Girl Names, Round 1

Baby Evan totally skipped his nap yesterday and was in a state of constant meltdown from about 3 pm on so the cute baby tricks video will have to wait. Plus he learned to point to a WHOLE NEW BODY PART and you wouldn’t want to miss that.

So. Instead.

This is a list of possible girl names I’ve had saved as a draft for the past few months and am finally ready to put out there for opinions/suggestions. I kept hearing and seeing names I loved but forgot ten seconds later so I started keeping them on my WordPress dashboard. It made sense to me at the time. Our gender ultrasound is August 5th (ONE MONTH!!!1!!!!111!!) so I’ve got to start making some decisions. And thanks to my internet friend/reader Megan for pointing me towards Swistle’s Baby Names blog, where I’ve not only found some really good names but also wasted the better part of several days reading the archives.

Eloise
Louisa Mae
Louisa Jane
Natalie – born on Christmas, middle name only & only if actually born on Christmas
Jane
Caroline Louisa
Carolina Jane
Carolina Mae
Claire
Merin
Clementine
Ruth
Penelope
Eleanor
Harriet (Hattie)
Isadora (Sadie, Izzy)
Ginger

Eloise and Harriet are from the children’s books, which is my absolute favorite reason to name a kid something. I’d consider Matilda and Ramona too if I thought E would even consider them and/or celebrities hadn’t already ganked them. Or Madeline if it wasn’t so popular.

Louisa (Louise), Jane, Caroline (Carolyn, Carol), Claire (actually Klair, grandfather’s middle name) and Ruth are family names.

Merin is a friend here in Connecticut whose name I just really, really like and am considering stealing it. It’s like #4000 on the popularity list, sounds slightly nautical, and yields no weird Google results. I also stole Mae from internet friends, including my lovely commenter TMae and Mae from Parenting in Progress.

The rest of the names came from Swistle’s suggestions. I don’t think E will let me use any of them. Plus, Ginger is my BFF’s dog, although I might totally use it anyway if Baby #2 comes out with red hair.

For the record, the polite internet way to tell me you absolutely HATE a name is to say “not my style” (abbreviated NMS. Feel free to say it as much as you want to or offer up better/alternative suggestions.

In other words, HALP!!!

————————————————————————

Last time I’ll bug you, I swear, but voting for the BlogLuxe awards ends July 12th. You can vote every day (not that I expect you to actually vote EVERY DAY) but I sure would appreciate it if you would do it once. The link is over on my sidebar or you can just click here. I’m under the “Funniest” category. Shocking, I know, since you were totally looking for me under the “Blogs You’ve Learned the Most From” category. AHAHAHAHAHAHA.


Click To Vote For Us @ the Top Baby Blogs Directory! The most popular baby blogs

Tags: , ,

62 Responses to “Girl Names, Round 1”

  1. TMae says:

    You have some of the most awesome names picked out! I love Louisa Mae, and I just told my husband the other day that if we have a 2nd bebeh, and it’s a girl it shall be called Penelope, and I love the way Merin sounds, and that it’s unique. You need to put Ramona on the list. Imagine a little girl toddling away from you with a big smile on her face and you calling after her, “Ramona…” TOO CUTE.

    I loved the name gathering part of naming the kidlet. We pretty much knew what the first name was going to be, but the middle name? Only when the woman at the hospital came into our room every.fifteen.minutes to ask if he had a middle name were we able to commit.

  2. Anna says:

    I love the name Clementine, but now associate it with Kate Winslet’s character in “eternal sunshine of the spotless mind.” we are picking names now too, and Louise, Caroline and Claire are in our top bunch as well. I promise not to steal it, but “Hattie” might be the cutest nickname I’ve ever heard (from Harriet the Spy, right?) so I am casting my vote officially for that one.

    • bebehblog says:

      Right literary reference. I would really like to use Harriet but I’m afraid that’s another one of the husband-vetos. I might get my book-lovers way with Eloise though.

  3. Amy says:

    I love Claire and I think it is in the same “style” as Evan.

    I found it amazingly difficult to decide on a first name as we have a very common last name. If I had kept my maiden name (12 letters, very German) it would have been much easier to narrow down my list. :)

  4. barbra says:

    This is so much fun!! I love your names! Especially Claire – it would be on my list except it rhymes with my maiden name, Blair. In fact, if it wasn’t my maiden name, Blair might even be on the list. Our gender ultrasound is actually TODAY!!! We are so excited, I hardly slept last night. I think our names are largely chosen, although the girl’s name might need some more vetting because the husband is so convinced it is a boy that he hasn’t really given any opinions. I love the middle name Mae, it totally fits with my first choice and our lastn name. I might steal it – but we live on opposite sides of the country so I think it’s okay. Wheww, we are so close I do hope Baby Squid cooperates.

    • bebehblog says:

      I think if my maiden name was something even REMOTELY like a real name I would totally use it for a baby. Definitely would if it was something adorable like Blair.

      • FourInchHeels says:

        You can totally give her your maiden as a middle! It’s a very middle-name-able last name.

  5. MKP says:

    I love love LOVE Clementine (Eternal Sunshine is one of my top 5 favorite movies..It’s on my list of future hypothetical baby names for sure) and Carolina Jane (largely because you could sing it to the tune of “Little Liza Jane”)…. It’s odd how many of my favorite girl names are top choices because they appear in songs…or can be easily inserted into songs…

    I’ve loved “Penelope” ever since I heard a Greek friend’s mom pronounce it when telling us about the Odyssey – she emphasized the second-to-last syllable, so it’s Pen-e-LOhp-e. I once co-owned a duck I named Harriet, and my high school station wagon was named Isadora :)

    My other favorite book/play/literature names are Beatrice, Lucy and Rosalind….

    • bebehblog says:

      99% of the reason I want to use Caroline is because of “Sweet Caroline”, not only one of the best sing-along songs ever but also the unofficial theme song of the Red Sox. I am that much of a dork.

      I hate to say it but I did NOT like Eternal Sunshine, and since you’re the second person to mention the Clementine connection it may have just been crossed off my list.

      Love Rosalind though, maybe I’ll add it.

      • MKP says:

        OH THANK GOODNESS…I was wondering how I could call dibs on Clementine without being obnoxious what with the utter lack of babymaking in my immediate future :P

      • That is not dorky, that is admirable. My sister named her just turned one-year-old daughter Caroline Elaine and that song may have just played a role in her decision. Elaine was our grandmother’s name.

        Of course as soon as I heard that I called her a hooker on facebook and wanted to punch her in the face because I had so called that when we were, like, 11.

  6. becca says:

    i love eloise. love it. & penelope and eleanor. those both have really cute nickname possibilities. caroline was my grandmother’s middle name, so it’s on our list of future girls too :)

    i think they’re all lovely choices; and i’d have a super-hard time of narrowing it down. can’t wait to find out what you’re having! you will share, right? right?

  7. Meg says:

    Rosalind is adorable, but I have two friends with daughters with some variation of that (both called Roz), so I don’t know how popular it is. One girl is 9-10, the other is 16.

    I love Rosie (that’s my car’s name!) but with the recent Twilight-mania, that’s gotta be way too overused (Rosalie, Rose, etc.)

    My favorite names for girls are:

    Hannah (v. popular, though) Jane
    Margaret Susan (Susan is my mom’s name, and I love Maggie for a nickname)
    Josephine (Josie) Marie

    Like you, I gravitate towards more “old-fashioned” names that have cute, modern-sounding nicknames. A colleague recently named her baby girl Millicent (Millie). Super-cute.

    As for the maiden name thing, my last name is Cooper, which is a perfectly acceptable name for a boy child. : )

    • bebehblog says:

      I LOVE LOVE LOVE Josephine but have a close friend whose daughter is Josephina and is called Josie. She also stole Nora, another of my absolute favorites.

      My grandmother is Millie, although her given name is Mildred and I don’t think I’m brave enough to use that for a baby.

    • Jennie says:

      Love the idea of Millicent (Millie)!

  8. Meagan says:

    Names are exciting! I don’t have kids, but I like reading the names everyone likes.

    My favorite name is Calina (Cal-ee-nah) Rose. I think it’s pretty.

    Merin is a bit too close to Merlin for me. I imagine it’ll be the same for everyone else. (I’m hearing her name paged as “Merlin” in school.) :X

    I’m a bit partial to Eleanor, only because my aunt’s (passed away 10+ years ago) name was Ellen. :)

    All your other names are really cute. :)

    • bebehblog says:

      Ooooooo, Calina is beautiful. Not on any top 10 lists, still sounds like a real name, easy to pronounce phonetically. Hmmmm…

      • Meagan says:

        I thought you’d like it. :) I like the way the name just rolls off your tongue when you say it. It sounds very melodic. :)

      • FourInchHeels says:

        I have an Irish friend whose sister’s name is Calina (no idea how it’s spelled, but it’s pronounced that way) and I’m pretty sure it IS a name .. at least in Ireland! But don’t quote me on that.

    • brigidkeely says:

      Ahem.

      I would put “sounding like “merlin” in the “plus” category. O HALP MAH BABBIES BEIN RAISED BY NERDS.

    • Merin says:

      From the actual Merin-you are dead on!! I was Merlin, Mevin, Marian, Erin, Mary…the list goes on. It was a real pain growing up, AND I had a lisp and couldn’t pronounce Rs and Ss, so all I could say for a while was something that sounded like “Merwin,” which my sister still calls me! That being said, now I love it!

  9. Audrey says:

    Penelope is my second choice girl name currently being held in reserve for hypothetical child #3. Which of course means I’m rooting for it. ;) But I also really like Ramona and I can totally see naming my child that..Chris might even go for it because he probably wouldn’t make the Judy Blume connection despite being a children’s librarian. :D I have a friend who named her daughter Clementine and I loooooove it. She calls her Clem, it’s so adorb. And if my SIL wasn’t already named Bernadette I’d probably have considered that one along the same Clementine lines…her nickname, if you’re wondering, is Berna.

    • bebehblog says:

      I JUST saw a preview for the new Ramona movie, which I fear is going to skyrocket the name into the top 20 for popularity. I sort of like Bernadette but not the nickname. Maybe Nettie? Sort of like Hattie. Or Bettie. Or Berrie!

  10. Emmie Bee says:

    OK: I know a Merin. But only one. Which means: YES!!! LOVE THAT NAME!

    I also LOVE Sadie. (on our list.)
    Hattie- my great aunt’s name & she is SPUNKY.
    And Clemintine?? Too cute for words.

    Plus your use of the word “ganked” basically I freaking love you.

    Whats the name if Sandy is a boy?

    Sweeeeeeeetttttt Carolineeeeee. Ba bah bah BAHHH Good times never seem so goooooodddddd. <—- I'm all about kids having a "song" built in. Hence Sawyer Jolene. Helllohhh Jolene by Dolly Parton!

    • bebehblog says:

      I sent you a Twitter DM with the boy name. It’s not a secret (99% of EVERYONE knows) but I’m not blogging it until I know for sure we’re using it.

      Jolene is one of my absolute most totally favoritest songs evar and would totally use it if I thought my family wouldn’t freak out. She’s even got red hair! It would be PERFECT!

    • bebehblog says:

      Also, I’m GLAD you know a Merin, since it means it’s definitely a real name, despite not being listed on any of the baby naming sites.

      And my husband just vetoed Jolene. Apparently he knows that song. Dammit.

  11. Jen F (from Robinson) says:

    LOVE Eloise! Especially bc of the kids book thing. It would go well with Mae as a middle name too. Although then you’d have two little “Es” – not sure if that bothers you, I think it’s cute. Matilda would be adorable, and what a great book – but yeah, I don’t see many guys signing off on that (also… what celeb has that for their kid? i’m out of the loop). Carolina has my vote too.

    Even though Clementine has a great sound to it, and Clem is the cutest nickname… it’s also a fruit. (but maybe that’s just a personal rule, lol!!)

    • bebehblog says:

      I think I’d like having two little E’s. I’m into matching sets.

      There’s also the “Oh my darlin’, oh my darlin’, oh my darlin’ Clementine!” song. As someone who heard “Oh Susannah” forty million times growing up I HATED having a popular, annoying folk song with my name in it.

  12. Kimberly says:

    I love Caroline & Carolina- those were on our girl list too! And I love Mae as a middle name (slightly biased- my middle name is Rae). As an English teacher, I can’t resist Madeline (also on our girl list) or Ramona! Too cute! We had such a long list of girl names, and now that we know it’s a boy, we’re really struggling. Boy names just aren’t as fun. I can’t wait to find out what you’re having!!

  13. Amy says:

    I love Carolina, Caroline and Penelope. So pretty! I have three friends with Claires, actually a Claire, Clair and Clare, the last of which looks the most misspelled to me but is a saint. And for what it’s worth, my mom’s name was Jane and I have never met anyone who loathed their name more, but I think it is an adorable middle name.

    • bebehblog says:

      I suppose Jane has some easy playground teasing built in – it rhymes with lots of stuff, you can be “Plain Jane”, and you’ll always be fighting Fun with Dick jokes. But I can’t help but like it anyways.

  14. Suzanne says:

    I also love Caroline and Carolina! My first name is close to that, so I am biased. My mom’s name is Harriet. It is distinctive, but her siblings called her “hairy rat” growing up- so don’t tell Baby E!

    • bebehblog says:

      It is very funny your first name is close to Caroline and you go by Suzanne, since I am Suzanne and my little sister is Carolyn. I guess your mom isn’t the only one who thinks the names go well together :)

  15. Other Erin says:

    I’ll admit, most of the names are NMS although I don’t totally hate them as use of the acronym might suggest.

    I know an Isadora and she is always referred to as Izzy which is super cute. I do like Ginger but given your demonstrated ability to grow red-haired people, that could just be cruel.

    If you came up with a cute nickname for Eleanor (Ella?) I think that’s my favorite.

  16. Barbra says:

    Turns out we don’t need our girl name!!!! so i hereby offer it up: Aurelia Mae. I still love the name, might keep it in the queue for the distant future. I can’t wait to hear what sandy is going to be!

    • bebehblog says:

      CONGRATS!!! Just don’t steal my boy name. I think we had a whole email conversation in which I told you how much I ADORE the name Aurelia. It might also have been what pushed me over the edge on loving Mae.

      • Barbra says:

        thanks!! although your boy name is super awesome, no worries about stealing it! our boy name is pretty much a done deal. omg, i am on such a high today!! your name post was so perfectly timed today! today is an awesome day!! and even better, our weather finally turned – we cracked 80deg and the sun came out!

  17. FourInchHeels says:

    Things to ponder:
    – Did you intentionally put Louisa Mae together because of Ms. Alcott? I really like the name, but also like making sure parents don’t do things like that on accident. Like the friend who was dead set on Harold Richard, and didn’t see the obvious nicknames. Not cool, naive friend, not cool.
    – With Clementine, if kids today know folks songs (do such things still exist in childhood nowadays?) you MAY be signing her up for kids to sing ‘Oh My Darling.’ Again, not bad. Just something to consider.

    That being said, I adore the names you’re picking. Especially ones with nicknames.

    Also, why Natalie ONLY if she’s born on Christmas? Is there a connection I’m not seeing?

    • bebehblog says:

      I did do it on purpose, although I spelled Mae the modern way, not like the month. I don’t do month names.

      And I realized the Clementine song thing earlier. I think I’ve officially crossed it off the list now.

      Natalie means “born on Christmas”, which I didn’t make very clear in the post. So it would be a cute way to use a holiday-related name without resorting to something obvious like Noelle.

      • MKP says:

        My college roommate’s name, no joke, was Noelle Carol. Yes. Her parents named her Christmas Carol. Oy.

      • Meagan says:

        Well, shoot. A friend of mine from high school’s name was Natalie. She was born on July 2nd. ROFL.

        • bebehblog says:

          I don’t think I know a single Natalie who was ACTUALLY born on Christmas. Nope, just checked all three of my Facebook Natalie friends – two in March and one in November. I guess the meaning isn’t very well known.

  18. Katrina says:

    NOTE: I didn’t read the comments so these are my faves (for YOUR baby) based on your original list:

    Claire (with a “k”)
    Merin
    Clementine
    Penelope

    Ok…just scanned the comments. I’m still voting for Clementine even though you crossed it off the list! :-)

    I do like Calina too…maybe with a “k”…

  19. You know, I hear the new craze is naming your kid after a trophy. Lady Byng has a certain nice ring to it…

  20. I really like Eloise.. I named my daughter after my husband’s grandmother and my mom

  21. Joanna says:

    Jane & Eleanor are my favs :)

  22. afteriris says:

    How about Bridie (originally short for Bridget)?
    Other names I think are in the same vein as yours:
    Clara
    Miriam
    Lydia
    Adelaide (Adie)
    Camille (Milly)

  23. Lori says:

    I seriously stumbled on your site at the perfect time. I EFFING love name discussions and I love, love, love the names you listed!

    I like pp suggestions of Clara and Adelaide.

    I also like your suggestions of: Merin, Eloise, Penelope, Eleanor, Isadora (but mainly for Sadie nn) & Claire.

    Beautiful, beautiful names!

    http://penelopeblue.blogspot.com/

  24. Lori says:

    Oh, I just read through all of the past comments. My best friend’s name is Kaleena– pronounced just like Calina. It is never mispronounced. And I think it’s a gorgeous name.

    Along those lines are Calista, Calliope.

  25. Lori says:

    I posted a comment before the first one, but it wasn’t published? Anyway, I’m your newest follower and I LOVE your blog— especially this post!! I EFFING love baby names.

    Do you have a boy name chosen already?

    Oh, and btw, I love the name Evan!

  26. Susan says:

    Eloise is the name I had chosen for our second baby, but we had a boy.

    My niece named her girls Bernadette Natasha (nickname is Bennie) and Hermione (for the Harry Potter character). Not sure what her nickname will be – maybe Hermie?

    A co-worker had a baby girl recently and named her Isabella (nickname – Bella). I really like that name too.

  27. brigidkeely says:

    You have good taste in names!

    Possible girl names for us included Ekaterine/Ekaterina, Christenia, Tatiana, and Mehitabel. None of them really grabbed us, so in that respect, I’m kind of glad we had a boy child. One of his potential names was Vuk (means wolf, is an old family name).

  28. Can i just say that my vote is still your boy name, even if it’s a girl. I think it would be insanely adorable and unique.

    BUT, if not Merin! Loves it, that’s always been a girl fave for me. AND Clementine. I adore that name.

  29. your sister says:

    i always get sung to, and always love it, even though i’m not a true caroline. plus, it’s super international- there’s a permutation for every language, ever. it’s great. just sayin…

  30. Merin says:

    It seems like Clementine is out, but we love it-our dog’s name is Clementine (she is from Louisiana) and we did love eternal sunshine…, so it worked. Now though I kind of wish we had saved it for a real baby (ooh, clemmy would be so mad if she could read that!!).

    Your names are great :) Calina is so pretty (I guess I’m into C names!). I like Eleanor, but isn’t Nori the seaweed in sushi? Ellen is also a favorite (my sister’s middle name).

    You know Sandy is going to be a boy because you are putting so much effort into the girl’s names and your boy name was so easy and perfect!!

  31. Swistle says:

    Oooooh names, NAAAAAAAAMES!

    I hope for a Christmas Eve baby, because I love the name Eve!

    I like all your names. ALL.

  32. I love Claire & Isadora & Carolina best! Fun, unique, classic names!

  33. […] Names, Round 2 See round 1 here – I’ve officially crossed off Clementine but nothing else is […]

Leave a Reply

CommentLuv badge