Saturday, October 09, 2010

Baby names

For some reason, I thought I was having a girl. Maybe because I'm carrying so differently -- K was a bottom-dweller, but #2 seems to want to live in my ribcage. I had started thinking about girl names. When we heard we were having a boy, JW and I said to each other, "Oh no, we'll have to come up with another boy name!" Boy names are tough, unless you're going with something classic. There's a much wider acceptable range of feminine names.

I tried a baby name finder online, but it came up with all sorts of ridiculous names (random sampling: Blayze, Bear, Heathcliff, Cambridge). So I'm soliciting ideas here.

Guidelines:
  • No names that start with A, K, O, P, S, T
  • Prefer that it not be a classic American boys' name (John, Michael, James, William)
  • Prefer no overly trendy names (Aiden, Caden, Jayden, Ethan)
  • No explicitly religious names or non-Indian/Hindu ethnic names (no Obediah or Jafar)
  • No prep-school WASPy names (Preston, Blake)
  • Both sets of grandparents have to be able to pronounce it
I guess the problem with baby names for us is that since we have an American last name, I don't want the first and middle name to be entirely American too. At the same time, most Bengali boys' names are unpronounceable in English. (For instance, my cousin's husband was lobbying for his name, Angshuman.)

All suggestions are welcome!


K's suggestions: Radiator, Flash, or Shiny Frank.

I'm looking through a baby name list, trying to compile a list of names I don't object to (with JW's reaction in parentheses):
Cole ("eh")
Max (not too bad, but has become trendy)
Dexter (veto, because of the serial killer show. JW: "How about Baxter?" Me: "No, that sounds too much like a badger or beaver.")
Gage? ("Sounds like a wrestler. Shiny Frank is better.")
Ray (no, because K's name already means "ray of light")
Warren (veto, because we know someone with this name)
Cade? ("Cade?" "Yes. It means 'round or lumpy.'" "Maybe.")
Colin (actually has some overlap with Indian names)

Me (looking at baby name list): "Kale? Like the vegetable?"
JW: "I'm sorry, did you say something?"
Posted by CM at 8:56 AM
Labels:

12 comments:

  1. You should pose your question to the name enthusiasts message board on ivillage where I hang out: http://forums.ivillage.com/ivillage/?category.id=iv-psbabynames

    I'll try to think of some things, but it's very difficult because I don't know you in real life and have no idea what K's name is.

    ReplyDelete

  3. We had a million and one boy names (but alas, I can't think of a single one now, of course) and no girl names until finally we came up with P's. What helped me was thinking of an adult name and how it would fit, then giving her a middle name that had five or six nickname possibilities if she absolutely hated her first name like I hate mine! Yeah. So my advice is pick a name for a 40 year old. :)

    ReplyDelete

  4. I spent a summer in a 2-year old preschool, and one of the most adorable little boys was named Rahul. I love that name, and I think it's easily pronouncable in English because it sounds like of like Raul, which has become more common.

    What a fun situation to be in! :)

    ReplyDelete

  5. Let me get this straight - we need a pronounceable Indian name that doesn't start with A, K, O, P, S, or T? Why no K? You could call him K-2 on the blog - like 2nd to Mount Everest or 2nd child. Hee, hee, hee.

    ReplyDelete

  6. Hey - how about an American sounding name with an Indian-like spelling? Nhil - pronouced Neal, but it's like a shortened version of Nikhil!

    ReplyDelete

  7. Neal and Jay are the two boys' names that actually overlap. But it doesn't have to be an Indian first name -- we could do an Indian middle name instead. I'll update this post with a list of a few names that I think are okay, instead of just a long list of names I don't want.

    ReplyDelete

  8. This is tricky. I don't know any Indian names besides Preetmohan and Allampalayam, neither of which are particularly English friendly.

    I like Lucas. Evan. Charlie. Collin. Dylan. Garrett. Just throwing some out there.

    ReplyDelete

  9. I like Quentin, Logan, Carter and Oliver. Also considered Wyatt and Lucas.

    I agree, boys names are much tougher than girls names!

    ReplyDelete

  10. Okay, I've come up with quite a few suggestions based on your additional information. Insofar as you're interested in suggestions from random strangers, but hey, you did post this on your blog. I've divided these into three categories:

    NICE NAMES IN THE TOP 100 BUT NOT HORRIBLY POPULAR
    Brian
    Lucas
    Zachary
    Ian

    NAMES THAT HAVE THE TYPE OF SOUND YOU SEEM TO LIKE
    Blake (top 100)
    Derek
    Drake
    Erik / Eric (top 100)
    Clark
    Clay
    Carl
    Cameron (top 100)
    Dean
    Reid / Reed
    Ross

    RECOGNIZABLE NAMES THAT ARE SOMEWHAT UNFASHIONABLE NOW BUT I STILL THINK ARE GREAT
    Wesley
    Gregory
    Drew
    Walter
    Brandon
    Jason
    Marvin
    Gary
    Roger
    Jeffrey
    Victor
    Trevor

    ReplyDelete

  11. Hanah, thanks! And thanks to all of you who offered suggestions. We have some time, but are looking for inspiration, and this helps.

    ReplyDelete

  12. I’d like to share some names that I’ve been considering. I wanted to pick a Greek name at first (I have several relatives who speak very little English) but my fiancé is Irish and “Apostoli” or “Dimitri” just wouldn’t fit. So I’ve been looking at more English sounding names.
    Vaughan
    Finley
    Dylan
    Morgan
    Malcolm
    Warren (It’s great name! Who cares if you know someone named Warren)

    And here are some names you probably won’t like but I do:
    Tyler
    Piers
    Kevin
    Keith

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)