Funny Quote

“The young man waited impatiently for the lady to finish with the drugstore telephone directory. After she had turned page after page he said, “Madam, can I help you find the number you want?” “Oh, I don’t want a number,” she replied, “I’m looking for a pretty name for my baby.”
— Bell Telephone News




Well that's one way to find a nice name! It would probably just be easier to buy a name book from that same drugstore. This sounds like an older quote, I thought it was cute!

Another Reworking - Complete

 

Last night I changed some of the combos and their rankings. These names are listen in order of my favorites and I've added info for each combo.

Girls:

• Eleanor Sally - Amy has been my favorite for a long time but now whenever I think about my firstborn daughter I think of the name Eleanor. I've taken the plunge and listed it first on my list and changed the middle name from Mary (my great-grandmother's name) to Sally which honors my grandmother. The flow might be a little off but I really love this combo! 
• Amy Irene - I know the flow of this combo is a little off, I don't usually like vowels together but these both honor family members. 
• Julia Mary - I just adore the sweet sound of this combo isn't it just darling? Mary honors my great-grandmother and I love how the two names are old-fashioned yet timeless.
• Lena Beatrice - Lena honors my great-great-grandmother and Beatrice honors her daughter. I used to have Elena Beatrice on my list but I love Lena so much more and don't want to use it just as a nickname. 
• Lydia Pearl - just two sweet names that I've always loved.
• Sadie Arabella - I adore Sadie and Arabella and am not sure they work together but Arabella is more interesting than Elizabeth.
• Clara Adelaide - Clara is a name that recently my mom and I have both said we love. Adelaide is so sweet and I think the names sound nice together.
• Emma Claire - this is a combo I have loved for a long time. Claire is not my favorite but I think it goes very well with sweet Emma. 
• Jane Sophia - I love Jane to honor my dear Jane Austen and Sophia has really grown on me recently. In an attempt to name to three name combos I changed this from sweet Jane Sophia Elinor. 
• Evangeline Mercy - I love Evangeline and the different sound it adds to my list. Mercy is a family name that I love and I like how these two virtue names fit together. I'd use the nicknames Eve, Eva or even Evie - love them all!

Boys:

• Edmund Laurence - I've liked Edmund for a while now but recently after seeing a photo of a baby named Edmund I fell in love with the name all over again! I've also realized recently that Laurence is a name I really want to use because it honors my grandfather who I was named after. I love how handsome and old-fashioned this combos it!
• Simon Henry - two names that honors family. I love how it flows.
• Nathaniel Welcome - I love both names and they honor ancestors on my family tree. Welcome is a bit odd but it's also such a great name.
• Ciaran Michael - I used to have this at the top of my list but I'm not sure I'll actually use it. Because Michael is my surname I'd really like to use it even though this it's popular.
• Colin Stone - My dad's name mixed with my grandmother's maiden name which was also a surname on my family tree. I like the way this combo flows. Colin really belongs to my brother because it's his name too so he'll get to use it first. 
• Ian Matthias - I love both names equally but thought having Ian first flowed better.
• Jack Kenneth - Kenneth honors several family members in both of my parents families including my grandfather, great-grandfather, two uncles and a great uncle. It's growing on me and I actually like it with Jack.
• Silas Jasper - I just love both of these names and they sound nice together.
• Gideon Levi - I love Gideon and wanted Levi on the list. 
• William Ezra - William is a family name. I don't think I'd actually use this but it's a nice combo to bring my list to 10. 

What do you think? 

Reworking My Favorites

I've been doing a lot of work on my favorite names and have been forming combos with my absolute favorite names. These are names I would actually use and I've tried to put them in order of my favorites.

Top 10 Boys Combos:

Edmund Laurence

Simon Henry

Nathaniel Welcome

Ciaran Michael

Colin Stone

Silas Gideon

Matthias Ian

Jack Kenneth

William Ezra

Titus Jasper

I've really been in love with Edmund lately and Laurence is my grandfather's name, the grandfather who I'm named after so it's a name I really want to use. I've loved Ciaran for so long but I probably won't use it. The Simon and Nathaniel combos are two that I've loved for a long time and do hope to use.

Top 10 Girls Combos:

Eleanor Mary

Amy Irene

Sadie Arabella

Lena Beatrice

Lydia Pearl

Jane Sophia

Emma Claire

Clara Adelaide

Julia Sally

Evangeline Mercy

Amy has been my favorite name for so long but now when I think of having a daughter Eleanor is the first name that comes to mind. I just adore it! I changed my Elena Beatrice combo and put in Lena which I really love. I've also recently added Clara to my top ten; it's a name my mom and I both like and thought it went alright with Adelaide. I love the name Sadie because it's a form of my late grandmother's name, Sally. I'm not sure about Sadie Arabella but it's pretty close to being something I'd use. I love both names. 

So, what are your thoughts? opinions? Which are your favorites? Any changes you'd recommend? 

Sweet Girls Names!

Little girls can be so sweet and adorable! I hope one day to have a couple of sweet daughters on my own, preferably with blond or red curly hair. I have a few lovely names picked out already that I hope to use. I love girls names that are feminine and old-fashioned, beautiful old names!

Here are some of my favorite girls names:

Adelaide

Amy

Anneliese

Arabella

Beatrice

Catherine

Eleanor

Elena

Evangeline

Felicity

Grace

Irene

Isabella

Jane

Juliana 

Juliet

Leah

Lillias

Lydia

Marjorie

Mary

Phoebe

Rosalie

Sadie

Sophia

Recently a blogging friend posted some of her favorite girls names on her blog and I just loved them! 

• Amelia Claire
• Ariella Elise
• Eloise Charlotte
• Marilyn Floressa
• Annabelle Elaine
• and also she likes Lisette

Aren't they beautiful girly-girl names?

What are your favorite girls names?

Recent Names I've Encountered

Here were several births among my acquaintances in December and January and a few other names I've encountered recently:

• Natalia Hope - my friends had their 9th child a week before Christmas and chose this beautiful name meaning "Christmas hope" for their sixth daughter!
• Abide Ackroyd - my dear friend Jon and Ann had their first child, a boy on December 14th and gave him this unusual name. This summer Ann intimated to me that they were choosing a first name that honored an African Christian friend of their's but had changed the name a bit so the meaning wasn't something to do with the Muslin religion. Ann's maiden name serves as the middle name. I do love virtue names and this one is quite unique!
• Clifford Martin Jr. - My friend Roxanne and her husband Cliff also welcomed their first child just after Christmas. The baby was named after his father and it seems he is to be called "Little Cliff". I must say that in general I pity Juniors who have to share their father's names but Clifford and Martin do stand out as old-fashioned names among the work of Dakotas and Braydens that I can't help admiring their boldness! 
• Christopher Michael Jr. "C.J." - my little cousin was born in March and named after his father. His parents call him C.J. I do sort of wish they had used Matthias which was a family name they had considered but he is so adorable and the name actually suits him very well!

• Esslyn - Encounterd while watching the TV series Midsomer Murders. Masculine, the character it was used on was a British stage actor full name Esslyn Carmichael. It looks a bit Welsh to me but I can't find any info, the closest my searches came were Jesslyn. I posted about this on Behind the Name's Name Fact Board and came up with this: "Esslyn is probably made up. There's not one single result for it as a first name or a surname in UK records from 1837 to last year, and the only male Welsh name I can think of that even sounds like it is Iestyn." I actually like the name quite a bit.
• Cully - Also encountered whild watching Midsomer Murders. Feminine, the character is the daughter of the main police detective. Cully Barnaby is her full name. I assume "Cully" is short for a longer name but throughout the series she's only called by that one name. My own searches brought up Cully, Switzerland and the word Cully meaning "A fool or dupe" also "Slang pal; mate". After posting this also on Behind the Name I came up with this come conclusive info: "I found this on http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/Satellite/9476/news.htm: ''Cully's name John (Nettles) has also jokingly reiterated the story of how Cully got her name. In our younger days we spent our honeymoon in a place called Cully by Lake Geneva and it was there that Cully was conceived – and it was in relation to that experience that she got her name.'' I thought perhaps that was how the story ran (from Cully, Switzerland) but I couldn't remember hearing that explained in any of the episodes.

What new names have you encountered recently?

Name-a-gram Game

I got the game Bananagrams for Christmas and have really been enjoying this Scrabble type game. Being a name enthusiast I couldn't resist using the letter tiles to form names!

In each photo below the letter tiles form at least one name I was thinking of. Using all the tiles unscramble the letters to form a common name. All photos are my own, sorry for the poor color/lighting in some of them.

Example:

Equals:



See how many names you can get. I'll post the answers soon. Have fun!


1. _____________


2. ____________


3. _____________


4. _______


5. ____________


6. ____________


7. _______________


8. _____________


9. _____________


10. ____________


11. ________________


12. ______________

Names From Camp

This cutie is a little boy by the name of Ezekiel "Zeke" who was at camp this summer. I love his name and also found some other interesting names, name spellings and combos at camp.

Boys:

• Jedediah "Jed" - Zeke's older brother
• Lincoln - a little boy with bright blue eyes!
• Mitchell - I've never met anyone with this name
• Lance - a young boy with an older name
• Kameron
• Corbin
• Bryce
• Braden
• Waylon
• Harley
• Oakley

Girls:

• Ciera
• Amaiah (prn. uh-my-uh)
• Rashelle
• Whitney - I met two different Whitneys each very different from the other
• Ashlyn
• Jordana (prn. jore-day-nuh)
• Jennah
• Kenisha
• Cidney
• Tamika
• Ella Grace
• Alecia

Biblical Names for a Boy

A family at church who has used Biblical names for their three children is expecting their fourth child, a boy. The couple have a hard time deciding on names for their children and for that reason they have decided not to tell beforehand what they're considering for names.

There are so many lovely Biblical names and so I decided to play with it a little and think what I might choose to complete this sibset.

Isaiah & Raeann

Isaiah

Jeremiah "J.D."

Naomi

expecting boy in June

Old Testament names:

Aaron

Abel

Abram

Adoniram

Asa

Ephraim

Ezekiel

Ezra

Gideon

Ira

Jared

Joel

Jonah

Josiah

Jubal

Levi

Malachi

Micaiah

Micah

Zachariah

Zebulon

New Testament names:

Matthias

Matthew

Nathanael

Nicodemus

Philemon

Silas

Simon

Thaddeus

Titus

Zacharias

My favorites to go with their other children are:

Ezekiel

Gideon

Malachi

or if they were to use a New Testament name, Matthias, Silas or Titus.

What fun! :)

Names I've Heard Recently

It's been quite a while since I last posted. But though I have dropped off posting I have not dropped off my enthusiasm for names!

Below are some of the names I've come into contact with over the summer and fall:

Two families I know:
one - Don & Lydia had their first daughter, Evelyn Amy (just too lovely for words!)
two - John & Alicia's new daughter Olivia Renee joins sister Emily Mae

A girl at my workplace is having twin girls: Samara & Savannah
Another woman is having a little girl: Riley Lynn (if it was a boy he would be Dakota James)

A granddaughter of a lady at my workplace has three children: Colin (9), Sophie (6) and Helen (2)

Eric & Leslie Ludy
Hudson, Harper Grace, Kipling Joel Anthony "Kip" and Avonlea Rose

My well rounded knowledge of names came in handy when an actor in a film seemed to be hiding an accent. With the last name of Owens I figured he must be Welsh and I was correct.

You might be a name geek if....

Well, you know how to complete the sentence.

• ...You know the origins of the names "Jeff" and "Foxworthy"
• ...You`ve read so many BA`s you can recognize every baby or small child in your town
• ...You have several restraining orders beause you`ve asked complete strangers about their names.
• ...You write to your favourite celebrity asking him about his favourite names.
• ...You`re devestated when said celebrity replies with "I`ve never really thought about it.
• ...You also wrote him explaining how odd it was his name meaning didn`t apply to him at all.
• ...Foreign exchange students never have to repeat their names to you.
• ...You have a firm grounding in Greek, Latin and Gaelic.
• ...You have gotten detention/fired for calling a classmate`s/coworker`s favourite name "trendy".
• ...The only jokes you know are ones about people named Ben Dover and Jenny Taylor.
• ...Your favourite comedian once told a joke about the meaning of her name. But you know she got it wrong.
• ...Your idea of a slam is "Yo momma so old her name is Amabel" or "You so poor, your name was originally a surname!"
• ...You`d hitchhike to Nebraska just to meet Cleveland Evans.
• ...You know that Cleveland Evans is not the black guy from Family Guy.
• ...You read movie credits just to find new and interesting names.
• ...Your first response to hearing a name is "I love the meaning".
• ...You read obituaries of people you don't know just to find old-fashioned names.
• ...Names like Belphoebe and Solomon are guilty pleasures of yours.
• ...You have a list of your top 50 favorite combos for boys and girls.
• ...If you name the children in ads and posters and at the park and mall.
• ...If you have a favourite and least favourite name for every letter of the alphabet.
• ...You give your pets middle names (perhaps even more than one).
• ...When you first meet someone, you wonder what his or her middle name is.
• ...Even if you didn't enjoy a movie, book, television show, etc., you couldn't help but appreciate it somewhat if you really liked the characters' names.
• ...If you keep renaming yourself cuz you just can't choose the perfect name.
• ...If your favorite-names list exceeds 320 names.
• ...If your friends give the look even when you make a simple casual comment on a name.
• ...If you give all your teachers (and others) additional names that you think fit them better than the ones they have.
• ...If you take ages just to choose a name for a character.
• ...If you cringe when you hear someone say their daughter is named Madison or their son is named Jaden.
• ...If you tell people what their name means when they introduce themselves (as if they care).
• ..If you have ever shown your friends a list of some names you like and they haven't heard of any of them.
• ...If your significant other has ever has ever awoken you with a text message asking the meaning and origin of a name.
• ...If you actually find the obituaries more interesting than the birth announcements just because of the names.
• ...If you have a method of testing the accuracy of baby name books.
• ...If you don't actually own any of the books because you can't find any that have passed your test.
• ...If you had a dream that involved name etymology.

All of these come from the Name Game board at BtN. Most of these I'm guilty of! :)