Besides flow or syllable count, what are some characteristics that are “must haves” to make a name work for you?
I just realized that I really like to have at least one a, e, i and o in each of my girl names. For example: [name]Claire[/name] [name]Magnolia[/name]. It looks so complete to me. Or even [name]Elisabetta[/name] [name]Mae[/name] (last name has an o). I don’t care if boy names follow this rule or not but I absolutely love vowels for girls!
So…what are your naming quirks?
While none of these characteristics are “must-have”, per say, they are some tendencies I have noticed among my comprehensive list:
Girl names tend to end in A or contain a D, while boy names generally have a U, S, or O (or more) somewhere in it. Also regarding boy names, it is not uncommon for them to have the “ah” (as in ‘father’) sound in it. Examples:
[name]Sonya[/name], [name]Dahlia[/name], [name]Cassandra[/name], [name]Deirdre[/name]
or
[name]Angelo[/name], [name]Darius[/name], [name]Orion[/name], [name]Sidney[/name], [name]Alessandro[/name]
My must haves: A strong meaning or a name that is Biblical and it HAS to be easily pronounceable in Spanish. I am avoiding names that end in “a” because of my SO’s last name, but I am finding that certain “a” endings don’t sound too bad… (Like [name]Susanna[/name]. My newest love.)
I like very feminine girl names and soft boy names that can still be tough
examples:
[name]Lavinia[/name], [name]Primrose[/name], [name]Jemima[/name]
[name]Ellis[/name], [name]Brooks[/name], [name]Wallace[/name]
I like strong sounding names but not TOO harsh. a bit of a mix. Prefer all strong sounds eg [name]Bridget[/name] to all soft sounds eg [name]Eliana[/name]
really dont like too many Ellys and Anas and Lias etc in my names. [name]Melanie[/name], [name]Amelia[/name], Ellysia. I actually think those are all pretty names and i do like them they’re just not the names that make my go YES! lol
I love cutesy, girly, overly frilly names but just cant see myself using them, like [name]Melanie[/name], [name]Amelia[/name], Ellysia i mentioned above!
tbh there’s not too many names that i actually really dont like or get a bad reaction too just some i think meh boring, ooh interesting, i like that, i love that, too elderly, oh i knew someone named that…
i dont like the hard s/z sound in the middle of names (fine up front! [name]Zoe[/name] and [name]Zola[/name] are cute!) like [name]Eloise[/name] and [name]Eliza[/name]. wheezy!
i find it really hard to know what type i am! i like nature names i know that but i’ve been going over and over my list today and are ready to cross out a whole heap…
i dont mind where they sit in the top 1000 either, i like a lot of the top ten names but they are starting to lose their ‘spark’ for me! I just cant let go of [name]Zoe[/name].
its funny coz i’ve been trying ot break it down to what makes a name a name i like or dislike it isnt easy to know!
It has to have a positive meaning, if I find out a name has a iffy or negative meaning or a really bad association, I won’t use it.
It also must have a history of use, so no modern made up names for me. I tend to prefer older names that were more commonly used around the 1900’s.
Has to be easy to spell and pronounce [within reason]. A familiar name, but not uber-trendy. Basically not so uncommon you can never find any name tags, cups, or plates with the name but not so popular there are a bunch of kids bearing the same name in class.
Strong names, names that will suit an adult, not just a little child. Preferably with a cute nickname to use during childhood, but the full name is professional sounding. So no names that sound like they belong on Toddlers & Tiaras or in strip clubs, and definitely no porn star names. A name that sounds like it’d suit the President of the US, or a CEO of a company, etc.
I love soft sounding names. Almost all my favourite names contain O or U, and if they’ve got the ph sound somewhere in there, I’m in heaven. There are also hardly any A-names on my list, some here and there, but very very few. And I don’t like hard sounds in the middle of names ([name]Declan[/name] is very unattractive to me) or too macho/frilly names.
My taste in boys names is far more specific than in girls. I don’t follow any hard and fast rules, but the majority of my boys favourites are English or Irish with a few Greek or otherwise European names, which have quite a wide history to them. I love soft sounding boys names which still have a bit of substance, and are usually old/vintage but work on a modern child and sound timeless enough to not be tied to a certain period (Oh, [name]Kaydan[/name]? You must have been born in 2012).
For girls, my taste can change in a matter of days so I don’t exactly have any quirks for them really. I’ve even been known to say things like ‘I hate names beginning with M’ and only weeks later [name]Madeleine[/name], [name]Mae[/name] and [name]Magnolia[/name] are on my favourites list.
Though there are a lot of girl names with ‘a’ endings. I seem to be especially fond of them. All but 1 of my top 10 for girls ends in ‘a’, the exception being ‘[name]Gwen[/name]’.
For boys, I have the strangest attraction to names that begin with D. I probably wouldn’t use more than one, but it’s so hard… [name]Dexter[/name], [name]Damian[/name], [name]Dominic[/name], [name]Damon[/name], [name]Dean[/name].
Only other one I can think of is that my girls names all have at least one ready nickname, though that’s not necessary for boys.