"Sparkle-Sparkle"

I would love to hear the wonderful name suggestions that other older siblings have given.

Sometimes I get on my name search shit and go deep into a rabbit hole of baby names I would never use or make sense for my family. I don't realize how silly these names are for me until my husband enthusiastically offers his unfiltered opinion when I list them out. What are yours?

Mine:

"I'm smarter than I look": Atticus, Everett, Finnick/Finley, Hugh/Hugo, Dante, Gwendolyn, Desmond/Edmund, Luther, Marjorie, Oliver, Ophelia, Delilah

"I, too, enjoy the outdoors": Blossom, Florence, Florian, Rosemary, Forrest

"Will cringe when people pronounce it wrong despite living in the Southern US": Celine, Cosette, Louis, Fleur

Disclaimer: Not hating on these names at all. I really love to hear them in the wild but seem off when I think about actually giving the name to my kid.

Our daughter is named Rosalie, no connection to Twilight, it's just a beautiful vintage name. But now we are talking baby #2 and my husband really wants to name a boy Edward after his uncle. I told him we cannot do that because of Twilight. He says that's ridiculous and it should not stop us.

The coincidence is too strong and I dont want everyone to assume we are die-hard fans naming our babies after Twilight, and for our kids to hear this all the time growing up too. Thoughts? I will be showing the thread to my husband.

My wife is a huge Shakespeare fan, and she loves the idea of naming the twins Romeo and Juliet. I'm against it, I can’t get over the idea of naming our kids after a fictional couple who die. I do really like the name Juliet, I even suggested that if we go with Juliet, maybe we could name our son Tybalt after Juliet's cousin. She insists that if we use Juliet, we have to use Romeo.

I'll admit Romeo and Juliet is one of the only Shakespeare plays I've read, but I've tried to look online for some other Shakespearean sibling names we could use, like Ophelia and Laertes from Hamlet or Claudio and Isabella from Much Ado About Nothing. She hasn’t liked any of them because either their source isn’t serious enough or the names aren’t recognizable/famous as Shakespearean.

She’s really stuck on this. On their own, I think they’re lovely, but I don’t think they work for twins. Is there a way I can convince her this is a bad idea, or does anyone have other Shakespearean name suggestions that might win her over? I'm not sure if I'm overthinking the meaning behind the names and being weird about it, but I can't talk with anyone about this because she wants the twins' names to be a surprise.

We are struggling SO HARD to pick a name for this boy! I picked my daughter’s name almost immediately. Nothing just feels ✨right✨ yet for him. I saw the name Sonny and thought it was so cute and threw it on our “maybe” list. My partner fiiinally agreed on something I picked, so when his family asked if we’ve settled on anything in the family group chat, I excitedly told them we finally agreed on a name but it wasn’t set in stone. His sister-in-law just flatly sad “that’s the name we have picked out for a boy, sorry” suggesting we’re not allowed to use it? Mind you, she’s not pregnant. I am 28 weeks pregnant. I got so annoyed about it because I can’t even fathom telling a pregnant person they can’t use a name I like if I wasn’t even pregnant. When she does get pregnant, what if she doesn’t even have a boy? What if I skipped out on that name for nothing?

Regardless, I’m too irritated about the situation to like the name anymore 😂 So I am trying to find words that relate to “sun” to name our son instead. or honestly just any nature name in general. I have found a few that I like, but I would really like input from others.

So my wife is pregnant with our baby girl. after 3 years of infertility.

She's been the one who struggled most during the infertility. She's always wanted to be a mom.

She LOVES the name Story Claire

Claire was always a middle name idea after her grandma. But Story is new. She thought it is perfect since we had Story to get her here. And she's our greatest story.

I don't know how I feel about it. It feels wrong to tell her no and it could grow on me.

A few options of girl names we talked about back when we were dating we both loved. Violet, Heidi, Goldie.

He’s taken the “thinking about the Roman Empire” thing way too seriously…..

We CANNOT name our sweet babies Romulus… or Remus. Ugh

For context, we’re both white. I told her it seems like a strange name for a white baby, but she thinks I’m reading too much into it. Thoughts?

Edit: Wow, this really blew up! Firstly, I love my wife and value her opinions. For extra context, we are from the US, and we both are natural brunettes, so I’d say it’s unlikely our daughter is born with black hair. My wife has been reading the comments, and appreciates the alternative name ideas.

32w pregnant with our first, a boy. I find boy names absolutely impossible. Girl names we had a thousand options, boy names we had none. Somehow over the pregnancy we settled on Walter, Walt for short. My husband and I both like it. We’re in no way thinking that it’s the most gorgeous name in the world, but we like that it’s not popular but not bizarre. We like the vintage flair, that it’s an adult man’s name and not a ‘baby’s’ name, and it just seems like a no-nonsense kinda name.

Every single person we tell has an immediate poor reaction. Doesn’t even surprise us anymore. My mom has actually asked several times (unprompted) if we can’t be convinced to change it.

I don’t care what anyone else thinks, I just want to use this as a sounding board and be sure it’s not secretly a horrific name? My biggest fear is sticking my kid with a name he’ll be explaining to people his whole life. Anyone have any reason this might be a cruel name choice? Or do I just keep ignoring people?

He is 9 months old and his name is Leon. We are white (European descent) and at a recent work event for my husband, a black woman asked our son's name. When we said Leon, she was VERY persistent this is "a black person's name" and she has "never met a white person named Leon." Then she started asking everyone around us if they've ever met a white person named Leon. She was drunk, but it made me very self-conscious that we made a bad name choice! Please help :(

Edit: This was not meant to be a “white tears please feel sorry for me” post! Thank you for reassurance and feedback, but there are POC in the comments being attacked and that is not okay. I do understand there is a power dynamic in cultural appropriation situations and it doesn’t go both ways equally. Please refrain from racist comments and be kind! Thank you!

Also, the woman was a respected moderator on a panel for a public health campaign that disproportionately impacts POC. So although she was drunk I still valued her opinion.

Hi is our baby named Dean or Roger?

I can’t attach a picture he looks mostly like this: 👶🏻. He seems to be a very nice boy so far.

We live in America.

///

UPDATE! His name’s Dean, we did it everybody! To all the Rogers out there: I think your name is great and it’s about time the world caught up to it.

My daughter will have down syndrome. I have this list of names (below) however—- I read a website that made a good point— she may have trouble pronouncing her name. It would be terrible for her to have to repeat herself. The website said tricky consonants could include CH, J, T, V, X, and more. For instance- Kate could come out like Kay-ee.

What are good names that she can say easily?

My list (before thinking about her ability to pronounce) is below-

Charlotte Clara Joy/Clara Jane Eliza Eloise Kate Elowyn Evelyn Hazel Lainey Elizabeth Reese Sloane Teagan Tallulah

Hello.

I am 8w4d pregnant and we have already had our boy name and girl name picked out for over a week. It was pretty easy for us because both names mean something to us.

However, the boy name has caused people to be like "...that's a name" or "keep your options open" or "you still have time". I may not even be having a boy but I still can't believe that people are reacting so strongly in a negative way to this name I find perfectly fine?

Our boy name pick is Raphael, like the archangel. Full name would be Raphael Ignatius (last name). I know what you are thinking, it might be Ignatius that is the issue. But I have asked them and they say it's fine even though it's different because it is just the middle name. They just find Raphael odd. Some of them don't know why they find it odd, a couple said it has no nicknames, and my mother in law said it makes her think of the ninja turtle. I tell people it means "God Will Heal" and they say it's a nice meaning but the name....

Is the name really that bad? Maybe I just don't see it. My husband and I are pretty unwilling to change it (especially my husband) because of the blessing my husband received after praying to St. Raphael and wanting to give him honor in return.

The girl name is Nicolette after St. Colette who I prayed to for intercession to be able to have a baby. It is the female form of Nicholas and everyone loves this name, they do not have problems with it like with Raphael.

ETA: I keep having to put this in the comments so I'm adding it to the post. I only told close friends and family our top names because they asked and I have never been pregnant before and never heard the rule about keeping the names close to your chest, I was just honest. I also am just open to feedback on the names, but what they gave me wasn't feedback. They either don't like it and can't say why or "no nicknames" which has been proven wrong by the comments a hundred times over by this point.

We are having a baby girl & our favourite name is Honey.

I ALREADY KNOW THAT EVERYONE HERE HATES THE NAME. You don’t have to tell me :)

We are English living overseas and to us Honey evokes softness, sweetness, warmth & golden sunshine. Our 4 year old boy is strawberry blonde and there’s a good chance this baby will be the same so that also factors into the name.

However, I want to set my child up for success and having test driven the name on a few people it’s clear that it’s quite divisive and I would hate to give my child a name that would hold her back (although part of me thinks once you give a child a name, it’s just their name but there you go…) so for that reason I am leaning towards Honey as a middle name that perhaps family will use & as she gets older she can choose her preference.

So my question is - what names would work as a first name that evoke a similar feeling to the ones I mentioned? We tend to lean towards more earthy, unique or hippie names over classic names.

Thanks!

I’m 17 weeks pregnant and I am having a girl. I am a young mother so I’m worried I’m going to name my baby something dumb and then in 15 years I’m gonna look at her and be like “sorry girl I thought it was cool lol”. Everyone keeps asking me what I’m going to name her and my boyfriend is kind of letting me name her and saying yes or no to names.

Anyways my top names are Evangeline, Evangelina, and Angelica. Rosalie and Rosalina are also top contenders. I’m not really religious but I think theyre beautiful names, and my favorite movie as a kid was Princess and the Frog. My favorite part of the movie is when Ray sings “I love you Evangeline” and I thought it was really beautiful, so thats the name I’m going for. Please be honest will she be made fun of for any of those names? I’m named after my grandmother and I was made fun of the entirety of elementary school by kids and DESPISED my name and was mad at my parents for it (they were the same age I am now when they had me). I love the nickname Evie so if anyone has better names that would have that nickname (not evelyn) let me know.

Hi! I’m 8 months pregnant with a baby girl, and I’ve been second guessing our name choice because of other people’s reactions.

When we were choosing baby names, we had no problem coming up with boy names. Of course, since we were actually having a girl, deciding on a girl name was so much harder.

There were a lot of names I liked, but many of them reminded me of someone, or we didn’t like the possible nicknames. We finally decided on Brigitte, and we both absolutely loved it. We think it’s classy, elegant, and uncommon. We originally liked Charlotte, but then realized it’s one of the most popular names right now. 😅

As soon as we chose Brigitte, we started calling her Gigi, and that nickname has completely stuck. We picked her name pretty early in the pregnancy, and now all of our family and friends call her Gigi too.

The problem is that almost every time someone asks what Gigi is short for and we say Brigitte, the reaction is... less than enthusiastic. Some people make faces or comment on it, and it’s honestly started making me question our choice.

I know it’s our baby and that the only opinions that really matter are ours, but it’s hard not to be affected when so many people seem to dislike the name.

To make things worse, my grandma started calling her Brígida, which she says is the Spanish version of Brigitte. I really don't like that name, and it genuinely made me sad when she started using it instead.

Am I being too sensitive to other people’s opinions? Has anyone else loved a name but started doubting it because of other people's reactions?

EDIT: your comments changed my perspective and you are right, it is special and cute if my grandma has a special nickname for her.

Can name nerds help us? What name is “Chocolate Milk” in spirit without actually being “Chocolate Milk”?

We asked the toddler what we should name the new baby and her answer was Chocolate Milk. We thought it was cute and funny so that’s how everyone has referred to the new baby for the last 3 months.

We floated the idea the other day of possibly naming the baby something else and she had the most epic toddler meltdown. Not to mention, my husband and I are having a hard time conceptualizing any other name at this point.

So, humor us, please. Help us name baby boy. Siblings name is Maggie (Margaret) and last name starts with an M. So far we have been fans of non-Chocolate Milk names along the lines of Max, Theodore, Martin, Liam, etc. m

Edit - good golly some people need to take a deep breath. No, we aren’t letting our toddler name our baby. We are telling her No. We just found the situation funny and wanted to see what creative names Name Nerds could come up with. Who knows, maybe something would have stuck? Remember - not everything in life is super serious.

I love my husband to pieces, which includes his sometimes inappropriately timed humor. When seeing our rainbow baby's heartbeat for the first time, he excited pronounced that the ultrasound looked like the original photos of the Loch Ness monster and pulled up a photo to show the ultrasound techs while I went to the bathroom. He excitedly continued to joke that we should name her (if it's a girl) Nessie, which made me realize how much I actually love the name Nessa. We are now strongly considering it 🤣 He thinks the name Loch (husband is from England) would be a cool name for a boy as well, but that one’s not my favorite lol. He's also all giddy about the possibility of a funny story being the basis of our kiddo’s name and being able to share that with them in the future. I love him 😂

I’m 7 months pregnant with a baby girl. We decided to name her Marley because my husband’s grandmother was named Marlys. We thought it was a cute, modernized version of her name. As the icing on the cake we’re both big fans of “A Muppet Christmas Carol” so this way we can sing “we’re Marley and Marley WhoOoOo!” whenever we want. 😂 Just like with my first, we decided not to keep the name secret and have been telling people whenever they ask. I can count on one hand the number of people who have responded positively or even with a fake “oh, that’s cute!” It’s always just silence, blank stares, or bewilderment. So tell me: is Marley for a little girl really that bad? Or do my friends and family just suck at social etiquette?

Edit: Wow! Thank you all so much for your input! This got approximately 2,360 more comments than I was expecting. My husband and I have had numerous further discussions since the day I posted and have decided to go ahead with Marley, even with the dog and weed associations. 🦮 🇯🇲 🤷🏼‍♀️ No further input is needed at this time. (Unless you want to because, you know, internet). Thanks to all who chimed in!

My mom passed away unexpectedly when I was pregnant with my first child over 9 years ago and we were very close. Even when she was alive I intended to name a girl, if I ever had one, after her in some way. Obviously this desire became more so when she died. Well, I’m currently 14 weeks pregnant— with my 3rd boy. This is my last baby, as I simply don’t want to be pregnant again/don’t want any more children. So it’s my last chance to name a child after her.

Heartbreakingly, I actually was pregnant with a girl last year, but lost her at 11 weeks 3 days due to Turner Syndrome. So I won’t get to name a daughter after my mom, unfortunately, and I’m pretty bummed about it.

Anyway, is there any way I can get a boy name out of her name that I can give to the baby boy I’m pregnant with now? My mom’s name was Mary Catherine. I’ve tried researching and I’ve only seen names I don’t love, like Mario, Marion or Mark (but that’s my brother’s name). Anyone have other ideas?

No one tells you how weired the first days after birth are when you tell people the name and they accept it as reality and are like “Hello Henry” to the baby as if you didn’t just totally make that up :D. It took me 2 years to normalize the name of my child and call him in the playground as if it was a god given.

It's been about a year since I shared a post here about baby name regret. (recap: we named our son Crawford after his grandfather, and it didn’t feel quite right to me. My husband absolutely loves it, and changing it was never on the table.) Since this community has been a helpful resource to me, I wanted to check back in for anyone who might be going through the same and is curious how things look with a little time and perspective.

I know many people ultimately report feeling like their child's name suits them and they can't imagine it any other way, but truthfully, this has continued to take up real estate in my brain. There are certainly worse things than carrying forward a family name that's easy to pronounce and spell and is relatively recognizable. I've realized my biggest regret is that we didn't land on a more approachable nickname we love from the start and announce it and use it confidently from birth – every time I hear a Crawf, Craw Craw, or Crawfie, I want to cry a little!

We've been experimenting with nicknames a lot over the past year. My personal favorites are Freddy (based loosely on the pronunciation of the 2nd syllable) and Skip (name skipped a generation); I could also get behind Criffy. (Ford is likely off the table for our family) I’m certainly open to hearing preferences and ideas from this community, but regardless I think landing on something and using it consistently in public is our next step.

Anyway, I'm mostly a lurker here, but I know this can be genuinely excruciating and maddening -- if you're feeling this way, I’m wishing you peace in the journey.

Help! We’ve got two boys, Levi and Leon (I know, I know. They didn’t seem too similar at first, but now I have regrets) We are expecting our third and final baby, a girl, in a month and still can’t decide on a name.

Originally, we were thinking of naming her Naomi as we didn’t find an “L” name that we loved, but the more I think about it, I don’t want her to feel left out if she has a different sounding name than her siblings.

We need a name that works in both English and Swedish and either starts with an “L” or has a name that naturally lends itself well to an “L” nickname, like Kaylani could be shortened to Lani (we wouldn’t use that name just giving an example). We want something that’s classic and strong.

Please help, we are spiraling!

Edit: Thank you everyone for your suggestions and walking me off a cliff. I suddenly felt the need to choose an L name but maybe I was overthinking it! Will stick with Naomi as we truly love it but will consider using an L name as the middle name so thank you so much for the suggestions and feedback.

Important context: My husband (37M) and I (35F) are expecting our first baby. My husband is from the UK, and I am from the USA. We live in the USA.

We decided on our baby girl's name as Philippa. We loved having a British name and loved the nicknames of Pippa or Pip as well. We felt like the name is good for all ages of her life. We also think it's a beautiful name.

I know the name is not everyone's cup of tea, and that is ok. But I have been struggling with some of the American reactions and comments to the name. I know it's not common here but it's not unheard of?

Some of the comments:

"Oh...is it a family name?"

" That's a weird name"

" why did you pick that one?"

Probably more but those are the ones that stand out. I constantly feel like i am defending the name as if I am naming her something bizarre? I don't even offer the name, I only say it when they ask.

How would you respond to these sort of comments?

My husband and I are having a boy in two months and had decided on Christian “Kit” - but on Friday night, I heard a grandmother introduce her grandson, Kit, at a restaurant and it made my skin crawl. I’ve spent the last two days feeling out of sorts with the name. My husband would be open to change but we’re at a loss.

Older daughter is Tilden “Tillie” - our last name is simple, a female first name, starts with J.

I like classic, strong male names - Marcus, August, Julian - but have ruled them out for other reasons. I veto very popular names off the bat - no James, Henry, Theodore.

Any recs that go with this theme and our daughter’s name? I was so confident in Kit (but can’t do Chris as a NN for Christian) but I’m not sure anymore.