Introduction! :)

[emmaleficent.livejournal.com]

Hiya! The name's Emma :) Intros are always so awkward, aren't they? I guess I'll start with some things about me. I'm 21, childless, and I've loved studying words and names for as long as I can remember. I have 2 beautiful nieces and an adorable baby nephew, all wonderfully named (Mia, Ava, and Anthony). I love reading (fantasy and dystopian novels, mainly) and writing, as well as sketching, singing, and listening to music. My favorite genre is alt. rock, but I find something to enjoy in every area of music. My favorite bands are the Beatles, Muse, Coldplay, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. I also like Sara Bareilles and Pokemon, as my avatar will show you. ;) Now onto the reason we're all here - names! (favorites bolded)

Girls: Althea "Allie", Beatrix "Bea", Caroline "Cleo/Clio", Eloise "Ellie", Florence "Flora", Genevieve "Evie", Helena "Leni" (Heh-LAYN-ah), Isadora "Izzy", Josephine "Josie", Karina, Luna "Lulu", Mary "Molly/Maisie", Petra, Rosemary "Romy", Serafina "Fina"

Boys: Adrian "Ari", Alexander, Anders, Asher, Benjamin "Ben", Callum "Cal", Elijah "Eli", Finn, Henry, James "Jamie", John "Jack", Julius "Jude", Leo, Micah, Nikolai "Niko", Oliver, Phineas "Finn", Rhys, River, Rowan, Stellan, Theodore "Theo", Wesley "Wes"

As you can probably tell, my naming style is generally traditional/classic with a quirky twist, along with slightly unconventional nicknames (Cleo/Clio, Evie, Molly/Maisie, Romy, Ari, Jack, Jude, etc). I'm generally not one for popular or trendy names for girls (I believe only two or three are in the top 100 on the SSA list - Caroline and Mary, I believe). I strongly dislike surnames or male names on girls, as well as replacing random vowels with Y to make a name "unique" (such an overused word). For boys, most of my names are very traditional and verging on old-man-names. I generally don't like occupation names for boys - or either gender, for that matter - such as Cooper, Hunter, Tanner, Fletcher, etc. I also don't like hyper-masculine McManly names either - again, like Hunter, as well as Gunner, Cannon, Gauge, Harley, Butch, Rebel, Riot, Maverick, Rogue, Danger, Diesel, Ryder, etc. I also don't like nicknames as full names, or female names that spell the "lee" sound as leigh to be kreatyve. I think the -ayden trend is very overdone, and the only names of the type that I like are Aidan (spelled thusly) and Hayden, for a boy.

Random names I don't like: Harper, Nevaeh, McKenzie (and all variants), McKinley (and all variants), McKenna (and all variants), Bentley, Braxton, Colton, Dalton, Dallas, Jackson/Jaxon/Jaxson, Destiny, Chastity, and Eugene.

Why yes, I am very picky. :-P Anyway, it'll be nice getting to know everyone! :)

Yeah, we probably should have thought this through

[cinderlily.livejournal.com]

I'm 38 weeks (about 90% I'm in the beginnings of labor actually, or the most insistent Braxton Hicks of ALL TIME) with my first baby and I'm just now realizing how freaking intimidated I am by naming this kid. Our girl name is essentially set, for my grandmother and his grandmother, but I honestly think I'm having a boy and here is where the problem is. Boy names scare me!

Okay, not scare me? But just... I don't know. Intimidate me. I work at a preschool so I know the unfortunate amount of trendy boy names (no offense to most people but -aden names have officially broken my brain). I want my kid to have a traditional name but not boring and something that can grow up with the child.

We've gotten it down to : Henry, Andrew and (possibly?) Luke. The middle name is a whole new ball game as it has to be a W for his grandfather Wayne and um. Yeah, there are what? Nine W names? So frustrating. Maybe West? Or Wade. Or William (but Henry William is too close to Hank Williams for my comfort). Willam? Walker?

To summarize: I might be having a bit of a meltdown over naming a human being right now. Help?