Perhaps you’ve picked out a name you thought was new and different, only to find you were inadvertently following the trends.  Or you’ve been “saving” a favorite name so long that, now that you finally have a chance to use it, it’s no longer as fresh as it was when you picked it.

The solution?  Tweak that name.

With our very first book, Beyond Jennifer & Jason, we began suggesting ways that parents could update, respin, and coolify (yeah, that’s a word we made up) the names they might be considering.

Don’t get us wrong: Many of these names are pretty cool already.  Cool and beautiful and interesting and all those good things.  But still, there’s sometimes a way to ratchet them up a notch or two, and that’s what we’ve done here.

Girls

Instead of ………………..Consider

AMELIA………………….AMALIA

CLEMENTINE…………CLEMENCY

ELOISE…………………..LOUISE

ESME……………………..ISMAY

GEORGIA……………….GEORGIANA

IRIS……………………….ISIS

ISABELLA………………ISADORA

ISLA………………………AILSA

LEAH…………………….LEITH

MARIAH……………….SARIAH

NORA……………………NOA

PHOEBE……………….PERSEPHONE

ROWEN………………..ROWENA

SADIE…………………..SADA

SARAH…………………SEREN

SOPHIA……………….SONIA

Boys

Instead of…………….Consider

AIDEN………………..ALDEN

BENJAMIN…………BENNETT

CONOR………………CONALL

ELIJAH………………ELIHU

GRAYSON…………..GRAY

HUDSON……………JUDSON

JACOB……………….HAMISH

LANDON……………LAND

LEO……………………LEON

LUCAS……………….LUCIUS

MAX………………….MACK

NOAH……………….NOAM (the new number 1 name in Israel, used for girls as well as boys)

OSCAR………………OSWALD

REED………………..REEVE

SAM………………….SEM

Any other brilliant ideas for name tweaks?  We know you have some!