New Here and Favorite Five

[perfectcherry.livejournal.com]

Hello All,

I'm new to the community, four months pregnant, and a long term lover of serious name research (it's my inner librarian coming out). My all time favorite baby name book is The Oxford Dictionary of First Names, because, unlike most baby name books, all the names included in it have been extensively researched and then researched again, so the reader can be sure that the meanings and origins are accurate. It also includes several appendices of names of various nationalities.

I just finalized my two top five lists of names and I'd love to know what y'all think.



My husband hasn't finished his name lists, but I think I've finally decided definite on the lists of five feminine names and five masculine names that I'd love to use for our baby, who is due in early October; we want to be surprised by the gender, so we need a few good options. :)

I hope you'll share you opinions and your own favorite names with me!

Female
Zinnia (my favorite flower)
Leda (from Greek mythology)
Silje (Danish form of a name derived from "Cecilia," the patron saint of music)
Iris
Faye

Male
Ari (Scandinavian, derived from Old Norse "eagle")
Caleb
Felix
Frederik
Theodore

Comments

[miss-tee.livejournal.com]

I really like Iris and Faye.
And Caleb is on my boy list.

[perfectcherry.livejournal.com]

I love the name Caleb, but unfortunately my husband hates it, so if we have a boy, it will probably get middle name status, as best. :(

[doodlbug.livejournal.com]

I kind of like Ari, haven't heard it too much.

I like Zinnia, it's different but not too out there.

[anapology.livejournal.com]

Congratulations :-)

Female
Zinnia- I think it will grow on me. I don't like the nicknames that could be derived from it though. Zin/Zinny..etc
Leda (from Greek mythology)- I prefer Lyra/Lena
Silje- How do you pronounce this? I adore Cecelia.
Iris- Pretty and unusual enough.
Faye- Empty, void of personality for me personally.

Male
Ari- Doesn't look complete at all.
Caleb- Like a lo.
Felix- Adore. Quirky and I love the meaning. My favourite girls name is the female version Felicity.
Frederik- I like Freddie, but the 'ick' sound puts me off of the full version
Theodore- Love

[perfectcherry.livejournal.com]

Silje, Ari, and Frederik are all names used fairly regularly in Denmark and I'm half Danish, so they have special meaning to me.

The pronunciation is a bit different with a Danish accent, but Americans will probably pronounce it SIL-ya; in Danish the sounds are much softer and more musical.

For a nickname for Zinnia, I was thinking of "Nia."

Thanks for your feedback. I'm glad to see someone else likes Felix, because my husband thinks it's silly.

[anapology.livejournal.com]

Nia is lovely.

In that case, Silje is gorgeous.

So if your husband thinks Felix is silly, what are his choices?

[perfectcherry.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure what his choices are yet. So far it's just been him confirming that he likes or dislikes my choices. -_-

We'll see after this weekend, though, because I've ordered him to sit down with the baby name books, pen, and a piece of paper so he can come up with his own top fives!

[anapology.livejournal.com]

Ahh, bet that will be interesting. Do let us know what he comes up with!

[auxoriousrex.livejournal.com]

Ari also means Lion in Hebrew, which is pretty masculine as well haha.

[duckduckcaboose.livejournal.com]

I think Iris & Felix would make a really cute sibset. I like most of your choices- they are unique but not obnoxiously obscure.

[perfectcherry.livejournal.com]

lol, thanks

I believe I have a tendency to favor extremely obscure, antiquated names, so it's a relief to hear that.

[duckduckcaboose.livejournal.com]

Well this community is not necessarily the remedy. The more time I spend here, the more I tend to like strange names, because you see them more frequently.

[solagirl.livejournal.com]

Wow! I want to have a kid with you! ;)

I love all your names. Especially partial to:
Zinnia
Leda
Silje (Never heard this one!)
Iris
Felix
Frederik
Theodore

[perfectcherry.livejournal.com]

thanks! :D

[moldycelery.livejournal.com]

Zinnia, Leda, Iris, and all your boy's names I like. Especially Frederick. Such an under-appreciated name :D

Faye, however, just screams eighties to me (no idea why) and I prefer Cecelia to Silje. No one would no how to pronounce it, and it just looks pretentious if you're not actually Danish.

[perfectcherry.livejournal.com]

Well, I am actually Danish, so I think we'd stick to Silje if we go with it. :P

I agree about Frederik, totally. Zinnia has been my absolute favorite since I first considered it for a baby name.

Thanks for the feedback!

[missbailey.livejournal.com]

Yeah it seems 80s to me too, but I don't know why. It's the only name I didn't like.

[jazbot.livejournal.com]

I love Zinnia and Ari.
Silje is pretty too

[missbailey.livejournal.com]

Well Congrats babymaker!
Thanks for the book reference too. I didn't realize such a great thing exsisted. Ah, for the love of names.

I agree with duckduckcaboose in that your name choices are obscure yet not obnoxious. I also have the same obscure name loving tendencies.


Zinnia*
Leda
Silje*
Iris
Faye


Ari*
Caleb
Felix
Frederik
Theodore*

I like all the names except Faye, so I picked* my two fave of each sex. To me, Ari Theodore sounds like a sweet combo.

[blue-suspenders.livejournal.com]

I actually like all your names :)
Strange occurance!

[girlsteve.livejournal.com]

I've never liked the name Caleb much, although that's mainly because of my accosiations. I think a kid named Silje might struggle a bit if he was living somewhere it wasn't commonly used, but I like how it sounds and of course people do move countries all the time, so it being a 'foriegn' name anywhere wouldn't necessarily pt me off of it.

Other than that, I love all of your choices, and I think they lend themselves to nice nicknames too - Theo, Freddie and Nia are all really cute.

And Congrats, btw!

[littlehounddog.livejournal.com]

Zinnia is pretty, I've never thought of that as a name before. Cute. My favorite of your boys names is Ari.

[aquilinum.livejournal.com]

The only place I'd seen it as a name before: Zinnia and Petunia are twin girls in the Pop Larkin book series (which was later turned into a British TV series, The Darling Buds of May).

[perfectcherry.livejournal.com]

That's such a sweet title. I've never seen that show, although I am a fan of the old episodes of Keeping Up Appearances that come on PBS every now and then; hopefully I won't go over board with the flower names and name each of our kids after one. :)

[lilacmermaid.livejournal.com]

My favourites of yours are Leda and Iris, and Ari and Theodore.

[arbus.livejournal.com]

welcome to the community, and congrats on the expecting!

i really like zinnia and iris. silje is growing on me, i think. i love the name celia, so i think thats why, because it seems so similar.

i also love ari, felix and theodore. i am not crazy about frederick, but i think freddie is insanely cute, so i could definitely be talked into it! :)

[smallandneedy.livejournal.com]

I really like the name Silje.
I'm Norwegian, so I know probably around 7-8 people named it, but it's a very nice name. The only thing is that the e at the end is difficult for people to pronounce properly. I should know - my name is Mette and I live in Australia!
I still like it though :)

I love Felix. Caleb is nice too. And Iris. Not too sure about Ari, there's this dude married to one of the royal people back home and his name is Ari. I don't like him. hahaha. Bad associations, I guess.

[perfectcherry.livejournal.com]

My counsin had a girlfriend named Mette, which is a name I love, but I know our child would go through life with it being pronounced "Met."

[shortbutfast.livejournal.com]

silje is kind of interesting. i hadn't heard it before.
just seeing it somewhere i would have assumed it's dutch.

[medusa.livejournal.com]

My son is called Felix and people are always commenting on what a lovely name it is. :)

[nothingbuthp.livejournal.com]

I really like Iris.

[thedaytheystop.livejournal.com]

I LOVE Leda, it's also on my list. I also like Caleb, Frederik, and Theodore, though I would spell Frederick like that-I like the more Scandinavian way too but since I'm in the U.S. I would use the C. :)