I’m obsessed w
ith baby names. Freakishly obsessed. In fact, I’d like to name your baby.
Ask my friends. I’m breathlessly giddy when someone asks my opinion on a combination of first and middle names with the surname or the siblings’ names. My heart races just thinking about it.
Thank goodness I write fiction, which means I can legitimately waste time on baby-name sites when I’m creating characters. Although last year I actually published a story about a couple arguing in the hospital over what to name their third boy. I warned you–freakishly obsessed.
So . . . clearly I have a problem. But lucky for you, if you’re expanding your family or naming characters for stories and novels, I’m offering my collection of names as a good starting point.
The names below have stood the test of time. Whose test? MINE! Hey–it’s my blog. What is the “test” based on? Gut feel. That’s all. I like a name or I don’t. But for the purposes of the list below, I tried to provide some sort of logical headings. It should be noted (because I want kudos for my restraint) that I can provide an even longer list of names I think you should avoid, but I’d rather not insult the blogosphere. At least not today.
HOW THE LIST WORKS:
- The headings–my attempt to “explain” my gut reaction to a name–inherently reflect what I value and admire in a name. (aka, you won’t find a category entitled: “names from Jersey Shore”)
- I’ve included more names for girls than boys because I don’t like foofy boys’ names. I could only do so much with my boys’ list.
- If you know me in any capacity (and even if you don’t) please do not resent me for leaving your child’s name off the list. The list is hardly exhaustive. My kids’ names don’t appear on it either! And you know I love those names!
- In general if a name is not on this list, it doesn’t mean I hate the name. It means the name is not among my *favorites.* Or . . . it means I’m hoarding it for myself. Because you never know. I have to save the absolute gems.
- The list is not alphabetical. For reasons of laziness.
NAMES FOR GIRLS
Feminine But Not Flowery: Lydia, Julia, Juliet, Elizabeth, Maya, Mia, Taryn, Caroline, Chelsea, Lindsey, Audrey, Sasha, Layla
Flowery or Cute But in a Way That Works (What do I mean by “works?” I don’t know. It’s subjective. Like I said–gut feel.): Daisy, Phoebe, Libby, Sadie, Lucy, Josie, Lila, Ellie, Ariella, Carly, Emily, April, Abby, Holly, Ivy, Chloe, Ruby
Simple Goodness: Margo, Anna, Annie, Jane, Kate, Lauren, Claire, Allison
Hebrew Names I Love But Didn’t have the Balls to Use for my Girls: Avital, Ayelet, Yael (pronounced YAH-el)
Names I Would Use or Almost Used But are Now Too Close to My Kids’ Names: Danielle, Ilana/Alana/Elana, Eliana, Aliza (pronounced: ah-LEE-za), Eliza (pronounced: eh-LIE-za)
NAMES FOR BOYS
Boy’s Names I Like: Eli, Jack, Seth, Miles, Asher, Daniel, Ethan, Evan, Julian, Ross, Noah, Jared, Gabriel (Gabe), Max, Micah, Nathan, Saul, Zack, Charlie, Drew, Liam, Jake, Simon, Will, Avi, Zev, Ezra, Levi, Judah
So does anyone else collect names? What names would you suggest for my lists that seem to go with the themes? I’m not ashamed to steal ideas!
UPDATE: Soon after I wrote this post, I found out I was pregnant with baby #4. In July 2011, I wrote a follow up called “Help My Husband Name Our Baby.” Why on Earth would I give over naming rights to my husband? You’ll have to read the post to find out!
(Photo credit kaatjeveroort via Flickr)
Nina (@NinaBadzin)
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Welcome! I am a freelance writer living in Minneapolis with my husband and four children. My essays on parenting, social media etiquette, improving my habits, Jewish life and more appear in the Huffington Post, Kveller.com, The Jewish Daily Forward and elsewhere. I'm glad you found your way here!
my third (and baby!) is already 1.5, but i’m still carrying around a favorite names list in my blackberry. my unused faves sasha and marco for boys, and i maya, kaia & talia for girls. tiana was on the list too, until disney rendered it hokey.
I too have always loved names. It’s funny that you wrote a story about a couple trying to name their 3rd boy. We had girls names we easily agreed on, but had three boys. Each was a struggle to name. As most people noted, it is agreeing on a name that is the hard part, plus the name shouldn’t be too strange but not too common, it should be easy to pronounce and spell, and it needs to fit with last names and sibling names, etc. If we were to ever have another boy, I think it would take us years to agree on a name (although I have always loved Matan).
Thanks for sharing, Nina! I love that Maya made your “feminine but not flowery list.” One of the characters in my novel is named Maya and that’s actually a good way of describing her. She likes to act tough and she’s definitely not very girly, but she has her soft spots.
[...] a regular on this blog, then you can guess THE ONE baby issue I’m planning to discuss. BABY NAMES! But we have a long time to start worrying about all that. Since I’m in the post-nausea/ [...]
[...] this: Bryan has lost faith in my baby naming abilities. MY abilities! Aren’t I the person whose meanderings about baby names got reprinted on BlogHer and Nameberry? No decent person in his right mind would take away what [...]
I am a HUGE name obsessor too.
We have two sons, Gabriel and Lucas. If we had been blessed with a third boy he would have been Rafael James, with “Rafe” as the nickname
Our girl names (before we knew our boys were boys) were Victoria and Juliet. Not so fond of Victoria any more, but I love the name Juliet and Elizabeth and Anne. I love Bella too as a name.
I guess I like old-fashioned girl names!
Hi! I love all the names you mentioned except Victoria, too. Gabriel and Lucas are great. Do you do Gabe and Luke or keep it their full names?
Gabriel is Gabe.
Lucas for a few years now has gone by “Lucky.” Long story about how he acquired that nickname about age 8 but it has stuck. In fact, our nextdoor neighbors didn’t realize that WASN’T his given name! It suits him now.
p.s. One of my pet peeves is when siblings’ names don’t “match.” Actually, growing up ours didn’t. I am Allison and I have a sister named Teresa. No match.
p.p.s. We adopted both our pets from different friends and thus didn’t name them. We have a girl dog named Riley and a boy cat named Wiley. I kid you not.
I’m obsessed with names, too; however, for me, that obsession includes the combination of first name with last: The full name should flow well, sound pleasing to the ear, and “make sense.” Moreover, it shouldn’t make “negative” sense. For example, “Ava” seems to be very popular choice these days. A pretty name, no? However, IF (as in the case of an acquaintance of mine), one’s last name is Koff, one must steer clear of Ava.
“Ava Koff,” you might be thinking: “Hmmm…not so bad.” BUT say it fast three times (preferably with a New York accent) and the reason for avoiding it will hit you! The problem with naming little Ava was that her parents wanted her gender and name to be a surprise, so they didn’t go over any potential names with anyone. For Ava’s sake, I SO wish they had!
I loved this post! I love names too. Even as a kid, when I didn’t think I wanted to have kids when I grew up, I would obsess over names. I would write lists of names. I would even list as many names as I could think of for each letter of the alphabet. We had the Big Book of Baby Names in our junior high library (Why? I don’t know–it’s weird. But hey, I’m the one who checked it out, right?) I would peruse that book for hours.
I’m obviously a dog lover (from the name of my blog–my name is Andrea, by the way), so I absolutely love to name dogs, or think of dog names in addition to baby names. My favorite dog names are either classic or kind of dorky human names. Our boxer is named Gertie. Cute but not flowery, and it fits her spunky personality. Plus, we can call her Gertrude when she’s in trouble. When didn’t get to name Duke, and I would have chosen a different name for him–something like Alfred–Alfie for short–or Bernard. I like Stanley for a bloodhound and Mabel for a bulldog (see, with dogs, the breed matters too).
Anyway, I guess what I’m saying is: Please Let Me Name Your Dog.
I totally give you permission to write a post called “Please Let me Name Your Dog” and just do a quick link to my post.
Seriously, it would be a cute post and you could talk about how you used to love baby name books, etc. Go for it!
[...] and I perused the book of names for hours. So I connected when I read Nina Badzin’s post Please Let Me Name Your Baby, and in a similar fashion, I would like to offer my naming services for canines. [...]
Nina! Can you name my baby? It’s become the most insane process with me and my husband. I suggest something. He says “no”. Repeat 100 times. I have two boys, Asher and Jonah. Not sure what this one is until he/she arrives in April. I like hebrew/jewish names but like you mentioned, i’m not sure i have the balls to go over the top with it. I really love Vered and Avital for a girl. My boy names are Micah and Ari but my cousins who we are close to just used them! Ahhh. Suggestions?
some ideas: BOYS: Gabriel, Avi, Elias, Silas, David,
GIRLS: Ariella, Gavriella, Hava, Devora, Eve
Thanks for chiming in too!
So fun that you found this post! I have to tell you, I’ve been VERY happy with Rebecca for my daughter. I got tons of compliments for picking something not heard as often these days but not “weird.” Other good names with Asher and Jonah:
Eden
Eliana
Ariella
Noa (though I’m not a huge fan of gender neutral.)
Dalia (my fav!)
Talia
Sarah
Sari
Aliza
If I think of another favorite I’ll let you know. Did you see my post about naming our fourth??
Hi Nina! Thanks for the list. I need another opinion. I’ve kind of been into Avital and Vered for a girl but I’m a little gun shy since it is obviously Israeli and not too secular. I sort of want to just GO FOR IT but i need encouragement. What do you think? Also loving Dalia. Going on my list! Also, Ezra for a boy? Trying to get past my image of the Ezra I grew up with (wasn’t a fan). Thoughts on my names? thanks! This helps so much (especially since my wonderful husband isn’t helpful with this IMPORTANT job of naming our child!)
Ezra is great and goes well with Asher and Jonah. My friend’s baby is Zev—another great name! Strong! For girls, I love Avital, but I’m not crazy about Vered . . . if you lived in Israel I’d feel differently about it. I know Ezra and Avital are Hebrew as well, but those names are Biblical whereas Vered (true for Talia and Dalia too) are really modern Israeli/secular names. I almost named my daughters Talia but the nurses at the hospital always said ta-LEE-a. We live in Minnesota, not Tel Aviv. What could I expect? That said, when I meet a little girl named Talia I tend to regret not using it.
That’s my two cents!! Keep me posted. You have to promise. Also–how did you find the blog? Through Nameberry?
Hi Nina. I promise promise promis to follow up but I’m not due until April so we have some time to go! Not sure howi found your blog. Must have been doing a google search for Jewish baby names or something! So glad I found you though. And a huge mazel tov on the birth of your fourth! Every pregnancy I say it’s the last but here I am again (I’m not a great preggo person) so I especially appreciated your blog on your 4th pregnancy. Thanks again for your name advice. Lots to think about.
Wait! One more idea! Aviva . . . and you could call her Vivi . . . just a thought!
On Tue, Dec 27, 2011 at 7:21 PM, Nina Badzin’s Blog wrote:
> Ezra is great and goes well with Asher and Jonah. My friend’s baby is > Zev—another great name! Strong! For girls, I love Avital, but I’m not > crazy about Vered . . . if you lived in Israel I’d feel differently about > it. I know Ezra and Avital are Hebrew as well, but those names are Biblical > whereas Vered (true for Talia and Dalia too) are really modern > Israeli/secular names. I almost named my daughters Talia but the nurses at > the hospital always said ta-LEE-a. We live in Minnesota, not Tel Aviv. What > could I expect? That said, when I meet a little girl named Talia I tend to > regret not using it. > > That’s my two cents!! Keep me posted. You have to promise. Also–how did > you find the blog? Through Nameberry? >
I always wanted to name my son Noah Naftali. My husband wasn’t too crazy about the name but eventually he started to love the name Noah (but couldn’t do anything with Naftali), so, we decided to name our son Noah Mikeil (Mikeil is my father-in-law’s name – he adopted my husband when I was 6-7 months pregnant, although he’s raised him but never had the money to legally adopt him… my husband wanted our child to have the last-name of the man he called father. I’m glad it went through before Noah was born because I didn’t want to go along having to change his name and birthcertificate etc so shortly after he was born).
We thought, if we’d have a girl to name her Sophie Lynn… (twin girls would’ve been Eleanor Marie and Elizabeth Ann – my mother’s name is Marianne and mother-in-law’s middle name is Ann)… Ah, I love every excuse to look for names in baby books etc. =))
All great names you have here! I could seriously talk about names all day. It’s kind of a sickness, really.
Stop by my blog: http://ninabadzin.com Follow me on Twitter: @NinaBadzin
What do you think? Juliet Sage or Rayna Juliet? Other kids are Isaiah Samuel and Sasha Rose. Surname is Kline. Love the blog!
While I love the name Juliet, I like Rayna too and it fits much better with Isaiah and Sasha. Great names by the way!! So Rayna Juliet is perfect! (I’m not a fan of Sage.)
Good luck!
Hi Nina! I wrote to you months back asking you to help me pick a name for my baby due in April. I was looking for a Jewish name but one that was also secular enough to fit into the mainstream. If you remember my sons were name Asher and Jonah. Well turns out in April we met our beautiful daughter and settled on a name after a good 8 hour discussion in the hospital. We named her Hannah Liat. Hannah after her great grandfather, Herman, who passed away only weeks before her birth. And Liat because I wanted that Jewish twist and loved the sound and meaning. I’ve enjoyed your blog and thanks again for your suggestions!
Lauren,
Mazel tov! I absolutely remember you. I’m so excited for you that you had a girl. Of course I’d be excited no matter what, but there is something extra special about having the chance to experience a son and a daughter. I have two of each and feel extraordinary blessed. Hannah Liat is a beautiful name! You get the biblical and the more modern Hebrew. It’s perfect!
Thanks so much for checking back in! Nina
You and I have the same obsession. My daughters are Jocelyn Sadie Elizabeth Kim, Sadie my husbands choice, and Arden Estelle Brenner Kim. Our next little girl will be Ensley Ellla Grae.
I love that since your last name is sort of a first name, too, it sounds like they have four names!
[...] For the sake of coherence, I’m going to refer to the interviewer throughout this post as “Stephanie.” And that’s because in the 80s when I constantly watched Grease 2, I wanted my name to be something “normal” like that movie’s main character, Stephanie, instead of one of Christopher Columbus’s ships. (Please know: I now give my parents kudos for the name Nina, which is easy to say, easy to spell, and original without trying too hard. My detailed thoughts on modern baby names is here.) [...]
Love this post. I too have a slight obsession with baby names. Well, names in general actually. I could talk about them all day. I’m glad to see my favourite name, “Asher”, is on the list. I have never known anyone named Asher, but I absolutely ADORE the name. It is unique, yet simple. My husband, unfortunately does not share my love for this name, but I’m hoping that if we ever have a boy, he will change his mind. Right now, we just have one baby (a girl), and as much as I do like her name, I could not find a girl’s name that I liked as much as Asher….Oh, and btw, I think Ayalet and Yael are also beautiful names and we did consider them, but I knew everyone would misspell and mispronounce them, so in the end I chose something more common.
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Doing the obsessive quest for perfect name for our baby girl to be born in a couple of months and stumbled upon your blog. I’m really liking the names; Nina, Susannah and Willa. We already have a son, Ezra. Since you are a Nina, what are your thoughts?!
Hi Abby!
First, I love your name. I would have used it for a daughter, but there is already an Abby Badzin in the family and Badzin is not exactly a unique last name. Now, I have to tell you, I love the name Nina. You probably already read this in the post, but I like that it is a little different without being “weird.” I think it works with Ezra. Susannah is great too and also works well with Ezra. I’m not crazy about Willa. Nina, Susannah, and Ezra have a more non-trendy, classic feel, whereas Willa sounds much more “NOW” but maybe will feel more dated in 20 years.
What about any other Hebrew names that would go well with Ezra? I just had a post on Kveller.com about baby names for the editor who is expecting a girl and likes Hebrew names. I’m linking it here: There are great ideas in the post and also in the readers’ comments.
http://www.kveller.com/blog/pregnancy/name-the-next-kveller-baby/
That’s my two cents! You will have to report back on what you decide!
Thanks again for stopping by!