It’s interesting how adults in TV shows always have baby names. If TV was realistic, the characters in their 20s and 30s would all be named Jennifer and Stephanie and Jessica and Amanda. Instead, they’re named Emma and Isabella and Ava and so on. There is not a lot of love for Jennifer in current TV, movies and books, despite the fact the name was ridiculously popular in the 70s – more popular than any name today, including the all-too-prevalent variants of “Bella.” (It’s worth noting that Isabella was already rapidly rising in popularity before the vampire books were written, meaning the vampire author chose a popular name, not that she made the name popular.)
Anyway. I wish I could name my child . . .
Quinn. It’s my maternal grandmother’s maiden name. I love that it starts with Q. I just like the sound. However, B’s nephew is named Quinn, and he thinks of it as a boy’s name as a result.
Aoife. Is that not the coolest spelling for a name ever? I first came upon this name after reading The Children of Lir as a child, and it’s kind of been growing on me ever since. However, it’s obviously not popular in this country, and I couldn’t subject my child to a name that difficult to pronounce.
Sinead. I just like the sound of this name. I like the “sh” and the long A. It’s just a great name in my opinion. However, B has totally vetoed it as the name makes him – and he says most people – think of the pope-hating singer.
We are really struggling to pick a name. It’s a problem. There is no name that B is even remotely on board with that I really love (or vice versa).
I like Quinn, initial I thought it was a boy’s name too. However after looking at http://www.babynamewizard.com/namipedia/quinn I see that it is used as a first name in popular places for a girl, not a boy. I guess I thought of Quentin.
Good luck settling on a name. It can be hard. I am hoping for a fun Gaelic/Irish name.
I adore Irish/Celtic names, even though my familial connection is very tenuous (I think my paternal grandmother had some ancestry along those lines). I love Quinn and can see it as either a boy or girl name, but am afraid it’s going to grow in popularity due to Glee. I also like Aeryn; in general, don’t like ‘Erin’ much, but love the ‘Aeryn’ spelling. Maybe compromise by using one of yours as a middle name? Then, it’s not so bad if it’s hard to pronounce. I love the idea of a ‘normal’ first name, and then an ‘exotic’ middle name. Maybe it’s because mine’s Anne; it’s from my mom, so I love it for that, but it is also common.
HI Cary – B doesn’t care about middle names, so I get to pick it – hurray for that. However, I feel I can’t pick a middle name without deciding on a first name.
That’s good! You can have a little more fun with the middle name, then. 🙂 But yes, of course, you want names that sound good together. I was just thinking of it as a way to incorporate your Irish names.
Yeah, definitely. I think I’m partial to slightly more unusual names largely because my first name is so generic!
Perhaps Gavin & Jen will let you use their baby-name picking algorithm to settle the dispute.
I also like Quinn — isn’t that the name a Glee character? You could be setting your child up to be another Jennifer or Sarah…
Most of the names that I like for girls have gotten overly popular thus I’m lucky that I don’t have need for one now. I find it interesting actually how names I’ve liked since childhood are now incredibly popular. Makes me wonder what were the exact influences that make names popular. Clearly some have long term impact and some are much sorter term.
It’s true Quinn is rising quickly, but I doubt it’ll become the next Sophia or Isabella – but who knows.
I find it interesting that I like the names that are popular today much better than those popular in the 80s – I like Isabella (less now since it’s so popular, but really liked it a few years ago) and Sophie / Sophia much more than Jessica or Jennifer. Why? What makes us like these names? I don’t get it.
I know a female Quinn! 🙂 I also love Aoife, but I agree that it’s a bit of a sticky one. What about Siobhan? Also, I was really surprised when a friend recently named her baby Jennifer, but it was actually a really refreshing change from the Isabellas, Evas and Olivias. 🙂
It’s funny Karen mentions that Sarah was popular. I know a few Sarahs, but I know WAY more Jennifers. I’ve never thought of my name as particularly common.
I like Quinn too.
I have no idea how to pronounce Aoife.
Jennifer was #1 in the 70s – 17,000 per million – and #2 in the 80s. Sarah was #5 in the 80s, so definitely popular, but only 7,000 per million – less than half as popular as Jennifer.
Karen at its peak was actually more popular than Sarah, at 8,000 per million in the 1950s.
Interestingly, there is more variety in names now, so the most popular name in 2009 Isabella had a lower incidence (less than 6000 per million) than either Karen or Sarah at their peaks of popularity, though of course neither Karen nor Sarah ever reached #1.
Basically, there is no name today anywhere near as popular as Jennifer was back in the late 70s / early 80s.
I still can’t believe my parents chose the most popular name around for me.
As someone with a last name no one can pronounce and I must always spell, be careful of names with strange spellings and pronunciations.
I have the same kind of last name, but it really doesn’t bother me. The apostrophe actually causes a lot more trouble than the spelling – people and computers get confused.
What is the last name plan?
Wolff.
I’m not a big fan of hyphenation. We talked about using O’Meara, but we are using Wolff.
We chose the name based on an author that we both love which worked out because there’s not a lot of boy names out there that I like. Is there something similar you guys could use to pick a name?