What's in a name?

[lls_mutant]

I hate baby naming.

So, here's the criteria for a baby name:

1.) Both hubby and I have to like it, and

2.) We want something unusual, but not weird. (Perfect example? Toby.)

So, we were talking about names last night, and found one we both liked: Brandon. Being a fan of ASOIAF, I liked this even more, although for all I know Bran may end up the Evil Sorcerer-Emperor of the Seven Kingdoms by the time George R.R. Martin is done. But still. We like the name.

#27 in popularity last year.

ARGH.

Any suggestions of boys' names that are unusual but not weird? Disclaimer: suggesting does not remotely mean we'll use it, and us not using it does not remotely mean I think you have bad taste. Names are such weird territory, and prior associations make such a difference. (Hubby rejected "Shane" because it was the name of the big German shepherd that used to live next door to him through his childhood.)

Comments

[musesfool.livejournal.com]

Nathaniel?

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I actually like it, but one of hubby's best friends has a son named Nathaniel. :P Sadly, the kid is a total terror, too.

I am very bummed that none of the Firefly guys have good names. Mal is all right, but I don't like Malcolm. Never been a fan of Simon. And I think Jayne and Hoban speak for themselves! :)

[rian219.livejournal.com]

I like Bram, myself. Unusual, but not unheard of.

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

Bram is interesting. Thanks! :)

[jlarinda.livejournal.com]

:/ Rowling should make a baby names book. Although I think those would fall under the 'weird' category..

I can't really help, the one name I adore is 'William' and it's really common..

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

Heh. With Toby, Howard instituted a "No Harry Potter names" policy. Which was okay with me. While I love the name Sirius for a fictional character, I'd never inflict it on a real child. And none of Rowling's more conventional names (Harry, Ron, Neville, etc.) really resonate with me. Nothing wrong with them, but they just aren't my taste, y'know?

William IS a nice name. It's been automatically axed though, because even more firm than "no HP names" is no family names. (We decided to offend everyone equally.) But my stepfather would be tickled if we went with William! :)

[elektrik-storm.livejournal.com]

Elias - Eli for short

Lewis

Rhys

Joss

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

I actually really like both Rhys and Joss, but they sound horrible with our last name :P (It's monosyllabic, and two of the letters are "s" :) )

[lovemoony4ever.livejournal.com]

Marcus? No, turns out that's rather popular. Marius or Magnus? Personally, I love the names Benjamin and Alexander, but those are very popular. The french Julien is pretty, especially when pronounced the English way:)

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

Thanks! :)

We both love Alexander, too, but it doesn't sound right with our last name. Too bad, but my mom is glad because she says all of the Alexes she's had recently have been real brats. :P (Not that I'd let that stop me, but the last name thing is a bigger deal.)

[werewolf-lib.livejournal.com]

If I were to have a male child, among my personal choices for names are: Ian, Julian, Alexander, Clive, Hugh, Stuart, Gavin, Tyler, Roald, Owen, Aubrey, Anselm, Anson, Nicolas, Derek, Gabriel, Emil, Emory, Florian, Aidan/Aiden, Adrian, Eamon, Rowan and James.
All terribly old-fashioned, mostly British names, I'm afraid.
You should see the list for girls' names!

I have an ancestor who was named Ysidro and my great grandfather was Russell Spain.

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

I ADORE the name Adrian. Sadly, hubby has rejected it back when we were naming Toby. Which is just as well, since it's a character in a novel I never finished. (Of course, so is Toby.)

I also really like Rowan. I'd like it even better as Roan, as that's my maiden name. But I'm not sure I can get away with that, thanks to our no family names rule. Love Gabriel, too, but it's our nephew's name. :P

Seriously, this naming business sucks!

Although at least we'll skip Ysidro! :)

[a-t-rain.livejournal.com]

Hmm ... Edmund, Claudius, Hugh, Maximilian, Jeremiah, Jonah, Bernard, Saul, Samuel, Horatio (OK, maybe not), Asher, Gilbert, Walter, Gareth?

Is there a real problem with being #27 in popularity, though? I mean, if you like the name, who cares how many other people are using it? And I've never heard of a kid being embarrassed or unhappy about having too common a name, although one far at the other end of the scale can be a problem.

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I've actually considered Gareth, but it flows very awkwardly with our last name.

There's not a real problem with the name being popular. We haven't tossed it out. We didn't even discuss names pre-sonogram, because we were hoping they'd be able to tell us the gender and we'd only have to discuss one set of names. (Success!) So, we may settle on Brandon anyway. But we also still have till December, so no need to settle immediately on the first name we agree on! :)

[velvetmouse]

my brother is named Kenneth (he's always gone by Kenny or Ken), which is not one I've heard very often in any age group...

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

Oooh, thanks! :)

[skylark74.livejournal.com]

(Hubby rejected "Shane" because it was the name of the big German shepherd that used to live next door to him through his childhood.)

I had to giggle at this because the first thing I thought of was Henry Jones Sr saying, "We named the dog Indiana!"


Naming is such a fun part. You could always throw several you like in a hat & draw. As far as suggestions, I love Irish names: Aiden, Connor, Liam, Reilly.

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

One of the best lines ever! :)

I like Riley, actually, but I have to time that suggestion well. We just watched an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer that was not at all flattering to Riley, so last night was definitely not a good time to suggest it!

[topaz-eyes.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... If you both like the name Brandon, why don't you want to use it? It seems silly to me not to use a name simply because it's in the top 50 or 100 boys' names. JMO, of course.

Then again...True story: one year, my brother Scott was in a class with four other boys who were also named Scott. The teacher numbered them so they all knew which one she was calling on. *g* I can understand you wanting to avoid that situation.

If you're looking for unusual-but-not-too-weird names, I like Conal and Bruce. My son's named Cuinn, which is the original Gaelic spelling for Quinn. I rather like Noel, too (another brother's middle name), but there are too many opportunities for teasing with that one.

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

Well, we may still use it. It's got a strike against it, because ideally we'd prefer less common. But it's not off the list yet!

And yeah- that's exactly what we're trying to avoid. :) I'm very mindful of it as there are three Sophia's in Toby's Gymboree class!

I love Noel, especially since this baby is due right at Christmas time. But yeah- way too many teasing opportunities. ::Sigh::

Thanks!

i can't believe you haven't considered...

[gunderpants.livejournal.com]

ALBUS SEVERUS

I dunno. I was going to suggest Theo, but given you've already got a son whose name starts with T you might want to skip over it. And my Australian!bias is telling you that anyone called Shane will end up with a mullet, a pannel van and married to Kylie Minogue - which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Re: i can't believe you haven't considered...

[ignipes.livejournal.com]

I don't know if you know Lissa's full name, but that name is even funnier when you combine it with her last name. And if the poor kid had a lisp he would never, ever live it down.

*giggles*

[aome.livejournal.com]

No specific suggestions, only that we used that Soc Security Top 1000 listing as our guide, as it seems that you are doing, too. Any names on that list, from #50 down, say, that appeal to you?

Incidentally, some names are not-so-unusual in basis, but aren't really that often used anymore, either, like Scott.

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

That's exactly what we're using :)

There are, but the ones that appeal to me don't appeal to Howard (naturally). But it does take a lot of sifting, because a lot of the names on there are variations of spelling (Christopher, Kristopher, and Cristopher all appear, for example.)

And yeah- it's what you're talking about that's actually appealing to us. I mean, Toby used to be far more common in the US than it is now, I think. And I saw that Todd was down to #638. I like the name Todd. We're kind of leery of it, especially with Toby, but it's a totally normal name that people just don't use anymore.

[kyasuriin.livejournal.com]

if you like Brandon but find it too common, maybe consider Brendan?

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

Ooh, thanks! Must check that one out!

[adrenya.livejournal.com]

I like Brandyn, that's my son Skyler's middle name. If Olivia had been a boy I would have named her Kaelin Matheson. It wasn't until after I was set on her name I found out Olivia is number 8 in the US and number 1 in quite a few other countries. But it's close to my maiden name and her middle name is my mom's maiden name so we kept it.

You could always browse this (http://www.babycenter.com/general/1506831.html) and stay near the bottom of the page.

or go here... (http://www.alternativebabynames.com/) those are a bit... um... interesting :)

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

Olivia IS really pretty. I quite like it myself. No girls for me though! (We only want two kids, and really didn't care if we got 2 boys, 2 girls, or one of each. So no girls- but I have nieces to buy dresses for :) )

Thanks for the links! I've seen the alternative ones before. They might be a little more alternative than I have in mind... :)

[lilacsigil.livejournal.com]

My brother and sister-in-law have their second son due in October - their first son is named Liam, and they are using this (http://www.rampantscotland.com/forenames/) site. Their selection has to be a Scottish name that can be easily pronounced in Chinese!

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

Oooh, thanks! I like Scottish names :)

[onehundredmoons.livejournal.com]

Julian? Griffin? Thad/Thaddeus?

I think the whole "goes with last name" bit is the absolute hardest. You have my full sympathies!

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

Thanks! And yeah, the last name bit is the hardest. We have a very hissy last name, so that makes a lot of names with S's sound weird. :P

[lupinspatronus.livejournal.com]

Stefan, that's my favourite boy's name by far =)

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

I ADORE the name Stefan! However, I suggested it back when I was pregnant with Toby. Apparently it reminds hubby of Steve Urkel from Family Matters, when he tried to be all sophisticated and pronounce his name "Ste-PHAN." The fact that Stefan is a completely different name (or that no kid these days is going to know Family Matters) didn't matter. :P

I'm going to get hubby's brothers for this- they're the ones that watched it constantly and gave hubby this bad association.

[krabapple.livejournal.com]

I'd reject Shane because that's my sister's fiancee's name, but that's a whole other ball of wax. :)

Hmmmm. I'm trying to think of names I hear at school (unusual is definitely in where I work). I know a Brooks, an Oliver, a Rainer, Finny (short for Phineas, I think), Ralston, Connor, Jackson, Colin (which I like, actually), etc. I'm sure I could think of more. Oh, there's a Jett, too. And Max. Drake. I'm sure I could come up with more.

It's funny; I've had the opposite reaction to names -- I swear when my turn (hopefully) comes, the simpler, the better. Mary. Jane. Elizabeth. Lily. Rose. James. Jack. (Um, fandom preferences, much? :)) I'm talking one syllable, here. Heh. Though I love Olivia. (I also had a student named Olivia that I LOVE, so that might also be part of it.)

[yourssincerely.livejournal.com]

Decided I'd throw in some names, although you probably don't know who I am =P (Although I have to say, naming a child is the very thing that terrifies me most about possibly having children in the future.)

-Damon
-Derek
-Devon
-Ian
-Isaac
-Skylar
-Riley
-Evan
-Tyrian
-Logan
-Cullen
-Blake

Um, I could probably list more but I think I've gone on quite enough (see, this is one of my fears about naming a child - I wouldn't be able to settle on a name because there's far too many I like). I'll just, er, shut up and go away now.

Even if you don't choose any of these names, though, I hope they help give you an idea of a name both you and your husband will love!

[dead-sexydexy.livejournal.com]

Okay, I don't comment often and read nothing of the other naming suggestions....

I have a Joshua Aaron (Josh) and a Caleb Alexander (Caleb) I like, Josh, Aaron, Caleb, Cal, and Alex for boy names. Joshua, Josh, may be too common. My Josh only had one kid in kindgergarten with the same name and that boy had the decency to move away. :p .

Other than that, good luck! Naming with a not too common, but not too weird name is always a difficult task. :D

[polkadot-magic.livejournal.com]

Well, I work with children a lot, and some of the boys' names I've come across are Cole, Ian, Jacob, and Patrick. Kyle is nice too. The last name matching really is tough - good luck, at any rate!

Cheers.

No suggestions

[jazzypom.livejournal.com]

Even though Dominic, Jefferson, Justin Peter, Paul, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are good names.

But advice : please give your child a name that's easy to spell (you did good on the first one). My first name took me ages to learn and it has eight letters. eight. My second name had six.

Ugh.

[wickedevra.livejournal.com]

Just in case you didn't have enough suggestions already... I really like Jared, Kevin (quite common though, Kieran is nice too), Damien (if you haven't ruled out original character names) Joel and Daniel.

[wickedevra.livejournal.com]

Oh, and Jordan *shuts up now*

[elsie.livejournal.com]

(I haven't been around in ages, but I used to read your fic regularly, so that's why there's a stranger on your journal, suggesting names for your kid.)

I have a good friend named Bradford. I think that's a great name. Also a big fan of Christopher and Brian, neither of which are that unusual, but they are nice-sounding names belonging to men I like.