As name fans, I bet many of us remember the first name (or few names) we fell in love with. I have a small list! All of these were my elementary school favorites. What are yours?
Mine: [name_u]Corbin[/name_u] - first heard it used on a girl. Thought it was perfect and have loved it since. [name_u]Shea[/name_u] - first heard it on a boy but made the connection quickly that it could be unisex. Had a great time exploring the different spellings ([name_m]Shai[/name_m], [name_u]Shay[/name_u], etc.), but [name_u]Shea[/name_u] has always been my favorite. [name_f]Sara[/name_f] - I was infatuated with the name [name_f]Sara[/name_f] to the point of wanting to bestow it on my future first child. It’s no longer an absolute favorite of mine but I still like it.
Great thread! I was just thinking about this last night. Mine were:
[name_f]Lina[/name_f] – No idea where I saw this one, but I did not know anyone personally with the name.
[name_f]Annika[/name_f] – First saw it in [name_f]Pippi[/name_f] Longstocking stories.
[name_f]Maura[/name_f] (with pronunciation mawr-uh instead of more-uh) – Found this name in a book by [name_u]Avi[/name_u] and fell in love.
I was determined to name somebody [name_f]Annika[/name_f] [name_f]Maura[/name_f]. Though I’ve cooled on all three names, my tastes haven’t changed — still love names that end (and start) with A, and short L names.
Either [name_f]Zoe[/name_f] (which is still on my list) and [name_f]Yasmine[/name_f] I like them when I was 5. For a boy probably [name_m]Eamon[/name_m], I’ve loved it since the I was nine and I heard a swimmer with the name in the 2008 olympics.
[name_u]Stacey[/name_u]: I first came across this name in The [name_u]Baby[/name_u] Sitters Club series and really liked it more than any of the other names, for some reason, although I later named a doll of mine [name_f]Kristy[/name_f], after the main girl.
[name_f]Abigail[/name_f] “[name_u]Abby[/name_u]”: this was truly my first name love. I was in cheerleading with a girl named [name_u]Abby[/name_u], who was a couple years older than me, and who I thought was the coolest girl on the planet. She was like a mentor to the little 6-year-old me. I also just thought the name was very beautiful. I went through a stage where I named every doll I got [name_f]Abigail[/name_f] and called her [name_u]Abby[/name_u]. I still like and appreciate this name, but probably wouldn’t use it now, as my tastes have changed and I prefer other names.
[name_m]Anthony[/name_m] [name_m]Nicholas[/name_m]: I’ve always had a soft spot for this name, as it is the name combo my mom always wanted to use for a son. She ended up giving birth to four girls and a boy, but my dad snuck my brother’s birth certificate in order to name my brother after himself…my mom eventually gained two boys through a remarriage (plus my step-sister), but she never got to use her favorite combo. I secretly resolved, years ago, to use this combo to sort of honor her…but I don’t know…DH and I aren’t overly in love with the combo anymore. I won’t say never, but this hasn’t even been a contender for a while now.
[name_f]Imogen[/name_f]: I remember there being a girl at my music group (who I thought looked like one of my cousins) called [name_f]Imogen[/name_f], and I just really liked the name. It was around about the same time I started daydreaming and making up scenarios, so I just decided [name_f]Imogen[/name_f] was my favourite name for a girl.
[name_m]Alonso[/name_m]/[name_m]Alonzo[/name_m]: I loved (and still love) [name_m]Doctor[/name_m] Who, and the 10th [name_m]Doctor[/name_m]'s catchphrase (I suppose that’s what you’d call it) was Allons-y, and in an episode there actually was an [name_m]Alonso[/name_m], and Allons-y, [name_m]Alonso[/name_m] became a thing. I just thought it would be the perfect name for a boy, since it had a connection to my favourite show. Not much has changed now, I still love my references and character names!
[name_f]Esme[/name_f]: I fell in love with this name after seeing it in a baby name book when I was a small child. It was french and it meant “esteemed one/beloved”?! There couldn’t possibly be a better name!
This led to my very first combo: [name_f]Esme[/name_f] Clarimonde, which was perfection to me at the time. I still love the combo, but I worry about [name_f]Esme[/name_f]'s pronunciation in [name_u]America[/name_u], and the fact that [name_f]Esme[/name_f] isn’t really the true feminine form.
[name_f]Aurelia[/name_f]: This is the name I promised myself I would name my future daughter, when I was 9! [name_f]Aurelia[/name_f] [name_f]Esther[/name_f] was my chosen combo, and I loved it to death. Again, the issue I have with it now is that there are about 3 different ways to pronounce [name_f]Aurelia[/name_f] and that does bother me.
[name_f]Rowena[/name_f]: My dream name! I can’t remember what I would pair this with, I think my combo was [name_f]Rowena[/name_f] [name_f]Joy[/name_f]. I was convinced I was going to use this name. But as time goes on, I realize more and more how tenuous my connection is to Welsh culture. (I do have a bit of Welsh heritage, but it doesn’t spark much impetus to use a very Welsh name) My opinion could change, who knows. I only ever loved it when it was pronounced “[name_f]Ro[/name_f]-wenna” and NOT “[name_f]Ro[/name_f]-weena”. My love for it started to fade when I heard “[name_f]Ro[/name_f]-weena” which is pretty grating.
Mine were [name_m]Daniel[/name_m], [name_f]Annabelle[/name_f], [name_f]Rhiannon[/name_f] and [name_f]Ella[/name_f]! I’m not sure what brought them on though. They’re all currently on my list now too.
I had quite the list going. hahaha out of the boys today I’d still use [name_u]Micah[/name_u], [name_m]Zachary[/name_m] (or a variant), Or [name_m]David[/name_m] … in some type of way (middles most likely)
and for girls Id use probably just [name_f]Isabelle[/name_f]
I don’t know where I heard it, but I’ve loved [name_f]Evangeline[/name_f] since I was a little kid. Other ones have come and gone, but that’s the only one that has stayed.
When I was young I fell in love with the names [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f] & [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] which was my parents choice if my brother was a girl in fact I then named my dolls [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f] & [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f]. My first proper name crush when I was about 12 was [name_f]Jessamy[/name_f] which I read in a book, in fact I still like it but can never decide if it is actually usable.
[name_u]Jo[/name_u]ão: according to my mom, since I was born, all my dolls were [name_u]Jo[/name_u]ão. My favorite doll [name_u]EVER[/name_u] (the one I took everywhere with me not caring if I could do that) was a [name_u]Jo[/name_u]ão. However, when I was 4, my little brother was born and my parents named him, [name_u]Jo[/name_u]ão. Mom says that my insistence that [name_u]Jo[/name_u]ão had to become “real” was one of the many reasons for that.
Amélia (pron: here): I first heard during an [name_m]Art[/name_m] Class. I was not paying any attention to it, but I think it was about Impressionism. My teacher said that the model for one of the paintings was a woman called Amélia (though, she was [name_m]French[/name_m], so I believe it was Amélie). When I was 10, my first female cousin was born and named Amélia.
[name_f]Safira[/name_f]: I have no idea where I found this one. I remember loving the fact that a sapphire is a blue gem. [name_u]Blue[/name_u] is a very present color in my life (most of my clothes, my soccer team color, the word for [name_u]Blue[/name_u] in my language it’s in my name etc etc etc).
The first name that ever made me go “Wow!” was [name_u]Simone[/name_u]. A girl in my dance class brought her friend [name_u]Simone[/name_u] for bring-a-friend week and I thought the name was so cool since I’d never heard anything like it before.
My first favorite names were [name_f]Theresa[/name_f] and [name_u]Cody[/name_u]. No idea where [name_f]Theresa[/name_f] came from but [name_u]Cody[/name_u] was definitely from the Suite Life of [name_m]Zack[/name_m] and [name_u]Cody[/name_u]. I, ahem, sort of had a crush on [name_m]Cole[/name_m] Sprouse in like 4th grade.
I’m not sure what brought them on though. They’re all currently on my list now too.