Finalising Top Boy & Girl Names

[TaylorTribe]

We are keeping the gender a surprise until birth, but want to finalise a couple of names for boy/girl beforehand and will choose the name out of those once we see our baby. Our surname is Taylor.

These are the names we are thinking for our top 2 boy names (middle name will be Stanley, although if we chose Oakley we would likely use a different middle name to avoid the double -ley):

Jenson
Asher

The ones further down our list are Oakley and Ellis. I personally love Oakley (husband not so sure because of the brand association)

Our top 2 girl names (middle name will be Jacqueline):

Sienna
Amelia

Another name we like is Evie, but would like to give the baby a longer version of this name and can't find one we love enough :/ (considered Everly, Evelyn, Evangeline, Genevieve)

We've had mixed feedback from family, so would love to hear your thoughts on all of these please and what your favourite is for boy/girl

My favourites are Ellis and Evie (I know an adult Eva who also goes by Evie so doesn't necessarily need a longer version imho.)

I like Sienna and Amelia but not keen on any of your other boys names.

@PinGwyn thank you for sharing your thoughts! And we hadn't considered Eva as a way of still being able to use Evie, really like it!

I don’t think you could go wrong with either Sienna or Amelia. They are beautiful choices. I lean slightly more towards Sienna with your surname. Eva is lovely but where I’m based (Western Europe) there is often confusion between pronouncing this name E-va or (the more European) Ev-a.

For boys, I like Asher but not sure how well it flows with Taylor. I assume in the playground Jenson will get shortened to Jen or Jense.

Your boys names seem to be quite a different style to the classic girls names you’ve chosen. I’m expecting at the moment and turned to DH saying “what do you think about Oakley?” He said “as in for a human’s name?! You’ve lost it”.

I don’t t like any of your boys names.
Evie is popular so I prefer Amelia.

I'm not keen on your boy's names, apart from Ellis, which I think is ok. Amelia has been done to death I think. Sienna is pretty. Have you thought of Serena? Or Seren (Welsh for 'star')? Evie is very popular, but nice, though I much prefer Eve - short, simple and classic.

Love Jenson, Asher, Oakley and Ellis!
Favourite probably Ellis or Jenson

I really like Amelia. Evie is a nice nickname too, you have considered longer versions but what about just Eve or Eva nickname Evie?

I'm not a fan of the boys list to be honest. Ellis is all right. Are you or your DH American? I have only heard of American Jensons, Ashers and Oakleys. Jenson makes me think of the supernatural actor.

Well of all the names you mention, I love Genevieve! But Evie is pretty - quite a few of them around, although I don't think popularity should put you off if you love it. I like Asher best from your boy list.

The issue with your first name choices is they don't always flow well with your middle name choices or surname to me - the "or" sound at the end of Taylor can sound like "ah" or "er" in some accents.

So Asher, Sienna and Amelia sound like they have similar endings to your surname. But Genevieve nn Evie sounds great with it (different ending/sounds) if you see what I mean? Evelyn nn Evie also sounds fine with Taylor, but Evelyn Jacqueline doesn't flow as well.

Jenson works best of your choices although may be a bit trendy (because of the formula 1 driver/supernatural actor). Ellis is also okay, although there are a lot of girl el- names popular right now. Oakley Stanley doesn't flow at all, sorry.

If you like surnames as first names for boys what about something like Maxwell?

Love Ellis and sienna

Really like Jenson and Asher, and both sound really cool with your surname. Not such a big fan of Ellis and Oakley feels sort of 2000s to me, sorry. But love Sienna and Eva! Congrats on the upcoming arrival

Jenson Stanley is quite hard to say, as is Ellis Stanley. Is there any danger with Jenson Taylor sounding a bit like Jenna Taylor..?!

Asher is my favourite of the boys. It's more of a first name than the others which are all very surnamey. Oakley is just a no.

I would choose Sienna over Amelia just because Amelia has been done so so much for so long. Evie is also painfully popular and I just find it totally insipid. Sienna is a very nice name, albeit a bit trendy right now but definitely the best of the options.

Jenson - Jens. Not keen. A bit downmarket
Asher - Ash. Not keen
Oakley - not sure
Ellis - the best but will get nn Elsie

Sienna - not keen
Amelia - overused and I don't like it
Another name we like is Evie - fine but there are many of them. I'd just put Eve or Evie on the bc.

I would choose Asher of your boy choices because all the others are surnames and, with Taylor being a popular first name, I think they'll constantly end up saying "no I'm not Taylor Jensen or Taylor Ellis".
I think Amelia is much nicer than Sienna and sounds better with Taylor too. Evie is ok (and Eva would be my preferred "full" name) but I'd go for Amelia.

Thank you so much everyone for sharing your thoughts on these names, we really appreciate having your input on them!
Now leaning more towards Asher over Jenson, and for girls, we're now also considering Evalina with the option of Eva or Evie as nicknames

Don't know where you live but the Evelina (pronounced the same as Evalina) is a national children's hospital in london (attached to St Thomas's) for very sick children. It is a nice name but that's all I think of. Plus Evelina is so much nice than the ubiquitous Evie, I wouldn't shorten it.

Ellis or Asher

Eva or Evelina nn Evie

Love Ellis 😍 I think that's so classy and underused and works well for all ages.

Not keen on Sienna or Amelia but Eva or Genevieve are lovely.

I like your girl's names but don't like any on your boys' list.

@diddlediddle thank you for letting me know about that, we aren't in England but I'm glad you told me just in case

and thank you all for your thoughts on the names! Such a huge decision, but we've got a couple more months to think it all over

I like all the names except Oakley. I would probably choose Jenson and Sienna - I actually really like Asher but Jenson Taylor sounds better to me than Asher Taylor.