Since we’ve had so much fun chatting about baby names and even grandparent names, I had another topic on my brain that oddly comes up very often at the studio! Those names that never actually came to be, but totally could have been. Let me explain!
I mentioned in this post that boy names were especially hard for us. After going back and forth on a ZILLION names for five weeks after being matched, we finally decided on a few and went into the hospital with three name options: Arlo, Milo and Luca. Arlo was the only name that had real meaning behind it to us, the other ones we just liked, and when we saw him we just knew it had to be Arlo. And we also knew that we would never use Milo or Luca for a future baby (which is why I’m ok to say them here!) because it felt like all of those belonged to this specific experience.
My parents didn’t find out if I was a girl or a boy, so they had picked out both names. If I was a boy, I would have been Scott Christopher! I have four half-brothers and they all have one syllable names (Jeff, Brett, Mark and John) so they wanted to stick with that theme I think, had I been a boy. My mom also apparently liked Tammy, but one of my cousins already had that name. Kelly it was!
Jeff’s parents knew he was a boy but were between a few names: Jeffrey, Oliver and Moisha, before deciding on Jeffrey.
So I’m curious… did your parents have any alternate names for you!? Maybe they couldn’t decide, or they didn’t know the sex, or maybe they picked one name and changed it at the last minute!? Or, did you have any alternate names for your kids? Let me know below! It’s crazy to think about Arlo, or Jeff, or me having any other name! It’s amazing how much a name shapes you.
145 comments
Becca August 1, 2017
I’m Rebecca Aimee but I was supposed to be Memphis Hunter! I think I would have turned out way cooler as a Memphis 🙂
Kelly August 1, 2017
Haha! Memphis is an awesome name, I’ve actually never heard that before!! I love the nickname Becca for Rebecca though!
Kristina August 1, 2017
My parents said if I was a boy they were considering Christ, pronounced like Chris but with a ‘t’. So glad I came out a girl!
Kristina does the Internets
laura August 1, 2017
ahh! i love hearing what other names were options for people (love Arlo’s other name options especially!)
if i was a boy i was supposed to be joeseph frederick after my grandpa and great grandpa…but instead i was a girl so they named me laura rachel– which have ZERO family meaning!
my mom wanted to name me Nora or Rachel but my dad didn’t like either of those names so they compromised and named me Laura instead with Rachel as a middle name! 🙂 🙂
Kelly August 1, 2017
Love the compromise! Haha! We have a girl name we love for a future baby but it also doesn’t have any meaning which now feels weird after having Arlo which has so much meaning!
Anna August 1, 2017
My name is Anna (middle name is Lynn because 1992). My parents always knew I was a girl so didn’t even delve into boy names but my mom really wanted to name me Austyn. My dad totally nixed it! I’ve actually met two lady Austyn/Austens since and it totally fits them! My mom also wanted to name me Jenna but my aunt had a dog named Jenna 😂 My dad really loved Stephanie and Emily. I’m not entirely sure where Anna came from, I think my mom just liked it. I am so happy that’s what they picked because I’m definitely an Anna and I love that it’s timeless/ageless.
Kelly August 1, 2017
“Lynn because 1992.” HAHA! That made me laugh so hard!! SO true!!!!
Kristen August 2, 2017
Maybe my mom’s a trendsetter because I’m a 1980 baby with the middle name Lynn. I didn’t realize this was a early 90s jam.
Nicole August 1, 2017
My name is Nicole but they were also considering Sabrina, Whitney, and Sloane! I know that Sloane is a cooler-sounding name now and I’m actually pretty into it, but when I was younger I was absolutely horrified that my parents had considered naming me Sloane (sounded too much like “slow” to me at the time!). I really do love Nicole though, and I think it suits me 🙂
Paige Flamm August 1, 2017
I love this topic! My name is obviously Paige, but if I was a boy it was going to be Kevin. Mu son is Kyle, but would have been Chloe is he was a girl, and my Daughter is Kinsley (we hated the name Chloe by the time we got pregnant with her!), but we never had a boy name picked of her!
Paige
http://thehappyflammily.com
Rebecca August 1, 2017
I was supposed to be named Shaina, but my father worried that the alliteration (my maiden name starts with Schae-) would be too much. His actual quote was something like, “Well, if she’s a phone operator and has to say her name all the time, that’ll be hard to do!” High hopes he had, I guess! 😛
Brenda August 1, 2017
I just named my son Luca and it was the only boy name we had! We didn’t find out what we were having and had a couple of girls names that we may use in the future. I was going to be a Kimberly, but my mom didn’t want me to have Kim as a nickname. Ive always hated Brenda until recently – I always felt that it was an old lady name. I’m liking it more since it’s not heard too often (or maybe bc I’m turning into an old lady … Ha!). If I was a boy, I would have been Trevor or Dustin.
Kelly August 1, 2017
Ahhh yay!! I love love LOVE that name! It was actually the one we thought we were going to name Arlo throughout most of our “match” time!
Mia August 1, 2017
So my name is obviously Mia but if I were a boy, I would’ve been Luke (which I don’t like, haha). My mom had considered Miranda as a first name, but nixed it when her friend said “Oh! You can call her Randy!” lolololol
Malisa August 2, 2017
OMG, I laughed out loud at that!
Kayla August 1, 2017
I am Kayla Ellen – Kayla after the Days of Our Lives character Kayla Brady and Ellen for my mom’s best friend and my grandmother – I’m glad because it definitely suits me. I have a sister who is 10 years younger than me named Aubrey and my mom always says that Aubrey has been her #1 girl’s name since she was a teenager. I always ask her if she took one look and knew I wasn’t good enough to be an Aubrey lol
Chloe August 1, 2017
My parents really liked Phoebe. I’m glad they went with Chloe because I really can not see myself being named Phoebe. My best friend’s dad wanted to name her Elvis Vance if she was a boy, but since she was a girl, he and her mom decided on Ruby.
Blythe August 1, 2017
When my parents got pregnant with me, they didn’t want to find out the sex. After three boys, they assumed they would be having another so they only really had boys names prepared! It came down to a literal coin toss between Connor and Dylan, but to their surprise – they got their first girl!!! Before deciding on Blythe, they were going to name me Shannon. I’m so happy with the name they chose for me, it’s unique and different and always made me feel special. (Even though the Baristas at Starbucks are forever calling me Blake – #BlytheIsARealName!) I guess I also lucked out with a good last name – Ivory. Everyone seems to think that’s my first name and I can’t tell you how many emails that get addressed as “Hi Ivory” OH WELL! I’ll take either or
-Blythe
Kelly August 1, 2017
I love your name!!
Shannon August 1, 2017
So my parents were hippies…who did not know the babies sex. Mom wanted to name me Star and my dad wanted a boy for a first child. Long story short mom had such a quick birth when my dad saw me he named me Shannon. For a long time I didn’t like it because all the Shannons that I meet were boys. It took me until middle school to meet another female Shannon. Now I totally rock my name and am so glad I wasn’t named Star. Thanks dad.
Lindzi August 2, 2017
Wow I have never heard of a male Shannon! Here in Northern Ireland it’s a quite common girls name, and a lovely one! 🙂
Elizabeth August 2, 2017
I was named Elizabeth Ann, but I’ve always gone by Beth. My mom loved the book “Little Women” and she wanted to name me after one of the characters from the book. If I was going to be a boy I was going to be Joseph Michael. So my brothers and I were born in the early 80’s, and it was not common to do ultrasounds with every pregnancy back then. She never did have an ultrasound with me or my brothers. Crazy as it sounds, my mom didn’t find out she was having twins until she gave birth! My parents had still saved the name Joseph Michael for a boy, but that was the only boy name they had picked out! Considering two babies was a surprise, they didn’t over think it and named one baby Joseph and the other Michael! Their middle names are each of our grandfathers names.
Michelle August 1, 2017
If I were a boy I would have been Matthew Ryan. Which they switched for my younger brother who is Ryan Matthew. I am Michelle Jeannine, Michelle after the Beatles song. Jeannine for my moms best friend Jean.
Our Daughter is Faye Catherine. Faye because we liked it, like literally the only name my husband and I agreed on and Catherine after my mom. She was almost Faye Valentine because we met on Valentine’s Day. We ditched it when we found out Faye Valentine was an anime character and also the name of an existing porn star. 😬
Kelly August 1, 2017
I LOVE the name Faye!!
Julia August 1, 2017
Both my parents wanted me named after themselves! My mom’s name is Julie, and growing up she always liked the name Julia better, so she wanted Julia for a girl. My dad was adamant about naming me Arthur Eugene the third (I know) if I were a boy, because he is Arthur Eugene Junior and my grandpa is Arthur Eugene Senior. My mom hated that for a baby, and luckily they had two daughters and never had to have that argument!
Chelsea August 1, 2017
I was named Morgan Alisha when I was born but six months later, while looking at a map of London, my mom insisted that I should be named Chelsea, after the London neighborhood and also after Jane Fonda’s character in On Golden Pond. So they officially changed my name to Chelsea Morgan Alisha. I still have Christmas ornaments that have Morgan engraved on them, though. Haha.
Kelly August 1, 2017
Oh my gosh!! Such a crazy story!!!
Tiffany August 1, 2017
My mom has always planned on having a little girl named Taffy. When she was pregnant with me, she realized my dad’s mom’s evil orange Persian cat was named Taffy and she couldn’t possibly name me after an evil cat. So she changed it to Taffany and then settled on Tiffany. 😂 I’m pretty sure that was for the best. I can’t imagine me doing my job with a name like Taffy.
Brie Sexton August 1, 2017
My full name is Brianne Marie but I go by Brie because Brianne always seemed too fancy. My whole family still calls me Brianne and it confuses people who legit thought my name was just Brie. The other name for me was going to be Kara after my Aunt Karen (which as a child I was obsessed with and named all my dolls Kara cause even at a young age I wasn’t too into my name.) If I was a boy it would have been Brian…my mom was really stuck on that Irish name for her Irish looking babe. Marie is after both my Grandmas, on one side first name Mary and on the other side middle name Marie.
Sydney August 1, 2017
It took my parents daaaayyyyss to name me. The other options were Clare, Noel, Jessica, and Kjell (I don’t even know…) but they couldn’t agree on any of those. Finally, the day we were going home, there was a movie on that had a character named Sydney who played the cello. So that’s how I got my name, and also why I had to take cello lessons as a kid.
Also, my brother was named Kyle for about a day. When my dad left the hospital my mom went back to the nurse’s station and changed it to Tyler.
Kelly August 1, 2017
Ha! I love that they made you take cello lessons! Such a cool story behind your name though!
Kimber August 1, 2017
As an 80’s baby, my dad wanted to name me “Jem” – yup, after the cartoon! Instead my parents settled on “Kimber” (Jem’s sister in the show), and my middle name is “Lin”. So, naturally people see my name as Kimber L, and I always get called “kimberly” by default. I actually LOVE my name Kimber, because it’s super unique!
Kate August 1, 2017
I’m Kathleen Clare but go by Kate.
Other girls names considered: My dad like Kent (after a local new anchor) and my mom liked Lauren but felt there was too much alliteration with our last name that starts with “la”.
If I was a boy, I would have been Thomas Joseph– TJ for short.
Les August 1, 2017
all i know is that my dad wanted to name me after his mother (RIP) whose name is……..Refugio.
i love her and all, but im thankful my mom stepped in.
i just dont know where they got it from….nor my middle name.
Krista August 1, 2017
Same thing happened with me! My parents were going to name me Marissa, but my dad’s cousin ended up using the name for their baby. I’m glad that I’m a Krista instead!
Kristina B August 1, 2017
I’ve got a doozy for ya.
My dad was so convinced I would be a boy, he told EACH of his THREE aunties plus his mother that he would name me after them if I were a girl. The choices were (wait for it) Ismineie, Adolpha, Aspacia, or Calliope (my Yaya). PS all of them hated their name. When I was born a girl, he said I was named for their father, Christos (Kristina) and I got Calliope for a middle name.
The boy choices were Michael (his father, my Papu) or (WAIT AGAIN) Plato.
So. We’re Greek.
Kelly August 1, 2017
You’re Greek? Who knew! Hahaha JK! That’s hilarious that he was so sure you were a boy!! My mom was pretty convinced I was a boy too, after my dad’s track record. 😉
Anitra August 1, 2017
I love this topic! I’m always so interested to hear stories behind names. 🙂 Both of my parents have super common names, and we have an even more common last name. They named my sister Lauren thinking it was unusual.. but nope. There were like 4 in her preschool class. They planned to name me Sara. However, a guy with the same name as my Dad in our town was wanted for check fraud, which gave my Dad a ton of trouble… so they decided to name me Anitra so I wouldn’t have to deal with having a common name! Instead I get to deal with explaining to everyone how to pronounce my super weird name, and often just answer to Anita because I’m called that as often as my real name some days!
Shelby August 1, 2017
I have a friend who’s last name is “Young” and her mother fought tooth and nail to name her Teddy-Bear and her younger sister Forever. 🤷🏼♀️
Shelby August 1, 2017
I went to high school with a girl named “Always Young”!! She’s married now, and her new last name doesn’t have quite the same ring to it 😜
Elizabeth August 1, 2017
My mom knew I was a girl and had chosen the name Joanna for me but her nurse was named Elizabeth and since my mom had never hear that name before (I know!) in Mexico decided to name me after the nurse. LOL!
Kelly August 1, 2017
Aw I love that!!
Joanna August 2, 2017
I am Joanna Elizabeth 😊
Iris August 1, 2017
I have an out of the box name, Iris Emille, so my kids had to have unique names too. My daughter is Adalia Clementine and my son is Linus Alan (Alan after my dad). He was going to be Linus Oliver and we dodged a bullet with that one, as you cannot throw a rock and not hit an Oliver now…not that I throw rocks at small children…
Laura August 1, 2017
My parents were thinking of naming me Sally Edna after both of my grandmother’s. Thankfully they didn’t because my dad joked that if they had my nickname could have been “Salad”! Instead they named me after themselves. My dad’s name is Lawrence and my mom’s is Marybeth so I’m Laura Beth. I guess it’s better than Salad…
LJ Johansson August 1, 2017
My first name was suppose to be Liverpool after the city my parents met in, but my grandma got wind of it and gave my parents $50 to make it my middle name. I think it would of been such a great first name. I plan on naming my first girl that. But I do have a great name–Lauren Liverpool.
Kelly August 1, 2017
Oh my gosh!! I love that she gave them $50, that’s HILARIOUS! And such a grandma thing to do! ha!!
Mia Rose August 1, 2017
I’m Mia Rose (Italian for my rose) but I might have been Giulietta (after the car) or James (if a boy).
Marie August 1, 2017
I was Scott too! Scott Joseph- as in, that was my name until I was born because my parents didn’t find out either and my mom was convinced I was a boy so they didn’t even have a girls name picked out. My dad wanted to name me Kelly too but they finally agreed on Marie. Funny coincidences👍🏻
Jamie August 1, 2017
I was originally going to Amy but my parents toured the maternity wing and there were a lot of Amys there! Fast forward to a shopping trip and they see a baby tshirt that said Bionic Baby and they loved the name Jamie – the Bionic Woman! So, I’m Jamie!
For my daughter, who was born in February, it took us 3 days after she was born. We went in with one name, Lenora, and I was going to call her Lenny. At first sight of her we both knew she wasnt a Lenora so on Day 2, I go through my names list on my phone while staring at her and nothing fit until we came to the name Darcy! It just resonated off of her that was her name! We looked up the meaning to make sure it wasnt anything weird and the popularity to make sure it wasnt too popular and now we have our precious Darcy!
ilja August 1, 2017
My name is Ilja. My parents came on this name by a book from a babyskincare brand. It was an name idea book haha. Not really a meanful name. If I was a boy, I would be named Bastiaan. I am from Holland and is a populair name outhere.
Ilja is by the way a name from Russia, its a boys name, but my parents liked it for a girl haha.
Sawyer August 1, 2017
My name is Sawyer, and it was going to be that even if I ended up a boy! Growing up I went by “Sawyer Beth” because 2 names is the southern way. My older brother’s name is Shelby, which apparently was originally a boy name, but is now usually a girl name! He was also going to be Shelby either way. I love being Sawyer though, it’s so me. (Pronounce Saw-yer, not Soy-yer)I can’t imagine being anything else. I am often just called “Saw” or “SawSaw” by close friends. I love usually boy names for girls or viseversa.
My grandma wanted me to be Cheyanne but my mom mixed that one fast, thankfully!!!
Xx
Kelly August 1, 2017
Oh oh oh!! I’ve never met a female Sawyer and I LOVE that!!! Such a great name. I’m a big fan of traditionally boy names for girls too!
Quinn August 1, 2017
My brother and I each have single syllable for first names, as my dad doesn’t like names that can be shortened. But my mom gave us each one common name and one unusual name. My first name (Quinn) is rather unusual, and my middle name is Audrey. My brother is Ross (common) Avery (unusual). My mom had wanted to name me Lily, but when said with my last name she thought it sounded like the name of an exotic dancer 😂
Paige August 1, 2017
I’m Paige Poppe, but I was almost Petra Poppe. My mom was watching the ’92 summer Olympics right when I was about to be born in August, and it was the name of a Russian gymnast, LOL! They obviously were liking alliterations, but I’m glad they chose Paige. Crystal was also a top contender and in the 90’s I SO wished that was my name because it was my babysitter’s name too haha
Love this topic! The comments are so fun
x, Paige
Rania August 1, 2017
They wanted to name me after their names merged into one (a legit name for Orthodox Christians), but the priest said he can’t give a child the names of its parents, so they went with one of my grandmother’s names as the custom is where I’m from.
So my name is Urania, which was how my grandma was called, and they decides to call me Rania (and now although the original, full name is from the Greek mythology), many foreigners ask if it’s Arabic- you know, like Queen Rania! Hah!
Sophie August 1, 2017
Oh man…I was born (May 27th) one day after my parent’s anniversary (May 26th) but my mom went into labor the day before (May 25th).
My parents, being the supreme jokers they are, had their fingers crossed I was going to be an anniversary baby, so they could name me Annie Versary Aronson. So, my name was going to be Anniversary.
Instead, I tortured my mother for over 48 hours until they had to go in and pull me out. Now I’m named after a great auntie and a Beatles song.
Indya | TheSmallAdventurer August 1, 2017
I was going to be Morgan, as my parents thought that named paired with my last name made me sound like an author. They didn’t go with it, but I still grew up to love writing.
Astrid was another option, after some song apparently, but they ended up using that for our cat. I’m not too particularly fond of the name they DID choose, but I still prefer it over the other options!
http://www.thesmalladventurer.blogspot.com.au/
Allison Rae August 1, 2017
I was always Allison but if I was a boy I would’ve been Fane! My mom still tries to push it when we talk about babies…
Flora August 1, 2017
My parents had a boy name for me and a girl name for my brother. I think they improvised both times!
Arlo is a beautiful name! Funny for a boy and so sofisticated for a grown man! I love it!
Lisagrace August 1, 2017
So, my name is Lisagrace – my mom straight up squished Lisa and Grace together and called it a name 😉 I was going to be Noah if I was a boy BUT the funny thing is that my parents were going to name BOTH of my older brothers “Alyssa Joy” if they were girls.
But somehow, they forgot about that name choice when they had me?! Ha! So, my younger sister got the name, Alyssa Joy, and I’m constantly introducing myself like this:
“My name is Lisagrace, yep, all of it, it’s weird.”
Kate August 1, 2017
My sister was supposed to be Elizabeth Rose, after two of our great-grandmothers, but my mom in her post-labor frenzy decided that Elizabeth was too common, and changed the name to Isabel Rose. My mom was not happy when the nurse at my sister’s two-week checkup told her that she was the third Isabel/Isabelle to come in that day! I got Elizabeth instead as my middle name, and Katherine after our other great grandmother as my first name.
Jonel August 1, 2017
My parents liked unusual names which was really unusual in 1960 when I was born. They got my name from my mother ‘s sister’s daughter’s ex-husband’s half sister. It is pronounced John-el. My mother was going to name me Lillian as a middle name after her mother but she said she never liked her name and suggested Alison instead. My son is named Evan which is my father’s name Van with the E from Edwin after my husband’s father. His middle name is Joseph after his great grandfather. we realized later that there are several grandsons and great grandsons with Joseph in their names. If Evan had been a girl, he would have been Corwynn Allison. No reason for Corwynn except that we liked it.
Kelly August 1, 2017
Such a perfect combination to make Evan!! So sweet!!
Kelsie August 1, 2017
My full name is Katherine Elsie, because my mom wanted me to have a name that I could use to be a doctor (aka not something super girly) but she didn’t want something so “formal” for every day life. So my aunt actually came up with the idea of squishing my names together and thus I became kelsie. When I was little I HATED being called Katherine but now I don’t care so much, I’m definitely a kelsie though. My dad wanted to name me Reba but mom nixed that! Also if I was a boy I would have been Jack, which I always thought was funny since my older brother is Daniel and we would have been Jack Daniel 😂
Erin Maree August 1, 2017
My Mum was big into meanings when it came to mine and my sisters first names. Erin means peace (I often tease her about it as I am not peaceful at all!) and my Mum taught a little irish girl called Erin so she loved the name, Maree is from my aunty. I was almost going to have the middle name lynette which is my Mum’s middle name until she realised my intitials would spell ELF which she wasn’t having haha!
My middle sister is called Megan Joy and Megan means pearl and Joy was my grandmothers middle name and my youngest sister is called Jocelyn Claire, Jocelyn means pure and just and claire is after a close friend.
For boy names my Mum liked Mark or Christopher but they never had to use them.
My cousin and I were talking about future kid names and she really doesn’t like common names where as her boyfriend doesn’t like anything uncommon. I like a mix of common and uncommon, but tend to come to back to classic names that won’t go out of style. I’ve always liked the names Nova, Clara and Quin and more recently Alya (pronouced Ar-lee-a) and Esme for girls. And for boys Lucas, Marc/Marcus, and Jaxon.
Kelly August 1, 2017
Esme is one of my absolute favorite names!!
Daniela August 1, 2017
My mother was set on calling me Maria Fernanda, because in Mexico it’s very popular to nickname them MariFer and says that ever since she was a child she loved how it sounded… I have two older brother’s and she had no idea what she was having, but she was comvinced it was another boy, so to her surprise I turned out to be a girl. Well, as it turned out, no one was more surprised than my grandmother, when she showed up and asked the nurse at the front desk if my mother had delivered and was told yes, a girl… my mother says she could hear her screaming from down the hall in excitement. Once she came into the room and asked my mother what she would name me, she hated the idea of her new baby granddaughter having such a harsh sounding name and asked my mother to name me Daniela, to call me Dani instead and since my mother could see how happy she was over me being a girl, she decided to let her name me. I’ve always been very grateful to my grandmother for that, because I’m not a huge fan of Maria Fernanda, sorry :-/
Jenna August 1, 2017
My mom was in her early 20’s when she found out she was (5 months!) pregnant with me. She was dating my biological father-a musician-at the time and decided to strike up a deal. She got to pick the girl name, my father the boy name. My mom’s choice was a simple Jenna Noelle (although he tried to convince her to choose Jasmine, but with the spelling JAZZmine). He picked Jimi Hendrix. Yes, first name Jimi, middle name, Hendrix. You better believe my mom was relieved to hear “it’s a girl!” during my birth! 14 years later my father had a son who he tried to name Doctor Maximus. His wife initially agreed but later on chickened out and they settled on a very Italian Anthony Benedict.
Bronte August 1, 2017
Love this topic! My parents both have common names (they even rhymes with each other, haha), so when they had kids they wanted to come up with something unique! I’ve never met another Bronte, but I’ve heard they exist (Bueller? Bueller?). My boy name was also going to be really cool: Theron (family name, and also never met someone named Theron). My sisters middle name was created from her boy name, Ryan, which became Riane (like Diane with an R). I love the naming process that my parents went through, because I know how much thought they put behind it, and I frequently get asked about my name and it’s origin!
Merida August 1, 2017
My parents were going to name me Clarissa, but I’m so glad they didn’t. Clarissa Explains it All was super popular growing up and I don’t think I could have handled the comparison- I was def. not as cool as her. I love my name and I even have a Disney princess to share it with, something I never thought would happen!
Loïs August 1, 2017
I should be named Nicky, but when I was born a lot of girls were named Nicky so they called me Loïs (from Loïs Lane from superman and a band in the Netherlands). So my name should be Nicky van Kampen, funny is that I had a girl in the same class when I was 12, named.. Nicky van Kampen
London August 1, 2017
My mom landed on London Marriah! London because she had already been considering it when a friend dropped off a bunch of hand me down baby clothes before I was born, in a recycled box that happened to say London somewhere on it. She took it as a sign! Marriah because it’s an Irish version of Mary, and my grandma wanted to make sure I had a saint’s name. 😉
Some other options were Madison, Kendall, Sydney and Grey (boy). I’ve always loved my name, even though it’s a lot more common now than when I was growing up!
Irelynn August 1, 2017
My parents were originally going to name me Madison, but they decided on the name Irelynn instead last minute. They liked it because it was pretty and it didn’t have the whole tacky “LAND” in the name, is what they tell me, making more of a name for a child than a country. Anyways! My name is unique and in my opinion beautifully posed when said. I’m personally glad I wasn’t named Madison in fear of the nick name “Maddy.” I just never would have wanted my nick name to be an angry emotion … you know?
Anne August 2, 2017
I was going to be named Annette which was very popular in the 60s and 70s in Sweden. My French grandmother objected as in France it is a nickname for children named Anne (translates to little Anne). I was then named Anne but my parents called me Anette until I started school. I’m so grateful to my grandmother (whom I called “Mamie” by the way). I do prefer Anne to Anette…If I’ve been a boy I was to be called Patrik (Swedish spelling).
And it’s so true that you often choose a different name for the second child than the “unused”. I didn’t know the sex for either of my kids so for the first we had Martha or Oscar, it was a girl and when the baby brother came along Oscar felt “used” so we named him August instead. 🙂
Mary England August 2, 2017
If I was a boy I was going to be named Martin, but I was actually supposed to be named Marissa — my parents agreed on it — and my mom was knocked out from the C-Section because it was the 80’s and before she was conscious my dad told the nurses my name was Mary! Ha! I’m really glad because I’d never mesh with Marissa, but that’s some sneaky nonsense!
Lindzi August 2, 2017
When my granny was born (1936!) her parents had agreed on Murial for a girl, but she was early and her mum was unconscious for the birth and her dad couldn’t remember what the name had been so had her registered as Mary. She’s officially Mary on all her documents but has been called Muriel her whole life! 🙂
Ashley August 2, 2017
I’m an expat living in Thailand and names here are crazy-long (like 15 letters for a first name!) so many people go by a nickname which, often times, they choose themselves. Common nicknames are Rat, Porn (it means good luck in Thai!) or Baby.
If you’re ever in Thailand, ask the local people how they got their nicknames because it is normally pretty great. For example, a woman I know goes by Mel because her mom wanted a boy and thought Mel Gibson was very cute! Another woman I know stopped using her given name (Fon, which means rain) in college because there were three other Fons. She is a bigger lady and, to separate the Fons, they called them Little Fon, Fon and Big Fon. Since she didn’t want to be “Big Rain” (who can blame her) she told everyone to call her Monica because it was 1995 and (wait for it) she loved Monica Lewinsky!
P.S. My vet’s first name is Thitiporn (pronounced just like you would think). Max loves going to see Dr. Thitiporn!
Jenny August 2, 2017
If I’d been born 7 days early, my name would have been Dolly after my grandmother because I would have been born on her birthday. I feel like Dolly Nelson would have had a totally different life than mine. 😂 Pearl snap shirts and big hair. I do love Dolly Parton though. Instead I’m plain Jennifer because that is everyone’s name in the late 70s/early 80s.
Also, I always loved Emma after my grandma and long ago my sister-in-law and I used to fake fight over who would have a baby first and use the name. The night Friends aired and Rachel named her baby Emma, we both texted and said, “you can have the name. I don’t want it anymore.”
Andrea August 2, 2017
My mother wanted to name me Aime, after a evil twin of a telenovela called “Corazón Salvaje” (LOTS of drama!!). Glad that she didn’t go with that, ha! My father wanted Valentina, after my grandmother, but my mother didn’t like it. And my father joked about name me Lucas, after Daffy Duck (Lucas was the name of the character in spanish), he teased my mother because she made similar facial expressions like Daffy Duck hahaha.
I know a lot about those names, and i don’t know why they go with Andrea.
My sister name is Cynthia Loreto and my brothers Juan Carlos and José Alejandro, i’m the only one without middle name.
Joanna August 2, 2017
I’m Joanna, if I was a boy I would have been Alexander! My sister is 10 years younger than me and when my parents were choosing her name, my dad was reading a book to me called ‘eating ice cream with a werewolf ‘. One of the characters was called Phoebe. We went to my mum and said ‘haha let’s call the baby phoebe!’ We were joking but she loved it – so my sister is Phoebe instead of Olivia as originally planned!
Kelsi Harmon August 2, 2017
I’m also adopted and my parents found out I was a girl before I was born. I was supposed to be named Jamie Marie after both of my parents (Jim and Marcia), I don’t know what compelled them to name me Kelsi Nycole. I always sort of hated it up until recently. Like super recently. I mainly just go by my nickname Lady, and my husband is Rev. I made sure we picked super unique names for our daughters, we have 3. Taegan Molly, Ainsley Grey, and Holleigh (pronounced Hol-EH) Shine.
Alicia August 2, 2017
Our rule with our first was if it was a boy, my (ex)husband would have the first name and I pick the middle name,and If it was a girl, I would pick first name and he would pick the middle name.
We didn’t find out what we were having with our first so I had Kaia picked for a girl and my ex had Ronan for a boy. We had a Boy, so I picked Mackenzie as the middle name, named after the little boy I babysat who basically is family now.so our son is Ronan Mackenzie.
With the next kid, I put my foot down and said it was my turn to pick the first name so I chose Ellianna (Ellie for short) after Ellie Goulding. Her middle name is May after my ex’s mom’s middle name. Ellianna May (or Ellie May)
With our third, we knew she was a girl and wanted something powerful sounding and I was ALL about the Hobbit movie, and The 100 on Netflix lol so her name is Tauriel Octavia.
Nicky August 2, 2017
I was Albany for a few days before my mum decided against it. Then she chose Nichola which confuses people because of the H!
I had soooo many names picked for our little one even though we didn’t find out the sex. I loved Iris, Violet and old fashioned names. We we still arguing about it 4 hours after she was born when Harriet popped into my head and that was that! We chose Olive for her middle name after my husbands Nan.
Sarah August 2, 2017
My name is a pretty dull ‘Sarah Anne’ but my sister has a funny story. They were adamant that she was going to be a boy so had the name Paul picked out. When she popped out they quickly settled on a name and my dad was sent off to register the birth and accidentally spelt it as ‘Clare’ rather than the ‘Claire’ they intended. She was always really mad as a child as she could never find the personalised things with her name on (and they always had mine) and has constantly had it spelt wrong as it’s the more common spelling where we live. Still I can’t imagine her any other way.
I also had a friend who would have been ‘Heathcliff’ if she’d been a boy so she’s pretty grateful she was a girl!
Lisa August 2, 2017
First, I’m French-Greek and grew up in Greece. My mum wanted to name me Mélanie, which I’m glad she didn’t because Melania (accent at the end) means “bruise” in Greek. So they went with Lisa, suuuuper uncommon in Greece – people still ask me if I’m called Elisabeth. Also, my name in Greek is with a Z because pronounced “lissa” it means “rage”, which my cousins never forgot to remind me of. Oh, and Liza is pretty common for dogs -_- So kind of a fail, I used to hate my name but really like it now. And I got baptized Lisa Kleopatra Blanche (after my grandmas) which is pretty cool, even if it doesn’t appear on my papers 😉
My brother is Victor (choice #2 was Louis, but sounds terrible in Greek), I really like his name.
I don’t want to have children yet, but have started a list a baby names that sound (and write!) good and the same in French, Greek and German (bf is Austrian). It is SO HARD, like there’s names that sound great in one language but are extremely dated in the other, or just too weird, or horrible translated… we’ll get there. Someday. When we need to 🙂
Milena August 2, 2017
My parents thought about boy and girl names. If i would have been a boy my name would be Stefan Todor, my dad’s second name is Stefan (German) and my granddads name is Todor (Bulgarian). But I’m a girl and they first wanted to call me Katharina but when I was both they thought it’s too short, that’s why it’s only my second name. My first is Milena which is also the name of a Bulgarian journalist my mother likes, so my name is Milena Katharina 🙂
And Arlo’s name is just perfect btw!
Ellie August 2, 2017
I was always going to be called Grace until my mum first held me and decided it wasn’t right for me. My birth certificate just says Ellie because they didn’t like Eleanor/Ellen/etc but people always lengthen my name anyway.
My brother would have been called James after my great grandad but our surname is Bond so they decided on Joseph instead. My brother has always been gutted he wasn’t James but I think he’all appreciate being Joe during his school years more when he’s older.
Carolina August 2, 2017
I love these “name topics”! I was named carolina on the last minute. All along my parents were between Matilde for a girl and Vicente for a boy. But then I was born in the first day of spring and they thought I needed a more poetic name…
Vicente was still the “boy name” when my sister was born, but Matilde was out. My parents were between Leonor and Madalena and Leonor she is!
Kisses from Portugal! (Not far from Costa Nova…💛)
Kate August 2, 2017
My parents didn’t know if I would be a boy or a girl. Their boy name for me was going to be Michael Ben and my dad chosr Nancy for a girl. My mom later found out that Nancy was the name of an ex girlfriend of his (😱) and vetoed it! So now I’m Kate😊
With my own daughter we chose not to find out the sex and picked out 2 names for each, and then would decide once we actually got to meet the baby. I knew she was an Iris right away💗 Our other girl name was Emerald (still love that name!), and our boy names were Iver Cohen or Jude Sullivan.
Aricka August 2, 2017
My name is pronounced Erica. Believe it or not I’m just a southern white girl which will be evident when I tell you what I was almost named…..Rikki Jo….omg. My father’s name is Rick, my brother’ name is Derrick & my sis’ name is Amanda so my parents wanted “Rick”to be part of the equation. Up until a few weeks prior to my birth Rikki Jo was “set in stone” until my precious Granny chimed in that I needed an “A” name to match my sister (and receive any of her monogrammed clothes lol), so “Aricka” was coined 😉 My middle name is Noel but everyone sees the “N” initial and assumes “Nicole” because of 1984 🤣I’ve actually had a love/hate relationship with my name my entire life bc the first day of school, doctor appointments, etc have always made me cringed when I’m announced as “Areeka.” But if I ever had a black teacher or nurse SHE always pronounced my name correctly and I’ve always loved that 🤗 I swore to give my kids the most generic names ever…I didn’t. Our first born is Enzlie (“In-Zlee” derived from Ainsley, I felt the E was smoother), Ruby, and our son Asa (“A-suh”) all their names mean something to us and we hope they love their names too. ❤️
Molly August 2, 2017
My name is Molly Bea Crystal. Molly after my dads mom and Bea is short for Beatrice after my moms mom. Originally my mom wanted to name me Aurora Star Crystal, which is pretty but very very hippie 😂. I’m such a Molly though!
Erin August 2, 2017
I love hearing the rejected (for lack of better word) name options too!
My name is Erin and if I’d been a boy, it would have also been Aaron!
andrea August 9, 2017
Ha! for a second I forgot that in Australia we pronounce Aaron differently (it’s a-rin) so I was like, that’s not the same name 🙂 it’s actually only recently that i realised that that was how you guys pronounced it. i actually thought erin was a boy’s name also in the US of A.
Mum like alexandra for me but dad wouldn’t have a bar of it. Fast forward 7 days, still no name, she picked up a magazine and some Andrea was on the the cover and she said to my dad – that will do. He’s always hated it and had wanted to name me norma after himself 🙁 (norman) – thank god mum put her foot down on that one….
Samantha August 2, 2017
I was super close to being a Sarah. That being said I am glad my parents picked Samantha as now my initials (SAM) spell my name. Also my middle name, Arlene, has family meaning. It’s my one grandmothers first name and my other grandmothers middle name. So when I hopefully have kids one day I’d love to pass that one along.
Joslyn, My Mom's Story is Much Better August 2, 2017
My name was always going to be my name. I was named after my mom’s good friend who introduced her and my father. BUT my mom’s name story is much more interesting. My grandma had a tradition of letting the older kids name the new baby. When it was my mom’s turn to be named, her older sister wanted to name her Vivian, but my grandma wanted Pamela. My grandma caved and officially named her Vivian, but called her Pam as a nickname. Pamela is none of my mom’s names. Her siblings, nieces and nephews all call her Pam. My cousins didn’t find out that wasn’t her real name until they got older. So Granny still got her wish.
Allison August 2, 2017
My name was always Allison, but growing up everyone called me Allie. So I always thought that was my name, but in 1st grade the teacher was calling out names and kept saying Allison over and over. No one answered. She finally said my last name and I answered and she said when I say your first name you have to answer. I was so confused because 7 year old me thought my name was Allie. I went home that day and my mom explained it was a nick name. Me being the dramatic person I am, declared no one could call me Allie anymore. I had to be Allison since it was my actual name. Since then I have always gone by it, people always ask if they can call me Allie and I always say no. I guess when I was younger I felt betrayed by my parents for lying to me. Haha
My son was going to be named Harrison Brooks, so as soon as we found it he was a boy we told all of our family. My younger brother texted back I can’t wait to meet baby Harry and that was the end of that name. I refused for my child to have a name you could shorten. So we finally settled on Emmitt Brooks and I love it so much! I can’t imagine his name being anything else.
Ada August 2, 2017
My name is Ada (which means island in Turkish, I’m Turkish btw), my parents were almost sure that I’m a girl but they also considered Ada (it’s a unisex name) and Deniz ( means sea in Turkish) for a boy If I weren’t Ada I would be Mavisu which means blue water in Turkish. My name was unique when I was little but now it is common. My dad has a really funny story about his name. My grandpa wanted his name to be Uğur(good luck)but my grandma refused because it was their neighbour’s dog’s name so they decided on ilkay (which means first month, dad was born in January). When my dad started preschool they learnt that my grandpa actually named my dad Uğur on official records when he was a baby. Now he uses Uğur since preschool.
Jen August 2, 2017
My mom’s always been about the trends, so when she had a 3lb, 6oz baby in 1980 she chose Jennifer Arlene. Yep! My name was bigger than I was.
I dodged being Jennifer Dawn, aka the most common first and middle names of the 80’s because my dad always wanted to name a child after himself. His name is Arnold, btw! I love the story of my middle name.
Justynn August 2, 2017
I don’t know what my name would have been if I was a boy, but I know my name came from a book my mom read. My sister though (Jordan) was a Ryan up to three days before she was born. Our parents didn’t want us to have very feminine names so on job applications we would be overlooked for being a woman.
Jen August 2, 2017
My grandfather’s story of his name is my favourite family story. My great-grandmother was hilarious and didn’t worry too much about things. She sent my grandfather with one of his siblings to be christened and didn’t really care what name they gave him. She wrote a list on a scrap of paper and told them to choose one! He ended up with them all: George Joseph Layton and went by Layton, which I love.
Jessica August 2, 2017
I was supposed to be Christina Marie per my dad, but as my mom was about to write it on my birth certificate she started thinking it sounded like the name of a ship. My dad had just left the room, so she decided to change it! Jessica wasn’t popular then (as I grew up there was always more than one in the class) I’m now Jessica Anne. Which I think fits better! My poor dad lol but he was perfectly ok with the change!
Jessica August 2, 2017
I was supposed to be named Mercedes – it was my great aunts name -and this is funny because my husband did not know this about me and we were sitting at a hockey game and someone beside us said their name was Mercedes. He was like “who names their kid that” and I was just like well……
But it’s funny because growing up there were about 8-10 Jessica’s in my class so I ended up going by my last name – and even though I’m married I never changed my last name because I used it more than my first.
Jordan August 2, 2017
My mom always wanted to name a girl Holloway after her middle name and call her Holly. Well she married my Dad whose last name was Bush. Therefore I would have been Holly Bush. That got nixed. She came up with my name while watching a Dallas Cowboys football game and heard Randy White had named his daughter Jordan.
Cori August 2, 2017
So my parents were convinced, CONVINCED, that I was going to be a boy. It was 1988 and my mom was weary of ultrasounds so she just went with her little heart and said, BOY! They chose the name Cory Addison, Cory because it was the late 80s and every young teen boy on tv was a Cory and Addison because of David Addison from Moonlighting. Well on an early morning in January I was born and SURPRISE, not a boy! My parents hadn’t even stored any just-in-case girl names in their back pocket, so they were stumpeddd.
Long story kind of long is that they are LAZYYY namers and just dropped a Y and D and added an M to my name, making me, Cori Madison…
Taylor August 2, 2017
My name was Chapel for 2 days but then my parents changed it because they didn’t like the way my grandmother said it.
So they named me Taylor Neal (which is my dad’s first name) and even though I loved my name as a young adult & now, going thru having all boy names as a child was the worst. I would cry every time I walked into my new elementary classroom noticing they had all the lockers grouped by gender and mine was with the boys. All my insurances were screwed up because they always had me listed as a male as well. I remember one time going to the OBGYN & my insurance sent the bill back, like “hell no, we will not pay for your son to visit the OB.” My car insurance was apparently more expensive for the same reason. Traveling out of the country was also not a breeze either.
Marysia August 2, 2017
My parents didn’t know if I was going to be a girl or a boy because my birth mom didn’t want to know! They had 1 name picked out for each gender – Christopher if I was a boy and Marysia! They met me hours after I was born and they named me Marysia. My name had meaning, but the boy name didn’t so my mom was glad they didn’t need to use it and they had my brother a year later and picked Lael! My mother in law wanted to name my husband Zebulon so she could call him zeb, but thankfully settled on Robert and when she was pregnant with her daughter she was 100% sure it would be Rebecca with the nickname Becca, but she was born and picked Emily. So when my husband and I only had 1 name picked out for each child she would keep telling us we shouldn’t be so sure, but lo and behold we never changed anyone’s name all three of our babies got a name the day of their 20 week ultrasound!
Jodi August 2, 2017
I was going to be Jennifer Jo, but pretty much EVERYONE was naming their girls Jennifer in the late 70s, so they came up with Jodi Rachelle. Much more unique, but Jodi does feel like a very 70s name. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Cecelia August 2, 2017
My mom babysat 3 girls, Cecelia, Jessica and Ann. I almost got named all 3 but she settled on Cecelia Ann. I always wanted to have a boys name so in middle school I decided I wanted to be called Randy, I just loved that as a girls name! I told all my friends and some were good about calling me that and some were just like, “GEEZ!”, so I went back to Cecelia…… We named our daughter Grace Ashbrook (family name), my mother was not pleased with our, as only old people were named Grace. She never had a response when I would “politely” point out that they were young once! However, once Grace was born she realized there was no better name for her.
It’s so fun reading all these comments!! Arlo is such a sweetie! Love his name!
Cecelia August 2, 2017
Also, on a side note, I had 2 older brothers and had I been a boy I would have been left at the hospital! 😀
Jenny August 2, 2017
I was supposed to be Michaela, after my dad Michael. But Back to the Future came out the year I was born, and my mom liked the way Jennifer Parker sounded (Marty McFly’s girlfriend). So I guess it’s cool being named after a movie character, but there were like a billion Jennifers born in the mid-80s. Made all-girls Catholic school very confusing.
Katy August 2, 2017
My name is Katherine Victoria. I was born very premature and very tiny so my parents started calling me Katy since Katerine Victoria was “too big of a name for such a small girl.” My mom considered naming me Victoria Katherine, but was afraid people would call me “icky Vicky!” So she switched my names. She always joked that she named me after two dead queens. I guess my name does sound pretty regal! Had I been a boy, she wanted to use the name Ethan Allen (incidentally, NOT after the furniture store OR the Green Mountain Boy.) She just liked the name Ethan and Allen was her maiden name.
Felicia August 2, 2017
Love this topic!
Growing up I’ve always loved my name.Unique enough to rarely be in the same class with another Felicia, but not outlandish enough to be unheard of.
I was told at some point that it was a mix of my maternal grandmother ‘Fe’ and my paternal grandmother Elidora (Eli for short). Yet, later on my mom mentioned that ACTUALLY she was watching General Hospital while pregnant and liked one of the character’s named Felicia.
Turns out, my parents or relatives just realized the combo grandma thing after I was born and named, and sometimes my parents would just pass it off as creative baby naming rather than coincidence.
I do get the occasional ‘BYE, FELICIA!’ in recent years since that saying has come back into fashion.
Hannah August 2, 2017
I was supposed to be a boy, so my parents were planning out all these great boy names. I already had two older sisters named Hayley and Holly. When they found out I wasn’t a boy, they were like, “Well I guess we’ve got to think of another H name.” And now I’m Hannah. 🤷🏼♀️
Celena August 2, 2017
My mom wanted to name me Cherokee or Cheyenne, but my dad didn’t like either (thanks dad!). Instead he wanted to name me Selena because when he was in high school he had a relative who had hosted an exchange student with that name. It was the first time he had ever heard it and it always stuck with him. He wanted it to be more unique though (I have 3 older brothers all with very common names) and decided to spell it as Celena. I absolutely love my name. Growing up in the area I did, I never met another Celena! Although, when I was young, Selena was very popular and people used to ask me all the time “Like the singer?” or say stuff like “Selena! Bidi bidi bom bom.” Now younger people/kids always want to call me Selena Gomez, which gets old very fast..
Brittany August 2, 2017
Omg! I’m the next comment and my parents wanted to name me Cheyenne too! If I was a boy!!!
Naomi August 2, 2017
These stories are so interesting and fun!
I’m a twin and they thought we were boys, they said I would have been Noah and my twin Nicholas, but we were girls so they named us Naomi and Nicole.
Brittany August 2, 2017
I’m one of the first Brittanys (1979) and in suffered through the Britney Spears era. My mom must have been on the good drugs when she had me because she bestowed the middle name “Michell” (yes, no E!” on me. She says after my dad who is a Mitchell. But I’m SO glad I wasn’t a boy because in their late 70s awesomeness they were going to name me Cheyenne Mitchell. Yes, Cheyenne for a boy!!! Omg. That was have been awful for me!!
Johanni August 2, 2017
My dad thought I was a boy and wanted to name me Edward after my grandpa. My mom thought I was a girl and wanted to name me after my grandma- Susara Johanna.. my dad agreed to that as he was certain I was going to be a boy. Out I came and they compromised on a nickname seeing that my name is a mountful – Johanni, pronounced You-honey 🙂
Lindzi Ellis August 2, 2017
Guys! I LOVE THIS!
So… I was ‘unexpected’ and unknown about until my mum was 5 months pregnant, and I was then born 5 weeks early… so my parents didn’t have a whole lot of thinking time 😂
My mum wanted to call me Pebbles. PEBBLES! Like in the Flinstones! Pebbles Ellis, can you image what different directions my life might have taken?!
But my parents eventually decided that Chloe was a nice name for a girl.. but that’s not my name, right? Nope, that’s because when I was born early and very very unwell they decided not to use Chloe (I’ve always seen this as like it would be a waste of a good name?!) and so I was ‘baby girl ellis’ for the first nearly three months of my life while I lived in an incubator. Eventually a nurse suggested to my mum that Lindsay was a nice name and my mum didn’t know how to spell it, so spelled it phonetically.. and so I am Lindzi!
My first baby (who I’m currently expecting, due Nov 5th!) it’s safe to say will live knowing that I have put A LOT of bloody thought into their name! 😂
Nikki August 2, 2017
My parents didn’t find out what I was going be, but they decided that if I was a boy my dad could name me and if I was a girl my mom would name me, I came along and my dad wouldn’t let my mom decide on her own so they both came up with names, for the first two weeks of my life I had a new different name everyday. My parents would decide on a name, my dad would go to work and tell everyone that they had decided on a name and then everyone would give their options and say how they didn’t like their choice so my dad would come home and they would change it, this happened for two weeks, until they decided on Nikki, they wanted to call me Jade but my older half brother is Wade so that would have just cause too much confusion so they settle on Nikki-Jade.
Cookie Redding August 2, 2017
My parents desperately didn’t want a nickname for me. They wanted to call me Natalie but thought I’d get nicknamed Nat. So they settled on Courtney (after Courtney Sherman…an attorney on Search for Tomorrow…because like the one comment above said…because late ’70’s). A few minutes after I was born, my family all realized my cousin couldn’t pronounce Courtney (thanks, 2 year old cuz!) and it sounded more like “Corky.” My parents were all like no no no no no…let’s call her Cookie for a bit, since he can say that.
So 40 years later…the girl who wasn’t supposed to have a nickname is only known as BY her nickname. (still Cookie!) 😀
(ah, the best laid plans!!!!)
Kelly Golightly August 2, 2017
Such a fun topic! I was supposed to be a boy (sorry Mom + Dad) and my name would have been Steven.
But the one that cracks me up in that Klaus, if he had been a girl, would have been Gloria. So naturally I always sing that ’80s song to him. Hahaha.
Malisa August 2, 2017
I was going to be Jamie if I were a boy, and Vanessa if I was a girl. I ended up Malisa, which is a totally normal name for a 1985 baby, but has a completely weird spelling that nobody ever gets right!
We didn’t find out what we were having with either of my pregnancies. We wanted unique, but not made up names, and wanted something where they wouldn’t have 4 of the same name in their school classes.
With our first, it was Violet for a girl, Henry for a boy. We had a girl!
With my second, I had a feeling it was a girl the whole time, but we didn’t find out. We liked Genevieve for a girl and Felix for a boy. Henry was off the list at that point because it had become way too popular. At the last minute, I decided I liked Fiona better than Genevieve and we had a girl!
For both of their middle names, we used my maiden name because I’m very attached to it!
Kaela August 2, 2017
My parents actually named me Britney when I was born and kept that name for over 12 hours, then decided it didn’t fit and chose Kaela (pronounced like Kayla) instead. My gramma worked at the hospital and told my mom the following week that it was a good idea that they changed it because 5 other families named their daughter Britney that week alone!
Sydney August 2, 2017
My parents were torn between Sydney and Katelyn. When the doctor referred to me as “Katie” moments before I was born, my mom said “Nope. Her name is Sydney!” because she didn’t want me to be called Katie my whole life!
Lindsey Mae August 2, 2017
Long story short: dad wanted to name me Lindy. Mom made a deal and they agreed on Lindsey. Only to have it become one of of the most popular 80’s names (insert eye roll here). So I always LOVED having a more unique middle name, Mae, now that’s becoming trendy and I get to share it with so many snuggly newborns. So funny how old becomes new again!
Lindzi Ellis August 2, 2017
I don’t really like being a Lindzi either but I’m glad of my different spelling. Although in Northern Ireland there are a LOT of different regional accents and Lindzi sounds awful in most of them😂
Funnily my sister’s middle name is Mai, after my granny who was called Gai! 🙂
Lauren August 2, 2017
I’m Lauren (also known to some as Slaur) 😉 but was originally going to be Gabriela, Brie or Brita. My mom was worried that the euro pronounciation of Gabriela that she wanted would turn into an American gaaaaah-beee and she didn’t like the nasally Gabby nickname (she wanted it more like Gobriela/Gobi). My dad told her Brie was a cheese and Brita was a water filter so now I’m just Lauren. I kinda wish I’d been Brita, I love the name and even have it on my girl baby name list now! (Ps – I love would-be baby names. Like the alternate universe where my sister currently exists as Esther instead of Alyson. Woof.)
Kayla August 2, 2017
We named my daughter Azalea MaeLynn after the flower (she’s 5 1/2 and predates the fame of iggy azalea! I always feel like I need to let people know that’s not where we got her name!) and her two grandmas middle names combined (Mae and Lynn) and we call her Zellie. We almost just named her Zellie, but I couldn’t picture a 50 year old Zellie. BUT, had I had my way, her name would have been Lively. Pronounced just like Blake lively. My husband was concerned that she would come out being shy or timid and her “Lively” name wouldn’t match her personality. Lo and behold, Zellie is the absolute LIFE of every party and would have made the cutest Lively ever. Zellie totally suits her, but every once and awhile I wish I had gotten my way with her name.
Kayla August 2, 2017
Oh and my boys are Maxson (after my grandmas last name ), Tenneson (who was almost Bennett and who would have been Avalie Pearl if he were a girl) and Thatcher (who could have been a cute Oakley). Yes I like weird names 🤗
Emma P August 2, 2017
My parents had several names picked out, Hazel being one of them after a great aunt, but when I was born my parents decided I didn’t look like a Hazel and had to go back to the drawing board. After 3 days they looked at my Nonna (dads mom) and said we are out of ideas what should we name her? So without hesitation she said Emma Louise (after our Italian root family members) and the name was perfect. My parents never regretted the decision of allowing her to name their firstborn and I love my name (even though it has become soooo popular — stupid Friends).
RILEY August 2, 2017
My dad wanted tin name me Haiti. Like the impoverished county. My mom was all hellllll no on that one, she said she couldn’t look at a beautiful new baby girl and call her Haiti. No chance. Their other pick was Summer. Which I actually love, but my last name just doesn’t suit it. My last name is Short. So it would have been Summer Short … sounds like .. Some-are-short. Nope! So finally, some how, my mom decided on Riley. To this day, she says she wanted to give me a unisex name, so that if I’m ever applying for a job, and they’re thinking they want to hire a man, they can’t tell by my resume if I’m male or female. So even if they do want to hire a man, having a unisex name might at least get me in the interview door. She did the same thing with my sister. Her name is Taylor. Funny thing is we both get mail and emails addressed to
us as “mister Short” we get a pretty
good kick outta that. We are both grateful to have a mother who had such feminist centred hopes for us. 🙌
Gilanna August 2, 2017
I’m the baby girl that came after 4 boys. When the dr told my mom that I was a girl, she actually laughed in his face. When I was born, my parents still couldn’t agree on a single girl name (but 4 boys names somehow came easy..figures) My dad had 3 options: Bina, Tziporah, or Gila. My mom was set on Anna. A few days later, just before my baby naming ceremony, my dad told my mom she better choose one of the names or he’s going to name me Esmeralda!! After a short panic attack, she tried merging their names together to keep everyone happy and came up with Gilanna. Although I don’t love correcting everyone’s pronounciation of it (“it’s a HARD G, like Greg”,) I love my name and the story that comes with it.
Jessica August 2, 2017
My husband and I agreed immediately on a boy name, but we had two girls together and are definitely done! Sometimes I get just a little bit sad that we never got to use our awesome boy’s name – it was Alexander William.
I wanted my girls to have more unique names (probably because I have THE most common name of the 80’s!) so my top suggestions were Athena, Lyra, And Evaline. I ended up compromising with my husband and choosing more traditional names, but my youngest has Evaline as a middle name. 🙂
Delani August 2, 2017
My name is Delani (like Melanie, but with a D). Named after my dad Delano. No funny story about my name. However, my boyfriend whose name is Jeffree was going to be named Sunshine until his mom found out he was a boy!
Rebecca August 3, 2017
My name is Rebecca, but I was almost named Rachel. My last name starts with an R, so they wanted to have the alliteration. The funny thing is I’ve had many separate instances of people forgetting my name and accidentally calling me Rachel without even knowing this! Guess my parents might have named me wrong!
Rebeccaetc.blogspot.com
Jules August 4, 2017
My parents knew I was going to be a girl. They hemmed and hawed over names forever. My Mom told my Dad that he could name me, but he had no ideas. He would jokingly toss out old, non-popular names all the time: Mildred? Gertrude? Beatrice? Pearl? (Funny how some of these are popular again, ha!). Finally my Mom had enough. “The next name that comes out of your mouth will be it,” she said. He was quiet for WEEKS. Finally, out of the blue, he said “How about Julie?” The rest is history. 🙂
Natasha August 4, 2017
I’m a twin so my parents had to choose lots of names because they didn’t know if they would get two girls, two boys or one of each (which we ended up being). Then they had to choose which of the girl names and which of the boy names, so I could have ended up being a Jamilla but they were worried I’d get called Jam for short.
Melissa August 7, 2017
My parents planned to call me Aaron if I was a boy, after Elvis Aaron Presley, and when I was born they still hadn’t agreed on a girl’s name. I tell my mum all the time that they still could have named my after Elvis and called me Presley instead of Melissa!
Fabiola August 8, 2017
My name is Fabiola because of my dad but my mom almost named me Karla or Georgina, luckily she didn’t, I really like my name so that’s good!
Rachael August 11, 2017
I was originally going to be called Sally Ann but my Mum looked at the initials and said, “Stamped Addressed Envelope,” so I was named Rachael instead. And then everyone looked at my initials at school and called me Religious Education. As you do!
Skye August 17, 2017
My mom originally wanted to name me Lara but my Dad kept pronouncing it Lora so instead she picked Skye. Everyone told her it was a terrible idea but i always loved my name. When I had kids I wanted to give them unique names too. So after thinking of a million boy names, we chose Zachary. Little did we know it is super common in his age group. Then when we had our daughter we chose Torrey after Torrey Pines beach in San Diego. But again, so many girls her age are named Victoria and they all go by Tori! So double fail for uniqueness for our kids but I think their names fit them both.
Sarah September 14, 2017
My mom wanted to name me Lucille after my great grandmother but chose Sarah instead…not sure why!? When I was about 10 she told me to story and for the better half of 6 months I made every one call me “Lucy”. My brother is Aaron William but they intended on him being William Aaron until my parents realized with the last name that begins with “R” his initials would be WAR. My mom freaked and switched it around!