How the hell do you name a baby?

[shortyjacobs]

Any hints? I'm looking over lists of names, and none of them look good. SWMBO/SWIP, (She Who Is Pregnant), is firing names at me, and none of them sound good.

So, fathers/mothers out there....how the hell did you come up with a name? Do I just not like any names?

 

[meddin]

Any hints? I'm looking over lists of names, and none of them look good. SWMBO/SWIP, (She Who Is Pregnant), is firing names at me, and none of them sound good.

So, fathers/mothers out there....how the hell did you come up with a name? Do I just not like any names?

I have no idea. My girlfriend had a hard enough time naming our 3 dogs and 3 cats. I can't imagine a baby.

 

[Nurmey]

You don't really have to decide until you take a look at him or her. I had pretty much made up my mind on the way up the hospital steps but I had to look at her to know for sure it was the right name.

 

[shortyjacobs]

You don't really have to decide until you take a look at him or her. I had pretty much made up my mind on the way up the hospital steps but I had to look at her to know for sure it was the right name.

Well shyte, that's like 8 months away....and SWMBO is already making lists and they all look like stripper names or pimply bookworm names, (note, I am a pimply bookworm, so no offense intended to fellow bookwormios)....And apparently this won't even be the hardest thing I'll face in the next 18 years, 8 months.

Sweatin' bullets, (and we were trying, so I bought this upon myself....)

 

[shortyjacobs]

I have no idea. My girlfriend had a hard enough time naming our 3 dogs and 3 cats. I can't imagine a baby.

Funny story that. Our dog had 6 names within our first 36 hours of ownership. He was Ace, Max, Brewski, Barley, Harley, then finally Riley.

Just told the 'rents Sunday night about the fact that they would be grandparents....they told me that I was nameless, (well, Baby Jacobs) for the first 48 hrs of my life....

 

[scrambledegg81]

Do what my dad did and name your kids after famous F1 drivers back in the 60's and 70's.

Or just pick your favorite band/sports team/movie and swipe a name from there.

 

[McKBrew]

Isn't it the name of your first pet and the first street you lived on?

Or is that for something else?


Honestly though, someone in your family you respect. An old name from your families past....

 

[jrkettle]

My wife is pregnant, she's due in April. We just went through all this. We each went through one of those baby name books and each made a list of all the names we liked. Didn't have to love the name, just liked it enough to write it down.

Then we took each others list and crossed off any names we hated. Then went through and compared them two at a time. Whichever one we liked better stayed, the other was crossed off. I found it easier for me to say each one out loud a bunch of times. We finally got it down to a short list of 3. We have a name picked out, but keeping the other two as possibilities.

It took us about 3 weeks to pick. Hope this helps and congratulations.

 

[Fingers]

I preferred to name my children while nurse Rachet stood in the doorway glaring at me over crossed arms and slapping baby naming forms against her hip. Those nurse's sense of humor diminished rapidly as various little baby Fingers aged.

My first two children either did not have a final name picked out or had it changed after they were born. Just ride the wave until you annoy someone with your procrastination. It's at that moment inspiration will come.

 

[jmick]

This was tough... My wife and I both read through a bunch of baby name books and wrote down our top 10-15 choices. We then compared and found we only had two in common. We chewed on those for a couple months, but still didn't decide for sure until after the little guy was born.

 

[Conodor]

First step to do is remove all the names you hate, kids you hated in school, names that can be made fun of and any ex's name your significant other knows about.

Then just go with names that sound good with your last name, maybe a special relative or really close friend put them on a list.

i picked the boys names, wife picked the girls. we had 3 to choose from when wen went to the hospital on the big day.(we didn't know what we were expecting on any of mine)

Finally look at the baby and pick what you feel.


the current trend is unique names. the biggest thing on picking a name, thinking about the kid in school... anything that will rythm with it, that can be bad... cross that name off the list... kids are crule!

 

[meddin]

Funny story that. Our dog had 6 names within our first 36 hours of ownership. He was Ace, Max, Brewski, Barley, Harley, then finally Riley.

Just told the 'rents Sunday night about the fact that they would be grandparents....they told me that I was nameless, (well, Baby Jacobs) for the first 48 hrs of my life....

So don't worry then . If you didn't need a name for 48 hours than yours wont either...lol

BTW, our last dog took almost 2 weeks to name. It was by far the hardest one we had name-wise.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

The deal was if it was a girl the wife chooses the first name and I choose the middle and if it was a boy I name the first and she names the middle. Neither of us divuldged our choosing.

2 boys.

Kiernan Alexander and Tristan Mikhael.

The girl will be Amelie' Sophia.

My choices were based on family tree. We are welsh/french at our roots. God only knows what makes up the leaves. Her choices were based on "they sound nice".

 

[Beernik]

My rules:
1. Nothing gender neutral that would cause a them to get beat up.
2. Nothing that rhymes easy.
3. No hippy names.

I agree, you pick 3 names, your wife pick 3 names. Pitch them to each other. Come to a concensus.

Naming our daughter was relatively easy.

 

[Conodor]

oh yeah i forgot about the middle names... yes we did the same thing. which was cool with me.

I HATED my middle name growing up, but wanted to name my son after me, so we took my first name and she picked her passed on grandfather. Johnny Joseph is what we came up with.

funny thing is this is my 3rd child, first boy. And i couldn't tell you any of the other names we had in the hospital...

 

[Yuri_Rage]

Process of elimination. Watch nothing but WWE Smackdown/Raw for a week straight. Rule out any name mentioned.

Or mix and match for epic combinations: Primo Regal, Yoshi Swagger, Kung Fu Layla, Mysterio Grisham, etc



In all seriousness, look to your roots. Pick something from your ancestry or national origin.

Unique is cool...but only to a point. Often times, unique is more cruel than cool.

Rhyming/singsong/pun names are terrible, and names that rhyme with body parts and their euphemisms are no better.

Lastly, every Richard is a Dick.

 

[Nurmey]

Rhyming/singsong/pun names are terrible, and names that rhyme with body parts and their euphemisms are no better.

Lastly, every Richard is a Dick.

I went to school with a girl named Candy Barr. Please take pity on your offspring and don't do anything terrible as that.

 

[meddin]

I went to school with a girl named Candy Barr. Please take pity on your offspring and don't do anything terrible as that.

I can top that. I knew a guy whose given name was Harold Beaver. No joke. He tried going by 'Steve', but then his real name was discovered. Think about it. Ouch.

 

[Pappers_]

The deal was if it was a girl the wife chooses the first name and I choose the middle and if it was a boy I name the first and she names the middle. Neither of us divuldged our choosing.

2 boys.

Kiernan Alexander and Tristan Mikhael.

The girl will be Amelie' Sophia.

My choices were based on family tree. We are welsh at our roots. God only knows what makes up the leaves. Her choices were based on "they sound nice".

I am 100% with Gila on this. Names based on your family are great - my boys, now 16 and 18, both appreciate where their names come from - that their names have meaning.

Ok, true story. When boy #1 was on the way, we were discussing names. I have a forebear on my father's side who was named, I kid you not, Hiram Horace. After I suggested this, and made the case for it, our eventual choice of Hugh didn't seem nearly so odd or unconventional.

And his middle name is Douglass, my mother's mother's family/maiden name. Hey, it could have been Hiram Horace.

 

[gratus fermentatio]

Any hints? I'm looking over lists of names, and none of them look good. SWMBO/SWIP, (She Who Is Pregnant), is firing names at me, and none of them sound good.

So, fathers/mothers out there....how the hell did you come up with a name? Do I just not like any names?

In short: Just pick one & stick with it. OK, that's over simplified, but it IS pretty much what it boils down to.

I've always thought names should have some meaning other than "I just liked the sound of it." A name that recognizes somebody (family or not) who you love and/or respect, maybe even a name from a historical figure.
Traditional names that reflect/honor your family's heritage are good too.

There are some name combinations that work well too, or even made up names. Have a look at some baby name lists & see if you & the missus can at least narrow it down to 5 male & 5 female names; then you can pick 1 out of a hat, or have a poll here & let us choose one for you. Somebody else did that just a few weeks or a month ago, never did hear what they finally decided on. Regards, GF.

 

[JetSmooth]

We just had our first on January 1. I tried very earnestly to get some sort of family significance in his name. My mother's father was Norwegian and I lobbied heavily for the middle name Thor. She would have none of it. "You are NOT leaving me at home with the Norse god of thunder", she would say. Settled on "Liam", which is fine because the other side of the fmaily is solidly Irish, as is her mom's family.

We retained my middle name, which is also my father's middle name. I still would have preferred Thor.

 

[jmendez29]

I can't believe anyone mentioned it by now.

Name the kid Saaz.

Willamette if you want something effeminate.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

We just had our first on January 1. I tried very earnestly to get some sort of family significance in his name. My mother's father was Norwegian and I lobbied heavily for the middle name Thor. She would have none of it. "You are NOT leaving me at home with the Norse god of thunder", she would say. Settled on "Liam", which is fine because the other side of the fmaily is solidly Irish, as is her mom's family.

We retained my middle name, which is also my father's middle name. I still would have preferred Thor.

Kiernan = Little one from the past
Alexander = Defender of men

Little defender of men from the past?

Tristan = Noisey One
Mikhael = Gift from God

Noisey gift from god.

 

[shortyjacobs]

Excellent advice folks! I started in on it yesterday night and started the "write down any names you don't detest...." Seems like a good jumping off point.

Gila, I LOVE Kiernan....I just wish I wasn't so freaking vanilla white that I could have a kid pull off such a cool, exotic sounding name...

We are looking at family names, and most likely there will be some familial roots mixed in there, (at least some from my wife's side, as her name "line" ends with her, so she wants to do something to carry that on).

I also don't like "uniqueness" (apologies to anyone who went this route)....I feel it just means the kid will have to spell his/her name EVERY time...Unique due to history, (Mikhael instead of Michael), is great, but unique just to be unique, (Jecika instead of Jessica) is just silly. I'm even steering away from "J" names so my kid isn't "JJ" or something like that, (again, nothing wrong with nicknames, just a personal preference).

LOL @ Norse God of Thunder.

I'm glad to learn I'm not the only one with trouble picking names, (I swear my wife had 10 picked out for the last 10 years now....maybe it's a woman thing to "know" what your kids names should be long before you even start trying?).

OK, now this post is turning into a novel, but thanks again to everyone for the advice...I'm reading and heeding! And thanks for the congratulations....we sure are happy .

 

[broadbill]

First off, we found baby name books to be USELESS...too many choices, you go numb before finding a name you like. Plus, all the names either mean "gift of God", "victorious", "king" or some other BS designation.

Guess what: all of those meanings are MADE UP. How do I know?...Look up the same name in a different baby book....it will have a different meaning. Also, ever notice there isn't a name that means "goat-humper"? There have been plenty of goat-humpers through the ages; how come somebody's name hasn't been stuck with this meaning, but instead also gets a glowing and uber-positive designation like "Goddess-like"?

Anyway, I'm going to stop ranting. We found the best way was to keep an ear out for names you come across that you like; make lists and compare notes. Towards the end we had a final list of three that we had written down on our whiteboard in the kitchen. We didn't decide until we were on the way to the hospital.

Personally, we went with a simple, straight-forward name. What you'll ultimately choose might be totally different.

good luck....you do have 8 months to figure it out!

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Excellent advice folks! I started in on it yesterday night and started the "write down any names you don't detest...." Seems like a good jumping off point.

Gila, I LOVE Kiernan....I just wish I wasn't so freaking vanilla white that I could have a kid pull off such a cool, exotic sounding name...

We are looking at family names, and most likely there will be some familial roots mixed in there, (at least some from my wife's side, as her name "line" ends with her, so she wants to do something to carry that on).

I also don't like "uniqueness" (apologies to anyone who went this route)....I feel it just means the kid will have to spell his/her name EVERY time...Unique due to history, (Mikhael instead of Michael), is great, but unique just to be unique, (Jecika instead of Jessica) is just silly. I'm even steering away from "J" names so my kid isn't "JJ" or something like that, (again, nothing wrong with nicknames, just a personal preference).

LOL @ Norse God of Thunder.

I'm glad to learn I'm not the only one with trouble picking names, (I swear my wife had 10 picked out for the last 10 years now....maybe it's a woman thing to "know" what your kids names should be long before you even start trying?).

OK, now this post is turning into a novel, but thanks again to everyone for the advice...I'm reading and heeding! And thanks for the congratulations....we sure are happy .

Just for the record, Mikhael is actually Hebrew and from the Torah originally. And is aka Michael in biblical reference, Old Testament. Not really a "unique" use of the name. Just historicabiblical.

 

[shortyjacobs]

Just for the record, Mikhael is actually Hebrew and from the Torah originally. And is aka Michael in biblical reference, Old Testament. Not really a "unique" use of the name. Just historicabiblical.

Yup, that's kind of what I meant. Michael is the most common spelling, and you went with something a little less common, but you went with it for a reason, not just so the name would be different....(again, hope I'm not offending here)...I'm all for less common spellings if the reason is more than, "I think it's cool to spell it different....".

 

[HVBrewtality]

My wife and I just went through this all. Logan Alexander W. will be born in May. I too pushed for Thor or Odin for middle names. But, I got a good deal in the end. Wolverine as a first name, my name for a middle, and the initials are LAW.

 

[Skins_Brew]

Isn't it the name of your first pet and the first street you lived on?

Or is that for something else?

.

I think thats how you come up with your porn star name.

As far as baby names, I am in a similar situation. Ours is due in July. We find our the sex soon but we have discussed names for both genders. I noticed that I was shooting down names based on childhood and adolescent experiences. For example, my wife proposed "Deidre." I said no because there was this **** in high school named deidre that got preggo senior year and was just generally a hot mess. Its pretty rediciolus to base my childs names off my (or my wifes) younger years, but I guess thats how the brain works.

 

[Austinhomebrew]

My wife is from Iceland so we went with a very popular Icelandic first and middle name: Anna Gudrun (pronounced: ahna goodrun).

If it was a boy his name would have been Atticus after Atticus Finch.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atticus_Finch

Forrest