Category: Baby Names Advice
Let’s look at the comebacks in the US charts this year. These aren’t names that have returned to the Top 100, or even the Top 1000. I’m talking about names that disappeared completely from the official name data – because they were used for less than 5 boys or girls each year – and reappeared in 2017.
Some of them have been away for a long time. Esper, which was given to 6 girls in 2017, was last recorded for girls in 1912 and for boys in 1926. Addiemae (or Addie–Mae – the data doesn’t record punctuation) hasn’t been seen since 1915, while Rayo and Union last appeared in 1923.
Many of the returners are variant spellings of popular names. They’re not common enough to make it into the charts every year, but odds are that occasionally enough parents will name their kid Ferne, Izabele or Keagyn to put it in the rankings.
by Abby Sandel aka The Name Sage
It’s an Ask the Name Sage first – a repeat customer! We helped them name their second daughter, and now it’s time to find a name for a third.
Amy writes:
I’m baaaack!
I was the girl with 42 names on her list but couldn’t find one I really loved. I was thrilled you had chosen our letter because you helped us fall in love with the most perfect name for our baby: Carina Iris, a sister for Viviana Rose.
We are expecting our third baby girl in early September and now we have a new problem. Well … a few new problems!
We like feminine names that not super popular but are also familiar enough to pronounce. Because they’re long, we want to be aware of potential nicknames. And some names just seem to disappear when said with Viviana and Carina.
Meanings matter to us. Viviana is full of life and Carina is love. We will probably go with a floral middle name like Violet to tie in with her sisters’ names.
Our last name starts with an L and ends with an ‘ee’ sound. Names like Lilly would be hard to say.
Here are our favorites:
Evangeline – We love that it means “good news.” It’s long enough to stand up to our daughters’ names. But Eve and Evie are too close to Viviana’s nickname, Vivi. Lina seems close to Carina. Is there another option I’m not thinking of?
Genevieve – The meanings listed – “white wave” or “woman of the people” don’t appeal. Again, nicknames could be an issue, but I love the sound of Ginny.
Celia – It means heavenly, which I love, and nicknames wouldn’t be a problem. But is it too soft, or too different from our older daughters’ names?
We’ve also considered Emmeline, Scarlett, Adelaide, Aurora, Penelope, and Susannah.
New suggestions welcome!
The Name Sage replies:
They’ve got a long list of maybe-names for their baby girl, but how to narrow it down to just one? Maybe the answer comes from their family tree.
Laura writes:
We’re expecting a little girl in October, our second. We already have a son, Frederick James, called Freddy. It’s the perfect name for us – Frederick is the name of a street that we love, and we both love his nickname. It’s not too popular, but instantly recognizable.
We’ve felt we’ve found THE name for quite a few girls’ names so far. The first we loved was Kennedy, a long time ago. Then we both got sick of it, and my wife decided she hated “presidential” names!
We fell in love with Elliott. Then my sister used it for her dog!
Next up was Annie for a while, and it’s sentimental because my mom, who we both adore, is named Ann. But we have two close friends named Annie, plus other women named Annie that are always going to be in our lives. Too many Annies.
After that, we came to Calla. We worried it was too close to too many popular names (Kayla, Callie, Kylie, Kaylie), so we got sick of it.
Right now, we really like Hazel and Eliza – Eliza happened after we saw Hamilton! Other names we’ve liked are Francesca called Francie (but I hate Franny), Clancy, and Collins. We like gender neutral names a lot.
The name we choose must sound good with our one-syllable last name starting with a hard C sound, which means two or three syllables. We’d prefer something outside of the Top 100, but still recognizable. We don’t want her to have to spell her name her whole life!
Her middle name will be June, after my wife’s grandmother. We don’t like it as a first name because of our short last name.
Any great names jump out at you? Have we TOTALLY overthought this?
The Name Sage replies:
Choosing two names feels three times as hard! Let’s find some great twin names for Sarah’s new sons.
Sarah writes:
We are expecting twin boys in July, kiddos number three and four for us! We are all thrilled but are having a hard time finding names we love.
Our daughter is named Tallulah, a name we could not love more and which suits her perfectly. Her little brother is Maximilian but is always called Max, a name we both always loved despite its popularity.
This time around we’re having a harder time finding names that haven’t been used by people close to us and that we love as much as Tallulah and Max’s names.
Max was almost Fox which we both love but seems like maybe a bit much alongside Max?
Other names in the running that we more or less agree on are Abe, Jasper, Henry (Hank) and Wolf. My husband is pushing for Blaise or Mars but I’m just not convinced. I love Felix and Forest but he does not. We could always each name one baby! But we’d really like to agree on their names! Any suggestions?
We’d like to avoid giving the boys’ names that start with the same letter if we can, and some names just sound weird with our one-syllable last name that rhymes with ‘News’.
Thank you!
The Name Sage replies:
Where do you start when choosing baby names feels like a chore?
Ashley writes:
I’m not technically looking for name advice (although as you’ll soon see we could probably use help on that front as well), I’m looking for advice on where to start when naming has lost its fun.
With our eldest, we had conversations nearly every day and we had lists galore. This time around … I feel like I’m going to go into labor and then we’ll suddenly realize we have no idea what to name this baby!
We’re over the moon to be having another baby, but every name is just blah. Our daughter’s name is Ivy. It suits her perfectly. We’re Team Green, so we’ll need a name (or two) for each gender.
Basically, I find names that I like and my husband weighs in. He also tends to shoot down every name. Sigh.
So … where do you recommend starting when every name you’ve come across just makes you shrug? Do any of your readers have suggestions on how to get out of this funk? Had Ivy been a boy, she would’ve been given a name that has since become incredibly popular in our area so it’s really lost its appeal. Are we going to be stuck in a naming rut forever?
The Name Sage replies:
