A dingo stole my baby name

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We are getting to the stage of the pregnancy where we HAVE to start thinking about names for this baby. A NAME. Such a big and important job, giving a human a name which will become this whole PERSON who has it for their whole lives. And you think, that we would have some kind of an idea, but alas no. None. Nada. Nothing.

Well, maybe a few, but nothing that I’m feeling like could be THE ONE. Those ones that Daisy and Harper might have been? Well they seem wrong now. Or have become popular, or just seem dated or something now.

And then there’s the name that you had, and someone else goes and uses, nay STEALS and even though that person may be not connected to you, or not likely to be connected to you in a few years time, it would seem weird to use the name, because they got there first! And yes you can be totally cranky about this, even though they had NO IDEA it was even a consideration for you. And no, people can’t “own” names but sometimes there can be no helping the hormones of a pregnant woman.

Last year when we were going through customs at Heathrow the lady said to Harps “oh I know who you are named after!” and I was all like who? Harper Lee? But of course everyone thinks that we named her after Posh & Beck’s little lady, who was born AFTER our Harper. Sheesh. {Aside: Did you see that she is realising her 2nd book 50 years after To Kill a Mockingbird?}

Names are a funny thing – whether we want to create some original and quirky by changing the spelling (Jayceson or Xzavier anyone?) or naming them after places (Hudson, Brooklyn) or objects (Apple) nature of animals (Eagle, Sky, river) or something a little more traditional like Grandparents that have come before us (Mavis will make a comeback I’m sure) it’s a BIG job.

And while I have asked my friends Eden & Kayte to send me random text messages with names as they think of them, and I’m scanning film credits, art galleries, book names ANYTHING FOR SOMETHING I’d love to hear some of your names.

How did you choose your kids names?
What’s some names that you love? (so I can steal them!)
Ever had your heart set on a name to have it nabbed from a friend or family member or celebrity?
Ever had a name you didn’t use for that reason and wish you had because people move on and you hardly even see those people anymore?
Do you keep the name a secret or share with everyone so they can say “oh, that’s ah, pretty”?

Image from Kate Cosgrove found here via Pinterest

Also…I would usually reply to all comments but at 200 I’m not sure I will get to them all. Thank you to each and every one of your wonderful suggestions…look at all those wonderful children out there!

Comments

  1. Emmaonafarm says

    this is the best bit about having a baby! I’ve done it six times!
    Phoebe rose
    Annabelle charlotte
    Lucy sophie
    Sam
    Rosie Georgina
    Jack
    So I’m very main stream leaning towards old fashioned ….. I always wanted Madeline but there was about 20 in town when my oldest was born so didn’t go with it …. And I wanted tom but our good friends oldest had that name ….. And even though there is a millin jacks I just had it because I’d always loved it! You just will know what’s right …….lucky you babies are ace!

  2. Isn’t it funny how the names we entertained for their eldest siblings are completely WRONG in hindsight?
    When the Little Sister was born, Bearhands and I couldn’t agree. Eventually I gave in to Henry for a boy (which I didn’t love) and he conceded Harriet for a girl (which he didn’t love). The irony is we call her Harry anyway!
    Good luck – I think you never know if the the name is right until you’re gazing at its owner. x

  3. I have an Ellie. That was my all time fave name and I didn’t like any other names except that one. Then I got pregnant with twins and decided to find out we were having 2 girls. It was hard picking names because the only name I liked was Ellie. Nonetheless we come up leith Molly and Anabelle. If it had been 2 boys maybe Harry and question mark because the only other boys name I like is jack and that was already taken by my 24 year old son.
    Best of luck.
    Oh… What about Henry? Or Elsie?
    I kind of like the name Mavis. It’s sweet.

  4. Working in child psychiatry and education i struggled to find a name that wasn’t attached to someone. When I found the name, Wren, I knew it was the one and waiting anxiously until she was born hoping no one would steal it! Now as we are thinking of having number two we have been waiting to find that name that we both know is the one. Good luck, I have no doubt it will be a gorgeous name for a gorgeous baby.

  5. Our name is definitely kept secret to save from opinions but this time around we have taken inspiration (OK it’s the actual daughter’s name) from some people that we used to know. I said no, that we couldn’t, at first but this name just kept lingering and my husband and I both loved it. So I messaged my old friend out of the blue and explained by dilemma and thoughts and she wrote back and said she would be honoured for us to name our little lady after theirs. Relief!! We are so set on our baby girls name now and I can’t wait to meet her in a few days.

  6. Emily Furlong says

    My daughter is Lily Helene. My favourite flower and my great-grandmother. My G-G was a very driven woman and strong! A good name sake for a modern girl. If I was to have another girl it would have been Yvie-Marie. My grandmother was Yvonne Marie and I loved her dearly and looked up to her. She raised 5 kids and worked full time! And she was always a lady. I miss her so much. And the double barrel option was because her friends all called her Yve or Yvie and I wanted the whole lot. But there will be no more babies for me, so please if you like either or all of any of the above feel free. Good luck, picking a baby name is HARD, actually glad I only had to do it for reals once ๐Ÿ™‚

  7. Our first borns name was a name I heard before we were ever having kids and just loved it so when we got pregnant I just knew we had to use it if we could…

    My daughters name is after 2 songs.

    The name we had picked for a boy, and didn’t get to use, which I really really love is Winston. Its John Lennons middle name. Thats not why we picked it but its a plus for me. Hubby wouldn’t let me call it George Harrison ๐Ÿ˜‰

    We dont find out the babys sex or discuss names with anyone but each other..

    Exciting times!

  8. Would you use a botanical name again or is that out? I love Ivy with your girls’ names. Willow? Something sweet and soft like Lucy, Grace or Ella?

    Oscar? Leo? Arlo? Harvey? Louis? Oliver?

    • I loved Leo but my hubby didn’t – alas we have a Lochie now with about 50millions others *sigh*
      I would change it in a heartbeat but now he is 10 – it would be weird – my one and only true regret…

      I have a Grace and a Lara that I still love (the names as well as the kids!)
      I also liked Brynn for a boy (it’s Welsh, like my heritage) but by husband said “What? You Brynn the beer and I’ll Brynn the sausages!!” ho hum….

      • PMSL
        We were getting desperate late in my second pregnancy and I love d Georgia Rose Hubby hated it, as he did Liam. We couldn’t find anything we liked and when he said Tobias, as in’ to buy us a beer’ we finally agreed. It was usually shortened to Tobi which many including his teachers insisted in spelling with a Y. Mind you I cant believe how many people cant even say Tobias properly. His second name is an old family name.
        Daughters name is Sophie (before it became trendy)

  9. Our son is Guy and I pretty much had no choice in that. He is the 6th generation inna row to be named that but I like it and it suits him and we’re proud of the tradition. His middle name is Vincent after my favourite artist Van Gogh.

    Our daughter is Amelie Matisse. Amelie mainly because it’s French and I just love the name. And Matisse to continue the artistic theme.

    • Adding to that if we’d had a second son my hubby wanted to call him Wyatt which means ‘son of Guy’ (PS Ashton and Mila) and I wanted to call her Remy which is a boys name but husband could not stomach it as it reminded him too much of Rennie’s which I ate day and night through both pregnancies!

      • Our sons have movie director themed middle names!

        Having said that, Bay would make a great name despite the directors horrible movies. Think herbs, and Queen Bae Bae.

  10. Laine Cusack says

    My daughters name is Audrey. My aunty loved the name and always said it was her name if she had a little girl but she had her little girl 9 years ago but named her Lily so I was free to use Audrey. It took 4 days after our daughter was born for my husband to agree to the name Audrey but I cannot think of any other name that would suit her now. Her middle name is Grace.

    If we had a boy I wanted to call him Bennett.

    Good luck! Deciding on a name is so hard!

  11. We had Silas for #3 (which coincidentally means “the third”) but when he arrived he was definitely a Lochie. Our little Loch. My other two men are Brodie & Zeke.

  12. Oh the drama of the names you used to like becoming popular!! We certainly had that problem between girl #1 and baby #4 – the two in between were easy. So for what it’s worth – here was our process:
    Isobel Grace – no man I married was going to be allowed to name our first daughter anything else. Ever. The name is my paternal grandmothers who I am named after. Husband got to choose the 2nd name – he tried to wrangle Grace as the first name but we both agreed with our genetics she could be in the Conargo Pub in 18yr times with not a lot of it … Too risky!
    #2 Molly Anne – husband got first name rigts this time round. 2nd is traditional to my family. My dad did tell me Molly Anne sounds like a pirate wench’s name!?! (Go on, say it with an arrrgh… I didn’t think so either…)
    #3 was a boy so we had to pack all the names in there in case he was a) the last child (the original plan) or b) the only boy (which is the case). He is Samuel William Darcy
    And so #4 – all the names that went with our ridiculously boring traditional names (thanks for pointing that out friend who put additional letters in perfectly normal names!) were so insanely popular by 2012 and so we tossed up either Clementine or Phillippa (& do not google how to spell it – FFS I thought it would only be a choice between the number of Ls and Ps but all the Fs … Oh my lord! And seeing as clearly most people want to spell it with an F these days we settled with the easy to explain ‘double L, double P’ because she’s clearly going to have to spell it out!) and my name second because I am not pushing out 4 babies and not getting some sort of recognition LOL
    Good Luck – fraught with danger this baby naming thing!! Someone ALWAYS finds a way to skew them (pirate wench – case in point!)

    • As a grown-up ‘double l, double p’, I salute you and your daughter ๐Ÿ™‚ It’s even more fun with two sets of doubles in your surname. “Yes, bonus letters, lucky me!”

      • Hooray!! The old fashioned people were all ‘one l’ or ‘one p’ camps and anyone in their 20s under assumes it starts with an F and so I am thrilled to find an adult ‘double L double P’ ๐Ÿ™‚

    • Funny – my two are Isobel and Darcy!

  13. I always wanted Scout, but my husband was NOT so keen. Or Nellie. That’s super cute too. We settled for Billy (boy) and Darcy (girl), but I often wish I had more kids, just so I could use up my names! Oh- and you really should take into consideration what the names infer.. Billy was a REAL Billy, as in, totally full-on. Sometimes I wish we’d called him something sedate.. like Sebastian! Good luck with the decision!

  14. I have 6 boys..yes you read that right ha! Their names are Bradie Regan Jordy Cooper Oliver and Bennett..I always get comments on how nice their names are.

  15. Fiona Guglielmi says

    I love Charlotte and I know that rhymes with … I really think it a very pretty name. We have a Stephanie, Lucas and Jack, your welcome to any of them and whatever name you choose you will all love it.

  16. I can tell you one thing for sure….hubby and I are all out of girl names!!
    We’ve never been too efficient with naming the girls…generally have one or two names in mind and then decide a few days after each of them were born….must admit number five did take the longest to name!
    Our girls names from eldest to youngest are…
    Jasmine Veronica, Lillian Rose , Bethany Jade, Violet Isabelle and Chanelle Elizabeth
    Best of luck naming your little one xx

  17. Anita Jones says

    No idea where Madelyn came from. Spelt with “Lyn” as I didn’t want her copping MADELIIIIIINE. She has my middle name Louise. My son is Hames after his Dad’s middle name, he has a double banger middle name, Clive after my Dads middle, also a grandparent on his Dad’s side, and John as both our Dads names are John. If I had another girl she would have been Evelyn, my great grandmothers name, but now can’t use that cos one of my partners wanker friends named his kid that ffs! And a boy would have been William. Old fashioned names are boss, they suit forever, right til they are old codgers.

  18. With my first pregnancy we decided on names in 5 mins a girl’s name (Amelia Rose) and a boy’s name (Frederick Wills). Done. Then we had a daughter followed by a son, so we were all sorted and finished, (or so we thought) until I found out I was pregnant with twins. We didn’t know the sex for any of the pregnancies so for the twins we needed EIGHT names (4 first, 4 middle). My husband had zero interest in finding names which didn’t help either, but we got there and we now have a William and an Arabella. Makes choosing one or two names seem simple!

  19. Our sons name is Tas – we had no boy names picked out and in the last week of my pregnancy I saw it in a book – my husband and I both loved it. Our girl is Asta, means bright as a star – my husband found and loved the name (I preferred Zara) but after pushing out all 10lb10oz of her – I was exhausted and said he could call her whatever he wanted – luckily it suits her perfectly…..phew

  20. I have a traditional alexander (family name) but he was to be maxwell until he popped out. I just couldn’t do max.
    I have a Chiara (silent h) it’s italian and it’s perfect – her italan beauty shines through. She was to be claire but they mean the same and my hubby won that one.
    Perfect though!
    Middle names I chose- Clarrie and Elsie. Family names and perfect in my opinion. Good luck! It’s hard! Can they use the name as prime minister? That was what I asked myself.

  21. Oh the privilege of naming a child! I want another baby just so I can use another favourite name! Kidding. Maybe we’ll just get another dog.

    We had heard our little girls name on a movie (I think it was uncle buck?) and both just loved it so went with ‘Maisie’.

    Nate is our little guy born less than 2 years later. I wanted Xavier or Ace but the huz hated them both.

    Close friends in our circle both named their sons Sam. Bit confusing when we’re all together but they get called Big Sam and Little Sam.

    Good luck. I’m sure you will find something beautiful. Xx

  22. My husband and I had our baby names picked out about two weeks into dating!! The boys name is a family name (which also is the first name of one of my cousins kids) and our number one girls name (we have two) turns out to be my new boss’ daughters name! While one of my cousins was pregnant we had the discussion of what if someone we know uses our names. Husband doesn’t care. They’re our names and we’ll use them anyway. He’s so stubborn!!

  23. Hubby and I were sitting at Kew Gardens in London celebrating our wedding anniversary. I was very heavily pregnant so went to sit on the grass while he sorted lunch for us. I was people watching a young family when a little boy took off running and giggling. His mother called out ‘Spencer come back here’ and I loved the name so much. I mulled it over for a while and then mentioned it to Hubby. We didn’t really 100% decide until our son was born but really I had my heart set on it from the minute I heard it. Goodluck!

  24. Our 12 year old is Freya Louise – we were convinced we were having a boy and my husband came up with the name after watching the movie ‘The Year My Voice Broke’ on Tv one night.

    Our 10 year old son is William Robert – family names but both his name and Freya”s are strong Northern European names and are in the Bayeux Tapestry which we saw in Normandy when Freya was about 5 months– William the Conqueror etc…. Freya is the Norse Goddess of Love, fertility and beauty..

  25. As a teacher, some advice. Give the kid a name that is easy to spell and pronounce. He /she does not want to spend the rest of their life telling everyone how to say/ spell their name. Also avoid “unique” ways to spell names for the same reason. You will be doing the kid a favour.
    I have Hannah, Meg, and Toby. All fairly classic names, but I love themm

  26. I remember watching a TV show years and years ago and they were trying to think of a name for their baby using Acronyms! Anyway they came up with Mabel (Mothers Always Bring Extra Love) I love the name Mabel anyway and having this extra little twist makes it more special. Toni x

  27. Ooooh…girl name for you – Audra/Audrey. Or Gracie? All on my old list.

    Boy’s names were put in the too hard basket, which worked out well for us! But Jarvis was the only choice (Jarvis Cocker, Pulp).

  28. Susan McCarney says

    Susan?? Lynette???

  29. Michelle Montgomery says

    We’ve got a Patrick Michael and a Saffron Mae (Saffie) for short.
    We had Xavier on the list for a boy and Honey and Ginger for girls. I have since decided I love Saskia for a little girl but we’re done as far as babies go. You’re welcome to it!

  30. We have a Leo and a Cameron.
    Leo was named long before I even knew I wanted children – it was just a given. Cameron was harder, but we settled on Cameron because ALL the Camerons we knew were really lovely guys.
    I only told one or two friends in advance – family just tend to feel more entitled to tell you what they think and can cause all sorts of awkwardness if they tell you they don’t like a name which you end up using.
    I DO tend to utilize online chat forums to workshop names so as to avoid making a big boo boo. I will never forget hearing BBC presenter Sarah Cox announce on air that she had named her son Issac. The terrible silence, the nervous gigglesโ€ฆ

  31. It’s a difficult task as I think you also have to have a name that sort of fits in with the other children in the family. How about India for a girl and Atticus for a boy?

  32. Agreeing on a name for our 3rd was the hardest because we didn’t use our boy name for our first so got to use it for our second child! Oliver was going to be Brooke if a girl. I think. I wanted Molly, my grandmother’s name, but hubby wasn’t keen. Good luck, it’s such a mission of a job I agree.

  33. If I had a girl she would have been Amy Jane. I have two boys – Thomas (Tom) Mark and Samuel (Sam) Joseph. I like strong names that are easy to spell. If I had a third boy I probably would have called him Tobias (Toby) Edward. Good luck. Choosing your child’s name is nearly (!!!) as difficult as giving birth.

  34. Michelle Cains says

    A friend has a scrumptious little poppet called Elsa – born at least a year before the release of Frozen, and she gets the comments often from random folk about having named her daughter after an animated character, as if she was some kind of Disney Nostradamus!!

  35. We have a little munchkin called Nell. Everyone asks what it’s short for but it’s just Nell – short and sweet just like her. We did the grandma thing and looked at old school names but Doris and Gertrude (true fact!!) weren’t cutting it. We just stumbled across Nell which we discovered later was her great great grandma’s nickname.Her middle name is Alice after her two grandma’s middle names. We think it’s pretty unique…until I discovered some reality tv str from The Only Way is Essex named her bub Nelly!! Thou shall ignore that….. Also – we told NO ONE – except some random hairdresser that cut my hair once….essay on Nell’s name over ๐Ÿ™‚

  36. chritstine says

    I like the name Chance for a boy. I only have girls though. Mine are 36 and and 28 now….sigh but we now have grandtwins! Karolina and Marek.

    Christine

  37. My daughters name is Savannah. As soon as I heard it, I loved it. Hubby and I were torn between that and Ivy. She spent her first 4 days in the NICU, so remained nameless until day 5. I just couldn’t bring myself to name her until I could spend some time with her!

  38. It’s so hard isn’t it? We had Oscar,Oliver and Lewis picked as boys names and ALL three were stolen (cousin,sister and oldest friend consecutively!) so then we had William, Hugo, Hudson and Elliot picked. William was the winner. For girls names we had Isabella or Lilly but both are SO popular now so instead we have Grace or Mckenzie. I also like Arlo for something a little different. Good luck! Such a big decision but in the end you will
    Pick a great name.

  39. We have Joshua William (William is in many generations of my husbands family) and Benjamin James. Our daughter’s name was my pick from before our boys were born, Callie Rose. Callie (rhymes with Sally) was a name I read in a magazine years before and tucked away for future use and roses are my favorite flower

  40. My first is Callum – my husband and i just loved the name and it was before it became popular. My second is Isobel Mary named after my grandmother.If we were to have a third it would be Elsie or Addison for a girl and Luca for a boy. Such a big task and its even harder not knowing what your having.

  41. As I kid I LOVED To Kill A Mocking Bird and so I wanted to call my first girl Scout. Then of course Demi Moore went and stole it. Thanks Demi! I didn’t want any awkward moments between Demi and I once I became rich and famous so I decided to drop the idea. In the end I had two lovely boys so it didn’t matter anyway. Oh yeah, and I also didn’t get rich and famous ๐Ÿ˜‰

  42. Madonna Dunn says

    I have a Katelin Rose, Thomas Michael (named after both grandfathers) Alexandra Grace (She gets called Lexi) and a Lara May (May was my grandmother’s middle name – we couldn’t have Doreen eek). I love Evelyn and wanted that (my mum’s middle name) and for a boy I really wanted Isaac Patrick. No more babies here though. Good luck!

  43. workingwomenaus says

    I was ALWAYS going to have a Lilly – until I was actually tasked with naming a child. I still love the name but it simply didn’t suit our surname. My son was going to be Jack but there were three (THREE) in my daughter’s kinder class at the time so once again I changed my mind. Good luck!

  44. I dreamed my sons name a few days after I found out I was pregnant. Thomas. I kind of freaked out when I looked it up and saw it meant “Twin” as at that stage we hadn’t even had a scan to confirm he was a ‘single’!

  45. Give your child a serious head start and leg up in life and call him/her Colin. You know it makes sense…

  46. Avery. Because it can be used for a boy or a girl and because it means elf wisdom…cool no?

  47. I know exactly what you mean about someone unintentionally ‘stealing’ your name! We had a girl’s name finalised for our 3rd bub (Georgia) and then the week she arrived I seemed to hear it everywhere! We ended up going back to our original alternative name that we had picked for our eldest son 8 years ago – Michaela. I also understand your feeling of names from previous pregnancies aren’t right for now, and I did struggle with that for a while… But I can confirm that she has totally turned into a Michaela and I am so happy we went with a name we both loved for such a long time. Our boys are Alexander (although we call him Xander) and Declan.
    Good luck! It’s one of the most frustrating but also the most fun parts of having a baby.

  48. I have a Millie Alice Cecelia, Macintyre Darby John, and Lila Margaret Ann. All middle names after grandparents and great grandparents middle names, Mac is traditional second name in my family and I’ve always thought I’d name a son that, and Millie and Lila were those lovely old fashioned names that are uncommon and timeless. The Grandparental names rejected were Betty, Muriel, Lefavre, Jean, Ronald, you can see why we went with what we did. Good luck!

  49. Oh….The Name Game (caps required). I was just thinking yesterday, looking at this squishy ‘little’ pudding we call Eleanor, that if you’d told me I’d have a daughter named Eleanor a few years ago I’d have scoffed! Funny that. We actually found girls names harder than boys, which is apparently the opposite for a lot? Boys names can be very black and white – yes or no. Girls names we were more like ‘ooohh that’s pretty…that’s nice!’ but not definite on? We had (have?) a boys name picked out from very early, of course then you throw several others in the ring, and end up always coming back to ‘the one’. Girls we had several combinations, never the same middle name with the same first name, different family names always as the middle names that went differently with the firsts (Eleanor’s middle name is Joy, my grandmother’s name was Josephine but she was known as Joy, and I just loved the connotation of the word). I’m still not telling people what our girls shortlist was, as obviously we might use them yet, but ‘the one’ which I was dead set keen on for Eleanor (hubby liked Eleanor a lot more than me, I had to be convinced!) just doesn’t seem to sit right now for a sister of Eleanor? We came to Eleanor after tossing around Ellen, Elsie, Ellie, Elle, Nella…we decided that a longer name like Eleanor we would have to be ok with whatever nickname she would get, I did NOT want to be that mother telling others ‘her name is Eleanor!’ through gritted teeth when it gets shortened, I hate that. So Ellie/Nella/Nora we are all okay with, she hasn’t really got them as yet, perhaps when she’s at school? Names which were on our shortlist but got ditched for whatever reason: Patrick (couldn’t have a Matt and Pat?), Fergus, Juliet, Josephine, Gwen/Gwyneth, Louis, Annabel (husband said ‘it’s a baby, not a cow’ hmph), Olivia, Ted/Theodore, Ned, Kelly (for a boy, my brother’s name)… My family all have taken some ‘good’ names, our nieces/nephews are Chloe, Scarlett, Charlotte (Charlie), Ava, Violet, Laura, Ethan, Madeleine, Otis, Rufus and Avani. Good luck!

  50. My daughter is Chella. I love unusual names and could bore you for hours with names that are different. It was hard for us to name our little girl due to me liking names that are different and my bubby wanting some kind of normality! hehehe I think we have a pretty compromise.

  51. I like ‘Bianca’ for a girl and Leonardo for a boy!

  52. Such a big decision guys -I have an Emma, Sarah and Tom. Tom would have been a Matilda or Zoe if a girl. My Grandma’s name was Ella and my daughter has “bagged ” that name for her future daughter. Good luck with your choices.

  53. Our oldest is Noah (which was unusual then but shortly after became the name yelled out at EVERYTHING playground we went to)
    Our second is Amali Grace (pronounced a- mah- li not Amelie)
    And our third is Rose Kiana.

    I think when you choose a name they embody it and after a while you cannot imagine them being anything else

  54. My hubby and i each had a boys name and a girls name picked for bub. I originally had Dominic (can’t remember middle name) picked as a boys name and Mackenzie Kathleen Clare for the girls name (my grandmothers name and hubbys mothers middle name). Someone we knew called their bub Dominic so I changed it to Patrick. Then my cousin called his bub Patrick so I changed it to Samuel Nicholas. Luckily Samuel suited him so much better. I’m not sure what girls name we’ll use if we have a girl, but hubby wants to use Samantha.

  55. My 16 yr. old daughter is also Harper Louise – my son is Riley – names I thought about:
    Boy – Hudson, Gailen, Cooper and Knox (that one my sister took / grandmothers maiden name)
    Girls – Hanna, Perry, Callie

    My sister’s son (half italian) is Enzo – taken, of course, from Enzo Ferrari – the car maker!

  56. I reckon as long as you both like it and its not weird with your girls names. I love Noah, Seth, Billy, Jesse or Lewis for a boy. Ellen, Annie, Maddie or Billie for a girl. Oh and Savannah is beautiful.

  57. Oh! We have a 3 wk old & we knew what we were having & STILL didn’t have a name till two after he was born! We just could not decide/agree on any name. Very stressful. Our first son wasn’t named for a week, lol! Good luck! Our sons’ names are Oscar James & Angus (Gus) Matthew.

  58. Hi Beth, my mother told me to imagine him or her marrying a prince or princess one day & ask myself would the name suit. It worked for finding my daughters name! Best of luck X

  59. baby#1 A son named Ethan Ronald, Ethan because I love it and Ronald after his 2 great grandfathers
    baby#2 A son named Harrison George, Harrison because I want him to grow up just like Harrison Ford lol and George after a close family friend who was like a father to me
    baby #3 Another boy this time we where at the end of the line and only had 1 more name we liked, so he was born Aidan Peter (Peter is his grandfathers name)
    baby #4 A GIRL!! We hit the jackpot! The only girl in the entire family ( the 1 rose surrounded by 8 thorns). I ended up with Ashley Pearl Elizabeth. Ashley because I think it’s a classic name that’ll never date and Pearl Elizabeth after my mum and both Nannas.

  60. I’ll happily share our list as we are DONE! It changed quite a bit when we were pregnant with #2, as some of the names didn’t go with our first son. My sons names are Otis Bailey and Felix Eddie (Eddie after his grandfather Edwin, who passed away.) Our list looked like this
    (Ronald) (Felix) (Kirby)
    Elwood
    Rafferty
    Eddie
    Rufus
    Felix
    (Zara) (Claire) (Poppy)
    Poppy
    Bonnie
    Mabel
    Mimi
    Miriam
    Sadie
    The names in brackets were middle names. I still love all these names so much – I think a few of the girls ones especially would go with your Daisy and Harper very well!

  61. My daughter is Ella India. We were going to call her Isabella but my husbands cousin had a babe 6 weeks before and called her Isabella!! My son is Jake Rawiri – loved Jude but a good friend I met before I had him had a son called Jude. I love Eva and Mabel at the moment.

  62. Our first born’s (now 21) name is Imogen. The inspiration coming from the Shakespeare play Cymbeline. Our second child’s (18 years) middle name is Augustus which is a derivative of an old family name. We had Joshua as a first name picked out if we had a son however my Sister in law pipped us at the post. We chose Lucas when the time came which suits him.

  63. We’re from an Arab background, here’s some of our shortlist:

    BOY: Khaled, Amer, Nadeem, Ashraf, Rami

    GIRL: Zubeida, Aqsa, Layal, Amal, Sajda, Linah

    • Love Arab names. My son is adopted and he is Arabic heritage, but his biological parents called him Jonathan! We call him Tuta for short (among other names..LOL)

      • He’s so cute Jenni (from your little pop up picture, if that’s him).

        In Arabic, Jonathan is Yehya! But Jonathan in English is lovely too, and Tuta is sweetest of all!

        • Yes that is him.
          He is cute, but also very wild!
          Thats bizarre you say Jonathan is Yehya because that is sort of what he calls his dad (my husband), he can’t say dad, but he says a sort of Yeah, thats amazing.
          Thanks ๐Ÿ™‚

  64. I love Mavis! We have a daughter Ruby-Lily named with a hyphen as we loved both as much and Lily was my Nanna. A son Rhaine (Rain) – always loved that name we added the H and E to make it look more masculine when written down. It suits him as he can be sooo calm but sooo wild! And a daughter Daisy. Best name ever ๐Ÿ™‚
    I always loved August, Lex and Alby for boys and Gypsy, Autumn and Rose for girls. You’ll know when you meet him/her. And it’ll be bloody awesome!!!!

  65. My eldest son is Johannes, my fathers middle name, which my husband loved.
    My eldest daughter is Miriama. I had no idea and left that up to my husband while I had a shower after her birth but love her name.
    My youngest daughter and twin 1 is Kaleena. A customer who used the frequent the store I worked in had this name and I love it.
    My youngest son and twin 2 is Uriah. Again chosen by my husband but agreed upon by me.
    All of their names are perfect for them.

  66. We told everyone at 20 weeks I’m hopeless at keeping secrets. We have Joel and Blake. If another boy had come along he would have been ‘Logan’. I had Leila and Lulu chosen for girls but none showed up.when we had Blake everyone said he was named after Blake Carrington from Dynasty WTF? Nope, he was after Blake 7 and Joel was because the huz like the cricketer Joel Garner. He’s actually an opening fast bowler so we credit it down to the name choice LOL I chose the middle names. Good luck.

  67. I got my first 2 kids names Dita and Harlan from my friends book “1000 greatest movies of all time” both were 1940’s actors. Our last baby we named her Bowie. Thought we were having a boy for quite a while but turns out nope it’s a girl and I couldn’t forget about the awesome name so she is a Bowie or Bo as we call her! Good luck with names it’s sooooo hard!!!

  68. Oh I have to tell you this, I was once in a carpark and heard a mum screaming at her daughters… Both blonde…”Beyoncรฉ get off Shakira!”. ummm, THAT, don’t do that!

  69. Can you please have a girl and call it Gigi. Thanks ๐Ÿ˜‰

  70. My sons are Oscar and Archie. We once saw a little boy around three called up at the Drs and he was the ultimate of little boys and we were set on that. although when he was born we weren’t sure, my husband wrote a list of names on the back of an envelope while I was in labour, I was too busy wondering what the F had just happened to me and he ended up being called Oscar. There were about 3 other oscars born within weeks that we knew of. My girls name was Ruby which because very popular at the time so, I leant towards Florence which was my Nannas name, Florence Joan but she always used Joan. All her children were called by their second names, Jean, Phyllis, George and Vernon (my dad) was actually Geoffrey Vernon so we gave Oscar Geoffrey as his middle name. There was also an Archie born the same week as ours that we know of. Good Luck.

  71. I never had the pleasure of having a baby! I worked in a country hospital, in the Maternity ward, when I first heard the name Bronte! LOVE THIS NAME!
    Always wanted a William as well…traditional name of my Grandfather and he was the BEST!
    Working in the Maternity ward has its challenges…you must be on guard at all times when it comes to asking parents the name of their newborn. It’s easy to goo and gaa over the sensible names like Thomas, Benjamin, Haydn, Nicholas, Olivia, Amelia, Caitlin, or Johanna.
    But it takes great ability to sound equally as sincere when hearing the moniker some people choose for their precious bundle! One little boy was named Colt! FFS! And a little girl was named Autumn….nothing wrong with that except her surname was spelt the same as a pungent vegetable that almost always brings tears to your eyes! (Now think seasons)
    I could go on and on! But you know what Beth? Your baby is yours and so precious, and whatever you name him/ her will be perfect!
    Best of luck xx

  72. Hi Beth:-) while we’re on the topic of names, I have to say whenever I read your blog I always think of you as Bessie. I had a great mate once upon a time called Bethan who we would affectionately call Bess or Bessie, and sorry but it’s stuck for you too, in my crazy head that is!
    Anyway, with names I always think you have to like all the nicknames/shortened versions of said name. So, if you call your kid James for example make sure you like Jamie, as when they’re at school for all those years- nicknames stick (and you don’t always get to choose them!).
    I’ve always felt a responsibility naming the kids as theyre going to have it even when they’re old and wrinkly ๐Ÿ™‚ I also like not too current but not so different that it’s a burden (ie spelling). Middle names are great for token naming after someone like Granny or a Pa.
    Good luck & have fun;-) Liz xo

  73. Beth

    Here is a good site for you to peruse for a few hours

    http://babynames.merschat.com/

  74. Our two girls names (eight years ago) were Elsa and Anna but Frozen has pretty much slayed them off the list.

  75. I have a theory that you can’t name a baby without seeing what the baby looks like. I wanted to name Max “Hawkeye” but Dave wouldn’t let me. Then as a JOKE we used the nickname Rocco when I was pregnant with him and because Daves death was imminent during the birth/cancer fiasco I gave him FULL naming rights. He was chockers with pain meds and said “Well I’d really like to name him Rocco hon.”

    And I was alarmed. “Ummmmm, you sure? Really? It’s a pretty strong name?!”

    But Rocco it is, for a pretty strong little guy.

    Latest idea: Eden Macdonald. PERFECT!! Xxxxx

  76. We have Brianna Paige (was going to be Brianna Rose but I changed my mind the night before she arrived). Our son was named by Hubby – Zachary Austin, and our third is Imogene Alice. She was named by the midwives as we had three names and couldn’t decide – Imogene, Abigail and Marissa. They told me that they hadn’t had an Imogene in ages and then I found myself sharing a room with a lady who had just named her daughter Imogene!

  77. I follow a American blog called Girls Gone Child who’s children are called Archer (boy) Fable (girl) and twin girls Boheme (Bo) and Reverie (Revi). Love the story behind each name they chose.
    My girls are Leonni and Loren (as in Sofia Loren or Ralph Loren) unfortunately some family members struggled with the pronunciation of Loren so she get Lauren. I chose Leonni’s name after watching Pinocchio. The father Geppetto was in love with a woman named Leona.
    I always wished I had been rebel enough to use my Grandmothers name Zilla.
    If I’d had a boy it would have been named after my Grandfather Austin. My Scottish Father in law at the time kept calling my unborn child Declan which annoyed me at the time but I quite like it now. Such an exciting time. Enjoy. Feel free to use any of the above names ๐Ÿ™‚

  78. I had a thought that you were going with the name Azaria? Did anyone else think that?

  79. Our eldest is Elena Grace – I loved the name Eleanor but hated the way people would emphasise the ‘or’, almost to donkey bray proportions – coming from a British family they would pronounce the name with an ‘ah’ ending which I much prefer, so we chose an alternate spelling to reflect that. Ellie’s name was chosen from Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility. Our second born is Hermione Quinn – a name that my MIL still refuses to say out loud. Not named for Harry Potter, but there is a song by David Bowie called ‘Letters to Hermione’ and the name just stuck with us. Her full name also means ‘Wise Messenger’ which I thought was beautiful.
    We considered names like Fleur, Ysabel, Imogen, Lily…all which were met with indifference and we never fell in love with them.
    For baby #3 we are in a pickle – we have until the end of June and we find out the gender in 10 days so let the bickering commence!!

    • We have an Eleanor, and I was exactly the same, I hated the ‘nooorrr’. We considered Elena or just Ellie/Ella, I actually preferred Ellen. Now of course we can’t imagine her as any other name, and she actually gets ‘Nor/Nora’ sometimes and it doesn’t worry me now?! Funny that. I know another little Eleanor whose parents pronounce it Elena though too.

  80. We have an Amelie Rose, Ruby Rae and Flynn Edward. Ruby was Scarlet for about 24 hours but it just didn’t feel right!

    There are so many beautiful names, and you have chosen lovely ones for your daughters I’m sure you’ll come up with something fabulous!

    Names I like: Stanley, Horatio, Holly, Clara, Olivia and Nina

    Good luck!

  81. We have Madeline Rose, Abbey Grace and Benjamin Francis (for his grandad). Both girls are named for books – the Madelines of course and Abbey for the Abbey girl books my mum gave me as a child. I do love Rose, Audrey and Alice and for boys Henry and Eddie. You’ve got a great surname that can take about anything..just not Donald!

  82. Love one of my cousins names – Margot (Minnie or Min for short, there’s also a Claudia and Josephine which I also like. My sister took my name Felix as a middle name (granted it is a family name) & my husband’s cousin has since also named his son Felix. A family at school have a Eugene & call her Genie. My husband & I can never agree – our first is Henrik (Hungarian name in homage to his heritage) William James – but we call him Henri & husband named daughter Grace Evelyn Constance – as I was too exhausted to discuss. Middle names are family names. This time around we aren’t 100% on anything yet.

  83. I’m very much on the side of keeping potential baby names a secret! I was discussing names with a friend and I told her my girls name (Mikaylah Rose) and 6 months later she had a Mikaylah! I was devastated at the time but lesson learned!
    We had our boys name picked by about our 3rd date and I have no idea how I kept that a secret for 8 years. We had Oscar David in October and Im yet to meet another Oscar. We only decided on a girls name two weeks before Oscar was born so that will be kept in mind for number two. It’s bloody hard picking girls names!
    I was a bit surprised to discover how many people expect you to tell them the names you’ve picked out, the two standard questions: what are you having and what are the names, then the offence taken when I said no and not sharing!
    I always loved the name Ava but it’s not a good fit with my surname!

  84. My boys were born in the early 90’s number 1 son is Dylan after Bob Dylan (& Dylan McKay Beverly Hills 90210) number 2 son is Jayden, after no one but we wanted something unusual and I seen the name in a baby book, cue 2 years later and both names exploded and it seemed there were Dylan’s & Jayden’s everywhere.

  85. I like old names, not so much objects or places but strong old names that have character, don’t do the whimsy, voodoo magic or zen child….will never call a child Vespa or Jeep…..why do we even need to over think this? What would Kate do? Unless of course your child will be up in ‘lights’ then definitely do Honey Boo Boo and steal it for YOUR child!

  86. I was quite protective of our names that we had chosen, only for my husband to blurt them out each time with gay abandon, not understanding this NEED for secrecy, in case ‘our names’ were stolen.

    I chose Jack for our firstborn, certainly not an uncommon name, and being a teacher I am quite picky about names, but I’d had no run ins with any Jacks, so the name wasn’t tarred. I liked that it was one syllable and seemed like a good strong name. My husband loved it, and that was that, all sorted. Until I decided a few months on that it was common and everyone would be called Jack and we had friends (that we hardly saw due to distance) with Jacks so how could we possibly have a Jack?! I even tried to convince my hubby that Noah should be the name if we were to have a boy, but he kept talking about rain, and boats and animals and wasn’t convinced. So Jack it was. Jack Noah.

    With my second, we could NOT agree on a boy’s name, even right up to the day before, but I was determined to have Quinn if we had a girl. I loved the name, loved that it wasn’t that popular, and also the meaning of it. I loved the name Harper with both pregnancies, but found that it was becoming increasingly common so put that one to rest. I also loved the name Daisy, but I have a cousin called Daisy!

    And as it turns out, when we were moving house and I was packing up old journals, I came across one from years ago. Before I was married. Before I was pregnant. I’d written down my favourite names, and at the top of the list was Jack for a boy and Quinn for a girl. So it was meant to be.

    Maeve
    Avery
    Audrey
    Scout (yes, I HAVE just finished To Kill a Mockingbird!)

    I had a whole list but no longer need to hold onto it. Good luck with choosing bubs name, I’m betting you’re having a boy! Call him Jem!

    • Anon for this!!!! says

      I just adore Quinn! I have a friend with a Maeve too. If you don’t mind me asking how did you go with a middle name? Every name i seem to pick is also one syllable and it’s just not working. Our other 3 have family middle names so its a challenge but I’m set on Quinn. Thanks in advance xo

      • Hello Anon for this!!!

        I chose Dorothy as Quinn’s middle name, it was my Mum’s name. She may hate it when she is older, at the moment she probably thinks she is named after a certain green dinosaur! Friends of ours call her Quinn Dot, which I love! While I was pregnant I was still very attached to the name Harper and thought of using it as her middle name, but I’m so glad I’ve used my Mum’s name.

        Good luck!

  87. We had Maggie for our next kids name…

    Harrington was my maiden name so we used it for our little man…

    And Kitty we wanted old fashioned but classic and modernish.. and as a side I adore Hello Kitty..

  88. we told everyone the baby’s name was “Maddog thunderchops” her name is Olive… And her little sister is Penelope.
    Separately Olive backwards is evil-o did not see that coming!!

  89. girls:
    Poppy
    Daphne
    Bronte
    Madeleine

    boys:
    Colin
    Jack
    Tom
    Max
    Henry

    Maybe you could shortlist your favourites and put them to the vote.

  90. Naming our 3rd was the hardest. I dearly loved (still do) Sadie and Harriet. Husband hated them both as passionately as I loved them. We were at a stale mate and agreed on Heidi 3 days after she was born. Ned was our only real contender for a boy.

  91. scarlett, neve, Isaac, Ivor, Isis, Silus, Caleb.

  92. Danya Breman says

    Beth – choosing names is THE BEST! I spent months looking for the perfect name for our first! Made both our mothers send lists of family names, trawled the net, bookshelf, scanned the tv after movies etc etc and finally decided on Tulley Harriet! Tulley cause I loved it and Harriet from hubs family ๐Ÿ™‚ With our next I was convinced we were having a boy so chose Archie George (hubby wanted Roy, as in Roy the Boy

    • Danya Breman says

      Oh, the rest of my comment disappeared!! Long story short, our middle daughter is Eliza Jane, and my new bub is Sadie Jean. I love all their names ๐Ÿ™‚ Have fun choosing xx

  93. My grandmother’s name was Violet which I love. We found boys names EXTREMELY difficult to agree on. The only name we both loved was William (Will). I also really love Billy for a boy or girl.
    GOOD LUCK!!

  94. I have a Spencer Charles, Addison Camille and Lennox James. Being an 80’s child, I was one of 5 “lauren’s” in my year at primary school so I always wanted names that could be said and spelled easily but slightly different so they might be the only one in their class with that name. Having said that I have since met kids with the same names as my 3! All you can do is try I guess! Baby #4 due in a couple weeks has been hard to pick but we think we are there. Names are always a secret, never discussed as ppl cannot keep their opinions to themselves! Hard to argue when the baby out and named.

    Have loved reading everyone’s comments! Have only seen my girl name once and haven’t seen the boy name yet so I think i have chosen ok!

  95. Karly Morris says

    My husband ultimately named our three… Darby William, Mac Gregory & Stella Jane. I think eventually the man has last say anyhow, if you are like me in recovery ward, you are looking at something that is so incredible and it seems like a name doesn’t matter, so you say ‘I’m happy with whatever you want my love!’ Haha. Although he did mention Stan a few times and I just couldn’t…

  96. You have my permission to steal my unused boy name: Archie
    Doesn’t he just sound like the coolest kid?

  97. Names ARE hard. We’re finding it tricky third time around. I’ve even gone as far to look up Viking and pirate names for some alternative inspiration. We generally keep names a secret but I might share a few ideas with you. From one preggie to another. We have a Flynn and a Banjo already and I like Poet, Magnus, Dot (Dorothy), Kitty, Ragna (that was one of the Viking ones – but I think I just have a crush on the actor in the TV series who plays this character), Matilda, Hiro (pronounced Hero), August… and that’s all my preggie brain will allow me to think of right now. Good luck. How much longer do you have?

  98. We like

    Milo
    Jasper
    Otto
    Otis
    Sullivan
    Huxley
    Oakley
    Huckle
    Toby
    Hugo
    Hugh
    Quincy
    Luca
    Theo

    Nella
    Lottie
    Hattie
    Quinny
    Queeny
    Wren
    Birdie
    Delphi
    Delilah
    Sybilla
    Willa
    Wilda
    Luna

  99. I love thinking about names! My 14 year old son is Toby (not Tobias – just Toby) and I still love it to bits. Luckily my second was a girl because hubby and I could not find another boys name we loved as much as Toby! I had my girls name picked out ever since I was a teenager. Thankfully my hubby loved it too. My Imogen is now 11. If I’d had a third, girl or boy, I had picked out Remy. Maybe that will be the name of my next dogโ€ฆ Hope you find a name you love!

  100. I have Henry John, Jemima Louisa and Niamh Julienne . My boys list had Darcy, Gilbert and Argyle plus family names Jackson and James. My girls list had Kamilah (Arabic meaning perfect) or Camille or Milla and family names Kate and Evelyn. Other kids of siblings and cousins include Thomas, Emilie, Sarah, Elsa, Elouise (Ellie), Edward, Olivia, Anna, Daniel, Archer, Phoebe, Grace, Georgie, Ava Marie, Hudson and Findlay.

  101. I just finished a book with a character called Drazen and another called Kip
    but that might be getting a bit out there.

  102. My name is Stevie, I am 27 (1987 baby). I get asked if I was named after Stevie (the character in McLeod’s Daughters). I do believe she only entered the series in 2003. I just stare at people blankly when this question is asked!

  103. I’ve always liked the name Charlie for a girl or boy.

  104. Being a Michelle and having 5 other kids in my class with the same name I knew I wanted something different without being odd. Then being a teacher narrowed down the names quickly.With my daughter I loved the name Allegra but hubby didn’t like it. We both liked Aurelie but ended up with Aurelia meaning golden one. When she was born premmie with ultra fine golden white hair it was perfect.
    With our son I had continuous dreams of a boy and he was always named Rafferty. I don’t know where that came from but it just stuck. It felt wrong to call him anything else and since he has been born it has certainly been Rafferty’s Rules.

    Other names I have liked for boys have been Hendrix and Arlo. Girls names I like are Pia and Imogen.

    The name Wren from above is divine too

  105. My daughter is Alexandra, but we always call her Lexie, unless she is in trouble…..haha. I always get comments about how much people love the name. The good thing is that as she gets older she has lots of options as to what she wants to be called. She is a real Lexie though, not an Alex at all. Good luck!

    • My husband’s Latino and I’m Anglo so ours are a mix – Federico John and Sofia Louise (was going to be Sofia Grace but as I forgot to get to the hospital on time and my mum, Louise, ended up delivering her at home, it got changed!). But mostly I wanted to say I don’t think anyone’s mentioned Margaret, Catherine or Elizabeth for girls all of which have heaps of shortenings and nicknames – Marg, Margie, Maggie, Madge!, Margot, Meg, Cath, Cat, Cathy, Kate, Katy, Eliza, Liz, Liza, Beth, Lizzy. And Alexandra/er and Eleanor are similar that way too – Al, Alex, Lexie, Xander, Sandra, Sandy, Elly, Ella, Nell, Nora. And there’s probably more. That way you and they can grow into or out of their name(s) like Sue mentioned above. I had a friend who was always Katy until she was about 16 when she insisted on the more grown-up Katherine. Another name I always loved for a girl was Saskia (Dutch origin I think). Have fun and good luck!

  106. We have an Atticus Jesse. Also because we are big To Kill A Mockingbird fans (if we had a girl she would have been Scout) and my husband and I are suprised everyday that no one knows where the name is from. Atti’s twin is Banji which means second born of twins in African. Which luckily won’t be an option for you ๐Ÿ˜‰

  107. My kids go to a Steiner school so there are no plain names there!
    River, Willow, Zali, Kyarna, Woti, Jovi, Mirri, Tayah, Jonty, Marley, Kinja, Dulci, Gem….it goes on and on!!
    So my kids have two of the plainest names in the school (i.e. – you don’t have to ask ‘how do you spell that?)
    Matilda Rose and Jonathan Edward
    As for you Beth, my boy name suggestions are Sebastian (shortened to Seb), Sherlock, Seth (I have an S theme, I have no idea why!) also Banjo.
    For a girl, I’ll have to get back to you.
    I think all the names of our generation, like Michelle, Jenny, Louise, Cathy etc will make a come back when all the Rose and Phoebes start having kids. Ha!
    PS please don’t change the spelling of a name to make it more ‘original’, you are above that Beth !!!

  108. PS I know what I would call a girl, KiKi. You can use it cause there aint going to be any more baby making here! Don’t you love it? (well I do!)

  109. Previous commentor Jenni – I love your kids names, especially Sherlock.

    We went old school and family names
    Rosie May (May is my mother-in-law’s middle name too) and if I had another girl I would of loved to call her Daisy
    Henri Fraser (two family names) see a pattern?
    George Doyle
    Angus William

    The last two are twins so my hubby got his beloved Angus. All the boys middle names are maiden names of the ladies in our lives.

    We love old school and names that are repeated everywhere.

    Good luck with the birth and the naming. I found the boys names so much easier than Rosie’s.

  110. Lisa Mckenzie says

    That’s a hard decision that’s for sure Beth my children’s names are James and Caitlyn ,never shortened just as is ,but I like untrendy names for children,names that suit them,good luck I love your girls names Xx

  111. We have three kids, Archie, Pearl and Theodore (Theo/Ted). We used lots of family names for their middle names which could be seen as old fashioned, but I think they are full of character (and heritage). Archie was almost an Ada and I like Arlo but it’s too much like Archie. I taught a beautiful little girl called Makinti when I worked in Central Australia but thought it might be too unusual. It’s a hard gig but so much fun choosing a name! Good luck.

  112. My girls went to primary school with boys called Fergus & Doogle and I loved those name. Also a boy called Justice and a girl called Calamity. Onto high school it gets very multicultural with Minjo, Jongho & Musa.

  113. Has to be the hardest part of having a baby. Such a big responsibility.
    Having recently named a baby, I can only wish you luck.
    The captain and I knew we were to be blessed with a baby girl so we didn’t think too hard about boys names except to have an emergency, just in case they got it wrong, up our sleeve. The captain had his heart set on Hudson. I liked Seth or Nash.
    Girls names were tough. We each had a name that we loved, ahem – that the other did not love. The captain liked Kirby, um no. I LOVED Elliott Jean for a girl, I still do. The only name we both loved was Mabel. And hence she was. Mabel’s second name is Quinn, it’s a name we’ve both loved for a very long time and we thought it was a nice modern touch to an old school name. The only reason Mabel wasn’t a Quinn is because our surname has one syllable and I thought her name needed a ‘fuller’ sound. Good luck Beth, can’t wait to hear what you guys come up with.

  114. I have 4 sons…
    Christopher Gage
    Joshua Kyle
    Isaac Daniel
    Benjamin James
    If I had a girl, she was to be named either Izabella or Annabelle
    Good luck Beth xx

  115. We named our first daughter after never agreeing but then hearing ‘The Kinks’ version of Lola.. We named her Lola Belle.. We had Ashton for a boy (I LOVE ASH) and can’t even imagine having had a boy and having called him Ashton now.. But I still love ‘Ash’.
    Our second baby – sex withheld again – was another precious girl and we named her Violet Melody.. I heard the name Violetta when travelling through Italy and fell in love with it but just new the pronunciation of ‘Violetta’ would get DESTROYED so Violet it was.. For a boy we had Archie – which I still love.
    How exciting!! Good luck!

  116. Hi beth,
    We found the whole name thing quite hard too. We have a Charlotte Eve (my middle name and old family name but I am annoyed that it is so popular, I liked having an unusual name growing up), a Jarla Jane and a Huon Alexander. I also like Arlo and Otis for boys and I like Evelyn (my nana’s middle name) and Juno for girls. We don’t like funny spelling or shortening names too much. My hubby’s name is Rohan which I quite like too.
    Hope you find something you like.

  117. We went with family names…. Henry (who gets Harry as I have LOVED that name since FOREVER!) and Elodie (It’s French) I also adore the name Willa for a girl. If H has been a girl she would have been Willa and then when we found out we were having a girl hubby worried about having a Harry and Willa and people thinking… Harry and Will… royal family so we went with Elodie. I am thrilled to the tips of my toes we did and should be ever be surprised with a 3rd I would have no doubt in going with Willa. In fact whilst we were pregnant with E one of my cousins named their 3rd child… a girl.. Willa. We were gobsmacked as It’s not a common name and what were the odds!! Had we decided that was the right name at the time we wouldn’t have let it stop us. If you truly love a name don’t let it go. This is the name you are giving your child forever and you have to love it. Having said that I am extremely lucky hubby and I were on the same page with names. Jx

    P.S… I adore Charlie and Archer for boys…

  118. Beth. I thought of you at work the other day. Working in a passport office I come across thousands of names!! I loved one & wanted to share it with you, because it seemed to fit so well with the girls’ names. It was a boys name though. And now I’ve plum forgotten it. How sucky is my memory & I’m not even pregnant. Sorry about that. Will keep my eyes peeled & shoot them through if I find any more.

  119. Debs Sutton says

    Dreadful dilemma isn’t it Beth?
    We have a Tom….just a Tom NOT a Thomas. He’s nearly 31 now and loves his name!
    Our daughter is Kate but she is a Katherine on her birth certificate. She was always called Katie as a little girl but now it’s Kate….suits her perfectly!!!
    My granddaughters are Izzabella Eve……always called Izzy! No2 is Lola Grace….I LOVE these names.
    Love….Reuben, Seb, Milo.
    Iris, Kezia, Nell.Ava.
    xxxx

  120. My three littles are:
    Ewan John
    Suzannah Rose
    Benjamin Sydney
    We went for names we liked the sound of and with meanings that we felt suited the kids and their birth circumstances.
    We generally didn’t share names as the first and only time we did (Felix for a boy and Felicity for a girl) everybody expressed their dislike. After that we kept schtum and then people had to deal with it!
    Apparently my niece wanted to call a daughter of hers Suzannah (same sp and all) and thought we ‘stole’ it! Never mind the fact that we never discussed names with her and had no idea she had claimed it – and the fact she’s had three boys, no girls. Phew!
    You’ve chosen two lovely names so far (three if you count Frank!) I’d say your little one is in very safe hands!

  121. Harry
    Eliza Jayne
    Kitty Francesca

  122. My sons name is Liam, which we adore and never tire of hearing it said or yelled ๐Ÿ™‚

    Its different but we met a little boy called Ari, its so lovely, it would go well with your Daisy and Harper. Best wishes how lovely ๐Ÿ™‚

  123. Karen Magno says

    Our babes are all with names that we cared about their meaning and that would suit our inter racial beings. Lol ( our kids are halfies! – Australian Caucasian and half Filipino)
    Jai Philippe
    Ruby Kate
    Maya Elizabeth
    Good luck!

  124. I have Emma and Sam.
    Lucky my husband was set on Emma and I didn’t hate it as I also always loved the names Harriet, Lottie, Madeline, Imogen, Charlie and Addison for a girl. I don’t know how i would have chosen if it was left up to me.
    I wanted Tate or Sam for a boy. My husband hated Tate so that was out when young Sam came along.

  125. I have a Harvey and a Piper.
    When throwing names around for Harvey we liked Harper and Marley for a boy or girl or Zarli for a girl when Piper came along it was either Piper for a girl or Fletcher for a boy.
    So Harvey Wallace and Piper Daisy it is for us and I still love their names even though at their schools there is one other Piper and one other Harvey.
    Good luck, it’s not easy! Oh and btw my cousin and his wife “stole” one of our names 4 days before Piper was born and that was Frankie.
    P.S – you may remember my Harvey he was the boy hysterically crying when I surprised him with a puppy

  126. Names we never made babies for include:
    Gulliver, Sibylla, Florence (Flo), Marguerite (Madge), Moses (Madge and Moses are family names), Lou, Bea, Hero (Greek girl’s name), Marvel, Toshi, Usko (Finnish boy’s name meaning faith), Claud, Magdalena, Myrtle, Anouk, Georgette, Vivi, Kitty, Ida, Ada, Robin (for a boy) and Isis.

    Our three are Frederique (called Fred), Una and Avery.

  127. I know some awesome little humans called:
    Maximus William – “max”
    Harrison James – “harry”
    Tobias Winston – “toby”
    Amali Rose – “moo”
    (who would’ve been Etienne James – “jet” if she had’ve been a boy)

    Only a few months before I had my daughter, a friend sort of stole my name.
    She called her’s Molly Rose.

    Also, and finally, I SO wanted to use Atticus for a boys name (I adore Harper Lee and it fitted with my 3-syllable thing) but got vetoed on that one!

  128. We have 3 girls whose names are Lily, Ava and Claudia.

    Other girl name suggestions:
    Edie
    Penelope
    Grace/Gracie
    Vivienne
    Nell/Nellie
    Meg
    Milly

    Boy name suggestions:
    Sam
    Angus
    Tom
    Will
    Harry
    Henry
    Ned

    Hard decision – all the best!

  129. I can’t help but chime in… I love a good search for the ideal baby name.

    I have two daughters and I still adore their names after 7 and 8 years, Lucy and Georgia, but knowing you have a Harper and a Daisy I can’t help but think of Lola for a third girl or maybe Remy for a boy?
    I have a bunch of favorites myself… Ryan, Lucas, Ethan, or Angus…. Sadie, Emma or Amaya for a girl. I don’t believe in waiting until they are born to chose a name ‘that fits’, I think the name becomes them and so search and search until you find something that fits with your family, your general temperament and style. I always practiced yelling their names out across the yard as honestly, that’s when you’ll hear whether it works or not! Willow is also so cute, but being a HUGE P!nk fan that I am, that would just seem too uncanny.
    All the best, I look forward to hearing your choice.
    I love your blog and enjoy your honest approach to life. [FYI, also uber jealous that Jamie Oliver knows you exist ๐Ÿ˜‰ ]

  130. Ohhh the fun part! I have an Ella Rose and an Audrey Maeve. I’m tempted to have a third only so I can use Harriet! Love Angus, Toby, Hamish, Seamus, Sam, Miles. Harriet, Olive, Jemima, Beatrix.

  131. my favourite subject!!! Love it…and it gets harder and harder the more kiddies you have.
    We have
    Oliver Charles
    Toby William
    Matilda Polly
    Beau Alice
    Ollie should have been Polly, but as he was a boy we thought that a bit unfair

  132. I’ve got 2 boys, Riley Bill & Tyler Henry. Both boys have family names for their middle name. I am totally AGAINST more than one middle name! As a person with an enormous name (Rebecca Christine Anne McClymont nee Bassett) that NEVER fits on any forms & something always gets missed off. We only had 2 boys names picked & when Riley arrived we just “knew” which was for him. The remaining name was top of the list for number 2, butabout 2 weeks before he was born I saw a man on tv called Tyler & really liked it for a “man’s” name. Backup name was Aiden. I still like it & may get one more chance……… My dream baby name was Finlay but hubby wasn’t having any part of that! Only girl name we ever liked was Jasmine. lucky we had boys. xx

  133. Celeste de Rozario says

    Decisions decisions!! It’s the best part and hardest part of having a baby (ok, maybe not the hardest!). We have two girls – Eve Sofia and Mia Grace. I also really like Ivy, Joy, Lilly, Holly, Eden, Annie, Addison. I think those names go well with Daisy and Harper (because the names have to go well together!!)
    Boys names … Zac, Max…?? I really struggle with boys names!
    Good luck!

  134. I have 2 beautiful girls Cameron Grace and Mila Jorge xx our boy names were Liam or Aden. But I like Jamison

  135. I have a
    Talia Erminia (Erminia is my mums name)
    Olivia Grace
    Sebastian Chandler
    Alexander Peter

  136. My 5th child is a Hannah. When I had number 4 we chose Hannah for a girl but had a boy. The older kids used to talk about “when Hannah is born”. So even with an 11 yr gap there really wasn’t a choice!
    My others are Jaidyn, Jessica, Caitlyn and Stewart.

    When I was pregnant I always had some unusual names picked out but never went with them.. Annikan for a boy, Lavender for a girl.

  137. Our eldest is Isabelle May. I always loved the name Isabelle, despite it being so crazy popular. About 2 weeks before we found out we were pregnant, we were laying in bed and out of the blue I said if we have a baby girl, we have to call her Isabelle, and a boy would be Noah. And hubby agreed. meant to be ๐Ÿ™‚ May is a grandmother’s name on both sides of my family, plus it’s tradition on my mum’s side for middle name to start with M for girls (mine is Miranda). (we didn’t like noah anymore when we finally had boys! too popular for hubby) Since day dot she has got Izzy rather than Isabelle. (and everybody that doesn’t know us calls her Isabella – like Princess Isabella. Drives me crazy – we didn’t copy them!!!)

    Our second is Bennett Christopher. We knew we were having a boy and still couldn’t decide on any names. We had liked Angus but I couldn’t stand the thought of him being called gus so we ditched the name (luckily because hubbys sister had a baby at same time and they had Angus chosen!) Hubby kept joking about doing the celeb thing and naming him after a sport star or place, etc. I jokingly said what about Bennett then – hubbys a Brisbane broncos supporter and loved Wayne Bennett as coach. We both laughed then looked at each other and agreed it was pretty cool. Then it just stuck. Christopher is hubby’s dad’s name and hubby’s middle name. He always gets called Benny.

    Youngest is William James. We again were struggling to think of names so looked to old family names for inspiration. On hubby’s paternal side, back in the day all the boys had john or William in their name. William was our pick out of those two. Seeing as hubby is the last one to carry on the family name we decided William had to be it. James is hubby’s grandfather on his mother’s side – wanted to have something from both sides. Great grandfather was Houston which I really liked but hubby wasn’t keen on. Despite shortening both the other names I just cannot do it with William – he is not a Will. My father insists on Willy (because we said we didn’t like it, good on you dad). He gets called squidgy from his siblings, or bubba. He is going to be 6ft 5 and called bubba still, I can see it now ๐Ÿ˜‰

    my brother is Hayes, which a few friends have wanted to steal once hearing it.

    Good luck on the name hunt. And have fun looking at all the shockers, like Le-a (said Le dash a). Yep.

  138. I’ve always loved your two girls names so I think you’ll make a great choice whatever you choose!

    We’ve just had our first and only…..Olive Ada May. Was easy, all family names and we both love it! Have recently heard Maisie but doubt you’d like a Daisy and Maisie under the one roof!! My sister in law has a Minnie Pearl which is cute ๐Ÿ™‚

    I also liked Louella, Gigi or Lucia for a girl. But husband did NOT.

    Would of been George for a boy….fifth gen family name but was worried because of the little Prince. I find boys really hard. Claude I heard recently and thought it was a bit cute….

    Good luck!

  139. Hi Beth, what about when a large department store STEALS your name?!? We had our daughter Emerson, (now 4) THEN Big W named their whole new clothing range you guessed it even the same spelling !! She has just started kindy & wish I could buy her uniform from Big W would certainly save on labelling all those clothes! We have 2 daughters Emerson (emmy) & Mackenzie. good luck x

  140. I’m one for having a name that can’t be shortened. I’m also not one to utilise family names. I prefer my children to have their own, unique name. My daughter is India Belle (India from Gone with the Wind) and my son is Liam Thomas (Liam is just a name I’ve always liked). If India was a boy she was going to be named Mason Thomas and if Liam was a girl, he was going to be named Scarlett Clare. My husband loved the name Lawson and we were going to go with it, but a last minute change came about. However, we have since met a family through school and their son is Lawson and I do love it.

  141. If I had another girl, it would be Faith, because without it you have nothing. Good luck choosing.. Some great names there.

  142. Girls names that I wanted and was vetoed on – Scarlett, Amelie and Anais. I SO wanted Scarlett.
    I loved Harper, Piper and Ava, but none of them went with our surname, so vetoed themselves.

    Darby was the only boys name we every had, chosen before we were married.
    Although I was always partial to my grandfather’s name Lionel and my great-grandfather Leo.

  143. For a girl Imogen Rose and for a boy Hugo Fredrik.

    Good luck on making this BIG decision, it is just so hard!

  144. Yvonne Duke says

    My children all have Scottish names which can be first names or surnames. The boys are Callan and Innes and the girls Logan and Rowan x

  145. We pick the name the night before over dinner (planned csects), we each bring a short list. We’ve got Fergus Alexander, Maisie Pearl and the brand new Bonnie Rose (Scottish names as per heritage). I think Pearl would suit your crew for a girlie and Archer for a boy. Good luck!

  146. Our son is Rafe Clive George. Rafe (rhymes with safe) because we liked it (still do almost 15 years on), Clive after his father and George was my maiden name.
    Our daughter is Rose Sarah Elizabeth. Rose because we like it, Sarah after me & Elizabeth which features quite heavily on both sides of the family. Enjoy the naming process ๐Ÿ™‚

  147. Cate Taylor says

    Loved picking our babes names! We have Magnus Issac, Evangeline Lucienne (Evie for short), and Arianne Genevieve. Magnus wasn’t named for nearly 3 days. Evie was easy, my fav plus hubby’s fav. Arianne was to be a boy at first, and therefore Remy Vincent. Then she was to be Aurelia, but i let someone talk me out of it by suggesting it would be too rhymie with our surname ๐Ÿ™ but Arianne is perfect now of course.
    If we had another right now; Tabitha Isabeau or Vincent James.

  148. I love baby name discussions!

    I have Zoe and Iris – they had to go with a long and annoyingly difficult to spell last name so I was determined to go simple and easy to spell with the first names! Alice and Edie were my shortlist for Iris and Zoe was nearly Ella. We knew Zoe was a girl so had no boy names picked out but our boy name for Iris was Nicolo, which is a family name on the husband’s side, but we would have called him Nico ๐Ÿ™‚
    Enjoy – baby naming is so much fun but such a huge responsibility!

  149. What about Fraser, or Hugo, or Arkie as in Arkie Whitely? I’ve already posted a comment, but I’ve been thinking about it all day. Pippa, Poppy or my nieces name Baci. There aren’t many Baci’s out there.

  150. First born was a boy:
    Dante Javier – hubby chose Dante (from the divine comedy) & I just loved it, Javier (Harvey-air) is from Javier Bardem the actor, we conceived in South America & I wanted a Spanish Middle name.
    Next came twin girls:
    Giselle Manon – Giselle from the ballet & Manon is a French book
    Matisse Auden – Matisse the artist & Auden is a writer (both males but we’ve made them work – think outside the square

  151. we have two girls – Mae Lettie and Clementine Jean. There was never any question in my mind Mae was gonna be Mae. It was a name I’d carried around for years. I humoured the partner by coming up with a list but none of the other names ever stood a chance. When the midwife asked her name I diplomatically said I didn’t know and he said ‘mae’. Yessssss. Must have been the seeing me give birth… Lettie he found somewhere or other but I was always obsessed with the Lettie Lane paper dolls as a kid so loved it
    Clementine was what I thought was number one runner up and a given for daughter two but husbo changed his mind forcing us to think of something else. After one two minute discussion I thought we’d agreed on Betty and it wasn’t discussed for the rest of the pregnancy then she was born and he changed his mind again because are didn’t look like a Betty! Naturally I was pissed because I thought we’d decided. Baby remained nameless for some hours til we came back to Clementine. Jean we both just liked.
    A couple of weeks later another kid in first daughters childcare class had a sibling named Clementine too. Coincidence?

  152. I have an Annika and a Keenan. I had the name Saskia for a second girl but won’t be using it. I also like the names Camille/Milla/Milly, Aurora, Annouk, Carlia. Boys names I am too picky with and have no suggestions.

  153. Barb Fisher says

    How about Gigi? My bestie in primary school was named Gisella, but was called Gigi for short. Have always loved that name ๐Ÿ™‚

  154. this is so fresh on my mind! I usually pick a few favourites and then change my mind a few times and then in the last month or so I lock in my favourite:) A couple of my favourites from my last pregnancy are Clementine, Maisie, Kitty, Amber, Victoria and for boys Bede, Chet, Chester, Miles, Xavier and Malone. So much fun picking a name!

  155. How exciting! I also have a Harper after Harper Lee but she is a Harper Maree! Also have a Chelsea Grace and a Harrison Lewis. Still love all there names and wished we had 10 more babies to use up all the names I love!

  156. Well, I’m a bit late to the party aren’t I? So many comments today! Our eldest is James Owen and our youngest is Charley Ethan. I really struggled with the second boy name but it completely suits him and couldn’t imagine him as anyone else.

    • Oh and I really like ‘Mabel’ for a girl. Don’t know why, don’t know how, its a bit old fashioned, but I can’t get it out of my head. And’ Geneva’. You can have my girls names, all closed up here.

  157. Also late to the party. Last time around we went with Cordelia Francesca as I loved the character of Cordelia in King Lear (ok she goes mad in the end but she is such a good egg) and it seemed appropriate as she is our third daughter. Her twin sisters (thankfully not named Goneral & Regean although she would suggest some days they should be) are named Adelaide Elizabeth and Isabella Ellen. Isabella wasn’t quite so common 16 years ago and I had loved it for a long time. We really liked Hillary when I was pregnant with the twins but Hillary Highfield sounded a but too jolly hockey sticks! I still like the name though.

    My imaginary fourth daughter woukd be called Clementine Sophia but sadly this factory is shut! I am sure you will pick the perfect name in the end Beth just as I am sure done spoil sport will screw up their nose at whatever you end up choosing.

    My never got to be used boys names are Henry, Edward, Hamish and William -nothing out of the box there but not names I would ever get sick of either. Happy choosing

  158. I would have dearly loved to use ‘Lawson’ as I think it’s such a strong Australian, unusual but not weird name. My husband never cam around. Eliza was my pick for a girl 3rd time (same reason as for a boy) around but we had a boy. I have a Ruby Grace, Ivy Eloise and a Finn William. Love them all. Everyone loved Ruby Grace, people had no hesitation telling me they weren’t fond of Ivy, and Finn has been surprisingly popular. Whatever – why do people think they should judge??

  159. I would have dearly loved to use ‘Lawson’ as I think it’s such a strong Australian, unusual but not weird name. My husband never came around. I also loved ‘Sterling’ but he wouldn’t even think about it. Eliza was my pick for a girl 3rd time (same reason as for a boy) around but we had a boy. I have a Ruby Grace, Ivy Eloise and a Finn William. Love them all. Everyone loved Ruby Grace, people had no hesitation telling me they weren’t fond of Ivy, and Finn has been surprisingly popular. Whatever – why do people think they should judge??

  160. I called my daughter Amara. Her Dad and I had been set on Cleo however too many people were bagging it out and we had been so gung ho on it we didn’t have the heart to tell each other we no longer felt the same about the name. We both went to the baby name book independently of each other and came up with Amara. It means eternally beautiful and we get lots of comments on it being so pretty.

    I also understand the Harper thing. The kids dad wanted to call our son Preston – right before Britanny had her kid and called him that. I thought it sounded to #upitself so it’s Oliver’s middle name.

  161. My mum was going to call me Charity, but she didn’t which was a lucky escape. Having said that I really like Hope, or Lily, Leah, Molly or Eve/Eva. For a boy I love Max and Bob. As I’m not having kids, feel free to use my names with wild abandon, I definitely will not be cranky! As a teacher, I would suggest choosing one that’s not too long and easy to spell. I think you did great with Daisy and Harps, so I’m sure you’ll win the name game with the new Baby Mac.

  162. My Grandpa (George) died when I was 5 months pregnant with my daughter- I named her Georgie.
    My son got my husband’s middle name ‘Emerson’ which he would have had even if he was a girl. Though Emerson & Emmy seem to be gaining popularity. Specially since sodding Big W introduced their new ‘Emerson’ brand. The upside of that is that all his clothes have his name on the tags when I buy them ๐Ÿ˜‰

  163. My now 6 yr old from my previous marriage got the family name and is the 6th Patrick James in the family. My newborn son got the name I wanted for my first Tom, and my new partner and I are wrapped ! Not Thomas , or Thom or any other variation just Tom! My very dear friend has 4 boys and 2 are named Patrick and Tom . My Patrick is older than hers and her Tom is older than mine. I say if you love a name use it !
    My suggestions to you are
    Pearl, May or Lotte, and Dougal , Frank and Albert. Good luck !

  164. http://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/

    Here is a website that lists the most popular baby names in the US. It can be searched by sex, year, or by a specific name and can return up to the top 1000 names in any given year. It is a kick to go back to your own birth year and see what was popular OR what was popular 80 years ago OR how popular your name has been over the decades.

    Our son is a “Slater” and while I was concerned about the name when my husband proposed it, he is a “Slater” to the core and I am so happy that we went with it. My sweet little girl is “Jade”, which I have loved since childhood. It being the color green(which I love), the stone (which is Alaska’s state stone), the simplicity of it, and the fact that her father and I meet as lab partners in our Geology class all combined to make it the perfect name or our little girl. We didn’t tell anyone the names we picked, someone always has a nasty comment about a name or a story about someone they didn’t like with that name and a baby is a brand new person who is going to bring all new meaning and a fresh appeal to whatever name you give them.

    Good luck!

  165. Oh baby names! My favourite! I have 27 cousins on my mum’s side. Huge family! Huge! We are all married with kids so the name pickings get slim! There’s tantys when someone uses ‘your’ name. My youngest cousin jokes by the time she has a baby, all she will be left with is ‘Cletus’ bahahaha. Anyways, we have Gus, Ry & Mim. (Mim is actually Mietta as my husband insisted on a ‘real’ name & had grand plans of her being an Etta but her brothers had other ideas, they walked into hospital yelling out, “It’s MIM! Mimi!” and it stuck!) Having given birth in a country hospital, Mietta was obviously a bit foreign for them as the nurses registered her as ‘Henrietta’

  166. I became a first time mum last year. We didn’t know what we were having and went into it having a few names as we didn’t want to have one chosen as it may not have suited the bub. I was convinced we were having a girl from the get-go (we did) and we now have our beautiful 9 month old Penny (not Penelope) Elizabeth. It was my No. 1 name and as she was whisked away for some medical treatment as soon as she was born (10 weeks prem), my husband came over and whispered in my ear “I think she looks like a Penny”. When i finally got to see her she was most definitely a little Penny!

  167. Henry (Hank)
    Theo
    Samuel
    Ezra
    Ike

    Margaret (Maggie)
    Pearl
    Ivy
    Neave
    Maeve
    Ella
    Norah
    Avery

  168. We have 3 boys

    Hugo Bryce
    Fergus Wilson
    George Peter

    Feel free to steal, I doubt we are having anymore but if we had a girl I love Queenie May and if we had another boy Winston Edward. I love the name game it’s so much fun, good luck I’m sure you will pick a fabulous name xx

  169. So 200 and something comments in, here’s my two cents worth. For some reason I think your having a girl, and I think Maggie Macdonald has a nice ring to it! My eldest daughter has a little friend Maggie, and suits her perfectly. Anyway in my girl gang, I have an Eliza Ruth, first name was husbands pick and came from something he’d heard randomly on triple j, he poo poo’ed everything I suggested so left it too him thats what he came up with. Ruth is a family name on my side. Girl 2 is Tessa Kate. She took a few days to name. Husband wanted Willow but just didn’t suit. It just kind of popped into my head on about day 3, we tried it out for a few days before announcing. Kate is a family name. Third and final, is 9 week old Orla Sophie. (Think I was due with her spot on with your sister) We have come across a few Orla’s over the years and had always been on lists for the other two. Having said that we’ve been quite surprised at the number of “oh how do you spell that’ and ‘ive never heard of that before’. Anyway Orla means Golden Princess, which is certainly her to us. Sophie is just a name I like. My one boy name I love love love is Raff. Hugo, Flynn and Charlie were on the boy list too.
    Husband liked Frankie and I love Violet for other girls names. We didnt find out gender for first two but secretly knew for third. I reckon naming babies is harder each time. Good luck x

  170. The son could have ended up as a Jonah or Ben. The daughter could have been Lily or Zara. The Husband was keen on Odessa for a while but yeah… no.

    Whatever you narrow it down to, make sure you stand and the back door and YELL it out several times. If you canโ€™t yell a name, donโ€™t pick it.

  171. How did I miss this post? If I had a girl she was going to be Annabelle. Not happening so you can totally steal it, ha ha ha. We didn’t know what we were going to call baby number 3 until the night before he was born: Clancy! Love it too. Good luck, you will choose a gorgeous name given your track record!

  172. Katherine Bishop says

    Righto, here are the options my hubby declined but I were sure were ‘the one’:

    Girl: Eden
    Boy: Arthur, Tate.

    Good luck!

  173. We have a name picked out when/if we have a baby – and it’ll be the same no matter if it’s a boy or a girl. We’ll just change up the middle name, depending. x

  174. I agree Mavis is going to make a comeback, it’s somehow soft and strong at the same time.

    Two family members having unknowingly used names that we picked out. Now I have two names but they’ll never get used by us, somehow I’m still not ready to share them with anyone though!

  175. For as long as I can remember I wanted Arabella for a girls name. But then the nick name Bella became so popular that it turned me off Arabella because I was sure my Arabella would get called Bella.

    When I was pregnant and had let go of the name Arabella I was reading through a baby name book and found the name Sadie. Instantly I fell in love with the name and I can’t imagine my little Sadie having any other name. It took my Husband a while to like it. He was worried she’d get called Sadie the Cleaning Lady but I figure if that’s the worse someone is going to call her then we’re doing ok.

  176. Our eldest boy is William Troy – there was never a question about it; both teachers we agonised over names we wouldn’t associate with children we had taught for negative reasons! Will is such a Will – headstrong, determined, a little stubborn; we joke he’s “wilful” and it suits him perfectly. 3 months after his birth I found out I was pregnant again! I had to know if it was a boy or a girl to keep my sanity – another boy! This time we looked to our Scottish heritage and came up with Campbell Ian – a little different from Cameron and suits our little red-haired boy perfectly. Both names inevitably get shortened – Will and Cam – cause I have a thing for shortening names but still hold enough oomph when you need to use “William!!!” or “Campbell!!!” in times of madness ๐Ÿ™‚

  177. We (indirectly) named our boy in homage to the Emergency Room registrar who gave Lovely Husband a horse shot of morphine when he had gallstones. The nurse had refused to give such a large dose despite the written orders, so he came back and did it himself. I was 6 months pregnant and we promised him our firstborn child in thanks.

    His name was Titus. That started us on the road to a very Classical Roman name. It’s a name carved in stone and ruins and gold coins, with a cute, slightly more modern nickname that we use as his ‘preferred name’.

  178. It’s so hard isn’t it. We named our son Elliott only because we liked the name when we stumbled across it. Then after he was born and we had named him people asked if Billy Elliott had anything to do with it because our dogs name was Billy….no it didn’t, in fact, we only realised the coincidence after we picked the name.
    We kept the name a secret which I’m glad we did because I would have been a pretty cranky lady if anyone were to make comment of them not liking a name.
    I really like the name Oliver but it has been taken by people we know but don’t really have anything to do with, not sure if this is grounds for not using it or not, it’s a hard one.

  179. If it’s a girl, DON’T name her Aroha! It has been the bane of my existence, having to repeat it, repeat it again, spell it, explain it’s meaning, then pronounce it again. A friend of mine “stole” my name for a girl, even though we have a boy and will most likely never have another child again. Mackenzie.

  180. Got some amazing ideas for baby names. I used to struggle a bit for naming my first child. These ideas will help for my second child’s time.

    Thanks for sharing these amazing ideas.

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