Names you liked when you were younger...

A little while ago, while searching for the perfect name, I came across some old notebooks of mine from school that has stories I wrote as a child. When I was a child, my favorite names were:

Sarah Elizabeth
Annie
Cindel/Cyndall/Sindel/Syndall (from the Ewoks)
Cindella (SIN-deh-la)
Avonlea
Scarlett
Liesel
Hobbs

Later on I know I liked names that were boy names for girls:
Ryanne
Avery
Evanne

And remember at some point in high school I thought these were awesome names:
Brittany Ashton
Brooklyn Jordan
Brianna Morgan

In college I wanted to name my children
Charlotte Rose
Emily Grace

but by the time I had my first child, I felt that those names were too popular, outdated, weird or "what was I thinking?"??

I laugh now at how much my taste have changed through the years and still wonder how much I will like my daughter's names in 30 years... There are very few names that I would still consider on my lists... A few, I could still use... But will I look back and think then, like I do now, "Ryanne Avery??? Brooklyn Jordan?? Brittany Ashton????"

What were some of your names you liked when you were young?

Great topic! :-)

I've always been a classic/vintage name person, mostly because I didn't like my first or middle names. (I wrote a blog here about it that Pam titled "Name Shame.")

I loved and had dolls named:

Annabelle/Anne (inspired by Anne of Green Gables and Annie)
Beatrix
Cora Josephine
Celia Jane
Eliza (I loved My Fair Lady)
Grace (Little House on the Prairie)
Juliet
Jane
Louisa
Rose (Little House on the Prairie)
Victoria

My favorite boys' names have always been Henry, Oliver, Edward (family name), and Nathaniel (familiy name), as well as Charles, Leo, Gabriel, and Theodore.

I remember having one boy doll when I was little, and I named him Andrew.


I remember a brief time in 6th grade when I wanted to be called Samantha, like Samantha from "Who's the Boss?". I also recall a phase I went through in about 8th grade or so, when I loved the name Jordan from "The Great Gatsby." This was years before Jordan was popular, though.:-)

:-)

I've always loved Annie (as a nickname) for a girl.

I also used to love:
Kayla
Tilly
Pierre (for a girl ?!?!?)
Mylie
Ellie (still love this as a nickname)
Kelsey
Isabella (I used to want to change my name to this... Haha)

Ricky
Eric
Keegan
Ezekiel (because I loved the nickname Zeke for some reason...)
Luke (still love this name)
Dakota

Some names I look at and wonder where the hell I got them from... A few I look at and like. I loved the name Tilly for the longest time, too. And now I think it's quite horrid.

Jill,

My love for Annie and Anne and Avonlea also came from my love of Anne of Green Gables and Annie. Ha, most of my names were from movies I loved...

I remember when I really thought Jordan was a really cool name (before it was popular) and I also wanted to be named Samantha too at one point (before it became so popular). There was a conversation I remember in 2nd grade that we had at the lunch table where we were all giving ourselves new names. I wanted to be Samantha or Kirsten! (American Girls, anyone?) I loved Samantha, Kirsten, Molly, Felicity and all of their friends names...

dotsmom wrote:Jill,

My love for Annie and Anne and Avonlea also came from my love of Anne of Green Gables and Annie. Ha, most of my names were from movies I loved...

I remember when I really thought Jordan was a really cool name (before it was popular) and I also wanted to be named Samantha too at one point (before it became so popular). There was a conversation I remember in 2nd grade that we had at the lunch table where we were all giving ourselves new names. I wanted to be Samantha or Kirsten! (American Girls, anyone?) I loved Samantha, Kirsten, Molly, Felicity and all of their friends names...

You're an Anne of Green Gables fan, too? Woo-hoo! :-) Despite the popularity of Belle names, I just can't let go of Annabelle yet!

Your lunch table scenario made me laugh, because in 6th grade, we were sitting around adopting names from T.V. shows. One friend took Samantha, another took Kate, and I was left with Allie from Kate and Allie.

I went through a HUGE Molly phase, too, and named my stuffed monkey Molly. (Molly's brother was named Marvin the Monkey. I don't know what I was thinking when I named dear Marv, but I'll let it slide because I was only four-years-old.) :-)

What were the movies from which you got your names? (I can't see your post from here, so I'm sorry if the movies are obvious.)

:-)

jill wrote:

dotsmom wrote:Jill,

My love for Annie and Anne and Avonlea also came from my love of Anne of Green Gables and Annie. Ha, most of my names were from movies I loved...

I remember when I really thought Jordan was a really cool name (before it was popular) and I also wanted to be named Samantha too at one point (before it became so popular). There was a conversation I remember in 2nd grade that we had at the lunch table where we were all giving ourselves new names. I wanted to be Samantha or Kirsten! (American Girls, anyone?) I loved Samantha, Kirsten, Molly, Felicity and all of their friends names...

You're an Anne of Green Gables fan, too? Woo-hoo! :-) Despite the popularity of Belle names, I just can't let go of Annabelle yet!

Your lunch table scenario made me laugh, because in 6th grade, we were sitting around adopting names from T.V. shows. One friend took Samantha, another took Kate, and I was left with Allie from Kate and Allie.

I went through a HUGE Molly phase, too, and named my stuffed monkey Molly. (Molly's brother was named Marvin the Monkey. I don't know what I was thinking when I named dear Marv, but I'll let it slide because I was only four-years-old.) :-)

What were the movies from which you got your names? (I can't see your post from here, so I'm sorry if the movies are obvious.)

:-)

Lol!! Hilarious. :-). Your Kate and Allie lunch made me laugh. I remember being SOOOO proud when that show was on air.

I just went back and read your blog "Name Shame" and learned all about Marvin the Monkey :-). I have name shame of my middle name, too. Its not a horrible name, but you can tell withing 3 years as to when I was born. My parents were going to reverse my name, Middle name first, then Kate, up until the day I was born. I am so grateful they switched it on my birthday! When I entered my teens, I began really loving my name and the classic feeling it had. Also, I loved the associations that came with it: Kate Hepburn, Kate the Great, Kate in Taming the Shrew (yes she was a B, but a misunderstood one...lol), then later Kate Winslet and Hudson... Also a reason I dislike my middle... However, to me its backlashing a little bit since there are SO MANY now!! I think that this is why I lean towards classic/vintage names, too.

The movie names:
Annie - Annie
Cindel/Cyndall/Sindel/Syndall- Ewoks Adventure
Cindella (SIN-deh-la)- Variation of Cindel (and a little Cinderella)
Avonlea - Anne of Green Gables
Scarlett - Gone with the Wind.. I also liked Bonnie and Melanie for awhile
Liesel - Sound of Music, also liked Gretel
Hobbs - Boy's name from The Natural - Roy Hobbs

I think I am still picking names from movies that I liked. Adelaide is in Anne of Green Gables. As is Emmeline. Dorothy and Violet are family names, but I decided that I would use them after watching another round of Wizard of Oz and A League of their Own. Violet, I didn't think I could use growing up, bc even this person wasn't crazy about their name and the bad connotation from Willie Wonka. A friend of mine had named their daughter an "ette" name and I thought it was so cute on their baby, that it reopened the doors to Violet for me.

Charlotte: Charlotte is one of those names I also have liked off and on my whole life...
I had an Aunt Lottie that used to scare me, but a friend that was named that and was sweet as can be. We named a cookie after her that we still bake and call "Charlotte's" today. Charlotte's Web. And then Sex and the City. Kristin Davis made it so uptown!

Your name is Kate? I'm SO jealous! What a great name!

Thanks for reading my blog. :-) Marvin the Monkey was the greatest! He was a life-sized monkey, and looked completely real. I used to take him, his sister, Molly, and my favorite doll, Anne Victoria (nn Annie), everywhere! (I used to seatbelt them when I drove in a car.) :-)

Have you seen the Anne of Green Gables movies? I love them! The Anne books (and movies) are where I found Emmeline, Cordelia, and Blythe, too. :-)

The Sound of Music is my all-time favorite movie, and that's where I first heard one of my favorite names, Louisa. I always thought that Brigitta was a beautiful name, too, but the character insulted Maria's dress in the beginning, so she was my least favorite character.

I totally forgot about Dottie in A League of Their Own! I loved that movie, as well as the main song.

About that Kate and Allie lunch... One friend took Samantha faster than I could blink, and then the other zoomed in on Kate before I could say anything. We had those TV names for the entire year, and whenever I'd be called Allie, I'd think to myself, "I was supposed to be Kate."

I never saw the Ewok movie, but it must have been good for you to have loved the name.

As for Gone With the Wind, that's when I began loving the name Vivien/Vivienne.

I also think I started liking Sally after When Harry Met Sally.

My love of all things Annie also traces back to the musical and the movie.

I love the name Charlotte, too. You know, you've got some seriously great names in your family tree!

LOL "I was supposed to be Kate...." Too funny. That reminds me of this time in kindergarten when there were two Katies and one Kate (me) in class. Now, from infancy, I have always disliked it when people whose name is Katherine go by Kate or Katie (though I understand why). Anyways, my teacher asked us to pick a word that rhymed with our names because we were writing poems... The Katie's decided to change their names real quick to Kate to make it easier... So all the words were taken up... Eight, gate, state, late, date.... and then when it was my turn to pick my words, the ones that were left were bait and mate or something like that and I remember how sad I was and wanting to cry because "I was supposed to be Kate... "

Of course I have seen Anne (with an E) of Green Gables!! Everytime I hear Cordelia I think of how much she liked it. Marilla is even growing on me. Emmeline and Adelaide... Ruby and Jane... Some great names were in that movie!

I also am drawn to the Jane Austen names.

LOVE When Harry Met Sally!!! I wonder why Sally is not more popular?? I have only known one Sally that was my age and I always thought it was the coolest name, because to my/our generation, it really was rare.

Hey cafeteria love-fest! My role-play tended to be Charlie's Angels, and I got to be Jill because I was the blonde one. A bunch of kids from the neighborhood, we'd play some version of house called "Island" like Gilligan's island and we made up names, so like if I were Mrs. Howell-type, I'd pick a name that sounded wealthy, like Daphne or Penelope, for example, and my bestie and I played "Jewelry Store" and I would actually take the name of the actress who played Mrs. Howell, Natalie. Not that I was in love with any of those names, but I digress. Oh, before I forget, I remember my sister and her friends picking out "Golden Girls" names once. Someone was Mavis.

I started making lists when my mom took out the book to name my younger sister. Before that time, I was already starting. My first role-play (just house, or occasionally, mansion) name that I always picked was Sally. I think I went with Patricia if we were playing mansion. I thought Sally was a great and pretty name, and Patricia sounded important and rich. As I got more sophisticated, lol, I noticed that feminized names sounded very long and posh. Henrietta Pussycat was a huge influence, as was Bernadette Peters. I wanted curly hair and to sing and dance and be adorable like her. She is still so awesome. I don't remember her, but our neighbor children before we moved included a girl named Lenore, a name I liked a lot at the time and hadn't thought in all the years of again until recently.

-------this line represents the beginning of the missing years-------

I know I consulted the baby name book a lot. I can't say I read much as a child, not to fall in love with a name. I did try to cast myself into books though. I read a book called "Carlota" and remember deliberating heavily over what my Spanish name would be. I think I came up with Elisa.

TV was a huge influence, but I can't really remember liking a lot of names from it. It might have been too much of the Laverne and Shirley, I Love Lucy and everyone had oldie names and I liked names more like my peers had. And then I started making lists for real.
-----------------these have been the missing years----------

A lot of the names that have come and gone or are just now getting their due were some of my favorites well ahead of schedule and subsequently revisit the lists and shake my head - what was I thinking!? Unfortunately, I have destroyed every list. Fortunately, I have a good memory.

I remember liking the name Angelica a lot and then preferring Angelique. So French. And Wilhelmina, so... SO. Also Francine.

This also brings up some idea that some feminizations weren't as apparent to me if it was too altered from the root male name, as well as having a distinct period where I was completely unaware of what some of my (mostly male) peers' full names were, like Frank, Billy, Jimmy. Completely no idea.

I have at various times gone through a hippie-ish phase where I was enthralled by word names:
Ocean
Skye
Kite. Yes, not Kate! Kite.
Summer
Indigo
Wendin (a little more fantasy-ish than wordly)
Maple
Meadow
Echo

Here are some names I thought were just too cool - those unique names that someone cool has or in the same league, who I wished I was like and if I had a cool name it would have made a difference (LOL) and project this quality vicariously through children (Warning: some of them aren't all that jazzy in retrospect as they were just outstanding at the time):
Girls:
Bridget
Adrienne
Zoe
Aimee
Claudia
Anastasia
Chloe
Marleah
Amelia -starting to see the "exoticism" in some weird place called grandma's attic.

Boys:
Zachary
Sebastian
Shane
Travis
Oliver

Really "disgusting" old or foreign names I didn't realize at the time how uncool they were - keep in mind most of you all would have agreed 100% if you were there at the time:
Hazel
Rochelle
Yvonne
Helene
Ariadne
Annabelle
Veronica
Allanna
Felicity
Evangeline
Rosalie
Jeannette or Janine, I could never choose!

Then some adult serious lists:
I swear I thought I "invented" or "discovered" some of these names (and proud of it too) with no outside input:
Kyla
Bryn
Emelie
Caledonia
Kayleigh (that song by Marillion is still so good!)
-also quite a few of the aforementioned were serious considerations through my 20s, like Bridget and Zoe and Amelia, Zachary and Sebastian and Travis. At some point in my teens I pseudo-plotted to run away and change my name, and I think I couldn't decide between Amelia and Zoe, and this factor detained me. As well sometime in my 20s, I thought I could essentially change my name for the same effect, to dissociate from my family and "start over", inspired somewhat by my maternal grandfather.

(Also missing memories of favorite odd boy names; the boy names were always shorter and contained list of absolutely-nots like Robert and Peter and Gabriel, 2 of which I no longer have a problem with).
Enter names like Hudson, Timothy, Ethan, Donovan, 3 of which are still top 10 or so for me. I tended to calm down my ideas to mildly sensible, reading enthusiastically the Beyond Jennifer and Jason books for sensible choices that fit with me.

I still like what may or may not be popular choices and ever more concerned with "real" names and names spelled correctly, who sound like real people. I revel in things and names that feel the least bit historical or "retro" as they say - the quality and aesthetic appeal of things as well as names from the close and distant past really intrigue me. I'm not as concerned with unique things but more aware of personal connections through time, treasuring heirlooms and nostalgia over random antiques and other kind of old stuff (although I like those too).

Considering how many lists I've made and destroyed in utter embarrassment, I've remembered quite a few. What an interesting trip!

I had a lot of names that I liked about 10 years ago. I can't remember most of them, but here is a few.

Stephanie Sue
Brandi Abigail

Christopher Leroy
Alexander George