Iām not sure if a thread like this already exists here. I know we have Hot Takes, Name of the Day, Name Sightings, Quick Questions/Polls, and various spin-off threads of those sorts, but at least in my mind this is a bit different!
I thought it would be nice to have a place where we can share and discuss random thoughts we have about names whether they are positive, controversial, or otherwise-- without a barrier of a specific realm or genre of ideas, so, here we are.
If something like this does already exist and Iāve simply forgotten, please feel free to close this topic or just ignore me in favour of the original idea!
Hereās whatās on my mind: I had my first ever name-related dream last night (eep, finally!) in which I birthed, named, and watched my darling Astoria grow over the span of a few years. She looked just like how Iād imagine my partner and Iās child to look like and everything just felt so real. Story really was the perfect name for her, and I know it will be in real life too as this dream totally solidified the perfection that Astoria Guinevere Swan is for us.
I have thee most random name thoughts at all hours of the day, so I appreciate this thread, lol. I donāt have any at the moment but Iām sure Iāll be a frequent visitor.
omg, this post reminds me of a dream i had where my partner and i were living in a cabin in the mountains with our 4-year-old daughter [name_f]Cressida[/name_f], 2-year-old daughter [name_f]Opal[/name_f], and our newborn baby boy [name_u]August[/name_u] and i have been obsessed with those three as a sibset since.
Cressida, Opal, and August are perfect, I can totally understand the obsession. And a cabin in the mountains seems like such an incredible place for them to grow! Love it
Does anyone else worry that youāll end up not using the names you love now, or that youāll fall out of love with the names you love currently.
Iām worried that when it comes the time to name a child I wonāt use the names I love because Iād forgotten about them. [name_u]Or[/name_u] I worry Iāll stop loving my favourite name and then not have any names I love.
I do think about this! Itās already happened to me a few times and I donāt even have kids yet.
Iāve found that discovering deeper personal meanings behind the names I do fall in love with help to keep them around. Iāve been interested on names since childhood, and the names I loved then (because I saw them in a Barbie book or on my Polly Pocket packaging or whatever) definitely donāt hold up anymore, and even when I got seriously into names in my later teen yearsā¦ many of the names I was certain about then arenāt even on my long lists anymore.
Astoria has been a good example of this for me. I first heard it in a song/album by a band I really enjoy to this day, and I was so excited about it. Itās also the setting of one of my favourite stories, The Goonies.
Flash forward a few years and I found myself getting a bit bored of seeing it at the top of my list all the time-- then I met my partner! Astoria has popped up a number of times during our relationship, (e.g. the street name of where we had our first date, we walk it every weekend together, he likes the song and band too, etc) and it solidified itself as the name of our future daughter. Especially with the nickname Story, which I wasnāt keen on in the beginning but realized it honours us as well as so many of our friends who are also storytellers and bam, it was settled.
Anyway, all of this rambling was to say that hopefully, when the time comes to name a human, we are all able to remember why we love the names we love and what they mean to us I guess? Lol, I may have gotten a little carried away
Today I saw an office sign for a person whose last name was āHarpestā & of course now Iām imaging someone being named [name_u]Harper[/name_u] Harpest
[name_m]Saw[/name_m] a tampon dispenser in a public bathroom with the brand name Evogen. I feel like that could be a popular nameberry name kinda like [name_f]Imogen[/name_f]
For the longest time I thought of [name_f]Helena[/name_f] as one of those feminized names, i.e. [name_f]Henrietta[/name_f], [name_f]Theodora[/name_f], [name_f]Timothea[/name_f], until one day it dawned on me that [name_f]Helena[/name_f] is already a feminine name lol
[name_f]My[/name_f] newest combo, [name_m]Frederick[/name_m] [name_f]Joy[/name_f], has got me on a kick for āfeminineā names as boy middle names! (I put feminine in quotes because I donāt see why [name_f]Joy[/name_f] should be restricted to girlsā¦ no one should be limited in joy!) So, without further ado, my boy list with āgirlyā middles!
Bonuses: [name_u]John[/name_u] [name_f]Lavender[/name_f] and [name_m]Gilbert[/name_m] [name_f]May[/name_f]
It also reminds me of something that I thought of a long time ago, but never talked about. I was on a walk, thinking of names (obviously), and was thinking how nice āoverusedā middle names can sound! I was trying to think of [name_u]June[/name_u] [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] and [name_m]Todd[/name_m] [name_m]Alexander[/name_m], but somehow my brain swapped it to [name_u]June[/name_u] [name_m]Alexander[/name_m] and [name_m]Todd[/name_m] [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f]! I was stumped at first, but actually grew to like them a bit!
I love this!! I am guilty of putting āfeminineā names as firsts, although mine are nature names (Ivy, Hazel, Iris, Willow) and itās silly that those are gendered considering theyāre plants.
One time I decided that [name_f]Grace[/name_f] was overused as a middle name, so I came up with some combos with first names you donāt usually see paired with [name_f]Grace[/name_f], and those were combos for boys!
Iām amazed/baffled how much being tied to a generation colors a name.
I would never tell someone to not use a name because itās dated, on a conscious level I even think itās a good idea to use names āoff seasonā. But at the same time I totally get a āew, boomer nameā reaction to some names Iād otherwise probably like. Recently I almost voted for [name_f]Corinna[/name_f] in a poll because when only skimming over it it looks exactly like something Iād like, but then I properly read it and went āWhat? [name_f]Corinna[/name_f]? No! Thatās a 50-something with a ponytail who doesnāt know how to relax!ā
I usually try to see it from an English-speaking perspective where names like Claudia, Anya, Cornelia, Corinne/a, Petra, Sylvia, Iris, Axel & Sven are not tied to people born in the 60s. Some of these are more difficult than others for that, e.g. Axel i canāt get behind at all, nor Sylvia but, in English, Claudia feels fresh, as do Anya & Iris.
