I guess all of us, before start loving names, had a life where names where just names…
So what name did you like then? I used to love [name]Emma[/name], but when I start visiting NB, I realized it was soooo populaaar… I loved [name]Mia[/name] for years, and continue liking it, but is just fading in favour of others great 3 letter name ([name]Mae[/name],[name]Pia[/name],[name]Lia[/name])
What about you?
Teen_berry
When i was a little kid, I went through name “phases” as iliked to put it. Me and my friends would play these role playing games where we would come up with a charecter, give her (or somethimes him) a name, hair color, outfit, ect. and then play a game where we pretended to be the character. The name “phase” that I was in at the time would always be my name. I remember liking [name]Emma[/name], [name]Charlotte[/name], and [name]Melody[/name], but that’s about it. I wish i remembered more of them! In case your wondering, My friend would ALWAYS be [name]Rebecca[/name] or [name]Rachel[/name]. I begged to cange, but she wouldn’t.
But when I was like ten, I really wanted to change my first name to Pooter-Oyster. They were both from books, and I thought they were adorable! Lol! Some people still call me Pooter… :lol:
[name]Alison[/name]. ouchhhhh. no offense to anybody with the name, it’s just nms at all anymore.
I’m not sure why, but growing up I loved the names:
[name]Andrea[/name] nn [name]Andi[/name]
[name]Evan[/name]
[name]Kiah[/name] (pronounced [name]Ky[/name]-ah)
My tastes have grown and changed since then.
When I was 5 I was covinced that I’d have 3 daughters named [name]Rose[/name],[name]Violet[/name], and [name]Daisy[/name] until my sister told me my kids would get beat up on the playground. As I got older I was obsessed with [name]Julia[/name], I LOVED it for some time! When I would write stories, all the main female characters would be named [name]Julia[/name]. I also loved [name]Brian[/name] (I liked [name]Brian[/name] with [name]Julia[/name]), [name]Caleb[/name], [name]Madeline[/name] and [name]Christopher[/name]. My name taste has evolved quite a bit, but I still love [name]Christopher[/name] (since I was 8 or 9) and I rediscovered [name]Violet[/name] and it’s stayed on my list for quite some time.
I remember some of my favorites from my childhood were…
[name]Acton[/name]
[name]Aidan[/name]
[name]Eaton[/name]
(seeing a pattern?..)
[name]Price[/name]
[name]Emily[/name] (after the little sister in Hocus Pocus ;))
[name]Cadence[/name]
[name]Melody[/name]
Bour”e
Apria
[name]Caprice[/name]
[name]Paris[/name]
I loved [name]Sophia[/name] but thought that it was too exotic :lol: before discovering nameberry. The only two Sophias I’d ever heard of were [name]Sophia[/name] [name]Lauren[/name] and the character from [name]Golden[/name] Girls.
When I was little my two favorite names were [name]Sarah[/name] and [name]Melody[/name].
I also liked [name]Amanda[/name] (because it was my best friend in Kindergartens name. I called her [name]Mina[/name] Ballerina, and always liked that her name rhymed with something so pretty, even though it really didn’t.)
I still like these names, but don’t think I would actually use any of them. [name]Melody[/name] does not go with my surname now that I’m married, [name]Melody[/name] seems so dated, and even though I consider [name]Sarah[/name] a timeless classic, I have known so many people with the name I wouldn’t want all of those associations with my child.
I remember loving: [name]Sarah[/name] , [name]Charlie[/name] , [name]Natalie[/name] , [name]Sophie[/name] ,and [name]Emily[/name] of which i still have a liking to but reasons to dislike also including popularity , just getting out of it , and not being my type anymore …if it werent so popular though i would definitly use [name]Sophie[/name] as a name or [name]Sophia[/name].
When I was young I was convinced that I would name my daughter [name]Hannah[/name] and my son [name]Trevor[/name]. Today my husbands name is [name]Trever[/name] :lol: I moved on to [name]Hazel[/name] in my teen years and I continued to love it for YEARS. I remember years ago, telling people that I loved the name [name]Hazel[/name] and getting the most negative reactions…today those SAME people gush about how cute [name]Hazel[/name] is! Argh, needless to say I think I’ve moved on because of popularity. 
Oh well, being a name-nerd allows me to have [name]PLENTY[/name] of other options!
I was thinking about this earlier actually.
When I was 4/5 through 9-ish I remember I was obsessed with the names, [name]Fawn[/name], [name]Fay[/name], [name]Isabella[/name], [name]Sofie[/name]/[name]Sofia[/name](I never liked the -PH spelling even though everyone said that the -F spelling was wrong), And [name]Laurie[/name]/[name]Lori[/name].
When I was 10 to 11(Maybe early 12) it was
[name]Violet[/name], [name]Poppy[/name], [name]Jane[/name], [name]Rani[/name]([name]Said[/name] like [name]Ronnie[/name]), [name]Jenny[/name], [name]Billie[/name] and [name]Rose[/name](Err yeah, Huge [name]Doctor[/name] Who fan at that time, That’s where I got most of my names from xD)
(Yes I turned into a name nerd early, I’m 14 now :D)
And actually love all of those still(Yes even Misses,[name]Laurie[/name]) I wouldn’t use [name]Sofie[/name] or [name]Isabella[/name] anymore but there still pretty…And yes no boys names xD(I still don’t like many boys name, I only like…Six :lol:)
I think I was born a name nerd! My favorite names at 2 were [name]Cleo[/name]/patra, [name]Zelda[/name], [name]Josephine[/name] & [name]Porfirio[/name].
I liked [name]Elspeth[/name] & [name]Oscar[/name] in grade school, [name]Poppy[/name] & [name]Barnaby[/name] in high school. I had my boys at 18 (turned 19 a week after they were born) and named them [name]Leo[/name] [name]Sebastian[/name] [name]Coe[/name] & [name]Simon[/name] [name]Ambrose[/name] [name]Nash[/name].
I’m 43 now and am still a huge name nerd. Probably more so now than at 2!
I have loved names for quite a long time - I’m 23 now.
I had a ton of baby dolls and I loved naming them. Some of them include:
[name]Sally[/name] and [name]Sarah[/name] (twins)
[name]Josephine[/name]
[name]Lisa[/name]
[name]Amy[/name]
[name]Jessica[/name]
[name]Elizabeth[/name]
[name]Kylie[/name]
[name]Blair[/name]
[name]Alyssa[/name]
[name]Aurora[/name]
I was under the age of 8 when I named all of them.
I used to write a lot of stories as well, and I loved naming my characters. Some “name phases” I went through included:
Girls: [name]Jacqueline[/name], [name]Lindsey[/name], [name]Courtney[/name], [name]Morgan[/name], [name]Taylor[/name], [name]Meredith[/name], [name]Annika[/name], [name]Leah[/name], [name]Willow[/name], [name]Pippa[/name], [name]Jenna[/name], [name]Brooklyn[/name], [name]Jada[/name]
Boys: [name]Ryan[/name], [name]Tyler[/name], [name]Kyle[/name], [name]Dylan[/name], [name]Will[/name], [name]Trevor[/name], [name]Max[/name]
My taste has changed quite a bit. I prefer slightly quirky but still classic names such as [name]Desmond[/name], [name]Harrison[/name], [name]Elliot[/name], [name]Isaac[/name], [name]Theo[/name], [name]Caroline[/name], [name]Sylvia[/name] “[name]Sylvie[/name],” [name]Cecelia[/name], [name]Genevieve[/name], and [name]Violet[/name].
When I was little, I was nearly obsessed with the name [name]Charlene[/name]. (which I got from Disney’s Dinosaurs) I also remember liking the name [name]Sonya[/name]/[name]Sonja[/name]. (I went through a short phase when I was 5 that I insisted on being called [name]Sonya[/name]. I got it from [name]Peter[/name] and the [name]Wolf[/name]) As for boy names, I had a strange fascination with the name [name]Jeffrey[/name]. Through my pre-teen/early teen years, I was so convinced I would marry a man named [name]Jeffrey[/name], not sure why though. I also recall being dead-set on naming any future daughter Xanadu, when I was in high school.
Nowadays, I still like [name]Charlene[/name] and [name]Sonya[/name]/[name]Sonja[/name], but they’re not amongst my top names. [name]Jeffrey[/name] is just okay, and Xanadu seems a bit outlandish, nothing I’d consider using in real life. (but I like the way it sounds)
I think I was born a name nerd! But when I was younger, I had pretty wild taste in names. For a girl, Mystina; for a boy, [name]Barron[/name]. I re-christened my Cabbage Patch Kid [name]Nicolette[/name] [name]Charyl[/name].
I was a semi-name nerd as a kid. I had a bazillion Cabbage Patch Kid dolls, and I didn’t always change their name…a true name nerd probably would have! My dolls were:
[name]Theodora[/name] [name]Rachel[/name] (kept the name, and I called her [name]Rachel[/name])
[name]William[/name] ? (I renamed him [name]William[/name] [name]Gavin[/name] and called him [name]William[/name])
[name]Abbey[/name] [name]Polly[/name] (I thought it was silly to have two y ending names, but I kept it and called her [name]Abbey[/name])
[name]Landon[/name] [name]Andrew[/name] (kept it, called him [name]Andy[/name]…he and [name]Abbey[/name] were both preemie dolls, so I thought of them as twins…heh!)
Girl doll: ? ? (whatever her name was, I renamed her [name]Kimberley[/name] [name]Regina[/name], and called her [name]Regina[/name])
Diggory ? (hated Diggory, renamed the doll [name]Alexander[/name] [name]Bruce[/name], called him [name]Alex[/name])
[name]Kenneth[/name] [name]Clayton[/name] (I think this is the name the doll came with; I called him [name]Kenny[/name])
I find it funny that I called so many of them by their middle names. No judgement of anyone who does this with actual kids, but I couldn’t imagine doing that now, in real life!
It’s hard to remember what I actually liked. I used to write stories, but I can’t remember what I named my characters. I do remember that half the reason I seemed to enjoy writing was because of the naming, though! As a teen I dispensed with the writing altogether (my dad critiqued my stories to death) and used to spend hours sitting in my room inventing whole little worlds with beautifully named people. I was a ballet dancer, so a lot of time was spent creating imaginary ballet companies and naming the dancers from countries all over the world. (As a ballet nerd, I also really enjoyed making up imaginary evenings of classical ballet performances and casting all the dancers and typing up the programs.) Thank goodness I had such a safe form of escapism when things in my life were so difficult!
When I was a little girl, I loved pretending my name was [name]Francesca[/name] or [name]Jacqueline[/name] (French pronounciation, if you please). I always wanted to name my daughters [name]Charlotte[/name], [name]Caroline[/name], and [name]Abigail[/name]. Apparently a lot of other little girls were thinking the same thing, because fifteen years later those names shot up the charts like crazy. Funny how that works.
I think I have always been a name nerd. My taste has changed over the years, and of course, now that I’m married I have to consider someone’s option other than my own.
I remember being sure I would name my first son [name]Bastian[/name] after the main character from The Neverending [name]Story[/name] (which came out when I was in grade school). I also remember that I had two “secret” names for myself – [name]Phoebe[/name] and [name]Tansy[/name]. I imagined that I was queen [name]Phoebe[/name] at night because I read that the name meant godess of the moon. I imagined being queen [name]Tansy[/name] during the day because of the bright sunny [name]Tansy[/name] flower. I was a very imaginative child!
@gingerkid I had middle names for all my pets as a child and insisted on calling them by their “full” names. 
My first cat I named [name]Samuel[/name] [name]Benjamin[/name] (my mom called him [name]Sammy[/name]) and my second cat I named [name]Daniel[/name] [name]Lion[/name] [name]Tiger[/name]. I called my second cat by all three names for quite while before shortening it to [name]Danny[/name] [name]Kitty[/name].
My mother recalls a time I wanted to be called “[name]Natalia[/name]” but I must’ve been very young as I have no recollection of this. [name]Megan[/name] was always one of my favourites, thanks to My [name]Little[/name] Pony’s “[name]Megan[/name] and [name]Sundance[/name].” Then I went through a phase where I was convinced I would name my daughters [name]Angelika[/name] and [name]Jessamyn[/name]. The Rugrats [name]Angelica[/name] ruined the name for me, and I still like [name]Jessamyn[/name], but I’m not crazy about the nickname “[name]Jessie[/name].”