Monday, July 11, 2016

Best of the Alphabet: Baby Names


I stumbled upon a new name-blog a few nights ago and was pumped. It's got all sorts of cool stuff, from name suggestions to "sibling sets" to old birth announcements for twins named Lloyd Joel and Boyd Noel. Anyway, add to this discovery a dash of boredom and a sprinkle of, ahem, loopiness from medicine and we've got a new Baby Name List idea: favorite names for each letter of the alphabet. Liz, my long-suffering friend who oft puts up with my baby name craze decided to participate too! As has Dana!!!! (She doesn't get as many obnoxious baby name convo requests from me as Liz does - she's more my "Harry Potter questions in the middle of the night" person - but we have talked about names and we may or may not have once fought over "Teddy," eventually deciding I'd use it for a boy and she could use it for a girl.) This list doesn't include all the names we love, just our very favorites for each letter. (I also didn't want to include any names I would never actually use, which is why the letter U, for example, has no names even though Ulysses and Urban are fine names.) In cases of multiple favorites, the very best is in bold. Without further ado.....

A Names

Charlotte: Annie (as a nickname), Agatha/Ambrose, Augustine
Liz: Abigail/Alexander
Dana: Abigail, Adelaide, Adeline/Adam

B Names

Charlotte: Beatrix, Bernadette/Bosco, Benjamin
Liz: Bonnie/Benjamin
Dana: Beatrice

C Names

Charlotte: Caroline, Clementine/Clement
Liz: Claire/Cooper
Dana: Christian, Cecilia/Christopher

D Names

Charlotte: Della/Donovan
Liz: Daisy/Daniel
Dana: Dana (lol jk) Diana, Daphne/David

E Names

Charlotte: Evangeline, Eliza, Eleanor/Edward
Liz: Emelia/Elliot
Dana: Emma, Emilia/Elijah

F Names

Charlotte: Felicity/Francis
Liz: Felicity, Fern/Flynn
Dana: Flannery/Fred, Fitzgerald, Fitzwilliam

G Names

Charlotte: Genevieve/Gabriel, Gerard
Liz: Genevieve/Griffin
Dana: Georgiana, Georgia/George, Greg

H Names

Charlotte: Harriet/Hugo
Liz: Hattie/Harper/Henry
Dana: Helen/Henry

I Names

Charlotte: Ignatius
Liz: Isabelle/Ian, Isaac
Dana: Imogen/Isaiah 

J Names

Charlotte: Jane/James, John
Liz: Joanna/Jacob
Dana: Jane/Jack, James

K Names

Charlotte: Kate, Kit (both as nicknames)/ Konrad
Liz: Katherine/Keagan 
Dana: Kendall/Killian 

L Names

Charlotte: Louise/Lewis (honorable mentions: Lucy, Loretta)
Liz: Lydia/Liam
Dana: Laura, Leila/Levi 

M Names

Charlotte: Margot, Magdalene/Martin
Liz: Molly/Mathias
Dana: Madeline, Magdalena/Mason 

N Names

Charlotte: Noelle/Nicholas
Liz: Nora/Nathaniel 
Dana: Nova/Noah 

O Names

Charlotte: Ottilie/Oliver
Liz: Olivia/Oliver 
Dana: Ophelia/Oliver 

P Names

Charlotte: Pepper, Philomena/Patrick
Liz: Piper/Parker
Dana: Priscilla, Penelope/Peter 

Q Names

Charlotte: .........
Liz: Quinn/Quentin (I guess...) 
Dana: Quinn/?

R Names

Charlotte: Rose
Liz: Rachel, Ruth/Russell 
Dana: Renesmee.. JK. Rose/Ronald

S Names

Charlotte: Stella/Samuel
Liz: Sophie, Sadie/Samuel (honorable mention: Sybil)
Dana: Savannah/Samuel 

T Names

Charlotte: Tilly (as a nickname)/Theodore
Liz: Taylor/Theodore
Dana: Theodora (Teddy)/Theodore 

U Names

Charlotte: .........
Liz: .........
Dana: ........

V Names

Charlotte: Victoria
Liz: Virginia/Victor
Dana: Vada, Virginia

W Names

Charlotte: Willa/William
Liz: Winry/William 
Dana: Winnie/William

X Names

Charlotte: Xavier
Liz: ........
Dana: ........

Y Names

Charlotte: ..........
Liz: .......
Dana: Yael/.. 

Z Names

Charlotte: Zellie
Liz: Zinnia/Zachary 
Dana: Zinnia, Zoey/Zachary

So I guess it's a win for Oliver, Theodore, William, and Samuel. ;) This post was super fun to write. I loved seeing all the overlap (Magdalene/a! Felicity! Henry!) and I got a kick out of how surprising some of the names were (still not over Dana's choice of Greg or Liz's pick of Griffin). I like that even with a decent amount of overlap, you can still sense our different styles.

Also, Keagan will forever remind me of kegels. BUT YOU DO YOU, LIZ.



2 comments:

  1. Hi Charlotte! I am a new reader here and, well, I must admit your blog is really interesting and intriguing! I came here looking for baby names and I enjoyed your posts… So keep posting about every other names-related thing that comes up in your mind!

    I like your naming style a lot and I LOVE (in order of preference) Edward, Gabriel, Oliver, Leopold, Francis, Owen, James & Urban. Among your favourite female names, I love Victoria, Margot, Eliza, Eleanor, Agatha, Genevieve, Stella, Hermione, Loretta, Harriet (while I prefer Louisa over Louise). By the way would you really use Bosco as a first name? Personally I’m not sure if I like it or not, although I absolutely love its Catholic reference. And which nicknames do you have in mind for Augustine and Ambrose?

    Can you say to your friends that I love their naming styles, too? I mean that I like a lot
    • Liz’s Alexander, Benjamin, Henry, Ian, Isaac, Mathias (I LOVE IT), Sybil, Victor, Zachary
    • Dana’s Adelaide, Adam, Christian, Christopher, Cecilia, Diana, Emilia, Elijah, Georgiana, Georgia, Henry, Isaiah, Jane, Jack, Laura, Levi, Magdalena, Nova, Priscilla, Peter, Savannah, Theodora, Zachary (in particular Magdalena, Nova, Priscilla, Peter, Elijah, Georgiana, Jane & Cecilia)

    So THANKS A LOT for you blog, Charlotte!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! I go a little crazy with the name posts.

      I would really use Bosco. A year ago I would have said it was too "out there," but with Arlo and Hugo (and I suspect Otto soon, too) gaining popularity, I think the o ending makes it familiar enough. I would definitely only use it paired with a "normal" middle name. Bosco Thomas or Bosco Xavier, etc. Not something like Bosco Fabian or Bosco Cornelius, etc. just in case the kid grows up and WANTS a normal name.

      I like Auggie, Gus, and Tino for Augustine and Bram or Sam for Ambrose. :)

      Delete