@jonquils Oh, I just love reading about your names. So eloquent and beautiful. Thank you for so much detail!
I’m yet to TRULY fall for a name. 
Hopefully one day.
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Actually. I just looked at my list. I lied. There is one name. [name_m]Reading[/name_m] jonquil’s posts inspired me.
Caspian [name_u]James[/name_u].
Oh, [name_m]Caspian[/name_m] [name_u]James[/name_u], it’s just such a perfect name.
In 2009, my mum, a single mum, and I, an only child, 6 years old, uprooted our lives, bound for Auckland [name_u]New[/name_u] Zealand. We didn’t have much money, but renting prices weren’t crazy back then. We rented a beautiful beach house on the coast. [name_f]Every[/name_f] day, we played in the sea. All year round- it was so warm, and the beach was so secluded it was like our own private beach. I fell in love with water. Did you know the largest inland body of water is called the [name_m]Caspian[/name_m] [name_u]Sea[/name_u]? I think that’s where my love for [name_m]Caspian[/name_m] first began. Not to mention [name_m]Prince[/name_m] [name_m]Caspian[/name_m]. Nobel and brave. Is there anything more I could want for my son?
James. [name_u]James[/name_u] is special in a very different way. I met a man named [name_u]James[/name_u] when I was 14. I say, man- he was just 17, but he was far more mature than I was at that age. I think I drove him insane, following him around, but I looked up to him so very much. I went through a very traumatic incident when I was 14 & 15, and he was there for me throughout all of it. Sometimes I wonder if he saved my life. He cared for me as no one else at the time did. He’s still one of my most beloved friends to this day. [name_u]Truly[/name_u], he is just so kind. I want my son to be kind- I want him to know he is named after one of the kindest men I’ve ever met.
So if I ever am blessed with a son… I hope it will be with [name_m]Caspian[/name_m] [name_u]James[/name_u]. 
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[name_f]Aliya[/name_f] [name_u]Rae[/name_u] [name_f]Josette[/name_f].
[name_f]Aliya[/name_f] - [name_f]Aliya[/name_f] doesn’t really have a story or meaning behind it. I simply love this name, I have loved it for a long time. I’m not sure where I first heard [name_f]Aliya[/name_f] but I think it is beautiful.
[name_u]Rae[/name_u] - [name_u]Rae[/name_u] is part of a tradition that my mom’s side of the family has. [name_f]Every[/name_f] girl born since my great-grandma has had a form of [name_f]Renee[/name_f] in their name. One of my middle names is [name_f]Renae[/name_f]. In honor of this tradition, I have chosen [name_u]Rae[/name_u] for my daughter.
[name_f]Josette[/name_f] - I chose [name_f]Josette[/name_f] to honor my older brother. He died in [name_u]November[/name_u] 2018. His name was [name_m]Nathaniel[/name_m] [name_m]Joseph[/name_m]. I loved the idea of being able to honor him in my daughter’s name somehow and I feel [name_f]Josette[/name_f] is the perfect way to do that. I was really close with my brother, he was kind and caring and really really protective of me. In a strange way, I feel like giving my daughter a name to honor him means that she will be protected by him too.
Therefore, my baby girl who is due in [name_u]December[/name_u] will likely be named [name_f]Aliya[/name_f] [name_u]Rae[/name_u] [name_f]Josette[/name_f] 
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In fifth grade, I didn’t have a middle name, and my mom told me I could pick one and tell people that it was mine. [name_f]My[/name_f] first thought, [name_f]Kamala[/name_f]. [name_f]My[/name_f] grandma’s name, meaning lotus, one of my mom’s favorite flowers. Two years later, after the 2016 US Presidential Election, I heard it again.
That was when I knew that [name_f]Kamala[/name_f] was for me. It honors my beloved grandma, and a politician I’ve supported for a number of years. Strength, power, and femininity, all of which are important to me.
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I only have a few.
Ophelia- I fell in love with the name [name_f]Ophelia[/name_f] through the Lumineers song. It’s still one of my favorite songs. Then my mother was in the play [name_m]Hamlet[/name_m]. To be honest, I hated it, but it solidified my love for the name. The actress playing [name_f]Ophelia[/name_f] was wearing this light blue dress. For some reason, that was the color I envision when I think of this name. It’s misty and magical.
Vance- I first heard this name while listening to “Riptide” by [name_m]Vance[/name_m] [name_f]Joy[/name_f]. I do enjoy a lot of his music, but he’s not the reason I fell in love with the name. I just thought it was handsome and strong. It’s not common, but not unfamiliar. A perfect balance, just like [name_f]Ophelia[/name_f].
Fox- [name_f]My[/name_f] dad and I love to watch The X-Files together. While I originally thought about using [name_u]Dana[/name_u] (as in [name_m]Scully[/name_m]) as a girl’s middle name, I realized that I much preferred the name [name_u]Fox[/name_u] (as in Mulder) for a boy’s first name. I also love foxes. They’re smart and beautiful.
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Out of all my names, [name_f]Miriam[/name_f] is the most meaningful. It was the name of my great grandmother who passed a few years ago. It also because I absolutely LOVE biblical names and it has such a nice story behind it. I have it paired as [name_f]Miriam[/name_f] [name_u]Jericho[/name_u] [name_u]Penn[/name_u].
[name_m]Samuel[/name_m] is a middle name in the combo [name_m]Osiris[/name_m] [name_m]Samuel[/name_m] [name_m]Leonard[/name_m]. [name_m]Samuel[/name_m] is a family name that goes back quite a few generations (my great grandfathers and great uncles name and probably more people if I looked hard enough). It was gonna be my middle if I were a boy and I love the simplicity of it while still sounding strong. Also it’s biblical which is a plus.
I also have [name_f]Odelia[/name_f] on my list. It’s after my great-grandma [name_f]Delia[/name_f] (DEH-LEE-UH in Spanish). I have been wanting to find something to honor her with and then I found this and LOVED it. It sounds a lot like [name_f]Ophelia[/name_f] and [name_f]Odessa[/name_f]. Right now I have it paired as [name_f]Odelia[/name_f] [name_u]Vesper[/name_u] [name_u]James[/name_u]. [name_u]James[/name_u] honors my grandfather [name_u]Jaime[/name_u].
While some of them aren’t my favorite combos these names mean the most to me.
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I love reading all of these and I kinda realized how my poor babies name’s aren’t as meaningful as I hoped but to my husband and I they are.
Ryder John: This is our oldest boy my husband and I both come from very strong country roots and we just fell in love with the name Ryder, John is my dads middle name and he’s my best friend so I wanted to pay homage to him somehow.
River Rose: About a year after Ryder was born my husband went on deployment right before this deployment we found out we were pregnant with River. He and I did long distance for 4 years, we lived together for 2, he went to boot camp, then we got married, the very first time we met was on a river so that’s where her name came from. As for her middle name we just loved the way the 2 went together.
Ronin Cole: My husband loved the name Ronin. Roan is the color of a horse and as I mentioned previously this was our lifestyle. His name is pronounced Roan- in. Cole is my husbands middle name and we wanted both of our boys to have honor names without being a Jr.
Renlee Raye: This is our newest addition although we’ve had her name picked out for years. In 7th and 8th grade my science teacher had a daughter named Wren and I fell in love with the name later meeting my husband and changing it to Renlee. Now for her middle name when I was pregnant with Renlee, Dylan used to lay his head on my tummy and talk to her calling her his little ray of sunshine thus giving us her middle name Raye.
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Kamala- I first heard this name when I was a kid. It was the name of my incredible, smart, stern, and wonderful grandma, who raised me over summers and school holidays. I claimed this as my ‘middle name’ in elementary school, to honor my amazing maternal grandma. Then, after the 2016 election (during which I loved [name_u]Hillary[/name_u] because I’m a die hard [name_m]Clinton[/name_m] fan) I read the name [name_f]Kamala[/name_f] [name_m]Harris[/name_m] in an article. Sold on the name and the person.
When I look at the name now, I want it badly for my daughter. I want her to be strong, firm, well-read, and excel in life. I want her to be like my grandma, and like [name_f]Kamala[/name_f] [name_m]Harris[/name_m], unafraid of what anyone else has to say.
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Susanna Deliverance remains one of my favorite names from your list. It’s so powerful. 
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Aurora- In the early stages of my pregnancy (before coronavirus) my husband and I took a trip to [name_u]Rome[/name_u], while we were there we were looking at lots of [name_m]Roman[/name_m] Mythology, and we learned that [name_f]Aurora[/name_f] was the [name_m]Roman[/name_m] Godess of [name_f]Dawn[/name_f], we immediately pretty much knew that was gonna be her name if it was a girl, we thought it would be nice that she would be the dawning of a day in a new life for us, because she is our forever sunshine💗
Violet- We chose this as her middle name because Violets symbolise everlasting love, and my grandpa used to write songs, one of the songs he wrote was called “Violets” and one of the lyrics is “How beautiful is she, as beautiful as the [name_f]Violet[/name_f] flower” I love my grandpa so much so I knew this HAD to be apart of my daughters name🥰.
I have others that are on my list too, I’ll comment them below.
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Love love love all of these special stories!
We elected to go Team [name_u]Green[/name_u], but of course people love to ask what names you’re considering. For a laugh (that really only he thought was funny), Hubby would always say [name_m]Bruce[/name_m] in a really overdone Aussie accent. And for a girl? “Bruuuuuuce!” It’s a stereotypical old fashioned Aussie name, so engrained that even [name_m]Monty[/name_m] Python joked at its expense.
The more I heard it though, the more it stuck, and the more it shone. Both OH and I have influential Bruces in our upbringing. [name_m]Robert[/name_m] the [name_m]Bruce[/name_m] speaks to my mother’s Scottish heritage, but it has its [name_u]French[/name_u] roots, just like my mother-in-law. And yet, it’s still that resoundingly Australian name.
Abel pays homage to my home of [name_u]New[/name_u] Zealand, and my father’s [name_m]Dutch[/name_m] heritage. [name_m]Abel[/name_m] [name_m]Tasman[/name_m] being the [name_m]Dutch[/name_m] explorer known for being the first European to reach NZ.
I can’t imagine my sweet boy as anything but our [name_m]Bruce[/name_m] [name_m]Abel[/name_m] 
Perhaps I’ll come back with a [name_u]Beckett[/name_u] [name_u]James[/name_u] story later.
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@seawillow It is indeed our [name_f]Becky[/name_f] J, looking his usual easy-going self 
Since I’m back in here and on the subject, I s’pose I’ll blather on about [name_u]Beckett[/name_u] [name_u]James[/name_u].
It wasn’t an easy breezy pregnancy. I was quite sick for much of it, and had a difficult time going about the most basic of days. The running joke between Hubby and I was that there wasn’t a baby inside, but an angry little bee. That’s what we were referring to the bump as - OH would ask most days how his little bee was buzzing.
Shortly after finding out that the [name_f]Bee[/name_f] was a He, I came across [name_u]Beckett[/name_u] here on NB. It means bee cottage. Could that be any more apropos? Not only that, but OH was born and raised in Canterbury, which is known for [name_m]Saint[/name_m] [name_m]Thomas[/name_m] a [name_m]Becket[/name_m], a figure who became a martyr for his beliefs and (essentially, as Hubby puts it) not giving in to the man. Perfect.
The middle name [name_u]James[/name_u] threads a similar vein as his older brother’s, [name_m]Abel[/name_m]. Named after another infamous seafarer and explorer, [name_u]James[/name_u] Cook. One of my husband’s favourite historical figures, and a prominent (albeit controversial) part of Australian history.
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Thank you!!
I love your names as well. Your stories in this thread are brilliant, and the names on your list are so lovely and whimsical!
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This thread is such a great idea!! [name_f]My[/name_f] top picks for a future girl would be [name_u]Anne[/name_u] [name_f]Desdemona[/name_f] or [name_f]Aurora[/name_f] [name_f]Joy[/name_f]. I’ve always loved [name_u]Anne[/name_u], it’s a family name and [name_u]Anne[/name_u] of [name_u]Green[/name_u] Gables is my favorite book. [name_f]Desdemona[/name_f] is also an honor name, after an amazingly brave pioneer ancestor! [name_f]Aurora[/name_f] [name_f]Joy[/name_f] is a new one, and I’m completely obsessed with it! I recently found an old letter from my great grandmother. I think I sent her a drawing of a princess or ballerina, and she wrote back suggesting I name her [name_f]Aurora[/name_f] [name_f]Joy[/name_f]. After rediscovering that old letter, I’m so in love with the name!
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Eise Eisinga makes Eise one of my favourite names.
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Here are the reasonings for my top three combos:
[name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] [name_f]Susannah[/name_f] - [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] is my favorite name of all time. I truly fell in love with it after watching [name_m]Hamilton[/name_m] on Disney+ because [name_f]Eliza[/name_f] was such an amazing character/person. [name_f]My[/name_f] Grandma’s name is a form of [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f], so it just seems so perfect. Other notable namesakes are [name_f]Lizzy[/name_f] [name_m]Bennet[/name_m] and [name_f]Beth[/name_f] [name_u]March[/name_u]. There is not much reasoning behind [name_f]Susannah[/name_f], but my step-grandmother’s name is a variation of it. (Like [name_f]Susan[/name_f], but with a unique spelling)
[name_f]Catherine[/name_f] [name_f]Louisa[/name_f]: This one is just beautiful. If I’m honest, there is not much meaning for me behind the name [name_f]Catherine[/name_f], other than the fact that it is beautiful. [name_f]Catherine[/name_f] [name_u]Schuyler[/name_u], the mother of the [name_u]Schuyler[/name_u] sisters, to throw an obscure [name_m]Hamilton[/name_m] reference in there. [name_f]My[/name_f] main inspiration for [name_f]Louisa[/name_f] is [name_f]Louisa[/name_f] [name_f]May[/name_f] [name_u]Alcott[/name_u], author of [name_m]Little[/name_m] Women, my favorite book of all time.
[name_f]Josephine[/name_f] [name_f]Violet[/name_f]: [name_f]Josephine[/name_f] crept up on me. I first heard it reading [name_m]Little[/name_m] Women, and it was a bit of a meh for me. Then when I got into classic names, it just fit the category perfectly, and it has such an amazing sound. Also, I noticed that it is a feminine form of my Grandpa’s name, and also honors my Grandma [name_u]Jo[/name_u], whose name is not [name_f]Josephine[/name_f], but starts with the [name_u]Jo[/name_u]- sound. [name_f]Violet[/name_f] is the same. I was never very into it, but one day, it just struck me as amazing. So I just had to use it.
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I don’t have a meaningful story for all of my names, but I’ll share the ones that have the most significance for me and are closest to my heart.
Hjörtur - this is the name of my oldest son. I’ve always loved the name, but this was also the name of my best friend in my teenage years. He was very troubled, and died far too young. Apart from my twin brother he was the only friend I had during that time of my life.
Zakynthos - I’ve decided to use this name as a middle name for one of our twins. Zakynthos is a figure from Greek mythology, and as you probably know a Greek island. The place means a lot to me for a very personal reason. Most of you probably already know I have a twin brother that I’m very close to. The only time we drifted apart was when we were at university. My brother had entered a very unhealthy and abusive relationship. I tried to help him but couldn’t reach him. A few months after he finally managed to get out of the relationship we went on a holiday to Zakynthos together, just the two of us. For the first time in ages it felt like we were as close as we had been before and it was the start of his healing process. So there, pretty cheesy but very close to my heart 
Edda - the Edda is the name of the most important Icelandic literary work. It means a lot to me because of my heritage, and because my father used to read this to us. I can’t remember how many times I’ve read it now, but I’ll never stop loving it.
Eurydice and Orpheus - I love both names. I’ve always adored Greek mythology, and how can someone not love the story of Orpheus and Eurydice? It’s beautiful and sad and heartbreaking and absolutely brilliant.
Laertes - my best friend and I met when I went to see a theatre production of Hamlet in which he played Laertes. It symbolizes our shared love for theatre, Shakespeare and Greek mythology.
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I watch a lot of old movies and like to imagine my baby names in romantic comedies; zany, fast-talking journalists bent on justice, or the vampy socialite glowering from the top of her staircase. Either way, my daughter’s name will rise to any occasion where strength and elegance are called upon.
Recently, I’ve become enamored with [name_f]Laura[/name_f]; it sounds like a name that could whistle through the wind in cheerful or haunting tones. A name of understated impress, but also homespun sweetness all in one. [name_f]Laura[/name_f] gently sways from its first syllable to its second as the perfect mixture of sultry and mystical.
Another beloved is [name_f]Julia[/name_f]! [name_f]Julia[/name_f] is springy and bright and could easily belong to a bluebird in a pastoral painting as the bird’s name and tune. I’ve also always loved the word “[name_u]Yule[/name_u]” and [name_f]Julia[/name_f] has such a similar sound (especially in Eastern Europe where [name_f]Julia[/name_f] is pronounced as “[name_f]Yulia[/name_f]”), so I am transported to Christmastime whenever I hear the name [name_f]Julia[/name_f], who in my mind is a girl caroling with her church while the lights of the season flicker in her eyes.
Then for my least original, but ever-true baby name: [name_f]Lily[/name_f]. [name_f]Every[/name_f] time I try to shake [name_f]Lily[/name_f] off my list, I fall right back in love with her lilting, “strawberry lemonade” kind of beauty and hold [name_f]Lily[/name_f]’s literary namesakes close to my heart. Both [name_f]Lily[/name_f] [name_m]Potter[/name_m], a mother whose love for her son was so fierce she sacrificed her life, and [name_f]Lily[/name_f] [name_m]Owens[/name_m], a plucky, unassuming waif of a traveler who escaped her abusive father guided by her maid and the shine of moonlight. These two Lilies conjure up memories of me crumpled on a library floor slowly re-educating myself about the strength that exists within even the pooling feminine names I used to disdain. Now I imagine [name_f]Lily[/name_f] could stare down the jaws of the greatest monsters with such defiance, all would sing about her around campfires and in mountain caverns the world over for as long as the bells of time chime.
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