My husband and I are torn between two names for our baby boy due at the end of [name_u]March[/name_u]. We have one name that we have discussed for years that we love…Kepler…it’s a unique name… a quality that we find both desirable yet it gives us pause when considering the opinions of our friends and family (which is why we are taking it to the Nameberry forum!). The other name…[name_u]Parker[/name_u]… we also love and believe it will fit perfectly with our last name which also begins with a P. Another difficulty with deciding between the two names is that we also love [name_u]Parker[/name_u] for a girl so if we go with Kepler for this one, we could still use [name_u]Parker[/name_u] for either a boy or girl in the future (if we are blessed again with another child). We chose the middle name of [name_m]Jackson[/name_m], because we were married in [name_m]Jackson[/name_m] Hole, WY…an incredible destination wedding for our closest friends and family. Kindly give us your thoughts on the two names below… thank you all that respond!
Kepler [name_m]Jackson[/name_m] P. (nickname [name_m]Kep[/name_m])
[name_u]Parker[/name_u] [name_m]Jackson[/name_m] P.
Neither name is my style but I vote for Kepler. It’s a more unusual choice and you’ve loved it for a long time so that must mean something. I don’t like [name_u]Parker[/name_u] at all for any gender (park her?) and [name_u]Parker[/name_u] P or PP could be troublesome (it makes me think of the tongue twisting nursery rhyme “[name_m]Peter[/name_m] [name_u]Piper[/name_u] picked a peck of pickled peppers” :))
Well, I’m not a huge fan of surnames if there isn’t a family connection. [name_u]Parker[/name_u] is especially trendy which I tend to stay away from. I would really dislike [name_u]Parker[/name_u] on a girl though. My guess is most people will react negatively to [name_u]Parker[/name_u] on a girl too. I think your best bet is Kepler. The nickname of [name_m]Kep[/name_m] is cute. I like using [name_m]Jackson[/name_m] since it has personal meaning.
My initial reaction to Kepler was one of raised eyebrows but the more I say it, the more I really like it! It’s a very unusual choice. I’m sure many people won’t have heard of it but at the same time it’s obvious how to spell and pronounce. I [name_f]LOVE[/name_f] the nn [name_m]Kep[/name_m] and I think [name_m]Jackson[/name_m] for a middle name is fabulous given you were married there.
[name_u]Parker[/name_u] leaves me indifferent. I’ve never understood the whole surname used as first name thing. Maybe that’s because I live in the UK. Here it’s viewed as an American habit and not really done. [name_u]Parker[/name_u] is relatively common and does not come with any readily-available nn’s. Also I’d avoid the double whammy of [name_u]Parker[/name_u] P____, i.e. initials PP - pee pee.
I would go with Kepler [name_m]Jackson[/name_m]. It has been a name you both have loved for a long while. You might regret not using it. [name_m]Kep[/name_m] is a sweet nickname.
I like Kepler better. “[name_m]Kep[/name_m]” is a cute and fun nickname, while Kepler will look great on a resume when he grows up. I like how Kepler is unusual enough to stand out and be remembered, but not too unusual.
I do like [name_u]Parker[/name_u] fine, but I don’t think that the initials “P.P.” are going to go over well at school some day, you know?
Nameberry is not the best place to come to with unique (i.e. modern invented) names, either. But I vote for Kepler. I think [name_m]Kep[/name_m] is a great nickname!
I like [name_u]Parker[/name_u] more for a girl for some reason. I guess because I like [name_u]Parker[/name_u] [name_f]Posey[/name_f] and also my friend’s beautiful daughter.
Kepler is the name of a brilliant Renaissance astronomer and scientist - what an awesome namesake. There’s a NASA observatory named after him. That’s what I thought of when you mentioned the name. If I met a young Kepler, I’d be very impressed.
I think that if you are certain you want two kids, then you should use Kepler for this baby, and [name_u]Parker[/name_u] for the next - they make a really wonderful sibset, because they share so many of the same letters and sounds, yet they couldn’t be mistaken for one another. And they are both surnames, both two syllables. A really perfect pair. Of course, if you want more than two kids, it might be tricky to find a name that fits in with your existing two names.
Best wishes!
p.s. I’m a fan of alliteration, so don’t see the PP thing as an issue… but if you like a name starting with I for a middle, it could get you to the sweet nickname [name_m]Pip[/name_m] - cute for a young girl or boy.
Kepler is a legitimate surname and with the surname-as-first trend it fits well with other surname names like [name_u]Parker[/name_u]. It was the last name of [name_m]Johannes[/name_m] Kepler, a [name_m]German[/name_m] astronomer who dealt with planetary motion.
I think you should go with Kepler. It’s different, but not too different [name_m]Kep[/name_m] would feel out of place, like a previous poster had mentioned.
I am not a fan of [name_u]Parker[/name_u] in the slightest, although if you asked I’m not sure I could say why. Kepler on the other hand I find fun and unique without being completely out there and crazy.
Thank you so much for your comments! You are spot on with why we originally thought of the name Kepler [name_f]Love[/name_f] your conclusion … I think we are moving in that direction to use Kepler for this one and [name_u]Parker[/name_u] for (hopefully) our next child!
[name_f]Love[/name_f] everyone’s candid comments! Thank you so much for your feedback! We did originally think of the name because of the astronomer [name_m]Johannes[/name_m] Kepler and the space telescope named after him, “Kepler.” So it is a real name, albeit a surname. We never thought about the initials PP being problematic because we would always include the middle initial…PJP…however we understand where the comments are coming from. Leaning more towards Kepler now…especially since we could still use [name_u]Parker[/name_u] in the future!
