Wednesday, January 7, 2009

The Name of the Game

When I got pregnant with Little Lady I waisted no time popping open the baby name books and beginning the baby name process. I figured that Prince Charming and I would have very different likes and dislikes in this department so I better get a good list of options to operate from. Well, that and the fact that I was on bed rest and had literally nothing else to do except read thousands upon thousands of names! This time around however I simply haven't had the time to spend scouring samples of names and striking them from long lists. So I'm wondering is any of you have any ideas you'd like to share. We could sure use some suggestions this time around.
Here are some criteria:
1.We're looking for names with a lot of significance. As this baby represents Hope to us we would like names that reflect that. We're also prefer the name to have some sort of spiritual significance. For example...our daughters name means "My God has answered me" because we did a lot of praying both before and during our pregnancy with her. My name means "Here by the grace of God" because of circumstances surrounding my birth and my brother's name means "God Provides" because he was adopted into our family nine months after an anointing service was performed on my parents and prayer was requested that they could have another child. I've heard of names meaning "We prayed for her and we got her", etc. We would like something that would be along the lines of "God gives hope" or "God answers prayer" etc.
2. The boys name has to work with two middle names. We already have these selected as they stayed the same as they would have been had our daughter been a boy. The first beginning with "O" and the second with "E".
3. The girls name is pretty open at this point. We already have several names in mind and would likely use at least one or two of these somewhere in the name. Two of the names begin with "A" and one with "V".
4. The name has to sound good with two middle names and our last name which begins with "R".
5. The name must be at least somewhat unique. It can't be too over the top because Prince Charming is more traditional than I am (otherwise we would have the names picked already because I know the original names I like), however..... No Emily's, Ethan's, or anything else that would be listed in the top ten or even probably top 100 most popular baby names if possible. This is the problem with our boys name that we would have used had our daughter been a boy. We had chosen Liam but in the years since that pregnancy Liam has become SO popular that we no longer want to use that name. It's also the problem with at least one of the boys names we are kind of considering this time around. It's not that it's exceptionally popular but we do have friends who have a child with this name and it's not a very unique name either.
If you have any suggestions at all I would LOVE to hear them! Let me know all your thoughts!

7 comments:

jodifur said...

my favorite boys name in the is Hayden. Feel free to use it b/c we are done.

Chelsa said...

Ian-

we were going to name our little boy Ian, but for some reason decided against it after we finally got pregnant again.

It's meaning is "God is Gracious". I love that!

I don't know about Canada, but I don't hear it too much here in the states anymore.

TheButterfly2 said...

Thanks Jodifur and Chelsa! Keep the comments comming!

I do hear Hayden quite a bit out here.

I didn't know Ian meant "God is Gracious". What a great meaning!! My first crushes name was Ian :o) I was in grade one and he kissed me on my cheek! Lol. I don't hear that name too much out here either. Definitely a name to consider, thanks!

Cindi said...

My little girl's middle name is Danielle which means "God is my Judge". I thought that meaning was so important given all the pressure put on kids nowadays to be like everyone else. I also like Dominic for a boy which means "Belonging to God". I found your blog through my cousin Amy by the way.

Stephanie said...

We still don't have a name picked out either (baby #2 - a girl - arrives in March). We have 3-4 options, but it's tough to settle on one.

TJ said...

Hey Carissa,
You know names are a passion of mine. Here are some ideas ...

Arrayah means "a ray of hope"
Noelani means "mist of heaven"
Mataya means "gift of God"
Nasya means "God's miracle"
Matana means "gift from God"
Nadine, Nadia, Nadja, Nadya mean "hope"

I always find boys names harder... I think it is more difficult to find a strong boys name with a great meaning...
a quick search of meanings gave me this...
Cadeau means "gift"
Matteus (and any variant of Matthew) means "gift of God"
Zane means "God is gracious"
actually any variant of John means "God is gracious" (Ian Jonathan,Sean, Jesse)
Nathanael means "gift of God"
Daijon means "God's gift of hope"
Samuel means "asked of God"

Enjoy naming your precious one!
Tara

TheButterfly2 said...

Tara,
Thanks for the AWESOME suggestions! Now I wish I had a bunch of babies to name and could choose a whole bunch of names! I find boy's names a lot harder as well. It seems to be alot easier to find meaningful, unique, and pretty girls names.
I especiallly love "Arrayah" I had never heard that before and I LOVE the meaning!
Thanks for the great options!