Question:
I absolutely adore the names that you chose for your children, and I was wondering if you have any names that got away? If so, would you be willing to share? I have to say, I’m always curious what you would name another handful of children! Thanks so much. — Trisha
Answer:
What a fun question, Trisha. I love the phrase you use: the names that got away. That’s perfect. I do have a list. Or at least a couple of little stories. When I was pregnant for the second time, and we’d found out it was a girl, we started chatting about names. I suggested Claire, (which I love!) And Ben started laughing. “Claire Blair?” he asked? Ugh! I hadn’t even thought about the first and last names together! When I realized they formed a full-on rhyme, which I was not okay with, I about burst into tears.
Then, when I was pregnant for the third time, I was positive I was having a boy (I wasn’t), and we starting picking out names. We really liked one of the Blair family names: Charles Sargeant Green, and we planned on naming baby number 3 Charles Sargeant Blair. But baby number 3 turned out to be Olive! And when the next boy arrived (Oscar), Charles Sargeant didn’t feel quite right, so we saved it for a possible future son. Since we’re done having babies, it’s now officially a name-that-got-away.
Other names that have made our short list over the years: Mabel, Maxine, Beatrice and Hazel. But I can’t remember any of our boy names. In general, we’re drawn to the names from our grandparent’s generation. We favor names that are:
-Easy to pronounce
-Easy to spell
-Currently uncommon
-A name with some history — a name our kids will discover as they get to know great books.
As a mental test, whenever we were talking about names, I would imagine my kids as 80-year-olds, sitting at a card table playing canasta. If the name we were considering fit at the table, it got a green light.
And now, I’m so curious I have to ask: Do you have any names that got away too? I’d love to hear them!
P.S. — What if it was illegal to keep your birth name?
I love traditional names. We have used family names for our kids, Josephine and Konrad.
Since I had two boys, I ended up with two girls names that “got away” (yes, we changed names between baby 1 and baby 2). They are Madeline Flora (the middle name was to honor both my husband and my grandmothers who were Flora and Florence) and Hanna Jeanne (My mom, Jeanne, died before either of my children was born). One thing we did also was give both our boys Norwegian middle names – Lars and Nils respectively) in honor of their heritage. Names are serious stuff! We just learned that one of my husband’s cousins used Flora for his baby girl’s middle name – I’m so happy that name will continue after all!
Our first child we named Lillith Wake (first and middle) as we too wanted a name that would be classic and timeless and also uncommon. She is a smart and quirky child who has filled the name quite nicely. Although I wanted to name our second child Oscar, he was destined to be a William (the VII..yes, the seventh)….
We’re currently expecting baby number 2, so baby names have been on my mind for quite some time. Our first was a girl, Harper Adele, and this one will be a boy named Foster, his middle name is still being decided. There are so many names that have gotten away due to our last name, Pond. I always loved the name Lily, but Lily Pond is so, so bad. I never thought we had a difficult last name until we started having babies. Ones that don’t work: Luca (Look a pond), Rowan (rowan a boat on a pond), any name that is also a color, ruby, violet, hazel, and Noah. I know there are more, but can’t seem to think of them right now Names that got vetoed this time by my husband were August and Leo which I still love.
Our daughter has a “grandparent generation” name but when it came to naming our son we decided on “Rocket”. He didn’t stay with us for very long but each and every time I think of his unique name I smile with my whole heart.
I love this post and conversation. I have 3 girls—Briar, Avery, and Finley. I had always imagined I’d have boys, but even still I hadn’t come up with any names. Our second was almost Evan, and had she been a boy she would have been Jasper. The moment she came and they confirmed she was indeed a she, I knew she had to be Avery.
Love your kids’ gorgeous faces in that photo! And can’t fathom how you manage a gaggle of six!
We are due in two weeks with our second boy, and oh, boy names–SO HARD. Our first boy is Conley Monroe–Conley after my beloved grandfather (also my dad’s middle name) and Monroe, a family name on my husband’s side. His name was our only real contender and felt completely natural, even obvious.
Now with this second boy, we feel like we’ve exhausted desirable male family names, but somehow, picking anything else feels so terribly *arbitrary*. (Er, we do have his middle name chosen–Denton–from my husband’s grandfather, we just don’t first-name love it.) So here we are, two weeks out, with a short list of lovely contenders (Abel, Ezra, Henry, Oliver), but none that just make our hearts race with certainty like Conley did. We have major baby name angst!
My names that got away are pretty much names that I love but friends got to them first. I wasn’t quick enough having kids! I’m happy to see my friends kids have them though.
Girls – Olive, Wren, Hattie, Lark and Winter (as a second name)
Boys (this is just because we have girls)- Teddy and Otto
I have a little girl, Lenny Willow. I have always loved Lenny for a girl so it was an easy choice. Sometimes I wish I didn’t use Willow for her second name so that I could use it on our next little girl (I’m 20 weeks pregnant now and have no idea for a name!).
Lenny’s nickname is Whistle. Her dad started calling her Lenny Whistle when she was 6 months old and it just stuck. She even calls herself that now. Nicknames for her nickname are Whist or Whistey.
Mabel and Maxine are my grandmother’s name!..well Mabel is my husband’s grandmother and Maxine is my grandmother. I love old names :)
I am not quite in my baby making phase but I have always love the act of naming something/someone . I received a baby name book for my 16th birthday so I have been thinking about it for a while. I understand the draw of older names but I also love “ettes’/ american presidents/ nature names for girls. My not so short list has been:
Suzette
Odelette
Babette
Nanette
Kennedy
Monroe
Reagan
Iris
Luna
Opal
For boys I like tougher names
Morgan
Larrid
Montgomery
Magnus
I see a lot of people are into “grandparent” names what about even older such as
Andromeda ( Andie)
Ophelia ( Lia)
Wilhelmina (Billy)
Jove
Desdemona (Dessy)
Isis
Hello my name is stephanie my bf name is antonio help me to combined our names together to make my unborn son in name ?????
How about waiting names, that haven’t quite got away yet? ;) I think it’s a womanly thing we love to share, especially with those that appreciate more unique names…. We have our Isabella Marie Jo (Isabella was chosen before it got super popular, but it fits her perfectly and we love multiple middle names. Marie – Family Name, Jo – Mom’s middle name, and family name on both my maternal grandparent’s sides of the family for boys and girls dating back to the first generations in US from Norway and Czechoslovakia – when it was Czechoslovakia that is…)
Sons:
Nikolai Ole Emmanuel Galgerud (Nik for short)
-Nikolai – love the name and meaning; victory of the people, Ole – family name used on husband’s side and my mom’s side from Norway, but more so having pride in our genealogy, means: ancestor’s descendant, we also like Oleg which is holy or blessed…. And Emmanuel is pretty obvious of our beliefs meaning: God is with us.
William Thomas Lee Galgerud (Will for short)
– William Thomas is my Maternal Grandfather’s name and Lee is my Father in Law’s middle name.
Creedence Scott Canaan Galgerud (Cree for short)
– Creedence – from credence; to us means faith. Scott is my Stepfather’s name. Canaan – the promised land of Hebrew’s in the bible.
Daughters:
Roseleigh Lavonna Carolee Galgerud (Rose for short)
– To me Roseleigh means: Rose a lee; Rose away from the wind (metaphorical I guess), Love the name rose and Leigh is the middle name of a good friend of mine… Lavonna – My Grandmother’s Name. Carolee – Carol +Ileen, my deceased maternal grandmother’s first and middle name combined.
Other names I like for girls: Claira, Emmaline, Kay, Francine, Winifred, Ruth, Joy, Annelise, …
I don’t have children, so I name my kitties names I like. My first brother and sister pair were named Vincent and Catherine (RIP) after the latest 1980’s tv show Beauty and the Beast. My current fur babies are Lily Grace and Violet Anne. I have no names that got away, but I love my siblings’ names: Paul, Martin, Timothy, Anne and Candice (my twin).
I have some girl names that got away. The first my fav girl name: Norah. But I had a rhyming problem with a National (Canadian) historical figure (Laura Secord) that would’t work with our last name. Also was about 90% for Molly Mae if my first was a girl then Maya if my second was a girl – Molly just didn’t feel right anymore. Also digging V names for girls.
Used up all my boy names on my two boys but I think Matthew is a classic but underpopular name right now.
My husband and I have extremely different taste in names. He loves what I like to call “Disney” names…with Jasmin being his favorite name ever. I like more modern, unisex names. After months and months of debating we settled on our two girls names, Taylor Grace and Tegan Louise. We decided to give them traditional, mature middle names in case someday they wanted something a tad more feminine. We both love our chosen names, but I had lobbied for a few others I loved including Rowan and Mavis. And I have so many boys names I love…William Christopher is what we would have named our boy if we’d had one, but I also love Zane, Luke, Archer, Indy and Leo.
I love classic names as well. My girls’ names pass the canasta card table playing test as well. Although my vision was: do these names work equally well if my girls decided to go into business or become a rock star? ;)
Claire is my name that got away too! I still love it.
We are also done having babies. We have three sweet boys – ages 3,5,7 now. They are Holden, Jude, Keaton. The names that “got away” for me are Levi (my husband never liked it – I thought it went really well with Jude) and Harper for a girl. I also didn’t know it was popular but love To Kill a Mockingbird and think Harper Lee’s name is beautiful.
We have a boy (William Bradford) and we are about to have our second (Augustus Owen or Wade Wallace) and our last. For girls names (before we knew it was all boys in this house) we had Evelyn (Evie), Vivian, Ruby, and Margaret.
Vivyen, Margaret (Greta is a nickname) and Vada (pronounced VAY-da) were on our list of girls names, alas we have two wonderful boys (Nye and Callahan – both family names).
I really wanted one of our girls (we have three) to be named Violet. Growing up, I had a great aunt Violet (Aunt Vi) who lived with her sister, Beatrice (Mom B). They were great, independent, high spirited ladies who went on a tour of the Holy Lands when they were probably in their 70’s and had pictures of themselves riding a camel. It just never worked out for some reason to use the name, but I still love it. I would just expect such a sassy kid!
Anderson, Claudia and Elsa! Elsa was my grandmothers name and we settled on it being a middle name because my husband thought it sounded old. Now it is everywhere!!!
We ended up with three perfectly named boys … Henry, Walter and Felix …. but I never got to use any of my girls names, sigh ….
Would have been so hard to choose though … Cecily, Frances, Evelyn, Clementine and Blythe.
(I’m determined to get a female cat someday though, just for naming rights, ha!)
When I was pregnant with my son we didn’t want to know the sex so we chose two names. Had our Cole been born a girl, she would have been named Isabella Tiana. We’ve been trying for quite some time for a second child, and we decided long ago that Isabella was for that pregnancy. A new baby would need a new name.
we like historical, european names that also inspire from our family tree. so our daughters are alesia marie {old italian 1st name pronounced “alaysia” and both of my grandmother’s have the same middle name}; and esme juliette {old french 1st name pronounced “ezmay” and my great-aunt’s name is her middle}…. now we are pregnant with #3 but it’ll be a boy this time, and my german husband really wants it to be a german name. this is difficult because, well, to be honest, most german names aren’t that great sounding. luckily we’ve got until july to decide. if we were having a girl these are the names i’d jump at, as they are the ones i still would love to use someday: marcella, and giselle. :)
We have two boys, Jackson and Grey. I originally planned to name my first son Jackson Grey but it immediately made me think of Jackson Brown. We went with Jackson Ryan. For our second son, I still loved Grey (middle name Ronan) but my husband really liked Ryder. We went back and forth for months until I came home to find the nursery set up and the name Grey front and centre on the wall. Truly a heart melting moment!
Oh and for girl’s names, we had chosen Madison and London.
When I was pregnant with my daughter and we still didn’t know the sex of the baby we had several girls names as possibilities but only one boy’s name we really liked. We knew if the baby was a boy, he would be Sebastian Magnus. It was a perfect choice for us since it works in English, French & Spanish.
When we went to my ultrasound and found our we were having a girl we were thrilled but also a little melancholy to say goodbye to Sebastian Magnus…
Now that it’s pretty clear to us we will be a one child family Sebastian is the name that truly got away…
We only had one miracle after nineteen years of marriage. My husband loved the named Madison and I knew I wanted her middle name to be after my beloved grandma, Theresa. So we have a Madison Theresa. She came to us at age 3 and told us that she wants to be called Maddie (which I love). Short names for girls were Dandelion, Bronwyn, and Olivia. With Dandelion, we thought everyone would call her Dandy and Dandy Dunham just did not work for us. The short list for boys were Cullen, Patrick and Christopher. Cullen came off the list after the Twilight books and movies came out.
It’s funny that you say names from our grandparents’ generation. I had a long list of names that I now refer to as my soap opera names. It wasn’t until the passing of my grandmother that I felt the strong pull to a more traditional name. My daughter is named for my maternal grandmother and mother, and my son is the third. These names didn’t even register for me in my 20’s but I am so glad that we chose them in my 30’s.
We’ve got an Eleanor, Clara, and Wesley, and I adore the names you said got away.
I liked Claire, too. But my husband wasn’t keen on it so I suggested Clara, which he loved, and now I love more!
We also gave up James because one too many people said they might call him Jimmy, and we both didn’t like Jimmy.
I also started to fall for Louisa, until I remembered that our last name is Lewis, so Louisa Lewis just seemed like too much.
i was laughing at the commenter that said her husband veto’d Tallulah, mine did too! twice! still wish we could use one of these: genevieve, oliver, owen, helen, adeline, nicholas.
One of our friends has a 1 year old named Genevieve — I Love it!
I think we’re done having babies too. The names we wanted to use and didn’t are “Violette” a version of my middle name, but actually my Grandmother’s name. We really wanted to name our daughter that too, but it just wasn’t right when the moment came. We also liked Aubrietta Belle — and would have named #3 that probably but he was a boy :) I also like Bennett, Bingham, (those two are family names) Declan, Wallace (didn’t like the nick name), and Dexter (tv show caused weird problems), but they weren’t used either. We planned to give one of our boys the middle name James, but ultimately didn’t.
I think our names tended to reflect our ancestry a bit more and others are welcome to them. They are: Brendan William, Marguerite (Maggie) Jewel, and Everett Ambrose — the latter would definitely fit best at the canasta table!
I’m done having babies but if I’d had a daughter she would have been Liesl Rose after the oldest daughter in the Sound of Music. I just love the name so much. So alas my bicycle is now called Liesl instead.
My son calls my bike ‘Weasel’ so I suspect it was a blessing I didn’t name my daughter that :)
We have a Sam, Louis and Gus!
I love the names we chose, but the ones I’m sad we’ll never use are Louisa, Paloma, Ximena, Helen, Anna, Arlo, Archer, and Cormac. Those were mostly nixed by my husband, except for Paloma, which got such an incredibly bad reception from our friends and family when we floated the idea that we crossed it off the list. I could happily name a dozen kids or more. The way I found this blog in the first place was through a baby names blog where they covered your kids’ names.
When deciding names for our oldest, we came up with a girl name and a boy name. Our boy name was William Robert—William is a family name and Robert I’m not sure, but the main reason we chose this name was because it could be shortened to Bilbo since my husband is fan of Middle Earth. But our first child was a girl and so was our second—and now we’re done!