Thursday, May 06, 2010

Future baby names

Just because we're not even thinking about having a baby for a couple of years does not mean I can't play the baby name game. Plus Kelly's Korner is talking about how you picked your kids names/future names this week.

I've been naming my future children for as long as I can remember. Obviously my favorite names have changed a lot over the 20-some years. But over the past few years I've gathered lists of favorites and narrowed it down to 8 girl names and 8 boy names.


Adorable image from Pinkle Toes Photography


So without further ado...

Favorite potential baby girl names:

  1. Autumn
  2. Elise
  3. Elizabeth
  4. Evangeline (potential nickname Eva or Evy)
  5. Karena
  6. Lydia
  7. Penelope (potential nickname Nella)
  8. Tessa

Favorite potential baby boy names:

  1. Asher
  2. Anderson (potential nickname Andy)
  3. Benjamin (potential nickname Ben)
  4. Caleb
  5. Conrad
  6. Josiah
  7. Liam
  8. Wyatt

Note: My best friend, Laurel, pointed out that she can see the "Lost" influence in some of these names, either actors or characters names on the show (Evangeline, Penelope, Benjamin, Liam, Katherine). That made me laugh. I do love Lost.


None of the first names really have a particular backstory behind them. They are just names I like. My favorite place to research baby names is The Cradle Baby Namer.

I like the idea of paying homage to a family name via middle names. The most likely middle name contenders for girl is Katherine. And contenders for boy middle names are Andrew, Clayton, or Jackson. All of those have some family significance.


I actually have a hard time first finding names I like because...

First, a lot of names I love don't sound very good with our last name (if fact a lot of names don't work well with our last name), so sadly those names didn't get to make the list. Just so you know, our last name is one syllable and sounds like Green.

Second, I don't want a name that is too popular or trendy.

Third, I want a name that is decently to read and pronounce. My name get mispronounced more than it get's pronounced correctly. This kind of drives me crazy. I don't want to subject my future child to this same torture. For example, one of my very favorite boy names is Calum (pronounced Kal-um) but I know people would read it say Kay-lum, Call-um, etc.) so I sadly I had to strike that from the list.


Which of my potential baby names do you like best? How did you or will you choose your kids names?

30 comments:

Perfectly Imperfect said...

I'm going to have to do this today. I love Siena, Tessa, & Lydia for a girl. I like the old schoolness of them. I really like Asher (that was actually one of our boy choices) and Wyatt. It's so funny because I've had multiple baby names picked out for years and we ended up using none of them. Oh well!

Blue-Eyed Bride said...

I love family names-- obviously. We've loaded Hudson down with family names. :)

Asher was the name of my very first crush in kindergarten!

Lindsey said...

Great names!! Garth and I have a discussion on baby names all the time and we don't even want kids for years, lol! My faves are Priscilla, Isabella, Jacob, and Tristan.

Thanks for your great advice on my post yesterday! It was really helpful friend!

Whitney said...

Liam is one of my boy names as well! You don't hear it too often!:)

And all our middle names are going to be family.

P.S. I read Calum is it's pronounced automatically. I think I have a soft spot for people who's names aren't pronounced correctly. Mainly because mine is misspelled all the time and my maiden name was always pronounced wrong.. ALWAYS. I love this list. I'm putting mine up tomorrow!!

Always Pretty in Pink said...

I totally just copyed you on my blog. :)

Eileen said...

I really like Tessa and Liam as well! I have a thing for ethnic names ~ being half Irish, half Italian, I really like a lot of traditional Irish or Italian names that are uncommon in America. Sadly my last name is pretty long and complicated, so I worry it would be too much to give a child an unusual first name as well.

Just a note on the name Calum ~ this is actually a traditional Irish name, with the spelling "Colm" - met several guys by that name when I did a semester abroad there. (Irish people also pronounce the world "film" like "fill-um"!) I also know some Irish-Americans who use the name but spell it Colum - that might be less likely to be mispronounced?

California Wife said...

I absolutely love Asher! I have a few definite names on my list, my husband's middle name being one of them (which is very unique), but I can't even mention the word baby without Nick running for the door. I'm anxious to see if my favorites will change by the time we actually have kids. Thanks for sharing, you've got some great choices on your list!

Hillary said...

Great list! Wyatt is one of my favorite boy names, too but my husband doesn't like it. :( :(

the BLAH BLAH BLAHger said...

You DO have baby fever!!! Better be careful, young lady. Ha.

I've had the same girl name picked out for 15 years and it's based on my favorite heroine...it will be classic, with a funky twist. But for boys, I LOVE traditional names. Also, it's a tradition amongst several of my cousins to give the first boy our grandfather's name as a middle name, which I just love (Wallace). : )

Nicci said...

I just thought about ''Liam'' for a boy yesterday. I like all your baby names. I had 2 picked out for each gender, but I choose not to share, since it's only two. My coworker stole my first pick ''boy'' name ''first & middle''. I'm still heated about that. She did in the end change the middle name, but it's still close.

Virginia Belle said...

I love Colin and Elise! My husband is the third Charlie in his family so I think we will continue the tradition. It's almost nice knowing we have one name already figured out for us. I also really love Claire for a girl. It's my middle name (which I sadly gave up 7 months ago) so I would love to pass it on. Fun post!

leah @maritalbless said...

Dang, I'll be honest and say that my heart kind of dropped to read two of my names on your list. I have similar criteria to you and already feel that Isaac is beginning to be too popular for my liking and fear that my next tier are perched for the same fate!

Momma on the Run said...

My husband and I were not planning on having a baby for at least three years after we were married (last September) but as usual - God laughed at our plans:-) We are actually in the naming process of our little girl that's due four days before our first anniversary:

Lucy, Penelope (Penny), Rowan, Adeline, Sadie

However, my poor husband has no idea that Lucy will be stricken from the list as I just recently saw it is derived from the name "Lucifer" and unfortunately I'll never be able to forget that I read that! :-)

Pollyanna said...

I love the names on your list! My faves are Tessa & Wyatt - difference without being out there.

My girls have different names, but I thought I spelled them so NO ONE could mis-pronounce them. This is the case as long as you actually look at the name. Very often though, they get called something else: Katerina = Katrina; Eliana = Elaina. Oh, well.

Sarah Cook said...

Wyatt is at the top of our boy list too!

~Mrs. Guru~ said...

I do not even have kids and I have no clue what I even like. I mean I like a million and half names but by the time I decide to have kids they will probably all be very popular!

Heather (Live.Love.Laugh.) said...

I too love LOST and yes it's heavy LOST reference, nothing wrong with that.

I love Penelope and Wyatt.

Shannon Dew said...

don't worry, we had our baby names picked out WAY before too!

Jamie Pickle said...

Great names. My cousin's son's name is Asher and I just love it!

Shoshanah said...

I love all your names. I think my favorites would probably be Evangeline or Asher. Although the one Asher I knew, I never seemed to be able to say his named right.

It's funny because the girl name I've always planned on using since middle school, I'm liking less and less and the years go on. And as silly as it sounds it makes me a little sad.

Crazy Shenanigans-JMO said...

I really like Tessa and Conrad! I've always said if I ever have children one day I'd like to use the name Sadie for a girl and Wheaton for a boy.

LWLH said...

Love those names....I am keeping mine a secret though

Meagan said...

I love your middle name picks! I also love Elise and Anderson. I am into Ellie, Elle, Ella, etc. names right now. Hubby doesn't seem like he likes them. I think the first name he has ever said he liked was Chase. A baseball player was named that last night at a game. We will see.

Sarah Ann said...

We dream of names all of the time, too. I love Evangeline... who cares if it's from LOST? :)

{SweetTennesseeBlog} said...

I LOVE the name Asher... perfect boy compliment to Ashley (ha ha) and Nella is beautiful.

francophilehic said...

i like the name evangeline also and thought of name our future baby that too (it means bearer of good news...as i am sure you can tell it has the same root as evangelist).

Tessa said...

Just happened across your blog from Mrs. Dew's blog (is that weird??). Anyway, just wanted to say how crazy that my name, first and middle, are on your list! My name is Tessa Elise. : ) My parents picked it for the meaning. It means blissful reaper. I do like all of your names though. Names are fun!

Kelsey @ Seattle Smith's said...

I think Conrad is such a handsome name!!

d.a.r. said...

I loved the LOST references!! Ha! We are big Losties as well:)

And...actually, all of ours are family/Catholic Saint names, but have a coincidental LOST connection as well. Kathryn (Kate), James (Jack), Elizabeth (Libby). We never realized this until we started watching LOST! Haha!

Anonymous said...

I love Lydia and Conrad! They're on my lists, too. ^_^

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