Tomorrow I’ll be having some tests to determine our baby-to-be’s gender. I don’t know how soon we’ll get the results, but probably sometime in April. I’ve tried to avoid daydreaming about names until we know for sure. But, Whitney can attest to the fact that I’ve been earmarking “my third son’s name” for years now.
For my rookie baby, we didn’t find out. We kept gender — and all manner of realities about newborns — a total shock and surprise until his birth. We named that kid Holden. When I look back at the list I made of boy and girl names, there’s not a lot I can use from it.
We found out our second baby’s gender because I figured, if you’re going to stick a needle in my belly, you might as well tell me. Our second son didn’t get any of those original names because they were all too matchy-match with Holden (Holden and Nolan? Nah. Holden and Colin? Nuh uh.). We named our second boy Milo.
But those girls names? I guess they’re still on the short list. Sadie was our chief girls’ name contender.
What about you? Do you have a list of Other Gender names on stand-by? Any I can borrow?
[photos from flickr, blue ribbon by meaganjane and pink ribbon by linasmith]
I have two amazing little boys, but a little girl tugs at my heart! Although we are done having babies, if I would have had a girl, I had these two names picked out: Ariana, or Aubrey <3
They don’t just do an ultra sound for you to determine the sex of the baby? The needle part sure doesn’t sound fun :/
Fine, you can have my last remaining unused name, DYLAN, for either gender. But if I ever re-open the shop, so to speak, I still might use it.
I was convinced our third would be our third boy so I had all sorts of boy names picked, Liam, Noah, Max, Roman (though my husband was strongly vetoing Roman.) For the first two pregnancies my girl list was endless, so of course we had boys.
When we found out we were having a girl we really struggled. I looked back on past lists and they all seemed over used or simply not MY daughter’s name.
(I love Sadie by the way, that’s my niece’s name and she’s just fantastic so I think of the name as being wonderful as well.)
Our girl list included about twenty names I found in a book of names derived from famous novels or stories, none of which my husband and I could agree on for our girl.
A week before she arrived, we both went to our own spots in the house and went through websites of names and made new lists. The next morning we compared lists and were really surprised to see that we both had the same name at the top. Previously unmentioned and one we didn’t know anyone had used recently. It seemed difficult to not use that name….Stella.
Good luck in the process. You’ll find the right one eventually!
Ever since college (and before I met my boyfriend/husband) I had two names picked out: Gabriel for a boy, Meike (MY-kah) for a girl.
So when my son was born, we named him Gabriel. Then when I got pregnant again, we were faced with he possibility of another boy and I really had no idea where to even being naming a second boy. I came up with the name Johan (which my family hated but my husband didn’t oppose), just in case. We ended up having Meike, so it worked out, but I still like the name Johan. It’s an older name (think, Johan Sebastian Bach…or Johan Cruyff) and not overly common, which is good because our last name is Sanchez, which is the most common last name on the planet.
I don’t foresee having any more children at this point, so you can use Johan if you’d like
The other two names I would use for a girl would be Lidia or Josephine.
Good luck!
I don’t know about first names, but if we have a girl in the future there’s a good chance her middle name will be Danger.
Yeah, we’re THOSE PEOPLE.
My girl name for Cormac was Violet. I found out I was pregnant in the spring, and that was when the violets were poking out of the frozen Chicago ground. Also, I was reading The Color Purple at the time, and Alice Walker has a beautiful part about purple flowers.
Oh, and we were going to name Cormac Emmett if he was bald, and Milo (!) if he was dark-haired. Blonde was for Cormac!
We had out first on Christmas Eve. He’s Jackson but we probably would have gone with Hannah for a girl. My husband likes Regan for a girl but I really think we need to stop with the presidents. (out dog’s name is madison)
I love Sadie! We always struggled with boy names and came up with exactly 2 names for boys we both really liked. Well, four if you count the middle names, but they were definitely second place. (Incidentally, I lobbied *hard* for Milo but never got my husband on board.) Our list of girl names was a mile long though:
Ruby
Maxine
Stella
Maggie
Betsy
Violet
Pearl
Dahlia
Alice
Hazel
Ava
Charlotte
Lucy
Basically, I could have had 10 baby girls during the Depression and their names would have fit right in. Those are the ones that I can remember just off the top of my head. If I went through a baby book I could probably come up with 30 more. I’ll happily be your baby name suggester!
Also, @Jess — I LOVE Danger for a middle name! Moxie is high on my list of girl middle names, but you’re obviously braver than me.
My husband’s family has ALLLL boys (6)… so I have girl names, but sadly, will probably never use them. Names and reasons: Lola (my maternal grandmother’s name), Charlie (my maternal grandfather’s name), Jolie (my brother’s name is Joel), Scottlynn (my husband’s name is Scott), Shiloh (I just like it).
I love the name Milo it’s at the top of our list for boys names. My daughter’s name is Kiley if she would have been a boy it would’ve been Brayden, which is way to common now. Sadly, I lost the list of names we had for her. We’re on baby #2 and won’t know the sex until next month but our list of names is boys: Milo, Maverick, Oliver, Jackson (my husband favorite but it’s a little to common for me), Eddison, Liam, Teagon, Wyatt, Finley, Kingsley. Girls names: Miley, Amelia, Mira (Meer-rah), Annabelle, Haley, and Allison. I have always had a lot harder time with girls names.
I can’t give up my contenders b/c I’m pregnant myself, and I’m one of those people who likes to keep my names list super secret (much to my sister’s chagrin), despite this being our third baby. So, all I can offer you are the 2 names we’ve already used, which of course I think are fantastic. ; )
Georgia and June. Or their middle names, Maeve and Finch (a maiden name from our family).
Holden was our boy name, but we had two girls!
We have a Stella… we thought it was unusual at the time, but since then we’ve met a ton of little Stellas! I’m hoping it’s not the next Madison…
For boys I’ve always liked James and Harrison.
We were convinced (wrongly, it turns out) that our first was a girl and had her name ready to go. Two boys later (Trevor and Connor), I was sure the next would be a boy as well and had settled on Justin (just love the boyishness of it), Chase (my grandmother’s maiden name) or Parker (though didn’t want to be too matchy with the other boys’ names…it was an oversight last time). Turns out we’re about to welcome a baby girl instead and suddenly unsure of the name we’ve loved for years. I’ve been combing through the Baby Name Wizard every night…
Gracious, a third??? What rock have I been hiding under that I was unaware of this lovely news? Congratulations. As for names – Finn would certainly have been Fiona if he’d been a girl. If memory serves, we were pretty much leaving the hospital 3 days after her birth when we settled on Maeve for #2. Sadie was on our list, and it’s lovely but I’m guessing you are going to go further outside the box this time — something to keep up with the terrifically unique Holden and Milo. Maybe the suitable for all genders name with so much moxie – Sawyer? (We didn’t dare, due to the Mark Twain association with Finn)… Hmm, there’s a little ginger haired girl at Finn’s school who could easily pass for your child; she’s a real pixie, and her name is Zola, which is also lovely. Maybe that?
We are expecting boy #2. Boy names are HARD! We’ve had a girl name since long before we were expecting the first one. Gonna keep on saving that name, in case we decide to have another one.
we are having a boy but if he turned out to be a she, it would have been Everly.
PS- I have a cousin named Holden and his sister’s name is Simona. I think they sound great together!
We learned via ultrasound that Juliet was a girl, but we picked a boys’ name – Truman – just in case the ultrasound tech made a mistake. Our second choice name for Juliet was Wren, which I thought would be the ultimate choice up until the day before she was born. Charlie (Charlotte) would have been Calvin if she had been a boy, and our second pick was Penelope (Polly). I adore thinking about baby names – I wish naming them was a profession because I would be all over it.
I have three daughters. (Callista Claire, Charlize Cyrina and Lorelei Christine) If I have a boy I really love the names Wayne, Oliver and Alistaire. If it’s another girl I like the names Hadliegh, Vivienne and Scarlett.
Our girl choices for our little Kevin were Adelaide (Addie) or Natalie. The backup boy name was William (Will). We will most likely have another in a year or so, and we’ll see if any of those make the cut. We know several little Will’s now so I was leaning towards eliminating that possibility, but recently discovered the possibility of Liam as a nickname for William- which was another name we’d thought about!
My brother has b/g twins about 11 months younger than my daughter. When I found out that their boy name was different-real-name-same-”calling-name” as our unused boy name, I said “Well, it’s not like we’ll ever use it, so we certainly don’t mind it you do!”
Now that we’re about to try for #2 (changed our minds and some things worked out to make another IVF possible!) I was giving my SIL a hard time about “stealing” our name, when she told me that *their* original first choice girl name was different-real-name-same-”calling-name” as our daughter!
Funny thing is, my brother and I didn’t know anyone by either name growing up. We don’t know why we picked the same two names!
You are welcome to share Sarah Jane (from my husband the Genesis fan) and Elizabeth Jane (from me the Pride and Prejudice fan) since we ultimately went William Robert (I got my P&P in anyway!)
I wanted a Drake if we had a boy. It’s my maiden name, but 2 girls later, we have an Eliza and a Lidia. Another name that was always on my love list was Georgia Grace…knickname Gigi.
Our other sex was Amelia Lorraine, lucky for him we had chosen Tanner Antonio
I loved so many names that my husband just wouldn’t agree to but I wanted a name with Rich history. So we named my daughter Isabella(thinking of Queen Isabel of Spain) and for my son we wanted sOmething different but still along our cultural background. We decided on Benicio Gael. For our next girl I like Lola or Peyton or if it’s a boy I like Jonah or Nathan
Here I was about to tell you my daughter’s somewhat unique name when it has already been listed just a couple of comments above! We named her Lorelei as well.
Our second choice name for her was Lynnea (which is sometimes spelled Linnea). It is too matchy to use if we have another girl in the future and since our list was only two long I think I would feel funny offering my second child our “second choice” name. Anyone else feel like that?
I teach, and some less well known and sweet names I’ve seen filter through in the past couple of years include Kalise, Malia, Anja (An-ya), and a Sadie. If we have a second girl I’m interested in using Mae or May as a middle name.
Our alternate boys names were kind of boring and I was so glad to have a girl!
@Kate, I totally agree about not sharing the name! I don’t mind soliciting your ideas but I won’t share our choice until the baby cries.
@Michelle, it might sound silly — in fact, I know it does — but I don’t trust ultrasounds as a means to determine gender. I always heard of a friend of a friend’s false prediction, so I just didn’t want to find out that way. For my second and third pregnancies, the dr. recommends an amnio for me, so I figure if they really KNOW then I want to know.
Love the great ideas, thanks!!
Found this website useful when trying to pick a name for our 3rd girl last year. Our unused boy names were Conor and Owen.
http://nameberry.com/blog/2010-most-popular-names-charlotte-leads-nameberry%E2%80%99s-top-100-for-girls
My daughter’s Rosabelle, but if it was a boy, I would have liked Jayden (though sharing the same taste as Britney Spears is quite questionable for some…), or something like Keon (think it’s like the name of the national beer in Cyprus!).
We had an easy time with girl names – we had a long list we liked for our first – but we agreed upon Ashley. Other names at the top of our list were: Paige, Lauren, Lucy. Once she was here she wasn’t anything other than an Ashley.
I also loved the name Cash, but since we often call our daughter “Ash”, that would have been weird to have Ash and Cash!
Boy names we had a tough time with. Our girl had her name settled months before she was born; our boy still didn’t have a name when we went into the hospital to have him. Once he was born we decided on Bradley, which totally fits him
Yes, we still have a list from #1 kid. And NO you may not borrow. We may still use the girl one yet.
I have a little girl who is precious. but the whole time I was pregnant I thought she was a little boy. Had the whole name picked out lol Jason Floyd. i’m old fashioned..but I also had the girl name picked out too. Sarah Van..after our great grandmothers. now we are trying for another one and I would love a son! the names we picked out are Isiah Blaine,Jackson Junior after their dad and Tobias Blake..
If I had been a boy, I would have been named Preston.
I’m on my first baby now, but my husband’s deployment to Afghanistan was shortly after we found out I was pregnant. So we ended up methodically picking names for both genders before he left, since we knew it’d be much harder once he was overseas. Found out last month that it is a little girl, but since we’ve already picked her name, you’re welcome to our runner up – Keira Noelle. If you’re having another little man, our choice there was Gavin Elijah.
Oh my goodness, I have a list of both a MILE long. I knew we’d use my first’s name (a family name), Adelaide, from the start. Took us forever to pick her middle name though. I heard it on a commercial – so grand! Boys names (we never got one) were very problematic, because my husband wanted one I didn’t (Raif/Rafe). Our second daughter is Harleigh (with my middle name Leigh). My husband picked it and wouldn’t let it go. I wish we’d named her Piper, now that I know her, but what can you do. I loved the name Jack for a boy (Jackson?) but a friend used it. Ryder, Rhett, Cade, Benjamin, and Garrett were all on my top for boys. For girls (besides ours) I liked Harper, Avery, Tegan, Ainsley, Victoria, Holly, Betsey, and Linleigh. I also liked Lorelai (Lori), which a friend used with Elizabeth in Jan!
Luella Marie. My maternal grandmother’s middle name and paternal grandmother & great grandmother’s first name. I am no allowed to use it. Which I am incredibly pissed about. My MIL is Ann Marie, taking away Marie. He hates Luella. I’ve wanted to use that name forever. Didn’t get it with kid number one, wanted it for girl #2. We are currently in a crazy fight over names.
OOh, love Juliet and Wren. They would go so well with Holden and Milo — unique but known names. The names I wanted to use for our girl but husband scrapped: Geneva (nn Genny), Laurel, and Suzanna. Good luck choosing, naming is the hardest part!
Am anxiously awaiting gender news from you! As a mother of two boys, I just have this sneaking suspicion that if I went for a third, it would be a boy too. Which would be just fine with me, by the way!
As for girl names….I’m turning into a traditionalist..I love Abigail.
NOW…have you seen Pregnant in Heels on Bravo?? And the one with the focus group on naming?? whoa!
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