After my pregnancy rant a couple of weeks ago, I took a break from thinking about baby names for a couple of days. Then I went through the naming books that I have and made a list of boy names that I like. I divided them up into first tier (my favorites) and second tier (ones I like, but not quite as much) names. I would love to hear your thoughts and opinions. This will be our fourth boy, brother to [name]Joshua[/name], [name]Noah[/name], [name]Levi[/name] (our angel baby) and [name]Autumn[/name]. If we have another daugther, her name will be [name]Ruby[/name]. I know that might not happen, but I can’t use one of the names that would otherwise be in my “first tier” ([name]Jonas[/name]) because it is too similar to my other boy names, so I want to plan for that possibility. Also, I am not obviously limiting myself to Bible names, at this point I just want to find one that I love and will hopefully be happy with using for the rest of my life. And even though both [name]Joshua[/name] and [name]Noah[/name] are in the top twenty (and have been for several years) I do prefer names that are not as popular or trendy, but still not “strange.” Our last name is [name]Carlisle[/name], and I am waiting to decide on the first name to think about middle names. Anyway, here are my lists
First tier
[name]Ezra[/name]
[name]Jonas[/name] (but like I said, I can’t use it because it is too similar to [name]Joshua[/name] and [name]Noah[/name])
[name]Phineas[/name]/ nn Phin or [name]Finn[/name]
Second Tier
[name]Duncan[/name]
[name]Emmett[/name]
[name]Griffin[/name]
[name]Jedidiah[/name]/ nn [name]Jed[/name]
[name]Quentin[/name]
[name]Landon[/name]
[name]Wesley[/name]/ nn [name]Wes[/name]
It’s hard for me to get around a biblical name for your fourth son, since the first three have such strongly biblical names. I know your daughter doesn’t but it’s just hard for me to put [name]Duncan[/name] in next to the other boys.
[name]How[/name] about [name]Elias[/name] (like [name]Jonas[/name], but not so close to [name]Joshua[/name])? [name]Gideon[/name]? [name]Nathan[/name]/[name]Nathaniel[/name]? [name]Isaac[/name]? [name]Aaron[/name]–though that’s probably too close to [name]Autumn[/name]?
Go with one of your first tier names as long as your husband likes the name. [name]Ezra[/name] has the Biblical connection that our other sons names have but you did deviate from that pattern with your daughter so I do think you could go with a non- Biblical name if the the name you love most falls in that category.
[name]Phineas[/name] is a great name but I do happen to like [name]Ezra[/name] better.
thank you for the help everyone! The problem with Biblical names is that we have considered most of them three other times and they weren’t chosen so they don’t feel “fresh.” Some others are too similar to close friends or family members. For example, my brother’s name is [name]Malcolm[/name] (nn Malc) so I didn’t want to use [name]Malachi[/name] because we have already honored both sides of the family and I didn’t want to favour one side of the family over the other. The only other Bible names that I even looked at this time around were [name]Lucas[/name] and [name]Elijah[/name] but both of those are just too common for my tastes. (spoken as someone who chose [name]Noah[/name] while it was still hovering around #30 so I know how I feel when a name I love suddenly becomes overused and trendy.) All of my kids are older (12, 10, and 8) and I was hoping that if we chose a name that had an old timey vibe but wasn’t Biblical it wouldn’t be an issue, especially since [name]Levi[/name] is in heaven and people (outside of our immediate family) don’t really think of him when they think of our family. So half of our kids would have Bible names and half wouldn’t. I honestly think that part of my issue is that 8+ years after I named my children the only names that I still love without condition and would use today are [name]Autumn[/name] and [name]Levi[/name]. [name]How[/name] cruel it seems that the only boys name that still makes me smile is the one I can’t use every day. I want to still be smiling when I use this baby’s name ten years from now.
I don’t think you have to choose a Biblical name. You can give [name]Autumn[/name] a non-Biblical brother.
[name]Ezra[/name] - this name would share the Bible origin and the same ending with [name]Joshua[/name] and [name]Noah[/name]. [name]Ezra[/name] [name]Carlisle[/name] sounds cool.
[name]Jonas[/name] - I agree that it’s too similar to [name]Joshua[/name] and [name]Noah[/name] [name]Phineas[/name] nn [name]Finn[/name] - this would give you the Biblical connection but in a more subtle way. [name]Finn[/name] [name]Carlisle[/name] would be awesome.
[name]Duncan[/name] - I can’t believe that this name isn’t more popular than it is. The hard “c” isn’t ideal with your surname. [name]Emmett[/name] - this is a gentleman name and I think it goes well with your surname. [name]Griffin[/name] - I love this spunky name. You could use [name]Finn[/name] as a nn too!
[name]Jedidiah[/name]/ nn [name]Jed[/name] - [name]Jed[/name] [name]Carlisle[/name] sounds ok but the full name is “i” heavy with [name]Carlisle[/name]
[name]Quentin[/name] - ok
[name]Landon[/name] - trendy [name]Wesley[/name] nn [name]Wes[/name] - has kind of a Western vibe so I think it goes well with [name]Joshua[/name] and [name]Noah[/name].
