Join the World’s Biggest Baby Name Game!

When we started Nameberry, way back in ’08, we’d never heard of Baby Name Games.  Yes, we’d played them, but only privately, by ourselves, and only then before adolescence.  We didn’t realize that the whole idea of name games had become institutionalized and that they were played in broad daylight (or at least, computer light) by name lovers all over the internet.

And then we launched Nameberry, and some of the first visitors to the site asked us to add Baby Name Games to the forums.  Once we did, we were amazed by the variety and energy of the offerings.  There are nearly 1500 threads on the Name Game boards now, some of them running to thousands of individual posts.

With those kind of statistics to live up to, it might be difficult to create the World’s Biggest Name Game here.  But we’re going to try.

Here’s the idea.  It’s pretty simple, and takes off from our trademark construct, “If you like x, you might love y.”

We’ll go first, suggest a name you might like, then a substitute you might love instead.  Then you take our substitute name for your “like,” and suggest a new alternative for that name.  And so on.

For example, we say, “If you like Lee, you might love Liam.”  Then you say, “If you like Liam, you might love Levi.”  And then the next person says, “If you like Levi, you might love Denim,” and the next person starts with Denim, and onward.

A few rules: Name x and name y should bear some relationship, but it can be adventurous, ala Levi and Denim: The names can be linked by ethnicity or meaning or style or popularity or image and not just sound.  It’s okay to switch genders.  You can’t repeat names.  And you can definitely play more than once!

If two people inadvertently overlap and suggest substitutes for the same name — i.e. one says “If you like Denim, you might love Jean” and another person says, “If you like Denim, you might love Denzel,” the next person can choose to pick up on either Jean or Denzel and take it from there.

Let’s see how many entries we can build up in one day.   Not only will this be fun and a challenge, it may even prove helpful for baby namers looking for creative alternatives.

Okay, the first volley is:

If you like Arabella, you might love Araminta.

Take it away.