Southern Charms

I’ve recently been liking a lot of “southern” sounding names. For girls, cute, bubbly names like [name]Cheyenne[/name], [name]Delia[/name], [name]Alaina[/name] and [name]Leanne[/name]. And for boys, [name]Rhett[/name], [name]Travis[/name] and [name]Clayton[/name]. Am I the only who likes these? What others do you like?

It’s funny: I’m from VA/NC, and most of these sound more Western than Southern to me (but maybe they just aren’t my part of the South, haha). Besides the universally common names topping the charts, I find we traditionally get a fair few double names and surnames on girls ([name]Anne[/name] [name]Hampton[/name], [name]Ann[/name] [name]Waverly[/name], [name]Billy[/name] [name]Ann[/name], [name]Mary[/name] [name]Margaret[/name], [name]Cary[/name] [name]Frances[/name], etc. and [name]Brigham[/name], [name]Conley[/name], and so on). Boys get surnames ([name]Banks[/name], [name]Garrison[/name]–though I know a kid named [name]Jeb[/name] [name]Stuart[/name] ____!!), as well as names like the ones you listed.

I’m not a big fan of [name]Cheyenne[/name], [name]Alaina[/name], or [name]Travis[/name], but I do like [name]Delia[/name], and I like a lot of names that evoke the South: certain states’ names ([name]Georgia[/name], [name]Virginia[/name], [name]Caroline[/name]/[name]Carolina[/name]), Southern flowers ([name]Azalea[/name], [name]Magnolia[/name]), cities ([name]Savannah[/name], [name]Augusta[/name]), writers ([name]Flannery[/name], [name]Penn[/name], [name]Warren[/name], [name]Zora[/name]), and so on. I can’t say those sound bubbly (maybe [name]Azalea[/name]), but the South has more of a nostalgic, slowed-down, textured feel to me (probably all those short stories and plays I read, haha).

I want to like [name]Rhett[/name] so badly, but I hated the character and couldn’t stomach it on a kid of my own–grr! [name]Love[/name] [name]Clay[/name], [name]Cole[/name] and [name]Colin[/name], [name]Wade[/name], [name]Lee[/name], etc. for boys though. I also have a fondness for alliterative names (maybe that’s my heritage peeking out, too?).

[name]Don[/name]'t know if that quite answers your question the way you were expecting, but I thought I’d float it out there :slight_smile:

I, too, live in the Deep South, and those names do sound more western to me also. we don’t see a lot of [name]Cheyenne[/name]'s , [name]Delia[/name]'s, [name]Rhett[/name]'s or [name]Travis[/name]'s, or [name]Clayton[/name]'s down here:-) I only know one [name]Scarlett[/name]. we do, however, have lot’s of [name]Jackson[/name]'s but I truly [name]LOVE[/name] that name. want to name a son [name]Jackson[/name] [name]Porter[/name] - a true Southern gentleman!!!

I like [name]Alaina[/name]…I’m not even from [name]America[/name] but the South fascinates me and so naturally I think Southern names are cool too! Like the pp I really love [name]Jackson[/name], although that’s fairly common here in the Southern Hemisphere too - I have a cousin called [name]Jackson[/name] so I could never use it…

Also, I [name]LOVE[/name] how boys get family surnames! So so cool. And I’m with ellenelle - I really like names that evoke the South.

From your list, I love [name]Rhett[/name] and like the others except [name]Cheyenne[/name] and [name]Leanne[/name]. Other ideas- [name]Azalea[/name], [name]Beau[/name], [name]Birdie[/name], [name]Clementine[/name], [name]Clover[/name], [name]Jasper[/name], [name]Jesse[/name], [name]Magnolia[/name], [name]Scarlett[/name],

I love [name]Magnolia[/name]!

that might help you :slight_smile: I also agree with ellenelle.
You see a LOT of surnames on boys, and hyphenated surnames with girls.