I have been told that my name is unique, and that it has a funny story. My dad opening a baby name book when my mother said I needed a name, he lands on the first name he sees, and it's simple enough that no matter how dumb I turn out I can't forget the 3 letters that make it up.

It's one of a kind, I'll give my parents that. I only know of two other people who have it, and one of them is Jon Snow.

Though after a life of being made to feel bad about my name. A life of hearing my name used against me for jokes it always felt off. It wasn't till the last few years that I felt how good it feels going by another name. A name that's mine that I don't cringe at.

Hearing my surname used in place of my first name gave me confidence that I never felt before. I felt like a different person. I was quite a different person. It wasnt till recent that people I work with started to call me by my first name again to try being more personal that brought me down. Doesnt matter if I say I prefer going by my last name in professional settings it doesn'tchange. It kills my confidence, and makes me cringe.

Today I have finally started the paperwork to change my unique name. I'm going by a family name that was a runner up, but was shot down because my name was "less likely to be made fun of." I'm going to go by "Cole".

Don't name your kids the first name you see, and don't be lazy about it.

Hi Name Nerds! We’ve been spending a lot of time discussing names for our boy, and we were kind of feeling a thing towards the name Aiden, however we aren’t a 100% on it. We’ve come across another name now - ALAI which means ocean waves in my regional language. Please let me know how it sounds, thanks in advance!!

I’m a 21 year old nonbinary person (masc presenting) and everything is so very new to me right now. i’ve just recently started to actually present masculine and its been wonderful. my legal name (bella) is quite pretty but sadly clashes with my identity now. my middle name could be shortened to “Jo” but that is extremely close to my daughter’s name and I am nervous about possibly confusing her since she is very young. I really have no idea what name to choose, but one thing I would prefer is if it started with a “B” because I think it would be easier for my loved ones to remember that way. What would you guys name me? (I can’t attach any photos but if it helps, I am very alternative and have a lot of tattoos/piercings)

So my husband and I are expecting our first baby, a girl. Our top contenders for first name are Lucy and Luna (also like Ellie, Elise) and middle name top contender is Anija. We originally thought Anija as my grandmother's name was Ana and she passed when I was young, and also honered my Croatian heritage on that side and Annie was also my father in law's grandma's name The only thing is I'm worried there's some pressure to honour my nan or pop on my mum's side who have passed this year. Currently all my grandparents have now passed, but my husband has 3 remaining.

I feel weird about only choosing one person to honour and kind of leaving out family members but I don't know if there's a way around this.

I feel closest to my dad's grandparents who were Vlado(Wally) and Ana, my mum's parents were Kathleen and Bernard(Barney) and I was close with my mum's dad but had a complicated relationship with my mum's mum, but feel the most pressure to honour her, but, even though I loved her I didn't really "like" her as she made life quite difficult. My husband's grandparents we're closest with are Cathleen and David (also the name of my brother) (realised today that something like Cathleen/Kathleen does cover both sides of the family).

I also thought of maybe somehow honouring through our mum's which is Lynette and Pauline, but my heart is on Anija for a middle name

What would you do? Any other names ideas that could work to honour the grandparents?

Is it crazy to have two middle names? I don't want our daughter to have to fill out a long list for the rest of her life which is why we decided instead of hyphenating her last name to go my partners 8 letter last name and have the middle name reference my very Croatian last name.

Do I just ignore the family pressure to honour my mum's side of the family? I also I feel bad not honouring either my mum or my husband's mum because they do so much

Not having kids anytime soon, but my partner and i'd first names both start with the same letter. I babysit for a family whose initials all start with the same letter and I think it's super cute since the parents have the initial in common with the kids.

I was wondering how other people may feel? Is it tacky? I know some people aren't a fan of matching initials for siblings and I am halfway but I like it a lot more if the parents are unintentionally matching too. It feels more like a purposeful choice to unite the family to me.

Any comments are appreciated, thanks!

My partner and I really like the first name Lumi but we’re struggling to find a middle name that we feel pairs well with it.

• she will have a long, hyphened last name so we are wanting to keep her first and middle name on the shorter side - preferably 1-2 syllables.
• we would love the middle name to have a Hawaiian influence.
• we like Kai and Lei but not sure how we feel about both names ending in an ‘i’.

Any suggestions for a middle name please?

I was looking over my list of names for baby #3 and realized that there is no rhyme or obvious reasoning behind the names I have on there or the ones I have already given. While my first child's first and middle names are both Greek, the origins of my second child are a lot more muddled. And although their middle names both have some religious ties due to their meanings, this was not done intentionally. Their middle names also have a similar ending, so now I'm wondering if I should try to continue that trend or not...

And this train of though left me wondering, how do other people find names they like? Do you follow a theme or pattern (for example, they all end in -en or start with 'a')? And for those who are against having themed names/sib sets, why? Would you strike a name from your list even if you really liked it because it is too similar to another name you have already used or like more?

My first bonsai. It’s a Fukien Tea Tree or more scientifically “Carmona retusa” or “Ehretia microphylla” and it originates from Southeast Asia. It will flower small white petals and grow small red berries.

I planted it in a Japanese slanting style called “Shakan” style. I picked the red pot from several colors to choose from. It was also one of the smallest trees available compared to the others to choose from. Very small but very long roots.

I’m from Chicago, if that helps naming. I picked the tree from an event called Bonsai & Brew Studio where I learned about bonsai while drinking at a local brewery.

I would love some ideas for elegant baby girl names. Modern is preferred by i like some of the classics too. Some of my favorites are

Lorelai Elise Adeline Sarah April Aspen

I am considering naming our kid after a friend who died long ago, Alex. I'd like the full name to be gender neutral so that knocks out the typical Alexander and Alexandra. Also my sister in law is Alexis and we don't want to double up. My best option thus far is Alexien which I don't love. Whaddaya got??

We're planning for our 2nd to arrive in June - we won't find out the sex before baby's arrival. We have a daughter named Elliot and would like another gender neutral name. I'd also like the name to have 2+ syllables to go best with our last name. I care more about the neutrality-syllables than it "going" with Elliot. Currently Robin and Charlie's are our favorites. I also love Sawyer but my husband is not a fan. Would love to hear my fellow nerd ideas!

This is my 3rd pregnancy and my last one. I’ve always been able to pick out my children’s names before I knew the gender, but it’s really hard because I want something unique as well. Please comment any names that are gender neutral, but not basic! ❤️

i really love Max for a girl but dont like Maxine, due to it being a shorter, more masculine name i would like a longer, feminine name to go with it; preferably 3 syllables or more but i would be fine with 2 for the right fit! some examples i like are

Max Evangeline

Max Ariella

Max Arabella

Torn on if I need to give my son my dad's name as his middle name since we gave my first son my father in law's name as his middle name. My son's will also have my dad's surname.

Looking for a nickname for Lawrence besides Larry, as I am not the biggest fan of that nickname, and I love Lawrence. My partner thinks that using Lawrence means that “Larry” will automatically be a default nickname, and I was wondering if I could avoid that by having another that’s already in use. Thanks :)

Saw a comment referring to a name as crunchy? What names are crunchy?

BOY

FIRST

Sebastian

Dominic

Roman

Cassian or Caspian

Leland

MIDDLE

Wright

Thomas

Alexander

Fisher

GIRL

FIRST

Helene

Helena

Juliet

Ava/Eva

Margot

Tess

Therese

Bethany

Haven

Elise/Ellie

Livia

MIDDLE

Catherine

Eva/Eva/Eve

Della

Bea

Current favorite girl combo:

-Juliet Eva or Helena Wright

Current favorite boy combo:

-Roman Wright or Dominic Alexander

Some of these are family names, some are honor names (most tweaked a little), some I just like.

First daughter’s is Lillian. Everyone we know except for an aunt calls her Lily. That’s another issue… I sometimes just wish I named her Lily.

I originally liked Lillian because I thought it was elegant and feminine, like Charlotte, but less popular and I loved the nickname Lily, which also feels elegant and feminine. Now, however, I’ve learned that most people associate Lillian as an old lady name like Ingrid or Eleanor. Is it?

For my second I am torn between two names. Kate, Anna, or Annie. Annie would be a nickname for Anna, and I’m not sure if that would even happen since they are the same length.

Kate Eloise: love this name so much and I especially love it with Lily. Lily and Kate is adorable to me.

Anna Eloise: Love Anna but sometimes it feels a bit boring and plain? I also wonder if she would even end up going by Annie? But then again, I can’t even decide between Anna and Annie in the first place. This name has meaning though, because Anne my grandma’s middle name.

Anna June: this feels fresh and spring like, which I also love. I feel like the nickname Annie makes more sense here, since Anna June could be a double name. My first daughter’s middle name is Jane though, and the almost matching middle names feel a bit cheesy.

I’ve dabbled with Annabel May, but decided that it is much too frilly?

For context, if we had a boy, he would be Benjamin (Ben). I love Lily and Ben together.

So: Lillian/Lily and Kate Lilian/Lily and Anna Lily and Annie (is the y/ie endings too matchy?)

Just looking for any thoughts because I CANNOT decide.

What would you think Joaquin and Jacqueline would name their kid? I want it to be similar to both of their names but not too close like Jack because Jacqueline goes by Jackie.

Link to Original: https://www.reddit.com/r/namenerds/s/wGZrEpQrNj

I posted a couple months ago about being almost 8 months pregnant without a name for my second daughter who was due on September 30th. We already have a daughter named Scarlett Rose and couldn’t decide on a second name.

One commenter posted a list that included the name Sylvia, we ended up deciding to go with the French version of the name, ‘Sylvie’ which means forest, and we decided to go with Jade as a middle name since it fit our kind of green color theme with our other daughter having a “red” name. Thank you everyone!

I've been a name nerd forever, years before I got married. Loved looking at lists, thinking of future baby names and noticing trends and interesting statistics over different generations. You guys know how it is.

4 years ago we named our daughter Nora. When my husband and I settled on the name it felt magical. Just a warm "this is it" feeling.

We've dealt with infertility and conceived Nora with the help of IVF. We tried to have another child with our remaining frozen embryos but none worked. Apart from how devastating this was, I felt further traumatized because we lost our best frozen embryo during a cycle where I misunderstood the medicine instructions. While we don't know if it would've worked with the correct med doses, the "what ifs" have been haunting. At the time I had a girl name saved (all our embryos were female) that I felt strongly about and had attached meaning to the IVF experience. When all this happened it ruined the name for me. I didn't name the embryos but after we ran out of embryos, the name felt tied to that experience.

A year later and we conceived without fertility treatments for the first time in 6 years! Baby girl coming in May! But I find I don't have that aha special feeling for our top 2 names. Or maybe I'm jaded?

We're between Sara and Lydia. Our first daughter was almost Sara but we went with Nora. Now I wonder if Sara and Nora are too similar although family have told me they don't think so. As a name nerd I find it very hard to ask for opinions on these names because I get a feeling I know which one people will like more based on naming trends. People in the states grew up with lots of Sara(h)s (I didn't, grew up elsewhere) and don't see it as a baby name anymore while Lydia fits the sounds that are more popular now.

It's not that I'm protective of Sara over Lydia. I like them both, they're the top 2! I just feel like I know what the feedback will be among my friends and family when I ask for it because of being a name nerd and it's not helpful if I know what they'll say lol!

I like that Sara and Lydia are classic names that are recognizable in different languages. I'm Hispanic. I like how they sound. I worry Sara may be too matchy with Nora but am open to the idea I'm overthinking.

Should I just go back to the drawing board? Will the aha magical feeling come in a few months? Does the lack of feeling mean Sara nor Lydia are meant to be? I don't want to use a very unique name so I feel like I'm not looking for a name I haven't heard of. I'm looking for a connection and I'm stumped.

Here's a list of other names I've liked but not as much as Sara and Lydia. But ugh I don't know anymore.

Dahlia

Talia (close family's ex lol)

Winter (feels too bold and not international like I like)

Sylvia

Mallory (husband doesn't like)

Liana

Mara

Lucia

Summer (same issue as Winter)

We are toying with the idea of giving our daughter the middle name Kylie (has family meaning to it) but are having trouble coming up with a first name. Our last name also starts with K so we don’t want the first name to also start with a K. We also have a son named Oliver so something that would go with that also. Any suggestions appreciated!

I am really loving both Naomi and Isabel right now for baby girl, but wondering how others feel about the names?

Any suggestions with a similar style? Name meanings are important to me. Thank you!

My husband is in love with this name and pretty adamant. I don’t want to whip out a veto without giving it some thought because of how much he likes it. I always thought it sounded sort of nerdy. Marty maybe reminds me of Back to the Future so isn’t terrible. This is our third son and we have lots of nephews so we’re running low on names. I’ve been asking for a lot of real life opinions and most men I ask think it’s a great name and pretty masculine and most women’s faces drop and they say something neutral. What are your thoughts/first impressions?

I’m posting this to reassure everyone who has gotten negative feedback about their baby’s name, that ANY name, unusual or not, can have haters. The only people who need to love the name they picked for their baby, is the parents.

As examples, here are statements that I have heard people who I actually know, say. Feel free to add any of your own in the comments.

“That’s so weird, they actually named their kid KEN like from Barbie dolls.”

“I talked my daughter out of naming her baby AUGUSTINE. I don’t like it.”

“My Granddaughter is named FREYA of all things. What were they thinking?!” (Said with an eyeroll).

“His name is HUGH?!? Like, YOU?” (Accompanied by hysterical laughter that anyone would pick such a ridiculous name.)

“HARRY, gross, makes me think of ‘hairy’.”

“CLARE is a boring name.”

“Excuse me, what did you say? They named him THADDEUS?!”

“I never wanted to have grandchildren named ELODIE and CALLIOPE.”

“She gave her children these strange names: WHITNEY and CHANDLER.”

“KAYLA is an odd sounding name.”

You see what I mean? It’s not just parents who name their baby something one-of-a-kind who have to deal with people’s unkind remarks.

We are expecting identical twin girls and plan on naming one Eleni. We're looking for a second name that isn't too matchy but goes well, and it would be nice if it is also Greek. Thank you!

I need help naming my baby boy who is due in June. Our last name is particularly difficult to spell and pronounce. Therefore, I need help coming up with names that only have 1 popular spelling. For example, Brian is fairly common, but can also be spelled Bryan. We don’t want that. Some names I like are Riley, Liam, and Graham, but we can’t use those for various reasons. Any ideas? TIA.

Hi my wife and I have 2 boys named Dean and John. We picked there names easily but we cannot agree on a name for our daughter.

I like Sophia, Elena, Catherine, Grace

She likes Violet, Louise, Anna

We were both liking Elena and Catherine but she changed her mind

Any suggestions? Thanks!

For context: I’m considering naming our next girl Lina.

My partner thinks the best spelling for the name Lina/Lena is Leena. It’s not terrible but not one of the two accepted/common/legit spellings. He thinks Lina could be mispronounced as Lie-na and Lena could be mispronounced as Len-na. I know some people do use those pronunciations even though it’s not as common.

This is because our first daughter’s name has been mispronounced at the dr’s office (by all the nurses who’ve called her name so far, but not the dr) even though it’s a popular name these days. The pronunciation is not obvious for people who haven’t heard of the name before or pronounce it the way it is in a different language.

My partner’s logic of Leena is that this would get rid of nurses, teachers etc mispronouncing. I tried explaining that it’d be a simple correction if people get it wrong the first time, just like it is with our first daughter, and that there’s a balance between having an obvious pronunciation while reading a name but also having an obvious spelling when hearing a name. Also it has to look right and not like we’re trying to be yOuNiQuE. And also people mess up literally every name at times, even the most basic ones.

I told him I’d make this post asking people’s opinions on the spelling of Leena (his idea/preferred spelling) instead of Lina (my preferred spelling). He wholeheartedly agreed, clearly thinking people would agree with him (please note this was a lighthearted playful convo between us and not a heated one haha).

So with all that said, please share your opinions of his idea of spelling it Leena 😂

I'm a teenager and not planning on having a baby ANYTIME soon, but I feel like Essie would be a really cute name if I have a girl in the future. Thoughts on this name?