Naming you child is hard, at least for us. We won’t be revealing our final choices publicly (no need to have people express their dislike after it took us so long to find a good fit in the first place) although I do plan on writing up a post about our criteria, favorites either of us have had that have been rejected, and names that almost made the list but didn’t. I can’t write that post until we agree on some favorites though.
Today though, we’re playing a game. One night when discussing names TH jokingly suggested we name our babies using the letters of my name. First baby starts with the letter J, second E, third N, and so on. Fun, right? They won’t have my maiden name, but they can have a part of my first name with to them in some way. I would never want to do this, but I did have fun coming up with the names I would attribute to each letter. I chose from the list of names I’ve compiled from our family tree the last few weeks.
Source
J-Jean
E-Etta
N-Niels
N-Nora
A-Adele
Yep, all grandma/grandpa names. And no we aren’t planning on having five kids. Right now we are planning on having one. Then two, then three, until we decide to stop.
Now it’s your turn. You can come up with names for J-E-N-N-A, or you can come up with names for your own first name. Who knows, maybe one of you will suggest a name we fall in love with and end up using!
January 22nd, 2010 on 1:23 pm
J-Juliet
E-Emma
N-Norah
N-Noah
A-Abram
…These are actually in our top 10!
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January 22nd, 2010 on 1:28 pm
Okay, so this idea is too much fun!
L-Lola
A-Aiden
U-
R-Rebecca
E-Ella
N-Nicholas
Aww…my U baby would get the shaft!!
And now for the Jenna names:
J-Jack
E-Elliott
N-Noel
N-Noah
A-Aimee
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January 22nd, 2010 on 1:31 pm
J- Jacob/Julianna
E- Ethan/Ella
N- Noah/Natalia
N- Nicholas/Natasha
A- Aidan/Anabel
I gave you boys and girls name. =)
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January 22nd, 2010 on 1:36 pm
One of your JENNA names is one of my top picks… wonder which one
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Jenna Reply:
January 24th, 2010 at 12:38 am
DON’T TELL! People are vicious if they don’t like what you come up with.
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January 22nd, 2010 on 1:37 pm
While you’ve decided not to do this with your baby, it can still have a part of your name. Maybe you already do this in your family, but we share middle names. Myself, my mother, and Grandmother all share the middle name Mae. I love the connection, especially now that my Grandma is no longer with us. You could start a beautiful tradition
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Kristin Reply:
January 22nd, 2010 at 1:40 pm
I was going to suggest this as well!!
I share a middle name with my mom and maternal grandma as well! My sister shares a middle name with my dad and paternal grandpa. Both of us have already decided to carry our respective middle names onto our children.
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Liesal Reply:
January 22nd, 2010 at 2:41 pm
My husband’s family has a fun connection like this too. I don’t know if it was done on purpose, but they have the son’s middle name be their father’s first name:
Grandpa Elroy
James Elroy
Joshua James
‘Our Baby’s First Name’ Joshua
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Cécy Reply:
January 22nd, 2010 at 4:46 pm
One of my co-worker has a similar story although pushed farther.
Charles Thomas
Thomas Charles
Charles Thomas, etc, you ge the story. So he told his wife she did not get a choice in their about to be born son.
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Kat Forsyth Reply:
January 23rd, 2010 at 3:50 pm
I dated a guy whose family did this. The alternate generations were Owen Daniel and Daniel Owen. I’m interested to see if he actually does call his son (if he ever has one) Daniel Owen like he always said he would. Facebook stalking, here I come.
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Jenna Reply:
January 24th, 2010 at 12:39 am
We’re using Polish family names for the middle name, otherwise I would definitely do this! My sister and my mom share a middle name.
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January 22nd, 2010 on 1:48 pm
What a fun idea. I have no intention of having anywhere near seven kids, plus my kids will either have the hyphenated maiden-bachelor last name my husband and I have, or at least my maiden name as a second middle name. So not really a good option for me. But it’s still cute.
G - Guinevere (my Dad wanted to name me this)
E - Evelyn
N - Nigel
A - Aidan
V - Vivian
E - Edmund
E - Eileen
J - Jocelyn
E - Elliott
N - Nicholas
N - Nadia
A - Adeline
On a side note, have you ever been to http://www.babynamewizard.com/ ? It’s one of my favorite name websites, so much fun tools and information, plus the layout is much better than many other sites.
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Jenna Reply:
January 24th, 2010 at 12:40 am
Ohhh Vivian. A grandma name I haven’t yet given TH the chance to reject! (And he definitely will, he is admittedly anti-grandma names)
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January 22nd, 2010 on 1:52 pm
J - Judah/Josie
E - Eli/Eleanor
N - Noah/Nora
N - Nathan/Nellie
A - Asher/Alaina
Can you tell I really like Bible names for boys?? Teehee!
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January 22nd, 2010 on 1:58 pm
J - Julianne
E - Ella
N - Nathaniel
N - Noelle
A - Alice
As an aside, I have toyed with the idea of naming a baby girl I may or may not have, Jenna! Because it’s a sort of combination of both our mothers’ names - Jennifer and Sheena.
And for the heck of it, my name - all NINE letters of it!
K- Keegan
A - Alice
T - Taelyn
H - Helena
A - Adrienne
R - Rosalie
I - Isabel
N - Noelle
E - Ella
THAT was hard! I used some of the same ones as for your name…and only girls, because I just like girls names so much more!
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January 22nd, 2010 on 2:10 pm
Is there any way that you will reconider sharing the name?
haha
I was reading your “ask me anything” yesterday and I saw that you said you were planning to not share the name.
While I totally understand your reasons….as a reader I was totally bummed.
I dunno…but we all feel kinda connected to you and your life. We were all rooting for you to get pregnant and I have never been more happy to hear that a “stranger” was pregnant. I would love so much to hear all the details about the new baby. I know we will hear everything and see more pictures than we know what to do with…..but something about not hearing what name you pick makes me kinda sad. I’m a really curious person…maybe even nosey….so the lack of name is totally going to kill me. I wanna know!
Like I said…I understand and respect why….but is there any chance you might change your mind?
Could you trust people online to not say what they think about the name? I kinda think so…but maybe I am nieve. Or maybe after you have him/or her and you tell everyone the name and no one says stuff…or you don’t care…maybe you will choose to shire with us. I sure hope so!
Regardless…I can’t wait until APril to “meet” this little one
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Cécy Reply:
January 22nd, 2010 at 4:53 pm
Her family reads the blog too. Not to mention that since no one knows the gender it won’t really make a difference.
Maybe a pet name could be fun though…
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Laura Reply:
January 22nd, 2010 at 4:57 pm
Oh..I meant AFTER the baby was born.
She said on her “questions” thing that she was planning to not tell anyone on the blog the real name of the baby. She will use the english version/nickname of the baby’s polish middle name.
I was wishing that AFTER baby was born that she would tell us the name she picked
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Cécy Reply:
January 22nd, 2010 at 6:54 pm
Oh!
I didn’t realize that.
I have to take your side, I’d be curious to know the baby’s name, if only once.
Especially since Jenna and TH share two cultures and that’s my husband and I’s case too.
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R Reply:
January 22nd, 2010 at 9:30 pm
And if you won’t share the name, then at least a long post explaining your reasons so that we can all complain er, I mean understand?
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Kelli Nicole Reply:
January 23rd, 2010 at 12:39 pm
This MIGHT be something you all would have to take up with TH
. His name is never mentioned on the internet, and it’s likely that he/they want to protect their children in the same way. Don’t know for sure, just a theory.
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Jenna Reply:
January 24th, 2010 at 12:44 am
Actually I probably will share, just never “in writing”. We don’t care if people know, we just want to make sure that our children aren’t searchable. If you’ve read everything I’ve ever posted you probably know TH’s name as I’ve shown it pictured at least once or twice, but I don’t allow it to be written up anywhere so that he isn’t easily connected to my blog. We want to give our children the same courtesy.
So you will probably know, but I’ll edit any comments that accidentally use it! No matter what though, we aren’t revealing publicly until after the baby is born. I told my family I like the name Harvey (which we won’t be using) and they have a field day with it, mocking it constantly. I don’t want the same thing happening with the names I love most.
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Rebecca Walters Reply:
January 24th, 2010 at 12:54 am
Everyone made fun of my brother and his wife so much for naming their son Fred. Even at the shower her mom made each guest suggest an alternate name before she opened their gift. Good thing they are both so easy going. And I love my sweet little Fred! He is Syd’s best bud…they are like two peas in a pod.
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Laura Reply:
January 24th, 2010 at 1:24 am
Gosh…ya know what…..I get your point. I mean…yes I would love to know but at the same time, not everyone wants to be searchable…and as a parent I think that I too would protective over my child.
Maybe you can blog it after for like one day…and then delete the name forever
I’m so nosy gosh! But I really do understand and respect your reasons
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Cécy Reply:
January 24th, 2010 at 10:51 am
You could do like you did with TH and put the name as a picture, just once. So we know.
I thought about that when you mentionned TH name because between the photo album and videos from the wedding where you hear it, well if you want to know you can.
I can definitely understand the idea of not being searchable, that is something important and that diserves our respect.
I’ve heard too that people comment on the parent’s choice of name, but when the child is born, well everyone just accepts it because they are so fond of that new life that the name becomes a second thought.
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R Reply:
January 24th, 2010 at 10:56 am
I was hoping that was what you’d do! Besides, it would be a pain to never be able to share video clips without always editing out the name. Not that you share much video, but maybe once the baby is here ::hint hint::
And I hold the same view on waiting to share the name until the point when you’re introducing a child. That way people should at least *know* that they are being rude if they criticize your choice.
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January 22nd, 2010 on 2:15 pm
Fun times!
J - Jana
E - Evelyn
N - Nadia
N - Nalani
A - Alexandra
J - Jeremy
E - Ethan
N - Nathan
N - Nicolas
A - Aaron
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January 22nd, 2010 on 2:49 pm
I’m excited to hear the criteria. My kids all ended up with Bible names but it wasn’t planned. I like to hear how people picked names and what they liked. Especially to hear why they picked names that I would never pick.
J- Jocelyn/ Jack
E-Elizabeth / Emmett
N-Natalie / Nicholas
N-Norah / Nash
A- Abigail / Andrew
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January 22nd, 2010 on 3:02 pm
How fun!
E - Elise/Evan
L - Lola/Logan
I - Ingrid/Ivan
Z - Zoe/Zeek
A - Anna/Alex
B - Briana/Bailey
E - Emma/Edward
T - Tegan/Tobias
H - Hailey/Hunter
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January 22nd, 2010 on 3:06 pm
I don’t blame you for not sharing the name of That Baby before he or she is born. I’ve taken some heat from a few girlfriends who think my baby girl’s name is too old fashioned. Doesn’t dissuade me at all… Dorothy is a family name, and we love it. But the picking DOES get old.
Plus, since you’re sharing so many aspects of this pregnancy with the whole world, it seems kind of special to me that only you and TH will know the baby’s name. Cherish that!
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CaitStClair Reply:
January 22nd, 2010 at 5:38 pm
Aww! Yay! My grandmother’s name was Dorothy (she just passed away a year ago) and that totally gave me the warm fuzzies to see that someone is using it! Besides, I think the classic nickname of Dot/Dotty for it is adorable! So now you have at least one stranger who likes it!
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Jenna Reply:
January 24th, 2010 at 12:56 am
Dotty is such a cute nickname. I like names that have cute nicknames to go along with them. I kind of want to name a girl “Betty” because his last name is B—- and when you put the two of them together it’s really darling!
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JessicaMayBe Reply:
January 24th, 2010 at 7:38 pm
I hope TH’s last name isn’t Boop.
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January 22nd, 2010 on 3:10 pm
Please keep that family tree so I can have a copy. I want names from our ancestors too. There are some cool ones! Too bad Calista is already taken by Lori
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Laura Reply:
January 22nd, 2010 at 7:00 pm
I love the name Calista! My friend’s niece is Calista Jane.
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Jenna Reply:
January 24th, 2010 at 12:48 am
I just looked through all of the names on new.familysearch.org. I’ll keep the list but you should definitely look through it yourself in case there are some I rejected that I love.
I agree about Calista. I didn’t even put it on my list because of Lori. Boo Lori!
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January 22nd, 2010 on 3:10 pm
i’ll use my name for girls and yours for boys:
a-ava
m-marisol
a-annette
n-noelle
d-dita
a-annalisse
j-julius
e-edsel
n-norton
n-nigel
a-ansel
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Jenna Reply:
January 24th, 2010 at 12:50 am
Annette was just added to my list of “names to suggest to TH”!
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Cristin Reply:
January 24th, 2010 at 6:11 am
I love Annette!! Darling!!
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January 22nd, 2010 on 3:24 pm
Elliot
Lara
Ingrid
Zelda
Anastasia
Bennett
Edith
Thatcher
Henry
That was fun!
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January 22nd, 2010 on 3:51 pm
I really like Etta, Nora, and Adele! I would really love to name our children after grandparents.
E - Esme - My name for Jr. High french class, and my favorite name for dolls as a child.
R - Rose - Husbands grandma. #1 on my list.
I - Ingrid - Random choice of an i name.
N - Nicole - Wanted this as my name growing up!
I have no boy names. I have a hunch (active positive thinking) that I will end up with all girls.
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January 22nd, 2010 on 3:54 pm
We’ve only agreed on one name right now, assuming it’s a certain sex, and someone listed it! I love it so much and am secretly hoping I’ll get to use it
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January 22nd, 2010 on 4:29 pm
All Polish names, just for fun!
Jedrek
Erek
Nelek
Norbert
Alenka
Haha! Good luck!
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Shaylene Carter (That Sister) Reply:
January 22nd, 2010 at 7:16 pm
I really like the names Jedrek and Alenka! I am not sure how you say them in Polish, but I love the English pronunciation. I might have to use That Wife’s husband’s homeland as a great place for names!
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January 22nd, 2010 on 4:30 pm
J - Josephine/Jamison
E - Ellery/Emerson
N - Newlyn
N - Norah (sorry, don’t like N names v. much)
A - Adeline/Anders
mine:
J - Jamison
E - Emerson
S - Sariah
S - Samuel
I - Inara
C - Caris
A - Atticus
(NOT having that many children)
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January 22nd, 2010 on 5:13 pm
We have two girl names that we really like (one of them we decided on three or four years ago), but we’ve never come up with a boy’s name that we just LOVE. We have one that we kind of both agree we like, but I wouldn’t say it’s a definite keeper. Ack, names are so hard.
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January 22nd, 2010 on 5:18 pm
I love this game - and I love finding meaningful ways to incorporate yourself or your family history into a child’s name. My own middle name is one of my mothers aunt’s and my brother gets to but ‘the third’ after his full name
My husband and I actually spend almost a whole car ride home from visiting family thinking of names we love and writing them down - these are some from the list.. and some that are not. Because we didn’t really think of any with a Y.
Lee
Isla
Nate
Davis
Summerfield (a family maiden name as girls middle)
Ellis
Yeardly?
Jean
Ellory
Noel
Niel
Avery
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Jenna Reply:
January 24th, 2010 at 12:53 am
I added Neil to my list as well (although spelled it differently because we would want to choose the most common spelling possible in hopes that most people would get it right).
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lindseykaye Reply:
January 24th, 2010 at 9:21 am
Neil is one of those names for me that just popped in my head - I guess I never looked at what spellings are common but I like the way you spelled it more
I guess “I before E” doesn’t really work with names!
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January 22nd, 2010 on 5:29 pm
Oooh, fun!!
(Girls)
J - Jacqueline
E - Elizabeth (partial, it’s my middle name)
N - Naomi (Ruth’s amazing mother-in-law_
N - Nahla
A - Adelaide
(Boys)
J - Jonathan
E - Elijah (meaning the Lord is God)
N - Nathan
N - Nicholas
A - Andrew
Do you have any inklings about boy/girl? You should put a poll on your blog about what people think.
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Jenna Reply:
January 24th, 2010 at 12:53 am
I think I will!
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Jenna Reply:
January 24th, 2010 at 12:54 am
Also, Adelaide is my absolute favorite girls name but TH rejects it every single time I bring it up.
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Cristin Reply:
January 24th, 2010 at 6:06 am
I like Adelaide too!! But husband is Australian and thinks Adelaide isn’t a lovely enough city to name our children after. We met while backpacking in Asia, and I’ve suggested that we use the names of cities significant to our relationship as middle names.
Unfortunately, my mom got wind of this and believes no grandchild of hers will have Saigon as a middle name.
Maybe you’re right - sharing the name early just gives people time to tear it apart!
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January 22nd, 2010 on 5:34 pm
I think we’ll be naming one of our kids (assuming that we have kids) my maiden name, and one will have my first name in there somewhere. Not sure if we’ll make it the first or middle name but dagnabit - those names are sticking around in the family!
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January 22nd, 2010 on 5:45 pm
C - Claire (Family name)
A - Amelia - (Just because it’s pretty)
I - Izabella (His mom)
T - Thomas (My dad)
L - Lucy (First “L” I thought of)
A - Aurelia (The hubby likes this one)
N - Noah (A very good friend’s nickname)
Hah! I obviously find girl names easier than boys! The funny thing is that only one of those names (Claire) is on my short list. Very fun game though! I’ll have to tell the husband about this one.
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January 22nd, 2010 on 6:14 pm
J-Josette/Jacob
E-Eden/Everett
N-Nancy/Nathan
N-Nadine/Neal
A-Alysse/Aaron
Lately older names have been in style and so I’ve had a lot of women/mothers-to-be/new moms comment to me how much they like my name. It kinda cracks me up because I spent at least half my life hating it! It’s totally a family name, which is nice, but when you grow up in the era of He-man and Evil-Lyn, it’s not the type of name elementary school kids appreciate.
Our list of names is like 30 long (or more). We don’t even choose one for each gender, we just have it all ready (including meanings) so when we meet our baby for the first time we can find a name that fits him/her. =)
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Jenna Reply:
January 24th, 2010 at 12:58 am
Nadine just made my list as well. And with the LDS viewpoint on the fall I adore the name Eden for a girl, because who wouldn’t like to be named after a perfect garden that provided all that Adam and Even needed?
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January 22nd, 2010 on 6:29 pm
Jesse
Emerson
Norah
Nathaniel
Archer
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January 22nd, 2010 on 6:32 pm
Fun! Here are my lists:
J — Jonathan
E — Evangeline
N — Noam
N — Noelle
A — Annabella
And my name:
B — Beatrice
R — Ronan
I — Ingrid
G — Greil
I — Isaiah
D — Dorothy
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January 22nd, 2010 on 6:58 pm
J - Jaiden
E - Elizabeth
N - Nora
N - Nicole
A - Aiden
B- Bailey
R- Riley
I- Ingrid
T- Tyler
T- Tason
N- Noelle
E- Evan
Y- ???
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Jenna Reply:
January 24th, 2010 at 12:59 am
Dang, Evan is too popular for me to consider it, but I really like it.
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January 22nd, 2010 on 6:59 pm
I love Nora and wanted it for our baby (if its a girl) since our last name started with an N I thought it would be cool - Nora Nieman. But as usual my husband wasn’t a fan.
J-Josiah
E-Emmy
N-Novalee (another I wanted for my own - remember Novalee Nation from Where The Heart Is?)
N-Natalie
A-Alba (From The Time Traveler’s Wife. This has been my absolute number 1 name but cannot convince my husband of it. I just love that name)
If you are in need of name suggestions I have A LOT.
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January 22nd, 2010 on 7:20 pm
Are you sure you wouldn’t do that? I think it’s such a cool idea.
My father-in-law and his sibling were all named in alphabetical order: Boys: Arnold and Barry
Girls: Arlene, Barbara, Carol and Donna
Which, honestly, makes it easy for me, having married in to the family, to figure out where everyone fits in!
Other fun naming patterns:
My husband and his brothers were named in order of Old Testament men. I’m not sure if that was the intention when they named their first-born Adam, but they went from there.
My sister and I each have a name from my mother and her mother. My sister got both their middle names, and I got both of their first names.
OK, enough rambling.
J - Jeffrey
E - Ellen
N - Nathan
N - Natalie
A - Anne or Anna
S - Samuel
C - Christopher
H - Hiram (long story, but I love it!)
M - Martin
E - Edward (but “Eddie” for short)
I - Irene
So, I just realized I think I like older names.
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Jenna Reply:
January 24th, 2010 at 1:00 am
I love “Edmund” which is a family name as well, but I had a high school boyfriend named Eddie and so we’ve ruled all possibilities that begin with “Ed” out.
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January 22nd, 2010 on 8:33 pm
J-Julia (Sydney’s middle name)
E- Elizabeth (classic and so many cute nick names)
N- Nellie (my friend in VA just named her baby this)
N-? Hmmm I like Nora like you already have
A- Aneesa (this is a family name from my dad’s side)
Others…hmmmm…lets start with my sister…are we only doing girls? Did I miss something? I’ll put boys and girls
My sister’s kids: Rachel, Lucy and Adam
My brother’s kids: Fred, India, Finn
The most interesting name I’ve heard lately…one of my neighbors named her daughter Asis. Hmmm. And I have a friend with a niece named Sixti James.
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Jenna Reply:
January 24th, 2010 at 1:00 am
Sixti James. HA! TH and I both giggled over that one.
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January 22nd, 2010 on 8:37 pm
L - Laney
A - Avalon
J - Jane
E - Ethen
N - Nora
N - Nate
A - Angel
I just found your blog and this is such a sweet idea. We still keep our daughters name a secret and call her Gooner on the blog. Friends know, but strangers….don’t.
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January 22nd, 2010 on 8:51 pm
Fun. I am giving names off my list which Sean says I should never do but I am not worried about sharing names with blog friends because (1) they probably don’t like it (2) you don’t see them everyday!
J: Julia/Jane/Jack
E:Emma/Emily/Eli
N:Nora/Nathan
N:Natalie/Nels
A:Anna/Ansley/Ari
But if you like older sounding names: Browyn, Eloise, Imogene, Esther
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Jenna Reply:
January 24th, 2010 at 1:01 am
I ADORE Eloise. It’s been rejected by TH several times (I keep bringing it up just in case he changes his mind)
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Emmie Reply:
January 25th, 2010 at 2:35 pm
I love the name too! I know a little girl named Eloise ans she is adorable!
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January 22nd, 2010 on 11:51 pm
May
Autumn
Rory
Yvette
/
Jessica
Erin
Neil
Natasha
Abigail
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January 23rd, 2010 on 8:19 am
K - Kate
A - Avery
T - ??
Y - ??
How pathetic was that attempt?? Anyway, you simply must buy/check out “The Baby Name Wizard” by Laura Wattenburg. I love reading it and flipping through it even when I don’t have a baby to name!
It’s my favorite baby name book because she gives ‘real’ information, not just ‘Jane’ is Yiddish for “tall tree” - what? How does that help me to know that?
Just do me - as a former teacher - a big favor - - - whatever you pick, make it easy to pronounce and/or easy to spell or figure out. I’m all for original names, but it makes me batty when parents burden their children with a name that’s unique AND difficult to spell/figure out. Or if you go with the above Jane name for instance, don’t choose to spell it ‘Jaeyne’ just to make her different. Let’s all resist that urge people. (I knew a girl in college with my same name, but spelled Keighty…do you think *anybody* ever spelled it right her entire life? Poor thing.)
I could go on and on, but that’s just my 2 cents. I love giving my 2 cents when it comes to baby names!
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Jenna Reply:
January 24th, 2010 at 1:02 am
One of our criteria is that it be the most often used spelling of that specific name, and pronouncable by all intelligent people who attempt it.
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January 23rd, 2010 on 9:34 am
Nora is my grandmothers name!
I love it! Shelby is my other grandmothers middle name, so I would like to use that as a middle name if we have a girl (oh please, let us have a girl!!).
K - Kate
R - Riker (The full name of my husband’s best friend)
I - Isadora
S - Shelby
T - Theodore
I - Imogen
N - Natalia
That was hard!
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Jenna Reply:
January 24th, 2010 at 1:03 am
There is a boy in my hometown named Riker, and I’ve never heard of anyone else having that name. It’s not for us but I think it’s super cute!
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JessicaMayBe Reply:
January 24th, 2010 at 7:45 pm
I like Riker but immediately think of Star Trek : Next Generation
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Kristin Reply:
January 25th, 2010 at 9:15 am
Really?! That is wild…I’ve never heard of anyone else with that name!
I’ve never seen any Star Trek anything
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January 23rd, 2010 on 3:05 pm
Over Christmas my grandmother asked if we’d thought about what we’re going to name our first child yet since she hates the names of her other great-grandchildren. Lots of pressure when that time comes! And we definitely won’t use my maiden name as a first name because a celebrity has totally destroyed it for first name use. So here’s mine:
Madeleine
Olivia/Oliver/Oscar
Lilith
Lucas
Y… umm… Yasmin? Yanni? Wait, here we go: Yvonne.
Okay… the letters of my name aren’t good. I’ll try yours:
Jeremiah
Elijah/Elisa
Nathaniel
Nell/Nora
Abigail/Aiden
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January 23rd, 2010 on 6:31 pm
I love love love names! And this game is so fun.
Someone else did this already, but here are some Polish options:
J - Julianna/Jarek
E- Eleonora/Emil
N- Natasza/Nikodem
N- Natalia/Nikifor
A- Asia (pronounced AH-shah)/ Albin
I understand your desire to keep the name you choose private. But I love that you are going to share some of your top choices! It would be awesome if you could share some of your “veto” names, too. (Remember that episode of Friends, where Ross and Rachel are trying to choose a name for their daughter and they each get to veto the ones they hate? “Is it just me or is Vito starting to sound really good?”)
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Jenna Reply:
January 24th, 2010 at 1:14 am
Love love love that episode!
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January 23rd, 2010 on 7:40 pm
Jenna I think we are all a little nervous that you are going to keep something from us! I had to take a step back and ask myself why I was so sad that I won’t know the true name of That One. Really - I think its 100% your prerogative and kind of nice that you are keeping it to yourself (before and after birth!). You share so much of yourself that we’ve gotten used to feeling like we “know” you and can call you friend. We can still feel that way without knowing That One’s name!!
Ok, on with the exercise.
J - Jeremiah
E - Emelia
N - Noemi (although I love others’ “Norah”)
N - Nate
A - Andersen (why not?!)
and for me… family names, then other ones I like!
C - Christopher/Catalina
R - Robert/Rory (from Lorelai)
I - Isabelle/Isadora
S - Stewart/Sarabeth
T - Timothy/Toby
I - Indigo/Ian
N - Noah (no family names with N!!)
I always thought my kids would have Irish names… but after marrying someone with a very German last name, I’m trying to get on board with more German-sounding names!
My favorites & family names: Graham, Lucia, Emma, Anna, Annika, Heidi, Aurora, Stewart, Elle, Charles, Harry, and Joan.
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Jenna Reply:
January 24th, 2010 at 1:15 am
As you can see above, I am going to share, just not “in writing”.
I’m glad we can call each other friends!
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January 23rd, 2010 on 8:26 pm
I didn’t read any others… but here are mine.
J - Jilian
E - Eloise
N - Nolan
N - Norah (I know you picked this -but I love it)
A - Alta
J - Jackson
I - Ida May (my ode to grandma)
L - Lola
I - Ieva (Latvian I think)
A - Addison
N - Nala
ugh - we haven’t made any headway in this dept - and I know we need to start thinking about it!
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Jenna Reply:
January 24th, 2010 at 1:16 am
I love double first names, like “Ida May”. Such a sweet Southern thing.
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January 24th, 2010 on 7:00 pm
This is a cute game
Here are my suggestions:
J: Jacob/Jennifer
E: Evan/Evelyn
N: Nicholas/Natalie
N: Nathan/Naomi
A: Anthony/Aubree
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January 24th, 2010 on 7:09 pm
Sticking with the family names as first names theme:
M - Mercedes
E - Eleanore
G - George
A - Aurora
N - Nolan (there are no family names starting with an N)
The first and middle name of our first choice girls name is in the list too. =) Mercedes is also a big family name, the first born daughters for the last four generations bear it as a first or middle name. And no, they’re not named after the car.
I love Adele btw. So pretty and classic.
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January 24th, 2010 on 8:37 pm
What a fun idea!
My married last name is Dodge. My husband wanted names that were tough for the boys we will hopefully have and so we plan on naming one of our boys Charger. It sounds like a death sentence since everytime his name is called for attendance it will be Dodge, Charger… But we really like it! Along with Charger, for another boy is the name Teancum which in the LDS world would be pretty funny. For girls all we have is Ryland and Brooklyn
On with the game,
J-Josiah/Janelle
E-Emmett/Elvira (Elvira is my great great grandmas name)
N-Nahum/Naomi (Nahum is my great great grandpas name)
N-Nolan/Nadia
A-Axel/Autumn
And my name
A-Asa/Ainsley
L-Landon/Leila
L-Leyton/Leah
I-Ishmael/Imogene
S-Sage/Sophie
O-Oden/Olivia
N-Noah/Noelani
A family I know has the most beautiful names for their kids…Rafe, Tyber, Chaitra, Latisha, Thor, Camille, Sage, and Ethan
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January 24th, 2010 on 11:19 pm
J - Jayne / James
E - Elaina / Ezekiel
N - Norah / Nate
N - Noelle / Nathaniel
A - Alanna / Angus
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January 25th, 2010 on 12:03 am
Girls
J- Jazlynn
E- Eliza (like Eliza Doolittle from My Fair Lady!)
N- Nicolette
N- Nadine
A- Amelia
Boys
J- Jacob
E- Emitt
N- Noah
N- Nicholas
A- Amron
Tough work! Have you found any you like from this post!?
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Jenna Reply:
January 25th, 2010 at 2:50 pm
I’ve written down a few but right now I’m pretty committed to the idea of using family names for both the first and middle names, my family for the first names and his family for the middle names. How are we ever going to name subsequent children if we can’t find a good fit for the first though?
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January 25th, 2010 on 2:10 pm
aw! I like this post. SO many pretty names to consider
My names is Myrene and my grandma gave me that name. My mom’s name is MYRna and my dad’s name is efrEN. My names would’ve been MYREN but I guess my grandma didn’t like it and added an E at the end…hehe! She later told me she named me MYRENE to always remind me parents that they belong together and I was going to be that constant reminder…hmmm…weird! Anyways, I didn’t like my name at first because I was teased in Elementary School. They would call me MY-wennie, MY-lanta, and everyone thinks my name is MYLEEN…I get that A LOT. I was seriously wanting to change my name to a ‘normal’ name and I liked the name Christine. Anyways, of course I ended up LOVING my name-especially after my grandma told me her story 
and the Hubs happens to LOVE my name so there’s a happy ending 
Ok, the fun part—
J-Jonathan/Janis
E-Eliseo/Eden(love that name)
N-Natanya/Nathan
N-Nallah/Nicolas
A-Aiden/Avleen
It’s funny how you mentioned you ruled out any names with ED because of an ex-BF. It was the same thing for my Grandma-no joke! She had an ex-BF named Eduardo and so my Grandpa told her she can’t name any of the kids with ED in it and even funnier is that the first 3 kids’ names start with an E and my Grandpa stopped that too…LoL!
Now for my name—
M-Michael/Mikaela
Y-Yuri/Yasleen
R-Reagan/Rielly(or the other way around works too)
E-Eliseo/Ella
N-Nicolas/Nicole
E-Erick/Eva
Hope you enjoy the names and stories
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