We picked the ultrahip, super original name Mary Helen for our daughter. :) Although, I do have a feeling that our little Nell will be the only Mary in her class.

The name Hamish was on the list for uncommon boys names. I have a 2 year old son named Hamish (my husband and I both have Scottish heritage) and we actually met ANOTHER two year old Hamish at the farmers market near our home. Guess it's not as uncommon as we thought!

I see the name Brick and I just think of Anchorman.

I love my daughter's name, which is pretty and a bit unusual. I always felt a little unspecial with a name like Cindy, so it's totally transference on my part. But the poor little one will spend her entire life explaining her name and its origin to everyone she meets. Maybe I should have just named her "Ava" or something.

My kids have the ordinary, everyday names of Wesley and Alice. They are regular human names (Brick? Um, no.) but not so common these days that every single head will turn when I call for them.

I dig Finola, Rufus, and Ione, though.

Brick? Ha! No thank you.

I wasn't immune to trying to come up with uncommon names, so I'm not throwing stones here. Or bricks, as the case may be.

But I do think it's funny that it's so important to parents these days to worry about how common the name is in the first place. I am a Kate and grew up with lots of Davids, Jessicas, Brians, Sarahs, etc., and I think if you ask most people they'll say that they never cared about having a fairly common name, so long as there weren't 3 or more of them in their kindergarten class.

We settled on Georgia and June for our girls. Common enough to be recognizable, but not too common I think.

Bottom line: pick a name because you like it and then make sure to think about if you'd also like it if it were your own name!

I always liked the name Circe, but not her role in Greek mythology. Oh well.

ah, i'm so bummed that leonie is on there. i totally thought that was "mine" (for future use). my boys are still safe (never seen them on this or any other list). not that i would be upset to meet another child with one of their names, but going from special to trendy to passe sucks (speaking as a marisa).

i love classic names, and i think georgia & june are really lovely and timeless. nice job, baumgak!

I'm not fond of most of the names on her list. I still don't know what I'm having this time, but if it's a boy, we're in trouble. There's only one name we like for a boy, and my sister-in-law is pregnant with a boy and it's the only name she likes too. haha. At least their last names would be different.

most of the names here just sounded ugly. they were certainly original though, if that's the main goal. my son's name is Bronson which was meaningful to us, not too common, and easy to spell. plus super manly! we think:)

Choosing a less common name can be a big deal when your last name is extremely common.

My family of Joneses has learned that identity confusion can cause real legal and financial headaches. It's unsettling and time consuming to find out that someone else's surgical claims were misfiled against your health insurance (in a city 5 hours from your home) because you share a name and your health facilities share a database (that took over 6 months to reconcile). Nor is it cool to be called to court (under threat of arrest) during high school because some much older jerk with your name has decided to skip out on child support. Having your paycheck sent to a neighbor while you get the letters from his parole officer is also not confidence inspiring (thanks heavens that doppleganger was not a thief).

I want my kids to have traditional names that insulate them against some of the serious implications of identity confusion. In this era of no-fly lists, sharing a common name (first and last) can have serious repercussions.

Uncommon naming is sometimes much more than a matter of style.

I think people are too preoccupied about what picking a rare name says about THEM instead of thinking about what it will mean for their child. Theo is at the top of my list for our baby boy who will be born in 3 months, and I could give a hoot if "those names are already used by a couple hundred style-conscious parents a year." A couple hundred! Egads! In a huge country like America! Better name him Ichabod so he doesn't have an identity crisis when another kid in fourth grade has the same name as him!!

Tanaquil sounds like a medication to me. And Brick? Really?? Wow. I guess you could have a couple of boys and name them Brick, Rock, and Concrete (Crete for short.)

We have a Tobias (Toby). It's one of those names that are old fashioned, but not too weird (like Myrtle, no offense anyone named Myrtle!) We've only met a few other Tobys, but it doesn't really matter. If there's tons of other Tobys in his class at school he'll figure out how to deal with it. As an Amanda growing up in the early 90s, I turned out just fine!

(I liked seeing Tobiah on the boy's list though. If my husband wasn't so picky, our Toby would have been a Tobijah)

Unique names are annoying, like bristol and tripp...ugh.

Our children are Harmony, Ocean, and Denali. Their names mean a lot to us, and all three of them are very happy with their names, as well. It's sad, though; sometimes, it's so much like what clothes you wear, where you live, what car you drive...people will judge you if they feel like doing so. We never took that judgement into consideration, because it is meaningless. It's a reflection of poor character to treat someone that way. I think if Mary or Billy are precious names to you, then I could see that, too. If you want a kid named Book or Pencil, so be it. Raise a happy person to do something good in the world, regardless. :)

My son's name is Rocco and I tend to like ethnic names ( any ethnicity) more than naming a child after something like a brick. I am not Italian so for an almost 100% Irish girl that name is pretty uncommon. I think names should tell a story and be strong.
My name is Norah (my mom is Nora) and I hated it when I was young because no one else had it but now I love it. I am actually the 8th generation of Nora's in my family.

If you want your child to have an uncommon name try Britney, Tiffany, or Stephanie.

I picked Mirabelle and Clementine for my two daughters.... I think they are nice, and have significant meaning for me.

you can find a numerous of baby names in the below list... check it..

http://www.altiusdirectory.com/Society/baby-names-meanings.php

Inigo, huh? "You killed my father; prepare to die."

Some of those names I wouldn't go for in a pink fit! BRICK? For pete's sake!

Popularity also has everything to do with locality. We know one other Theo in our entire area even though I won't pretend it's totally uncommon. And Sloane? Is that a popular name? Where? Never heard of it as a first name!

There are also some on there which I have on my list for any future children however unlikely that may be. Saffron, Casimir, Electra, Ione, Isolde. I also think Blythe is underrated and I happen to love Inigo - who the hell cares about that movie?

As a teacher, I just had a hard time finding names! Because you always associate the name with a specific student. So although I thought I was being fairly uncommon - apparently I wasn't. I can say though that I never had either one of my kids names as students but I think both will have to share their names in school :-( Bummer - oh well.
And I with most of you, Brick? No thank you!

A friend of mine went to a small private grade school with about 30 kids total, about half boys and half girls -- and six of the kids were named Jason. Their parents all said they chose the name because it was unusual.

Wolfram|Alpha is pretty neat for checking and comparing name popularity and trends. You can type in something like "names orson, michael, jason" and get info on how common they are currently and historically, some variants/nicknames, and so on. (Sure enough, there was a huge spike in Jasons around the time my friend was born.)

Interesting. I have a Theo and haven't met another yet, although I have seen several others in the "blogosphere."

I also know a little girl named Sloane, but only one. Sloane and Theo both make me think of the '80s (Ferris Bueller's girlfriend; and Theo Huxtable from the Cosby Show) and since the '80s are still very "in" I can see why these names might both be on the verge of being popular if not officially popular already. But I still found them interesting choices for the phrase "Tired of all the Theos and Sloanes on the playground"? I guess I didn't consider myself a hipster at all. But maybe that is very hipster of me to say that.

My daughter is Ida and I also have yet to meet another Ida, but there's still time. Maybe I should have gone with classics after all. I do love names like Kate, Jane, William, Jack.

Oh and side note, I LOVE the name Blythe. There are so many great names out there.

while i love looking through name lists and there are some great ones on this one- who in their right mind is going to name their daughter jezebel?! it may sound pretty and i don't necessarily think you always have to treasure the meaning/history behind a name, but that one is a little loaded.
and yes, brick just makes me think of anchorman.

My dog's name is Tulip. When selecting it, I was quite positive I would never come across it outside of florist shops, but evidently it's not safe. I guess I should have named my pooch Molly, Sarah or Tiffany. :-(

i find it funny to see my mother's middle name (Ione) on the list! my grandmother gave all 5 of her kids really different (made-up!) first names and i guess i mostly thought that my grandma made that one up too until i began to research baby names while pregnant with my first. it's funny how things come back into style.

My name is unique for my generation, but currently pretty popular thanks to a popular TV show. It's fun to watch names cycle.

You know what name you won't find on the playground? Jane! You'd think it was popular, given phrases like "Jane Doe" and "plain Jane", but it's heyday was 50 years ago or so.

I have an inappropriate love of old lady names. My child is likely going to wind up a Frances, Dorothy, Beatrice, or Cecilia.

Brick? As in, "thick as a brick*"? This British saying equals the American saying "dumb as a rock". Kids are cruel enough on the school playground. Don't paint this kind of target on your kid.

*Also the title of a Jethro Tull concept album.

Inigo's all fun and unique until classmates see The Princess Bride. Anyway, I think giving your kid a unique name just so it contributes to your ultra cool, non-conformist indie cred is silly. Find a name that you just like and stop trying to one up everyone else.

I have a very unique name and still don't appreciate it as much as my mother does. My name is Hesper, and although I get a lot of compliments on it, I have to explain it to just about everyone I ever meet. I also have to repeat myself every time I am introduced to someone new and give them the story and origin of the name. And usually people end up calling me Hester or Heather.

That being said, I chose to name my son something a little more common... Haeden. Of course, everyone thinks is name is Aiden... so what can you do?! haha

We never even considered our kids' names hip-ness, unique-ness or originality, just chose ones that felt right through a process of elimination. We have 3 girls called Heidi, Harper and Tilly and 2 boys called Nash and Kai. They're all connected to family in some way, something that was very important to us (Nash and Harper were my husbands and my mothers' maiden names, Heidi is a favourite aunt of mine, Kai is from Malachy, my husband's deceased brother and Tilly is short for Tillara, the name of the property my husband grew up on).

Verily, I also have an inappropriate love of "old names." Cecilia was one of the names I had on my list had our son been a daughter. As it was, he's a Henry. Now we're seeing his name all them time--it was on the top of the Nameberry 100 names so far. Who'd ever have thought Henry was a cool name. My husband suggested it's similar to when you purchase a new car and suddenly see that car all the time. We've just notice the name Henry more in the past 5 months now that we've got one.

I thought I didn't care about name popularity, so I didn't do much research before I named my first daughter...Ava. Now they're everywhere! Although she is the only Ava Rae I know (and I tend to call her by her full name). I was a bit more careful with my second, and her name is Lydia.

Keep in mind that even if you have an unusual name, as mine (Paris) once was, especially for a girl, you never know when a hotel heiress is going to pop up and ruin it!

We named our kids Arielle and Uziah aka Ari and Uzi. My old roommate's mother suggested Arielle (I guess she didn't like Penelope Mae). We got our son's name from the movie "The Royal Tenenbaums". The movie had two little boys named Ari and Uzi. I don't think either of their names are popular right now, especially my son's name.

I don't know about Brick! I do like the name Noa for a girl and also one syllable names like Lux, Kit, Maeve, and Liv.

Kermit? Seriously?

My daughters name is Beatrix-Rose but we all call her Trixie-Rose, or just Trixie. She was named after Beatrix Potter, who loved nature and was very strong woman and, of course, fabulous story teller and illustrator. We had other name ideas but when she was born at home an unexpected 10 pounds with a head full of auburn hair (throw back from my husband's scottish ancestry) the name just stuck and all other more common names went out the window.

ps. my son, who is 2 years older than trixie-rose is called Sebastian, not that unusual but loved the name from the movie, The Never Ending Story. We knew his name months before he was born as it was the only name his father and I could agree on but Trixie-Rose was unammed for two weeks before we finally registered her.

I'm really not liking this trend of making up names and finding the oddest names for kids. They are going to have a lifetime of spelling things out, telling people how to say it and looking embarrassed when telling people what it is. Who we ARE is what makes us unique, not a name.

What is so wrong with having a name that people can spell and say? There is going to be a generation of kids out there with horrible and wonky names, who will then all name their kids with the most common and simple names out there.

Even the trend of giving girls boy's names is silly - there are SO many names out there - why do people have to resort to things like Brick and Lux? I feel sad for all those kids with these names. They sound made up and a lot sound like porno names to be honest.

There is a reason most of these names are uncommon to begin with!

I just have to add; my name is Jeanine, and I have had so much trouble throughout my life with that name, with people pronouncing it or spelling it, that I have always just gone by Jenny. Plain, old, common Jenny. I'm named after my great-grandmother from Poland, whose name was Yanina. I wish my parents would have gone with the Polish version, and maybe called me Nina for short (many in my family do call me Neane, however). People would always say Jean or Jeannie or totally mess up the spelling... ::sigh::
That being said, I have had many people call me Jennifer, after repeatedly being told that I go by Jenny. In conclusion, it doesn't matter! If someone has a problem with your child's name, it's because of that person, not the name!

Another 2 cents from someone with a common name, but an uncommon spelling - Stefanie. I know that my mom chose the F rather than the PH due to the influence of Stefanie Powers in the 1970s (I'm a bicenntential baby). That's about all I know about how my name came to be chosen b/c my parents died when I was young.

I have always loved my name though, and I think that even though I have to spell it out for everyone I meet for the first (or millionth) time, I have never tired of it over the last 30+ years. It, and it's spelling, suits me, as does the nn Stef. I think that is what matters most about a name.

My son's name is Linus.

we are living overseas right now and keep a list of our favorite names: Smart, Clever, Beauty, Fortunate, Trouble, Obvious....Bicycle, Shoestring, FewDays....it's a long list and we are still collecting names. Another random favorite is Expandito.

Romulus and Tiberius for boys? I wonder if the writer is a Trekkie, or just completely oblivious to the references.

I think Fleur sounds pretty until you realize she's a character from Harry Potter. Might as well name them Bella or Sookie if you're going to go that route.

I've always liked Jago and Cosmo for boys, and Frederica is my sister's middle name. She didn't like it as a child, but loves it now. If I could be a teenager again and choose the abbreviation of my name (Victoria) I would definitely choose Vita, or not shorten it at all. I wouldn't change it now, because I do feel like it's 'my' name, but it is also the name of my best friend and both my neighbours! Common as muck!

@alllebasii - Mirabelle is on my list! Victoria and Mirabelle - two types of plums. I love nature names in general - Bracken, Bramble and Huckleberry are all on the list.

Parents, please. Stop naming your children just so you have something unique to say when you are picking them up from day care. If you legitimately love the name, fine. I work in retail, and in the last week I have heard "Aiden" far too many times, "Cowboy" as a real name, "Gecky", and "Sophie" on countless occasions.

I find the trend to find the most "unique" baby name ridiculous. As much as you feel your kids are special snowflakes, they don't need a name like Brick, Wisconsin, or Aerytoniania Maritia to prove it. My name was fairly unique growing up (named after 2 of my aunts, so meaningful to my parents), but I got so tired of explaining how to properly spell my name or correcting mispronunciations that I longed to just be a Kathy or an Angela like so many other girls. My boys have typical, common boys names and there aren't 20 identical names in their class and no one misspells or misunderstands the name. Best of all, when they grow up and enter the business world, no one's going to look at the name and think "what a flake" since they don't have a name like Inspector or Ratatouille.

I agree with many of the comments, but I think it's important to note that neither Romulus nor Tiberius came from Star Trek :).

That list is a joke right? Please tell me this is a "ha ha look at what idiots parents can be when naming their kid" post right?!?

Well... the list is just silly.

Besides, anyone will tell you that "Lake" is a boy's name.

Bahahahahahahahaha, etc.

I have a relatively unusual name: Ciska, I like it. I've always made a note of names I like so that when we have kids I don't have to go and buy a baby name book. I like girls names like Anaïs, Rosalie, Evaine and Blaise. Boys names like Chance, Barclay and Huxley are reasonably unusual and strong.

Agree w/Alybrown; I don't have/want kids, but my friends are big fans of the Hayley/Aidan/Zoe type of names. So sick of that; it would be great to meet a child named Mary or Susan.

Brick, Rufus?? Poor kids! Some of those names sound like the parents are trying too hard to be unique. My grandmother's name was Precious and while growing up, was always teased about it. As a result, she and my mom were very anti-unusual names.

While I don't mind my name, It did get a bit old when there were 2 other Katies in classes growing up. But sharing a name is still much better than being named after something that you walk on or a dog's name! Get lost, Rufus ;)

We ended up giving our kids VERY uncommon names... Katherine (Katie) and Andrew (Andy)

It's not often that you find kids with names like these nowadays.

To anyone whose children's names are also uncommon by 2010 standards. I stand in solidarity with you.

To those of you who found this post a godsend because the names Blaise and Emmersohn were just too trendy, let me speak on behalf of all of us who cursed their children with such boring names as John or Sarah... don't be fooled by our polite smiles and canned response "Oh, what a beautiful name"... inside, we desperately, DESPERATELY want to slap you (and hard.)

Not only will your poor children have to live with these ridiculous names for the rest of their lives, but so will the rest of us. God, what if my grandchildren have a father named Huckleberry? How on earth will I be able to protect them from knowing I think their other grandparents are boneheads?

It's funny to see some of the more unusual names on the list and recognize where they came from.

"Tanaquil" is the heroine of a fantasy trilogy by Tanith Lee. (Watch Tanith become popular soon.) "Ogden" is clearly attached to Nash, the poet. And "Casimir?" Someone's been listening to too much Sufjan Stevens.

I know both a girl and boy Lux.
I know a Doolin, Henry, Harper (girl), Clemetine, Amelie, Clover, Violet (my daughter.) But I don't know any young Michelles, Dianes, Denises, Sarahs or Jennifers so those would be the unique names now for this area.

Some names are really cute when you child is young, but not so much as they grow up. Other commenters have mentioned school yard teasing. Imagine your child as an adult, as a doctor, a judge, a senator, a business person. Does that name still fit? In my opinion, you should give your child a cute nickname but a full name that will carry them well as an adult.

Another point. My family is full of last names that are straight from Ellis Island. They are beautiful family names, with rich histories but which can be hard to pronounce. If you have a family name like I do, either balance it with a first name from the same general ethnicity or one that's easy to pronounce or not overly unusual. Trust me on this one.

Michael C, I can't tell if you're joking or not. Andrew is the #7 top name for boys in the past TEN YEARS and Katherine is #37. Anything in the Top 50 on the SSN list for the year is going to be really common; anything in the top 50 for the past decade is going to be extremely common. I hear parents calling little Drews and Kates constantly when I'm out in places where there are lots of children. So I'm uncertain where you got the idea that these classic names are rare. Almost all of the top twenty most popular baby names in the country are classics. They always are.

I used to be pretty biased against "creative names," mostly the completely invented names, names with altered spellings, or names clearly co-opted from popular television shows/movies. I realize now that there are often factors that I'm unable to take into account: meaningfulness to the family (e.g. honoring a deceased relative with a creative spin; honoring more than one relative with a combo name), ethnicity (there are plenty of non-English names out there that sound strange to us, but are perfectly "legitimate" names), cultural influence, or maybe one parent is really insistent and the other doesn't want a battle. Etc. Who knows?

Many names that seem pretty weird aren't randomly chosen so the parents will have something "cool" to shout on the playground. Please. It's fairly unkind to assume something like that.

The world doesn't need to be populated only by Katherines and Andrews. If you can't spell or pronounce someone's name, try asking them. I'm all for "ease of use" when naming a child, but cultural context is important to consider. As is not arbitrarily passing judgment based on style differences. I really cringe at how most people decorate their homes, but I'm not about to assume they're all brain dead plebeians with no other redeeming qualities.

I'd like to add that we're considering the very classic name Leo for our next son. And I've had a couple of people complain to me about THAT name. This is the name of popes, literary giants, the amazing Mr. Fender. A name used worldwide for centuries. A name currently in the Top 100 in Switzerland, Sweden, England, Canada, Germany, Norway, Scotland, and Australia. Not exactly rare or strange. Not hard to spell or pronounce. No obvious negative connotations.

And yet.. two responses I received when mentioning the name to friends: "It reminds me of Uncle Leo from Seinfeld," and "You mean like the astrology sign?"

Seriously, if a name like Leo is going to get comments from people, does it really matter too much what you name your child? Everybody's a critic.

"I like girls names like Anaïs"

My husband and I always loved the name Anaïs too, until we realized that most people would mispronounce it, or worse, call the child Anus in a cruel attempt to tease.

It would seem to me that if a person wanted to give their baby girl a name that virtually no one else had they could go with Jane, Janet, Susan or Mary. I know of lots of people who've had babies in the last few years and no one uses these names. Think of it, not one Susan. It used to be extremely common, but now? Nada. It's a lovely, solid name that she won't be embarrassed about when she's 50, unlike Tiffany.

Hmm....I have a unisex first name, that's spelled in a not so common way, coupled with a unique last name. I've often wished for a name that people knew how to spell on the first go.

I agree with previous sentiment, many times the odd naming is more about what the parents think is cool and less about realizing that you're labeling/identifying a human being. I once met an expectant couple who were talking about how they wanted to name their daughter "Nikki Star" - they thought it would make a great country singer's name.

I have a daughter named Mary, her twin is Simon. Mary is my mother's name and she was elated when we named our daughter after her.

My older daughter is Safia, which is the spelling we used instead of the transliterated Arabic, which would have been Safiyyah.....as it is, she still gets called Sofia all the time.

Oh God. I just found out that a girl I knew from high school named her child "Axten".

I'm really amused that people are taking so much issue with the name "Brick". I had an "honourary" uncle when I was a kid with that name. Did none of you ever watch Cat on a Hot Tin Roof?

I named my son after his father, Luis Alexis--Louie as a nickname. Honestly I wasn't too thrilled about the name but it was my husband's dream to have his 1st son named after him and I wasn't going to take that away from him. Even though we had decided on this before he as even conceived I still made a list of boy's names when I was pregnant. I never found one that I loved besides Alejandro--thank goodness I didn't choose that name, thanks Lady Gaga!

"In my opinion, you should give your child a cute nickname but a full name that will carry them well as an adult." Well said, Terry.
We did this with my son. He has a family name that goes back generations and each man with the name that I have known (my uncle and grandfather) are wonderful people. Like both of them, my son goes by his middle name with the family which is a weird one. But professionally/school, can go by the first name which is top ten forever and ever, William. Best of both worlds plus we are carrying on a family name.
The name Seely for a boy gets looks and a rare bird will ask if it's for Seeley Booth on Bones (different spelling.) No one ever says they like it. But the people in my family who knew my grandpa Seely LOVE it and that's all that matters. So the next time you judge someone as trying to be weird or unique, maybe it's just a family name.
I used to judge celebrities for their choices like Knox, Vivienne and Rocco until I found out they are all family names after very special people to them.

Anyone who names a human child Domino should be hit. Hard.

As far as all the others go, I understand wanting to be unique. But there is a fine line between being unique and being insufferably pretentious. And I think a lot of people have a hard time navigating that line.

Anais? In my opinion, (unless it is a family name - your last name is Nin?) ugh!

@honeyhaze: Yes, I was being sarcastic. Making a comment about how rare it is to see classic names anymore. So much so, that I'm truly (and pleasantly) surprised when I hear of a new baby being given a classic name.

And yes, you're right that I'm being awfully harsh to people who choose "uncommon" names for their kids. My intent was to voice the true inner eye rolling and cringing that people are doing (many more of us than you realize) internally whenever we hear one of these names. You want your kid to be special, to stand out... I would say, they are and they will anyway... your naming them an unique name says more about what you want people to think about you than what you want them to think about your child. I don't deny that some people name their children uncommon names for some heart-felt reason... fine. But given the overwhelming trend, I think it's pretty naive or just plain dishonest to claim that most people aren't being driven by keeping up with the Joneses.

As for your comparison to home decor... I would liken a child's name that annoys you to a neighbor who paints the outside of their house a migrane-inducing color. You can learn to live with it but you can't just ignore it... it's right there in your face all the time. Same is true with crazy names... my kids will go to school with those kids... it's not like I can just avoid them.

As for non-English names... be my guest. I will point out, however, that most other countries have very strict social (and sometimes legal) guidelines as to what children can be named.

Michael C.--interesting that you bring that up. I very recently read an article (maybe on cnn.com?) about laws in naming, and you are right. Even most countries in western Europe have pretty strict laws about this. I was kind of surprised.

I think the comments about non-English names were in reference to people whose heritage would call for those names.

My daughter's name is Sloane. It's a classic, total classic. Not some too-cool-for-school bs like Brick. So when is being the super-minority the goal? Ugh, just don't overthink it!

I used to work in a school system. This is but a sampling of names that we had. I swear to all things holy I am not making them up.:

MooCow
Suburban
Perphect
MiAngel
K Uhhnz (how you pronounce that, I dunno)
Australia
Sexionna
Quotez
Casio
Cautious
Wanda'Ful
Freshman
Jodeci
Jadakiss
Nautica (there were several Nauticas)
Ontario
Unique
Vercingetorix
Jarmarvelous

I like this one site nameyourbabylikeacelebrity.com -- great names!

@honeyhaze: "...the amazing Mr. Fender..." Yes! That alone should cause people to pause a moment in reverent silence at the mention of the name "Leo".
Rock on.

I have an uncommon name that was popular in my mother's generation. Everyone knows how to spell and pronounce it. It's pretty and ends with an N sound, which is very trendy. And yet I have never met an Elaine younger than me. What's up with that?

seinfeld, i imagine

@puella: I got that. If you have some strong cultural heritage (and especially if you're displaced from it) I can fully understand choosing a name to honor that heritage. I just thought it was interesting to make an argument for anything goes creativity in naming using cultural heritage as an example.

@honeyhaze: I apologize if I've offended you personally. That was not my intent. Leo is a fine name. Good choice.

What I'm really railing against is people using the naming of their child to, as you said... "have something cool to shout across the playground". They're focused on what people think about them, instead of being focused on their child. In my view, the current trend is not fundamentally different than the Brittany/Dakota trend a few years back (ironically, one at which current hipsters are quick to turn up their noses.) Determining a piece of your kid's life-long identity to gratify a desire to follow a short-term trend seems trite and narcissistic. If my comments made those people squirm... so be it.

I was reading both the girl and boys lists, and was seriously shocked that people would use most of these names... Then I saw MY name on the list. Jedediah. Seriously, is that such a crazy name that it belongs on THIS list?

Actually made me smile :) My name is Circe. I loved that my parents chose the unusual for me. I have spoken to 3 other Circe named children in my 50 years. All of us seem to be very unique in our conversations :)

I have found that having the name of Circe, discovering whom know of the history, and the amount of laughter for having the name has given me have ensnared me with joy.

If the name feels right then so let the child be called!

I live with a couple, and saw them go through this process with their daughter. They had a handful of names in mind, and elected to wait to name her until they had a chance to meet her.
While I pulled for Imogen and her "uncle" Tom wanted Boudicca, they had it narrowed down to Ramona or Illyanna when they brought her home from the hospital.
And so I have an Illy-Bean and a Silly Illy for a roommate. She's too pretty to be Ramona.

Her middle name, Lunasa, is a transliteration of Lughnasadh, the festival of the first harvest. As a firstborn daughter, it's kind of a perfect middle name.

Try to be kind when you name your kids! I gave my kids traditional names that have lots of nicknames iin case they wanted to change them around -- or, if they wanted to keep them traditional, they could (and so far, they have). Katherine (she went through nickname phases but grew into her full name). Gregory. (Never had an interest in being called Gor.) Alexander (Didn't want to be called Sandy or Lex.) My brother's name is David -- after a lot of thought -- and kids called him Moose in school. Do your best and then, it's out of your hands.

This is absolutely true:
A little girl whose name is spelled K-A

It's pronounced Kadasha.

@ mjs7640 Riiiiight. Is her sister named La-A? Are they related to Oranjello and Lemonjello? *rolls eyes*

I was wondering when someone would bring that up.

Sounds like someone needs to read this...

http://www.babynamewizard.com/archives/2009/10/ledasha-legends-and-race-part-one

It's not an urban legend in my daughter's 8th grade classroom. The kid really exists.

And my daughter is the teacher.

totally agree with citipearl. I love traditional names that have a handful of nickname options. I'm waiting for giving traditional names to children to become untraditional when this whole boom of picking the oddest name out there goes away. I'm all for creativity in names but I can remember a girl in my 5th grade class named Destiny (unusual at the time) and she was picked on relentlessly. And she had no control over her name. Even if you like the name, one day little Apple or Tulip or Brick will be sitting in school and the Nicks, Jennys and Elizabeths in the class aren't going to think its as cute as you did. I don't think too many parents who pick the truly stranger names think of that stuff sometimes.

We both have to spell our names (first and last), so we kept our list simple and workable for both our languages...we thought. Turns out pronouncing it the French way makes it challenging here, but we had no idea there even WAS another pronounciation. So...oh well.

Having a weird name myself has told me a lot about people I meet throughout my life, and it also happens to tell my life story right up front too - love it or hate it, my name is really me. And unconsciously we tagged our daughter with the same thing, cosmic humor!

I think the most important thing is the name matches the kid. I was originally called Tiffany, nothing against it, but people go into hysterics when I tell them, it suits me so poorly. Thank god my parents went another route and I got their first pick off the certificate when I got married. Interesting insight into the daughter they thought they were getting, though!

One more thing. I always thought a good litmus test for a baby name that my husband and I want to go off of was this: Those little carousels in gift shops of pencils or bike sized license plates for kids. Anything you can find big things of personalized stuff. Does the name you want typically get found among those? No this won't apply for a lot of people out there who are trying to be different but if you want something more on the traditional side of the spectrum this stood out to me. I grew up with 2 brothers with common but differently spelled names (Jarrod and Jayson) And as kids we would see things like that and most kids are going to run up and try and find their name. Mine was always there but both of them would get so sad looking when all they came up with was Jared and Jason.

I think just think parents need to think about their kids and how it will affect them directly.

My husband and I have common names and gave our son a unique name (an Arabic name to reflect our Baha'i Faith). We know a couple with unusual names who named their son Walter. Everything is a reaction, I guess!

My parents named me Allison Read after my great uncle...and it was my name when they thought I was a boy. My sister is Marlin Elizabeth, Reese Marlin was my grandfathers name.
She's claimed Read as a daughters name.
Sidenote: Our dog is named Rufus.

Brick? Are you kidding me? While a rose by any other name might smell as sweet, I wouldn't invite "Brick" to the study group. Square, heavy, dull, sturdy, typical? At best covered in ivy on a lovely college campus, at worst the material of 70s tract homes everywhere? Blech.

My parents named me while on work assignment in Asia. I'm Sarah Elizabeth, and they didn't realize how popular it would be as a baby name in 1986. Regardless of popularity, I like it and it works. It worked when I was a nerdy kid in high school, it worked at faculty meetings when I was teaching, and it now works for law school. Nobody bats an eye at Sarah Elizabeth.

Hipster parents, you might be into radical homemaking, bands nobody knows about, and being super cool in Park Slope with your babies, Rectangle, Bicyclespoke, and Trinket ("We just thought 'Tchotchke' was too old fashioned!"). But it's unfair to your kid when they want to become Bicyclespoke Calpurnia Ryder-Hard, CEO.

Think, people.

We named our son Calloway, which we thought was unique without seeming too trendy or silly We loved the name 12 years ago when we named him, and we continue to love it today. So does he...and that is what is most important, right?

Terry in Silver Spring, the thing to keep in mind is that in 50 years there will be plenty of doctors and lawyers named things like Jesper and Ayedenn. What, you think these kids aren't going to grow up smart or ambitious because they were saddled with names you don't like? 50 years ago the idea of a doctor named Stephanie or Jason would have seemed laughable. The world moves on.

Callowaysmom: No, sorry, what's most important is that people on a parenting blog who hate everything on the planet like your kid's name. ;)

Lux and Stellan are the only ones I'd use from the short list. My kiddos are Mila, Scout, and Jones.

I love being the unique one who named her child something classic and every day rather than going for the weirdest name possible! Mine is the only one in her grade at her school full of kids with ultra trendy or weird names.

While I was stuck on the name Imogen (Immy, for short) for our daughter, my husband wasn't sold on it and so we settled on Heidi, which I love, especially for its meaning (of noble kin). Her middle name a London, a hipster name for sure. We named our son Oren, a name neither of us had negative experiences with, and a regular human name that just happened to be old fashioned and, therefore, uncommon these days (so far!). His middle name is Wayne, after my husband (family tradition). Also, we are a pale skinned, red-haired family, and Oren happens to mean "fair/pale" in Gaelic. So it worked out well!

To everyone lamenting the loss of "old fashioned names", THOSE are what is trendy now. There was a daycare downstairs from my work in San Francisco and I saw all the names lined up: Noahs and Helens and Annes and Jacks and Henrys and Henriettas. Old fashioned names are super-trendy, so I wish my husband would let me name our kids Sequoia or Rivers. We have an old-fashioned trendy name- 3 month old Otto. Our friend was preg at the same time and he said he'd picked out that name for his baby if she'd been a boy. (She's Adeline--younger sister to Lydia).

My Daughter goes by Lux, her middle name, so this post amuses me. And yes, @TRufflesauce, my kids, and many others now have "old Lady names:" Sylvia, Marguerite, Maria. Not too unique, but very classic.

We decided when our first child was born to work with our long Italian last name (we are both Italian) by sticking with Italian or Latin sounding names. We named our son Luca Vincent in 2006 (Vincent is my dad), thinking Luca was very original, and it has become quite trendy :( our daughter is Angelina Emilia, after my husband Angelo Emilio, but she goes by Annie. Our third child is Benicio Joseph, who is called Ben. I too am a fan of cute nicknames with a more adult alternative. A lot of times it is hard to predict what will become popular, so you do your best; my mom tried to pick original names, she did pretty good with mine (Jenelle, long for Jenny) but she struck out with my sister, who was Brittany, number one name for the year she was born

Interesting list.

A name similar to mine is on it! ha! But it's spelled differently so I don't know if it's pronounced the same. I have met a few Kaia's in the new generation, but my name (Kaiya) has always gotten lots of compliments and I've been the only one I've known... up until recently. I like it and my nickname Kai. (Am hearing some boys named Kai now too.)

I like old-fashioned, but classic names with an obvious nickname. I like the ones on the "hipster" lists according to this site.
Our last name is also a common girl's first name so I wanted masculine sounding, easy to pronounce names for my boys.

Funny that so many people are suggesting names "like Jane" I know a baby Jane and several Anna's (or Annalise or some variation).
And of course there are tons of Aidien's, Sam's, Lily's and Ava's around here too.

I am guessing what sounds "fresh" will depend a lot on where you live.

These "uncommon" are cracking me up!! I think which names are common or unusual depend on where you live. We live in a small town in the south and names like Katherine and Mary and Alison are still VERY common names. My girls all have uncommon names in comparison - Jena Phoenix (pronounced Jay-na), Ashni (Ahsh-ni), Bijou and Zion. I love their uncommon names, but I have to say at a point unusual becomes laughable!

I love hearing about kid's names and how they got them. Unusual or not. In the era of Olivia, we named our daughter Olympia. She hasn't met another one yet under the age of 80. But once you have an Olympia, you can't follow that with Bob, so our son is Oslo (nickname of Oz). My husband and I both love geography and capitols. We love giving out free geography lessons when telling people our kids' names.

Our older son is named Nicolai, which we got from an Orson Scott Card novel. We love the name, and so does he (he's five, so he doesn't really take into consideration what other people think yet!). I have a feeling as he gets older he might decide to go with Nick, which is just fine by me.

I sort of enjoy Lux, but maybe as a nickname or something. I can just see my mother's reaction. "Lux? Like an Electrolux appliance?"

That said, I have some uncommon likes for girl's names. Lorelai and Paget top the list for girls, but I also love Penelope. For boys, I like the more traditional names... Matthew, James (but not Jimmy). But I also like Alec.

I think my favorite names that I have encountered at work are "La-a", which is pronounced "Ladasha" and "Abcde" which sounds like "ab-suh-duh".

And I don't mean favorite in a good way. Why do parents think these are good names?

My mom had a bunch of great student names when she was a teacher...
i will never forget going to the 8th grade graduation and hearing "Mister Rodgers" being called to receive his diploma.

Or the famous "car" family.. Mercedes, Lamborghini and DeVille along with their little brother Silver Dollar Bill.

@merm - I'm a Stef with a f too, and very proud! Nothing too far off the common names for my generation, but the spelling helped nicely to differentiate myself from the others. And as for Brick, I immediately thought of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.... but not for my little one.

As a diehard AbFab fan, I find it amusing that "Saffron" is on the girls' list and "Serge" is on the boys' list!

I have a name that was trendy for 5 minutes in the early '80s and makes a comeback every few years. I am now stuck sharing it with a washed-up child star, and have a hard time being taken seriously because of it. Parents, please don't do this to your kids. Go for classic, an old family name, whatever - but please don't foist a trendy name on your offspring.

I truly hate, loathe and despise these sorts of lists, and the comments made about such lists... People who sneer or mock "unusual" names just haven't experienced enough foreign cultures. Many of these names are actually quite common elsewhere (e.g., Serge).

One of the names we considered for our son is on this list -- Inigo, after Inigo Jones.

One of my girl names was on the list too -- Saskia. We were also considering Franka (either as a pet name of Franceska or by itself), but went with something else instead. Anyway, a friend (named Heather btw) was HORRIFIED that we would consider naming our daughter Saskia (which is Dutch, and is quite popular both in the Netherlands and in the UK). She said she would feel ostracized to have such a "weird" name. Fast forward a couple of months: my first outing with our baby was to one of those paint-your-pottery places, RIGHT NEXT DOOR to my friend Heather's store, where we met another mother and little girl, who was born 3 days after mine, at the same hospital. We were the only ones in the store at the time. The other baby's name? Yup, Saskia!!!

My daughter has fortunately never run into another girl with her name, although they are out there. Our family doctor (who was shocked by the name) discovered that there is one more in her practice (who sees another doctor), much to her surprise.

We've lived in a very international, multicultural city for most of our daughter's life... my daughter's first "fiancees" at age 5? Karim, Kushinga, and Kenji. I kid you not. Today, we are off to visit Ulysses.

We LOVE our daughter's name, almost 8 years on, as does everyone who has ever had to repeat it, in English and especially in French. I once read a quotation in a magazine article that it is easier to eat only one potato chip than it is to say this name only once... it rolls so beautifully and sensually off the tongue that you want to keep repeating it, over and over. And it's true.

And then we had to find a name for our son to match it in terms of weight. So, both children have names which sound good when pronounced, which is what we went for, traditions be damned.

We are a multiculturally-blended family (French, Czech, speaking English as well) and have lived many places. The names work for us, and our kids.

Oh, and what names did we pick?

Tallulah (8 years ago, before it became trendy) and Viggo (which fortunately, hasn't been noticed). Oh, and our son's middle name is Patrik, for the great footballer, Patrik Berger.

Brick?

I grew up with a super common name and I will try to pick a less common name for my kids. Although I don't dislike the name itself, it was annoying to be the third or fourth kid with my name in my class, even more annoying to be the second kid with my first name and last initial. It feels non-special and I'm forever turning my head when people shout out my name in public places. Interestingly enough, my parents did try to give me an uncommon name but it became extremely common around the time I was born.

Both Orson and Spencer are fairly common names for boys in the Intermountain Western states.

I grew up with a super uncommon name that I was forever spelling and everyone could not pronounce. I'm actually the ONLY person with my first name when googled (which is why I don't use it in posts). My mother gave me and my three sisters very unusual names because she had a common one where she lived - Vera - which she never used and still does not.

My thoughts when naming my child - something slightly unusual, but still pronounceable and not so WEIRD that 1/2 of new people you meet give you a strange look and you spend a good portion of your life explaining your name over and over again.

I named my little boy Harris. It suits him just fine!

My daughter was named long before she was even conceived as there were grandmothers on both sides of the family with absolutely lovely names. When I was expecting our second we were stuck. (Using the remaining grandmother names would have given us a Mildred Helen as a follow up to our Genevieve Rose -- no fair.) Fortunately we had a boy, which came as a shock to me. Also fortunately, my mother suggested the name shared by more than one relation a couple of generations back and hours later, Silas Ray arrived.
Three cheers for reaching back into the family name history, unusual but real and with meaning.
BTW Brick is one of our favorite characters on "The Middle" love him!

My son and I were recently at the doctor's office when the nurse called for a little boy in the waiting room. He was a cute blond kid, around four years old. His name was Leviathan. Yes, like the sea monster or giant whale or one of the forms in which Satan manifests himself. Such nice associations! We were both shocked. I actually pulled out my iPhone and found a discussion of the name in which several people said, "I know it has negative connotations, but it just sounds so cool!"

Right. So in their effort to be cool and give their kid a shot at coolness, they have instead condemned him to a lifetime of disparaging comments and the perception that perhaps his parents weren't very bright...

I think the best you can do is try to balance "unusual enough to be interesting" with "not TOO weird". That was my guiding philosophy when I named my kids. Note that even then it doesn't always work out like you think it will-- when I named my Ava eleven years ago, the name wasn't even on the horizon. Now she complains about the eight bazillion under-five set Avas you hear moms yelling for in public. Oh, well, I tried, and it's still a gorgeous name. :) My son, Knox, worked out better. He's thirteen now and still pretty unique-- though I did panic a little when Angelina Jolie named one of her twins Knox. It didn't actually seem to catch on despite that.

I echo the multitude of disdain for "Brick". Give me a break. If I had any more kids to name (not gonna happen), I'd love Ivy for a girl or Jack for a boy. Not cutting edge, and I don't care.

We chose our son's name with our ancestry in mind. "Tavin" is the English nickname for the German name "Gustav." I think the name you choose for your children is a very important decision, and should have alot of thought behind it and mean something special. I like that his name is very uncommon, and I checked with the SS website too. the "-in, -en,-yn" names are pretty trendy, but that's not why we chose it. It fits him perfectly.

Lux is a brand of soap in my country (Colombia) and a rather tacky one. I'm a school teacher and in my school, the most common names are Camila (or Camilo for boys), Nicolas, Valentina, and Valeria. So at the beginning of the school year, when I still haven't learned anybody's name yet, I ask oral questions to "Camila" or "Nicolas" or one of the others.

Our boys names are Gage and Ronin, and coincidentally my husband's name is Dallas. If we have a girl we're thinking of naming her Dallas as well.

My name is Coleen, and I hate it lol

God, you people are judgmental.

If I had a daughter I would name her Liza...with a 'z'!

When my daughter was born in 1981, I gave her a beautiful, exotic name to go with her beautiful, exotic looks (inherited from her olive-skinned father). She didn't meet another girl with her name untl she was in college. Now Olivia is one of the top ten names, which irritates her to no end.

My youngest is Bridget - pronounceable- but rarely used anymore.

It took me a long time to learn to love my name Tamsin; it's a traditional name from Cornwall but not overly common. It gets misspelled on a regular basis - Tamzin, Tasmin, Tamzyn. At work I have to contact authors from all over the world, lots don't realise I'm female. Mind you, I was almost called Otterley!

Personally I like Emily, Imogen and Eloise for girls. I used to like Edward, Jacob and Seth for boys until Twilight spoiled it all!

We incorporated a family member name for each of our daughters. Old fashioned, but we wanted to honor our favorite relatives. One daughter has the middle name, "Michael", which she loves.

We don't have an uncle "Brick".

http://www.babynamewizard.com/voyager#prefix=susan&ms=false&exact=true

This site is pretty cool, you can type in a name to see it's popularity over time. it's fun to check out names like James, that are always popular, next to ones like Alfred, which had it's heyday in the early 1900s but is used much less now. Adolph was pretty popular 150 years ago...not so much now....

My son's name is Shade. He was named after his great, great, great grandfather Shadrach, who was called Shade by his family members and friends.

My daughter's name is Yancey. I got that one from a Southern gothic novel way before I even thought about being pregnant.

I have a unusual name, and I never liked it. Fortunately there's a nickname that I do love, and everyone call me by. My real name is reserved for paperwork and doctor's appointments.
Kids got names without diacritic marks - they are common here, and are usually forgotten or misspelled when you go elsewhere - to spare them the mispronunciation and misspelling. They already have them more than enough in a long and uncommon last name.
Names themselves are traditional and simple, therefore "forgotten" and unusual in a flood of really unusual names that we witness now. She shares a name with a queen of ancient times, and he shares his with a mountain.

My husband is Charles (III) aka "Charlie" & if we have a boy, he will be as well.

But a girl, I love the names Emma, Emily or Sarah (my early childhood best friend) and any with the middle name or quite possibly first name of Drew- for my nephew Andrew who passed last year.

I am Denise, rarely meet another. My son (16) is Anthony.

i grew up with a very unusual name (shanlie) and i always liked it. my 2 year old daughter's name is coral.
what's basically going to happen is that folks who name their children based on a trend, are creating the 'brittany', ashley', 'tiffany' names of the next generation.

and of course in about 50-100 years, 'ashley', 'brittany', and 'tiffany' will be 'favorite old fashioned names' :)

@wrenx I thought the same thing re Princess Bride and Inigo!

I had a senior colleague named Ione. The sweetest lady ever! With her lovely southern accent, and it was always an aural delight to hear her say over the telephone, 'hi, it's Ione.'

My name is Cindy. Just Cindy. Not Cynthia, Lucinda, or Jacinda. I've grown to accept my name but I wish to death that my mother gave me a Japanese middle name at the very least. I have three very American sounding names. Cindy isn't common for my age group of the 83 babies. I think Ive met more middle aged or or older Cindys than anything else and they are all in actuality Cynthias to begin with.

I like unique names but ridiculous names are just a sad burden the child has to bear until they are legal to change it. I'm looking towards all names from multiple cultures including Japanese when naming my children. I'm still trying to find a name I like for myself too. My name doesn't fit and to prove it, I've been called Christine and Christina by multiple people in multiple places and I have no clue why as I have the simplest names out there.

Finola and Ione are like weird spelt Irish names (Fionualla and Iona).

But what I really wanted to comment on was the parents who torture their offspring with stupid names. In New Zealand, they now allow children to change their name by law if the court deems the name to be an affliction. In one of the first cases the poor child had been called 'Talulah does the hula from Hawaii', can you imagine??

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2008/jul/24/familyandrelationships.newzealand

Ione is on the list for "cool" and also on the "hipster- to be avoided" list.

Bah. I named my daughter after a grandmother. I wasn't looking for cool or irony.

I too like old lady names, which my husband points out. But as someone noted many old-fashioned names made a comeback. Since I was a Rachael born in the 1980s I wanted more "unique" old-fashioned names for my children. I actually had planned on Emma or Eva because those were my grandma's names...but I just didn't want her to have three other girls in her class with the same name like I did. So we named our daughter Esther. I love it. I've only heard one other child Esther in a store and everyone knows how to say it (although more people than I thought misspell it). And double bonus it was my great-grandma's name, so it still has family history. If we ever have other children we will probably continue the old-fashion route, but not use the newly popular ones like Hazel or Pearl (though I personally love both names I'm concerned how popular they will be when our kids are in school!) My husband says I worry too much about this, but I really didn't like having two other repeats in my graduating class. On the other end of the spectrum I also don't planning on naming any of my children after any of the names on this list...it's not my style to have that unique of a name! :D

Oh and one more thing...my "favorite" name at my elementary school was Princess. I know it's not hard to say it, etc. Just seems a little presumptuous to me. Fine to give children a nickname like that at home, but a given name? Not so sure.

Oh dear god do not call your child Laird. See also: Earl, Duke, Princess, King, Chief... Those names are for dogs.

Glad to see the bewildering American fashion for naming children after economically depressed post industrial towns of the North West is dying down. Or, if I may make a suggestion: Preston, Clayton, Carrington, Leighton and Blakely have been done to death; how about Bacup, Eccles, Swinton, or Chorley? No? Mytholmroyd?

Upper Ramsbottom?

Slack?

My parents gave me an uncommon name before uncommon names were "cool" and I have always loved it.

My children will also have names most Americans would consider uncommon because I want to respect their father's Bangladeshi heritage. On the bright side, they'll be spelled phonetically, which should make them easier for teachers to deal with then "Siobhán."

Anyone who sniffs and puts their noses up at a name that doesn't come out of the Bible or a classic British origin can just deal with it. ;)

"Glad to see the bewildering American fashion for naming children after economically depressed post industrial towns of the North West is dying down."
--
But there are still soooo many Camdens (or worse--Kamdens). Has anyone ever been to Camden, NJ?

A lot of the "place" names fall into the category I call "butler" names--they sound like something from an 80s soap opera. And then there's the subset of "hippie" place names--India, Sierra, Dakota, Skye, and so on. Either way, they tell a story about the parents more than the kids...which is exactly why I prefer somewhat common, old-fashioned names that don't bring with them a set of preconceived associations.

Reading these comments has been fascinating. I think what stands out the most to me is that so many "weird" names have a story behind them but it is nearly impossible to let go of the negative associations we have with certain names (or types of names).

My name is unusual - Emerald. I don't think my parents really intended to give me an unusual name for the sake of it because the name was actually a compromise for them. It was very important to my dad to have a biblical name. His first choice was Lydia. My mom was a bit of a hippie and wanted something referencing nature. Her first choice was Eternity. So they met in the middle.

When I was little, I was always sad that I couldn't get school supplies with my name on them, but I appreciated the name more as I got older. To date, I have only ever met two other Emeralds. Oddly enough one of those was at a very small school I attended (under 500 students total).

Spelling is fortunately not an issue as long as I introduce myself as "Emerald-like-the-gemstone." Now that I am an adult, I notice that sometimes people respond to business mail and emails I send out by addressing "Mr. Smith." I do find this a bit odd as Emerald was never a name I saw as particularly gender neutral, but when I researched it, I found that it is occasionally used as a male name too.

One thing I am certain of - if I ever get married to someone with the last name Green, I am not changing my last name.

I guess I'm the one who liked the name Brick, lol. I like the name Dahlia for a little girl, but my name is Lily so I'm worried about a flower theme. I have no ideas for boys names. The only name I liked was Nathan and my friend just named her son that...so that's out!

I have an unusual name (Brenna) that isn't too far off names that were popular when I was born (Brenda, Brianna). I loved being the only one with that name, even if I had to correct people often (I introduce myself as Brenna, no D, no I). In 27 years, I've only met 3 other Brennas.
My son's name follows that trend, unusual (Kellen) while still easy to prounounce and spell and similar to 'trendy' names at the time. I actually don't love his name, but his father was adamant about it.
My 'girl' name (for when I have more kids) is Ara- pronounced Air-rha. It's my great, great-grandmother's name and has additional personal history attached to it. It sounds similar to all the Ava's, Emma's, Ella's out there, but is just different enough to avoid being one of 5 in her class.

Where did you get that photo of the Dallas High School pennant? Dallas is a small town in northeastern PA.

I'm 19, my name is Luxe (my real, given name). I used to hate it because it was so different. Apparently now it's all the rage, after I've grown to love it.

Rectangle and Bicyclespoke had me in stitches. And yes i know the writer was being sarcastic.
Waay back when, I thought Franklin would be a great name for a daughter, nickname would be Frankie. But I only had a son. Now when I hear all the Morgans,Spencers,and other boy names on girls it makes me tired! They are sssoooo overdone!
My hate list includes Mimi,Mitsy,Fifi,which to me are dog names. I mean can you imagine a 90 yr old called Mimi or Fifi? By the way, I love Sloane and Ione.When I was a kid, everyone had nicknames and some people I don't know by any other name.Peanut was the most popular, for boys and girls. The first time I watched my fav soap, I so cracked up because the names were Brooke,Ridge,Thorn and Storm. I felt it was so appropriate for soaps! lol!