https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Sun, 26 Jul 2026 13:34:33 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/here-are-some-great-naming-tips#post-1059859 Mon, 02 Sep 2013 08:49:33 +0000 oliviaoblivia 1059859@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We met all categories but went with a feminine name. Our last name is a common male first name (think Peters) and I think that already lends an air of masculinity. Her name does have the option of a very masculine nickname - Vinny, so if she needs that she can use it.<br /> We also had to consider a name that would be pronounced similarly in English and Spanish. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/here-are-some-great-naming-tips#post-1059847 Mon, 02 Sep 2013 08:35:57 +0000 blackbird 1059847@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Hmm not really. Ella is feminine, kind of popular, and her middle name is ethnic. I have a very feminine name and DH's first name is a name that both men and women have. We're both successful engineers, so whatever :) it was hard enough picking a name we both liked, let alone one that factored other considerations in :p</p> <p>Plus, who knows what the world will think in 20 years! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/here-are-some-great-naming-tips#post-1059822 Mon, 02 Sep 2013 08:20:33 +0000 Lozza 1059822@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We adhere to most of these, except for the fact that LO shares a name with a rabbi in pretty much every major American city so he's got a lot of built-in Google anonymity... </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/here-are-some-great-naming-tips#post-1059427 Sun, 01 Sep 2013 20:19:44 +0000 immabeetoo 1059427@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. Jacks: That's true, it'll be out there forever. We did google his name for fun but wouldn't have changed our minds unless it was something seriously atrocious.</p> <p>I too am troubled by the sexist/racist reporting... how boring would it be if everyone was named along these rules anyways! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/here-are-some-great-naming-tips#post-1059389 Sun, 01 Sep 2013 19:46:52 +0000 Maysprout 1059389@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We have a good blend of unique and classic, which has made naming LO2 really hard to find that nice blend again. </p> <p>I don't want to name my girls anything masculine though I do try to avoid names ending in -ette or -y, though in french -e is a common ending so I might compromise on that part. </p> <p>I do agree with the others that it's sad that the job market is a bit racist and sexist. My husband has an ethnic name I guess (I've never heard of an American with the name), but since it's a European name it's served him well in the job market by making him memorable and opening up conversations. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/here-are-some-great-naming-tips#post-1059316 Sun, 01 Sep 2013 18:47:11 +0000 looch 1059316@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I don't know...my ethnic name has served me well, no one forgets me...not sure if that is my personality though?</p> <p>The issue I have is that this doesn't account for families with a non American parent. My husband's criteria would probably contradict this entire list.</p> <p>I really think names should be considered globally, these days you don't know where the person on the other end is from. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/here-are-some-great-naming-tips#post-1059106 Sun, 01 Sep 2013 16:10:03 +0000 ShootingStar 1059106@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@LovelyPlum: Haha, that's the name of the college I went to. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/here-are-some-great-naming-tips#post-1059037 Sun, 01 Sep 2013 15:10:52 +0000 Mrs. Jacks 1059037@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@LovelyPlum: that's a great name :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/here-are-some-great-naming-tips#post-1059025 Sun, 01 Sep 2013 14:57:24 +0000 LovelyPlum 1059025@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. Jacks: fair enough. Maybe that's what I'm pushing back against :) And I love the saint thing. I'm the weirdo who has seriously, on several occasions, considered Bonaventure for a boy's middle name. Well, it would be a second middle name, but still. So clearly old fashioned names don't scare me...maybe they should. Oh well :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/here-are-some-great-naming-tips#post-1059017 Sun, 01 Sep 2013 14:46:13 +0000 mrbee 1059017@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. Jacks: totally agree that it's the world that discriminates! Such a shame that name advice has to reflect that, but I see where the interviewee was going with their advice! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/here-are-some-great-naming-tips#post-1059008 Sun, 01 Sep 2013 14:39:28 +0000 loveisstrange 1059008@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We fit most of those.</p> <p>We wanted a very strong, classic, yet feminine name. I think we accomplished that.</p> <p>I also thing the google anonymity is good. The only match for C's name is a couple ancestry.com hits from the 1940s. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/here-are-some-great-naming-tips#post-1059007 Sun, 01 Sep 2013 14:37:11 +0000 Mrs. Jacks 1059007@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@LovelyPlum: I think she was just relaying what the data show, because like it or not, the world is sexist. I obviously didn't name my girls boy names, but I did make sure they could have boy nicknames. We also did a patron saint too, by the way :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/here-are-some-great-naming-tips#post-1059004 Sun, 01 Sep 2013 14:34:28 +0000 luckypenny 1059004@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Yeah, I thought it also reflected pretty racist and sexist standards. I feel bad for any "Lakisha's" reading this. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/here-are-some-great-naming-tips#post-1058985 Sun, 01 Sep 2013 14:26:58 +0000 LovelyPlum 1058985@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Eh, I don't know about some of this. Some things make sense, but why do I need to make sure my daughter has a masculine name? Because girly girls aren't successful? I don't buy it. If you like a gender neutral name, great (@Cherrybee: I ADORE your baby's name), but why am I going out of the way to make sure my daughters' names are as "un-girly" as possible? Sounds sexist to me.</p> <p>Our conditions for a name are to make sure each child has a name they can grow into ( could you run for president with this name?) and to make it as sixth-grade-proof as possible (ie, avoid names that make you a target for mocking). We also are aware of the initials thing and want to include a patron saint's name in there somewhere. I think names should have meaning and make you sound respectable, no matter what you choose to do. </p> <p>Lol, that was way more intense than I intended it to be. Sorry about that :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/here-are-some-great-naming-tips#post-1058754 Sun, 01 Sep 2013 11:07:45 +0000 PurplePeony 1058754@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My hubby's last name is so rare (and hard to spell and pronounce) that our kids are doomed from the start! We will give them short and easy first names, but it was a battle to find first names we liked that work well in both his first language and in English. The kids will have my last name as a middle name (again, poor things...it's not difficult but it is long). As far as google goes, they will likely be the only ones out there with these names -- I just tried it and got no results for either our girl name or boy name -- but even searching only DH's last name brings up results for just him, his brother, father, cousin, uncle, other brother, aunt, and another cousin. </p> <p>Anyway...we are staying off the name lists and the kids will have neutral initials. But I don't think there's any way we COULD follow all the "rules" in our situation and I'm fine with that. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/here-are-some-great-naming-tips#post-1058732 Sun, 01 Sep 2013 10:58:31 +0000 Arden 1058732@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Interesting. I definitely gave Viviana a feminine name, but I don't regret it. I love the name and it fits her perfectly. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/here-are-some-great-naming-tips#post-1058722 Sun, 01 Sep 2013 10:53:11 +0000 artsyfartsy 1058722@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I think we followed the guidelines with T's name! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/here-are-some-great-naming-tips#post-1058716 Sun, 01 Sep 2013 10:49:43 +0000 MrsMccarthy 1058716@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>No. I named my son a name I liked. I want him to be successful and all that but I don't want to get caught up in statistics. I also really love very feminine names. Adore them. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/here-are-some-great-naming-tips#post-1058709 Sun, 01 Sep 2013 10:46:54 +0000 matador84 1058709@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Interesting. I think we did pretty much follow these guidelines, but didn't do the google search! Maybe with this next one! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/here-are-some-great-naming-tips#post-1058697 Sun, 01 Sep 2013 10:36:30 +0000 MamaMagpie 1058697@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>How interesting! Especially the positive/negative initials statistics...I mean, we definitely wouldn't have wanted to go with initials that spelled anything "bad" but I found it interesting that there were actual longevity statistics tied to them.<br /> I think we filled all of those criteria, though! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/here-are-some-great-naming-tips#post-1058682 Sun, 01 Sep 2013 10:19:57 +0000 Cherrybee 1058682@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Great news for us! We gave our daughter a traditionally boys name - hopefully it will work to her advantage! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/here-are-some-great-naming-tips#post-1058663 Sun, 01 Sep 2013 09:59:23 +0000 Mrs. Jacks 1058663@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@jedeve: yeah, when they mentioned that Claire and some of those other names were class and race less, I kind of chuckled. They are from the dominant culture, which is white and middle class.</p> <p>I think the google aspect isn't silly because the Internet is forever. What you think might be temporary is there for anyone to find. Forever. I think google-ability it definitely a double edged sword. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/here-are-some-great-naming-tips#post-1058643 Sun, 01 Sep 2013 09:44:29 +0000 immabeetoo 1058643@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Interesting. I think the Google aspect is silly though, because by the time an employer is going to be Googling your baby, the search results that are up today will probably be long gone. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/here-are-some-great-naming-tips#post-1058641 Sun, 01 Sep 2013 09:44:14 +0000 jedeve 1058641@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We fit all of those. </p> <p>BUT it's a pretty sexist and racist standard! Give your girls masculine names? "William" is not associated with any culture?? (yes it is - white European!)</p> <p>I guess that's the world we live in though! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/here-are-some-great-naming-tips#post-1058601 Sun, 01 Sep 2013 09:13:46 +0000 Mae 1058601@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I don't know that being very google-able is always a good thing. When I got married I went from being the only person online with my name (that I ever found, anyways) to one of thousands with my name. I sort of love the anonymity. Before getting married when I was beginning my job search, I googled myself to see what employers would see and didn't love finding things I had done in high school (not necessarily bad-- but not necessarily great either) all over the place. People are stalk-able enough these days... no need to make it easier by giving a super unique name for the purpose of google-ability! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/here-are-some-great-naming-tips#post-1058597 Sun, 01 Sep 2013 09:11:31 +0000 mrs.cookie 1058597@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I love names too. We picked names that fit these criteria, "normal" but not too popular. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/here-are-some-great-naming-tips#post-1058594 Sun, 01 Sep 2013 09:10:33 +0000 Running Elley 1058594@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Vey interesting! I think that we met the criteria. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/here-are-some-great-naming-tips#post-1058593 Sun, 01 Sep 2013 09:09:58 +0000 Dandelion 1058593@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My DH feels very strongly against co-ed names. He has one and he has always disliked it. He doesn't want to do it to a son OR daughter, and I tend to agree.</p> <p>Otherwise, I tend to follow the rest of the guidelines. DS's name is very classic. S wasn't so much, though. I do want to find something more classic for LO, but if I fall in love with another name, I'll just go with that.</p> <p>I def try to stay off of the name lists, though. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/here-are-some-great-naming-tips#post-1058589 Sun, 01 Sep 2013 09:06:27 +0000 mrs.shinerbock 1058589@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We've picked a girly name for DD, but I have a girly name and am am engineer and DH is an engineer, so I figure that cancels it out.</p> <p>We had two rules for picking out a name - it couldn't be on the most popular lists, and the name had to work well in both cultures. His parents do not speak English and my parents do not speak Spanish. Luckily there are lots of options for English/Spanish. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/here-are-some-great-naming-tips#post-1058587 Sun, 01 Sep 2013 09:05:26 +0000 Boheme 1058587@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I think we fit all those criteria! I love names :) </p>