86 Comments

• 1. Katie Bernath  |  January 9th, 2012 at 10:30 pm

  I am 22 weeks prego now and this is our third and most likly last! My first 2 are boys and I assumed this one would be a boy too…i fell in love with the name “charlie”. I am having a girl (yeah!!!) But I will never get to use charlie…tried to get my husband to name her charlie for short but that was a no go!!

• 2. Melissa  |  January 9th, 2012 at 10:54 pm

  Miles
  Theo
  Asa
  Evelyn (Evie!)
  Nora (sob, sob, sob)

  It doesn’t help that I don’t LOVE my almost 4 month old daughter’s name. But, it’s done and I will always mourn not having a Nora.

• 3. Julie  |  January 9th, 2012 at 10:54 pm

  I’m 34 weeks tomorrow with what will prob. be our last baby (already 37, 13 weeks of bedrest and counting etc…) and I gnash my teeth over Jacqueline (my momma’s name), Louise, Claire, Jacob, and the middle name South which has been in my family as a last and then middle name since 1793 but hubby says no way in h-e-double hockey sticks. So this little man will be Jackson Clay. Maybe I’ll get another dog and name it one of these unused names. Great topic.

• 4. Mama Bub  |  January 9th, 2012 at 10:57 pm

  I love that Benjamin made your list of unusable, but loved names, as it is the only boy name we will ever use. Writing that makes me feel like that should make me sad, but no. Two is quite enough, thank you very much.

  Amelia. Lila. SIGH.

  Crew. For a boy. Probably as a middle name. Alas, it’s a noun, and not a particularly well accepted name, although at one point my pregnancy hysteria managed to convince my husband that it wasn’t so bad. I can’t remember the circumstances under which he changed his mind back to sane.

• 5. Michelle  |  January 9th, 2012 at 10:58 pm

  We have a Finn!

  With our baby girl we had a short list, Wren, Tate, and Stella. We knew immediately she wasn’t a Stella (my great great grandma’s name) and we waffled forever between Tate & Wren before settling on Tate. I still love them both though.

• 6. Swistle  |  January 9th, 2012 at 10:59 pm

  I have so many! They change all the time: I’ll get some that will make me CRY because I want to use them so badly—and then I’ll have a dream that I’m pregnant, and I pull out that name and….eh. Guess I didn’t want it after all. Anyway, a few that have caused pain and tears:

  Girls:
  Eliza
  Clara
  Anastasia
  Willemina
  Genevieve
  Annabel
  Clarissa
  Beatrix
  Celeste

  Boys:
  Ian
  Elliot
  Milo
  Everett

• 7. JCF  |  January 9th, 2012 at 11:01 pm

  @Melissa–I’m so excited to see your list! I have a Miles and an Eleanor, nicknamed Nora! I also love Theo and Evelyn…

  We already have three, and may or may not have another, so these names have potential:
  -Julian (love, love, love–if we have another boy, I will totally pull the trump card when he’s born and my husband is feeling all gushy and generous because I’ve just gone through labor and we have a squishy new babe).
  -Ari (husband claims it doesn’t work for a red-headed Irish kid–he’s probably right)
  -Hazel (husband said NO WAY)
  -Alice (he said it reminds him of Alice from The Brady Bunch)
  -Lillian
  -Fiona (terrible with our last name)
  -Maura (rhymes with Nora, which we already have)

  Names that are still on the list in case of another girl:
  -Margot
  -Imogen
  -Anna

• 8. jonniker  |  January 9th, 2012 at 11:05 pm

  Oh JCF! FIONA. Yes. My good friend from way back JUST had a Fiona on FRIDAY and I wept, because I love it.

  Fiona Rubin. No. Also? Eliot. Eli Rubin sounds like a tiny jeweler with a leather satchel.

• 9. meanliving  |  January 9th, 2012 at 11:08 pm

  I’ve got a Finn AND a Jamie–yay! I mourn the opportunity to name a girl. Our second would have been Hope Ryan, which are mine and my husband’s middle names.

  I am distressed not only by the trend of boy names going to the girl side but also good solid names in general going to dogs. I love the name Sadie, Cooper, and Scout all to pieces, but know multiple dogs with those names. I don’t think it would have stopped me naming my second Scout, but the husband nixed it because it’s a girl name. ARGH.

• 10. Portia  |  January 9th, 2012 at 11:13 pm

  Ugh, last names are such a pain, aren’t they? No kids yet, but my boyfriend’s last name rules out lots of good first names. It’s Cox. So any color names sound like a sexually transmitted disease (Violet Cox, Rosie Cox), anything that could possibly denote size is out (Max, Minnie, etc.), and some of my favorite names just don’t work with it. I’ve reluctantly had to let Callie go, because Callie Cox sounds like a weird variant of hollyhocks.

• 11. Portia  |  January 9th, 2012 at 11:14 pm

  Not, I should add, that I was considering Minnie as an actual contender.

• 12. jonniker  |  January 9th, 2012 at 11:16 pm

  Meanliving: Sophie is out because it was my sister’s dog’s name. What the HELL, right?

  Portia: I have a friend named Cox! Last name, I mean. I emailed you.

• 13. Jesabes  |  January 9th, 2012 at 11:30 pm

  OF COURSE Michelle Duggar has naming regrets. Think of all the non-J names she didn’t get to use! I bet she looks back and wishes she’d nipped that requirement in the bud.

  Anyway.

  I am six months postpartum and I STILL have fat pregnant-lady face. STILL. I weigh less than I did pre-pregnancy (thanks, puking!), yet my face is definitely fatter. GRR. (I think dehydration has something to do with it. I drink and drink and drink and it apparently still isn’t enough to make up for all the milk leaving my body.)

• 14. Elsha  |  January 9th, 2012 at 11:46 pm

  I definitely have fat pregnant lady face. Unfortunately for me, my face is pretty much the first place I gain weight ALWAYS, pregnancy or otherwise.

  I’m trying to talk my husband into James for this baby! It’s definitely my favorite on the list, but I dated a James in college so my husband isn’t sold. (It wasn’t serious and that’s not the association I make when I hear the name, otherwise I wouldn’t even consider it.)

• 15. Deanna  |  January 9th, 2012 at 11:54 pm

  I regret not fighting harder for Mamie Katherine…I think I could have talked the husband into it if I’d fought harder. Alice, Stella (cousin!), and Willa were also favorites for the always-hypothetical third child.

  A third would have been a girl too, of course, because we NEVER even considered boy names. Though, in my mind, a boy would have been Samuel McClain. Sad!

• 16. craftyashley  |  January 9th, 2012 at 11:58 pm

  I love the James/Jamie one. I could not talk my husband into callin his son Jamie, though. The Hubs is lame.

• 17. Ellbee  |  January 10th, 2012 at 12:06 am

  Ooh! Another one for the Finn bandwagon, although as a side note I’d be interested in what other Finn’s names are short for, if anything, as we went with Phineas and since we didn’t HAVE kids prior to Finn, we were blissfully ignorant of the cultural phenom that is Phineas and Ferb. Sigh.
  So, names. Especially boy’s names, as it took us till the zero hour to pick, since my husband vehemently disliked all my cherished choices:

  Ryker (Danish, awesome, rhymes with our last name, dammit)
  Grayson
  Aaric
  Daynes (my Dad’s name, and my brother BOGARTED it for his daughter’s middle name, dammit)
  Avram
  Lincoln

  I think that’s it for my faves and I’m not saying anything on female names, since we’re currently going through the cycle of “trying for another” and all the insanity that implies, so I’m dreaming of girls’s names and Googling pregnancy symptoms in my spare time.

• 18. Jeanne B  |  January 10th, 2012 at 12:14 am

  Oooh. I LOVE Beckett. Love.

  Since I didn’t have kids before the clock ran out, I saddled my cats with favorite names (Jacob, Tyler, Sam, Zander, and Ophelia, and the late great Vincent).

  I would have loved to have had a Wyatt and a Lillian. And maybe an Emmalyn. Or an Emerson. SIGH

• 19. Cora  |  January 10th, 2012 at 12:54 am

  Finn! Finn! If this baby was a boy, that was the name I was going to fight for but my husband has reservations because of Glee. Stupid Glee!

• 20. Cora  |  January 10th, 2012 at 1:03 am

  I also weep for Cooper. But our last name ends with an “er” and so that cuts out a lot of great names.

  If we have a 3rd (and that’s a REALLY BIG “if”), I don’t know what we’ll do, especially if it’s a boy. We don’t agree on many names…at all. It’s a good thing this little girl’s name had been picked out since before her big brother was even born!

• 21. Jess  |  January 10th, 2012 at 1:14 am

  I love these lists. Especially Callum, naturally. Now I am even more excited to hear this girl’s name!

  (LEAH RUBIN. SO LOVELY.)

• 22. Nothing But Bonfires  |  January 10th, 2012 at 1:22 am

  Oh, but this is wonderful! Because now WE get to use your leftover names! It’s kind of like you just took them to Goodwill or something because you no longer needed them and donated them to people who did. Hurrah!

  (Not like I need them YET, I mean. I’m not trying to tell you something or anything.)

• 23. Amy K  |  January 10th, 2012 at 1:49 am

  I love girl names with great boyish nicknames – yes, like Samantha. And Josephine (Jo!) and Alexandra (Alex or Al!).

• 24. velocibadgergirl  |  January 10th, 2012 at 1:49 am

  I really, really wanted to name my son Tristan. Like, REALLY. My husband shot me down so hard it wasn’t even funny. I love the name we ended up giving him, but I’m still a little wistful over Tristan.

  If our first one had been a girl, we’d have used the perfect name we’re saving in case the second one is a girl. So because we’re only planning on two kids, we’ll never have a second girl named Emma, and that makes me a tiny bit wistful, too, though of course I wouldn’t for a million years trade in my boy to have a second girl.

• 25. Amy (frugan)  |  January 10th, 2012 at 3:09 am

  Tobias and Emmett are on my boy list too.

  Oh, I have so many names that I have to mourn. Mostly because we live in Sweden and Sweden, why do you have to be so annoying and pronounce things differently?!

  We can’t have any J names because they pronounce them like a y. Goodbye Justin (Yustin) and Jamie (Yamie).

  Goodbye, Eliza, my all-time favorite girl’s name. In Sweden they don’t have the z sound so you would be EliSa and that’s just not the same.

  When I was pregnant we were choosing between Sigrid and Nell. I’m glad we went with Sigrid, but at the time I was sad to lose Nell (even if we have another girl, I’d want to start fresh). Then they named the baby in Big Love Nell and I wasn’t so sad anymore.

  Also, I have to admit that I always kind of assumed I’d have the most influence over the name. After all, my husband wasn’t the dork who bought name book in high school. But woah, he had OPINIONS! Like about Marnie, which I think is awesome and he just…doesn’t. Farewell, Marnie.

• 26. jonniker  |  January 10th, 2012 at 8:22 am

  Ellbee: Let’s see, I know a Fintan, a Finnegan, a Finnian (what the hell is THAT?) and two straight-up Finns. The former names are grown-ups, the straight-up Finns are babies. But Finn is, allegedly, a real name in its own right.

  As for Phineas, by the time he’s older, it’ll be out of vogue. That is my hope for the porny-type model named, um, Samantha Brooke.

• 27. Diane  |  January 10th, 2012 at 8:23 am

  This whole topic makes me SO SAD. We were talking on Twitter the other night about the whole James thing, and even though I look at Leo and KNOW he is a Leo, I am so so sad I didn’t name him James. (It’s because of “Sweet Baby James”. Isla was due at the beginning of December, and if she’d been a boy born on the first, she DEFINITELY would have been James. Am nerd over that song. Anyway!) Yesterday we were out for a walk and Isla asked what her name would have been if she was a boy (Leo) which made me think to tell her what *I* wanted to name her: Annika. When I told her, I didn’t think anything of it, but the SECOND I hear the name OUT LOUD, I was so sad. So SO sad. I can see her being my Annika, my Annie. Saying it broke my heart. Alas, my husband didn’t like it. I still love her name, but it was not my FAVORITE.

  Leo was ALWAYS Leo, from the moment I was pregnant, I thought to myself, “Maybe we’ll get our Leo this time.” Like, when we decided to have a third, I honestly felt like LEO was missing from our family. It’s so cheesy. (Though my “just in case the ultrasound is wrong!” girl name for him was Margaret, nickname Maisie. I’m still a little sad I’ll never get to use that one.) In the eleventh hour, I fell in love with the name Dashiell, and OH IT WAS HARD LOVE. Then I remembered our last name and, omg. RHYMING. That was a sad, sad day.

  TL;DR – James, Annika, Margaret/Maisie, Dashiell

• 28. Anne  |  January 10th, 2012 at 8:29 am

  Oh, I’m sad to see Alexa on your list of “left behind” names. I was hoping you’d name this girl Alexa/Alexis and she could be called Alex, mostly because my cousin Sarah has girls named Samantha (goes by Sam) and Alexa (goes by Alex) and they are supercuteawesomesisters. Plus a nice naming combo. (They now also have a third sister named Deanna, who is also lovely.)

• 29. tehamy  |  January 10th, 2012 at 8:38 am

  I adore that fact that Alexander (Xander) is on your list! I’m slightly partial to it myself

  My whole adult life, I have wanted to name a little girl Jordan. It’s my maiden name and I love how it sounds with our last name. It will likely never happen as we are 97% sure that we are done having babies.

  I also am completely in love with the name Max. If I had gotten my way, Xander would have been named Max. My husband was against it though because Max was his imaginary friend growing up.

• 30. Kristin  |  January 10th, 2012 at 8:53 am

  I love Kendall -we named our oldest Kennedy and I regret a tiny bit not going with Kendall! Lauren is another regret but we do have an Addison and I will forever love that name! I also loved Elanor. I also like Bronwyn and Aislyn. There are so many great names out there! Grace will always be a regret for me as well!

• 31. aly  |  January 10th, 2012 at 8:55 am

  i’m 3 months pregnant with our second (and probably last b/c this preganancy? GEH NEVER AGAIN WAAAAH) and there are so many names, but we cannot find any that we agree on. i love love love samantha! alice! sophia! and the husband… doesnt.

  we’re still working. we may be emailing swistle very shortly. these lists are helpful. (i love the boy names alexander and miles. LOVE!)

• 32. mar  |  January 10th, 2012 at 9:20 am

  I think we’ve finally agreed on a boy/girl name, but I’m not so sure I’m cut out for kids (almost 33, clock isn’t ticking yet & don’t want to start popping out kids at 40 either, not that there’s anything wrong with that for other people!)

  So I’m cool with sharing my would-be names:

  Lucian Christopher (his dad’s name) Dashiell-yes, 2 middle names because I don’t “plan” on having 2 boys. Haha!

• 33. SwingCheese  |  January 10th, 2012 at 9:25 am

  Years ago, if I had a little boy, I wanted to name him for my grandfather, James August. Then I had a bad experience with a James and will forever associate that name with a giant douche, and refused to name my little boy THAT. But I still wanted August as a middle name. Alas, my husband is a second, and if we had a little boy, he wanted a third. So we have William Keith III, who goes by Will. (I wanted Liam as a nickname, but when he arrived, he was clearly a Will.) If it had been a girl, we were going to name her Penelope Elaine. Then I discovered one of my friends named her little girl Penelope, so that went out the door (nothing against her and her husband – they are lovely people – but I wouldn’t want to name my child the name of a friend’s child).

  We also know a Finn, whose name is simply Finn (not a nickname).

• 34. Jessie  |  January 10th, 2012 at 9:46 am

  My list of names that will probably never get used is mostly girl names that were contendenders for our first daughter or ruled out because of our last name, including:

  Ruby
  Violet
  Grace
  Chloe
  Isabelle

  I desperately wanted an Eloise, but my husband was against it as a first name. I snuck it in as the middle name for our second (Sophie Eloise) and I’m so glad I did.

  In the off chance that we ever decide to go crazy and have a third kid, mostly in the hopes of having a boy to carry on the family name (because Jones is such a rare name), we have two to choose from, and I’ll be sad for whciever we don’t chose, I’m sure. Our options that we’ve discussed include:

  Alexander Darin
  Nolan Christopher

  I just love them both so much!

• 35. Cherie Beyond  |  January 10th, 2012 at 9:53 am

  We also-ran names for both boy and girl, names that were awesome, names that we really, really loved but that did not fit the particular children. In fact, one of the “pro” arguments constantly on my mind in the “should we have a third child” discussion is that we would have an opportunity to use at least one of those wonderful names.

  That’s sick, isn’t it?

  Sorry, I can’t share publicly as I am superstitious about such things. Because we still MIGHT have a third kid, and then I will have BLOWN IT.

  I am sick. I have an issue, I’m convinced.

• 36. Curly Girl  |  January 10th, 2012 at 10:17 am

  Such an awesome post. I’ll be checking back all day for new comments.

  I am currently devastated because an acquaintance just had a boy and used one of my two favorite names-Asher. TEARS OF SORROW, which my husband, as a male, does not get (it doesn’t help that he was ambivalent to the name).

  Other Boy names: Miles (this is my new favorite) Grayson (I like Grady too, but have a close friend who stated she loves that name before I did, so she gets dibs), Theodore (Theo), Emmett, Tobias, Finn, Graham, Holden, Gabriel, Levi, Noah, Riley, Benjamin, Henry (which, sadly we’ll never use because, though my great-grandfather’s name, it was also, um, my mother’s lover’s name when she cheated on my dad. Awkward).

  Girls: Cordelia, Estella (won’t use, because it won’t really flow with last name or other kids’ names), Leah, Evelyn, Brynn, Delaney, Hannah, Sophia, Lainey, Laurel, Genevive, Julia, Lila, Bailey.

  It’s funny to see other people list names that I love. They are definitely not considered ‘normal’ around here, as evidenced by reactions of some with whom I engaged in name conversations.

• 37. Dawn K.  |  January 10th, 2012 at 10:21 am

  UM, JCF, we are naming twins. For serious! We have an Eleanor, and when we have our next, if it’s a boy, Miles is our planned name. We call our girl Ella, but we chose that name specifically for the numerous nicknames-I love the thought that she could be Nora someday if she wanted.

  Lillian is on our list for girl names, and I may have to add Margot and Hazel. Good suggestions!

• 38. bessie.viola  |  January 10th, 2012 at 10:41 am

  My very favorite name – Madeline Grace – is attached to my only child at the moment. (Her name was a condition of our engagement.)

  However, names I have loved and my husband has refused for future children:
  Benjamin (MY BEN! Oh how I want a little BEN!)
  Nolan
  Logan
  Nora (NORA! LOVE NORA!)

• 39. Life of a Doctor's Wife  |  January 10th, 2012 at 10:54 am

  Oh I love these names! (And this topic!)

  Genevieve is such a favorite – I love it so very much! And Nicholas has long been a favorite for boys, but alas! my high school sweetheart was a Nicholas so my husband would never been okay with it. And Gus! Oh how I love this! I have daydreams about two boys: Sebastian and August. Baz and Gus.

  I can’t wait – CAN’T WAIT! – to hear the name of your new little girl. Names are such fun!

• 40. H  |  January 10th, 2012 at 10:55 am

  Oh man, some of my late 80′s leftover names were poorly chosen in the first place, so I don’t dare mention them. The good news is that I don’t regret those we DID choose. We chose middle names that were family names. We did NOT choose Agnes, Gladys, Zora, Esther and Ethel (all family names) and I don’t regret that either.

  I, like Diane, love Annika but there are several my daughter’s age so it is probably best we didn’t name her that.

  I am still laughing at your comment that Eli Rubin sounds like a tiny jeweler with a leather satchel. That cracks me up!

• 41. Angela (@Aferg22)  |  January 10th, 2012 at 11:16 am

  My husband is James, and goes by Jamie. The only problem with that is he gets called Jim by a lot of people the first time he meets them.

  We have a boy (Jackson), and that was the only boy name we seriously considered. I also love the name Thomas, even thought the amount of Thomas the Train items we have would make the poor kid think we named him after our favorite train! Xavier was also on our list, but maybe as a middle name. My father-in-law joked that we could name a boy Igor Xavier and call him Nine (his initials would be IX).

  I love the name Hannah and Anna with the middle name Elizabeth (family names).

  I can’t wait to hear your daughter’s name!

• 42. Sarah  |  January 10th, 2012 at 11:28 am

  We have two little boys, so I mourn ALL the little girl names I will never get to use. Stella, Sofia, Isabella, Sasha, Anna. Sigh. And then we went and got a male cat – can’t even give him a girly name. He does have a pink collar, though

• 43. JMH  |  January 10th, 2012 at 11:30 am

  I have to giggle at these lists…..Since I have been a teacher for 16 years, there are certain names I would NEVER use since they bring back stressful memories. I had a *very* hard time finding a name for my son for that very reason (BTW, his name is Andrew)

• 44. Rebecca (Bearca)  |  January 10th, 2012 at 12:10 pm

  I have ALLLLLWAYS wanted to name a girl Julian. I love it because it’s an actual legitimate name, but it’s unique because it’s typically used as a boys’ name. But it’s so pretty! I love it.

  Sadly, my husband HATED it and totally vetoed it. Waaah.

• 45. agirlandaboy  |  January 10th, 2012 at 1:12 pm

  I would totally suffer the Shakespeare jokes for a Juliet, but alas, it kind of RHYMES with our last name, so NO.

  I’m also pissed that my SIL stole (STOLE!) Alice for her first’s middle name (it’s my Grandma’s name), but, you know, I just might use it anyway, so there!

• 46. Auntie G  |  January 10th, 2012 at 1:25 pm

  Long time reader, occasional commenter, repeat miscarrier who eventually succeeded and is delighted that you, too, are well on your way! Love this post and COMPLETELY agree.

  We have a Theodore (Theo) and an August (Gus). We lost a Wallace (Wallie) and a Tobias (Toby). So apparently, even with our misfortunes we have our fingers on the pulse of current naming fun! Of course, one could also argue that I named my children after chubby animated rodents…hmm. >;)

  I’ll almost certainly never have an Anne or an Eliza or a Frances or an Arthur or a Miles or an Audrey…ah, well.

  Best wishes on your pregnancy, and I look forward to the name reveal!

• 47. Home Sweet Sarah  |  January 10th, 2012 at 1:41 pm

  Alright, give me Adam’s number; I’ll talk him into Sarah.

  SO TO SPEAK, OMG.

• 48. Josefina  |  January 10th, 2012 at 2:14 pm

  Girls:

  (Like Swistle) Beatrix
  Eugenie
  Elizabeth (for Betty, his grandmother’s name)
  Rose
  Sofia (but a close friend has a Sophia, so unlikely I’d use it)

  All these names sound totally NUTSO with our last name. Really weird. Also, we had boys.

  Boys:

  I have no idea. I had a hard enough time naming my two. If I get knocked up again, maybe I’ll consult you and Swistle.

  I have to add that I LOVE your choice Gus. Also this comments section is so very funny. I’m really enjoying it, and lots of very good names mentioned, too.

• 49. Ris  |  January 10th, 2012 at 2:32 pm

  I love all of those girl names, every single one of them.

• 50. Molly  |  January 10th, 2012 at 2:54 pm

  Congratulations! I have two boys Grady and Brendan, which were my top two names so hooray for getting to use them! I also liked:

  Henry
  Jack
  Wesley (shot down by hubs)
  Parker
  Sean

  And since we don’t have girls I missed out on:

  Elizabeth
  Charlotte
  Cora (grandmother’s name)

  I kind of knew I was having boys before the Big Ultrasound so I didn’t pick too many girl names, lol!

• 51. melaniek  |  January 10th, 2012 at 3:06 pm

  I am done, having an Andrew Michael (Drew) age 6 and Allison Rose (Allie) age 3…. and no there was no intent to do both A names (in fact I kinda thought I was having another boy when I was preggo with Allie–we didn’t find ahead of time— and the boys name was going to be Blake Alexander)… so I do kinda mourn the loss of not having a Blake, and when I was a little girl I always thought if I had a girl she would be Emily but my husband was DEAD set against it due to the popularity of all things Emily, Emma at the time I was preggo.

• 52. Deb  |  January 10th, 2012 at 3:22 pm

  I have suggested some of these to a rather ungrateful pregnant cousin and she insists she won’t be using them, so they are all yours.

  Keeping with Gwyneth Paltrow and her Apple, how about Celery? It’s so nice and fresh and crisp sounding. Or maybe something even a little more unique, like Bok Choy.

  Barnaby
  Viggo
  Thursday
  Persimmon

  Cougar!

  Banjo!

  Anyway. I don’t know why people never go with my suggestions, but there’s more where that came from if you need some more ideas.

• 53. Kate  |  January 10th, 2012 at 3:38 pm

  My naming regrets are two:
  1) Since we’re only having one child, we did not get to use our girl’s name. Had J been a girl, her name would have been Margaret Lane and we would have called her “Maggie.” (Of course, we thought we’d call Jacob “Jake,” but he just seems like a Jacob.)
  2) I should have been more thoughtful about the middle name. Jacob has his paternal grandmother’s maiden name as his middle name, and he has his father’s last name as his last name. This means he has NO NAME FROM MY FAMILY. Why was I such a moron? Do not make the same mistake.
  
  I can’t wait to learn her name!!!!!!
  xo

• 54. Noemi  |  January 10th, 2012 at 4:26 pm

  I’m not sure we’re done, but here are a few I am pretty sure J won’t let me use:
  Clementine
  Plum (I lobbied SO HARD for Olivia’s middle name to be Plum, but NO. Had to go with a FAMILY name)
  Vladimir
  Finn

  I am so very excited to hear what your name is!

• 55. Marie Green  |  January 10th, 2012 at 4:30 pm

  Oh, man, I have a bunch of these too.

  Girls:
  Amelia
  Anya
  Katya
  Beatrix
  Charlotte (sooo close to using this)
  Hazel
  Scout
  Poppy

  … and many many more

  The boys list is not as long as I don’t find boys names as alluring:
  Oliver
  Calvin
  Theo
  Milo or Miles (top pick for 2 of our girls)

  I guess we have similar naming styles as several of the names on your “can’t use” list are the REAL names of me and my girls.

  (HINT: I HAVE A LEAH.)

• 56. HereWeGoAJen  |  January 10th, 2012 at 4:51 pm

  It will not shock you that I like so many of the same names you have on your list. Also, one of my top names that I will never get to use? Samantha.

  Angelina is probably my most regretted not-name. First of all, it’s not quite my style, that other woman ruined it (I totally had it picked out before she was even heard of), and with my last name, it is laughable. But I totally love it anyway, even with all these Can’t Use It reasons. And Evelyn. A close friend stole that one.

  Matt regrets that I will not allow him to name a child Kermit.

• 57. Marie Green  |  January 10th, 2012 at 4:53 pm

  I keep thinking of more!
  Simon!
  Ruby!
  Henry!
  Claire!
  Annika!
  Kendall!
  Carris!
  Emily!
  Harper!
  AEEEEIIIIII! So many names to love and have to leave!

• 58. Danielle  |  January 10th, 2012 at 5:21 pm

  Can we just pause for a moment here and reflect on the fact that I have not one, but two of these names? My middle name is Leah, and I occasionally go by that name.
  My mom wins at naming!

• 59. Jessica  |  January 10th, 2012 at 6:00 pm

  I love hearing baby names! And since I’m currently 17 weeks, it’s perfect timing! We already have one child, Jacob, which I love but it’s the most popular name for the last 10 years! I am hoping that this one is a girl, and our name for her is Elise, although we might name her Bonnie Elise after both our grandmas, but we’ll see. We’d still call her Elise.

  Claire
  Liadan
  Docia
  Olive
  Addison

  Boys:
  Liam
  Graham

• 60. Lucy  |  January 10th, 2012 at 6:20 pm

  Monty for a boy, or Gabriella (Ella) or Esme for a girl!

• 61. Maya  |  January 10th, 2012 at 6:33 pm

  Boy names that will not be used, but I still like, this straight from my ‘baby name file” (yes, am pathetic)

  Jason Christian (or Christopher) – can’t use b/c they are names of near n’ dear…
  -Hyland Hal B- Husb likes it, I…don’t
  -Island Hal B- – as above
  -Smith Hal B- Smith is a family name, his side, Hal is my grandfathers’ (nick) name and I loove it but its also part of my last name…so husband is a little “meh”
  -West Hal – sounds like a store and I just read that direction names are going to be super popular..so..no. Same goes for North.
  -Fynn/Finn: Named my old cat this. Left w/ X. Love the name.
  -Zecker. I don’t know who was on crack for this one.

  So far the only names I DO like are:
  -Dane, Koa, Hal and Drake…

  Girls names that probably will not fly:
  -Sortie, Averie, Iris, Abra, Seaberie, Briony, Bryley, Clementine, Edie,
  Girls names I’m still willing to lobby for or we both like:
  Quinn, Ruby, Fable, Sabra, Eden, Scarlett, Arden, Violet (too popular! darn you, Affleck spawn!) Bea as a middle name (beloved aunt)

  Newest name added to that list: DH likes Jetsun. Its growing on me. Yes, for a girl. He also likes names like Sam(antha) etc aka boy/girl names.

• 62. Carrie (in MN)  |  January 10th, 2012 at 7:10 pm

  I squealed when I saw that you had the name Emmett on your boy’s list – my husband is an Emmett and it is a rare name even here in Irish Catholic-dominated St. Paul, MN. And I have a Katherine called Kate! And I’m a Caroline1 I feel absurdly smug for no good reason.

  I love many many baby names in the abstract but always had a hard time fimding the right one when the time came. That said, I sort of wish I’d named one of my twin girls Fiona. Their brother is a Rory (I’ve just totally outed myself on the interwebs since there are only a handful of Rorys in St. Paul), a good Irish name that I really like. I couldn’t come up with two good Irish girl names when mine were born that weren’t already in use in the family, so I went with decidedly English ones.

• 63. TwoBusy  |  January 11th, 2012 at 8:11 am

  “Tori Spelling Pregnant Lady Face” made me cackle out loud.

• 64. Gaby  |  January 11th, 2012 at 10:52 am

  I feel you on the pregnant lady face, because I too suffer from this plight. I lose my chin within the first trimester, and my nose expands outward throughout the remainder of my pregnancy. Sexy.

  I won’t share my girl name because I still maintain hope that I’ll have a little girl despite the VERY dominant male genes in my husband’s family (7 grandkids; 7 grandsons). But a name I loved for a boy is Shane Patrick. I read it in a book once and fell in love. Shane, just because, and Patrick because it’s a family name. But my husband is oddly anti-S names (no offense to your Sam!), and he shot it down completely. Oh well.

  When this little boy arrives (due in April), he will be given a name I never would’ve imagined naming a child, but a name that I have now fallen in love with. Odd how that works out. I’m just grateful that somehow we’ve ended up with names that are from both sides of our families AND are names that we wouldn’t mind saddling our offspring with–win win!

• 65. Corinne  |  January 11th, 2012 at 11:50 am

  Alas, because we’re not having children I have to abandon both of these:

  Ian Riley
  Ella Katherine

  Last name Roberts…such good Welsh names.

  I am bequeathing them to the universe – it’s easier than actually bearing kids just to name them.

• 66. Megan  |  January 11th, 2012 at 12:16 pm

  I have three boys so that is six names and you’d think I’d be all out of boy names but no, no I’m not. The only thing that would kill me is that we used James as a middle name already so if we did have a 4th boy I’d want to use it so so so badly for a first name (Jamie!) I might die.

  Am I the only one who goes back and forth between her (already named) kids first and middle names and wonder if she did it backwards and should have switched them?

  However

  I already have a William, Thomas and Matthew (how do you judge the other names if you don’t know what you’ve already got? They have to go together!

  Other boys names I would like to have used: Peter, Samuel (love love love), Patrick, Harrison (maybe?…I like Harry), Joshua, Tobias (maybe)

  Oh girl names…

  Elizabeth (Beth!), Ann, Charlotte, Josephine, Cora, Katherine (Katie!), Caroline (with the “line” pronounced with a long i sound), Clara (one of these with Marie or Grace as a middle name). I like the Fiona thing and it goes with our irish last name but there are so many other girl names I would use first I’m not sure I’d get to it.

• 67. Jess  |  January 11th, 2012 at 2:01 pm

  I was all for naming the second one Caleb Daniel, just so we could have a third named Ezra Francis. Because I *adore* the name Ezra. Am told, however that I can’t have all my children’s name end in the same sound.

• 68. jonniker  |  January 11th, 2012 at 2:07 pm

  Yeah, but Jess, you TOTALLY COULD do it for the third, because the second’s does NOT rhyme with Ezra or your first son! (Both of whom have fantastic names, one of which is on my list.)

  Time for a sit down with your wife. (JUST KIDDING, MEG)

• 69. Lawyerish  |  January 11th, 2012 at 4:37 pm

  I don’t have much of a names list anymore, since I feel like I got to use the one name that I REALLY REALLY wanted to use in my heart of hearts. But a few that I love:

  Alice (too many S sounds with our name)
  Annabelle
  Juliet
  Tabitha (I worried that it sounded overdone, but I think it is an adorable name)

  for a boy, we had a very short list, but a few that I liked were

  Tobias (again, can’t use bc of all the S’s)
  Wesley
  James (same deal)

• 70. Erin  |  January 11th, 2012 at 8:19 pm

  Ivy Charlotte. There are 2 reasons I cannot use this name — 1) My husband hates Ivy and is lukewarm on Charlotte, and 2) With our last name (King), her initials would be ICK, and I just don’t feel right about possibly dooming my progeny to years of playground torment.

  I still have hope that I can turn my husband around to Ivy and do a different middle name, but it’s probably a false hope.

• 71. Erin  |  January 11th, 2012 at 8:22 pm

  Also, I think if Michelle Duggar has naming regrets, the primary one is that after she named the first 4 J names, she had kind of locked herself into a theme that she couldn’t break. If you’re going to have 50 kids, I really don’t think you should limit yourself to a single letter of the alphabet. There are so many lovely names out there, why would you stick to just one?

• 72. Suzanne  |  January 11th, 2012 at 9:36 pm

  I also feel extremely smug that I have a Caroline and it’s on your “best of” list. I did a good job!!

  We have both a boy and a girl named picked out for our future hypothetical next 2 children, which is both a huge relief and TERRIBLE because now I don’t get to spend hours picking them out and that’s kind of my favorite part.

  The names I will probably never get to use and weep over are:
  Layla
  Peter
  Liam
  Louisa
  Hazel
  Josephine
  Merin
  Cora
  Patrick

  And the wonderful, magical, beautiful Evangeline – which I can never use because both my husband AND his father AND my son are Evan. Evan, Evan II and Evan III. Stupid legacy name ruining Evangeline.

• 73. Mrs. Wilson  |  January 11th, 2012 at 11:04 pm

  I’m way too lazy to look through all the comments to see if these are duplicates, but here are a couple of my favorites:

  Boys:
  Matthias
  Micah
  Milo (love. LOVE.)
  Israel
  Lucas

  Girls:
  Adalia
  Ireland (this is what my son would have been named had he been a she)
  Kaylie (my 10-year-old)
  Liliana (my four-year-old)
  Madelyn

  Good luck to you!

• 74. sally  |  January 12th, 2012 at 12:15 am

  I’m due around the same time as you and am also having a girl. The funniest part of trying to pick out a girl’s name is that my last name is Hooker…so many names become inappropriate when you add Hooker! Love your list of names – some of yours are also on mine. If only I could force the husband to agree with me that her name should be Sara…

• 75. Amy  |  January 12th, 2012 at 4:05 am

  Given the last name Childs, I am forbidden from using my absolute favorite name, Julia…though I spent a good portion of my pregnancy trying to legitimize it.

• 76. Leah  |  January 12th, 2012 at 4:16 pm

  Wait, why not Leah? I am not partial AT ALL, but really. LEAH RUBIN.

  Other names I randomly enjoy these days:

  Girls:
  Teagan/Tegan
  Jemma
  Nora
  Ruth
  Corrine/Corinne
  Beatrix
  Harper

  Boys:
  Oliver (OLLIE!)
  Riley
  Liam
  Callum
  Theo
  Henry
  Parker
  Graham

  ..I will stop since no children are remotely close to being born and named by me aaaanytime soon.

• 77. Sarah  |  January 12th, 2012 at 11:00 pm

  I’m late to this bit have to chime in. I’ll always be a bit sad I don’t get to meet Grace Daisy, Hope Rose, and Maxwell (max). We also had to rule out Samantha or Samuel because we hoped for two kids and having “Sarah, Scott, Sam, and other” just seemed mean. One kid would match and one would be left out. So we picked Charles(ie) Everett and he’s an only. So we could have been the sugar sweet family of Sarah Scott and Sam.

• 78. pgoodness  |  January 12th, 2012 at 11:06 pm

  Oh, crap. I was smiling while I was reading, nodding along and then you said unusable names and the tears came unexpectedly.

  I’m not having any more babies.

  Megan, Kate for girls
  Boy – Keagan, Teagan, Finn, Parker

• 79. Dr. Maureen  |  January 13th, 2012 at 8:07 am

  I’m a day or two late here, but picking boy names for Ann Marie was IMPOSSIBLE because Andrew doesn’t like ANY. *I* wanted to steal Diane’s and name him Leo, and I also like Milo. You should have heard my mother when I said “Milo.” DEAD SILENCE. Since Andrew had already ruled it out, she admitted she didn’t like it at all. I still do like the boy name we probably would have used, so I have to keep it secret.

  For girls, I love the name Eleanor, but sisters named Eleanor and Nora? No. I also love Frankie, short for Frances, but that’s Nora’s middle name. I did toy with it as a first name though, because FRANKIE. How cute is that? I think Andrew nixed it anyway. He’s such a killjoy.

• 80. G Rogers  |  January 13th, 2012 at 11:05 am

  1990 had too many of the following;
  Jessica
  Lauren
  Hannah
  Riley
  Lindsay
  Katie
  Kara……..so I chose Sally.

  She’s 21 now and she thinks I chose well.

• 81. Sheryl  |  January 13th, 2012 at 1:37 pm

  I have a Caroline. Still love that name.

  My loved, yet unused names:

  Girls: Nora, Eleanor, Charlotte, Claire
  Boys: William (Will), Parker, Henry (Hank)

  My daughter, who is only 14 and is not allowed to have any children for at least another 15 years, has fixed on William (both of my grandfathers) and Parker (my father’s middle name.)

• 82. Sheryl  |  January 13th, 2012 at 1:42 pm

  Oh, @Megan (#66)….my Caroline is with pronounced as LINE and not LYN. However people screw it up all of the time. They say LYN far more often than LINE.

  Funny, too, I thought we picked a name that really didn’t have an obvious nickname, but she is often called Caro. Which totally fits her somehow.

• 83. Daniela  |  January 14th, 2012 at 4:20 pm

  Oooh – I love your names!

  When I found out I was having triplets I thought I would definitely get to use some girl names I wanted …. But alas, triplet boys.

  Girl names:
  Gigi (my favorite movie)
  Julia
  Sonia

  Boy names:
  2 names that husband has rejected for the boys that are coming…
  Owen
  Bennett (whaaaaaa)

• 84. bethany  |  January 15th, 2012 at 12:40 am

  So surprise to see my son’s name mentioned not once, BUT TWICE, in the comments! (It’s Grayson, btw.)

  I’ve always said I would have more children JUST so I could name them, but alas, two kids is how it shall remain.

  If our second would have been a boy – we had that name all picked out: Calvin (husband’s name). We would have called him Cal. LOVE.

  We never really had any other boys names that we liked that much – our choices were set from the beginning.

  But girls names? I could go on for years! Some of my favorites that we didn’t use:

  Reese (I HATED the way I wrote capital Rs; seriously)
  Delany (no go with our last name)
  Addison (call her Addie, but could never do another “son” name)
  Marin (nickname Mari, I STILL regret this one)
  Lauren (LOVE, but just too popular for my taste)
  Laurel (my compromise to Lauren’s popularity, but my husband did like)
  Colette (we’re in no way french, so, no)
  Karenna (too uncommon for my husband)

  I LOVE discussing names. However, we didn’t share our name choice before we had our kids; because I didn’t really want to hear others’ opinions. Well, my family’s opinions anyway.

• 85. Nikki  |  January 15th, 2012 at 12:51 pm

  My husband and I had a boy name nailed down within moments of discussion, so of COURSE we had a girl. It was months of heated discussion. HEATED. We finally narrowed it down to Zoe, Madeline, or Natalie, and decided to choose one when the kid emerged. She was a Natalie–Natalie Jane. But I will never have a Grace (GRACIE!), or an Allison (Allie), or any of the other awesome names my husband completely shot down. Ah, well.

• 86. Mauigirl  |  January 15th, 2012 at 5:34 pm

  I never ended up having either a girl OR a boy, but when I was considering the possibility, if I had a girl I wanted to name her Marilla, after the mother figure in Anne of Green Gables. It would never have happened as my husband hated it!

This blog is protected by Dave's Spam Karma 2: 541603 Spams eaten and counting...