Popular or Unique for a baby name?

[Mermaid02]

I think some here are too harsh when saying some names are spelled "wrong". For example, there is St Bridget of Sweden, and St Brigid of Ireland. No, my name is not spelled wrong, my Irish-born mother chose the Irish saint! I don't mind spelling it for people, but the comments about unique spellings being wrong bug me. There are so many ways people spell Caitlin and Allison, who can say what is right?

But Brijutte would be WRONG............

 

[LisaNJ25]

my younger 2 were in the top 11 when they were born.. William and Isabella. although they have no friends with those names and I didnt even know they were on the "popular" list.

My name was #8 the year I was born lol

Go with what you like.. I don't like crazy spelling although ironically my husband and oldest sons name came from a typo 40 years ago.

 

[phragmipedium]

I'm pregnant, and DH and I have had a hard time picking names. I like classic names, which are becoming more and more popular. I don't want everyone else in the class to have the same name as my child. I'm also *really* picky with male names and don't like a lot of nicknames from them - for example we like William and Jackson, both family names for me, but I hate the nicknames Will/Bill/Willie and Jackson is super popular right now. We've settled on a couple of names that are classic and literary, but not terribly popular. We like them. We declined to find out what we're having, so it will be a surprise. I also am not a fan of "misspelled" names.

 

[NotUrsula]

I think some here are too harsh when saying some names are spelled "wrong". For example, there is St Bridget of Sweden, and St Brigid of Ireland. No, my name is not spelled wrong, my Irish-born mother chose the Irish saint! I don't mind spelling it for people, but the comments about unique spellings being wrong bug me. There are so many ways people spell Caitlin and Allison, who can say what is right?

Ethnic variations are fine, and ethnic spellings are fine, particularly if that *is* your ethnic background. (I personally find it just a tad odd when a family with no ethnic relation to a very ethnic name chooses to use that version, particularly if there is an equivalent in their own language.)

My rule of thumb is that if you are an American, and Googling the name the way you want to spell it returns no more than two unrelated hits, you are almost surely going too "kreativ".

 

[LisaNJ25]

I'm pregnant, and DH and I have had a hard time picking names. I like classic names, which are becoming more and more popular. I don't want everyone else in the class to have the same name as my child. I'm also *really* picky with male names and don't like a lot of nicknames from them - for example we like William and Jackson, both family names for me, but I hate the nicknames Will/Bill/Willie and Jackson is super popular right now. We've settled on a couple of names that are classic and literary, but not terribly popular. We like them. We declined to find out what we're having, so it will be a surprise. I also am not a fan of "misspelled" names.

I hate the name Willie.. not a fan of Bill or Billy either.(even though my grandfather and uncle go.went by Bill) When I had William I picked Will as his nick name. So far so good with it only being William or Will.

With Isabella that backfired.. I hate the name Izzy. She goes by Belle. Of course my dad who knows I dont like the name calls her Izzy, even sends cards addressed to Izzy.

 

[Liberty Belle]

I have a very uncommon name. Well, it was uncommon when I was little, but you hear it every now and then now.

The only annoying part was that I couldn't find things with my name on it. What was great, though, was all the compliments I'd get. It made me feel special.

I gave my sons pretty uncommon names (especially my oldest) and they love them (especially my oldest!).

I wouldn't use a weird spelling or a super unusual/not established name. My favorite names are the obscure older names.

 

[Liberty Belle]

I am struggling with this too. I have a mommy instinct that my current pregnancy is a girl and our top two contenders for names are Lily Grace or Sophia Grace which both go well with DS's name - Gabriel. However, I think both Lily and Sophia are pretty popular these days and I don't want to use a very popular name. I love that DS's name is strong and classic, but not super common. Anyone have any ideas for me?

You could go with Lilias or Sophronia and sometimes call them Lily or Sophie. I've always loved the name Lilias. It's the Scottish form of Lillian and was the boy's mother's name in The Secret Garden.

 

[CharityLynn]

I have an uncommon name, Charity. We chose to name our daughter Rayne Renee you either like it or you don't but I don't think it was us trying to be cute or anythign we just liked the anme and the way it flows off the tongue. We knew our choice in name wouldn't be everyone's favorite but it is ours. I really like Surina, out of the names you posted.

 

[npierce25]

OP here:
That is funny you asked because one of them is close to your name. I am still trying to become thick skinned to people's negative thoughts. But I will share anyways.

My favorite is -Sabriyah Belle with the nickname of Brea. (pronounced
sah-brea-ah) Not sure on the spelling though
The second is Surina Rose with the nickname Suri (although I am not a fan of people connecting that with Tom Cruise)
We have a common last name that is one syllable.
We are adopting and she is due in a few weeks. Unlike most people we have not had months to think about this. It was the same with our boys but that was easier as I had a boy name picked since I was like 11. For some reason when you adopt you are always afraid the birth family is going to hate it. I know its our choice but still.

With sabriyah, your going to get the hard to pronounce. My daughters name is Aiyana and we get the "is it eye-on-ah" and we just politley say no its "A-on-ah". the iya combination is a tough one. its pretty, im just warning yah with our similar experience! Her middle name is a traditional one, Mae. you can see our last name in my user name if you want to figure it all out, but its a 1 sylabal popular one as well. as for nick names, we really just call her "A" or goose (when she was little and developing her wild personality we 1st started saying she was a crazy girl, but then I realized that it was going to lead to therapy later!!! We then switched to "silly goose" and goosie or goose just stuck. My friend always wanted to call her daughter Ali after ali mc beal, so she named her daughter Alyssa, but calles her lys in stead for a nick name, so its hard to pick out a nick name early.
I like the rose middle name (its mine).
check out the meanings as well, that helped with picking our daughters....

good luck and i wish you the best!

 

[Inigo]

That really is the hardest part. Most of the names I liked were vetoed by my husband because he knew somebody that was a jerk with that name. It gets harder the older you get, chances are you'll meet somebody who could ruin a name for one of you.

I'm a probation officer and a former teacher. DH is a teacher. It took a while to find names that didn't make us cringe. When I become a grandmother sometime in the future (not for a long while--my kids are only 22 and 19), I know EVERY SINGLE name they will come up with will remind me or DH of a student/client.

 

[PigletsPal2]

We named beach of our DDs after their grandfathers and with one name to reflect the French heritage of our last name:

Collette (French derivative of my name, yes, two t's) Alyson (DGF was Allison James)
Laura (DGF was Francis Lawrence) Mireille (one of the many French equivalents of my middle name, Marie).

They do, however, each have many other names by which we call them, some not suitable for this board LOL!

Queen Colleen

 

[Liberty Belle]

OP here:
That is funny you asked because one of them is close to your name. I am still trying to become thick skinned to people's negative thoughts. But I will share anyways.

My favorite is -Sabriyah Belle with the nickname of Brea. (pronounced
sah-brea-ah) Not sure on the spelling though
The second is Surina Rose with the nickname Suri (although I am not a fan of people connecting that with Tom Cruise)
We have a common last name that is one syllable.
We are adopting and she is due in a few weeks. Unlike most people we have not had months to think about this. It was the same with our boys but that was easier as I had a boy name picked since I was like 11. For some reason when you adopt you are always afraid the birth family is going to hate it. I know its our choice but still.

I'm sorry, but I think both those names would be a pain to her (and you). People will automatically think her name is Sabrina if you name her Sabriyah and even once corrected they'll never know how to spell it (or, they may think it's the Arabic Sabriyya). Suri will be connected with Tom Cruise (gag - I think it's an adorable nickname, but I wouldn't want ANYONE thinking I was a fan of his). Plus, everyone would think her name was spelled Serena.

Do you like Seraphina, Siri (it's a scandinavian nickname for Sigrid), or Sapphira (suh-feer-uh)? One of my favorite names is Sylvia/Sylvie, but it doesn't seem like one you'd like.

 

[npierce25]

My sister's name is Judith, but she's called Judy for short. We have never met another 24 year-old with that name. I think it hit its peak in the 50's. I'm glad so many people like the name Natalie. I have met a few others but it's not really that popular in my age group.

My favorite girl names are Amelia, Evelyn, Cecilia and Aurora.

I might be biased but Natalie rocks!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Inigo]

I'm sorry, but I think both those names would be a pain to her (and you). People will automatically think her name is Sabrina if you name her Sabriyah and even once corrected they'll never know how to spell it (or, they may think it's the Arabic Sabriyya). Suri will be connected with Tom Cruise (gag - I think it's an adorable nickname, but I wouldn't want ANYONE thinking I was a fan of his). Plus, everyone would think her name was spelled Serena.

Do you like Seraphina, Siri (it's a scandinavian nickname for Sigrid), or Sapphira (suh-feer-uh)? One of my favorite names is Sylvia/Sylvie, but it doesn't seem like one you'd like.

I agree about Sabriyah. That would never be pronounced correctly IMO.

I love Siri. I had a college friend with that name, and have loved it ever since.

 

[Liberty Belle]

We named beach of our DDs after their grandfathers and with one name to reflect the French heritage of our last name:

Collette (French derivative of my name, yes, two t's) Alyson (DGF was Allison James)
Laura (DGF was Francis Lawrence) Mireille (one of the many French equivalents of my middle name, Marie).

They do, however, each have many other names by which we call them, some not suitable for this board LOL!

Queen Colleen

What an odd typo!

I think Collette is very pretty and I've always loved the name Lawrence.

 

[peyjax]

I'm sorry, but I think both those names would be a pain to her (and you). People will automatically think her name is Sabrina if you name her Sabriyah and even once corrected they'll never know how to spell it (or, they may think it's the Arabic Sabriyya). Suri will be connected with Tom Cruise (gag - I think it's an adorable nickname, but I wouldn't want ANYONE thinking I was a fan of his). Plus, everyone would think her name was spelled Serena.

Do you like Seraphina, Siri (it's a scandinavian nickname for Sigrid), or Sapphira (suh-feer-uh)? One of my favorite names is Sylvia/Sylvie, but it doesn't seem like one you'd like.

Yes l do like Seraphina although it is connected to hollywood now too. Love Love the scandinavian type names. For a boy I love Soren. How do you pronounce Siri? Like seeree?

And yes the name Sabriyah I found on an Arabic type site. They also spelled it Sabriyya but like I said I was unsure on how to spell it. I was thinking of the negatives (as there are ones with every name) and I also thought many would mistake it for Sabrina. I think that is why my dh is open to it as that was one of his list names. I do find you correct people all the time anyways. As my second has a name that from far away sounds like Aiden but is far from it. People automatically ask how to spell a name nowadays also so that is not a big concern.

Great suggestion thanks!

 

[PigletsPal2]

Typing w/one (non-dominant!) hand always gets me in trouble LOL! (not to mention I should have proof-read better!)

Queen Colleen

 

[TheZue]

OP I just want to say that NONE of the names you picked out qualify for my "weird spelling" pet peeve. They are just exotic and I personally don't mind them. There will be a problem with ANY name you pick out, as long as it doesn't cause your child serious problems it should be fine. And really, I don't think Tom Cruise will be all that relevant when your DD is older.

FWIW the girl name we had picked out was Kerrigen Adrianna which I still love. But I got boys, I love them, but they are taking years off my life with their volume and stair death matches and I'd really like to have a reason to buy My Little Ponies again Enjoy your girl!

 

[turkeymama]

Well, my daughter has an uncommon name, with what could be considered an unusual spelling. The thing is, we didn't make it up. It came straight out of a baby name book. The only problem I have with it now is that I've seen 2 boys with the same name, different spelling. She is almost 10 and she loves her name. If you asked her, the only thing she would change is that we can never find those darn personalized cups and things with her name on them. Other than that, she loves her name since it is a variation of my name.

My son, on the other hand, has an extremely common name. Maybe we were just too worn out to be creative with his? I love his name though. It suits him well.

 

[Liberty Belle]

Yes l do like Seraphina although it is connected to hollywood now too. Love Love the scandinavian type names. For a boy I love Soren. How do you pronounce Siri? Like seeree?

And yes the name Sabriyah I found on an Arabic type site. They also spelled it Sabriyya but like I said I was unsure on how to spell it. I was thinking of the negatives (as there are ones with every name) and I also thought many would mistake it for Sabrina. I think that is why my dh is open to it as that was one of his list names. I do find you correct people all the time anyways. As my second has a name that from far away sounds like Aiden but is far from it. People automatically ask how to spell a name nowadays also so that is not a big concern.

Great suggestion thanks!

Yep. Well, more like "seer-ee."

www.behindthename.com is a great place to get some ideas. They're very accurate on meanings and stuff and lots of info on popularity, etc.