how did you chose your child’s name ?

Spirals, sounds like we have similar taste. We had several girls' names on the list but really struggled with boys' names. We ended up on a shortlist of 3 but in the end chose Jeremy because my midwife asked about names when I was in labour and she said that was the least common of the 3, going on her recent deliveries. (The others were Oscar - which he nearly was because he came out very grouchy! - and Isaac.) His middle name, John, is a family thing. On DH's side the first born son always has John as a middle name, plus it's my Dad's name, my step-grandfather's name, plus we both have/had an Uncle John. So we knew the middle name for ages and the first name had to go with that.

We had several constraints though. No 'surnames as first names'. Nothing too obscure or recently invented. Nothing top 10. Nothing unisex.

Also, names had to work with our surname, which is Dutch and starts with O. That means several points:
- Nothing too obviously ethnic, of any description. Some of the Gaelic names just seem like a mishmash of cultures when mixed with a Dutch surname, and a Dutch name just seems too, well, Dutch.
- Initials have to be classroom taunt proof. So no names starting with B, F, H, or P (a bummer cos I always thought I would have a Benjamin, I've never met a Ben I didn't like). While on the initials line, we joked to nosy family members when they asked that we quite liked the three middle names approach, maybe 'Edward Ian Ewen Ivan' (EIEIO ).
- Final sounds of the names are important as well. With a surname that starts with a vowel sound, there are several names that just don't roll off the tongue.

I'm with everybody that's said girl names are easier than boys! If JJ was a girl he would have been Leah, but I'm not telling my second choice name because I'm saving it for if I ever have a girl. It's really old fashioned and unusual (it was my grandmother's middle name) but I think it's cool, and I'll be gutted if it suddenly comes back into fashion before I get to use it. Leah is a "big sister" kinda name IYKWIM so it's off the list now.

Knowing my luck I'll end up with 4 boys, in which case DH will just have to name them!

i just have to say i found boys names wayyy easier than girls.. and i know someone with walker as their middle name..small world! Leah is beautiful..was on our short list but have two friends babies with it..

We had a girls name leading up to our 20week scan walking in I said laugh if it was a boy....and voila lol!
It took us a while but whilest playing American football my husband saw a name Tyrelle....we like it but being french that is the feminine way so we changed it to Tyrell.

We still like the girls name and hope to 1 day use it

Eva was a name both DH and I loved and Hannah was my DH's grandmother's name.

We haven't made a definite decision on a name for this little one but I found this quite trippy as my DH texted me a couple of months ago with the suggestion Cooper Alexander!!

Aliasmum wrote: So we gave up on that idea & I text DH one day & said I can't come up with a name, as it was my job this time around, he texted back how about Cooper, I thought about it & I liked it. Then a few weeks later, he said are you sure about Cooper & I said too late it's stuck now!! Alexander is DH's middle name & his Dad's middle name, plus is also on my side of the family as well.

Have you got a cuppa coz this could take a while ...

Maya Grace Te Irirangi Marama - Maya after my favourite poet, Maya Angelou. I had made a list of names I liked but then one day it randomly jumped out at me from one of her books on my bedside table (Maya was on the original list but spelt differently). Grace coz I liked it, considered it for a first name but it's too common and reminded me too much of Once Were Warriors. Willie picked her Maori name, Te Irirangi Marama, which means the place where heaven and earth meet/the horizon.

Sienna Marie Anahera Jayde - I agonised over Sienna coz I really, really liked the name and had done for ages but I had a friend who said she was saving it for her next daughter. In the end I just couldn't think of her as anything except Sienna, my friend stopped speaking to me (I should add that she had no partner and wasn't pregnant or planning to be at the time, and I never said she *couldn't* use it!) but I'm glad I stuck with it coz it sits her. Marie is a family name - my mum's middle name is Mary, my sister's middle name is Marie and Willie's sister's name is Marie. Anahera is Maori for angel in honour of the baby we lost just before we had them. Jayde I just liked, and I wanted them to have 4 names the same as Maya.

Mercedes Kailah Waimarie Faith - I was in Oz when I had the scan where we found out they were both girls (17 weeks) and when I rang him to tell him he said he already had a name for the bigger baby. I had no intentions of letting him name either of them (he named his first daughter Mona-lisa, 'nuff said!) but he was hell bent on Mercedes coz he drives a Mercedes truck, and it grew on me. It totally suits her too! My mum picked Kailah. She didn't like Mercedes and kept desperately getting us to change our mind and one day she rang to say they had been out for breakfast and the waitress that served them was called Kailah. I really liked it so it became her middle name. Waimarie means peaceful waters, even tho there's nothing peaceful about my little fireball, and I just liked Faith, altho I later found out it was my grandmother's stepmother's name and my grandmother hated her stepmother lol so if I'd known that I might not have chosen it.

Chiara Louise Chloe Ngaroma - Chiara was the other name I contemplated with Sienna so from day one if she was a girl she was going to be Chiara. Louise is my middle name and Willie's is Louis so it kind of links back to both of us. We told Maya she could pick a name and she picked Chloe, either after the Bratz doll or Carmella's baby in Neighbours, I'm not 100% sure which, but I liked it and it flowed with her other names. We didn't pick her Maori name till after she was born, Willie couldn't decide on one, then I suggested Ngaroma which is his closest sister's name and he agreed.

See, told you it was a novel!

If we'd had a boy he would have been Luca Shakur Wiremu John - Luca coz I like it, Shakur after Tupac Shakur, Wiremu after Willie and John is a thru and thru family name (my brother, my uncle, my grandfather...). The freaky thing I later discovered is that Luca is Spanish for light, and Chiara is Italian for light so boy or girl our baby's name would have meant the same thing!

queenbean wrote: We haven't made a definite decision on a name for this little one but I found this quite trippy as my DH texted me a couple of months ago with the suggestion Cooper Alexander!!

Wow how funny is that!!! It goes well together though....

I should add what Coopers initials will be C.A.R very suitable for a little boy & we were a bit stuck as most initials would spell a word. I had orginially wanted William as the first name but the initals would have been WAR & I though with William the Conquerer & Alexander the Great, I was playing with fire so we put that in the No pile!

This is a great thread, I will have to find it again for when we need a name for #2.

We Have Jody Nena.
Nena is my grandmother's name.
Jody I just randomly thought of one day when I was lying in bed in the nursery several days over due.
It was the only name both DH and I liked instantly after 9 months of trying to find one.

We were having a surprise so our boy's name was going to be Tobias Stephen.
I liked Tobias for years (DH not so keen but I had decided and that was that ).
Stephen is my father's name.

My DD is Anyssa Charlotte.

I always liked Charlotte for a first name (Cure fan from way back ), but it was too popular. I wanted a family name for a middle name and happily found out while preg that my great Aunt who always remembers our birthday is a Patricia Charlotte, so that was great.

DP found "Nyssa" in the name book, and I thought it wasn't a full name - just sounded like an abreviation, so after a few days I thought adding an A on the front could work! Thankfully Anisa and Annissa were in the name book, so it isn't entirely made up, and I've come across another couple of Anyssas since she has been born. I also had Alyssa on my list.

Harriet was our other choice, and it wasn't until just after she was born that we knew she was absolutely an Anyssa.

I love the name Caden , I would love to use it but Caitlyn and Caden is probably too similar

Andrew we had big issues over as I did want Joshua if he was a boy (we had no idea till he came out), but I was working with a Josh and he knew I loved the name Josh so was getting a big head that my baby would be named after him. So after he was born we opened the name book and started at A and went through the names (at 1.30am!!!), got to Andrew and that was it. John is my dad's middle name and we wanted a "family" name and there was no way in hell I was going to use a Dutch name as a middle name as our surname is Dutch. My family in Oz want to think that we named him after Andrew John's (greatest league player at the moment).

Joshua. I got my way!!! I did give DH a chance with some of his names he wanted but he didn't suit them so I tried Joshua and it worked!!! Gareth is one of DH's middle name. My mum suggested we use Nigel's name.

If I get my way and we have number 3 and it is a girl it will probably be Sarah Lee. I love the name Sarah and Lee is my middle name, and we have a rather unusal surname that we need to have plain and simple first names.