Girl names

[kryscat]

Discuss.

(Yes, I've seen http://babynamewizard.com/namevoyager/lnv0105.html and http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/)

Comments

[agntprovocateur.livejournal.com]

lol! i'm not sure i should answer since my kid's named after an animal.

my two best friends named their boys: peregrine (after the falcon, peri for short) and blixa (after mr. bargeld)

i originally wanted "blixa" for a girl's name. but sarah e took it because she had a kid first. also liked "asche" for either a boy or a girl. my sis gave her second kid the middle name of "piper", which i love. and my kid's middle name is aster. I originally, i wanted aastrid, but my ex thought it was too nordic. basically means the same thing, star or light.

we're not normal!

[cypherpunk95.livejournal.com]

Hmm... Where on the Britney...Michelle...Darlene...Death spectrum are you aiming? :-)

[kryscat]

I think we're looking for something a bit unusual but not torment-worthy. Rob wants no family names (we're both named after parents). I dunno. Something somewhat myth-related? Or something "ethnic" from one of our backgrounds? (Polish, German, Ukrainian, Italian, Catalan, Lebanese on my side and Irish, Scottish, English, Norwegian, Danish on his side doesn't narrow things down too much.) Or something else entirely...

[ariyanakylstram.livejournal.com]

Literary names I like:

From Dickens:
Arabella
Estella
Lillian
Madeline
Rose (or Rosa)
Violet

From Shakespeare:
Bianca
Cymbeline
Helena
Iris
Valeria
Viola

...and then there are the Gashleycrumb tinies...
; >

[threadwalker.livejournal.com]

nice collection

[threadwalker.livejournal.com]

there's various baby-name searches that give you the ethnic origen and meaning of the name. I used to have a book I used for naming characters, but I resorted to the internet when I lost it. I think some of the searches you can search by ethnicity. Lost the links, but I suspect you could find it.

[mcalamari.livejournal.com]

Sophia / Sophie

It is simply a good German, Polish, or Italian name. Though it means wisom, all the Sophie's I've met have been more fun loving and outgoing, though not the absolute visible center of attention types.

It is not unusual though ... however, as a Michael, there are actually some serious advantages to having a common as dirt name, people either remember me at Mike or Mark, and I got attention in school because nobody would forget my name. My friends with really unusual names are constantly bypassed professionally when it comes time for credit / acknowledgements because who wants to make a mistake! :(

[eviladmin.livejournal.com]

Just make sure it doesn't feed into my law practice :-)

[chimerically.livejournal.com]

As said over on rebbyrib's blog:

My parents named both my sister and me before they knew what our sex was - so we both have gender-neutral names (though gender-neutral names, interestingly, tend to become feminized over time - look up names like Morgan, Kelly, Lauren, Alexis, Ashley, Leslie, Lindsey/Lindsay, Kerry, Robin, Leslie, Kris, Courtney, Ariel, Jordan, Alexis, Dana, Avery, etc. on the name voyager to see what I mean). Anyway, when I was little I wished I had a more feminine name like Megan, but since then I've found my ambiguous name very useful, especially in a male-heavy field like computer science. (I experience a certain peverse satisfaction upon meeting someone who clearly expected me to be male ...)

My name is easy to spell, but my three best high-school friends all had unconventional names that always needed to be spelled out, and they hated it. Or Siobhan - spelling and pronunciation is out the window. :~) I have a good friend named Clio (pronounced Cl-eye-oh) who has trouble too, though I really like her name (and her sister Zoë's, too).

For some reason I like the Welsh name Llewelyn, though *that* one would be a bitch to spell right. :~)

You could always find a good long list of gender-neutral names and just see if anything jumps out. For the record, I've met slightly more male Morgans than female, but I think that has a lot to do with my generation (since the surge of female Morgans has been in the last ten years). :~) Good luck with it all - it'd be a very difficult decision for me, too!

[chimerically.livejournal.com]

er, whoops, that should be rebbyribs's blog :~)

[yosh.livejournal.com]

Galadriel

[fanlain.livejournal.com]

all i'm thinking is that i met a woman named clyde today and what does that mean for bonnie?!

[threadwalker.livejournal.com]

I notice the old-fashionedness of both sides of my family of this generation: Edith, Ben, Clara, Hugh, Mary, Emma, and Kate. All were most popular in the 1880's (though the last two sisters have names that are popular again). Hmmm. That's what happens when the family is into geneology and wants to name their kids after their great grandparents.

[threadwalker.livejournal.com]

will think on girl names. I think the sound and especially the meaning are more important than the popularity (though naturally you won't want them lost in a sea of, for example Heathers). I would wait to meet the kid before making a final choice.

[naturalborn.livejournal.com]

Me and the wife had a lot of long discussions about that one. We were going to name the spawn Kinea if it was a girl, but it's a boy. The more common name we were thinking of first is Kagami.

[rebbyribs.livejournal.com]

Well, you probably saw my post earlier. I'd tend to go for something that's traditional but not too popular right now. And maybe something more modern or unusual as a middle name if you really like it. I guess I think that if she ends up going into politics, academics, or business, people are more likely to have a good first impression of a traditional name. And if she wants something more unusual she could take that name for herself or as a nickname.

[kitsunebeast.livejournal.com]

Hey there, you don't know me but threadwalker pointed me your way in her journal. The Husband and I have a young one, and it was mentioned that you were trying to sort through the Wild and Crazy world of overpriced plastic baby devices. So, hope this helps.

This post (http://urbanmamas.typepad.com/urbanmamas/2006/03/coulda_shoulda_.html) on UrbanMammas had a pretty good list as far as we were concerned. I find I mostly agree with their list, but needed the bouncy seat (it was the only way I got a shower in for the fist 6 months or so). It seems important to note, however, that as much as we can try and make a general list of what was needed and what seems to be a racket for overpriced plastic, these things are highly personal. For example, while I consider the travel diaper-wipe warmer the height of taking advantage, a friend who has worked as a Nanny for years swears by the devices.

For helpful books, I've been giving friends' copies of The Happiest Baby on the Block (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0553381466/sr=8-2/qid=1147726432/ref=pd_bbs_2/102-5760982-4464108?%5Fencoding=UTF8), because it worked for me and helped the baby sleep. Sleep is what new parents really wish they had, and this is the closest I can find to being able to do that. The Poo Bomb: True Tales of Parental Terror (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0740750453/qid=1147726532/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/102-5760982-4464108?s=books&v=glance&n=283155) is a great read for those long, sleep-deprived nights despite the bad title. It's basically the author's blog in book form, which you can read a bit of here (http://www.ironycentral.com/babymain.html).

And so the onslaught of unsolicited parental advice begins (AKA "Drive-by Parenting"). Hope this was at least somewhat useful, and best of luck with the small person. :)