Attn "older" Moms: If you were having kids today what would you name them?

[SoCalDem]

Names come in and out of fashion.. Would you stick to the names you gave your kids, or have "newer" names caught your attention..

I always had names in my head for the kids I would have, and did not pay attention to the faddish names of the day, but I know many Moms who fell prey to the "name-your-kid-cool-new-name-inspired-by-a-movie-tv-show" variety..

I often ask young Moms-to-be to check names from old census records, instead of making up "unique" combo names ( I have an "odd" name, and have spent a lifetime spelling & pronouncing it, and wish I had been a Susan or Debbie sometimes) :)..and to resist the temptation to go with the trend.. No one wants to be one of 7 "same-names" in kindergarten

[Arugula Latte]

1. I would pick the same names.

My kids (boy and girl) have classic names, but neither one is super common, particularly my son's.

[SoCalDem]

2. Ours have "ordinary" names and my only regret is that I did not get to use the favorites

Katherine, Susan & Diane.. I got 3 boys:)

[TuxedoKat]

25. Me too

Both my girls have classic, but uncommon first names.

[Dulcinea]

43. Same here.

I don't like most trendy names. Here in the South, people name their daughters awful genderless names like Quinlan, Presley (ugh) and Shelby, all of which are better suited to Old English sheepdogs than girls.

[Tikki]

3. Both of my sons' names got co-opted by girls...

one was named in the late '60's...now girl's name starting in the '90's, the other
son was named in the mid-'70's...also a few girl's named that around that time.


Tikki

[SoCalDem]

4. There have always been names that are "either" (mostly by sound)

Terry...Stacy...Billie...Pat...Cary....Tony..Jamie...

some are just sound-alikes, but some are exactly spelled..

I knew a girl at college named Kevin..(she was an only child who was supposed to be a boy).

[Tikki]

8. I worked with a girl named Kevin...

...a pretty little surfer girl....


Tikki

[FloridaJudy]

29. I worked with a woman named Kevin

Apparently there is a Catholic saint named "Sister (female name) Kevin", so her parents thought it was a girls' name.

[HopeHoops]

5. Pete and Repeat.

[SoCalDem]

6. Frick & Frack?

:)

[HopeHoops]

7. Tits and Ass? I'm not sure which would be the worse name to have.

[freshwest]

9. I'd pick a shorter name out of a movie/tv instead of history/bible. Give the kid a better chance.

[SoCalDem]

10. I tried to give mine names that had multiple opportunities for nicknames

so they could pick & choose..and names that did not spell something weird with the initials..

A friend gave her son her maiden name for his middle ( Underwood).. She thought it made him sound dignified..

his name?

Barry Madison...initials? B-U-M

[freshwest]

11. My kid is kinda like me. Got in trouble so much wants a different name. Tired of being called...

BTW, at least I made sure nothing funny about the inititals. That was just plain thoughtless.

[charlie and algernon]

34. my initials spell out a word too

though I'm the one who usually points it out to people, haha!

[ceile]

12. No kids yet, but will be using family names when the time comes.

I have German and Irish grandmothers so first girl is "Helene Marie" first boy "Ross Franklin". Not crazy about "Ross", but I guess hubby has to have some say in it. I'd prefer a "William" or "Richard" ;-)
I have neices named Haley, Madison and Brianna. Yes, their moms are young.

[SoCalDem]

14. I love looking at the old names from my family tree (mother's side)

http://www.mccabeclan.com/trainor.htm

[ceile]

15. Love the names Eleanor and Catherine

Proper names, they are. :)

[SoCalDem]

16. and Elizabeth too

My friend's grand-daughters are named Sylvia & Sophia

[7wo7rees]

13. Former Guv of Texas Big Jim Hogg named his daughter "Ima".

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

He named their ostriches Jack and Jill.

[freshwest]

41. Yeah, I always thought that was a big cruel. But she lived well and was a nature lover...

I visited her place on the Azalea Trail in River Oaks. I always liked to bicycle through that neighborhood, loved the live oaks there. Things have changed a lot there and in Montrose last time I was there. There were some beautiful native plant collections there. I used the River Oaks garden book to make sure I did things right at my place. Great climate for growing.

[rurallib]

17. some people call me a mother - I think we would use the same names

they were somewhat different, but the names were picked for special reasons.
Erin
Autumn

[ScreamingMeemie]

18. My son's name is old (James) so I'd leave it. My daughter, on the other hand,

I named after Nikki Sixx... so I might be persuaded to change it.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

19. family names from previous generations.

[Inspired]

20. Self delete

[Lilyhoney]

21. I found my son's name here on DU

I was quite surprised to discover I was going to be a 37 year old first time mom.

I spent time looking through 16 generations of my husbands family names. I looked at the past 100 years of names in the census data base.

I found my son's name here on DU!!! Someone posted a list of what different cultures throughout time have called a particular day of celebration. As I read the list, I saw a word that caught my eye. I googled it. To my surprise, I really liked where the word originated, what it means and how it is celebrated.

I am sorry for being cryptic, but the name is unique. While at the ultrasound visit, we were assured the pregnancy would yield a male offspring. My husband (technophile) was on-line registering the .com domain name for our unborn son before the visit was over.

I was named after my mother, so I know what it is like to have to ask "which lilyhoney did you want to speak to?". Also I have to tell people that I spell mine with a Y and not an I.

Yes, I do have to repeat my son's name and spell it for some. I understand and am not bothered by this. I love his name. Also it is not a name you can shorten and add a y to to make the ee sound.

Baby-lilyhoney just took his first steps yesterday, so I guess he is now toddler-lilyhoney.

If we were having a girl, she would have been Eleanor.

I am loving being an older mom.

Lilyhoney

[Capn Sunshine]

23. Yes, how is little forkboy?

:)

[hedgehog]

22. Not going to name names here, but at a recent family funeral,

it was interesting to go through the cousins on both sides of the family and see how the same names kept recurring generation by generation. There are several that I've heard only within my extended family. My brother said he'd never name a child "X" because all the persons named "X"in our family had a tough life!

[Manifestor_of_Light]

24. I should have hyphenated my daughter's last name

So I could have thrown in "Dorian Gray".

:rofl:

i told her to read Oscar Wilde, and she did.

[solara]

26. At one time I thought that if I had fraternal twins (a boy and a girl) I might

name them Crayon and Crayola

:evilgrin:

[Arctic Dave]

27. We named our daughter Azure.

If we had a boy we thought of the name Pierce.

Over the years I think I have met four, maybe five other Azure's.

She was named after the blue skies and seas while I was leaving Hawaii on my way to the Persian Gulf.

[JVS]

28. Too much effort. Use a saints day calender.

[pink-o]

30. No kids. And at 56, it's too late to think of baby names!

However, when I was young I loved Alexis and Christina for girls. That was before they were ubiquitous. Thank God I never had daughters to saddle them with such common monnikers!

[dawg]

31. I'm a DU Dad, but I would go with one of the classics.

I don't like names that are too unique or trendy.

[charlie and algernon]

35. I'm still single with no kids yet and I would go with the classics as well

I hate most of the trendy names out there, especially the ones that substitute all the i's with y's.

[AngryAmish]

32. There was a bad run of Caitlin a few years back

I always loved that name. Now it is ruined for a generation.

[RedCloud]

33. No mom here but I always name the kids!

I wanted to call my son "Hercules" but Mrs. Red Cloud would have none of it. How did she know I would use it to my advantage, "For I, father of Hercules, have spoken!"?

I use Greek classics and they get accepted.

If you meant what would I rename those kids today?

#1 Learn your lesson now!
#2 My replacement!
#3 Hercules!

[cyberswede]

36. I'm "oldish" but our kids are 8 and 10

We have a boy and a girl, and they both have family names (one after my brother, the other after my husband's sister). The names aren't rare, but they're not too common in the kids' age group. I'm glad neither one has any classmates with the same name. I run into adults with both their names fairly regularly.

Here's a link to a naming trends website - it's interactive and very cool!
http://www.babynamewizard.com/voyager#

Our son's name was rare until the 1950s, then shoots up to the top 15 in the 1960s, then drops back down to where it's not used much now.

Our daughter's name was in the top 25 girls names from the 1880s to the 1930s, then dropped off sharply - now it's hardly used.

[MilesColtrane]

37. Not a mom, but If I had four kids, I'd name them...

April, Tax, Dee, and Duction.

[sinkingfeeling]

38. Mis-take and Not Now.

[Arkansas Granny]

39. I'd use the same names or similar names. We considered how the kids

names would sound on a adult when we were choosing. I've known some kids with what I consider to be unfortunate names. If they sound silly now, how will they sound later? A few little girls I've known have been saddled with names that sound like strippers or porn stars (Crystal Chanda Leer, for example).

[SoCalDem]

40. I went to grade school with a Barry Berry

and a Tommy Tucker.. When we were learning cursive, people always "customized" his last name as his paper got passed forward.. the teacher finally put him in the front row:)

My friend's mother named her identical triplets.. Donnie, Lonnie & Johnnie

[LibertyLover]

42. My family and my husband's used the same small set of female names

so that when we were in the process of adopting our daughter we had some interesting discussions about names. I really wanted to name her Kathleen after my favorite aunt, but his daughter from his first marriage was named Kathleen, so that was out. His mom and sister are Mary, I'm a Mary and I have a bunch of relatives with some variant of Mary, so that was out. Finally we got out some of my name books (I'm a herald in the SCA, so I have a lot of name books) and started plowing through them. We finally agreed on a nice Welsh name - Bethan. Needless to say, most people around where we live corrupt it either to Beth Ann or Bethany. We have given her permission to correct anyone she cares to, adults included, provided that she does so politely. I sort of wish that I had gone with a name that was more Irish Gaelic, but Bethan works.

[LiberalEsto]

44. Debt and Deficit nt

[raccoon]

45. Arabella, Octavia, Horatio, Percy. nt

[frogmarch]

46. Puritan names, after our ancestors

My sons would be Experience and Perseverance (Perry and Percy as nicknames? Hmmm...)

My daughter would be Prosper.

Not really. I like my kids’ names just as they are.