Heard any good baby names in your travels?
 

We're having a baby and looking for unique names. It's probably a girl, but we aren't 100%. Have you heard any place names or people names that were nice?

Have a friend whose new grand baby's name is Cheyenne Rose, which I personally love. My granddaughter is Kiersten LeAnne. Also, just in case I have heard Dalton Lane, Haydn Lee. But the girl next door to me has a very unique name, I think, her mom said everyone commented on how she looked like someone else when they were born so her name is Memory. When is your babe expected, and so far what names are in the running? Let us know what you choose! Congrats by the way.

Why not personalize it so the name has special meaning to you? Before I had my 2nd baby, my husband and I went to Italy. I absolutely fell in love with the Apollo and Dafne sculpture by Bernini; so much so that if little Clay had been a girl he would have been named Daphne (I wasn't going to name him Apollo, though!).

My mother liked the name of the King of Jordan's wife who died shortly before I was born, and so I was named; Alia.

My friend had a daughter and named her Azul.

How about Fodor for a boy and Fodorette for a girl?

What about Sara Kate, Riley Jill or Graham Leigh. I prefer Graham Leigh. A strong name for a girl and in this century she will appreciate it.

When I was working in Pedatrics I heard alot of unique names. One mom was named Edelwiss (sp?) Austria. There was a girl named Edukou, pronounced Ah-do-ku. One mom wanted to name her baby Lizabeth Sally Davis, but didn't want her initals to be LSD. I suggested adding a second middle name, so the baby became Lizabeth Sally Louise Davis.

My friend's name is William Dean Williams. I had lost touch with him and tried to look him up. There are over 200 Will Williams in Texas.

I have names picked out for my future childeren. For girls I have Kjersten (Kersten in Danish) Elizabeth Marie, and Amelie (Emily in French) Grace Jolie. For boys I have Chandler James Andrew, and I'm working on coming up with something to go with Dade.

In my family all my sisters and I have two middle names. I am Jessica Elizabeth Anna. My sisters are Merry Anne Nelson, McKenzie Jolie Ann, and Katherine Stevie Anne.

I've heard more unique names, I just can't remember any right now.

Before you go to obscure with a name, you might just want to read a study done by MIT in which they showed resumes of equally qualified people with similar experience to hiring managers. Overwhelmingly, people with what was seen as more traditional names were given preference over those with unusual names.

Although, with our daughter, we did consider briefly Bellagio as a middle name. The hotel in Vegas has a certain significance with her birth. (Wink, wink.)

Gee, Ryan, aren't you glad you didn't vacation at Circus, Circus?

I know a little girl named Trinity.
Unfortunately, she's a brat!

Good point Patrick. A person with the middle name "Bozo" might have had a hard time being taken seriously.

You just know these kids get beat up at school every day.

Why not a family name?

We're going through baby names too actually. Don't know yet if we're having a boy or girl, but i've heard a few interesting names from various countries. A few of the ones i liked...
Gabriella (Italian i think), Charlotta (also Italian), Chloe (French), Jacqueline (Canadian). There are lists online too. Here's one: http://sheknows.com/inside/Pregnancy...und_the_world/

There was an article in the NYTimes magazine several months ago about trends in baby names. Using place names is one big trend right now (if I recall correctly, <b>Dakota</b> is the current Jennifer/Jason of the 80's). I know a young girl China (can also be spelled Cheyna).

Paris seems to be all over the airways these days.

My grandfather, while in Germany on business, came across the name Anja (pronounced ON-yuh...believe it or not, some buthcer it and pronounce it ANN-juh). He mentioned it to my mother, pregnant with me at the time, and she named me that!

This teacher suggests a more common name... Michael, Isabella, David, Sarah, etc.

BTW Ryan, I know someone with the last name of Bozo. Dick Bozo and Pat Bozo (seriously). Real nice folks too!

P.S. Congrats! We are due in April with our first child, a girl, and plan to name her Riley.

Go w/ a traditional name. &quot;Unique&quot; is what your son/daughter will have to live w/ forever. What is &quot;unique&quot; today (i.e., trendy) may be weird tomorrow. And possibly difficult to spell, pronounce, explain. Kids have enough challenges w/o having to deal w/ a &quot;unique&quot; name.

Okay, I'll bite on this one. I am a Labor &amp; Delivery nurse in the Tampa Bay area. I have seen all sorts of names in the last 10 years. I would give you some simple advice, don't cross the line between unique and bizarre. The most bizarre names come from our patients that seem to be less educated. They drive our medical records clerks insane with the changes that they make in the spelling of the child's name, primarily because they couldn't spell a traditional name like Michael right anyway. As previous posters have stated, the child will have to live the rest of his/her life with this name. Make certain it will be something that will not bring him/her ridicule during the formative years.

highbay, you've reminded me of a student I once had named Mikul. I mentioned what an unusual name, and he replied that it was because his parents couldn't spell Michael.

Highbay - my brother-in-law is a pediatrician who worked in a downtown Phila. hospital during his rotations. He swears he has seen a baby named Placenta and one named Chlymdia. I wonder what Chylmdia's dating life will be like?

I agree with Ryan, Paul and Highbay on their recommendation of a more traditional name. As a Human Resources Professional by trade, I am much more comfortable calling a job applicant for an interview when I can pronounce the name correctly, and even more comfortable when I know by the name whether I will be speaking to &quot;him&quot; or &quot;her&quot; before I call.

Ani, I happen to have a niece named Riley, and now that she is in kindergarten, the other kids in her class sing the &quot;O'Riley Auto Parts&quot; jingle to tease her, and it makes her cry. :-(

My father's family is Hungarian and their are 2 names in the archives that I've always thought very pretty, both for girls: Jolan (pronounced Yo-lahn, version of Julia) and Cornel.

Patrick, you're very funny today! Warming up for the GTG?

Patrick-
For some reason, Michael seems to be the most BUTCHERED traditional name. Glad that I had some back-up on that one! LOL.

Keep in mind that the unusual names will probably also be spelled wrong by others the majority of the time. My name is Kristin, which is not that unusual, but it is almost always misspelled- even in my High School yearbook it is spelled Kristen. It drives me nuts!

Not to mention that to avoid this, when stating my name to others for any written purpose, I always have to follow up with a full spelling.

Please keep in mind how annoying that &quot;unique&quot; name may be for your child for the rest of his/her life... good luck!

Many years ago we picked up a mouring in Jost Van Dyke BVI. This darling girl met us at the docks introducing herself as Kayleigh, Kayli, Kali, Kaylee,?????? Well I never had that daughter, but her name would have been Kali.

A friend who was a teacher came across a new girl in her class named &quot;Female&quot; (she pronounced it fe ma lee). Apparently, her mother (who didn't speak English) gave birth and saw &quot;Female&quot; checked off on the birth certificate, so that became her name.

I hated it until I got to college, but now I am very very glad that my first and middle names are Michelena Mia.... seems like people remember it (or at least they remember that it is a beautiful name). My sister is Vincenzia Marie. They were fun to learn to spell - really!

I am also very very glad that I don't have a more common or easy to pronounce name. I'd rather work somewhere where they look past my name and get into who I am.

Agree you need to be careful to keep in the unique side of srange. I went to elementary school with a girl callled Dollyrollythea - apparenty her mom had heard and liked the name Dorothea but didn't get it exactly right. You can imagine what she went through on the playground.

Christie-sorry to hear about your neice! Luckily, we dont have an O'Riley auto parts around here. But you know what? No matter what name you give your child, traditional or no, other kids are going to find SOME way of making fun of it-so don't pull your hair out trying to come up with a name that kids won't make fun of. IMPOSSIBLE. Little sh*ts ;)

This thread reminded me of a funny website on some of the names people come up with for kids....

http://www.notwithoutmyhandbag.com/babynames/8.html

Biblical names have stood the test of time. If you want to name something with an odd, creative name, do your child a favor and lay it on your dog, cat or goldfish.

Everyone in my family has what I would deem 'unusual' names, not so much for the pronunciation, but the spelling. However, more recently, both mine and my brother's names have become exceedingly 'common'. In terms of spelling, etc, I usually find that people are more likely to remember my name, because they ask for the spelling, and then they can mentally 'picture' the name. I used to hate it, but it's totally grown on me, and I wouldn't give it up for anything. The names are Wavne (female) Jules (male - NOT short for Julian) Kira (female) and Jayden (male - frequently shortened to Jay). P.S. If you REALLY want an unusual name, but are worried about teasing, discrimination, etc, why not consider a traditional first name with a 'unique' middle name/names?

When I was in grade school (many years ago) we had a girl in our class named Kona. She was darling and a nice girl and I always loved the mane since then. I also have a friend named Jana and always loved that name. Never had an daughters tho so didn't get to use either name.

Well, it's one thing to spell (intentionally or not) a child's name differently. I knew a girl in high school named Michael. I will never understand her parents reasons for that. It would be annoying to have people think you are a guy or think that your name is really supposed to be Michelle for your entire life.

I have several friends and coworkers who are into naming their kids after places - Dakota, Brooklyn, Madison. I just can't help it, though, every time they mention the kid's name I automatically think (Brooklyn)Bridge, (Madison)Wisconsin, (Dakota) North or South? I really don't like male sounding names for girls - Graham or Riley - ugh! I think it's important to keep in mind what it will be like for the child growing up with a very unusual name or even a more common name that is spelled a little differently!

I am definately of the traditional school of thought. I like &quot;older&quot; sounding names for kids that will sound right when they are adults. My mother always said that you should pick a name that will sound good if your child grows up to be President of the United States. Somehow, I doubt that first woman president of the US will be named Brittany or Tiffany. I also doubt a guy named Elvis or Vegas would make it either. And while no one in my family has been elected President of the US yet, we all have pretty successful careers. Our names were not a barrier to our success.

As far as places as names, it works when the place has been named after a person. A co-worker named his daughter Helena - a beautiful name in and of itself. But when you know that he picked it because that's where he and his wife grew up and fell in love(Montana) its even more special, especially now that they live in the South. But could you image if they met and fell in love in Butte?

Buffalo, that's funny about &quot;Riley&quot; being too masculine (although I realize it originated as a boys name) b/c I've always wanted to use that name for a girl, but DH and I would hear nothing of it for a boy b/c we think it's wayyyy to feminine.

Director Ron Howard named his kids from where they came from (like Ryan wanted to do). I don't think they're named 'Master Bedroom' or 'Back seat of the Car' but that's what I thought of when I first heard about his naming strategy.

I have a 'common' name. Bullies had no trouble finding a way to taunt me. Heck, the bullies got me on my last name too.

As for spelling, I don't think Phydeaux is a cute version of Fido. And I keep thinking of SanDeE* Sarah Jessica Parker played in that Steve Martin from about 10 years ago.