The Name Nazi

It's been awhile since I've written a rambling post about baby names.

 

Wait? You do know about my thing for names, right? I suppose I should give a little background then, eh?

 

For as long as I can remember, I've been into names. Not necessarily the meanings, but just hearing what's cool and trendy, matching sibling names together, etc. When I was young, I would play school just to make a class list of names. (My favorite was when I was about 6 and one "student" of mine was named Jake-up, versus Jacob. I was sounding it out... made perfectly good sense to me.) I remember having my Grandma buy me a baby name book at a yard sale when I was in about 4th grade. And even younger still, my Granny had a name list from the 50s that she let me use to pick from to write names on my paper dolls I created by cutting people out of the JC Penney's catalog. Then in high school and college, I was active on a baby name message board where I would comment on other people's name choices and play naming games. Go ahead laugh, I know it's ridiculous. However, I've kept in touch with a handful of awesome women I met on those boards. Including my photographer!

 

There are some names where I was just way ahead of the curve on them being cool.... McKenna, Kennedy, and Caden immediately come to mind. The one name I've loved for about 12-13 years that I never saw coming? DECLAN. All of a sudden this name is hot stuff. (Kimhead hates this name and told me if I ever used it she would call him "Ducky.") Funny thing is, even though this name is gaining in popularity, had Puff and I found ourselves in a spot to name two sons, this would have been the one of them!

 

With every guy I've dated, I've had a list of names we would use for those fictitious kids that never materialized. In high school, I was set on wanting 6 kids... Brandt Andrew, Leslee Kristina, Troy Kenneth, Shane Wyatt, Antony Jaxon (AJ), and Kennedy Elizabeth. My first college boyfriend and I liked the names Dominic (Nic) and Drew (a girl). Another, I was set on 3 sons... Troy Kenneth, Nathanael Cameron (Nate), and Christian Montgomery. Mr. Smith and I loved Roland and Tristan. The Ex and I were leaning toward Beckett for a daughter. I hate to not share what Puff and I love, or what Bimmer's real name is, but let's just say they're pretty awesome choices.

 

That's not to say I always hit it out of the park. I remember Cabbage Patch dolls named Marjorie, Israel, and Sherstance. (Don't ask me where I came up with that one!) In high school, I went through a phase where I liked the names Breighlyn and Lochlyn. But there are a few guilty pleasures... #1 being the name Crew. Ever since freshman year of college, I've been kinda stuck on this name for a boy. I still think it's totally awesome and cool, although it doesn't work with our last name. Plus, Puff probably hates it. I did hear a child with this name a few years back at the zoo and about fell over. Such. Cool. Parents. Guilty pleasure name #2? Seamus. (That's pronounced shay-muss.) It's such a good Irish name! And I love me a good Irish name. If I had married a man with the last name O'Flannery or the like, you could not have paid me enough to NOT use that name.

 

So what names do I like these days? In no random order...

 

Girls: Peyton, Reese, Kennedy, Beckett, Elliot, Aspen

 

Boys: Troy (yes, because of Troy Aikman), Tristan, Declan, Finn, Nathanael, Christian, Dominic, Killian (I could probably go on for days with boy names)

 

Am I always judging people and their baby name choices? Yes. But it's just an opinion. I like more masculine/androgynous names for girls. I like Irish names for boys. I hate the trend of old lady names (Amelia, Ava, Lillian, etc.). I like when people think a little more outside the box and don't just pick one of the top most popular names. I like names to have a meaning to the parents... even if it is just naming them after your favorite NFL star.