Naming the Player to be Named Later

We’ve got a little more than six and a half weeks to figure out exactly what this baby boy is called, and quite frankly, I’m stumped.

It pains me, because I have a list of girls’ names as long as my arm, but I’m simply running out of good choices for boys. Not to say that we don’t have at least a few contenders: I like Lucas, and Henry, and Myles, and Jack. I think my first choice might have been Jasper, but both Beloved and my mother laughed out loud when I suggested it. I love the name Justin, but it sounds way too much like Tristan. Papa Lou is lobbying hard for Max. I’m fond of Benjamin, but that happens to be the name of the mean-as-a-snake cat we had who died last summer. I’ve taken a recent liking to Charlie as well, and Quinn has a quiet strength that fits in nicely with Tristan and Simon.

There’s no lack of tools out there on the Interwebs to help you narrow down the choices. The US Social Security Administration releases a list of the top American baby names each year. For those who like a straight database, there’s Baby Names World. Want something with its finger on the pulse of the moment? Baby Names Buzz rolls up the most popular names by blog and Internet news references every week. For interactivity, I’ve not yet seen something as cool as Baby Name Wizard’s Name Voyager, although I spent the best part of a Sunday morning playing around with the Baby Name Map. (I found myself scanning through the database of UK names and finding a lot of good choices.)

Since we’ve been contemplating the name game, there have been plenty of articles in the media on the subject. The Globe and Mail had a good one about baby naming trends in general, and the NYC department of Health and Mental Hygeine (!) issued a press release on the top NYC names of 2006.

As if that’s not enough to overwhelm you with choices, think of the damage you can do to your child with the wrong name. According to Science Daily, you could be dooming your child academically with the wrong initial:

Students whose names began with ‘C’ or ‘D’ earned lower GPAs than students whose names began with ‘A’ or ‘B.’ Students with the initial ‘C’ or ‘D,’ presumably because of an unconscious fondness for these letters, were slightly less successful at achieving their conscious academic goals.

(Hmmmm, I’ve always been fond of Danielle, but I doubt if I’ve ever gotten a D in my life…) And once you narrow down your choices, you can always disaster-check your favourites against a bit of snark on baby-names gone wrong there’s Baby’s Named a Bad, Bad Thing.

And after all that, the final verdict? I still have no idea. What do you think, bloggy peeps? What are your favourite boy names?

Author: DaniGirl

Canadian. storyteller, photographer, mom to 3. Professional dilettante.

44 thoughts on “Naming the Player to be Named Later”

  1. Nymbler.com Try it, if you haven’t. I’m not even pregnant, and I’m addicted.

    My favorite boy names are a different style than yours, though I do really like Lucas. The names we like are usually old man names: Asa, Emmett, Silas, Isaiah.

  2. I love the name Xavier. Although I think more for a middle name than a first name…

    Also, Oliver, Jonathan, Quinn, Charlie and Cameron are favourites of mine.

    Good luck!

  3. Of the ones you mentioned I like Max and Quinn, and Oliver is nice, too. All of them fit nicely with Simon and Tristan.

    It’s interesting how much more girls’ names have changed over the last 20 years compared to boys’ names.

  4. Xavier, Maxime,Alexandre,Oliver, Evan, Daniel, Gabriel.

    I LOVE Quinn.

    Sorry, I am not that much help. Jaimie and I were still arguing as I was pushing Amelia out.

  5. I forgot, my fave! But just be warned that I will name my boy this in some fashion, first or middle name.

    Elliot

  6. Quinn is a beautiful name, and you’re exactly right that it would go well with Tristan and Simon.

    My nephew’s name is Jasper. It’s one of those names that’s very unique and rolls of your tongue, yet people still know how to spell it (bonus!)

  7. I like Nathan…just for the meaning Gift From God. (ok it’s the same as Jonathan but I like Nathan)

    Love Quin or my Newphew’s name Quinton. We call him Q after the scientist in James Bond. He loves it!

    Good luck…Nathan was almost Tristan…but Nathan looked like Nathan. LOL!

  8. I read through the comments and I saw some people mention Oliver. I do love that name. With Simon and Tristan, I think Olivier would be spectacular.

  9. Jasper is guaranteed to get your child beaten up, as might Quinn, being unisex, and more and more frequently seen on girls.
    Reading through, I’m really liking Gavin and Oliver. Then again, I love Jack (so simple, so manly, so translatable).
    As for me, I’m a huge fan of Benjamin, Alexander, and Nicholas…all very translatable (can you tell people had a hard time with Caitlin when I lived in France?), and cute for a kid, yet manly for a grown-up.
    Also the names of the 3 main ex-boyfriends…chicken and egg thing, not sure how that one worked out!

  10. We never could decide on a boy’s name… always thought it was because I was carrying a girl both times! Anyway, my votes are for: Quinn, Rory, Luca, Gregory or Stephen… can’t wait to hear how everything goes!

  11. I like Quinn but it is increasingly used for a girl – says the woman who named her daughter “Reid” and was surprised to hear of boys with the name ;+) I had Duncan, Cameron and Alexander on a list when we left for the hospital. We hadn’t narrowed a larger list, those were the ones that we hadn’t ruled out yet. Ken was lobbying for Walter (being a Chicago Bears/Walter Payton fan) but I was offering up Payton instead. I also liked Jacob and Issac but Ken shut me down quick on those.

    Is there a family connection that you would like to honour? We used the last name of both my paternal grandmother and Ken’s mom with Reid and Elizabeth got many others. Maybe The Player could take on a maternal name. It would be strong and serious, like Tristan and Simon.

  12. Oh wow, such great suggestions!!

    Not only have we exhausted boys’ names, but family names as well. Tristan’s middle name is Louis, which is my Dad as well as Beloved’s middle name AND his grandfather’s name. That one was a no-brainer. Simon’s middle name is Francis, which is both my maternal grandfather and the masculine version of my mom’s name.

    Hmmm, the maternal family names are Conlin and McLeod, those are kind of cool names. And my grandmother’s maiden name is Keifer — hmmmmm….

  13. D – If I have said it once, I have said it a thouand times….you knew this was coming the moment you posted this…

    ——————————————————————————–
    Lady in Car: What are you gonna name it?
    Alison : What?
    Lady in Car : The baby.
    Alison : Well, if it’s a girl, Cynthia, and if it’s a boy, Elliot.
    Lady in Car : Those are lovely names.
    Gib : Elliot? You’re gonna name the kid Elliot? No, you can’t name the kid Elliot. Elliot is a fat kid with glasses who eats paste. You’re not gonna name the kid Elliot. You gotta give him a real name. Give him a name. Like Nick.
    Alison : Nick
    Gib : Yeah, Nick. Nick’s a real name. Nick’s your buddy. Nick’s the kind of guy you can trust, the kind of guy you can drink a beer with, the kind of guy who doesn’t mind if you puke in his car, Nick.
    ——————————————————————————————–

    Need I say more??? Nicholas Paul sounds spectacular….

    PS – Sorry JoJo for the slight on the name Elliot.

  14. Oh, I think Henry and Charlie have the right royal ring to fit in with Tristan and Simon and yet they’re playful names, too (perhaps because I know cute little boys so-named). I still like Quinn, however, despite the fact that it’s becoming unisex like so many other boys’ names before it: why can’t mothers of girls stick to their side of the chart? Sam’s vote is for Benjamin — to keep your streak going of ending your boys’ names with the “in” sound…. 😉

  15. What about Finn? Short for Finley, or Finnegan.

    We liked Sawyer, Jasper (that’s our dog, now) and Colin.

    Aren’t Grandfathers odd namers? Mine wanted to name Cass Lance.

    Those baby-name sites are bewildering….

  16. Hmm must be a tough decision… for us it was easy… we just name our children after our parents, like we were named after our grandparents… they’re strong names, and what better way to honour our parents, you know? 😉 I guess if I didn’t like the names, we’d be back to square one but luckily that’s not the case!

    I also like the name Alex(Alexander), Drew and Max are nice as well.

    Good luck…

  17. I personally love Jack, Charlie and Henry for boys, but they don’t fit well with the naming-style path you are already on. Since Tristan and Simon are more literary by nature, my vote for a wonderful third brother’s name is Oliver. “Tristan, Simon and Oliver.” What a handsome trio of names that would be! As well, I like the family name “Conlin” that you mention and think that “Oliver Conlin” has a great flow to it. Good luck!

  18. our newest is a C, but she’s already a baby genius, so i’m not worried.

    i LOVE jasper and Quinn. Oliver is good to, but soooo popular right now.

    our boy names were: Cedar, Cole, Luca, Micah & Mason.

    ps – both of our kids bear the names of dead family pets. seriously.

  19. Well, we ended up (so far) with two girls so our boy names go unused so far. They were: Oliver and then Charlie. I’m still a fan of both. I like the classic-ness and unpopularity of Oliver.

  20. I’ve had my girl’s names picked out since my 20’s, but we had a really, really tough time with the boy’s names. Everything I liked (Oliver!!!), my husband poo pooed. I do love the name Henry, but you’ve got to fight really hard not to call him Hen.

  21. Our finalists were Benjamin and Charles. I just love the thought of a little Charlie. We finally settled on Benjamin when we took a look at his beautiful little face.
    Good luck!

  22. Our eldest is named Derek. It was a name we both liked and we didn’t know any people named Derek that were on our axis of evil list (though we didn’t call it that at the time).

    Maybe it was just us, but there were a few names that might have been in the running, but really, how can you name your child after someone who used to pound the snot out of you after school every week? Just saying…

    Second son is David, after his maternal grandfather. It is a good name too. He has been Dave since the moment he was born, which David reserved for only those times when he was in Big Trouble.

    I like the name George as well.

  23. I’d have to vote for Patrick. It’s a noble name. Saintly. Witty. Wry Perhaps a little mischievous at times. If not that, then how about Bing? Peter and Andrew are always good ones to fall back on too.

  24. Heaven knows I am in no position to be making recommendations, but I do feel better that someone farther along than me (although only just) is also still struggling with names. So thanks for that.

  25. Oh, I do love Quinn.

    I’ve always loved the name Gilbert (Anne of Green Gables fan anyone), but Mr Babbler shot that one down something good.

    Also love the name Xavier.

  26. My poor newborn daughter was nameless for 4 days…now her name is Sonja. I wanted Sascha, or Sasha, or Sacha, which in my mind is a unisex name, but the other one didn’t like it. Sonja came to me in the hospital bed the day before I got to go home, and stuck immediately.

    The firstborn is Benjamin. I love that name. Go ahead and use it too if you want!

  27. Having worked with lots of kids, it’s hard not to have any names that remind you of people that made you cringe. So between dh and I it was very hard to come up with anything.

    I love simple names for boys-nothing fancy here, because it’s always nice to have a name that can be spelled. Ben gets high marks in this house.

    If I had a girl, I like Anna or Emily.

  28. We had the same problem with boys names. I have a huge list of girl names I love, but no boy names. Quinn was a top contender for me, but was vetoed by the husband because it’s A) androgynous B) “The Mighty Quinn”. I still love it. I still like Aidan and Dylan, but they are way too popular. My boys have “C” and “G” names – are they doomed to fail?? You should really check out Laura Wattenberg’s Baby Name Wizard book – I found it really helpful.

  29. How about Trevin?
    One of my sons is Derek Robert and he LOVES his name. Of course, his nana calls him Derry-Bob, LOL.
    We know a family with 4 boys, Westin, Carson, Dustin and Gavin.

    Anyway, good luck to you.

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