Naming stories

Parentberries
1

Hey mammas !

I’d love to hear everyone’s stories behind their kids names. I find this subject fascinating. I’d also love to hear what name you are thinking about for the next one or the name you would have picked if you had another child, even if you decided not to have any more.

I’ll start !

Our daughter is [name_f]Hazel[/name_f] [name_f]Jane[/name_f]. She is named after my husbands maternal grandmother’s middle name and my paternal grandmother’s middle name. They were/are two very important women in our lives.

If we have another one it will most likely be [name_m]Tucker[/name_m] [name_m]Ross[/name_m] ([name_m]Ross[/name_m]-after my father in law) or [name_f]Genevieve[/name_f] [name_f]Brynn[/name_f] ([name_f]Brynn[/name_f]- for my dads middle name [name_m]Bryan[/name_m])

2

No babies here, but I remember naming my sister (I am 8.5 years older than her).

Mum and Dad said I could help name her, so I sat at the kitchen bench and wrote down every name I could think of (admittedly, I pretty much just listed down all the names I could remember from kids in my school class lol). I also wrote down lots of flower names.

I remember sitting down in the living room and everyone had their list. Dad was going through mine, and said “um, we are not calling your sister [name_f]Blossom[/name_f]… you can call a cat that one day!” I was so sad that he didn’t like my flower names. I also hot told “[name_f]Bluebell[/name_f] is for cows only” lol

My sister was named [name_f]Hannah[/name_f], because my parents struggled with infertility for a long time. 4 years after me they miscarried, and then took another 4 years to get my sister. In the Bible, [name_f]Hannah[/name_f] weeps because she has no children and God promises to bless her with a baby. This is how my Mum felt. Also Mum’s name is [name_f]Annette[/name_f], which is a derivative of [name_f]Ann[/name_f] which comes from the same meaning as [name_f]Hannah[/name_f]. Although, I don’t like the name [name_f]Hannah[/name_f], I love how special and meaningful it is to my parents.

3

I love these threads! :slight_smile:

I’m gonna throw in mine and my sibling’s names, just because I love this story. I’m the first of five. My name is [name_f]Sadie[/name_f] [name_f]Asha[/name_f], [name_f]Sadie[/name_f] simply because my mom loved it and [name_f]Asha[/name_f] to honor her grandfather, [name_u]Ashley[/name_u]. I have twin brothers two years younger than me, [name_m]Luke[/name_m] [name_u]Ashton[/name_u] and [name_m]Jake[/name_m] [name_m]Asher[/name_m]. My mom picked [name_m]Luke[/name_m] for a biblical name and just picked [name_m]Jake[/name_m] to match [name_m]Luke[/name_m] since he was unplanned, lol. The middles also honor her grandfather. My third brother is [name_m]Kyler[/name_m] [name_u]Ash[/name_u], honoring a distant uncle and again, my great grandfather. Last but not least, my sister is [name_u]Ashley[/name_u] [name_f]Margaret[/name_f] [name_f]Grace[/name_f]. [name_m]Long[/name_m] story short, my mom ran out of “[name_u]Ash[/name_u]” names and decided to just full on name her [name_u]Ashley[/name_u] since she had warmed up to the name by then. [name_f]Margaret[/name_f] [name_f]Grace[/name_f] was the name of a family friend who had passed away recently before [name_u]Ashley[/name_u] was born. My mom said she used to regret running with the “[name_u]Ash[/name_u]” theme but is glad she did it in the end since we all have names that are “connected.”

For my own children, I had always wanted a girl named [name_f]Alaska[/name_f]. I had a dream about having a daughter named that after reading Looking For [name_f]Alaska[/name_f] by [name_m]John[/name_m] [name_u]Green[/name_u], and something was so different about that dream that it stuck with me. My husband always wanted a boy named [name_u]James[/name_u]. After a miscarriage, a stillbirth, and two years of trying for another we got pregnant again. We agreed on [name_f]Alaska[/name_f] [name_f]Claire[/name_f] for a girl and [name_u]James[/name_u] [name_u]Finn[/name_u] [name_m]Alexander[/name_m] for a boy, went for an 8-week ultrasound, and surprise, surprise, there were TWO. Later we found out that we were having a boy and a girl, a [name_u]James[/name_u] and an [name_f]Alaska[/name_f]. We did end up going with [name_u]James[/name_u] [name_u]Finn[/name_u] [name_m]Alexander[/name_m] but named our daughter [name_f]Alaska[/name_f] [name_f]Vivienne[/name_f] [name_f]Claire[/name_f] instead of [name_f]Alaska[/name_f] [name_f]Claire[/name_f] because I felt like it balanced out more nicely with [name_u]James[/name_u]’s name. They’ll be a year old on [name_f]April[/name_f] 17 (my 24th birthday as well), and I could not be happier with what I named them :slight_smile:

4

For our babies I want to used bames that are timeless, have one proper spelling, and are clearly masculine or feminine.

We were surprised for our first baby so we had to come up with a few names for each child. For a girl we had [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f], [name_f]Audrey[/name_f], and [name_f]Eva[/name_f]. When the doctors told me it was a girl and I looked at her face she just looked like an [name_f]Audrey[/name_f] (dad’s favorite). For her middle name I chose to use a spin on my own first name since she was born so close to my birthday. So our first baby became [name_f]Audrey[/name_f] [name_u]Kay[/name_u].

If we have a second baby girl I’m leaning towards [name_u]Evelyn[/name_u] and calling her [name_f]Eva[/name_f]. For a middle name I’ve considered [name_f]May[/name_f] (Our anniversary month and rhyming with her sisters) or a variation of [name_f]Carol[/name_f] for our moms.

For boys we agree less but our number 1 contender was probably [name_m]Samuel[/name_m] [name_m]Aaron[/name_m]. Others that have been talked about are [name_u]Jesse[/name_u], [name_m]Jack[/name_m], [name_u]Dean[/name_u], [name_u]Beau[/name_u], [name_m]Henry[/name_m] and [name_u]Owen[/name_u].

5

Great stories!

@kaym we’ve thought about [name_f]May[/name_f] as well, it’s also our anniversary month

6

[name_m]Don[/name_m]'t have any babies yet… first is on way and hopefully sticks!

Our top contenders if it’s a boy are either [name_u]Tristan[/name_u] [name_m]John[/name_m], [name_m]Jeremy[/name_m] [name_m]Peter[/name_m], or [name_m]Jeremy[/name_m] [name_m]Ralph[/name_m]. [name_u]Tristan[/name_u] and [name_m]Jeremy[/name_m] are both the names of some really cool cousins of ours (generous, hard-working, nice blokes) but mostly we just like the names. [name_m]John[/name_m]/[name_m]Peter[/name_m]/[name_m]Ralph[/name_m] would be after one of our father’s, or after my brother.

For a girl I really want the middle name [name_u]Joan[/name_u] or [name_f]Johanne[/name_f], after my grandma who I was very close to… or with [name_f]Johanne[/name_f], after a bunch of rellies (encompasses names or middle names of me, my [name_f]MIL[/name_f], my grandma, my great-grandma, my father with letters in the right order ([name_m]John[/name_m]/[name_u]Jan[/name_u]/[name_f]Ann[/name_f]/[name_u]Joan[/name_u]/[name_f]Jane[/name_f]). For firsts we’re going a bit more just on the sound, but I do like tree/nature meanings of [name_f]Chloe[/name_f] and [name_f]Sylvie[/name_f], and [name_f]Elsie[/name_f] would be after my great-grandma (who was absolutely lovely and a good artist too!)

7

[name_u]Love[/name_u] [name_u]Tristan[/name_u], [name_f]Sylvia[/name_f], and [name_f]Elsie[/name_f] !

8

[name_m]Sebastian[/name_m] [name_m]Henry[/name_m] [name_u]Arlo[/name_u]

We conceived him on my birthday and that evening we went to the cinema to see LaLaLand. [name_u]Ryan[/name_u] Gosling’s character is called [name_m]Sebastian[/name_m] and I fell in love with it there and thought i would give that name to a boy if I was to be so blessed.

DH is hopeless with names so I gave him a baby name book at and told him I had asterisked all my favourite names (too many to count) and that he had to circle any names he liked, and any that had both an asterisk and circle would be his name (and we’d narrow it down further if we had to). [name_m]Sebastian[/name_m] was the only name we had in common. Didn’t help that DH only circled 5 names all together

We struggled with his middle names. I majored in history and have been passionate about Tudors for as long as I can remember so I thought [name_m]Henry[/name_m] was quite a fitting name for my son. But I also thought it was a little boring and too vanilla.

Then I started reading the Faerie [name_f]Queen[/name_f] poem and saw the name [name_u]Arlo[/name_u] and remembered seeing it on nameberry. I mentioned it to DH and he LOVED it. I was worried it was a bit too hipster and modern. We were stuck between the two for ages and just couldn’t decide so we ended up saying we would just use both.

I was really unsure about giving him such a long name but it really suits him.

9

I love [name_u]Tristan[/name_u] & [name_m]Ralph[/name_m], I think they would go quite nicely together actually. [name_f]Elsie[/name_f] is adorable :slight_smile:

10

@[name_m]Sebastian[/name_m] [name_m]Henry[/name_m] [name_u]Arlo[/name_u] is an amazing name ! What a sweet story !

11

@Bash: [name_m]Sebastian[/name_m] [name_m]Henry[/name_m] [name_u]Arlo[/name_u] really is a gorgeous name! And what a cute story.
[name_m]Sebastian[/name_m] was a name I’d always liked for a boy, but partner has vetoed.

Bash and morgantaylor thank you so much for the feedback! I hadn’t really considered [name_u]Tristan[/name_u] [name_m]Ralph[/name_m] together as sounding nice, so it’s cool to hear that you think it is.

It’s lovely to hear some positive feedback on [name_f]Elsie[/name_f], too. Partner, and [name_f]MIL[/name_f], and mother too… are all pretty critical of the name [name_f]Elsie[/name_f]. Not in a really overt way, but you can feel the distaste. They see it as being super old-fashioned, although I’ve mentioned that it’s coming back in a bit. Doesn’t help that Partner likes the name [name_f]Alice[/name_f] - which I really never imagined for one of my own children and can’t really find myself coming to like - and I constantly have to deal with the coos from mother and [name_f]MIL[/name_f] about how they just [name_u]LOVE[/name_u] the name [name_f]Alice[/name_f], coupled with the awkward silence at the mention of [name_f]Elsie[/name_f] :-/

12

@kiriko It sounds like you might need new options other than [name_f]Elsie[/name_f] and [name_f]Alice[/name_f]. I love the names in your signature !!

13

[name_f]Alice[/name_f] [name_f]Caroline[/name_f]- [name_f]Alice[/name_f] was a favorite patient of mine while I worked in a nursing home and thankfully DH liked it as well. She was nearly named [name_f]Anna[/name_f] at the last minute, but she’s definitely an [name_f]Alice[/name_f]! [name_f]Caroline[/name_f] is my mom’s first name and I love the family connection.

[name_f]Clara[/name_f] [name_f]Linda[/name_f]- [name_f]Clara[/name_f] was a favorite character from The Nutcracker and was the name I chose for myself in my Spanish class. [name_f]Linda[/name_f] is my [name_f]MIL[/name_f]'s first name and while it’s not my style I felt it was only fair to use her name since we already used my mom’s. I do love that her whole name means “clear beauty.”

14

@kiriko: I adore the name [name_f]Elsie[/name_f]! It is so sweet yet sassy :slight_smile: There is a young actress named [name_f]Elsie[/name_f] [name_m]Fisher[/name_m], if that helps your family picture it on a child. Anyway, so sorry that you are having difficulties agreeing on a name. For some sort of compromise, what about [name_f]Alice[/name_f] with the nickname [name_f]Alsie[/name_f] or [name_f]Alcie[/name_f]? Or [name_u]Ali[/name_u] or Cici, maybe? Any nickname that gets you closer to [name_f]Elsie[/name_f] seems like something to think about.

In case you want to consider another name entirely, here are few more ideas. So sorry if some are too out of the box!

[name_f]Annie[/name_f]
[name_f]Anneliese[/name_f]
[name_f]Elise[/name_f]
[name_f]Rosalie[/name_f]
[name_f]Siena[/name_f]
[name_f]Lucy[/name_f]
[name_f]Iris[/name_f]
[name_f]Eulalie[/name_f]
[name_f]Audrey[/name_f]
Azelie
[name_f]Amelie[/name_f]
[name_f]Alessia[/name_f]
[name_f]Felicity[/name_f]
Adelise
[name_u]Ellis[/name_u]
[name_f]Celeste[/name_f]
[name_f]Cassia[/name_f]
[name_f]Tessa[/name_f]
[name_f]Esme[/name_f]
[name_f]Sylvie[/name_f]
[name_f]Susanna[/name_f]
[name_f]Elodie[/name_f]
[name_f]Lillie[/name_f]
[name_f]Maisie[/name_f]
[name_u]Eloise[/name_u]
[name_f]Elsa[/name_f]
[name_f]Sofie[/name_f]
[name_f]Saskia[/name_f]
[name_f]Esther[/name_f]
[name_f]Constance[/name_f]
[name_f]Hazel[/name_f]
[name_f]Eleni[/name_f]
[name_f]Sadie[/name_f]
[name_f]Eleanor[/name_f]
[name_f]Lydia[/name_f]
[name_f]Estellise[/name_f]
[name_f]Serenity[/name_f]
[name_f]Eleusine[/name_f]
[name_f]Ansley[/name_f]
[name_f]Celia[/name_f]
[name_f]Amity[/name_f]
[name_f]Estelle[/name_f]
[name_f]Cecily[/name_f]
[name_f]Louisa[/name_f]
[name_f]Lottie[/name_f]
[name_f]Eliza[/name_f]
[name_f]Stella[/name_f]
Elsinore
[name_f]Eliana[/name_f]
[name_f]Mila[/name_f]
[name_f]Astrid[/name_f]
[name_f]Liesel[/name_f]
[name_f]Beatrice[/name_f]
[name_f]Grace[/name_f] nn [name_f]Gracie[/name_f]
…any long form to get [name_f]Evie[/name_f], [name_f]Edie[/name_f], or [name_f]Emmie[/name_f]!

Hope this helps. Good luck :slight_smile:

15

@cyoung325 adorable names ! I love family names

16

I wanted my kids names to have meanings, honor someone/have a story behind them. Not be popular! (I had the most common name given the year I was born so I was always one of many others with the name at school and at jobs)

[name_f]Karin[/name_f] [name_f]Renee[/name_f]-The middle name [name_f]Renee[/name_f] was chosen first, it’s my sister’s middle name. My husband didn’t like any names so finally told him to come up with a couple and he did. Literally two names. [name_f]Karin[/name_f] or [name_f]Alyssa[/name_f]. [name_f]Karin[/name_f] [name_f]Renee[/name_f] is beautiful, musical, honors my sister, and just perfect.

[name_u]Delaney[/name_u] [name_f]Mae[/name_f]-Harder to name the second time around. Finally I decided I really wanted to honor my dad who passed away when I was very young since I didn’t know if we would have more children so I didn’t want to wait for a boy that may never happen, even if we did have another baby. My dad’s name does not lend itself to girls names so I had to go a roundabout way to get there. [name_u]DeLANEy[/name_u] to honor McLANE. [name_f]Mae[/name_f] was my husband’s suggestion and I loved the flow of it (it sings, like [name_f]Karin[/name_f] [name_f]Renee[/name_f], I sing the song “Oh my darling [name_f]Clementine[/name_f]” to my kids but I change the words and insert their first & middle name to replace [name_f]Clementine[/name_f]).

[name_m]Cooper[/name_m] [name_f]Lorraine[/name_f]-Our boy and last child. Told my husband to choose the name this time so he went online and started looking up names. He liked Industrial Revolution names (i don’t know what site he was using). He found the name [name_m]Cooper[/name_m]. A cooper is a person who makes wine barrels-my husband’s grandfather whom my husband is named after grew wine grapes. That grandfather’s wife was [name_f]Lorraine[/name_f]. So the name [name_m]Cooper[/name_m] [name_f]Lorraine[/name_f] was chosen to honor my husband’s very beloved grandparent’s and also gave our son the same initials as his dad which was I think the only criteria my husband started with in his search was for the name to be the same initials as his name. I love it, especially since I don’t like the name [name_f]Lorraine[/name_f] on a girl at all and would never want to name a girl that.

At this moment if I were considering names it would be [name_u]Dane[/name_u] for a boy (would honor my mom and stepdad) and [name_f]Elsie[/name_f] or [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f] (no nickname or nickname [name_f]Letty[/name_f] or [name_f]Lottie[/name_f], NEVER [name_u]Charlie[/name_u]!) for a girl. [name_f]Elsie[/name_f] would honor the same grandmother as my son’s middle name does. Her name was [name_f]Elsie[/name_f] [name_f]Lorraine[/name_f] but apparently she felt [name_f]Elsie[/name_f] was “a cow’s name” and went by [name_f]Lorraine[/name_f]. I always think of the name [name_f]Daisy[/name_f] when I think of cows so I don’t get that but I grew up on the opposite coast from my husband’s family. My husband’s mother really wanted one of her granddaughters to be named [name_f]Elsie[/name_f], suggested for [name_f]EVERY[/name_f] granddaughter (not that many granddaughters unfortunately, just three). I also love [name_u]Avery[/name_u] for a boy. I hate seeing it on girls! My husband and I don’t like many of the same names so naming babies isn’t actually very fun for us.

[name_f]Letty[/name_f] is from the movie The Fast and The Furious. I just fell in love with the name. Female character.

17

@jerseygrey love your names !

18

When I was pregnant with our first daughter, my husband picked out [name_f]Xochitl[/name_f] right away. Its a Nahuatl name meaning flower. His family is from Mexico and they speak Nahuatl along with Spanish. Since we live in the US, I agreed to use it as her middle name because teachers would never be able to pronounce [name_f]Xochitl[/name_f]. I gave him a list of names, and it was between [name_f]Noemi[/name_f] or [name_f]Kiana[/name_f]. We finally decided on [name_f]Noemi[/name_f] [name_f]Xochitl[/name_f].

The second time, after we found out it was another girl, I gave my husband a few names, and then he would give me a few names. We talked about [name_f]Daisy[/name_f] or [name_f]Gloria[/name_f]. But then he went back to [name_f]Kiana[/name_f]. I chose the middle name [name_f]Rosalie[/name_f], and he liked it too. So she was [name_f]Kiana[/name_f] [name_f]Rosalie[/name_f].

We don’t have a boy yet, but his name has been decided since I was pregnant with [name_f]Noemi[/name_f]. He will be [name_m]Zenon[/name_m] [name_m]Joseph[/name_m], which is his grandfather’s name and my grandfather’s name. If we were to have a third girl, I have no idea yet. I might do another flower middle name.

19

I had my first when I was pretty young. The name [name_m]Wilder[/name_m] came about since I was cleaning out an old bookcase in my childhood bedroom and I saw the book, it was like a light went off in my head when I saw [name_m]Wilder[/name_m]. [name_m]Seamus[/name_m] doesn’t have such a story but it is honoring my now father-in-law.

[name_m]Bram[/name_m]’s name come about because I knew I wanted to honor my grandfather [name_m]Abraham[/name_m].
At first the only names I could think of were [name_m]Ab[/name_m] and [name_m]Abram[/name_m] until my husband pointed out [name_m]Bram[/name_m] plus it was the first name we agree on. [name_m]Oliver[/name_m] was just to sweet to pass up.

[name_f]Meadow[/name_f] had been one of my favorite girls names for a while and my husband thought [name_f]Meadow[/name_f] and [name_m]Bram[/name_m] sounded nice together. [name_f]Marybeth[/name_f] is after my childhood best friend. Who is also her godmother.

20

No babies here yet, but I plan on using at least one honour name for each kid

I’ll do the stories of some of the names in my sig that I feel I’m quite likely to eventually actually use

[name_f]Amelia[/name_f] Raewyn - I’ve always had a soft spot for [name_f]Amelia[/name_f], and I absolutely adore the nickname [name_f]Millie[/name_f], because [name_f]Millie[/name_f] was a childhood friend/neighbour of mine
Raewyn is my mum’s younger sister’s name, and while we’ve never been too close (she lives overseas so doesn’t get to visit often) we share alot of common interests, eg all things space and travel…and she’s just a really fun, amazing person

[name_u]Kelsie[/name_u] [name_f]Amanda[/name_f] - [name_u]Kelsie[/name_u] is a relatively new love of mine, and I’m not too sure why, I just love the look and sound of it
[name_f]Amanda[/name_f] is for my cousin, who has a shared interest in sports, namely hockey, and has helped/is helping me through some tough times with my health impacting my ability to play the sports I’d like. With her PhD in sports science it’s been really helpful to have her knowledge and science guiding me, trying to help my get back to my full potential

[name_m]Alistair[/name_m] [name_m]Vaughn[/name_m] - my cat had a really kind, gentle and vastly knowledgeable vet named [name_m]Alistair[/name_m] when I was around 11, it was the first time I’d heard the name and I’ve loved it ever since
[name_m]Vaughn[/name_m] is for my uncle, and for my family about 3 generations back on my mum’s side who’s surname was [name_m]Vaughn[/name_m]

[name_m]Gideon[/name_m] [name_m]Clay[/name_m] - I’ve loved [name_m]Gideon[/name_m] for about a year, for no rhyme or reason
[name_m]Clay[/name_m] honours my grandfather, who was a potter. My brothers and I were very close to him, and he died when I was just 9. Some of my favourite childhood memories are of us playing in his gallery workshop making all sorts of things with the clay

[name_m]Isaac[/name_m] [name_m]Gregory[/name_m] - I adore the “laughter” meaning of [name_m]Isaac[/name_m], I love how it sounds and looks, and I think it could suit any type of boy
[name_m]Gregory[/name_m] is my dad’s name…he’s never liked his name, but I do, and I secretly think he’d love to have a little human named after him. I also just think it pairs so well with [name_m]Isaac[/name_m], so I couldn’t pass it up