Request for *Special* Baby Names

[MommyRyan]

DH and I can't quite decide on a name for our next baby. We decided we'd like to name him/her after something...special? I don't know. For example, DH really likes Bannister as a middle name, for Roger Bannister. You don't want to hear his speech on how Roger Bannister "defined doing the impossible"...lol. Anyway, any ideas? We're thinking special people, maybe a name from a great song, a name that means something cool in another language? No suggestions without stories please!!

[ProudGrandma]

I don't have any suggestions...but I was wondering if you had stories for the names you have picked for your other 7 children?? Oh, by they way...you are one amazing gal to be able to have 8 children under the age of 10...WOW...I admire you!!!

[MommyRyan]

I don't have any suggestions...but I was wondering if you had stories for the names you have picked for your other 7 children?? Oh, by they way...you are one amazing gal to be able to have 8 children under the age of 10...WOW...I admire you!!!

 

 

Thank you!!! Actually my olders are quite a help:) My DH has odd hours as well (he's a restauranteur), so I'm really not as together as it sometimes seems!!

 

The rest of our kids have family names, which we have basically sucked dry, save Agatha (with a long a in the second syllable), Peternella, and Arlys. LOL. We ran out before Susannah. While I was pregnant, I saw the most beautiful woman in the street and her name was Susannah.

[Susan in KY]

I love the name Josiah because of who he was (a great boy king who did what was right no matter what was falling apart around him). You can read his story in 2 Kings chapters 22 and 23 and 2 Chronicles chapters 34 and 35. He's my favorite king in the Bible, and if I had another son, that's what I would name him.

[Mama2Three]

This might be too boring for you, but DH and I named our children from family names (eg, great aunt for one).

[OnTheBrink]

My dd's middle name is Marsolee, after her grand aunt, who had no children of her own. Pronounced MAR so-leee.

[abbeyej]

Hm... Are you religious? Are you particularly literary or science-oriented (or anything else) as a family? Why did you pick your kids' names? Are there places that are particularly meaningful to you and your husband?

 

Each of my kids has the name of a tragic medieval lover as one of his/her names, lol. ;) (Not sure whether or not I could keep that one up...) Both of them have a name that honors someone in our family. Each has a name that is associated with historic Christianity. I do very much support the idea of giving children names that have a *story* associated with them -- whether it's a family story, or the name of a person with a particular talent or gift to humanity, a legend, a Biblical name, a reformer of some sort...

 

I love the name "Harper" -- both for Harper Lee and for the musical association. I've known (not many, but a couple of) both male and female Harpers. I think we have a few young "Atticus"-es on this board, while I've got Harper Lee on the brain. ;)

 

"Caedmon" appeals to me as the name of the first English (well, sort of) poet.

 

I like "Shiphrah"/"Shifrah" as the name of one of the midwives who defied Pharoah and helped save the lives of innocent Hebrew infants in Exodus.

 

"Eleanor" (of Aquitaine)?

[Liz CA]

My dd's middle name is Marsolee, after her grand aunt, who had no children of her own. Pronounced MAR so-leee.

 

What a beautiful name! If I had looked into the "name pool of family history", my son would be Bartholomew Sylvester. I think we did him a favor by not choosing this option.

[swellmomma]

Well I think the name roger is a perfectly good name :) (Afterall it is my father's name).

 

FOr my kids we went with family names for the first 2(well mostly- Ceilidh's name was not a family name, but ex-h wanted it because he was a drummer in a pipe band and liked the spelling for a somewhat common name now adays. Then for #3 I picked a name I loved and his middle name was that of a friend, for the 4th I just chose what I loved for first and second.

 

If I had another boy I think I would use the name Tristan, Liam(I have 2 grandfathers named william, and liam is a form of that) or Owen. Again pretty much just because I love the names not for any reason in particular.

 

ETA: I was named after a song, "Brandy your a fine girl" by the mama's and the papa's. Which now I look back and think, I remember being embarassed by it when I was a kid.

 

Also I was reminded when someone mentioned Harper of the books by Charlaine Harris I am reading, where the main character is named Harper Connelly and can find corpses. You could go uber trendy and either pick Edward or Jacob :p

Edited February 20, 2010 by swellmomma

[amydavis]

 

ETA: I was named after a song, "Brandy your a fine girl" by the mama's and the papa's. Which now I look back and think, I remember being embarassed by it when I was a kid.

 

 

I love this song! Pretty sure the band was named Looking Glass. You've got me pulling it up on YouTube just to hear it again! :001_smile:

[Aunty Social]

I've always loved the name Ayla (for a girl) or Garion (for a boy). They are characters in two of my favorite series.

 

Unfortunately, my dh got to have a say too;).....so my kids are not named either Ayla, Garion, or Fiona (no context, just like it).

 

Ohhh.....thinking of series, I also like Rand or Nynaeve.

[Chris in VA]

We picked my dh's grandmother's name for a middle name for dd. We quietly announced we were pregnant with dd right after we scattered dh's father's ashes at sunset in the Bahamas, where the whole family was gathered for the weekend. Dh's G died a few months later and never met her namesake, but I look at dd from time to time, and I'm so glad we honored the G. We love her middle name! And, we can't think of anyone bad with that name--historical figures, actresses, relatives--everyone is a nice person with that name. THat was a good criteria for us.

[Veritaserum]

Type your other kids' names into http://www.nymbler.com. It worked for us. :)

[Karenciavo]

Our daughter if we ever had one which we didn't :D was going to be named Esperia, nickname: Perry. Esperia is the town in Italy (Frosinone) *from whence* my FIL came.

[MariannNOVA]

Our daughter if we ever had one which we didn't :D was going to be named Esperia, nickname: Perry. Esperia is the town in Italy (Frosinone) *from whence* my FIL came.

 

I love it! Dh and I toyed with the idea of using 'Bari' as a first or middle name as that is where my Maternal GF was from in Italy, but we decided instead to use 'Michael' (in four different forms for four different children) as that was my grandfather's name; we used my mom's mother's name (she was married to Michael and died in childbirth with my mom) for child #5.

 

I have a friend who named her daughter 'Vienna' which I think is beautiful - it was after her grandmother......and another friend who named her little girl Noa -- which I love.

 

Please let us know what you decide.

[Angel]

I've always loved the name Ayla (for a girl) or Garion (for a boy). They are characters in two of my favorite series.

 

Unfortunately, my dh got to have a say too;).....so my kids are not named either Ayla, Garion, or Fiona (no context, just like it).

 

Ohhh.....thinking of series, I also like Rand or Nynaeve.

 

The Belgariad series! and The Wheel of Time series! I'm reading about Rand and Nyneave right now. Is Ayla from Clan of the Cave Bear?

[jenn1129]

My daughter's middle name, due next month, will be Adelina. Adelina was a daughter of missionaries in the 700's who was basically forced to marry the prince in order that the missionaries wouldn't be killed. Eventually, the prince believed CHrist died for him, converted to Christianity, and they lived happily together. :) Ya, I'm a sucker for happily ever after!!

[MSNative]

How 'bout Sue - for a boy or a girl? Boy named Sue? :) Sorry, when I read your post, that was what sprang to mind.

A friend named her daughter Pia, which I always liked. (esp. after I heard the story behind it. It stands for Pain In the ...)

 

Other names - Lord of the Rings has some great names, Eowyn, Arwen, etc. Don't know if a boy can pull off Legolas, Theodon or Aragorn, but they were great characters.

 

You could go Jane Eyre - Darcy, Knightly, etc.

 

Or you could go for what my husband wanted to name one of our boys - Wolfgang Genghis. :) (To this day I still think he's bummed we didn't. I told him if we were going there, we should name him Angus Augustus, nickname Gus Gus.) :)

[swellmomma]

I love this song! Pretty sure the band was named Looking Glass. You've got me pulling it up on YouTube just to hear it again! :001_smile:

 

You could be totally right. I remember the name of the song but never remember the names of groups.

[Old Dominion Heather]

My youngest's middle name is Ransom from C.S. Lewis's Time Trilogy. Most people don't get the connections, but when people meet him, you know right away if they "get it". I've got kids with more unusual names and I love it. I'd have liked to have named a kid something more Scottish, but since our last name is very Spanish, It would not have worked.

[johnandtinagilbert]

The most common name in Belgium, or so I'm told, we have and enjoy an Axel in our brood :), a very uncommon name in the Americas.

[Storm Bay]

Names with stories. Great idea! Depending on your beliefs and interests:

 

Boy

 

Snorri as in Snorri Sturluson. He is considered one of the two greatest historians of the middle ages. He also wrote a text book on the Nordic Skald (I think that's right) which is a form of poetry; this textbook, written in the form of a skald, was used for hundreds of years. Also, he was a chieftain & for many years the lawspeaker in Iceland. The law speaker had to memorize the entire Icelandic law and acted as a mediator for disputes at the Althing (there were many Things in Iceland, but the Althing was an annual national meeting) that had not been handled at the local level. He is the one who preserved the Norse religion by writing it down because he was concerned that it was being forgotten. Whether he did it because he was a historian or because he believed it and followed it, I don't actually know.

 

If I were to choose a Biblical name I am also a fan of Josiah. Personally, I'd go with Josiah over Snorri, but my ds has a totally different name since dh and I take a lot of work to find names we both like :).

 

Girl

Marie-Sophie Germain (usually referred to as Sophie Germain, which is the name I would prefer if I were to choose a name this way) who was born in 1776. She was a young French woman who made a major contribution to mathematical theory. This link will give you good synopsis of her story. http://www.agnesscott.edu/lriddle/women/germain.htm Here is one quote from that article:

 

Sophie Germain was a revolutionary. She battled against the social prejudices of the era and a lack of formal training in order to become a celebrated mathematician. She is best known for her work in number theory, but her work in the theory of elasticity is also very important to mathematics.

 

If I were to choose an Old Testament Biblical name based solely on the story, it would be Rahab or Ruth most likely. However, I don't think those names are pretty, so would probably choose a New Testament name which would be Lydia or Phoebe (I did have Phoebe down once but my dh said people would call her feeble Phoebe, so we didn't go for that.)

Edited February 21, 2010 by Karin

[DianeW88]

I know this probably won't help, but it's always makes me chuckle. When I was in college, I used to work with a guy whose wife was expecting. He told me that if the baby was a girl, they were going to name her "Portia". I said, "Oh, after the character in Shakespeare's 'Merchant of Venice'? I love that play." He looked at me blankly and said, "No, I said, 'Porsche'. Like the car." :001_huh: Okaaaaaaay. :lol: Fortunately, they had a boy.

 

Diane

 

(homeschooling for 16 years...whew!)

Edited February 21, 2010 by DianeW88
I can't type.

[JoyfulMama]

When I was expecting my second, my dh wanted to name a son after his great-grandfather. While I had no problem with this (as I would have loved to know this amazing man), I wanted to use his last name as our son's first name. Well, my kind mil got wind of this, and well... it's now one of my nicknames for him.

 

I have a friend, though, her named both of her daughters after their favorite place. ;)

[littlebug42]

My oldest daughter is named from this song, Emily by Beth Nielsen Chapman.

http://popup.lala.com/popup/360569475235781954

 

It is about the enduring love between friends even when separated by "miles and years". It is in honor of my friends from college who are so near and dear to my heart. We are spread out all over the country but that love never fades.

 

My youngest daughter is named Kelsey which we got from one of the zookeepers at Australia Zoo on Crocodile Hunter.

[JenneinCA]

My younger son has a very normal first name but his middle name is Elias. Most people think it must be some sort of family name, but it isn't. He was named after Walter Elias Disney of Disneyland fame.

 

We were having a really hard time picking out names and we thought about people who did things that made us happy. Disneyland made us happy so we decided to add a little bit of happiness to his name.

[littleWMN]

Hm... Are you religious? Are you particularly literary or science-oriented (or anything else) as a family? Why did you pick your kids' names? Are there places that are particularly meaningful to you and your husband?

 

Each of my kids has the name of a tragic medieval lover as one of his/her names, lol. ;) (Not sure whether or not I could keep that one up...) Both of them have a name that honors someone in our family. Each has a name that is associated with historic Christianity. I do very much support the idea of giving children names that have a *story* associated with them -- whether it's a family story, or the name of a person with a particular talent or gift to humanity, a legend, a Biblical name, a reformer of some sort...

 

I love the name "Harper" -- both for Harper Lee and for the musical association. I've known (not many, but a couple of) both male and female Harpers. I think we have a few young "Atticus"-es on this board, while I've got Harper Lee on the brain. ;)

 

"Caedmon" appeals to me as the name of the first English (well, sort of) poet.

 

I like "Shiphrah"/"Shifrah" as the name of one of the midwives who defied Pharoah and helped save the lives of innocent Hebrew infants in Exodus.

 

"Eleanor" (of Aquitaine)?

 

One of my daughter's has the middle name of Harper after Harper Lee. I love Atticus as well.

[Margo out of lurking]

If you are looking for an unusual name, consider a location relevant to the new baby. I knew someone whose middle name was Couer d'Alene; her parents had traveled through and liked the name. Her brother had an unusual first name of the city in which he was conceived (but it was so long ago, I can't remember!).

[lotsofpumpkins]

I love the name Josiah because of who he was (a great boy king who did what was right no matter what was falling apart around him). You can read his story in 2 Kings chapters 22 and 23 and 2 Chronicles chapters 34 and 35. He's my favorite king in the Bible, and if I had another son, that's what I would name him.

 

:iagree: That's my choice for a boy if we have another.

[coffeefreak]

The Biblical names I love are Naomi (dh wouldn't go for this with our youngest), Esther, and Hannah (I know, overused). For boys, I love Joshua, and Jonathan. However, my dad's name is Jonathan, so we never considered it (didn't want to name a child after any grandparent-none of them get along). If we had a boy, dh wanted to name him Zebulon after Zebulon Pike. He wanted to call him Zeb. This was our first pregnancy, before he became a Christian. After he became a Christian, he was excited it still worked for our 2nd pregnancy. The Lord had other plans :lol:.

 

Our oldest's middle name is Katherine because one of my ancestors fled her drunk, abusive, Scottish husband, and sailed to America by herself WHILE pregnant. Her name was Katherine McLaughlin (sp?), and she lived in a neighborhood that was anti Irish/Scottish (I think she remarried an Irish man, but I'd have to go get the story out of the closet). At any rate, the neighborhood kids ran up and down the street yelling, "The McLaughlin's are Thieves!" We loved the idea of naming her after such a strong woman in our family. Do some genealogy research. See if you can get some great story of an ancestor and name him/her after them!

 

Blessings!

Dorinda

[3littlekeets]

We are a sports family, so DH really wanted to call one of our kids Satchel, after the great Satchel Paige, though his real name was LeRoy. Then it was Landry or Bryant,. He loved Edmond, for Jim Edmonds, and thought Gehrig for Lou Gehrig was wonderful too. Dempsey for the boxer, and Clemente etc... the list went on and on.

 

And, we ended up with a great sports name -- an uncommon name we both loved b/c the sports figure was also a great humanitarian.

[Garga]

Esmerald Snow.

 

Esmerald was the online name of someone I used to see in chat rooms ages and ages ago. Emerald was taken, so they added the 's'. I thought it was very clever.

 

We liked the name "Snow" for a middle name because my dh loooooves snow.

 

Even Emerald Snow would work. It's beautiful imagery, with the idea of emerald green shadows in the snow.

 

But, I like the sound of Esmerald Snow better. I really wish we'd had a girl. That would have been her name.

[LibraryLover]

I love the song Chelsea Morning..."Woke up it was Chelsea morning and the first thing that I saw was the sun through yellow curtains and a rainbow on the wall'... by Joni Mitchell.

 

Of course this song only works for Democrats, as it's why Bill & Hillary chose it for their baby's name. :)

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5DYLYHlKvk

[the4Rs]

I went to school with a girl whose name was Rayn. She had the most beautiful long black hair and was of Native American descent.

 

I also was close friends with a girl named Americia (pronounced Amereesia) and she was nicknamed Amy and Rici (Reesi).

 

My mom works with someone who named their son Theodore and call him Theo.

 

I love the name Lera as it is the name of a little girl I'd love to adopt from Russia.

[Rosie_0801]

We named our daughter "Raziya" because it is supposed to mean 'good natured and agreeable' in Swahili. We hoped it would be an talisman against her inheriting her mother's tetchy disposition ;)

 

If we had more kids, I might just name them after some rather inspirational people we know through the SCA. Some SCA names (documented to the middle ages) aren't the sorts of names I would feel comfortable transporting to the 21st century. Hrothgar is a great bloke and I'd be delighted if my son turned out like him, but I really wouldn't want to call my kid Hrothgar, heheh. I probably wouldn't call my daughter Asfridhr (a Norse name,) though she is one of my favourite people, but I think Rohese is lovely (as a name and the lady answering to it ;) ) I believe Rohese is a 16th century Spanish name.

 

:)

Rosie

[Liz CA]

 

Girls:

Niamh (pronounced Neeve) means "Radiance" in Celtic/Irish.

 

Roisin (pronounced Rosheen) "Little Rose."

 

Aisling (pron. Ashling) "Beautiful lady in a dream"

 

Boys:

Ciaran (pron. Kieran) "Irish Saint"

 

Declan (pron. decklan) "Full of Goodness"

 

Creighton (pron. Crayton - there is a variety of accepted spellings) name of a place near Edingburgh that became a popular name for boys.

 

Aidan (Aid-an) "Fire"

[helena]

I love Pablo Picasso, I always wanted to use Pablo or Paloma (his daughters name). Do you have a love of art?

Dali

Degas

Pollock

Rockwell

Remington

 

Do you like poetry?

Whitman

Dante

Poe

Emerson

Nash

Rainer

Emerson

[MariannNOVA]

I love Pablo Picasso, I always wanted to use Pablo or Paloma (his daughters name). Do you have a love of art?

Dali

Degas

Pollock

Rockwell

Remington

 

Do you like poetry?

Whitman

Dante

Poe

Emerson

Nash

Rainer

Emerson

 

Love these!

One more suggestion: for a girl, Cezanne -- DH and I went to the Cezanne exhibit in Phila 12 years ago and were hoping that 'someone'

(girls name would have been Cezanne)would be the result of a weekend at the Four Seasons Hotel.....sadly, that wasn't to be that year. But I have always loved the name....just wanted the occasion to go along with it.

[MariannNOVA]

I love the name Cherith (Kerith).

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherith

 

We have a hs family in town with children named Serra, Eden, Haven and Hero. All girls. Don't get the Hero for a girl thing, but I like the others.

 

 

We have an Eden -- a little name for a little girl!:)

[Aunty Social]

The Belgariad series! and The Wheel of Time series! I'm reading about Rand and Nyneave right now. Is Ayla from Clan of the Cave Bear?

 

Yes, she is. I've always admired how strong and independant she was, without being rude or pushy.

[elise1mds]

I know this probably won't help, but it's always makes me chuckle. When I was in college, I used to work with a guy whose wife was expecting. He told me that if the baby was a girl, they were going to name her "Portia". I said, "Oh, after the character in Shakespeare's 'Merchant of Venice'? I love that play." He looked at me blankly and said, "No, I said, 'Porsche'. Like the car." :001_huh: Okaaaaaaay. :lol: Fortunately, they had a boy.

 

Diane

 

(homeschooling for 16 years...whew!)

 

I went to school with a girl named Porsche. She was on the dance squad, very sweet.

 

My husband's grandmother's maiden name was Gail Furey, but her mom had originally wanted to name her Helen (Helen Furey, anyone?).

 

I have a friend whose daughter's name is Tuesday Jane because she found out she was pregnant with her on a Tuesday.

 

My own daughter has an alter ego named Freya. I called her that one day when she was telling me that she didn't like her name any more, and it stuck. Now she pulls Freya out whenever she feels like being crazier than normal. She'll be Freya for days before reverting back to her normal self.

 

I have another friend whose kids both have Russian-sounding names. His son is Dmitri, and his daughter is Illyana.

 

My daughter goes to school with a girl named Waselah (they usually just call her Selah). She and two of her sisters were adopted from Iraq, and Wasilah means "very close friend" in Arabic. She is a doll.

 

I love the old German way of naming children, too, where all boys were named John and all girls named Maria and then all the children had different middle names by which they were actually called. My own grandmother is Mary Grace and her first husband, my grandfather, was John Henry (Johann Heinrich).

[Lilymax]

My younger son has a very normal first name but his middle name is Elias. Most people think it must be some sort of family name, but it isn't. He was named after Walter Elias Disney of Disneyland fame.

 

We were having a really hard time picking out names and we thought about people who did things that made us happy. Disneyland made us happy so we decided to add a little bit of happiness to his name.

 

I have an Elias. We call him Eli. I just liked it better than Elijah, which is much more common. The one downside to it, though, is that the spanish-speaking nurses at the ped's office call him "Ell-ee-as" instead of the way we pronounce it, almost like "alias".

[Storm Bay]

I went to school with a girl named Porsche. She was on the dance squad, very sweet.

 

 

My dc swim with a girl named Mercedes. I'm not sure if it's after the auto manufacturer, though.

[elise1mds]

My dc swim with a girl named Mercedes. I'm not sure if it's after the auto manufacturer, though.

 

That's true... there was a Mercedes in "The Count of Monte Cristo."

[Sebastian (a lady)]

DH and I can't quite decide on a name for our next baby. We decided we'd like to name him/her after something...special? I don't know. For example, DH really likes Bannister as a middle name, for Roger Bannister. You don't want to hear his speech on how Roger Bannister "defined doing the impossible"...lol. Anyway, any ideas? We're thinking special people, maybe a name from a great song, a name that means something cool in another language? No suggestions without stories please!!

 

Nadezjda which means hope in Russian. Nadia or Nadya for daily use. Since Russian uses a different alphabet, there are a couple different spellings in English.

 

Karis, which is grace in Greek

 

We also thought about Kyra for a girl, although the friend I had with this name struggled constantly with mispronounciations and since our last name is pretty hard, it would probably have been a poor choice.

 

I also favored the name Honore (with an accent).

 

Inessa was our favorite middle name. Mostly because of sound. However, I refused to consider Inessa Nadezjda because those were the names of Lenin's mistress and wife. Even if other people hadn't known that, I would have. One name would have been fine but the two together, no way.

 

However we ended up having all sons. For them we used all family names. Some are more common than others. But each name is a reflection of someone we love(d) very much.

[hsmom3tn]

I like these for girls:

 

Josephine (like "Jo" from Little Women)

Isolde

Elizabeth (Pride and Prejudice)

Caddie (Caddie Woodlawn)

Matilda (from Roald Dahl's book)

Amy (Charles Dickens' Little Dorrit)

Lucy (Chronicles of Narnia)

Hermione (Hary Potter; Shakespeare)

 

Shakespeare gave us a few good ones: Ophelia, Helena, Rosalind, Titania, Olivia, Hero, Isabella, Juliet, etc.

 

 

And these for boys:

 

Brandon

Darcy

Austen

Mark (Twain)

Holden

Atticus (I know it has been mentioned, but it's a really good one)

Alexander

Leonidas

Spartan (it could work, LOL)

[coffeefreak]

My dc swim with a girl named Mercedes. I'm not sure if it's after the auto manufacturer, though.

 

Didn't the founder of Mercedes name the car after his daughter? YUP! Found it!

 

Mercédès – a Spanish girl’s name meaning ‘grace’ – was the name of the daughter born in 1889 to the Austrian businessman, Emil Jellinek, who had homes in Baden near Vienna and Nice.

 

A progressive thinker with an interest in sport, Jellinek turned his enthusiasm to the dawning age of the automobile, an invention he knew would be of key importance for the future. As early as 1897, he made the journey to Cannstatt to visit the Daimler factory and ordered his first Daimler car – a belt-driven vehicle with a six-hp two-cylinder engine.

 

I think it's pretty!

Dorinda

[Storm Bay]

Didn't the founder of Mercedes name the car after his daughter? YUP! Found it!

 

Mercédès – a Spanish girl’s name meaning ‘grace’ – was the name of the daughter born in 1889 to the Austrian businessman, Emil Jellinek, who had homes in Baden near Vienna and Nice.

 

A progressive thinker with an interest in sport, Jellinek turned his enthusiasm to the dawning age of the automobile, an invention he knew would be of key importance for the future. As early as 1897, he made the journey to Cannstatt to visit the Daimler factory and ordered his first Daimler car – a belt-driven vehicle with a six-hp two-cylinder engine.

 

I think it's pretty!

Dorinda

 

Thanks! That makes complete sense given her twin's name and that her parents don't strike me as the type to name kids after cars (although I can't say that they wouldn't.) It is a pretty name.