Monday, April 10

Baby Names

As we head towards the last trimester of this pregnancy, I think it is probably time for Allan and I to start some baby name discussions. Up to this point, it has just been me occasionally hollering across the house, What do you think about ____?, and getting his initial No, I don't think so or Hmmm...I'll have to think about that one or something like that.

Like I said in an earlier post, everyone has baby naming criteria - trendy or unique, family names, alliterations, etc. Here are some of the tendencies we lean towards in our search:

In naming our kids, I have generally looked at Scottish names or those who could at least sound Scottish. I figure we give our kids my husband's family heritage (English) through our last name, so I can sneak in my love for the Cash homeland through our childrens' first names. The problem is that the Scottish people have some weird names for our culture, like Alastair, Chalmers, Finlay, Malise, and Ogilvy (isn't that a butter spread or something?).

We tend to be drawn towards names that are not too high on the popularity list but that are not totally unheard of either. When Trinity was born, her name was ranked about 75th in popularity; two years later, Connor was around 60th (they've both moved up the lists since then).

I don't need the name to start or end in any particular letters. In fact, I think I look towards names that are not the same starting letters of any in our family.

I like my boy names to be manly; I prefer my girl names to be strong and feminine. I leave the boy names in the boy list; the poor guys are running out of options!

For the middle names, we, somewhat accidently, ended up with a similar bent. Rose and Sage are both one syllable words that are both a plant and a color. At this point, Jade is the only other word to match that trend that we can think of!

My friend, Jennifer, who is due this next month reminded her readers to carefully consider the acronym made by the child's initials, as well. I have read that kids with positive acronyms (GOD, ACE) are happier and more well adjusted than those children with less appealing initial combinations (DUD, ASS, DOG).

So, with our criteria in mind, feel free to NAME OUR BABY! I started to share some that have lingered on our lists through the years, but I'd like to start from scratch. I'll keep you posted on the progress...

15 comments:

Johnathan M. Thomas said...

I'm really no good at this game... Dawnette and I came up with Adams middle name the night before. Ronald. A.R.T. I think thats a positive acronym.

Anyhow, last night at devo we sang, "Agnus Dei" How about Agnus? I think it is latin for Lamb... If you say it with a Scottish accent, it sounds cool. However, I'm not sure if it's a boy or girl name. I think a boy would do better with it than a girl.

Agnus Rose White ARW
Agnus Sage White ASW
Agnus Jade White AJW

Just don't name the boy
Chris Owen White COW
or
Christine Oprah White COW

I can see how that might scare a kid.

peace.

Sarah Megan said...

Man, I feel excited that I am going to be there when you find out what this kid's name is. I already have my kids names picked out, but they arent Scottish so I cant really help you out. Im super excited now....haha yet another thing in Portland to look forward to :)

Lori Ann said...

Let's see Gwyneth Paltrow just named her son Moses...to O.T>?
I still like Lilly, but I guess Lilly White is out of the question.
I still like one syllable boys names...Hank, Joe, Will (just Will not William) you already have one of those though.
I guess I'm not to much help, thats why we had to stop at 3. We aren't good at names.

Anonymous said...

The only experience I have in choosing a name was naming our dog. And that process took nearly a month and completely exhausting every noun we could think of.

However, I will happily play your game by offering you a few names for your list.

Addison, Ainsley, Kira, and Moira

Ian, Finn, and Elliott

Happy baby name hunting!
Christa

Anonymous said...

how about martin angus white, MAW. call him angus. if that's not a scottish name, then i haven't seen braveheart. the monogram even gives it up to his maw.

rebecca marie said...

i can't do better than christa... i've always loved the name moira, it was on the short list for my cameron (SCOTTISH TOO!). and for a boy, i'm a sucker for an ian. i think ian white is awesome.

KMiV said...

I was just reading Rebecca Mari's blog. How about Froy?

The book Freakanomics (which will be in my next blog) has an interesting section about names and how they move up in popularity but down in economic class. For instance upper class folks come up with a new name and it catches on. Then as it becomes popular upper class folks quit using it and create new names. I don't quite understand the implications but it is interesting that Hunter used to be a new "preppy" name. Now that we have used it, the name is common. Interesting, especially for us Missouri rednecks--you would think Hunter started with us.

Ron

JanniLaine said...

I had a friend give her son the initials EAR. I said "Um... Do you realize his initials are EAR?" she told me that I'm the ONLY one who would notice. I said "He'll notice EVERY TIME HE HAS TO INITIAL SOMETHING!"

She didn't listen. Poor little EAR.

Naming is alllll the fun. I am all done having children, but I still name them! Right now, my daughter would be Scarlet and my son would be Lucas Byron. The best name I've heard in a while is Myles Callahan (Heather LaRue's son). How fun for you!

rebecca marie said...

oh, i should have told you, for the sake of fun... wade's kids? both have the initials ACE.

Jason Hill said...

Rebecca is right, it is hard to top my wife. So I'll just offer some middle name ponderings. I'm sure none of them would be appropriate, but they were fun to think about.

One syllable names that are a plant and a color:
Plum, Peach, Lime-maybe not a plant, but a fruit nonetheless
Fern cool northwest plant that crayola considers color, also has a righteous, retro feel to it

If you might consider 2 syllables then I thought of:
Violet
Saffron--one of my favs
Thistle, another crayola color, but perhaps more Irish than Scottish (not sure of the implications of that)
Cerise--not exactly a plant but gets its origin from the French word for cherry and is a rich, vivid hue. (Not to mention a strong, female comic character.)

Now, if you want to be really cool and you don't mind 4 syllables you could offer a name that is strong and go with:
Mahogony (a rich color, as well)

For extra credit I'll leave you with one that is not a plant, but has organic origins AND is a wonderful color:
Sienna

Cheryl said...

I'll chime in...
Kira and Ian are awesome choices and both go with Jade.
Brodie...

What about Scottish towns...or mountains...Edin (for Edinburgh)

Happy naming...

Anonymous said...

Drawing a total blank in general. Always this way with our baby names.

Agnus? Thanks, but we don't live in Sweden or Ancient Rome. Isn't it, "Magnus Dei"?

"Froy"? Are you kidding? =)

Acronyms I like:
MAN
YEA
HAW (Henry Allan White!)
FOO
MMM
WOO
YES
ESP

Anonymous said...

name the baby looks like a popular game!

Jennifer B. Davis said...

Here are some other ideas:

*Scottish Tartans/family names that might make good first names:*
Alexander, Allison, Birch, Clark, Douglas (smile), Gordon, Graham, Grant, Gray, James, Kennedy, Logan, Martin, Maxwell, Reid, Ross, Stewart (maybe not), Saul, Scott, Thompson, Taylor, Walker, and Macintosh (which is not only a Scottish name, but also a tribute to your favorite computing platform?).

*Names that "sound" Scottish or Celtic:*
Breigh, Arin, Britt, Brynnan, Carson, Lena, Hadleigh, Kealy, Kierra, Kellen, Morgan, Rowan, Tarin, Bryson, Brogan, Seannessey, Braden, Patrick, Peter

The *color/plant* is tough. Here are some ideas of at least things that are a color and a naturally-occuring thing (if not a plant):
Pine, Slate, Stone, Olive, Wheat, Sky. Brodening to more than one syllable, you pick up Heather, Citrine, Cardinal, Ambar, Lilac, Ruby, etc.

Of these, I like Brogran, Kellen, Carson, or Ian for boys.

For girls, I think Seannessey White sounds cool.

Jennifer B. Davis said...

Here is another...

I have a Scottish colleague who just had a baby girl and named her Machara Caoimh. Here is what our company newsletter said about the name: Machara's name is Gaelic in honor of Doug's Scottish roots. Her name is pronounced Ma-kara Ki-vaa and means plain (as in flat ground) beautiful.

This family has an older son named Ewan, so those are both solid Scottish names for you to consider!