I like to think of myself as somewhat of a naming expert. That’s because I was able to pick two names for my girls weird enough so that very few people choose to use them, but not too weird where everyone thinks I’m a monster for giving my children such outlandish names. Others would disagree, of course.
“Mazzy? That’s a nickname, right?”
“No, it’s not.”
“Oh. Why would you name an adorable baby such a strange name?”
That was an actual conversation I had with a woman in an airport when Mazzy was about three months old. A total stranger thought it was okay to criticize my name choice.
NOT COOL, STRANGER.
There are few things that generate as much outrage as poorly named children. Great Aunts, in-laws, next-door neighbors, random Facebook acquaintances you never should have friended in the first place all think it’s perfectly okay to publicly mock, criticize and be a general ass about a parent’s choice of name for their new baby.
I can’t even imagine what it’s like for celebrities, when everyone on earth is waiting to hear about their big mistake.
NORTH WEST???? Are they serious?
MAXWELL DREW? Isn’t it a girl?
BEAR BLAZE??? Did Kate Winslet think she was naming a dog?
BODHI RANSOM??? Did Megan Fox give birth to a movie character from the early nineties?
SUMMER RAIN??? Did Christina Aguilera name a child or a new deodorant scent?
ESMERALDA AMADA??? Are Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes trying to create the next Disney villain?
You know what? Those are all fine names and people should leave poor Megan Fox alone (currently sitting at the top of BabyCenter’s Worst Celebrity Names of 2014). Megan has to deal with people mocking her for marrying David Silver the rest of her life. ISN’T THAT ENOUGH?
Maybe Kim Kardashian saw how Mason and Penelope became the country’s most popular names just by virtue of Kourtney picking them for her kids and wanted to choose something odd so it would stay original. I can’t fault her for that.
The whole reason I named my second child Harlow instead of Harper is because I saw Harper’s popularity rising too dramatically for my taste. In fact, the first thing I checked when BabyCenter came out with their Most Popular Baby Names in 2014 was that Harlow did not make the list.
She did not. PHEW.
I like weird names. I don’t care if they are made up or better suited to pets or common words for fruits and vegetables. I’m not a huge fan of Apple but I have always loved Plum. If not for a first name, than a middle name.
Harlow Plum Wiles. HOW CUTE IS THAT? Mike was not on board.
To me, it seems there are two trends going on at once. There are the people who want to name their kids something original and there are the people who think naming your kid something original is an exercise in narcissism and a huge disservice to your child.
William (as in the future King of England)— now that’s a solid name, they say.
Briar Rose (new daughter of Rachel Bilson and Hayden Christensen)— old fashioned and beautiful.
Charlie— everybody’s friend!
Wait. Charlie is a girl? Is it short for Charlotte?
No.
Oh, forget it then.
Wouldn’t life be boring if everyone picked a solid well-known moniker? My husband’s name is Michael. Every one of his college friends is also named Michael. I don’t know if the Mikes gravitated together intentionally or not, but that’s what we call them— THE MIKES. We can’t even refer to any of them by name and know who we are talking about.
Now that Mike is out of college, you know who he has to contend with? My brother-in-law. Also named Mike. We call him Mikey to differentiate. Mikey hates it.
Of course, some celebrities take the need for an original baby name too far and chose monikers with the intention of being mocked. I mean, how else do you explain Moxie Crimefighter (daughter of Penn Teller), Audio Science (son of Shannyn Sossamon), and Pilot Inspecktor (son of Jason Lee)? Is it really fair to determine these kids’ lots in life when they are just born? What if Pilot Inspecktor wants to become a librarian? Or Moxie Crimefighter lives her life as a couch potato? What if Tu Morrow (daughter of Jason Morrow) wants to live her life in the present tense?! WHAT THEN?
Not to mention, poor poor kid, I mean Kyd (son of Tea Leoni and David Duchovney).
I get it. It’s fun to make fun of celebrity names, but let’s not pretend any of us are any better at this process than anybody else. You have to get your spouse to agree with your choice for one. That is no easy task.
Just for fun, I tried the Celebrity Baby Name Generator to see how I would have named my baby if I wanted her to land the cover of People magazine.
Not bad. I can dig it. Let’s see what happens if I plug in my husband’s information…
Ugh. It’s a good thing we don’t make millions in Hollywood. This might be grounds for divorce.
In all seriousness, I commend odd choices. I gave my kids weird(ish) names and I come from a long line of weird(ish) names. Ilana was much less common when I was growing up than it is today. My sister’s name is Myriah and this was way before Mariah Carey’s rise to fame. My mom is Adela, pre-Adele. My late grandmother was Minna (nickname Minnie), about ten years before Minnie Mouse.
When I was ten, having an original name was not considered trendy. I wanted a name I could find on one of those rainbow stickers or a big pencil at the airport. But I grew into my name and learned to love it. My name is one of the things that always makes me feel a little bit more interesting. It requires an explanation. I was named after my grandfather Irving— there are not a lot of I-names, you know.
I would like everyone to go on naming their kids original things. Screw the people that think “made-up” names are stupid. Someone was named Sam at one point and it was the first Sam. Maybe Sam was the son of a well-known cobbler, the most famous cobbler in the whole town and everybody thought— who does this cobbler think he is, naming a child SAM??? You can’t just invent names out of thin air!
I say embrace the odd name, even the Pilot Inspecktors and the Diva Muffins (daughter of Frank Zappa). They add some much needed variety.
Look at Sophia. Twenty-five years ago Sophia was best known as the eldest Golden Girl and now, here she is— the most popular baby name of 2014.
I can’t wait for Mazzy to meet THE SOPHIAS in college.
For the next few weeks, I am partnering with BabyCenter to offer a baby naming service on the Mommy Shorts facebook page. If you are pregnant and need a girl’s name that starts with a “B” or a boy’s name that works with the last name Weiner or you just want to find one name ANY NAME you and your spouse can agree on, give me the details of your naming conundrum. I’ll pick a few of my favorites and crowd source name suggestions. We’ll use BabyCenter’s Most Popular Names of 2014, Baby Names 2014: Winners and Losers and Quirky & Unusual Names for reference. Or, you can also check out the hottest naming trends for 2015.
Uh-oh. Looks like Harlow is on the rise.
CRAP.
It’s Kourtney, not Khloe. Yes, I know I am SUPER lame for knowing that.
You’re not alone, I was about to comment the same thing.
Well, that’s just embarrassing. It would be less embarrassing if I actually didn’t know it was Kourtney and could claim that I don’t know anything about the Kardashians because I am too busy doing important things like reading the Science section of the Times. But that is not the case. I do know it is Kourtney. I just had a brain fart.
Fixed.
My husband shares a name with a famous basketball player. He hates basketball and gets tired of people saying, “Heyyyyyyy man! Great game last night.” Everyone thinks they’re original.
My name is Kayris. I hated it as a child because I was shy and no one could say it right and I hated speaking up to correct people. Even so, hubby’s grandmother called me the wrong name for 13 years. I like not being one of a thousand Jennifer’s now, but I still fill out paperwork including my very feminine middle name because office people aren’t always sure, based on my first name, what my gender is.
I think people should name their kids whatever they want. Someone will always be critical no matter what.
I’m one of a thousand Jennifers. It’s a running joke at our school, we always have new parents around and we tell them that if they forget someone’s name to just go with Jennifer because it’s probably right.
Mike Doughty’s 27 Jennifers! Great song 🙂
I got Billie Star for my daughter, which is MUCH better than my husband’s input which got Fanny Delight.
Mazzy is a wired named so us Harlow
Verona Sparkle here now along with my daughter Pippi Monet. LOL!
My son’s name is Jack Alastor, because Jack was the only first name we could agree on. My husband wanted Magnus. I wanted a variety of different names. Sometimes I wish I had suggested Wolf, and sometimes I wish we’d named him Jack Danger. But he is so clearly a “Jack” I know what I’ll name a daughter. Another boy name is just impossible to come up with right now…
My sons name is Magnus, I love it. Jack was our 2nd pick. The only 2 names we could agree on actually.
Haha, our second son is a Jack, too, because it was the only name we could agree on.
Our older son is Fox, which has a family meaning for us, but too many people think we are XFiles fans.
Our little guys name is awesome, strong, and different! We get compliments all the time on the name… not sure if I want to share it and have it become popular! We like long names that can be shortened (we don’t shorten it, but when he grows up and if he wants to shorten it, he can). We also like to make sure it sounds great when saying “all rise for the honorable judge xyz… “etc.!
The name is also certainly better than what my husband wanted – Angus (sorry to all the Anguses out there!).
I like names that can be shortened when they are older if they choose also. 🙂 I call my girls by their whole names but I know that my oldest daughter goes by a nickname at school most of the time.
So funny because my long name is only used by relatives and old teachers, so I made sure our kids have names that can’t be shortened. Of course they have nicknames, but that’s different.
I had a one night stand with an Australian named Angus. Ah….memories
Our goal naming our girls: my husband said “normal, not weird” and I said “uncommon” (you should know, I’m a Jennifer from 1980…uncommon was SUPER important to me!). We ended up with Jillian and Allyson. Names you’ve heard before but not names you hear every day 🙂 Unfortunately Allyson (and it’s various spellings) seems to be on the rise and there are 2 other Allyson’s in her grade. But I still LOVE their names!
I was one of 6 Christines in college! I swore I’d never do that to my kids.
Mazzy’s name suits her. Energetic, original and with flare. And as soon as I heard the name Harlow (from you, don’t worry) I thought – that’s lovely! Why isn’t that one used more?
I love my Cohan, Camden, and Cyver (beginning pronounced like cayenne pepper) I made Cyver’s name up after seeing the name Iver…it is my favorite of my three boys 🙂 I love your little girls’ names…so playful and fun!
With a name like “Evin” I always swore I’d name my kids good solid names like Lynda (I was a Wonder Woman fan) or Katherine. In fact, my middle kid was Katharine Belle so far into my pregnancy with her that my mother had a necklace made for me with Katie-Bell on it. In the end though we went with an unusual but not “weird” name- Marian Harper. Our youngest was Bluebonnet Jack most on my pregnancy but 3 days before she was born, she be me Josey Tucker. Again unusual but not weird. They’ll spend their whole lives correcting peor who think they’re MaryAnn and Josie, but they already have plenty to discuss in therapy, this’ll just be extra fodder.
When we found out we were having a girl I knew exactly what her name was going to be – Gloria Noelle. We call her Glo. I love knowing that she will most likely be the only one with that name. I’m all for unique names.
Too funny – I have a Plum! Elliette Plum. I didn’t get my first choice on her first name, so I totally picked her middle.
The best part is hearing her say it now that she’s 2. Cutest. Ever.
Growing up the only Tressely (basically ever) I enjoyed always knowing it was me someone wanted when I heard “Tressely”. My goal in naming my kids is familiar but uncommon. I love your girls’ names!!
We gave our son a strong traditional name that we had encountered only once or twice in our lives, only to find it end up on the top ten for that year. So my daughter came along and we scrapped the traditional name we’d been holding for her for years and went with something much more hippie-love-childish. People often ask if it’s her real name or her full name, and we proudly say yes. And usually they smile and say it fits her well 🙂
True story: My husband’s name is also Mike. And I wanted to name our now 5 month old daughter Harlow (I’ll admit, I got the name from you). But I couldn’t get my husband on board with it. We ended up naming her Quinn, which I have been ever-so-pleased that it hasn’t yet shown up on any top 100 lists that I’ve seen. I am annoyed, however, that I think of Quinn as 100% girls name, and have learned since she was born that a lot of people associate Quinn with a boy. Can’t win them all.
My mother gave my sister and I what she considered gender nutural names on purpose. She didn’t want anyone to discriminate against us when reading our resume. I’m Mead (I added an e as a teenager) and my sister is Dylan (which is only just starting to be somewhat gender nutural). I’ve had to spell, correct pronunciation and explain my whole life but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I love always knowing its me someone is talking to when they call my name.
I named my daughter Ryla, and I had to ignore everyone who told me it wasn’t normal. I wanted a name no one else would have. And now that you can have just about anything personalized with any name you want, why not? I did give her a more “normal” middle name so she could use it instead if she ends up hating her first name. Ryla Mackenzie.
My daughter is Serenity Meadow. We needed an “M” name for my family’s naming traditions. I suggested Marianne as her middle name. But my husband agreed that Serenity Meadow had the best flow for a name. 🙂 We haven’t had any negative comments about her name. (Thank Goodness)
I loved growing up with an uncommon name! I never had the novelty license plate with my name on it, but that stuff is junk anyway. Hah! I’ve never met another person with my name and I’ve never had to add my last name to differentiate me from another Saushan. And thank goodness I don’t need to use my last name because it’s even weirder and more daunting to pronounce.
I hate when people give you unsolicited advice when it’s all.over. Like you can change a baby’s name after three months? Or “breastfeeding is better for your baby” hey, he’s SIX months old…how do I start nursing now? I just got him to sleep thru the night and you tell me now I should be nursing? How about you shut up and grow a beard, old woman.
I love out of the box but not completely weir kids names- Josephine Grace, Fiona Ashley and Eleanor Rose. although, Eleanor is getting popular. I love your grandmothers name! Just like the abstract painter minna citron.
My name is Eleanor but I’ve always gone by nelly. Growing up I was the Topanga in a sea of Brittany and Ashley. When I was pregnant I was determined to give my daughter a commen name so she wouldn’t be mocked like I had been my whole life. My husband wasn’t on board and he won the battle. We have Kalea (kuh-lay-uh) Xelyn (Suh-lean) Louise. I had a horrible time with people butting in with their oppionions while I was in the naming process and changed her name several times after being driven to tears by some comments and even since then. How could you name your daughter Kalea if you’re not Hawaiian? I will never give my oppionion on a name. And next baby’s name won’t be announced until after they’re born.
We never found out gender and also decided to keep our name choices to ourselves after we had our oldest. It drove everyone crazy, but I hated the constant negative opinions. Plus it was an awesome moment when the older siblings got to tell grandparents not only what their new baby was but to announce the name. It made them feel soooo very important and proud!
I completely agree. I love your girls names. I also like weirdish names though I have no children to use them on. My sister and brother in law use uncommon names that are not used frequently. I was always one of a few Sarahs growing up and wished I had a unique name. My sister used to get mad as a child cause she has a less common name and could never find the personalized items as you mentioned but has gown up to love it.
My husband and I could not agree on a girls name when I was pregnant. He’d “say I ‘like’ it” or, “it’s okayyyyy.” Or the ever frustrating, “I went to high school with a girl named that. I just keep imagining her.”
We finally both fell in love with Hazel (at different times on our own” my sister suggested it to me, and my husband found it in a graphic novel called Saga. We call our daughter Hazel-nut affectionately.
Much to my dismay, shortly after her birth a movie came out with a title character named Hazel. *sigh*
As a Christina, I wanted my daughter to be a little less common.
My entire pregnancy I was positive I was going with Jordynn Makenna. I ended up going with Kylah Jordynn at the last minute. It suits her so well I can’t imagine anything different. However, I had never heard anyone named Kylah and thought I went different but normal…since she was born 7 years ago I’ve met so many Kyla’s :(. But none with the spelling ‘Kylah’ like hers so far!!
We all have unusual names here. My name is Sari Penina and my husbands name is Withman Hafiz. (The poor man went to an all boys highschool with the first name Withman. ) Neither of us every had anything with our name on it. We decided to name our kids something that represented our cultural heritage Latino and Jewish. Our son is Mateo Leon and our daughter is Daliah Ariel. Depending who we talk to people either think their names are common or unusual.
I love Mazzy and Harlow’s names! My nearly 2 year old daughter is River Ali’i. Her father and I fell in love with the name River for a girl (hello, Firefly and Dr. Who!), and we didn’t budge at all, and I let him pick the middle name. Of course lots of people tried to give us “helpful” opinions and other name suggestions, especially dear old MIL, but we get lots of compliments on her name as well. Even MIL came around once River was born, and she fell so in love she didn’t care about the name anymore.
My name is Shannah, rhymes with Hannah. It is NOT Shannon, or Shawna, or Sheena, or any other variation. But Shan-uh. My middle name? Sahri. NOT Shari, but Sahri. Suh-ree.
I hated them growing up but as an adult I have grown to like my name. I prefer Celtic names but my husband was against anything even remotely different sounding (“it’s not professional”) so I had to choose from his list when we had our daughter. We named her Lillian. It was top 25 but not top 10 and I was okay with that, until the report came out and apparently it jumped in popularity last year. But so did all the other names we would have chosen for her. I hope she likes it, I hope there aren’t a billion Lilly’s in her class. If she hates it when she is older because of this I’ll say “Your dad didn’t like the others, they weren’t professional sounding enough”.
I’m pregnant with my second and we are waiting to find out the gender (like with my son). So I need to find 2 names – even harder. My son’s name is Oren which just worked for us in so many ways. It’s a bit more popular in Israel but not too common in the states. My husband is from Mexico (and Jewish) so we try to find a name that can be easily pronounced in English, Spanish, and Hebrew. We also have a hard last name to pronounce (Bielaz – pronounced Bee-el-as). We actually went into the delivery room without a girl name last time (I think we both had strong feelings it was a boy) and it worked in out favor. But this time neither of us have any idea what the gender is and I really don’t want to go into labor without a girl AND boy name. I also love unusual/uncommon names. I have always loved my name – Shaina. There was never another Shaina in my class and it always made me feel special, even as a kid. Also, we use the middle names to name after someone so the first name could be anything! Helllllpppp me!!!
VALERIA (VAL as volcano -air- ia)
Or kerriel (kerr rhymes with tear- ee -al
I am always checking the ‘popular’ baby name lists and so far we’ve been lucky that our kids names have never popped up! If my mother had her way, my kids would have been Peter and Claire!
We had a few “rules” when naming our kids. First- no common names; Second- nothing that could be shortened into a nickname, I wanted their name to be their name, not changed to something else; Third- it had to be succinct, our last name is already a mouthful (Lovelady).
I still love my kid’s names and have never regretted for a minute choosing Tate Alexander and Gemma Ruth! Their middle names are more common but they honor my husband’s love of ancient history (Alexander the Great) and family (my middle name is Ruth, my mother’s middle name was Ruth and my Grandmother’s name was Ruth; 4 generations of Ruth!)
I am totally with you on names not being shortened into anything. I thought long and hard to choose the perfect names for my girls and I’d like them used!
We could have gone a bit more unusual… I like slightly more old-fashioned names. We have a Norah Jo and a Walden Michael – but we call him Wally (middle names are family names). I’ve since encountered a few Nora or Eleanors here and there, and one other Walden…. not too super popular though! 🙂
I have a Tyler Jr., Sienna, and Hunter so I’m not out there with names (although I had to be talked out of naming Hunter Geronimo-actually I let my boyfriend decide the kids’ names which probably ended up as a good thing). I think different names are cool. I can’t stand when people spell common names wrong to try and be edgy, though-I personally feel it comes off as uneducated and trashy. That, and Neveah. I don’t know why but I have serious issues with that name and its popularity. It makes me want to scream.
I chose the name Aidan Ryan for my son in 2008 because I wanted an Irish name to honor my late mother, and I’d never met an Aidan. Plus, the names togethet mean “Fiery little king” and I thought it was cute. I even chose the original spelling to be “nice”
Turns out…most popular name for boys…but with an e instead of an a. I clearly missed the memo. So, not only does everyone have his name, no one spells it his way.
Best intentions!
I hated my name growing up because i ALWAYS got Charlie, and then i hated it even more when that horrible ICarly came on tv. Now that im older with a daughter of my own i made sure i gave her options. Her name is Aurora Emery. If she doesn’t like aurora she came be Rori or Emery. Too bad that sleeping beauty movie came out because my nice creative name is now top 20….dammit.
I had a very common name growing up, but my mom decided to change it up… Ashlee instead of Ashley, middle name Jeanne instead of Jean. Amongst the million Ashley’s I went to school with, it was nice to have a little difference. I did the same with my daughter, Bryn. One ‘n’, not two. My step kids have 3 names, so we went with 3 for our daughter too. Our brood: Emma Leigh Eileen, Elise Cora Lynn, James Wil Harrison, Bryn Lee Elaine. <3 A mixture of new and old.
My given name is Jessica.
I was born in 1990. What was the most popular baby name in 1990?
Jessica.
Being stuck with a name that has belonged to thousands of people before you may indeed be easier on the people you meet, but is gruelingly stagnant for yourself.
How can you feel like an individual when so many people have the exact same name?
One day I found this quote;
“One’s true name should resonate with the sound of their soul.”
That was so uplifting to me! I had never in my life felt like a Jessica, Jessie, or Jess. So I chose a different name for myself…
Doona.
It’s not from anything I was aware of at the time. I just liked the sound! And it fits me so well it makes me proud to be myself. It’s hard for people to understand sometimes when I tell them I picked it myself. But it makes me happy and that’s what matters the most.
I had always LOVED Penelope until it became so popular. While I was pregnant with my daughter the only name anyone could agree on was Ruthe – after my great grandmother. Then all I had to do was wait for everyone else to leave the hospital so I could fill in “Clementine” for her middle name and turn in all the paperwork on my way to the NICU. She was still technically “Baby Girl” for the two months while she was in the hospital anyway, but nobody’s complained since!! (And as a bonus ALL the doctors and nurses remember her by Clementine whenever we go back for another procedure!!)
We have an Ella grace, and Josephine Elizabeth. They were family names, but from a few generations back. At the time they weren’t very popular……
this post resonates with me so much. my name is lymore (pronounced lee-more, not lie-more), which was a VERY popular name in israel in the 70’s, when my parents emigrated to the US. i too always looked around shops for key-chains and stickers and stamps with my name on it. i decided to “change” my name to Lily since that was the closest name i could find. i hated my name for a while growing up, but then as i came into my own, i embraced it and liked that it was different, even if i did always need to correct people. i ended up moving to israel 6 years ago and i still turn my head on the street when i hear someone saying my name. i’m not the Limor (which is the actual transliterated spelling) anymore! so when i named my daughter samara, her dad and i love the name, we didn’t think anything of it. i’d heard it a few times in the US before, but it’s definitely not super popular, which we liked, but here in israel, people think we are crazy! so funny that i ended up doing to my daughter what my parents did to me- growing up in a place where your name just doesn’t quite fit. hopefully she will love it regardless.
My name, Francesca, for me growing up was a pain in regard to buying things with my name on! But. While my name is not common it’s not fully uncommon either. I’ve known a few people growing up who shared the name but it so few that I still felt original. I also hate the nickname Fran and tend to use Chess which I feel helps add to that original feeling.
My partner and I both love original names (he’s a Luke. SO many lukes). As we’re both into video games we’ve been looking at video game names. It’s just agreeing on one we both like!
My daughter’s name is Elfie, as a teacher I know the pain of having 3 other kids named like you in class with you. I really wanted to avoid that but yeah… the grandmas were not impressed with our choice.
Elfie is such a cute name, love it!
My name is not unique, but so uncommonly used as a name that the first time I meet someone else with it she was 15 years younger and it was becoming more popular. However, there was plenty of fodder in musical lyrics (Prince was a favorite) and not to mention feeling like you were being called out every Sunday in church.
Our sons name actually made a list of ‘what not to name your child’ the year he was born. The list makers thought it was a made up name, which it wasn’t. We used the middle name from my husband’s grandfather’s birth certificate which happened to be a typo that was never fixed. Grandpa went by another name his entire life but we loved the little family history quirk it represented.
Now onto naming number two!
Well, I am absolutely obsessed with baby names, so I will definitely be following this. I do think that people expect celebrities to use weird names, so they go on about how CRAZY they are, even when it’s a perfectly normal name. Bodhi, for example, was #810 in 2013- not even outside the top 1000. Not at all crazy.
I would like to point out, however, that baby center isn’t technically the actual popularity of a name – it’s how often the name has been searched. So if people search for, say, Harlow, it will show how often it’s been searched, not how many parents named their babies that. You have to search SSA’s databases for that. (Not sure if anybody else pointed that out, I haven’t read the rest of the comments yet). But I’m excited to read them all!
My 22-month-old daughter is named Asha Perenelle. Asha means truth or hope, depending on the language. Perenelle, I picked up from Nicolas Flamel’s wife. Haha!
I’m hoping to have a baby boy in the future and name him Luca. I can’t think of a suitable second name though.
I love this. I was born in 1986 and have a super popular first name. I work in a department of six people. Three of us are named Katherine (the other two spell it Kathryn. One goes by Katie, one goes by Kathy). I do love my name, even though I know it was trendy as anything, though my parents insist I was named after both their grandmothers (both Catherines).
My son’s name is Maximus. We call him Max, of course. I’m sure there will be another Max or two in his kindergarten class, but I’m thinking there will be many more Jacksons, Masons and Aidens.
I’m a Katherine, too! Born in ’81. I go by ‘Kat’, but I can’t wait until I’m a little older to go by ‘Kitty’. 😉 most people I meet are Catherine, so it’s nice to e a bit different. 🙂
We have a Matteo & a Julian & want a third 🙂
Thinking about Dominic (for a boy) & Lydia (for a girl)
Would love extra input! I’ve become somewhat of a name nerd 🙂
We named our youngest daughter Charlotte (Charlie) Jaymes. My Mother-in-law said “your not really going to have her middle name that, are you?” I was shocked! Everyone has an opinion though.
I’m Erika with a K and that’s been challenging for me, and I always have to spell my name for everyone. My boys are Christopher Alexander (we both liked Alexander a lot, but there were a few in the family already so it became the middle name; nickname is the old-fashioned Kit, which is what sold us on Christopher), Tristan William (just before Tristan became more popular – even for girls??? William is a family name on my husband’s side), Peregrine Thomas (get a lot of questions about this one, but his two older brothers helped pick it out and we loved it; his nickname is Perry), and Aaron Michael (Erin was one of my favorite girls names but we had a 4th boy, so Aaron it was; Michael is also a family name and the only one I was happy with as a middle name to Aaron as we’d already used up most of the boys’ names that we liked).
We named our daughters Lantana Alexandra and Riley Harper – one weird name and one super-popular name (unfortunately I didn’t realize how popular it was until she was born and I heard it EVERYWHERE). Lantana is the name of a flower that we loved, and everyone has an annoying opinion – we call her Lanny or Lou for short. I can’t imagine her having any other name!
Moxie is the daughter of Penn Jillette, not Penn Teller. 🙂
I have a Dylan and a Harper. 🙂 I wanted names for my kids that weren’t too popular and while they are usually in the top 50 they haven’t been inundated with kids with their names, yet…
I was the only Becca in my school and loved it. While it’s not a terribly original name, I was happy I wasn’t one of the Kate’s or Sarah’s or Allison’s that everyone else got confused!
We named our first daughter Liaylah. We got all kinds of criticism about it! But I def wouldn’t change it!!! Had so many people tell us “You know people are going to give her nicknames.” “People aren’t going to use her name” “She won’t be able to spell it” etc etc. It was never ending.
I don’t think my kids names are too different… but my son’s name is Jaxen – and I didn’t spell it that way to be cool or on purpose different but I love the name Jackson but did not want anyone to call him Jack – it doesn’t gel well with our last name. So Jaxen it is! Or you can call him Jax 😉 and it has nothing to do with that show either – I don’t even watch it! I get that a lot too. My daughter is Eliza – not weird but more old fashioned and it’s fits her to a T – she is a little Liza for sure!
My second name Esra was later refurbished for my brother Esran. I didn’t always like my name and changed it during my teenage years to Elly, but later i repended. I really like my name now. Elleke means blessed. It is nearly impossable to say correctly in English. 🙂
My daughter is a offical Esmeralda but we use Esmee for short. Second daughter is named Roos (dutch for Rose ) Eline, and my MIL always uses a the combo to Rosalinde.
1 of a million “Rachel”s here, my mother was the of a million “Ruth”s, so is my MIL, and my grandmother is one of a million “Mary”s, note that both of her brothers married “Mary”s.
I could bore you with the endless arguments my fiance and I have about what to name kids, “Twelve Gauge” was an actual suggestion he came up with for a boy, also “Captain Morgan”. It’s really made me question m6 choice in life partners.
I need this service but deleted my Facebook page a year ago! I am due in 4 weeks and we don’t have a boys name yet (gender unknown) and I really don’t want to make a hospital decision. HELP!
Our boy name this last time around was Rowan…but we ended up with a girl (Mirabelle). Good luck finding a name!
When I was found out I was pregnant and not knowing if it was a boy or girl until 20 weeks, I told my then 10 year old niece she would have to help me pick names. Her choices…Violet for a girl and Rodrigo for a boy. We still don’t know where she came up with them-as we don’t know anyone with either name but I like both names–strong, and just unusual enough to be cool. “It” was Violet until the 20 week sonogram and we knew for sure she was a girl. Never intending to keep the name Violet, although it did kind of grow on me, my step mother had the nerve to say to my sister “She’s not going to really name her Violet is she?” I kind of wanted to after that just for spite. But we ended up with a combo name to honor several family members. JACY for Janis, Janel, Stacy–my mom, sister in law and sister and JC–my husbands father who passed away before we married. As one of a plethora of Michelle’s, I applaud being different!
I HATED my name growing up as a kid in the 70s. It embarrassed me. Honestly, looking back, I think I hated it and felt embarrassed because of the way people acted when I told them my name. Almost never did someone not react or ask if it was my “real” name…almost never did someone say “oh that is cute” or “what a unique name!” As I have gotten older, I’ve learned to “own” my name. I’ve grown into and it almost serves me as a badge of honor. People should shut their mouths about other people’s name choices…and never comment to a child about their name…they didn’t choose it and they shouldn’t have to endure your criticism of it. Our daughter is Matilda Rose, named in honor of 2 grandmothers and an aunt and I hope she wears is proudly. I was so happy the day she started saying her own name. Naming a person is an honor and whatever you choose should be respected.
Sorry….Just had to say that it’s Penn Jillette not Penn Teller.
We have the exact same naming philosophy (and I am also married to a Mike!) Harlow was actually our pick if our baby was a girl, and I had started to worry it was becoming too popular. We ended up with a boy, and his name is Hawthorne, which I love because it’s unique but classic.
Love Hawthorne!
Thanks!
I wasn’t brave enough to go for odd names for my kids. My son is Michael (yeah, I know, but it was a family name and one of the ONLY ones my husband and I agreed on). My daughter, however, is Madelynne, spelled differently than every other iteration I’ve seen, because I’m continuing the family tradition of naming girls conventional names with odd spellings. Kristy is apparently more rare than Christy or Kristie, and my poor mother is Vicki rather than Vicky or Vickie. I never got any of those kitschy keychains or stickers as a kid either.
The ONLY boy name we could agree on was Liam (Liam Jack after his great grandfather), and after we finally settled, I finally looked it up as for as popularity. Yea, its been in the top 5 since he was born. We meet other Liam’s EVERYWHERE we go. There will definitely be a group of THE LIAM’s when he is in school. My daughter however is Mirabelle Ruth. It’s not even in the top 1000 names. I definitely hear a lot of “where did that name come from?” with her 🙂 For the record I wanted Claire or Annabelle and was vetoed, so I went searching for another French inspired name and found Mirabelle on a baby name website. I suppose my husbands veto wasn’t a bad thing after all 🙂
I feel like I could have written this blog. My husband and I feel the same way! A child’s name should be unique to that child, I would never want to name my kid something just because it was in the top 25 and rapidly gaining in popularity. On 1/1/15 we welcomed baby #5 into the world; London Joy. She joins big sisters Brooklyn and Persephanie and big brothers Jagger and Raine. We love our kids and there unpopular monikers. And guess what…they like not sharing their names with anyone else in school.
We named our daughter Aislyn (pronounced like maze minus the m + Lynn) we wanted something different but not too weird. Some people don’t like it, but mostly we get compliments. It means dream and we had been dreaming about having a baby for a long time so it seemed appropriate.
My daughters names are Lucy Lemonade and Ruby Doe… we got a lot of hate but we couldn’t care less. They are the perfect names for our perfect girls and if they hate them as they grow older they won’t have to tell anyone what their middle names are. If they really dig them they can choose to go by those names instead.
When you have a kid you can name it whatever you want!
My son’s name is Mason … he was born in 2011 just after the top names of 2011 were announced and Mason was at the top of the list. My husband and I did not know any Masons and that was one of the reason why we liked it. (And for the record, we have yet to meet another Mason … so much for being so popular, right?) Now I don’t consider Mason to be an odd or original name. We still received rude, criticizing comments from family.
I don’t think that is is so much a name issue – but there is some crazy desire to give pregnant woman unwanted, rude “advise.” Whether it be what they wear, what they eat, what they name their babies. People are very critical of pregnant women and parents. It’s like people must believe that to conceive a child you must also have my brain surgically removed. I mean I cannot come up with any other explanation as to why a stranger would come up to me in the super market rub my belly and yell at my for drinking a soda other then I must be brainless!
I loved this! Thank you! While not unusual , we got so much crap from family and strangers alike when naming our daughter Lucy it was just awful. Well we showed them when we named our son Rowdy lol imagine the comments we get now! Both names suit them perfectly and I couldn’t imagine them being called anything else. To each his own!
I grew up in the late-Seventies and Eighties, when most Camerons were boys, or the last name of someone famous in a sitcom. I LOATHED my name until I went off to prep school and embraced being unusually named. The number of people who pronounced it “Cam-er-ON” (instead of “Cam-ren”), asked me if I knew it was a boy’s name, and suggested I marry Kirk so I could be Cameron Cameron was baffling. Also, nothing in stores ever had my name on it. So, what did I do? I named my son Felix. Not weird, but not super-common, and rarely found on personalized merchandise. Apparently, I should have named him Doowop Summertime or Mustang Cashmere. Poor kid. 😉
I have a son named Cameron. I absolutely love his name. Cameron or Cam Man for short is 12 yrs old. He is such a sweet natured child with a heart of gold. He is the old Cameron in his school, boy or girl.
We have two girls, Tenley Alexa Jo and Sloane Elizabeth. I have had several people crack jokes or the infamous ‘those are interesting names’ with a lifted judgmental eyebrow. WTF? SO RUDE. I just hope one day my girls love their names and own the uniqueness. Both their names totally fit their personalities and I couldn’t be happier.
I think its important to pick a name you like and to not criticize other parents for their choices. We have a Sophia because that was the only name we could agree on. The title is patronizing toward other parents who also have a Sophia. 🙁 not cool.
My name is Joey. Like my real name. And I am a girl. My middle name is Blaire. Both so not gender specific. But I love it. I AM a Joey. It suits me. I named my daughter Aubrye. not tooo unusual but not common. I love the name Inez. It was my great grandmothers name and is soooo classic. If I ever have another daughter…
I saw the name Mirabelle up in the comments and I think that is SO cute.
I love Mazzy AND Harlow. Harlow was on my list…but I’ll spare you the comments I got from the grandmothers bc I think it is a beautiful name!!
Whats in a name anyway? Its really about the person!
Even before I got pregnant my husband had a name picked out. It actually took a while for it to grow on me. I was worried it was almost too different, but while I was working people would ask if I had a name picked out. I would tell them and they loved it. Took a bit for my mom to grow to like it.
My daughter’s name is Keeri.
Some of the original spelling includes; Kiri, Kirri, or Kyrie. Didn’t like them, so I changed it.
My husband read it in a book years ago, found the book recently and found the name it it spelled Kerri, which is pronounced more like Kerry.
I like that my daughter has a different name probably won’t often hear. It’s also so cute hearing her 3 nephews call her baby Keeri, which often sounds like baby kiwi.
I am also a mom to a Mazzy…and a Halen (boy) and I often get asked if Mazzy is a nickname. We named our son after my great-grandmother, Helen, and Mazzy after my husband’s grandfather, Marty (I have a brother named Marty, so it needed to be different). For the most part we get pretty positive feedback on our name choices, it’s often generationally driven. I’m happy with their names, the kids (so far) seem to like ’em, so that’s all that matters to me. With so much going on in the world, I think there’s more to worry about that then the moniker folks give their kids — as long as we are helping them become strong, smart, caring and kind individuals – let the Mazzys take over the world!
I Named my first daughter Zeppline after listening to led Zeppelinband we just had our second daughter and named her Halen. The next girl will be Lennon and boys names are Axel (as inaAxel rose) and cash (as in johnny cash). I think I’m going to start saying they have family names, the explinations are too long haha.
Growing up, I never cared for my name because it was so unique. I love it now.
I like old fashioned names. My son’s are named Thomas and Henry. Yeah I hear Henry a little more often but oh well. I liked it enough not to care if it becomes the next big name. I didn’t want to name him something unique just to “stand out.”
I have a 2013 Sophia. It was not my intention to give her the most popular name of the year, but it worked with the middle name I chose to honor my aunt, and I was in love with the name before I found out it was popular. I have a few more years before she starts school, but I’m really hoping there aren’t any more Sophias in this small town. I learned my lesson, and I will check the lists before getting attached to a name.
I also thought of Harper but saw that it was creeping up the name list so I chose Scarlett. Unfortunately that is also now creeping on up 🙁 I can’t win. My husband named his first born Ariel because he believed she would have red hair like he does, but of course she’s a blonde. I love that she’s never met another Ariel though. As for his other children Ayden is extremely popular (their are three others in his class at school with different spelling) and Taylor is fairly common as well. Oh well. I’d say next time, but having his children full time as well as my 4mo I think we have enough!!
We went different too since we have common names. Amy and Bill are as basic as they come. So we have Dalton and Hayley. Both different but now out of place. I love your girl’s names!
Am I the only paranoid mother out there? The Internet and big data scare the crap out of me. It’s the main reason I regret giving my child an unusual name. When paired with her unusual last name, she is the only one of her kind and she will be simple to trace for her whole life. I wish she were a Jane Smith more often than I would like to admit.
I named my first daughter Zoe 5 years ago. There were no Zoe’s around and Zoe was at the bottom of the top 100 names. Fast forward 5 yrs, and there are Zoe’s everywhere. We named our second daughter Maia (My-yuh). We always have to correct people on how to say it because they say May-yuh, or May-ee-yuh.
Our daughter, Elsa, was born ONE MONTH before “Frozen”came out. We had no idea that was going to happen. We chose it because it wasn’t a popular name. In fact, when she was born many people asked how we ended up choosing that name (they weren’t being rude though). Now, depending on the crowd I’m in, I find myself having to explain that she was not named after the movie.
my youngest sons name is Kashan Scott,,Pronounced Kay..shun..i made it up because i didnt want common names. My daughter is Brandy Rosalinda ..was not popular in 85 but it is now. my middle on is richard,,named after his dad but goes by his middle name carlos.
my nieces name is Willow
my son wants to name his son ( if he has one ) Cain Mayhew lol
Being named Marlana (pronounced Mar-lay-nah), I have had issues my whole life with having to correct people on how to say and spell my name. I don’t think it’s a super strange name, and I have known some Marlene’s over the years, but it has been enough of a pain that I knew I never wanted my children to go through the same. So my daughters are Morgan Emily and Macy James, both are not used a lot or strange, which is exactly what I wanted. I love Morgan for a girl’s name and knew that would be the name if we ever had a girl. I think it will fit in well with all the Harper’s, Emma’s and Taylor’s that seem to be common around our area. Macy James, also not unusual, but I don’t think there are a ton of Macy’s. Her middle name, James, is after her grandfather who passed away a year before she was born. My husband and I knew that we would honor him somehow and I just love how her name turned out because of it.
Oh, and I LOVE your girls names! I even tried to convince my husband to use Mazzy for our second daughter.
My daughter is named after 2 relatives. My great grandmother Neva (knee-vah) and my husbands cousin Suzette. Most people when they see her name pronounce it Neh-va-uh or like the word never with an a at the end. (Neh-va). My son is Carsen Levi. I did an E instead of O because it made it look less like a last name! I think they are unique!
I had actually picked the name Mason before the Kardashian girl ruined it by making it popular, but then I ended up having a girl.
My older daughter’s name is far from popular without being weird. Her name is Lana, which, I believe, is in the 500s on the popularity list. I know she will never find her name on any prepersonalized items, but we could always just get her specially personalized items, like my parents would occasionally do for my sister (whose name is Alison, but the popular spelling was Allison, so they never hadn’t spelled right).
My younger daughter, however, probably won’t have any problems finding her name. My older daughter wanted to name her baby sister after Lucy from Charlie Brown. The last time I checked, Lucy was #72…ugh! I had named my younger sister and I just couldn’t deny my excited 4 year old the chance to continue that tradition, so I have Lana Margaret and Lucy Rose (middle names were named after late grandparents).
My oldest is named Christopher. He’s a junior. That was one thing I wanted for my husband if he chose.
Our youngest is named Silas. I liked it bc it was a nice old fashioned name, and not too common. Unfortunately it seems to be on the rise. Most people seem to love this name, and I get tons of compliments for it (is that weird? Complimenting a parent for their kids names?) My grandmother HATES it and refuses to call him by it. She calls in Skipper (??)
I happen to know probably a dozen Chris’s. And my name is Amanda (both super popular names in 1980!) Now, after me, my mom had my sisters: Nobalee and Valene. Wth mom?? Lol
Just to play Devil’s Advocate here, I like creative names, but not ones that are going to mean the kids spend their whole life being either 1) made fun of, or 2) having to spell or correct people.
The first is a problem with every name, and lord knows kids will make fun of anything they want, but no use making it too easy for them. I have a friend who named her daughter Zuzu, which is cute until every person spends her whole life asking if she has her petals. I have a last name that is for some reason impossible for people to pronounce or spell correctly, and that alone drives me crazy. I can only imagine if I had to do that for my first name 5 times a day.
Wow, people have a lot to say about names! My thoughts reading this piece are that Mazzy & Moxie are basically the same in “uncommon-ness” and uniqueness. I like them both. I have a son – Milo – who is 6 & I feel l like I have been seeing/hearing it more often in the last couple of years.
My two year old son is named Grayer! Everytime someone asks his name I have to repeat myself a few times, as people are not used to it. I think it is an amazing name, but we have certainly received criticism for our unusual choice 🙂
My kids are Bellamie Rose and Beckett Robert… Im constantly asked where I came up with the names, are they family names, what’s their origin? Nope not family names, no clue their origin and actually I heard the name Bellamie on a reality show about some interior design family with a bazillion kids. Also I had no intention on my kids having the exact same initials but they do… BRH
I named my oldest in 2008 after my father and it is a super common name (William) that I expected to see everywhere. We’ve called him Billy from day 1 (I can’t stand Will, William is too formal, and Willy is what my mom used to call my brother’s “thing” LOL) and we have yet to come across another Billy in school, sports, etc. I am honestly shocked since there were a million Billy’s in my classes growing up. Sometimes the “common” names aren’t so common with everyone trying to come up with unique ones 🙂 That being said, my 2 other boys are Brayden and Declan so not so common, but true to my Irish roots.
My mother chose JudithAnn, Michaelene and Adrianne. Now mind you this was in the late 50’s and early 60’s. I only knew one Michaelene my entire life but now I am in an office and there are two of us. What are the chances? I named my kids traditional names inspired by family. Jeffrey Jude and Caroline Elizabeth. I cannot imagine either of then having any other name – and now Caroline is expecting her first daughter… Can’t wait to put a name to the “little bean” she’s sprouting!
Now that’s just freaky… We have sons named Jeffrey and Judah, and if this next one is a girl, Elizabeth and Caroline are two of our “final contenders”! Nicely done 🙂 haha!
Ha! my daughter’s name is Sofia. My husband just wanted that name. I got to add Agnese as a middle name (we live in Italy, DH’s 100% italian) because I knew it was already very popular. Since she’s been 2 – she’s 6 now – she only wants to be called Pippa.
I did not make the same mistake with my son although Massimo isn’t very common, Max seems to be on the rise. Luckily his middle name is Jude and he’ll probably come up with some moniker himself.
Hi name twin!
We went with Joshua. I wasn’t super happy with that, because it’s so “normal”, but he’s been the only Joshua in his grade for the past 4 years! Yay for people going non-traditional! His middle name is Mickel (Michael) which is an old family name. I’m glad we didn’t name him D’Artagnan Beck like I wanted. 😉
My son is Gavin Everett. I saw Gavin on a birth announcement board at my OBGYN’s office and Everett is my father and my grandfather’s middle name. My now husband and I were not married at the time and my grandfather was a little upset that Gavin would have his father’s last name so we gave Gav his middle name. If he had been a girl I wanted to name him Marley Louise or Aurora Olivia. Now if we have a girl I would want to name her Charlotte Olivia but with our last name her initials would be COW and I can only imagine the ridicule she would get for that one so it would be Piper Olivia instead. I’m totally screwed if we have another boy cuz I am completely out of boy names.
Try Lawry…..my mom had to be different ….it’s pronounced Lori lol!!
Kiddo got Sebastian just because I love that name always have! He thinks it’s cool not common but common engou
One of MANY MANY of the 70’s Nicoles here!! (Although my mother wanted to get all hippy on me and throw an extra letter in my name – NicHole. So yes, I am different but 1) never found my name on ANYTHING and 2) was forced to correct people’s spelling on EVERYTHING.
And so what did I do? Named my son Lukasz!! It’s a normal name, but we went for a traditional Polish spelling. Will he have to correct people’s spelling? Probably. But when he grows up, he’s free to go by Luke. For now, he’s Lukasz (or Woo-kosh, in Polish!).
I love all the comments on here in support of “weird” names. I named my daughter Jadzia, which is an actual Polish name, but here in the Midwest, I get a lot of, “…what? How do you say that? Jazya? Jadiza? Jazada? Jazda?” and also some tense, uncomfortable, I’m-not-trying-to-be-rude-but-I-think-that’s-an-awful-name moments. It bothers me more than I thought it would, but I still think it suits her perfectly. To me it sounds graceful and fiery. I hope she likes it.