Changed Our Minds on Baby Name...

Well never got to have my
"Pearl" im pregnant with my last baby and hes a boy,,,,,,,theres one name idea.

I remember discussing the name ruby with you and you discussing the name pearl with me.

I love classical names. My daughter's name is Annalise. If I ever have another girl, her name will be Madeline Grace. I also like: Cassandra, Catherine, Caitlin, Caroline, Emma, Evelyn, Gabriela, Isabella, Julia, Juliet, Sarah, Sophie, Vivienne, Violet

Aww...I still love Ruby.
My love of Ruby comes from a book, and in the book Ruby had a sister named Pearl. So right now that seems to be all I can come up w/. ;)
I also love the name Verity.
It means truth.

Keep us posted! :)

Are you sticking with Catherine/Katherine as a middle name?

I love the name Meadow, that would have been Roman's name if he was a girl ;)

Charlotte
Charlie
Elizabeth (not Liz, not Beth, Elizabeth)
Scarlett (I'm still stuck on 'Ruby')
Emmy (my daughter's name, LOL)

The Big Baby Name Book (the blue one, aka the bible of all baby names) has a list of 'classic' names :)

You better work fast woman!! :)

ETA: And Everley; everytime I see her name on mamapedia, I love love love that!

Elyse
Elaina
Elsie
Madeline
Megan
Helen
Rachel
Rebecca
Eleanor
Catherine/Katherine/Kathryn

Veronica
Alexis
Nicole
Vivian

I LOVE Veronica - if she's a tom boy - Ronnie....
I LOVE LOVE LOVE Vivian...but Alexis is my #1 all time choice.

I don't like the trendy names. Go to your son's day care and listen to the names...Hannah, Demi (yeah some dad's were hot for Demi Moore!!), Brianna, Abby (Abigail), Mackensie, Macy..etc. these are the names you will hear in class...

We didn't have a lot of Nicholas' in Greg's day care - good Russian name as well - he's one of 3 or 4 in the class....urgh...I think there are only 2 other Cheryl's on this site. In my life - I have met and known 4 Cheryl's...Cheryl Tieg's and Cheryl Ladd being the most popular...(no, not personally met them).

Hope that helps!!!

My favorites for girls are:

Cecilia or Celia
Violet
Penelope
Adelaide

Vivian is my all time fav but it just didn't match my daughter :) its classic, to me, and I don't hear it much. Here's my other favs...
Sydney
Lila
Lilly
celeste
Brittan
Madeline
Gwendolyn
Genevieve
Brenna
Ysabel (popular but spelled different)
Sophia
Marilyn
Addington

Try plugging your favorite names into here:

http://www.nymbler.com/

My name is Jacqueline L. (my dad's middle name), and I love having the fancy name Jacqueline and the casual Jackie, and love love love Jackie L..

We ended up doing that right before our daughter was born, poor girl was so confused when she learned to read! She would pick up a book & ask who Sidney was in her books (that was the original name we picked out and had written her name in them)! We ended up w/Samantha Joyce (my mother's middle name) that we had to find something to go w/and my youngest was Haley Elizabeth (my DH's nan's middle name) right from the beginning. It can be hard sometimes, but the more you stress over it, the harder it is! Best of luck to you and your little one!

Rebecca is a very classic name and isn't used much today.

Avery, Annabelle, Anna, Amelia, Audra, Audrey, brynn, bailey, Cassidy, clara, Charlotte, clementine, Delia, Eliza, elyse/Elise, elle, Evelyn, Finley, georgia, Gwendolyn, Harper, Jane, Jillian, Kate, Naomi, Natasha, nina, Norah, peyton, Paige, Sabrina, Stella, tabitha, taryn, Veronica, Vivienne. Congrats! I really do like ruby though! And I would spell Kathryn or Katherine, most people would misspell Katharine. No one would call her Kathy except grandmas, probably Kate, Katie, or Katy. And some will call her those despite you calling her Katherine!

Sara?
Bailey?
Margaret (Maggie)
Katherine (Katie)
Elizabeth (Beth)

And of course, I'm hoping that someone, someday will use O. of my much suggested: Peyton, Parker, Riley......

I have a niece Ruby, and while I wasn't crazy about the name at first now I love it. But if your intuition says change it, best to do it now. I really like Catherine, Caroline, Amelia (becoming fairly popular though), Julia, charlotte. Names are hard. Good luck!

Violet
Natalia
Julianna
Anna
Alyssa
Abigail
Kendall
Sabrina
Charlotte
Samantha
Audrey
Gabriella

Hahaha! Your post sounds like I could have written it. I feel the exact same way!!! We have a son, but if he was a girl, I like Alice, Ruby, Victoria, Josephine, Marilyn, Ginger, Annabelle, Audrey, Claudine, Vivienne, Evalyn,Claire/Clara, Joy and Juliet. Oh, and Cassandra too! I also like Lily, but is is getting very popular.

Addie (cutest little girl at church!!)
Aubrey (my cutest little daughter)
Amelia
Abigail
And Julia (my oldest)
Love A names! Lol.

You know, I never liked the name Ruby until I met the sweetest little girl with that name. It's funny how some people can ruin names for you and some can elevate them.

We had a lot of the same criteria as you, except for the L thing. I like names that you know how they're spelled when you hear it and how it's pronounced when you see it. Here were some of the names on our short list when we found out we were having a girl:

Abigail
Amelia/Amy
April
Clara
Diana
Ellen
Greta
Jessica
Jolie
Julia/Julianne/Juliet
Lorelei (I know you said no L names, though)
Margaret
Natalie (I know you've already nixed this one)
Tara/Taryn
Violet

My favorites are Brielle or Briella and Violet. I like Scarlett too. I'm pregnant and had picked out Brielle Morgan, but turns out it's a boy, now i'm hunting for boy names! LOL.....good luck!

I like....

Christina
Eleni
Cassandra
Katrina
Audrianna
Brianna
Peyton
Paige (My 10 yr. old says no to this one.... "I would NOT want that name.")
Arianna
Anastasia

I think my own first name, J., goes well as a middle name when the first name has two or more syllables.
Congratulations!

My kids' art teacher just named her girl Lucy. (I know it's a different name than Ruby, but kind of on the same "page.") I had a great aunt named Ruby.

We had Sylvie chosen for our girl's name. Many years ago I met a beautiful French girl called Sylvie when I was living in Tokyo. She was so lovely and I loved the name ever since. We had three boys, so no Sy,vie for us! You can have it.

Ivy
Mya
Grace
Amelia
Charlotte
Rosalyn
Audrey
Anna

Love Katherine for a first name. My daughter is Kathleen. We never called
her Kathy, Kate, etc. She is still at 29, Kathleen. Sometimes we do call
her Leni. When she was growing up if someone called her Kathy, she
corrected them.

Rachel

I know it ends in an "l" but someone posted the actress's name:
Cheryl Ladd (ends in an "l" & starts w/an "l") & I don't think that sounds
bad!

Good luck! :)

Hmmm, well my daughter's name is Margaret Katharine. It was supposed to be Maggie Kate, but she is so not a Maggie. She's just Margaret, sometimes M.

My neice is Tess Suzanne (named after me somewhat). I love all SUE related names.

One of my sisters is Nannette. We also have Gail and Denice.

I also like all things Mary or Marie. All ethnic varieties.

Sigh, so what happened to Ruby all the sudden?

:)

We LOVED Lydia Evelyn (and I think Evelyn Katherine or Lydia Katherine is beautiful too), and we also had a lot of other girls' names we loved:

Zoe Simone

Catherine Faye (Faye was the middle name for both of our mothers)

Ollie Mae (my grandmother's name)

Naomi

Miriam

Sydney

behindthename.com

I gave my DD a family name with a nickname for versatility. My stepson's name is not conducive to a nickname and it bugs him.

I also wanted to give her a name that was not strange, that she could find on a personalized whatever, and that no one would mispronounce. If they spell it with a y or a C, fine, but that's minor. I chose a common spelling because I'm not in to extra ys. Her name is long and can be shortened into a nickname, so she can choose to be formal or not.

Whatever you do give, I always suggest parents think ahead to their Little One as a grown up, perhaps running their own business or in a board room. How does that name fit all the ages of your child?

Even though there are other people in our circle with the same or similar name (my nephew's GF has the same name), I gave my kid the name I wanted because I wanted to. I was one of a kind as a young kid, then we moved and there were 3 in every class. Never bothered me overmuch.

Edit to add: You don't have to go with the usual nicknames. My family nickname is something that means similar to my long name, because my mom didn't like the usual nickname (and neither do I, though I tried it out in HS).

http://www.behindthename.com/name/katherine

You could go with something like Katia or Kai if that suits your family better. See if there's a version of Katherine that matches up with your family tree that you like. My SD's nickname is also not the traditional nickname for her full name, but it's not so far off that people think it's weird. It's a Russian diminutive.

My DD is firmly fixed on her name. She's only 3 but if you ask her what her name is she will tell you what SHE wants to be called. You may find she names herself someday. ;) Or that anybody who dares call her Kathy L. will get corrected. It'll be okay. Really.

I am fond of Sarah as that is my daughter's name, I like Abby too. How about Kat as a nickname for Katharine? I dislike Kathy or Katie/Kate too, but I like Kat. Or you could just call her Katharine and not shorten it. My niece is named Anastasiya, and they initially did not have a nickname they liked. She is 3 now and now they shorten it to Stasiya but I and many others still call her Anastasiya because we are used to it. So you could go with that and not use a nickname. Or go with some other nickname like Kat or even something unrelated.

My daughter is Sarah and I have always loved that name. You seem to like a lot of the names that I like and have the same type of "requirements." So here are the names that would be on my short list if I ever had another girl:

Ashley
Hannah
Anna
Emily
Megan
Jessica
Nicole

I really like Rachel, but it doesn't go with my last name. I also really like Natalie!

I always liked the name Honoria, but my husband thought it was weird! I also like Audry (Hepburn!), Emmaline, Amelia, Waverly, Caroline, Caitlin (my 1st daughter!), Ava (my 2nd daughter), Coraline (pronounced 'line' or lene'), Julieanna, Scarlette, Kordelia, Violet. Those are the first few that come to my mind. My hubby was not too excited by anything to bold or not mainline! Good luck and let us know what you pick!

My daughter's name is Adaline Rose :)
Pronounced Adda-line (not Ayda and not lynn or leen)
(Yes, we did spell it differently than the traditionally "Adeline" because "Ada" means firstborn daughter and I liked that.)

Adeline means noble. But when researching Adeline, Ada, and Adah before my daughter's birth I found many, many meanings which I loved. You can read all about them here: http://coolestfamilyontheblock.com/2011/03/10/celebrate-y...

We LOVE our daughter's name and get so many compliments on it. I just call her Adaline all of the time, but you can go with the nicknames Ada or Addy as well. With the names Addison and Madeline being so popular Adaline/Adeline is unique without being so different that it's "weird".

Other classic names that I love and would consider for a second future daughter are:
Eliza
Abriella (just like Gabriella without the "g")
Evangeline (pronounced "leen")
Amelia and Abigail (which at the moment are too popular for my liking)
Alice, Charlotte, and Cordelia (dh dislikes them so they aren't options for me)

Other names that I love if they weren't so popular are:
Hannah, Emma, Ella, Ava, and Isabella

Other middle names that I like paired with some of the names above are:
Rose, Grace, Joy, Lily, and Pearl

Also, I do love Ruby :)

Olivia
Opal
Colleen (my Grandmothers name , I also had a Grandmother Ruby!)
Amelia
Roxanne
Sarah
Ester

Samantha
Shannon
Allison
Stacey
Angela (Angie)
April
Eden
Bevin
Coral
Megan/Meghan
Roxanne
Heather
Denise
Ellen
Debra
Leslie
Cynthia (Cindy)
Stephanie
Suzanne

I have Sarah. She's a beautiful little spitfire and I wouldn't trade her for anything.

If I had a baby girl coming in January....
Janna Rose - God is Gracious
Anna Grace

Karena Anne
Shauna L. or Marie or Lynne
Tracy Anne
Tonya Marie
Taylor L. (a little trendy but I have always liked it)

Ha! you say a month before our baby was due!
Sounds like what happened to us.

We knew the first name for a girl, and thought we were settled on the middle name. But one Sunday afternoon my husband threw out a totally different out of the blue name for a middle name. We both liked it, but were not sure.. decided to keep it in mind,

Later that week my water broke.. 3 weeks earlier than due date! Run to the hospital totally in shock, denial. Husband brings up name.. We cannot decide, so we decide to "look at her and then make the decision based on her little personality at birth." . The baby is born, the nurse asks "what is her name?"

We look at her laying on my stomach. I say her name using the new middle name husband had suggested earlier in the week! , the baby lifts her head and turns to look at me! And we all are amazed and know that the name suits her perfectly.

And so, Sometimes, you have to meet the baby to know the final name...
We have never regretted it.

Audrey
Amanda
Michelle
Alexandra
Bridget
Elizabeth
Diana
Jessica

Alyse
Claire
Charlotte
Mara
Julia
Violet

My favorites have always been Chloe, Bridgette & Paige. My husband vetoed all 3 when we were pregnant a decade ago. :(

ETA We named our daughter Hailey Ann, but up until the end it was a toss up between Hailey & Alexis.

There are so many names...
I didn't go to the SS website to check to see if any of these are there...
Natalie
Elizabeth
Ruth
Hannah
Anna
Anne
Mary
Dorothy and you can call her Dot for short.
Samantha
Sarah
Sonja
Theresa
Kate
Katherine
Megan
Penelope -- you can call her Penny
That's all I can think of right now...
Good luck!!
LBC

I had the same trouble you are having when we named our second daughter. We ended up with a Madelyn Renee and an Amelia Leigh. I just looked at the BabyCenter list the other day and both Madelyn and Amelia are in the top 30 names (#9 and #30) I haven't checked the SS list lately. My girls don't have any friends with their names, but they are not in school yet so time will tell. Pick a name you LOVE and go with it. I only read a couple other responses, but I agree that many children are going by their full names now my girls are Madelyn and Amelia not Maddy and Amy. They have friends named Joshua, Samantha not Josh and Sammie. That being said I don't think I could ever even have a possible Kathy L.. haha

A friend of mine named her daughter Katherine and just told people from the beginning that it was Katherine. They don't call her anything else and I haven't heard anyone else do it either. After a while people will think anything other than Katherine sounds weird and it won't be an issue. Good luck!

My daughter's name is Sarah Katherine. I LOVE Katherine but had the same issue with nicknames. Good luck and I hope you find the perfect name for your little one!

I had a long list of classic names and am trying to remember them. Sorry if they are repetitive, since I did not read the long line of comments :)

Frances
Evelyn
Grace
Olivia
Eleanor
I also liked Hazel but hubby didn't

Sara, Anastasia, Gail (like abigail... but its different...), Matilda, Natalia/Natalya, Natasha, Nanette, I like Velencia, Venitia. "classic" family names... Carol, Darlene, Iva, Ida, Grace, Esther, May, June

For Katherine you could choose a variant from another country: Katirina, Katalina, Kalena, Kaitlin. Avigail is closer to the hebrew form on abigail and is just different enough to set her apart.

My daughters are Rhiannon and Zoie...

The top ten baby names in the 1890's were:

Mary, Ellen, Margaret, Helen, Elisabeth, Ruth, Florence, Ethel, Emma, Marie

I LOVE the site "behindthename.com" it gives you the origins of names and thier history...

Good Luck
M.

Sophie, Hannah, Violet, Charlotte, Madeline, Scarlett, Elizabeth, Caroline

What about Jennifer? I feel like no one uses that name anymore. These days it's all the trendy names or Victorian names. Not that I don't love them but if you're looking for tried and true, I think that's a good one. I'm a huge fan too of Catherine.

I like Jane. Strong, feminine, timeless.

Of course, it took us until the third day of my son's life to name him! Couldn't decide what he looked like. Turns out, we chose a name neither of us had seriously considered before. Not a family name, not a cultural heritage name, it just so happened that he looked like, and IS, a Gehrig. Although he'd still be a great Francis (Frankie). If I ever get another boy...

Since we didn't know what we were having, we had two lists. Some of the classical-ish girl names were:

Ada
Adriana
Alice
Anna
Carmen
Caroline
Colleen
Eileen
Eleanor
Estella
Francesca
Harriet
Ingrid
Irene
Iris
Ivy
Julia
Maria
Marina
Mildred
Marilyn
Molly
Nina
Penelope
Regina
Rosa
Sabine
Sonya
Stella
Sylvia
Violet
Wren
Zoe

I love Anna L. (I would call her by both myself) so cute. My boys are named Sage and Rayne, but I have heard those both for girls as well. Katherine is pretty, but every one I know with that name has been known as either kathy or katy. I also think L. would be cute for a first name. I like L. Abigail.

Charlotte, Corinne, Alexandra, Amelia, Samantha
As for not liking certain nicknames, many kids are called by formal names nowadays - my friend's kids are Katherine and Daniel, not Katie and Danny. However, there is only so much control that you have. It's not your name. It's your child's name and they can decide that they want to be called by a shorter version. My MIL never intended for my husband to be called anything but "Daniel," but once he became college aged, he went by "Dan," introduced himself to people using that name and now, no one other than his side of the family calls him "Daniel."