Hii all 🩷 we’re expecting a baby boy soon and we originally loved a name that is now being used by a close family member. Even though technically we could still move forward with the name it’s kinda lost its magic for us. We’ve been thinking about the name Santiago and I can’t tell if I love it or not. Santi for short. We are both American but from a Latin background ( my husband speak Spanish but not me) I mention this because culturally it would not be a strange name for us to use. Do you think it’s too long ? What does it remind you of ? I’d love to hear anything negative that maybe we haven’t thought about. I know it’s also pretty popular lately. Have you heard it a lot in your area?
Thank you so much for all your help !

I feel like middle names are the perfect place to be a little creative. Obviously a first name is something your kid is going to hear and use constantly, so I understand being more practical with it, but middle names barely come up in everyday life. If you love something unusual, sentimental, nature inspired, made up, or just a little out there, why not use it as a middle name? Not every middle name has to be James, Marie, Rose, Ann, Lynn, Grace or Elizabeth lol. Sometimes a more unexpected middle name is what makes the full name feel special.

I share my first name with a famous celebrity (for now let’s assume that our names are Apples) And now i am deciding a name for my daughter. I really really liked a name ( assume: Oranges) for her and have been loving it since quite a few months. One day, I realised that the name I chose for her is also the name of the father of the celebrity I share my name with. So now it may look like me and my daughter share the same name as that famous father-daughter duo (apples and oranges). It is such a bummer. I have really loved the name for a long time without realising this. And now it seems tough to let that go and think of another name. Should I care? I personally dont want to be affected by the silly parallel for a name i love but i also think ‘what if my child hates me for that?’ Though by the time she grows up the father (oranges) will already be irrelevant and her generation might not know she shares a name with him. But you cant predict. Please help.

We really like the name Henry for our son but is it too overused and not special in any way? It’s not a family name or anything so there’s no real meaning other than we like how it flows with our last name.

My name is Elian.

Growing up, my parents always told me they made it up by combining parts of two names they liked. There was no family connection, no character, no cultural reason. In their minds they basically invented it.

Then in college I met someone from Switzerland who immediately asked if my family was French-speaking.

I said no.

Since then I've met several people from Europe and Latin America who reacted to my name like it's completely ordinary, while I spent my entire childhood explaining that my parents "created" it.

The funniest part is my mom still doesn't really believe this.

I showed her baby-name sites, actual people named Elian, everything. Her response was basically, "Well, WE didn't know that."

Which I guess technically preserves their invention.

Has anyone else grown up with a name their parents thought was unique or made up, only to discover later that thousands of other people already had it?

If you know any more please add them in the comments! I'm always looking for new additions and would love to see what other iterations people can come up with!

Here's a lost of all the ones I have saved 😆.

Cats

Freddie meowcury

Katy purry

Meowlyn Monroe

Pedro Pspscal

Meowcal Jackson

Dogs

Queen Elizabark

Bark Simpson

Pitbull (Mr worldwide)

Tiger Woofs

Chickens

Dolly part-hen

Chickira

Chickerella

Chappell Ro-hen

Sabrina Carp-hen-ter

Con-hen Gray

Hendaya

____ Kardashi-hen

Kylie Henner

Chicky Minaj

Egg Sheeran

Dwyane the Cock Johnson

Cluck Kent

Lindsey Lo-hen

Kelly Cluckson

Cardi Beak

Lil Nas Eggs

Sheep

Lady BaBa

Meryl Sheep

Audrey Baaa-za

BaBa Rexa

Cows

Moocheal Jackson

Anne Calfaway

Moo Jackman

Moochelle Obama

Ducks

Hugh Quackman

Pigs

Peter Porker

Brad Pig

Chris Hams-worth

Horse

Gallop Gadot

Beyonc-neigh

Hoof Jackman

Birds

Quillary Clinton

Quill Smith

Rabbits

Mark fluffalo

I wonder: which of the following 4 letter combos would make a name stand out to you as less local, a.k.a more international/foreign?

PH (e.g. Sophia)

CH + consonant (e.g. Chloe)

TH (e.g. Thomas)

TT (e.g. Otto)

This is more of a discussion than anything else, but I also wonder for the sake of easier chances of assimilation in southern Europe.

• Edit: Romance language speakers

Hello, my baby name is Ilyas, the Arabic spelling of the name Elias, we live in the UK, my baby is mixed latino, Egyptian and Scottish, the problem is: nobody understands his name in Scotland, most people or everyone pronouns it different. So we are thinking of changing his name to Elias. What do you think?

Me and all my siblings have L names and I wanna keep the tradition going, Just found out me and my GF are pregnant so we're looking for names, Don't use names below because those names are takin in my family. the last name will be "Gunther"

Leon, Logan, Leslie and Lauren.

I have a 19 month old "Jett"
Expecting my second. Unsure of gender.

I prefer one syllable names , but not set on that. I have always loved the name Jett, but no other names are speaking to me 🫠

If it is a girl we will being most likely using the middle name Francis or Francisca (depending on the first name)

I’ll go first

Girl - Melissa 🧸

Boy - Henry 🧸

We are choosing a name for our daughter and both keep returning to Samira. Our surname is Rahman, pronounced with a fairly soft first syllable. I loved the full name when I wrote it down, but after saying “Samira Rahman” twenty times, I started hearing the repeated ra sound in the middle. We have tested it quietly, quickly, and with several middle names.

My husband thinks I have simply overtested it. His famliy says the rhythm is musical, while my sister stumbled over it twice and suggested Mira instead. We like Mira, but Samira feels warmer and works better across both sides of the family. We are not interested in changing the surname or adding a middle name just to separate the sounds.

Does Samira Rahman flow naturally when you hear it once, or does the transition feel awkward? I may be too deep into name repetition to judge anymore.

I’m having my first girl, I am having the HARDEST time coming up with a first name. Her middle name will be Katelynn (named after people)

I like classic- that sounds historical, and nature inspired names typically.

Not sure if this is the correct sub for this but…

I have a child from a previous relationship (father has passed and was never in the picture) I named him solely by myself and he is 7. His name starts with a W. My fiancé (who is the only dad my son has ever known) and I have been together since my son was 4. We just had a little girl about a year ago and her name starts with a J. We have discussed having another and we happen to like a lot of J names. I guess I’m just wondering if it would be insensitive or exclusionary to name two children with J names while my son from a previous relationship has a different first initial. Him and I share a last name while my daughter and fiancé share a last name. Once we are married he will adopt our son and when that is finalized him and I will change our last name to match his dads and sisters. He is ADHD and has some mild anxiety, he struggles a lot with acceptance and approval. I could be overthinking things, but my biggest fear is him feeling like an outsider in his own family. Just looking for some opinions and insight! Thanks!

I met someone today with a beautiful name I’ve never heard before. Malalay pronounced muh-lah-lay. So pretty and unique!

Many parents think of multiple names and combinations and name their child only to be screwed up when and where it matters the most in terms of official documentation and so on. I have experienced it myself and like me I believe many others have gone through and are still going through it.

Having an initial in the front or back ?
Do we need an initial ?
Father name as initial and expand it as surname when required?
Do we keep it as single name or two or three ?

Let me give an example to work with so that our system is understood and what a mess we are in.

All names mentioned below are for reference and not to mock or criticise anyone, so let’s begin.
Our subject’s name is C.Vignesh Kumar
Simple and common name with no issues right.
The initial is front here in birth certificate and then later on becomes at the back because degree certificates print it as Vignesh Kumar. C
Passport document doesn’t accept Initials and so it has to be expanded. It then becomes Vignesh Kumar Chandran (Chandran is his father’s name). It obviously can’t be Chandran Vignesh Kumar because his given name has to be mentioned first otherwise it becomes even more complicated.
The same goes for PAN Card ID where surname has to be mentioned and so it becomes Vignesh Kumar Chandran
Aadhaar is linked with PAN and so the same names gets carried forward there
Our birth certificate is the main problem because there is no standard format and they accept whatever you name and the problem starts there.
C.Vignesh Kumar has a newborn kid and applies for the birth certificate with the name as V. Sanjay Kumar.
Ofcourse he gets the birth certificate but then gets rejected or told at Aadhar centre that having an initial at front causes issues later on so better to rectify it as Sanjay Kumar.V and then apply for Aadhaar.
The problem starts here and sadly initial needs to be expanded again depending on documentation etc

Another error most parents or adults make is giving their father’s name as surname. There is no practice of surname or family names in south India at least. For example in the north Das/ Patel / Yadav are common surnames.
Surname actually means family name which is carried over generations and databases find it easier to identify your name through surnames and not initials and that’s why it has to be expanded in Passports

So maintaining a uniform name across all documents makes the most sense and it’s also easier for the child as well.

My simplistic recommendation would be

Name your kid with two names without any initial and finish it. I know many people will insist on having their father name or place name etc or the tradition of having an initial no matter what. But it just adds more confusion later on. We never know when the rules will change and having different name formats will cause trouble when applying for VISA or legally in terms of property name transfer and all

In our example it’s easier to name his child as Sanjay Kumar or Sanjay Vignesh or Sanjay Chandran without any initial and surnames would be decided upon his wish. Or any other name as second name would also be sufficient. Because Surnames doesn’t require your fathers name or family name as such, it simply needs a name to be filled there.
Also having a single name also will create an issue because you would leave out surname as empty and more risk to get your VISA rejected in certain countries because surnames are mandatory
In case of three names your last name becomes surname
Sanjay Kumar Vignesh means Sanjay Kumar is the first name and Vignesh is the surname.

Initials are not mandatory and likewise having your father’s name as a part of your name is also not mandatory

So keep the name short with two name format and treat the second name as surname, that’s it
AVOID INITIALS !

My son is named Angelo, and I need to find a short, latin, not overly common name to the baby I‘m expecting. Any suggestions?

I think except for a few, there seems to definitely be some kind of throughline, a style that I'm drawn to. I just can't pin-point what it is. What do you guys feel overall going through this list? Curious how others see this.

I know some of these like Felicity, Wilfred, Winnifred, Walter, Edmund, Dawson, Claude are a little bit too storybook whimsy so I probably won't name my actual child(ren) these names, but I love the sound and feel of them, so I'm keeping them for potential names for pets...(if I ever adopt a second cat in the future)😭

I hate how Claude has been ruined for me because of ai. Ugh.

And also, does Adam, Noah, Isaac, Jonas, Faith scream biblical too much? (Probably does...) I do come from a Christian family, but I've distanced myself from it since my teens, consider myself agnostic and don't want an in-your-face religious name. But I do like the sound of the names themselves.

Girl names:

Eden
Edith
Evelyn
Harper
Heather
Elaine
Louise
Brooke
Clarke
Ruth
Beth
Claire
Abigail
Simone
Eunice
Carmen
Quinn
Gwen
Wren
Agnes
Audrey
Wilfred
Winnifred
Danielle
Natalie
Eloise
Josephine
Eleanor
Faith
Florence
Felicity
Emily
Emma
Margot

Boy names:

Evan
William
Liam
James
Elias (Eli)
Ian
Owen
Ethan
Noah
Austen
Eugene
Conor
Cole
Adam
Isaac
Jonas
Edmund
Hugo
Cole
Simon
Walter
Dawson
Claude