What were your naming rules?

[BananaBubbles]

What were your 'rules' when naming your dcs?

I'm curious to know if it had to be modern,classic,unusual,religious,beginning with a certain letter,a family name,popular etc.

No name of any child I had taught.

Turns out DD's name has been in the top 10 for years but somehow none of them had passed through any of my classes

Partner and I must both like it
The end

Nothing Yoonique, no stupid spellings or names

Something that crossed class boundries and could be a lawyer or a bin man

We picked James. We love it.

So did we, HeidiHole!

Short, non-poncey, easy to spell and pronounce and not massively popular.

The name has to be recognizable (or at least easily pronounceable) in both English and Russian, as we are a bilingual family.

Not too popular, though not too outlandish either. I have a name that is relatively well known now, though it was very uncommon when I was a child. I endured the nightmare of "What? What's your name?" and multiple mispronunciations for years.

Spelled in the traditional way. No kree8ive spelling for us.

No nicknames as full names. No last names as first names.

• a 'real' name that everyone would have heard before, but still outside top 50
• one that didn't have different ways of spelling it. I know a girl called Lucie, which is a lovely name but she will have to spell it out every time she gives out her email address when she grows up.
• goes with DH's surname (not something his parents thought of unfortunately - it rhymes!)
• was a bit 'posh' without sounding pretentious
• would suit a baby, a teenager and and adult and would work whether he was a bit burly rugby player or a concert pianist.
• wouldn't cause any reactions ie 'oh my god what an awful name'. I wouldn't want that for my DC however much I loved the name.

not too popular, so they would be the only one in their class
recognisable name so people don't go 'what?' when they hear it, no odd spellings either

must work in English Dutch and Russian - that means no th no g no j

we both like it. Would work as child and adut (dd1 name has a short version that is little girly, she uses that all the time, but I am hoping will resort to whole name should she become a judge

we like idea of using family names so considered those.

We chose traditional names that we both really liked. Simples!

Classic rather than modern/faddy
Easy to spell
Not ending in 'a'
Would sound ok for a lawyer or doctor
Not used recently by a celebrity

Not a flower or plant, It would sound like a place when combined with out surname

We both liked it!

My rules were:

1. Outside top 50 at least (and preferably outside top 75 too).
2. Must have at least one other nickname variation in case they didn't like their name.
3. Nothing too modern, but equally wanted something with a bit of imagination behind it.
4. Nothing too twee / cutsey / girlie. Ruled out all names that ended in -ie/ee for example. These names are lovely on a little child, bit naff on a grown up imo.
5. No bad connections with any previous students I had taught.
6. Nothing that was faddy; where you could look back and be able to guess the decade the child was born in, just by the name (70s Claire for example)
7. Despite all this, I did want feminine names for my daughters (but not cutsey names).
8. Mostly importantly, had to go with our surname, which was quite tough as my husband gave me a really crap surname .

1: easy to spell/pronounce/remember in Spanish and English

2: just because it passes rule #1, it couldn't be 'Jesus'

3: nothing that could be shortened, I hate that makes me want to throw up when people shorten my name

4: had to sounds pretty decent with our surnames (we had a great name for a DD but sounded like a Rolling Stones song when paired with DH's surname; fortunately baby was a DS!)

5: would suit all ages and professions

6: timeless, ie it doesn't shout out '2011' !

7: wouldn't sound absolutely daft being shouted up the road: "vamosbebejunior, dinner's ready!"

1. no wrong sounding initials like VD
2. could be shortened.
3. traditional, not popular
4. sound good as child and adult
5. nothing to attract bullying at school/ unusual or cute.
6. we both liked it

No repeat vowel sounds. (Martha Clarke, James Tait etc.) My name has a repet between first name and surname and DH is always very disparaging about it.
DH's surname ends in ey so no cutesy names ending in an ie or y.
Traditional, obvious spelling.
Not too popular.
We both had to really like it.
Very happy with what we came up with for DS and DD.

For DD1 we just went with a name we liked that no close friend or family member had. DD2 was a bit more complex

• Able to be pronounced in Ireland, NZ & French-speaking countries
• not too commonly used
• not the name of any close friend or family member
• the name of a strong female historical figure.

Worked quite well in the end, although we fudged the historical bit a little & used the historical figure's middle name

Middle name had to have a family connection.

We didn't really have any rules as such, except not to pick a name with the same initial as dh and I (we already get muddled enough with post!).

We shared preferences/objections

Not as unusual as mine or as common as dh's name
Family names OK but not in the last two generations
Names with a few potential nn options, and no shortenings

Most of all a name that we both loved. Which proved easy for ds, but much much more difficult when we thought we were having ds2.

No family names - DH is called after his uncle, I am the latest in a long line of first borns with a given name. Dad, grandad, G grandad, GG grandad........
No religious names.
DD is called Ruby. I was watching upstairs downstairs at the time. I had no idea that lists of baby names and their popularity were available.

Family names or names with a strong link to family. Large family and many generations' names known so no problems picking out several to consider each time. The family tends to keep the same large rotation of names and none were ever faddy.

Gender specific - I am a teacher and have had classes where i dont know half the class. it's guess the gender from the name - Jamie, Jordan, Paris, etc

More than one syllable.

Doesnt make me think of a snotty, naughty kid!

Vamos, ha ha ha at #2. My FIL is Jesús, known as Peter in the UK!!

LoonyRationalist better than an ex-student of mine who was called Kevin Costner de Jesus, I bullshit you not

A name we loved.

Sounded good with surname (couldn't use quite a few as didn't flow with our surname).

No dodgy initials.

A name that sounded good as a child and adult.

A name that looks good on a CV - full name on BC, with nice nick name

My main rule!?
Mustn't remind me of any of the naughty little shits more spirited teenagers that I teach!

First name:
Unusual, probably Celtic, lovely sounding, not too Christian (the name we picked in the end is pre-Christian), great meaning (not religious), goes well with surname

Midddle name:
Honouring a member of our family. "Normal" name to give an option if DS doesn't like his unusual name.

We're looking for a name for DC2 along the same lines. Haven't found it yet!