90 Comments

• 1. Simon  |  June 6th, 2006 at 12:53 am

  If my second had been a girl, she would have been Tessa.

  And when I say ‘my second’, I really mean my wife’s second because every time the mailman comes up the walk she points to him and says, “Look! There’s your daddy!”

  She laughs. I don’t.

  But I still really like Tessa. Or Winnie the Pooh. Whatever.

• 2. Jenn  |  June 6th, 2006 at 1:00 am

  Ooh, I like Tessa too! Nice one, Simon! Maybe you snipped too quick. You’re good at this naming thing.

  Katieface is reading this right now, wishing she had never given the green light on the now-imminent onslaught of baby-name opinions. Seriously? As someone whose second child HAS THE WRONG NAME, Katieface and Joe, go with your first choice. Brunhilde is a GREAT name, don’t let anybody tell you different.

• 3. mom on a wire  |  June 6th, 2006 at 1:11 am

  I kinda like Furful. Good one Hattie.

  Also, Annabelle is purty.

• 4. corymack  |  June 6th, 2006 at 1:37 am

  esme (esmay) is pretty

  it’s an old french name my friend used

  I too liked “Tessa”. and “Arden” for a girl
  and
  “Walker Armstrong” for a boy….

  I could play this game for days…what’s that about?

• 5. Contrary  |  June 6th, 2006 at 7:35 am

  My baby boy was going to be Emily Grace if he was a girl. I still love that name. And it would fit into y’all’s theme of nice old fashioned names.

• 6. geogirl  |  June 6th, 2006 at 7:36 am

  “sounds like an octopus” LOL!!! I almost peed the rug with that one. I love how she is giving you the lecture about it being rude to forget people. Honestly mom, what were you thinking?!?

  I read an article just last week about popular baby names that said the name Nevaeh is exploding in popularity. Nevaeh is Heaven spelled backwards. I guess they think it makes them a good christian or something but I always thought if you spelled it backwards that made it…evil or something. At least that’s what all the slasher-horror flicks I watched as a teenager taught me.

• 7. Spot the Wonder Dog  |  June 6th, 2006 at 7:57 am

  Nobody uses the BEST girl names anymore. Names like…
  Eustace
  Laverne
  Vivian
  Wilma
  Bertha
  Brunhilda
  Nooooo. Everybody has to be an “Ashley” or a “Jordan” or a “Madison”.

• 8. the Mater  |  June 6th, 2006 at 8:26 am

  Omigod, how weird is this?! NOT weird that my adored son and daughter-in-law are having baby #3 BUT that I’ve been wanting to blog about Ben and Olivia at my site and was going to email them for permission to use the munchkins’ photos!

  And here you beat me to it!

  LOL about the girls’ input on baby names! Hilarious. Out of the mouths of babes.

  I hope they don’t go with the octopus and the stage.

  I see that someone has offered “Annabelle” … maybe Sophie should be consulted on these things after all. And I’m pleased to tell your readers that Hannah is an “Arden” too: Hannah Evelyn Arden.

  Back to new baby … Iris is elegant but somewhat aloof. I picture her adjusting her eyeglasses and looking down on me. However, it does have an old-fashioned ring to it, is a beautiful flower, and I could then call her “flower face”. She’d look adorable in her little bonnet too. Elizabeth will make Aunt Libby smile broadly. And the girls were onto something with “Christopher” as it is their Uncle Joe’s confirmation name.

  What fun! So, Katieface can I post a pic or two for some bragging rights at my blog?! The excitement is building.

• 9. Sarah Piazza  |  June 6th, 2006 at 8:31 am

  Caroline, Julia, and Mia were some of our favorite girls’ names — but we had a Jack instead. Which would have been fine, except we already had 4-year-old Ben at home. Sniff.

• 10. wix  |  June 6th, 2006 at 8:31 am

  I love, love, love the responses to Isolde. An octopus name!

  I am also admiring the apparent large-mouthed bass tattoo that Miss Olivia is rocking as she performs some kind of resuscitation on her doll.

• 11. Lisa S.  |  June 6th, 2006 at 10:14 am

  Avery, Amelia and Annabelle are favorites of mine (but I didn’t get girls!) I love grace….i love that name. If I had a child I would name her Grace and call her Gracie Belle!

  Your girls are so funny. I love the stream of consciousness thinking from Hattie! She jumps from Christopher to Pooh and then from Elizabeth to Wizard….hey at least she could do phonics! She knows her Z sound! And Sophie…well you just don’t ever know what that one will come up with which is so hilarious. And I still can’t figure out why Lilah sounds like a pea but I’m working on that! Incidently that is my boss’s name! hah!

• 12. Mavis Lee  |  June 6th, 2006 at 11:12 am

  I like Eugenia. Or, if we’re voting, Lilah.

• 13. geogirl  |  June 6th, 2006 at 11:24 am

  Oh, and might I suggest that you do NOT pick a name that has a song associated with it.

  Unfortunately I was given a name that is in no less than THREE songs (that I know of) and since the day I was born I have had people singing the same lines to me over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over!

  Um, yeah. Thanks. Like I haven’t heard that before.

• 14. Amy (binkytown)  |  June 6th, 2006 at 11:42 am

  I’ve never heard of Isolde! What rock have I been under? Congrats on the lovely existing creatures and the soon-to-debut new one!

• 15. JustLinda  |  June 6th, 2006 at 11:53 am

  I wanted to name my last one Hazel but I couldn’t get anyone to go along. Then, of course, Julia Roberts went and STOLE it from me.

  Other girl names I like:

  Daisy
  Greta (or Gretchen or Gretel)
  Charlotte

  Or you could let her know that I’ve chosen awesome names for my own and she could feel free to borrow them: Raena (RAY-NUH), Jadyn, Sarah, Amber, Katie. Take them with my blessing… of course, if she uses them, then the middle name would have to be Linda. OK?

• 16. K~  |  June 6th, 2006 at 11:59 am

  What name do you feel you were supposed to have Jenn?

  What’s your name Geogirl?
  (I promise I won’t sing any song that has your name in it…)

• 17. karina  |  June 6th, 2006 at 12:58 pm

  Ooh, we should have a “geogirl’s true name” guessing game. (Unless that goes against blog etiquette?) It’s not “Sharona,” is it? Oh wait, that’s only ONE song…

• 18. Sara  |  June 6th, 2006 at 1:01 pm

  Maybe geogirl shares my name. I get a lot of the singing too. Also, please have Katie check the list of 10 most popular baby names for the year, and then AVOID IT. Do not make your child be one of 5 Sara(h)s in her highschool class of 55 people! (That’s ~10% Sara(h)s! So many!!)

• 19. TJM  |  June 6th, 2006 at 1:03 pm

  Octavia?

  Regina?

  Blorf?

• 20. Andrea S.  |  June 6th, 2006 at 1:07 pm

  Oh that’s just too funny. Such opinion in ones so little!

  And it’s just a weird coincidence that a couple friends of ours named their babies Olivia and Ben. And their mother shares my name. Hmm. Should I be mad that some people forget me when that Andrea came along? Or should she be mad? Carrots for thought.

• 21. karina  |  June 6th, 2006 at 1:23 pm

  Jenn, weren’t you supposed to be named Desdemona?

• 22. Another Jen  |  June 6th, 2006 at 1:26 pm

  Okay, HI — this diatribe had me laughing mightily.

  I met a little girl last week named Esme — with an accent over the second “e.” I thought it was very pretty…

  My 3-year-old son often names his baby sister’s dolls things like “Bruscheppa.”

• 23. Liz  |  June 6th, 2006 at 1:39 pm

  Five zillon bucks says that geogirl’s name is Susanna, and she’s sick of hearing “Oh Susanna” and “Run Around Sue” and “Here Comes Susie Snowflake” and “Wake Up a Little Susie” and the list goes on and on… you can just paypal me the five zillion.

  Growing up with a sister named Susanna, I was so PISSED that there were no Elizabeth songs.

• 24. ChristyD  |  June 6th, 2006 at 1:41 pm

  Your duaghters are as funny as you are! BTW, I had a friend in college named September. She was such fun.

  And my I LOVE my daughter’s name. It’s Georgia, just in case you (or you borther and sister in-law) need any more ideas. Best of luck to everyone.

• 25. the Mater  |  June 6th, 2006 at 1:42 pm

  You’re right, Karina - her Aunt Linda (the Ph.D. in Literature) suggested Desdemona as Jenn’s name. We passed. I thought of an octopus.

  “Annabelle” was Sophie’s proposed name for Hannah. BTW, Hannah is the Hebrew name for “Grace”.

  I’m having problems with Isolde … that seems so rare. I can only think of an opera Tristan and Isolde. And wasn’t that a tragic opera?

  Now, Isobel works for me. Sophie is good at this :>) We should start paying attention.

  I can’t play “guess geogirl’s real name” because I know it! And, no, it’s not George!!

• 26. Diana  |  June 6th, 2006 at 1:42 pm

  Yeah , I’m with geogirl on not giving the baby a name that can be associated to a song. Do you know how many times I’ve had to hear “dirty Diana” by my own COUSIN?!? (F*** you Michael, it’s all your fault.)
  I never had a name picked out for a girl, thank goodness I had a boy, I would have been screwed.

• 27. Charlie  |  June 6th, 2006 at 1:42 pm

  “Ooh, we should have a “geogirl’s true name” guessing game.”

  Ok….lets see…..song…..hmmmm

  Afternoon Delight?

  ok…real names…..

  Xanadu?

  Sorry……

  Sherrie? Sherry?

  I give up!

• 28. ChristyD  |  June 6th, 2006 at 1:43 pm

  OMG, I should have checked that before I posted… my terrible lack of editing!

• 29. the Mater  |  June 6th, 2006 at 1:43 pm

  And it’s not Susanna! Keep guessing.

• 30. the Mater  |  June 6th, 2006 at 1:45 pm

  LOL, it’s okay. Jenn has two daughters = a duo = duaghters!

  And Georgia is not geogirl’s real name either, nor Sherry.

• 31. Tessa  |  June 6th, 2006 at 1:46 pm

  Yes I agree, Tessa is a BEAUTIFUL name!

  *Giggle*

• 32. Jessica  |  June 6th, 2006 at 1:52 pm

  Hmmm…I’m going to guess that geogirl’s real name is….Sara?

  As for names, I’ve always been fond of the name Stella. Could never use it, though. My husband loathes it.

• 33. Charlie  |  June 6th, 2006 at 1:53 pm

  I think the Mater enjoys weaving this web…..

• 34. K. Laureen  |  June 6th, 2006 at 2:12 pm

  After 4 beautiful boys, we had our first girl back in 2000. My son Daelan was horrified. He had begged me to name the baby “Major Fruit Roll-up” for the entire 9 months — and he called her by that name until she was 6 months old.

• 35. veronica  |  June 6th, 2006 at 2:17 pm

  I seriously considered Iris for my second daughter. It is a beautiful name. Strong and elegant. But we went with a different name that she looked more like.

  You might also consider how the names will sound if the girl has a speech impediment. My uncle couldn’t say his L and R the first few years of school. Of course his name was Larry, so he just never spoke.

• 36. the Mater  |  June 6th, 2006 at 2:31 pm

  Give a prize to the lady in post #30!! Only with an “h” at the end - she doesn’t like it when you spell her name wrong :>)

  And yes, charlie, I kind of hang out here when I’m not staring at a blank screen trying to come up with a new essay for my blog. Jenn was hoping that my own blog would do the trick - but I just can’t resist all her lovely fans … sigh, I don’t have as many at my site (hint, hint).

  “Major Fruit Loop” is delicious! ROTFLOL Olivia and Ben are calling baby-in-utero, “kumquat”, for now. I don’t think Katieface has a clue where they got that from.

  And Iris is very elegant. What if she’s a tomboy?!

• 37. Charlie  |  June 6th, 2006 at 2:52 pm

  Hey…does this mean I am the lady in post #30? I mean I am all man….no matter how much I read this blog. Really I am….now where did I put my remote? See that’s proof I am a man (secretly changes channel to WE/Oxygen/Lifetime).

• 38. kt flynnie  |  June 6th, 2006 at 3:28 pm

  im very shocked though there was no throw backs to any disney princess characters…shocked but oddly relieved…i like the names ella and mia

• 39. Another Jen  |  June 6th, 2006 at 3:52 pm

  I’ll try to be brief with this, but it’s pretty funny. My mom said that when she was in the hospital after I was born, there was another woman in the maternity ward who was debating over the baby’s name. (My mom learned this story from the lady who came around to each new mom to fill out the birth certificates.)

  Apparently, this lady was in a quandary because she and her husband had PROMISED their young son (age 4 or so) that he could choose his new baby brother’s name. The name the young lad chose? “Tarzan Alligator.”

  The parents, rather than try and talk their son out of this very bad choice, told the birth certificate lady that that would indeed be the name. When the b.c. lady balked (appropriately), the parents explained that, “Little Jimmy (or whatever the heathen’s own name was) would be SO disappointed if they didn’t go with the name that he had chosen! We just don’t know what to do! I guess we’ll have to name him that!”

  The farsighted b.c. lady said she was going to wait on this particular form, and would check back with this delirious family in a day or two. (Remember, this was back when new moms would stay in the hospital for a week or more post-partum.) Each day she returned, and was told that the name would still be Tarzan Alligator.

  “We;ve tried to talk to little Jimmy,” they’d say, shaking their heads. “But he just won’t change his mind!”

  Finally, on the last day of this woman’s stay in the hospital, they finally decided on a more suitable name. Apparently they were able to talk young Jimmy into a more respectable moniker. (Though god only knows how much bribery it took.)

  You have to remember, this was in the deep South — there’s a lot of dumb folks down yonder. (And I can say that with no sense of irony, since I do hail from the South myself — though I haven’t lived there since i was six.)

  Tarzan-freaking-Alligator!!!!

• 40. K. Laureen  |  June 6th, 2006 at 4:01 pm

  And as for all you folks from the north, yucking it up over Tarzan Alligator. I have two words for you: Peekaboo Street.

  Nuff sed.

• 41. the Mater  |  June 6th, 2006 at 4:17 pm

  Psst, Charlie, relax … you’re post #31. LOL

  #30 guessed geogirl’s real name!

• 42. the Mater  |  June 6th, 2006 at 4:21 pm

  ROTFLOL at Tarzan Alligator story. Needless to say, Flannery O’Connor lived in the South. Rich characters. Writers’ fodder.

• 43. Jenn  |  June 6th, 2006 at 4:37 pm

  42 comments, and half of them are my mother, telling all my stories and giving away all my secrets. Ma! Come on! Leave me something to talk about! Everybody please go read my mom’s blog and leave comments, STAT!

  Tarzan Alligator, Bruscheppa, and Major Fruit Roll-Up have sent me over the edge.

• 44. JenfromBoston  |  June 6th, 2006 at 5:25 pm

  sophie: “Yeah. Pleasant name” –I hear that so deadpan it kills me.

  “*LENA* IS *IN* THE *MOVIE*!” - a little exasperated with Mom, huh?

  HB: “Ooh, WINNIE THE POOH” - aw, so cute.
  The whole Elizabeth exchange was priceless. Very “Who’s on First”.

• 45. Sara  |  June 6th, 2006 at 6:30 pm

  *Ahem* Excuse me, but I believe I guessed geogirl’s name way back at comment 18. Well, speculating it. As a fellow Sara, I feel her pain. Though I feel doubly sorry for her that she spells it the wrong way.
  Those five zillion dollars can be sent in installments, I’m not picky.

• 46. Nicole  |  June 6th, 2006 at 6:32 pm

  I love Iris. And Lily. And for 5 years I’ve had a hankering for an Isabel Katherine (I like the Isobel spelling too–and I love that Bjork song ), but we only make boys. My uncle had a baby last year, and they totally poached my beloved Isabel for their daughter! So unfair.

  Tarzan Alligator is atrocious. As is Pilot Inspektor.

• 47. corymack  |  June 6th, 2006 at 7:27 pm

  farmer in Dodsland, Saskatchewan, Canada’s real name:

  Weldon Bacon.

  first name of a child borin Kerrobert, Saskatchewan
  (sibling of 8 previous children)

  Final

  totally not making this up…

• 48. the Mater  |  June 6th, 2006 at 8:08 pm

  Er … I’m just sneakin’ back on here for only one moment before Jenn catches me but SARA! My gosh I completely missed you at Post #18 … and you are certainly the early-bird winner! I’ll let geogirl respond to the “h” at the end.

  Lily is a very pretty name for a little girl. There, I’m leaving - I’ve done enough damage for one day.

• 49. geogirl  |  June 6th, 2006 at 8:40 pm

  Oh dear. I seem to have hijacked this blog by accident. Sorry!

  Focus people, FOCUS! Baby names!

  My boyfriend in highschool had a sister named Geneva. (like the city in Switzerland) Everybody called her Neva for short. I always thought that was a pretty name.

• 50. Angela  |  June 6th, 2006 at 8:56 pm

  Oh the name quandry…I am waiting, waiting for our second child (41 weeks and 2 days of waiting) and if babe is a girl I think we have finally decided on Kaethe (Käthe would be my preferred chioce but the umlaut seems cruel). Kudos to those who figure out how to pronounce it. I love flower names, but my husband is dead set against them.
  I second the comment about checking a “favorite name” index - I like the social security index the best. My poor daughter is one of many many Ellas about town - She may end up being Evelyn (her middle name) by the time she goes to school.

• 51. Rina  |  June 6th, 2006 at 9:04 pm

  Lillian.
  If Oliver had been a girl, we had sort of settled on Genevieve. But now I think I’d choose Lillian.

  Please talk her out of Isobel. Oh so trendy.

• 52. usch  |  June 6th, 2006 at 9:07 pm

  I’ve always liked the old flower names; Iris, Lily, Rose etc. Maybe not Hyacynth. I like Stela too. I’ve always wanted to call a daughter Orlando. Would that be cruel?

• 53. Barb  |  June 6th, 2006 at 9:37 pm

  KatieFACE? Who named her that?

• 54. Mir  |  June 6th, 2006 at 9:44 pm

  I can never decide if people who consult others on baby names are brave or just stupid. Someone’s always got a story about someone they knew with such-and-such name who farted a lot and had sex with corpses.

  I also appreciated how my mother-in-law was kind enough, AFTER my daughter was born, to say her given name was “just weird” and her (quite common) nickname was “no good because the only person we ever knew with that name was horrible.” Thanks, lady!

  Oh, and? My kids are 20 months apart. Darling daughter spent several months patting my gigantic belly and insisting we name her brother Baby Elmo.

• 55. the Mater  |  June 6th, 2006 at 9:54 pm

  I don’t DARE reply!!

• 56. Contrary  |  June 6th, 2006 at 11:29 pm

  I wonder if this Charlie is my (brother) Charlie. Hmm.

  One of the most popular girl names of late is Nevaeh. Heaven spelled backwards. It’s cute and all..but why saddle your kid with a fad?

  I always wanted to be named Maggie. Much better than my own BORING name. Maggies have adventures and horses! At least that’s what I thought when I was 13.

  Oh! When we had to pick names for French Class, I picked Gisele, which is a beautiful name, but I think I picked it because it reminded me of gazelles and I always liked those (in my defense I was about 8 at the time)

• 57. Katieface  |  June 7th, 2006 at 12:04 am

  Okay, okay, settle down people–I’ll clarify some things

  Jenn named me Katieface (you’ll have to ask her for an explanation), Isobel is not on the list (pretty name but too popular), and don’t worry, we’re going to name the kiddo what we want regardless of popular opinion.

  Believe me, if we leave it up to a vote in our household, her name will be “Lipstick.”

• 58. Ana  |  June 7th, 2006 at 2:01 am

  Oh, but Katie, you could compromise and call her “Moonlit Wine” or “Mauve Motion”. I know! Cherries-in-the-Snow!

  Seriously though, I’ve always looooved Iris and would probably lobby hard for it if we were ever going to have another. Really I just love plant names, though we couldn’t agree on one for our son. He was nicknamed (the)Sprout in utero though and will be still at 25.
  And Angela….rock that umlaut, girlfriend!

• 59. R J Keefe  |  June 7th, 2006 at 12:33 pm

  Thanks for another moment with world-weary Sophie. Is she watching old Greta Garbo movies when you’re not looking?

• 60. Jessica  |  June 7th, 2006 at 1:19 pm

  Joan, Ruth, Vivienne, Julienne, Genevieve, Olivia, Ophelia or (and there is no way in hell I’ll get to use or I I even would but…) Odette and Odile..yes I was in ballet (too long) and watched the cartoon version of Swan Lake too many times! Also, just realized that Odile, when typed looks entirely too much like Garfield’s Odie.
  I do hope to go with something fairly classic but not overused…As one of 8 little Jessica’s in third grade I was VERY indignant because my parents had told me I was special and obviously as 1 of eight, that was not so…
  end of story, my 8th birthday present was a name change…Jesyka, recently changed it back at 25 because I got tired of mispronunciation and nonsense along those lines…

• 61. Natalie  |  June 7th, 2006 at 3:25 pm

  I had an artsy and fun college roommate named Sylvia. I’ve loved that name ever since.

• 62. Seattleish  |  June 7th, 2006 at 3:43 pm

  I think it’s so interesting that we are all vested in what other people choose to call their children (and I don’t discount myself here). My pregnant friend and I were just discussing this topic last week…We each have a penchant for unusual names upon which others seem to feel compelled to express their opinion (generally “WHAT?” or “Why would you do that?” or “okaayyy”, etc…). This time, rather than listen to all of that, she and her husband have agreed to keep the list of potential names a secret until after the baby is born. I think I would do the same if I ever again found myself in the same boat.

• 63. Deb  |  June 7th, 2006 at 4:57 pm

  Names are so individual and we all have personal meaning associated with someone named Bertha or what sounds pleasing to our ear.
  Being a true EarthmamaGoddess, I enjoy the current “trend” of very unique baby names! I love how families are finding their own meanings and passing those down to their children.
  I have loved names all my life and spent many a happy hour writing and rewriting my name spelled various ways (and with different surnames associated with the love-o-the-week) as well as our children. I changed my name frequently as a kid b/c like Sara(h), there is always at least three other Debbies of my age group. Thank God it is out of vogue….
  My older kids ended up with the most popular names of the year of their births due to my exhusbands unimaginative boring stubborness. My last two girls have beautiful unique indivdual names that feel right and true for them. I highly reccomend the second course of action AND having a list and waiting to meet the wee one after birth. Unless one is visited in a dream by said wee one as my dh was. Then go with that name.
  Wow, sorry Jenn, this turned into a long monologue sheesh…I am suffering blogging withdrawals b/c Blogger is down AGAIN !!! GRRRRR

• 64. Mel  |  June 7th, 2006 at 5:14 pm

  Long time reader, first time leaving a message. I just had to get in on the baby naming game. My oldest daughter’s name is Rheanne, with an accent over the e (pronounced RAY-ann). We call her Rhe (sounds like Ray) for short. It sounds so beautiful when someone who speaks French says it. I really wanted to name our second daughter Mackenna. But, my husband was dead set against it. So, we named her Samantha instead, Sammy for short.

• 65. pogonip  |  June 7th, 2006 at 6:37 pm

  I’ve just gotta get my two cents in on this one. I don’t think you can ever go wrong with a flower as a middle name–it’s just sweet and feminine and classic and I always think of how nice it would sound on the wedding invitation. (Okay, Katieface, maybe that’s getting a little too far ahead for you). And whatever you pick should have a nice nickname in case the girlette-to-be doesn’t approve of the long version! And Mater, you are my next stop!

• 66. Amy  |  June 7th, 2006 at 6:59 pm

  I saddled four of my five with common names. My middle child has a name that doesn’t even apear on the top 1000 list. I didn’t make it up or use a weird spelling of a common name either. (Y is not a good substitute for all the other vowels. really. it’s not.) It’s nice to have one child with a unique name. The rest of us smucks must go around ignoring people who yell out our names because they probably arent’ yelling for us.

  which is why I’m going to be mean and brag about it and then not tell you what it is.

• 67. mama kelly  |  June 7th, 2006 at 6:59 pm

  my little october baby is named Autumn

• 68. Susan  |  June 8th, 2006 at 12:25 am

  My brother and his wife are awaiting the arrival of #2 (gender undetermined). My four-year-old son has suggested they name the baby Billion Chicken.

  Works for a boy OR a girl! Or a chicken, I suppose.

• 69. Betsy  |  June 8th, 2006 at 8:56 am

  I’m a new poster here though you’ve been cracking me up for months, Jenn. Like Mir, I’m endlessly amused by folks who ask for opinions on their baby name selections. Brave? Stupid? Whatever. The Name Game is entertaining.

  My two daughters (3 and almost 6) are *very* particular about the names their babies will have. Sweet and Tuna. I have a particular fondness for Tuna myself. Though she’s going to get her ass kicked on the playground.

  Names on our list for our second: Tessa, Charlotte, Ruby, Stella, Clementine, Hazel, Daisy. We went for Alice.

• 70. Kirsten (SF)  |  June 8th, 2006 at 11:00 am

  You might want to look at this cool website:
  http://babynamewizard.com/namevoyager/lnv0105.html

  It charts baby name popularity over time- a lot of fun to play with.

  During our 3 pregnancy’s dh and I had a fun game- when asked what we were going to name the baby we replied- Calliope for a girl, Pubert for a boy. People didn’t know what to say but the look on their faces was priceless.

• 71. Kirsten #2  |  June 8th, 2006 at 1:38 pm

  Kirsten (SF) - you have impeccable taste - I love that site. Hours of fun. And how about that name Kirsten? As a child, I knew no one with the name, but it seems more common now. I hated it then, but now I like it. Even if no one ever gets it right. (How do you pronounce it? Keersten, or Kuhrsten? I am the former.)

  We did what Seattleish says - told no one what name we had picked until the kidlet was born. It drove my mother crazy, because she really wanted to know ahead of time - but it was nice to have that as a little surprise when the baby finally made her appearance.

• 72. Maiken  |  June 8th, 2006 at 2:53 pm

  I named my daughter Lucia (pronounced Lou-see-uh). There are two other pronounciations. My other possibilities for her were Eva and Lisette.

  My family doens’t make boys for some reason, but I would have named the baby Evon after my great grandfather.

  I like resusing family names.

• 73. Kirsten (SF)  |  June 8th, 2006 at 3:07 pm

  Hi Kirsten (waves) and all….I am a “keersten”, and you’re right,no one ever says it right! I hated my name- all my friends at school were Susan and Laura adn other cute “regular” names. I could never get those pre-made mugs and things with my name on it, that’s for sure. I tried to use less common names for my kids as a result.
  I never met another Kirsten until after high school, although I was surprised how common our name is in Europe!

  I am thrilled to be on this site and have to qualify which Kirsten (LOL)….

  Kirsten in San Francisco
  **don’t call it Frisco, and don’t call me Kristen :>)

• 74. Ellamama  |  June 8th, 2006 at 6:40 pm

  I have been thinking about baby names constantly, thus making my husaband very nervous. Does the clock actually tick for the third child?

  My current obsessions. Mabel ( my grandmother), Elsa (could never use it because I have Ella), Alice (Ella’s favorite story) and Jane.

• 75. kris  |  June 8th, 2006 at 8:10 pm

  had Zee been a girl, he would have been named Siibel (pronounced si-BELLE) or Sobel (as in Isobel without the “I”) lucky for him, huh? Instead we got a cat, and she got the name, instead. Though, maybe your sister would have objections to using a cats name…

  I’ve always been partial to August, and, my husband wanted to name the baby Gabriel, but I won, since I was the one doing the birthing. HA!

  ‘fraid I can’t think of any more, right now. I’ll let you know if I do.

• 76. the Mater  |  June 8th, 2006 at 11:32 pm

  “I am thrilled to be on this site and have to qualify which Kirsten (LOL)….”

  Kirsten of the Census, right? Your research is helping to move the ghost stories along :>)

• 77. Kirsten (SF)  |  June 9th, 2006 at 11:19 am

  “Kirsten of the Census, right? Your research is helping to move the ghost stories along :>) ”

  Nope, that’s the other Kirsten, although strangely enough we seem to share that hobby, which my kids refer to as “mommy reading about dead people”….eerie how it all comes around!

  I added the SF assuming the other Kirsten isn’t from San Francisco, coz that would be too wierd :>)

  I was restraining from sharing some odd names- my mom is a Principal and she has some doozies - like little Sparkle, or Spudrina, the same year. My alll time favorite was Female, pronounced Femily - the mom thought the hospital had named her baby for her.

  Anyways, I am a mom of 3, hobby genealogist, dance Mom.(It’s like soccer mom with hissy fits)

  Nice to “meet” you Mater, although I feel like I know you already.

  Kirsten

• 78. Nichole  |  June 9th, 2006 at 1:21 pm

  I *love* your children. I hope that’s not too strange for you.
  My father-in-law wanted us to name our daughter Esme. It’s a pretty name, but our last name is Esmon. Esme Esmon? No thank you.
  If there’s a sister in Piper’s future, she’ll likely be Chloe Marie — “Chloe” for her aunt, and “Marie” for me, my aunt, my grandmother, my mother-in-law, and my husband’s grandmother.

• 79. carrien  |  June 9th, 2006 at 1:26 pm

  not that this will get read so late in the game, but I have tp tell you about ti anyway. MY husband spent my entire second pregnancy talking about how cool it would be to name our child Tyranasaurous REx if it was a boy. I of course refused, and it was a girl, with a very pretty name. The first thing he said after I told him I was pregnant with this one besides great was, “finally, welcome Tyrannasaurous Rex, I’ve waited a long time for you.” NOT happening, but funny in a very strange sort of way.

• 80. the Mater  |  June 9th, 2006 at 4:50 pm

  When Shakespeare penned “what’s in a name?”, he couldn’t have fathomed all the delightful comments on this blog.

  I’m ROTFLOL because I think carrien’s is the best - Tyronnausarus Rex - little T-Rex running around the house. Thank God it was a girl :>)

  Jenn, I’m back - thought I’d round the number out to 80!

• 81. Kirsten #2  |  June 9th, 2006 at 7:18 pm

  Kirsten in SF - I was just visiting SF last week! I am currently in LA, but, um, we’re getting out of here. Soon. I have a mug with my name preprinted on it that my sister picked up in Denmark - it’s a common name there.

  Mater, I am Kirsten of the Census, aka Kirsten #2.

• 82. the Mater  |  June 9th, 2006 at 9:04 pm

  Thanks, ladies! Both California gals :>) Maybe one day you’ll meet. Great thing about cyber friends - some turn into real-life buddies too.

• 83. Nancy  |  June 11th, 2006 at 8:28 am

  “LENA IS IN THE MOVIE.” I can just picture Hattie saying that like “ELVIS HAS LEFT THE BUILDING.”

  I definitely think the baby should be Furful. Furful Isolde, to honor the octopi in the world.

• 84. nolamom  |  June 11th, 2006 at 5:39 pm

  The Calliope and Pubert names had me laughing, wish I could have thought of something like that to tell people. LOL.
  We named our daughters Moira Enis and Madison Allan, and then we found out how popular Madison is. LOL.
  Moira Enis means “great fiery one” and she is that.
  I believe that if you can give your child a name with a terrific meaning, no matter how different it is from other people’s, when they find out it means something special, they appreciate that their parents put some serious thought into naming them something unique.

• 85. John  |  June 13th, 2006 at 6:19 pm

  Katieface,

  The only advice that I can give is to pick a name that your mother in law likes. Not because I’m trying to suck up to the Mater or anything! (Sorry, Mater.)

  When our second daughter was born, we went to the hospital unsure what her name would be. We were agonizing over a short list. She was born this dark, swarthy-looking Mediterranean thing, so we JOINTLY decided that she would be Isabella. Turned in the paperwork and everything. Then, that afternoon, my mother in law arrived…

  Drum roll, please.

  SHE didn’t like the name Isabella. And didn’t have the class to keep it to herself in front of her daughter who’d been up all night birthing a child. Much unhappiness ensued.

  Our second daughter is named Ava. (But that’s OK, I get even by calling her “Ava Mae”, when her middle name is not Mae… actually, I just like the sound of “Ava Mae”.)

  So: PICK A NAME THAT YOUR MOTHER IN LAW LIKES. Both mothers in law.

  Either that, or just pick classy mothers in law.

• 86. Amanda  |  June 14th, 2006 at 3:32 am

  Hi,
  We were given the advice to yell the name from the back steps to see if we could stand yelling it out to the back yard. Heidi Grace worked fairly well. I’m kidding of course - sort of. Our son was Joel Erik from the womb, Heidi was named from inception too. We just knew. There can never be too many Amanda’s either, we are few and far between.

• 87. Monster Mama  |  June 14th, 2006 at 10:59 am

  This is just too funny!

  We have Peyton John and Lucy Isabelle
  (Isabelle was chosen by my mom & husband as I was delivering….not that I don’t like it, but I had other options in mind…Lucy Sophia or Lucy Shiloh-damn you Angelina Jolie for stealing not lonly husbands but baby names………)

• 88. the Mater  |  June 14th, 2006 at 9:35 pm

  Per John, “… So: PICK A NAME THAT YOUR MOTHER IN LAW LIKES. Both mothers in law.

  Either that, or just pick classy mothers in law. ”

  She chose the latter. hehehehe :>)

  Actually, I was present for Hannah’s naming in the hospital and it was fun to be there. But my northwest dearies will do just fine and the other classy mother-in-law will be in attendance and I’m sure she’ll give good counsel (if asked).

  Have to admit though, “Iris” is growing on me. Hmm, a pun …

• 89. ao neko  |  June 18th, 2006 at 5:39 pm

  Hello? I don’t know if anyone is still reading, but….

  My daughter’s name is Iris. It met my naming criteria:

  1. Easy to spell;
  2. Easy to pronounce (my own name is neither of the above); and
  2. Unusual but not bizarre or un-heard-of.

  And it met my husband’s sole criterion: its origin is in Greek literature. Iris is one of the messengers of the gods whose path across the sky is symbolized by the rainbow. If we’d had a boy, my husband said he would have wanted to name him Telemachus (after Ulysses’ son in The Odyssey). Fortunately I didn’t have to call his bluff, if it was a bluff (!!), on that one.

  Anyway, Iris was the first name we ever talked about and we kept coming back to it. I have no namer’s remorse, and my only hesitation in recommending it to others is that I like that it hasn’t been in the top 100 names for at least 100 years.

• 90. graciebellesmom  |  June 20th, 2006 at 5:26 am

  So many adorable names.

  Iris is precious.
  Ruby, Sadie, Mae, Liv, Greta, Charlotte, Annabelle,
  Those are a few of my favs…

  Graciebella is my favorite!

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