Wow! The babies I met with great names!

[berrybry]

My friend's cousin just had twins!
Here are the names:
Eleanor Paprika and Kai Cardamom.
The spices in mn spot are because she is a cook! I think this is so cute! Eleanor and Kai are out of the top 20 but in the top 100, she said she wanted something not too popular but not weird and I think it worked!!!! What do you think? what other well named babies have you met this week?

[berrybry]

By the way the out of top 20 and in top 100 is from the UK polls, that's where she's from.

[blade]

Paprika and Cardamom definitely cross the line from 'uncommon' to 'odd.' It's far too cutesy and simply falls flat.

Eleanor is an old Continental classic which has been undergoing a renaissance for the last 5 years or so, but many still see it as an 'old lady name.' Kai, on the other hand, is sunny Hawaiian surfer. I find them an incredibly mismatched pair.

So, in short, I do not think they are particularly good names.

I'm actually surprised that the Hawaiian name Kai is in the top 100 in the UK.

[ottilie]

Kai's a fairly common name in Scandinavia, Germany and Netherlands. I'm sure it's that Kai, not the Hawaiian one!

I think those names are weird. Nice spices, but I wouldn't like to be called Paprika. (She isn't danish by any chance? I know there's a danish actress called Paprika.)

[meetcute]

I'm all for quirky, unique, meaningful names but...paprika?!?! To each his (her) own! I love Eleanor, though.

[aieinni]

I think it's cute! My favorite name I've seen on a baby this year is Violet Annabelle.

[oliviasarah]

Kai is a bit chavy in my area, and Cardamon is just horrid.
Eleanor is nice (if not a bit dull/overused) and I quite like Paprika, in a strange way.

I don't like the way the middle names are overly themed, but I actually really do like Kai and Eleanor together - which is weird because to me they're very different styles, but they do sound sweet as twins.

[essjay]

Not so keen on the themey middles but Kai and Eleanor sort of work although everything about them suggests they shouldn't - lengths, history, sounds.

@blade - I'm pretty sure Kai's also got some history as a Welsh name, possibly spelt Cai, so that's possibly where it's come from. That and one of our most famous national footballers used it for his son a couple of years back, which has likely given it some sort of boost.

[dovah]

I don't think I would be overly happy with my mother if she gave my brother and I similar spice names (I imagine the boy might feel even worse). I really feel Paprika got the better deal. At least Paprika has sounds in it that are pretty. Cardamom ends in "mom"... granted, few people will hear his middle name (and in the UK no one says "mom" anyway), but all I can think of is "Momma's boy".

Kai and Eleanor are both nice sounding, but I agree with pps who said that they seem mismatched stylistically.

[namelover218]

Not a fan of Kai but Eleanor is a lovely name. I really like Paprika as a middle name but Cardamom crosses the line for me. And I don't think they are mismatched at all like @blade said. I personally don't care whether the two names 'go' together and if you like a name then you should definitely use it.
Bree