Invented Baby Names: 84 awesome choices and 2 big winners!
Last week we challenged you to create your own invented baby names. You took us up on it….and how! Over 200 entries later, Linda and I along with Nameberry’s senior editor and writer Abby Sandel made our individual lists of favorites.
There were only a handful of names on all three of our lists – and our two winners were chosen from those names that won unanimous approval. But before we get to those, let’s look at the long list of names we liked and the categories that sparked the best inventions.
Smoosh names
The category with the most great names has to be the Smoosh, in which inventors combined elements of two wonderful names to create an original choice. By far the biggest subcategory in this group were names with the bel or bella suffix; runners up used the elements beth or dora.
A large collection of our favorites:
Aliciana (@Tylerwyler)
Annavieve (@Lumen)
Aramatilda (@Saranel)
Caralei (@pinklace)
Coralena (@babylove14)
Elizadora (@Whirligig)
Ellaby (@Essa)
Finlan @ciottolo — (bonus points for smooshing a Welsh and a Chinese element)
Giabella (@SeaZuno86)
Hallory (@dewdropsandroses)
Isobetta (@whitefeather01)
Jonaby (@Essa)
Julizar (@Mega_Muffin)
Mabily (@SimoneKadele)
Marquin (@Mega_Muffin)
Marylark (@KatieNana)
Mavia (@peacebird10)
Mirabeth (@janeseemore)
Miradora (@Essa)
Olison (@SeaZuno86)
Oola (@Kerrienicole)
Phinea and Phineo (@gmdx and @Whirligig respectively)
Sashabel (@cated)
Tessabel (@zenithpunkin)
Zandrew (@Bunkitty)
Exoticish names
You might believe these names were fresh choices imported from another culture, if you didn’t know they’d been hatched in the creative minds of the berries.
Arezza (@17marisan)
Ceneo (@Joiya)
Esmerade (@SweetPotatoFries)
Evrenne (@whitelamb96)
Heraclio (@whitefeather01)
Illumina (@Meisch)
Kahlia (@minisia)
Laurelia (@eperdument)
Lilune (@Whirligig)
Ocellet (@ffennec)
Valerro (@xRedd)
Viana (@Kerrienicole)
Vietta (@rworthman)
Word names
Words are being turned into names at an active pace by baby namers, with a few – Genesis, Justice – gaining widespread popularity. The berries nominate these fresh choices for word name stardom, with tongue only sometimes in cheek.
Bonnet (@lesliemarion)
Braverie (@eperdument)
Candor (@17marisan)
Cardigan (@lesliemarion)
Elysian and Elysium (@lesliemarion / @jtucker)
Etherea (@amf0224)
Harvest (@lesliemarion)
Julep (@lovelynames)
Majolica (@lesliemarion)
Medallion (@Meisch)
Operetta (@Mega_Muffin)
Prose (@thesnowwhiterose)
Sizer (@LuckyLocket13)
Sylph (@Meisch)
Talisman (@Meisch)
Valium (@peach25) – She knows it’s funny!
Nature names
A few nature/food names new to the mix:
Cress (@lesliemarion)
Mazana (@marisarose) – type of apple
Place names
With place names from the familiar (Georgia, Dakota) to the adventurous (Scotland, Shiloh) finding widespread favor as baby names, it’s more difficult to come up with a creative choice. But these berries succeeded.
Avonlea (@6colorbracelet)
Marais (@MissusAytch)
Taos (@lemlem)
Kenai (@larkspur83)
Kodiak (@fuzzycub)
Zoan (@Kate_Kat_Bar) – A location in the book of Ezekiel
Surname names
Like word names and place names, there are lots of surnames now familiar as firsts, but these two choices felt to us both original and eminently usable.
Ames (@SeaZuno86)
Faraday (@lesliemarion)
Names with Awesome Meanings
These names are not only invented but come with inspiring origins and definitions.
Alerion (@Aym)– Mythical bird, described as an eagle-like bird the color of fire, symbolizing strength, superiority and sacrifice.
And not to be confused with:
Arlerio (@BeeLouBear)– A cross between the Arabic Ara, meaning “lion” (presented here with the connotation of “handsome”), and the Latin Valerio, with the meaning of “strength” and/or “health.”
Crescadia (@ciottolo)– Latin “crescens” + Welsh ‘cad’ = “growing battle”
Pavonine (@lexiscross)– word name meaning ‘like a peacock’, a choice for brave parents who want their child to be brimming with confidence; similar to names such as ‘Clementine’.
Selva (@MissusAytch)– Spanish word for Jungle.
Tresna (@dewdropsandroses)– Meaning “love” in Javanese (sic), this name couldn’t be more perfect for your Valentine’s daughter.
Valerro (@xRedd)– A combination of the word valiente, meaning courageous in Spanish, and Guerrero, meaning warrior in Spanish.
Vivaxi (@Joiya)– Vivere, viv, “to live”, and –axi, Greek and from axios meaning “worth” or “merit”. “life of worth”.
Winko (@Waverly123)– has the word win in it. Winthrop means “Friends village” so Winko means Friends’ Homeland.
Isn’t that already a name?
And then there were a few choices that felt so much like real names that we couldn’t believe they’d been invented – which may be the best kind of invented name of all.
Aliciana (@Tylerwyler)
Hux (@NameBitch)
Kesdin (@whitelamb96)
Marelia (@tree_loves_eth)
Tallena (@marisarose)
So which names were our winners? With so many wonderful entries, it was hard to narrow it down to just one, so we didn’t. We have two winners:
Avonlea – The fictional town that’s the setting for the Anne of Green Gables books. Besides being an evocative literary place, Avonlea has a lovely and name-appropriate sound. Congratulations to @6colorbracelet for coming up with this great name.
Julep – The first part of the word name Julep harkens to the rich ancient Jul family of names, and then the ep ending takes you by upbeat surprise, plus Julep is reminiscent of long summer afternoons sipping delicious concoctions – all tasty and positive associations. @lovelynames has lived up to his or her own name by creating it.
@6colorbracelet and @lovely names each win a complete library of our baby name ebooks.
Thanks to everyone for suggesting such wonderful names! We’ll be working on adding all of them to the Nameberry database and look forward to meeting real live babies named Avonlea, Julep, Sashabel, and Winko.