Tuesday, June 02, 2009

What's In A Name

This is SO random, and I cannot even remember what made me think of it (probably something like, "What should we name this hypothetical next baby or two?") but here is my Discussion Question of the day: If you could have named yourself, what would you choose? So, not that you're changing your name NOW, but that you would go back in time and change what it has been since your birth. Is there another name you think would fit better, or would go better with your last name, or is more unusual/less unusual than your current moniker?

I really like my name, generally, and I think it fits fine. (It's Sarah, for anyone who still thinks of me simply as Desperate.) I do sometimes wish it was less common, but it's not something that bothers me on a daily or even monthly basis. My middle name is Elizabeth, which I like a little better. Plus! So many nicknames to choose from.

However, there are a few other names I've always liked that I wouldn't mind trying on. Oh, or trying on Adelay! I love her name, but there are SO MANY pretty girls' names; it almost makes me want five girls, just to have the pleasure of coming up with five- ten if you count middle- lovely and unique girl names.

So, choices for my or my daughter's alternate names would be:

Brielle
Felicity
Annaliese
Aislinn
Calista
Brynn
Annika


How about you guys? Any one (or ten) name(s) you've always loved and wanted for yourself?

17 comments:

d e v a n said...

I honestly can't think of another name that suits me. Even though my name is unusual for a girl, and especially was 27 years ago when I was born - I still think it fits me.
It never bothered me that my name was different, BUT I wish that it didn't get misspelled all the time. lol

Jess said...

I have always liked my name and it's never occurred to me to consider what other name I might have preferred. I'm good with this one.

CAQuincy said...

I've always pretty much liked my name, too. At one point, my mother considered naming me "Shelly Dawn." I shudder to think that may have been my name!

I used to want to name my daughter Christina, and even pretended once as a kid that I had a twin named Christina. But then I got older and realized that most of the girls I knew in school with that name were beeyotches, and I shied away from it. Must have been something in the water! (I KNOW not all Christinas are beeyotches!)

Other girl names I like:
Samantha
Kira (or Kyra? or Kara?)
Elizabeth (can't have it now with the Isabelle in the house!)

And I still would have liked to have named one of my girls after my grandmother Loretta. It just didn't seem to fit (and John HATES it!).


Boy Names:
Ethan
Ian
Joshua
Jacob...?

(We really started running out of ideas at this point--good thing we only had three kids!)

Pickles and Dimes said...

Isabella!

clueless but hopeful mama said...

Well, seeing as how I'm name obsessed, I have to comment!

Naomi
Josephine
Audrey
Leanna
Roxanne
Alexa

Those are the ones that come to mind! I've always thought I should have been named Naomi and I have NO IDEA where that came from. I don't know why I never considered it for either girl we have, I guess I always thought of it as MINE.

Anonymous said...

I always hated my name. My parents decided that I would go by my middle name and let me tell you how annoying that is, what with legal forms you fill out and then have to explain that yes your name is A but you go by B, and I never thought it suited me anyway.

All through high school I wished my name were Grace.

I am a special case though, because I did end up changing my name when I was 21. One day I decided that I didn't want to be the person I was becoming so I said to myself, "I am no longer (middle name), I am (derivation of my first name)" and thus it was. My family still calls me the middle name, except for the few who respect me and my choice and call me my first name. Everyone else knows me as this first name. It suits me much better

mLou said...

Ok..now I'm dieing to know what Parking's name was and is!!!??
And..How does Devan pronounce her name...where's the accent?

I never wanted to change my name, but did strongly want to change the spelling of it to make one word instead of two.

Anyway, love your choice of Brynn...that happens to be my new grand-daughter's middle name....put together from my SOL BRian & my daughter's middle name wYNN (which she always hated!)

Here's to another girl for your household!!

Katy said...

I can't imagine myself with a different name, but I do wish that my parents had given me a full name--like Katherine--for certain circumstances. Sometimes just having a nickname isn't enough.

Anonymous said...

Going annon. for this comment...

My given name is Elisabeth, but my parents called me Lisa. Throughout elementary, I tried out all sorts of nicknames associated with Elisabeth, and in 6th grade I decided to stick with Lisa, but change the spelling. That was over 16 years ago and I still use "my" spelling: Lyssa. My parents and everyone else uses it, too.

BTW- I named my DD Abrielle (SO close to one on your list!) We pronounce it Ah-brielle, but don't mind it when people call her Ab-rielle. We call her Abbie for short.

Giselle said...

I like my name now, because I no longer care about being different or people misspelling & slaughtering the pronunciation of my name or people asking me twice, "what is your name again?" and then just never calling me anything because they are embarrassed to ask again or glancing at a name tag and just giving up before they begin. (it is a soft "g"...like in giraffe...and definitely not gazebo or Jerome or Janelle or Gazelle or Jizzle...oh, I could go on an on)

I was very upset about my name throughout childhood...probably it would have been better if my sister had a weird name too...but she got Kathryn. I was Gigi until 16 when I encouraged everyone to switch to my legal given name...in a huge sea of Amys and Jessicas and Jennifers. I desperately wanted to be Jane. Not that I liked that name much, but I just wanted to blend a bit more and not always be picked on for my name ("Isn't Gigi a poodle's name? Hey, there's a prositute named Gigi in Miss Saigon! Or my fav in band when learning to read notes, "G-G-Bflat...that's your song!")

Needless to say, when I named my children, I made sure that there would be others with their name, no problems with spelling or pronunciation...No Questions! I used to cringe when I saw kids named with creative spelling or just weird pronunciations...but now I think it will be easier for them because there are SO MANY parents naming their kids unusual things. It will no longer be unusual and freaky to have an unusual name.

mamashine said...

I love Annika. I used to babysit a little girl with that name and I think it's so pretty. My husband immediately starts singing the Adam Sandler Hanukkah song though whenever I mention it, so it's definitely out.

I go by my nickname and have a very unusual family name that I never use and that nobody can pronounce. I HATED it as a kid and used to want to change it to anything else. My mom wanted to name me Courtney- now I'm glad she didn't. It doesn't seem to fit me.

Jessica said...

I've always loved Estella, but there's no way Adam would go for it.

I hated my name when I was younger - seeming as though 1 out of 10 girls had the same name (Jessica).

LoriD said...

Ooo fun!

I've never liked my name. I wouldn't change it though, because my parents love the name and named me after something important to them. So, even though I would be a better Kate or Jill, my given name will stay.

For my kids, I still love the names Sage for a girl and Kael or Rhys for a boy.

RachelAnn said...

Hey there sis....I finally have some free time to catch up on your blogs!! (since my fiance and soon-to-be stepson are both napping.)

I like the names you picked, especially Annaleise (spelling?). Clint and I were talking about names for our hypothetical future daughter. He wants Elisabeth to be the middle name because it was his mom's, so we decided on Melina Ava Elisabeth.

Kelsey said...

I really always liked my name, Kelsey, and I think it suits me. But it was frustrating when I was little because the pre-personalized items NEVER had my name.

Now it actually bothers me a little that it became a much more popular name in the mid-90s or so. Lots of Kelseys running around in high school these days.

If Michael had been a girl we would have named him either Emerson or Delaney. I LOVE both those names, especially paired with Grace as a middle name.

Obviously Harper is kind of unusual, although becoming more popular.

I like unusual but classic sounding girl names (which is what Harper is in my mind) and traditional boys names. Michael is also a family name so we didn't even really have a choice with him! We are sticking to calling him Michael and not shortening it.

For other boys names I like Christopher and Benjamin - but we are definitely finished having children!

Astarte said...

I loved Josephine, Olive, and Emma. Boys' names are harder to pick out, because I think there's just a shorter list of ones that work without sounding like either a massive hippie or dooming him to dweebdom. I do like Lief, Garret, and Garrison (as long as no one called him Gary), though.

Kate (aka Nose in a book) said...

I always hated how common my name (Kate) is. My Mum would never let anyone call me Katie so I've never had a pet form or variant of my name and I was so jealous of people who did.

As for what I'd have liked, probably a longer, slightly unusual name like Kindwin or Bryony.

On the other hand I see why my parents chose it. I've been thinking about baby names and I have been discarding ones that could be shortened to something I don't like. For example, I like "James" but hate "Jim". But I suppose you can never really control what they choose to call themselves. And equally if I hated "Kate" that much I'd have abandoned it by now!