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So what names can't you use? Whether it be your friends' baby names, ex's, or family members names you can't have as a namesake.
Girls:
Sophia, Olivia, Amelie, Madeline, Justine,
Vivian, Hanna, Jasmine, Leanna, Rose,
Joelle, Jocelyn, Tiffany, Vanessa, Hailey,
Alyssa, Charlotte
Ezra, Noah, Edward, Jacob, Elijah,
Isaiah, Ethan, Donovan, Charles, Adrian,
Darius, Ryan, Brandon, Jonah, Jayden,
Alexander, Nicholas
The biggest bummer for me was recently. One of my best friends named her baby:
Emily
And my favorite name for a boy is already taken 2:
Ruben
Wow, that's a lot of names that are off limits to you!
I actually don't have any names I can't use. I'm the first of friends and siblings to have a baby.
Boys:
Zachary (not a fan)
Brian
Michael (Fiance's name and we are not starting jr./sr.)
Lucas (not a fan)
Girls
Scarlet (friends kid name)
Crystal (such a 80s name IMO)
Kelly (reminds me too much of saved by the bell)
Wow your list is large! I just am not close enough to that many people to have a list that big!
I was toying with naming my son Mason but I can't since my friend just named her baby Meyson.
There are a whole list of names that I just hate for one reason or another, so those are out.
That's about it.
I'm a teacher, so my list of 'no' names just keeps growing and growing as my career goes on. For professional reasons, I won't list the names.
My most recent 2nd reason for 'no' names, is because some names are too similar to our dog's. Can't have a kid named like the dog, right?!
We love the name Jackson, but my SIL's maiden name is Jackson, so I think that might be off limits, right? We feel like it might look like we're naming our kid after her or her parents.
haha fun thread!
Boy Names:
Owen (which is so cute)
Connor
Ian
Hayden
Dillon
Austin
Ethan
John (my ex's name... no thanks!)
Coltier (a name I liked with my ex)
Christian (I believe my sister called dibs on this one)
Tim/Timmy (It was a pets name)
Jake and or Eli (because I think those are awesome names for my future dogs, lol)
Girl Names:
Emily
Emma
Norah
Madison
Hailey
Katie (it was a childhood pet's name...)
Kelly (fi's ex)
Sarah
Brooke
I think that's about it, there are more that I just refuse to name my children based on people with the name that I didn't like because of personal reasons or whatever, but those are all the names I wouldn't be comfortable using.. I probably wouldn't use names of any immediate family members either, just because it would get confusing.
Girls:
Charlotte, Frida, Talia (all pets' names - though Emma is my mom's cat and we love that name, so we'll see)
Lilly (we love Lila, but might not consider it because one of my closest friends has a Lilly)
Rory (brother's daughter is Aurora, doesn't go by Rory, but too close)
Clementine (this was my number one, but so many people have made fun of it that it doesn't appeal to me any more, the thought of my unborn being teased - I had a pretty bad high school experience - nearly brings me to tears, so no)
Boys:
Noah (another really close friend named her son Noah, it's my brother's name and I love it, but won't use it)
Jacob (almost my last name, so no)
Caleb (rhymes with last name, so no)
Like @cvbee, my list of "can't use" grows longer each year due to students...and sadly, occasionally parents. So far, only one name I really liked has become a casualty...
And, I have 60+ cousins, so you can imagine the minefield I'll have to navigate as to not overlap, especially since I'm one of the youngest/last to have kids on my father's side.
Also, Mary is off-limits...rhymes with my very soon-to-be last name. Bleh!
My husband is a junior, and I absolutely refuse to have a III. It is confusing enough having a Sr and a Jr in the family. (Worst part is his name isn't really nicknamable...my dad's family is on the fifth William Joseph, but it's a good name for coming up with different nicknames--Bill, Will, Billy, etc--so it isn't as much of an issue, you can always tell who someone is talking about. Not so with my husband and his dad. Most of his family just calls him Junior, which drives me crazy because I just don't think of that as his name!)
Ashley, or Ashlan. (DH's ex's name is Ashley)
Jackson (we had this as a name but it's gotten SOOOOO popular)
any "aden" names or variation of. We each have a nephew named Kaden and Caden.
Piper (I loved it as a middle name but now that Pippa is so popular I think the name Piper will get popular too. It's OK though since DH didn't love it anyway)
Mr. Lox thinks I'm crazy for throwing out names like this, but what can you do, you know?
Girls
Boys
Wow... guess most of my friends have had girls. ;)
I have a niece named Lilly, so I think names like Violet (and other flower names) would be weird. I have another niece named Penny Layne so no "Beatles Names"; like Eleanor, Lucy, Jude, Michelle, etc.
All ex's names are most definately out. Also people that I know and can't stand. And names already taken by friends with kids already.
Also, Claire is out for us. My sister and her husband called dibs on it even though they aren't TTC just yet. It's her husband's mom's name and it has meaning to them, so I would never take it.
Aurora - FI's great aunts name. His grandma would be so pissed if I used it. All the other girl names I like, everyone hates, so I can't use any of them.
Logan & Owen - I loved both these names, but my FI has two little boys... and guess what their names are! So I guess I kinda got those names anyway.
@Leprechaun: my FI wants a potential son named after him, but they don't have very "nickname-able" names either besides shortening one... And I hate the idea of calling him Junior too, I think it's weird and being in Texas it can come off as really redneck... So we decided to call him J.R. (instead of Junior) or Jay (short for Jason) or J.J. which would be first and last initials (I don't like the first and middle initials because of other name associations). You can always go the initials route if need be. It makes things easier, and I think J.R. is a cute name for a boy.
It probably helps that my sister dated a J.R. in high school who was super cute (and sweet), so I probably have a soft spot from him. lol
i was attached to the name harper for the longest time, but last year a close friend had a harper. everyone commented on how cute the name was, and if i named my baby harper, i would just look like a copycat.
most of the other names that are taken are not names i would ever use in the first place, so i dont think they count.
however, my cousins name is owen and i would totally use that if he wasnt an owen.
my best friend's daughter's name is emmy lou, but i wouldnt use that.
there are a kagillion maddies (madison, madeline) and isabelles in my group of friends too, which i wouldnt use.
We have a lot more "off-limits" girl names than boys. Here's my list (that I can think of right now):
Girls: Olivia, Isabella (or anything that can be shortened to Bella), Lily, Nikki, Kelly, Crystal, Melissa, Michelle, Lori, Mary, Jessica, Andrea, Madison, Kate, Amelia
Boys: Ben, Thomas, Logan, Travis, John, Brian, Nathan, Matt, Robert, Christopher
Last night, I started to really like Alice for some reason. And it's totally not off-limits, which is a nice change. I'm really a sucker for "old-fashioned" names.
@o0olibelulao0o: Haha, my husband is from Texas, so I laughed at loud when you said that! Half of his family is from the Hill Country and have these thick drawls that, like you said, it sounds kind of redneck when they're like "Junior, come over here"
As far as girl names: Riley, Mackenzie, Leilani, Nyra, and Joy.
Boy names: My #2 boys name (Jamison) got taken out by my older cousin (darn him!). Also, no Connor, Edward, Emmett, Jasper, or Jacob. I refuse to name my child anything to do with Twilight, even though I love classic names.
@MuchGreater: not to mention the fact that "randy" means something like "pervy" in the UK
@MuchGreater: If you don't mean to come off as a total homophobe there, you should know that you did. Seriously offensive.
Girls: Ashley (fi's sister and his ex-fi's name!), Courtney (too confusing), Dawn, Eileen, Lily, Brittany, Michelle, Brenda, Daisy, Katrina, Jessica, Amanda.
Boys: Logan, Carl, Keith, Tony, Jacob, Eric, Adam, Jeff, Lance, Brody, Ashton, James, Aaron, Trent, Tyler.
This may sound kind of strange, but FI's family owned a goat dairy his entire childhood/teenage years and EVERY goat that was ever there had a name, often a human name. Nearly every name I bring up that I like, I get the response "Nope, we had a goat named that."
LOL - I don't know if there are any names left for our children!
@doily: I love the name Jasper, and it was my great-grandfather's name so it's always been in the back of my mind for a future son's name, but Twilight kind of ruined it for me! I don't want my child's name to ever be associated with Twilight...but I wonder if years from now it still would be?
@sjs8906: I know, I often wonder too because I have always loved the name Edward and Alice. But, I just don't want to take a chance of my child being teased for being named after a book. :(
One of the boy names I like I can't use because I've had a few different friends mention to me that they'd want to name their boy it too (Benjamin).
Other than that I can't think of specifics but when we were looking through baby names both of us kept having to be like "No... I knew a blah-blah-blah in middle school and couldn't stand them" or whatever lol There are just a ton of names that remind you of other people so we're pretty satisfied that the names we came up with we know nobody with the same.
Lots of names are off limits for us as our family is HUuuuuuuuuuuuge.
Girls:
)
Boys:
There are a ton more names that we aren't keen on but aren't "restricted" from by the awkwardness.
Girls:
Nevaeh
Faith
Kailey
Melody
Kaila
Sophie
Gwendolyn
Charlotte
Kara
Ayla
Ellie
Emily
Emma
Erin
Macie
Nicole
Alyssa
Ashley
Elora
Chloe
Bella
Syndney
Payton
Hannah
Boys:
Noah
Riley
Brayden
Caleb
Joel
Aideyn
Anthoney
Leland
Daiten
Cooper
We have lots of cousins with Kids already! And a lot of my friends have kids. And Emma and Emily woudn't go well with our last name. Haha.
Fun thread!
Names I "can't"/don't want to use are because of family and/or friend's kids names are:
Girls.... Caelyn, Riley, Delaney, Mackenzie, Ashley, Jennifer, Christina, Kate, & Lauren
Boys.... Ethan, Richard, Matthew, Andrew, Gregory, Brayden, Aiden, Jonathan, Jacob, Brendan, Jason, & Derek
Does anyone else think it is funny that the two most popular baby names of 2010 were from Twilight??? Ido.
The ones that are off limits in my mind are:
Boys: Matt, Brian, Shane, Riley, Brennan, Nathan
Girls: Megan, Kaitlyn
Well one of my dream girls names was Delilah and then wouldn't you know it, that effing song came out.
The only names that are off-limits to me because of friends/family (that I would actually WANT to name a child) are Sophie/Sophia and Ethan. Ethan is a close family friend, Sophie is a good friend's daughter. Other than that, most of my friends' children's names are not ones that I would choose.
Unfortunately, some of the names that have been my favorites for forever have now been ruined by popularity and/or Twilight. E.g., Madeleine and Isabelle/Isabella.
My husband and I are both teachers so our list of names never to be used for our children is extensive. However, having said that, we have also added names to our list because of some of the children we teach :)
The only real "off-limits" name I like is Ryan. We have cousins and friends named Ryan, and I wouldn't want there to be any question regarding whether or not we named a child after them. For the record, I just think Ryan is a nice name, especially as a middle name. But it's off-limits.
@Oneeleven: Sadly, my list is only long because I'm OLD! Most of my friends not only have a baby, they have two! A few have 3 kids already. I'm literally the last of the bunch.
Thinking about names is so much fun but with a list so long, it's hard to remember which names are off-limits -- especially since we don't have a definite names picked out. There's always a new name I like, it's hard to keep track! What makes it harder (at least for me) is that I forget names all the time! So there's times when I think "oooh that name's so cute" and later realize it's a friend's baby's name.
Boy names are the hardest for me, I have definite names I would never use but the rest all seem nice.
I found 2 other names I like, but I can't have: Jonah and Lucas, close family friend's children. They're not totally off limits because I don't see them too often but I'm really close to their siblings and use to hear about the kids all the time (but didn't pay attention to names back then).
I should add, as an American living in Sweden, it makes it even harder because the names aren't all pronounced the same way, some names that sound pretty are pronounced really harsh here.
My husband and I are always arguing over names, because I fundamentally like unusual/literary/historic names, and he likes uber-plain names...I spent a long time arguing that no, we cannot give our child the name John because it's a "family name" - it's EVERYONE's family name!
I have negotiated 1 girls' name - Isobel - that I love and he loves, and I'm terrified that someone I'm close to will use it first. My brother wouldn't tell us his daughter's name until the day she was born, and I was terrified that he'd call her Isobel.
Names I love but can't use: Anna (my husband and I both have the initial A, so does my Aunt, and I think my mum's brain would explode if I add another one), nothing that starts with the letter R (too many of those in my family, too), Natasha (know too many), Catherine (too popular).
Henry (know too many), James (ex, too popular), Jack (too popular), George (ex).
And, yes, further to an earlier comment, Randy does have unfortunate connotations in the UK - it basically means "horny".
Also, I wouldn't worry too much about the Twilight-popular-now thing - I got given a difficult-to-pronounce name that a famous actress had at the time (that's not why they chose it, but they figured people would be able to say it because of the actress) and now no-one's heard of her, and I spend my life sounding out/spelling my name! If you love a name, use it. I loved Isobel way before twilight, and it turns out, my grandmother wanted me to be called that!
Here are the names we can't use, for various reasons:
Boys
Kyle, Stephen, Jonathan, Andrew, Collin, Connor, Christopher
Girls
Hannah, Isabella, Abigail, Katie, Lily
What I'm really nervous about is that I have a boy's name that I have loved for a long time, and I have a cousin and a SIL that are having boys in the next few months. FI did mention to his brother that we have a boy's name that we love. His brother said that was a name that they were considering, but they would take it off the table (which was very kind and considerate of them). I'm nervous about my cousin. I've brought up the name before, and I think her husband was actually almost named that. I'm hoping they won't choose that name. However, they already have a son, so I'm hoping that if they would have used it, they already would have.
I can't use:
The only name that my husband and I can agree on for a boy is Bentley Andrew- Bentley is my family name that we've had for decades (thank you, Teen Mom, for destroying the integrity of that name for me) and Andrew is both my brother's name and the name of my husband's brother who passed away when he was little. BUT then my brother and his wife had a baby boy and named it - you guessed it- Bentley Andrew. I'm still trying to convince my husband that NO, we cannot name any boys we have the exact same name as their cousin. :)
I'm not pregnant yet, but the only names I like are girl's names. My girl "no" list is HUGE though.
Ella, Emma, Lindsay, Noa, Zoe, Emilly, Rachel, Sophia, Raina, Evelyn, and Hayley are all friend/family kids' names.
Boy's names off limits: Bentley, Carter, Cole, Gray or Grayson(TWO friends used this name), Josh, Jordan.
It's ok though- I still have Hannah, Madison, and Anna left in my "favorite names" and there is only one pregnant cousin left who hasn't announced the sex of her baby yet. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for BOY :).
Unfortunately N works at a kids camp as one of the head staff, which means that he gets stuck dealing with the problem kids. After 5+ years of dealing with them, there are a lot of names that have negative thoughts attached.
Really the one that bothers me is Spencer, because I LOVE that name, but I know that when the time comes I am going to have to fight for some names.
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