love this but don’t have the guts to use it.

Shian-ann: a mix of my parents names and my dad is against honour names, my cousin is also called Shian
[name_f]Mikaila[/name_f]- too close to my dad’s Western name
[name_f]Xin[/name_f]- my cousin’s name
[name_f]Hailey[/name_f]- my god-daughter’s name
[name_f]Mary[/name_f] (and most of it’s variations- my mum’s name, dad is against me using it
[name_m]Joshua[/name_m]- brother’s name
[name_m]Adam[/name_m]- personal negative connotations
Eleska and [name_f]Alessia[/name_f] in a sibset, they’re way too close in sound for my but I love Eleska [name_u]Eloise[/name_u] Eadalyn and [name_f]Alessia[/name_f] Bryndis [name_u]Ember[/name_u]

[name_u]Tristan[/name_u] - I loved the name and was determined to use it, and then a close cousin of mine named her son [name_u]Tristan[/name_u]! I was devastated but cannot imagine her little boy with another name, so all’s well that ends well.
[name_u]Noah[/name_u] - my sister is planning on using it
[name_u]Rory[/name_u] (as a nn) - sister is planning on using it for a little girl [name_f]Aurora[/name_f]
Penryn - my family despise this name though I think it’s cute
[name_f]Evangeline[/name_f] - strange reason, but I’ve written a novel with the MC as [name_f]Evangeline[/name_f] nn Vee. I loveee the nn but because I am so invested in this story, I couldn’t see my little girl as [name_f]Evangeline[/name_f] because I would associate her too much with my character!
Many more but I am drawing a blank!

[name_f]Ada[/name_f]: Relative named [name_f]Ava[/name_f]
[name_f]Viviana[/name_f]/[name_f]Oriana[/name_f]: Relative with an -ana name
[name_f]Margot[/name_f]: Rhymes with my surname
[name_f]Poppy[/name_f]: Relatives that call grandfather Poppop, too close to the spanish word for father, the associations to drugs and Memorial [name_u]Day[/name_u]
[name_u]Lior[/name_u]/[name_f]Liora[/name_f]: I’d feel weird using a Jewish name on a non-Jewish child
[name_f]Elena[/name_f]: I know someone with a daughter named [name_f]Helena[/name_f], so it would be weird; it would also honor a step family member over my other ones which is not something I’d like to do
[name_f]Evelina[/name_f]: [name_m]Friend[/name_m] has had [name_u]Evelyn[/name_u] on her short list since she was little
[name_f]Gemma[/name_f]: Went to college with a girl name [name_f]Jenna[/name_f], so it may be oddly confusing
[name_m]Leo[/name_m]/[name_m]Laszlo[/name_m]/[name_m]Hugo[/name_m]/[name_m]Ivo[/name_m]: Surname problem again
[name_m]Cassian[/name_m]: [name_m]Don[/name_m]'t like the cash-en
[name_m]Alaric[/name_m]/[name_m]Alistair[/name_m]: I don’t want to use a name that has a nickname I hate ([name_m]Al[/name_m]/rick)

Well I’m not planning on having kids, but hypothetically… ”

Me and SO are both white British, so I’d feel weird giving my kid a ‘very obviously’ Arabic name, like [name_f]Faizah[/name_f], [name_f]Hadiya[/name_f], etc, even though I think they’re so pretty!

[name_u]Alex[/name_u] and variants on a girl is a no-no, because of SO’s ex.

Various names and similar names that belong to friends, that are NOT honour names but sound like they are - [name_f]Hannah[/name_f], [name_u]Laurie[/name_u], [name_u]Owen[/name_u].

Many names with an obvious [name_m]Harry[/name_m] [name_m]Potter[/name_m] link - I’m already the crazy fan of my friend group, lol - [name_m]Harry[/name_m], [name_f]Hermione[/name_f], [name_f]Minerva[/name_f], [name_u]Orion[/name_u].

[name_f]Tatyana[/name_f] and [name_f]Ksenia[/name_f], beautiful names of my cousins. I don’t want kids but hypothetically I couldn’t do that to them - I hate having the same name as my mother’s cousin enough to change my name. [I’d even change it to [name_f]Tatyana[/name_f] but … ]

[name_u]Willoughby[/name_u] - My cousin has a [name_f]Willow[/name_f] so it would be a bit weird
[name_f]Heather[/name_f] - My aunts name. I’d love to use it as a middle but since I’m sure both her kids will have kids and they are older then me they have first pick on [name_f]Heather[/name_f]. My other aunts names are fair game though as their children are done/not having kids.
[name_f]Rosie[/name_f] - I love [name_f]Rosie[/name_f] but dislike [name_f]Rose[/name_f] as a first (which is what everyone will assume it is).
[name_u]Flynn[/name_u] - In the [name_m]New[/name_m] Zealand top 100.
[name_u]Jensen[/name_u] - Hate the nickname [name_f]Jen[/name_f]
[name_f]Lily[/name_f] - If my parents had a little sister this would have been her name for me as well as being my mother’s maiden so it has significant family value - but I met a mean girl called [name_f]Lily[/name_f] in primary so now it’s middle or nothing.
[name_f]Ethel[/name_f] (not totally unusable) - My mother dislikes this name immensely. However it’s one of my favorite girls names so if my light years in the future partner likes it and I have a girl I’ll probably use it.
[name_m]Koda[/name_m] - According to my mother there was a world war II march with this name. I don’t know the legitimacy of this but I’ll steer clear still.

Most are simply because they are already used by close family and friends or church members.

[name_f]Edith[/name_f]
[name_f]Cora[/name_f]
[name_f]Isabella[/name_f]
[name_f]Olivia[/name_f]
[name_f]Phoebe[/name_f]
[name_f]Jocelyn[/name_f]
[name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f]
[name_f]Mia[/name_f]
[name_f]Hannah[/name_f]
[name_f]Isla[/name_f]

[name_m]Colin[/name_m]
[name_m]Jack[/name_m]
[name_m]Ethan[/name_m]
[name_m]Isaiah[/name_m]
[name_u]Tristan[/name_u]
[name_u]Owen[/name_u]
[name_u]Aidan[/name_u]
[name_u]Noah[/name_u]

I have 2 nieces with names along the lines of [name_u]Addison[/name_u] and [name_f]Rosie[/name_f] and a nephew with a [name_m]Caiden[/name_m] type of name so I would never use something similar but luckily they aren’t my style so no worries there.

The surname my children would take clashes with a lot of names I like unfortunately. Names that start with a hard C, K, or Q are out. One syllable names sound choppy. Names ending with -K or a hard C run into the last name and also any names ending with S sounds very hissy. So some of my faves that I can’t really use are [name_u]Cam[/name_u] ([name_u]Cameron[/name_u]), [name_m]Lucas[/name_m] (this sounds like a train wreck with the surname), and [name_u]Blake[/name_u]. I’m sure there are more but those are the main ones I’m pretty bummed about.

Almost all of the names I like but can’t use are due to family members or pets of family members having the same/similar names. Or I know other people who really love the names and want to use them for themselves. I know you can’t really “steal” a name, but I try to be mindful of their feelings since most of them are closer to having kids than I am. :slight_smile:
[name_m]Brooks[/name_m] - I love this name, but I have a cousin named [name_u]Brooke[/name_u].
[name_u]Aidan[/name_u] - I have a younger cousin named [name_u]Brayden[/name_u] that I’m close to. It would be too weird.
[name_u]Charlie[/name_u] - My mom has a dog named [name_u]Charlie[/name_u].
[name_m]Clark/name_m - My sister is adamant that she’s going to name a future daughter this.
[name_u]Tristan[/name_u] - Younger brother’s middle name. Also very close to an old friend’s first name.
[name_f]Sadie[/name_f] - More than one family member has a dog named [name_f]Sadie[/name_f].
[name_f]Amelia[/name_f] - Name of younger cousin and a family friend.

Any name beginning with “Fr” sounds weird with my last name so those are all out as first names. I would probably use one as a middle name if I really loved it though.

[name_f]Auria[/name_f] - a mixture of [name_f]Aria[/name_f] and [name_f]Aurora[/name_f] which are both already taken by family names, and I feel it is just too close
[name_u]Sasha[/name_u], [name_f]Kady[/name_f], [name_u]Josie[/name_u], [name_f]Bella[/name_f] and [name_m]Ralph[/name_m] all out because they’ve been used as pet names in my family.
[name_u]James[/name_u] and variants of [name_u]James[/name_u] - an ex boyfriend, so I would not use it even though sadly it’s an honour name and I also love the name [name_u]Jameson[/name_u].
Richard/Rick/Richie - my biological grandfathers name and therefore a name I would never use. I never met the man, and am glad that I did not as he was a horrible man who deeply hurt my mothers family.

[name_m]Otto[/name_m], [name_u]Owen[/name_u], [name_m]Miles[/name_m], [name_m]Henry[/name_m] – children of friends/family
[name_m]Oliver[/name_m] – no.1 name in my state
[name_u]Elliot[/name_u], [name_u]Ellis[/name_u], [name_f]Sylvie[/name_f], [name_f]Xanthe[/name_f], [name_f]Mabel[/name_f] – don’t work with surname due to ‘el’ and ‘ee’ beginnings/endings.

[name_u]Sterling[/name_u]- love it but it’s my brothers name so would not use it for a first name, maybe middle tho
[name_u]August[/name_u]- love it and love the nn Auggie but does not sounds good with surname
[name_f]Seraphina[/name_f]- I used to love it, but now i have a bad association with a [name_f]Sarah[/name_f]
[name_f]Josephine[/name_f]- love it but hate how it’s pronounced in Spanish and my husbands side is Mexican

[name_f]Minnie[/name_f] is off because [name_f]Minerva[/name_f] nn [name_f]Minnie[/name_f] is my top choice for a future cat.

Any names given to more than 1000 babies in the most recent year are off/guilty pleasures, although I’m hesitant to actually use names in the top 1000 (except [name_m]Caspian[/name_m]).

I’ve recently taken [name_f]Viola[/name_f] (Vee-OH-luh) off my list because ‘violar’ is rape in Spanish, and I don’t want to risk it.

[name_f]Sally[/name_f] is sort of on hold, because I have a friend/flatmate called [name_f]Sally[/name_f], and even though kids are a long way off, it would be kinda awkward if I said I wanted to name a daughter [name_f]Sally[/name_f] at this point.