She sows seeds

The Name Game

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Let’s do it. Let’s talk names.

As we’re not finding out the sex of our baby, let’s talk both boys and girls names, shall we? I’d love to hear any crackers you’ve got up your sleeves – if you are done having children and would like to share, or if you are one of those that doesn’t mind sharing and would gladly shout names from the rooftops.

We’re of the keeping it to ourselves variety, we aren’t talking names with anyone, despite really wanting to. The idea of the name being a special surprise (just like the gender) on our baby’s birthday is a bigger incentive to me than the lure of discussing potential names with people.

But…I will say that we like traditional names, but not boring. Classic, but not popular. Pretty, but not too soft for girls. Timeless for boys, a man’s name as well as a boy’s name. Here are some which have not made the cut, due to one of us (ok, just Matt) not liking them adamantly refusing to use such names…

Hugo
Martha
Ellen
Seamus
Theodore
Ginny
Elsa
Ned
Bridget (actually vetoed by me! It’s my middle name. Ick.)
Fergus
Patrick (not so much vetoed, more that we realised we couldn’t have Matt and Pat!)
Juliet
Louis

There are just so many nice names out there, but none seem to be sitting as ‘the one’. I know everyone talks about the lightning bolt moment, when we will just ‘know’ – but we also sort of don’t want to know. We don’t want to have it narrowed to just one boys name, one girls name. And that’s it. That’s what our son will be called. Or that’s what our daughter will be called. I think we would like it narrowed to 2 or 3 and then perhaps the lightning bolt moment will come when we meet our son/daughter. Before we fell pregnant I was all about the names, I would dream of a little dark haired girl named so-and-so, or a little blonde farmer boy named so-and-so, it was all a very neat little package. Now it’s a very real big, looming package.

We suggest loads, we nod and agree, ‘yes that’s a lovely name’, we say. But is it our child’s name? Can I imagine nursing a sweet smelling newborn of that name, scolding a toddler of that name, packing school lunches of a child of that name, worrying about a teenager of that name, watching a person – a real-life growing human – do life with that name? Could a person with that name be a doctor, an artist, the prime minister, a circus performer, a plumber, a ballerina, a fireman, an engineer? In case you can’t tell, I feel the pressure of the name – what if you only have one daughter? One son? What if this is your ONLY CHANCE?! You don’t want to stuff this up. Perhaps I need to take a step back…

So tell me, if you had a baby a’cooking what names would be bouncing around your brain? Keep in mind that these are our nieces and nephews names: Chloe, Laura, Scarlett, Charlotte, Ethan, Ava, Violet and Madeleine. Yes we have a Scarlett and a Charlotte. No they’re not sisters.

Names. Go!

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Comments

  2. Hi Emma, have you considered using Irish names, especially with all your Irish ancestors ? for example Roisin, Siobhan or Seamus,Ronan. Just a thought. Cheers Robyn C, Bendigo, Vic.

    • Hi Robyn! I do love Irish/Gaelic names – Seamus, Fergus, Siobhan, Sinead, even my brothers name Kelly, were all contenders, still got a few up our sleeves as well 😉

  3. Well, you know mine. Adele, Theodore (Teddy) and Louisa. Obviously a lover of old fashion not so popular names 😉 . We also have Harry, our angel baby who was born between Adele and Teddy. Other names I liked, but hubby didn’t, was Cedric, Alec, Edith, Sophia, Charlie, Hugo, Quinn, James (Jimmy). Good luck!

    • All gorgeous! I am quite partial to Theodore/Teddy and Hugo but don’t think hubby will come at it 😉

      • Oh, and Alistair was the boy name I had chosen in case Louisa was actually a boy. Even though we were told 3 times she was a girl…. You just never know!
        I hear a few Hugo’s around now, so glad we didn’t choose it.

  4. I love the name game!!! We have a Hugo Bryce, Fergus Wilson & a George Peter & they all suit their names perfectly 🙂 I would love another little boy I have already named him Edward but I don’t think there is another baby in our future. Girl names I love are Flocence & Maggie. Good luck Emma can’t wait to see what you have & the name you pick x

    • All great names! You have great taste 😉 I know a little Florence, such a pretty name. Alas husband has knocked your boys names on the head I think!

  5. Just one thing to keep in mind – make sure you choose a name that ‘goes with’ other names you like, for down the track! We love the names Marlo, Miles and Milo, but because of that silly movie, we can’t use them, because our son is Otis! Also remember they need to be on a similar level, next time around. For example, I think it would be odd to pair Otis with a brother named Michael (for example), or a sister named Sarah (also, for example, as they are different ‘kinds’ of names!

    • Yes I know what you mean, we are already thinking for a boys name ‘oh that goes with that girls name we like’ etc. for future siblings. Good thinking 99! Being close in age to a sister Louise I grew up like that, so many Emma Louise’s of our era so a lot of people think my middle name is Louise as they know in the back of their mind there’s some Louise connection, but my mum did it on purpose!

  6. Yes Emma, take a step back !
    Don’t over think it
    Whatever name you choose will be perfect for your baby
    We have a thing about shortening names – so we named our first son Will instead of William
    Good luck !

  7. Male names that are classic and strong but not seen often at the moment are Glenn and Ross. If you like your Winnie-the-Pooh why not Christopher

  8. Wow what a great selection everyone!! You can’t go wrong with traditional names, they are just beautiful.
    My suggestions are: Matilda, Isla, Phoebe, Dimity, Penny, Thomas, Charlie, Oliver, William, Andrew.
    Looking forward to hearing what you name bub… And congrats!!

  9. Timothy, Xavier, Luke, Carter, Wilco, Jock for boys
    Eleanor, Nina, Lola, Audrey, Aubrey, Anna, Annabelle, Luisa, Quincey and McKenzie for girls
    Have fun 🙂

  10. Hi Emma,
    I love Timothy, Xavier, Wilco and Jock for boys
    Nina, Audrey, Aubrey, McKenzire, Eleanor, Lola, Anna, Quincey for the girls
    Good luck!

  11. When my 2nd girl (and fifth baby) was born we were set on Adeline – but the moment we saw her we knew that wasn’t her name. Then, as I sat in bed with her, I said aloud, “Whatever shall we name you Louisa?” It was a name we’d never contemplated – but it was the right name – just came out of the blue. Maybe you’ll come up with something completely new when you meet your baby!

  12. So hard to pick names. I like the older style names. We have a Hugh and Edith (Edie). Number 3 is on the way and Im liking Lillian (lil) Catherine (Kit) and my hubby like Patrick but Im not too sure yet as we know of 4 other babies born in the last 2 yrs called that. I always have family names as middle names and actually have some really nice family names we could use for the next babies 1st name. Its fun!!!! Still got 5 months to choose. Phew!! Lovely blog by the way. x

  13. I love the names of your nieces and nephews – so NOT American names. We chose a British influenced name for our daughter – I am a huge British Country Living magazine fan and scouted out names in each issue. I had the name picked out months before I was even pregnant. We also did not find out the gender, but I KNEW it was going to be a girl (95% certain) and I was right!

  14. As you can imagine, after six babies, the pages in our Baby Name Book are well turned! We’ve always gone to hospital with a shortlist of name combinations (like you, we’ve never known the sex of our baby) and each time, after meeting the baby, settled on a different combination! I’ve kept my name lists as it has been a little different for each babe as it’s a nice little memoir. I just know I’ll love your baby name, whatever it may be, as you’ve got some great ground rules.

  15. Oh you vetoed Juliet! That’s my daughters name and my pick. I’m done now but if I had another girl she would be Sadie or Violet. Florence is also nice. My son is Angus and I can see you with an Angus x

  16. I am a bit of a traditionalist especially with spelling (also a teacher who is horrified by some of the spelling of children’s names I see). My children are Eloise May (Eloise was a character in a book I read as a child and it is the french form of Louise which is my second name. May is after my grandmother) Thomas Grant (Thomas was a favourite name and Grant was my husband’s brother’s, who died as a child, name) and Samuel Robert (Samuel was my husbands pick, and Robert is my husbands name) – boys are twins so we also thought Tom and Sam went well together and were big boy names too, yet not too matchy! My nieces and nephews are Alice, William, George, Tom, Grace, Joe, James, Elsie (Elspeth) and Lily – all names I would have happily chosen too! Good Luck with the name game!

  17. Our (now teenage) kids names are Ezekiel Sebastian, (who we only ever call Zeke), Isabella Holly (Bella, Bel, and at school for a while Izzy), and Elijah Levi (Eli, Lije). They all like their names, and Zeke actually brags to his siblings that he has the best name!

  18. Hi Emma. I think that tossing around ideas and eventually deciding upon a name for Baby is a huge part of the fun of expecting. I agree that it’s going to be lovely for you to keep your little one’s name as another surprise. I’ve always been really interested in names so I’ll just throw some suggestions out there for good measure!

    Girls
    Alice
    Beatrice
    Genevieve
    Harriet/Harriett
    Clara
    Molly
    Matilda
    Polly
    Daphne
    Cordelia
    Tessa/Tess/Tessie
    Frances
    Audrey
    Camilla
    Cleo
    Violet
    Zoe

    Boys
    Archer/Archie
    Oscar
    Edmund
    Jonathan
    Nathaniel
    Hamish
    Henry
    Callum
    Rory
    Brendan
    Miles
    Alec

    Looking forward to hearing what you decide upon!

  19. I don’t really have an opinion on any name in particular, but as a teacher I can give you a few hints/ rules to follow.
    1. Give the kid a name that is easy to pronounce – the number of kids names I can’t even say when I read them is incredible.
    2. Don’t try to be original in your spelling – the poor kid will spend their life correcting every body eg no eye-zak (Isaac) and while we are at it I would avoid hyphens too!
    3. It’s fine to choose common names, just be aware that there will be several in any class. I teach that many Jacks, and Jacksons. I have a year 12 class with 3 Jessicas, and 2 Emilys and there are only 11 in the class!
    4. If you call your kid Shane, you may as well book a weekly appointment with the principal now. I may be wrong, but everyone I have taught has been a horror!
    5. Lastly, here is a list to help you out (or not) enjoy: http://thingsboganslike.com/a-bogue-by-any-other-name/

    • As a fellow teacher I agree wholeheartedly with all of these points! And couldn’t help listing some of my faves below 🙂

  20. I am pregnant with my 4th baby so we’ve had a bit of experiance with the name game.
    With our first we couldnt agree so we each put our two favourite names in a hat & drew one out. I did not either of my choices ( Isaiah & Elijah) & 14 years on I am very glad as I dont think he would have suited those names. Zane was chosen & it was my husbands first pick.
    Our second we knew we were having a boy & surprisingly we agreed instantly on a name ( Isaac). We loved it & thought it sat well with Zane.
    Our third came 10 years after our second & we knew we were having another boy. I had a list & we were sitting down discussing names & Isaac said ” I love Jake, its my favourite name & if I could change my name thats what I would want it to be. ” I explained i do not like that name & that I have a cousin named jake so it was definetly out. Then he said ” what about Blake?” & that name was on my list & my husband liked it too so thats what we chose. He’s only 9.5 months old but it suits him & again I think it sits well with the other two boys names. None of their names are shorteded to anything which we like & all their middle names are longer ( William, Lennon, Maxwell).
    For our fourth we were certain it’d be another boy so I stared that list early on but we were shocked to find out we would be getting a daughter! So the name game has started. My list is huge but so far there is only one name we all like as a family but when I told my mum & my MIL they both out & out hate it! It makes me a little sad but I think we will probably stick with it…
    So I’ll give you my lilst of names that have vetoed by the family for girls & the list of boys names we will not be using 🙂
    Banjo, Sye, Jed, Nash, Tucker, caleb, Sonny, Jarvis, Quinn, Jude ( for boys)
    Posey, Violet, Dot, Audrey, Tilly, Lola, Pearl,Ellery, Adalaide, Poppy, Margot, Marlo ( for girls)

    Good Luck!

      • Thanks Rosie! Unfortunately all those names have been given the big NO from the husband & the name we both like for our daughter both our mum’s HATE with a passion!!! It’s made me feel a little bit funny about talking about it now :/

  21. I already listed Lucy, Edwina, Henry and Hamish….my kids are Kate Elizabeth, Georgie May and Angus William. First names picked as we just liked them, and kids just grow into their names I think. Their second names: Elizabeth – we just liked it, May belongs to three grandmothers, and William because of my uncle and husbands mate both of whom are no longer with us.

    Georgie came from an acquaintance we don’t see often, who’s daughter was Georgina but got it shortened by family.

    Go with your gut. And stop over thinking it. If you have always loved the name, just use it. And old family names are always a good fall back, Isabelle, May, James (in my case Finlay was grand dads name and mum regrets not passing that onto at least one of us!)

  22. New to commenting but like your blog. My children are adults now and we tried to make sure that they were given names that would be for both child and adulthood – I really feel for some men who were given the cutesy name as a baby and it just sounds so stupid on a grown man. Middle names, from both our sides, have always been followed from a relative thru all the families i.e my middle name is May after both grandmothers (may evelyn and ethel may); my fathers middle name is after his fathers first name; my sons middle name is after my fathers first name, my daughters middle name is after my mothers first name; my brothers middle name is after both grandfathers (william alfred and ernest william) and his sons middle name is also William as is my brothers middle name. Sounds complicated but it’s not really, and although there is no aristocity at all in our family, most of us are pretty proud to be named after a loved relative.
    One thing I would suggest though is whatever names you choose make sure the initials dont stand for something i.e. a friend named her daughter two names and then the surname and the initials are S.O.D. Also kept the names a secret until the birth as our little thing for ourselves. Good luck.

  23. Oh what fun! I love and adore the name Claire, every girl or woman I know who has this name are just such beautiful people. I love timeless classic names. We named our first daughter Anika and our second daughter Emily. Have fun with this! By the way, hope you are keeping well and cool in this hot weather xx

  24. Go you on keeping them secret. We did as well. I cant imagine anything worse then putting out there and saying “oh we love Fred for a boy and Mary for a girl” and the person you are talking to says – oh. I really dont like those names, I knew a horrible Fred / Mary when I was at school. Once you have named bubba then it is out there and no one gets to comment or have an opinion.
    Our girls have three names each (plus surname) and they are all family names. One of their middle names is a family surname (not my maiden name) and the others are special. Named after great grandmothers and great aunts. Surnames from their great grandfather’s mix of names. They love that they have history. They love that someone before them had that name. And each of their names has a meaning that we love – which we double checked before we chose it. C was going to be named something completely different up til 3 weeks before she was born when the MOTH pulled the pin. No longer liked it. Considering we didnt know that we were having a girl and couldnt decide on a boy’s name meant for a bit of panic!

  25. I thought the name game was going to be such a warm fuzzy husband wife team bonding exercise…boy was i wrong!!! I learnt quite quickly it was a subject not to discuss until very close to the end of the pregnancy…Thankfully, my husband and I both loved classic names, but finding one that we both loved was ….hmmmm…..lets say interesting. We would take it in turns suggesting lovely names, which would in turned be vetoed by the other because it reminded the other of someone with that name that they may not like that much- kid at school or not so nice relative. Crazy I know, but its amazing how that does actually impact your thoughts on a name esp with your child. We too wanted names that grew with their age. We have three small children and their names are Matilda, William & Sophie- classic but also quite common- like top ten common!. I actually don’t mind too much about their names being popular- we love them and it suits each of their personalities. Matilda has the choice of Tilly or Matti-as her dad prefers to call her, Will is very much a Will and not a Bill, and little Sophie, well, we can’t do much with her name but oddly enough out of all three she is the one we tend to shorten and call her Soso or Sunny. Also on the list though were Lachlan, Xavier (I love this name but have a nephew already), Archie, Phillipa (Pip), Anna, Alice, Grace, Olivia, Nicola and Emily. Each of our children have three names-which sounded good first time around but was tricky with number three making sure we had three names again that we loved. The upside though of this is that we were able to incorporate a special family name with each as well as one of the other names we loved. So we have Matilda Catherine Grace, William Samuel Rivers & Sophie Louise Victoria. We were lucky that we still loved the shortlist of names we had from Tilly’s birth and so worked with that. I did laugh though that with each birth, my husband held my hand whilst in the birthing suite and in his worried and ever so caring manner would say to me- you choose the name , I don’t care as long as you are both well. Good man that he is…thankfully, I didn’t take advantage of it, but perhaps if we have number four I might!!! ;-)) Gd luck….Im sure you will find a name you both love xx

  26. I’ve done it the exact opposite! We know the gender of our baby and have had the name settled since about week 20. I’m not so big on surprises and I love being able to talk to our little one by name – but I do admire people who wait for the big reveal!
    If she’d been a boy I would have liked Luke or Luca and my husband was set on Harry (Harrijs) after his grandfather. Our first two are Caleb and Amaya and I decided on the names when I was about twenty… and informed my husband of them before we started going out!

  27. My two cents worth 😉 Archie, Liam, William, Claire, Megan

    Our son is Russell Jack, if we had a boy I wanted my late father’s name in the baby’s name, and my husband really liked Jack as a name. But we couldn’t call him Jack Russell, and Russell is certainly a MAN’S (caps intended!) name, I couldn’t imagine it on a baby. So he is Russell Jack, known as Jack. It was a bit perplexing when he got to high school and all the rolls were Russell, which he doesn’t answer to, for some reason it was ever an issue at primary school. No doubt it will get further annoying for him as life goes on, but, really, I couldn’t name him the same as our breed of dog!

    Our daughter is Zoe Grace. No story there, we just liked it. I liked Madelaine but the variations in spelling did my head in so I didn’t want to lump that upon my child. When Jack was born (early) we hadn’t really finally decided on a name, it was discussed on the way to hospital and we couldn’t come up with a girl’s name at the time. When Zoe was born (right on time) we had no inspiration for a boy’s name. Maybe that was nature telling me what we were having???

    Loving following your baby journey.

  28. Names are ace …you will know you always end up coming back to the one you love …. With my large family I’ve got to do it a few times more than the average … With our last we had a family name guessing competition … But no one guessed!

  29. I was just about to say Laura, loved that name when I was naming my girls. A couple of lovely names for boys that we had on our list were Jack and Grant and for girls I think Ivy is quite pretty, and Alexandria and Victoria too:) Have fun naming your little one although it feels a little overwhelming at first you will choose the perfect one for him/her.

  30. Those niece/nephew names sounds like “Gone with the Wind” type of names. One name that I like as an adult (I worked with one) was Gordon but I couldn’t imagine a baby called Gordon (so that’s out). I have a James (not to be called Jim but if we lived in the country that might happen) and a Sienna. I like Harrison and I suppose in the bush “Harry” which is still cool. Daniel is nice and strong and you can get Dan or Danny from that. Girls names I’ve always loved Georgia and wanted a Georgia and Rose. My (now ex) didn’t like those names as first names but i ended up with Sienna Rose which I love. Tiana is also another name that has appeared in the last few years. It is hard until you “find the one”. With James my first born that was it. When I used to drive to work every morning in Melbourne James Braeshaw was on the radio and he had the most beautiful voice on radio and it was warm and funny and I just loved the name and so he was named after him. James Michael went together but Michael wasn’t named after anyone particular. Have fun picking a few names that could be for your baby. Regards Kathy A, Brisbane, Australia

  31. my daughters names are Aylee and Esmé, we love them. unique but not too out there. boys names we liked were corin or drew , but don’t think we would have used them in the end. I loved Millie or Elsie for a girl, but wasn’t allowed it, good luck!