(no subject)

[kitten-wrangler.livejournal.com]

Heya all....

Wondering what you think of these names. A bit of background first:

I've always considered names to be a reasonably fluid thing, so the SO and I are yet to discuss anything about surnames. It'd be either 3 syllable starting with 'C' (hard) or one syllable starting with 'G' (also hard) or 2 syllable starting with 'R' - for what it's worth. He's a Dutchie/English extract, I'm a French/English extract, and we were tossing up naming possibilities using things such as our common ancestry, favourite poets and writers, things we like, etc etc.

Here's the list :)


FEMALE:
Sunshine Ardeer
Ginifer Albion
Laverton Aircraft
Chelsea Bonbeach
Rosanna Macleod

MALE:
Preston Bell
Clayton Westall
Patterson Bentleigh
Willison Hartwell
Gowrie Fawkner
Croxton Northcote


** I know they're a bit odd at first. But here should be a comment where I've elaborated a bit more on the meaning and personal reasons behind them.

Comments

[areyoustrange.livejournal.com]

... why Aircraft?

[kitten-wrangler.livejournal.com]

Because I've travelled a lot, and the SO wants to come with me next time. We wanted a name that captured the essence and imagination of 'travel' but without reverting to country names, or verbs like 'Rove'

[areyoustrange.livejournal.com]

I just think nouns make really bad names. It's like calling a kid Toothpaste or something. Frank Zappa made the mistake for everyone thirty years ago.

[ex-bluebonn.livejournal.com]

Also - why not use your own surnames?

[kitten-wrangler.livejournal.com]

I've never liked my given surname - it's too blunt. But I'm one of two girls, whilst the SO has 2 other brothers to keep up his family's name. The third alternative is the surname that I'm considering for myself - my mother's maiden name. But it's French, and exceedingly difficult to spell.

[ex-bluebonn.livejournal.com]

Would you consider giving your child two surnames? My surname is my father's, and it's Scottish and was particularly difficult to spell/pronounce when I was at elementary school because I went to French school. So until high school, I used my mother's maiden name, which is French, in lieu of my own (or both together).

[widgetchick.livejournal.com]

lol aircraft. lol.. lol

don't do that to your child.

[anapology.livejournal.com]

FEMALE:
Sunshine Ardeer- I've always loved Soleil, I think it's much prettier and much more versitile as a name that means sunshine [sol-ay for all you lacking in the french dept!]
Ginifer Albion- Ugly, but i quite like Albion.
Laverton Aircraft- Lavatory Aircraft. Oh dear please no.
Chelsea Bonbeach- Chelsea is tackey.
Rosanna Macleod- pretty.

MALE:
Preston Bell- Bell is too feminine and preston is a skanky town in England so I can't like it.
Clayton Westall- Fine
Patterson Bentleigh- Too surnamey
Willison Hartwell- I don't like Willison/William at all.
Gowrie Fawkner- Gowrie? I quite like Fawkner, but not Gowrie.
Croxton Northcote- no.

To be honest, the name names sound like you're trying to make up characters for a book you're writing about quirky, kooy, crazy people.

[kitten-wrangler.livejournal.com]

We are actually after a bit of quirk. My name is rather unique for my age cohort - and the SO's is an old classic name, but one for men about 30 years older than him. The two of us have pretty much always been able to get by in workplaces / school / university just by using our first names, rather than both. I love names that catch attention and stick in your mind. And a story behind a name is far more interesting than a simple 'we named you after your grandmother'.

Maybe I should elaborate a little more on some of the names.

Soleil is nice - but doomed to a lifetime of SoLEEL... which would put my teeth on edge eventually (my sister was to have the soft French 'j' in her name, but it never stuck). Sunshine won out as a nod to my faintly eco-lefty side. Plus, I like warmth.

Ginifer is somewhat of a tribute to my elementary teacher - Jenny Enever.

Aircraft I explained above. I just have a thing for out-of-left-field middle names (My great uncle's middle name was 'Carmen') - and a love of travel.

I know that Chelsea is a bit too common a name right now - but I still included it because of Leonard Cohen's song 'Chelsea Hotel'.

Bell is actually an allusion to one of my favourite authors; Charlotte Bronte who wrote under the pseudonym Currer Bell.

Preston - because of family heritage, and also again, an oblique reference to the Bill & Ted films (which I REALLY need to watch again)

Westall is showing off my uni-nerdery, but he did some incredible landscape sketches as a part of a ship's crew (and again with the travel)

Gowrie is actually a shoutout to Scotland - my father's family has their own tartan.

William is a family name on the SO's side (his great-grandfather) but has been used by one of his cousins, so we mucked around and hit on Willison (because, theoretically, a boy WOULD be William's great-great-grandson)

Croxton is another music-related name

[missinfinity.livejournal.com]

They're all kinda icky, tbqh.

Have you thought about finding the meanings you like in non-English names?

Like for flight, or travel. Behindthename.com gives me Amelia for the first, and at least half a dozen for travel.

[kitten-wrangler.livejournal.com]

Amelia is too close to my own name... and I did consider non-English names (as I'm fluent in Indonesian and Italian) but the SO and I thought it preferable to pick names that are common to the two of us - behindthename.com gives just Beatrix and Peregrine as English names.

[missinfinity.livejournal.com]

Well, it's up to the two of you, of course, but I'd reconsider that. Christopher, Chuck, Jonathan and Luke are also listed. Why not add Dutch and French in? Are you English-with-a-capital-E, or English-as-in-that's-what-we-speak?

I mean, there's Saira, which is Arabic, but it's close to Sara, which is huge in English.

[kitten-wrangler.livejournal.com]

English-is-what-we-speak sort of English. But it's also the common ancestry that we share.

Oh, and Chuck is just a NO. Here in Australian, 'chuck' means 'to vomit'

[missinfinity.livejournal.com]

LOL, it can mean the same thing here. I've an uncle called Chuck in the short-for-charles sense and I never put the 2 together. Wow, I'm so observant. :D

[kitten-wrangler.livejournal.com]

Ralph also shares the same dubious honour as Chuck.

[thejoysofjess.livejournal.com]

These are not at all right, even with your explanation.

[morphinae.livejournal.com]

Agreed. The fact that you have to sort of defend/explain them should be reason enough. It's mean to saddle your child with that same responsibility of having to explain WHY his name is...bad.

[0o-faerie.livejournal.com]

The only names of your list I remotely like are Rosanna Macleod and Willison Hartwell.
But really, if you love sunshine, for example, why not go with a name like Helicia which means sunshine?
Aircraft is a no too. If you love travelling, why not choose something less obvious, yet unique, that has 'travelling' in its meaning?
I'm not saying you should choose a common name (I quite like unusual names myself) but just something less...I don't know.

[kitten-wrangler.livejournal.com]

Helicia suffers the same problem as Amelia - anything for a girl with the Vowel-L-vowel sort of combination is an out.

I know they're all a bit odd... but then again, so am I. I'd accuse the SO of being odd as well, but he may take offence ;)

Strangely enough, out of all of them, it IS Laverton Aircraft that I'm really liking at the moment. I can't imagine that a middle name would get much of an airing outside official documentation anyway.

At least we can all remain reassured with the knowledge that these are all only 'maybe names. Childbearing is still at least 12 months off the agenda - got to finish my postgrad degree and there's also a trip to Asia coming up in the next year.

[after-the-ashes.livejournal.com]

I really think Laverton is the worst part of that name. Yes, Aircraft is not a name, does not sound like name, isn't cute (there's no ee sound) isn't feminine (no flowery sounds) etc... but you're right, you're odd and it's a middle name. But Laverton isn't good, sorry. It sounds like a bathroom and a surname and personally I don't like Lav for a nn.

[sheshellabella.livejournal.com]

I think they're all quite unique but sound much too similar to sci-fi book character names. I wouldn't slap a name on my kid that would make other children look at them funny. Kre8tiv spelling is a different story - if the name is normal but the spelling is odd, okay, you can always spell your name Lucy on your paper when it's spelt Hloocei on your birth certificate. But, as most of us well know, sometimes giving your WHOLE name is unavoidable - a lot of the time, actually, especially when the kid starts advancing into high school and they start learning how to write poetry. Naming your kiddo after an inanimate object isn't a good thing to do. You might feel the sting of it in later years when he/she decides to change their name. Now, I do like:
Patterson Bentleigh - Bentley would be better, even though it's spelled like the car, but I do really like this name.
Willison Hartwell - Willson would be better than Willison imo but, as you said, you're "odd" (as am I, I swear :P). Hartwell is a sweet name. I quite enjoyed seeing these two. Laverton Aircraft just kind of smacked me up-side the head though. lol
Have a good day and keep your sense of humor doll :)

[kitten-wrangler.livejournal.com]

A sense of humour is always worthwhile.

I once tried to convince my friend to name her newborn Beelzebub...... she didn't agree. I'm still trying to secure naming rights if she has another.

[sheshellabella.livejournal.com]

lmao I used to want to name my first son General Lee and my first daughter Mercury Autumn. Let's just say I've since changed my mind. BTW, WTF does SO mean? Significant other?

[kitten-wrangler.livejournal.com]

yeah, Significant Other. I don't usually use acronyms like that, but it's late here, and I didn't want to continually type out 'partner' or 'boyfriend' or his netname. Past midnight = lazy KW.

When/if the two of us ever get around to actual procreation, I fully suspect I'll change my mind as well. Or it will be changed for me by my friend who refuses to call her children Beezlebub. But in the meantime, I'm fully into creative naming..... there used to be an actor here in Australian who changed his name to Yahoo Serious, and I swear to god there was an artist-in-residence at my primary school who changed her name to Yes Indeed. I guess they made some sort of impression on me..... an impression which was solidified at Uni when I met a girl whose legal name was cj **** (she had to have the asterisks to fill in the surname slot on her licence)

[missinfinity.livejournal.com]

I just realised that two of my favourite middle names for boys are Lee and Grant.

Like Robert E and Ulysses.

:D

(SO does mean that, btw)

[politicking.livejournal.com]

my uncle is a Robert Lee. i'm like "didn't she (my grandmom) realize that Robert Lee was Robert E. Lee's name?" haha. he's a II/Jr, so not much she could do about it, since she had already agreed to the name.

[ex-bluebonn.livejournal.com]

He could nicknamed Bubba!

[politicking.livejournal.com]

FEMALE:
Sunshine Ardeer- i like Sunshine quite a bit, not so much with Ardeer (i say it Are-Dear, if that is wrong, correct me!) & it makes me think of deer, which makes me think of hunting.
Ginifer Albion- i hate the spelling/name Ginifer/Ginnifer.
Laverton Aircraft- Laverton is too harsh for a girl, in my opinion. i don't really have a problem with Aircraft. just lord help her if she's a big girl & kids find out her middle name.
Chelsea Bonbeach- i like this one.
Rosanna Macleod- also like this one.

MALE:
Preston Bell- like.
Clayton Westall- not a big fan of Clayton.
Patterson Bentleigh- prefer Bentleigh spelled as Bently or Bentley. but otherwise, i like.
Willison Hartwell- i think the child would be doomed to be called "Wilson", rather than Will-ih-son (which i think you are going for with that second I in the middle of the name).
Gowrie Fawkner- the Ws really make the spelling ugly, honestly. GOWRIE sounds like someone with a speech impediment saying GARY.
Croxton Northcote- not too keen on this one, either.

[sevensevenfour.livejournal.com]

I don't really mind any of your names. I think they're all unique, and if that's what you like, fantastic. The only name I don't really like is Gowrie, but only because I make a funny face when I try and pronounce it. I think all the names sound pretty good with each other (first and middle-wise.) I think my favorite girl's name is Laverton Aircraft (I'm a supporter of noun names and I like the sound of Laverton.) My favorite boy's name is Patterson Bentleigh. =)

[sandtree.livejournal.com]

Don't use your kids to showcase your own quirkiness. Please. It's not fair to the kids. If you want to be quirky, change your name to Aircraft. Name your cat Ginifer. There's nothing wrong with paying tribute to something you love in your childrens' names, but there are much better ways to do it than Laverton Aircraft. You have to see how ridiculous that looks and sounds.

[kitten-wrangler.livejournal.com]

It's all hypothetical at the moment anyway - possible names for possible children. Many names that are considered 'normal' now, started out as 'quirky' somewhere along the way. Not to mention all the names that go the other way from 'normal' to 'a bit odd and wrong'. At some point, somewhere, someone has to start that ball rolling towards making a name 'fashionable', or something intervenes to make a particular name 'unfashionable'.

Not that I want to start new fashions - but I do like to challenge conventional thinking.

[sandtree.livejournal.com]

I just don't think that kids should be used as fashion statements. It's great to challenge conventional thinking, but there are a lot of better ways to do it than giving your kids silly names.

[after-the-ashes.livejournal.com]

I totally used to have a lot of really quirky (or whatever, weird) names and such on my list before I was ever pregnant, thinking that I would use them. But once I actually was pregnant I was able to find names and combinations that fit the quirkiness without forcing it on a child. My little girl is named after some of my favorite things and names and even has a boy's middle name. But she's not going to be teased for the way her name is written, how it sounds or what it connotates.

[aquilinum.livejournal.com]

I know where you're coming from. I love unconventional names and my list includes names like Koi, Rhubarb, Crow, Gryphon, and Iorek.

We weirdos have the right to name our children according to our own rules. I was left absolutely SLACK-JAWED when I found out people thought "Apple" was a ridiculous name but didn't have a problem with Amber or Rose. What makes a flower okay but the fruited result of the flower abominable? Is it somehow, subconsciously, too sexual? And I'm the weird one?

BUT. Here is The Thing. As much as we want these quirky names for ourselves (and we, to some large extent, reserve that right), names have the slightly dubious honor of being given to OTHER people — the children in question.

I'd love to think that my DNA is completely, totally, physically unable to produce a REMOTELY conservative or mainstream individual, and I'd love to think that my upbringing will grind home a Magic Schoolbus, Headless Cupid sort of existence. But there are no guarantees. Hippies spawn stockbrokers; politicians raise hermits; performance artists give birth to IRS agents.

If you want to give your kid the name Aircraft, keep in mind that you are doing that for YOURSELF. It's okay. I mean, it's your kid. But that name and virtually all on your list serve you and your desire for quirk (again: totally okay).

Build in a safety net for your child, JUST FOR YOUR CHILD, so that (s)he can make the decision whether to play with people's perceptions or lead a less alliterative, bean-counting existence. Pair a totally off-the-wall first name with a business card appropriate middle name, or vice-versa.

Does it suck that society accepts certain combinations of letters and vowels as Name Appropriate and not others, sometimes seemingly arbitrarily? Sure. But your child WILL be subject to that society, and I think it's only fair to offer the option of both iconoclasm and congruity.

[solagirl.livejournal.com]

I agree with all of this. Much more eloquent than my post below.

[solagirl.livejournal.com]

FEMALE:
Sunshine Ardeer - I knid of like this. Sunny is a nice nn.
Ginifer Albion - Ginifer will have her name misspelled for life.
Laverton Aircraft - How did you decide that Aircraft was feminine?
Chelsea Bonbeach - I like Chelsea, but -sea and -beach is odd.
Rosanna Macleod - This name, I love.

MALE:
Preston Bell - Nice, I like Preston Currer better.
Clayton Westall - Also nice.
Patterson Bentleigh - You lost me here.
Willison Hartwell - And here.
Gowrie Fawkner - This sounds like a Star Trek character. Fawker by itself is not too bad.
Croxton Northcote - Sounds like "Cock-ton". Big no.

I feel a bit differnetly than the posters above, you can name your child whatever you want. Often very odd names don't seem so odd after a little while - if you are an adult. I worry about two things with some of these names. Kids teasing, and ability to get a job. Imagine some of these names on a resume or application for med school. Rosanna MacLeod and Clayton Westall are both really nice names. Some of the others you might want to consider one of your faves and one more standard name. You use the name you like and your child will have a more professional option as an adult, if they choose.

[solagirl.livejournal.com]

Agh! Fawker = Fawkner. Sorry.

[omgzits--tam.livejournal.com]

Evelyn is associated with flight, and it's a lot nicer than Aircraft.
A lot of the names just sound like comic book characters. I can't find one I like at all, sorry.

[pixietangerine.livejournal.com]

i really like the name sunshine.
i'm not a huge fan of the rest of your names, but i do think they're all a great improvement over the trendy jaydens and kaylees.
and i think it'd be kind of neat to have a middle name like aircraft. it's unusual, but not going to be a problem or anything because it's a middle name. it'd probably be more of a fun story than torture. i'm not sure aircraft is the prettiest of words, but still, a very interesting idea.

[freezemyazaleas.livejournal.com]

sunshine aircraft lol.

[searlait.livejournal.com]

The only one that struck a fond-chord with me was Preston Bell, although I think it would be sad for a boy to have the middle name of Bell. It's a good last name though, even if one of my least favorite people has that last name.

[scintillated.livejournal.com]

I only like Preston Bell.