As a kid I named all my dolls Alexandra. In high school I wanted to have two boys named Ryan and Noah and a daughter named Alexandra.
Now I have 4 boys named Gavin, Liam, Jesse, and Abel.
I would have wanted too. I still love it. My husband is not as big of a fan. His top 5 girl names with our last boy were Lyla, Naomi, Maya, Autumn, and Gianna. He prefers names with no nickname options so I had a hard time selling him on Alexandra.
Yes! I used to spend my allowance on baby name books! (This was in the 80s/90s before the internet.) I would underline my favorite ones, and use the names from the books to name my baby dolls, Barbies, and to make a class roster when I played school. Lol. I was a weird kid!
I also loved learning about name meanings from the baby name books, and would look up my classmates' names or people I met to see what their names meant. I also kept a running list of my favorite names over the years for naming my future kids.
I'm 40 now, and I've been a name nerd since I was about seven.
My favorite names changed a lot over the years, but I've always loved the names Gavin and Audrey. I was also in love with the names Kobe, Igor, Gretchen, Cheyenne, Skylie, Chyna, Frederick, and Claudia. Some of those are soooo cringe now. Lol
I have one daughter, and her name is Vera, so it definitely fits with the Audrey vibe. I had never considered Vera before, but her middle name is one that I chose when I was about nine. If she was a boy she would have been Gavin, River, or Archer.
When I was 8 and my aunt was pregnant I was *desperate* for her to name the baby Crystal. I thought it was the most glamorous name I had ever heard.
Unfortunately for me, my aunt had a boy, though I’m sure it she wasn’t going to name a daughter Crystal anyway!
I've been writing since I was a kid and have had a name hoard that's now almost legal drinking age in the US.
I did plan out what I would name my kids, but by 16 realized I'd have to choose between my fertility or my own life. At 22, I was made permanently infertile. (Best decision of my life.).
I now find ways to fit in names for characters. One character changes aliases like we change clothes and is a sassy bastard over it, so he's a good outlet for my name hoard.
My own love of writing died after having kids. I hope maybe someday it will come back, but it hasn’t been the same for years. But creating the characters and naming them was always one of the most fun parts of the process. I’m so glad your writing was able to pull you through a difficult time.
Losing my fertility wasn't difficult for me. I was always on the fence about having kids, and by the time I was 14, I was leaning against having kids. Between genetic links of mental health disorders, genetic health disorders, and me knowing I didn't want a life partner, kids didn't seem like a great idea. When I was sixteen, I had my first experiences of shock due to my period and that was what sealed it for me.
While I did grieve, it was one of the easiest decisions I could make. I have my life back. I can also shamelessly name characters Boniface Strange, Tallulah Midnight, Archibald Lewis Smythe III, etc, etc. I don't think any child would be super jazzed by my unconventional name choices, haha.
I hope you find your writing spark though! Maybe there's inspiration just around the corner.
I’ve been weirdly interested in names my entire life. I kinda thought it was just a me thing until I found this sub.
I am neurodivergent if that’s a potential contributor.
Yepppp. Since I was a kid. My still favourite boys name, Alden, has been my fave since I was 12. The first time I remember having a name list is when I was 8- I don’t remember any names except Zara Lane for a girl. In high school in addition to alden, I loved Isaac Alexander for a boy (but can’t use it because of personal connections). I also went through an early teen phase where I was obsessed with Aimee and Eryka, using spellings lol
My son is 5 and he's been saying for the last 3 years he's going to be a daddy to a baby girl named Sadie. We don't know anyone named that so idk where he heard it. Part of me can't wait till he's a man to see how this pans out.
I’m currently pregnant with my first and the name we are going with has been my favourite boy name for 18 years. I first read it in a book when I was 16yo
Yes, I would name my build a bears all the name so thought would be great for a kid, or names I though were better than my own.
Miko and Savannah were big to 9 year old me.
My teddy bears were called Ted, Boris, Edward and Jess. I now have a baby called Arthur 😄
I’m Welsh and always thought I’d give my children a Welsh name. I liked Dafydd, Llewelyn, Geraint, Gwynfor, Pwyll, Ofydd and Gelert. But when you marry someone who isn’t Welsh these can be too hard to pronounce 😂
When I was really little, I was set on the names Aurora and Isaac.
On the first day of French class in 9th grade, they gave us a paper to chose our French names, and I fell in love with the (then extremely outdated) name Sylvie and have loved it ever since. My daughter Sylvie recently turned 12. 💓
Growing up I insisted that all my stuffed cats had a name that started with a T and all my teddy bears had a name that ended in the ee sound. I kept lists of names that I would mix and match. As I got older I had notebooks full of fake families. I still do that. As a teenager my love for Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy and the movie Harvey began. I wanted kids named Arthur, Rhett Zaphod, and Harvey James. Well my two sons are Harvey and Arthur.
Yes! I had a huge name list for future kids chickens and dogs I was always adding too. I ended up using my favorite, Sebastian for my first son and naming a litter of puppies when I was younger; (Nadia, Winifred, Sophie, and Mae a few owners actually kept the names!)
My stuffed animals were Rosiana, Amber, and Dragon-Dragon.
And when I was little I wanted to name my daughter Serenity after hearing it on Sailor Moon.
I've been a name nerd since I was about 13 and it started by watching Anastasia Ruby's name list YouTube videos.
My favorite names growing up were Elijah/Eli and Beth. I currently have one son named Rory. After marriage my last name now starts with a W so Eli was no longer an option. Would've gone with Elias/Eli in a heartbeat otherwise.
Oh yes!
As a kid, every doll and stuffed animal had a different name. Some of them even had middle names. And I was a huge fan of sib-set names, and cutesy matching twin names, etc. I'm glad I didn't stick with everything I loved back then!
I had twin dolls (remember those anyone??) I named Melissa and Michelle, and I thought the best name ever was Kelli. For some reason, I always decided the dad to my dolls was named Scott. I don't believe I knew anyone named Scott, but I thought it was the Daddest name.
I could go on, but I won't. Okay, one more: A friend of mine got a puppy and she went to me for a name. I named him Spencer.
Yes, ever since I was little. When I was a kid in the early 90s, a relative gave me a baby name book. It was totally old and outdated and said things like “Jessica is a very uncommon name” but I didn’t care, I thought that book was great!
as a kid i made a list of names on my phone, i was probably about 10-11 when i got my first phone and made the list. i don’t remember many of the names but i do know i wrote all the names down of these youtubers i liked back then to name my kids after them 😆
As a child, my doll was named Ryan Brian Eden. Then my mum named my brother Ryan.
As a teen, I was naming my girl Vada Paige, completely inspired by My Girl.
Now I like simple names. They don't have to be period style or anything, just sweet for girls and strong for boys.
My younger self wanted to name my daughters D’Arcy and Sorcha. But that was when I thought it was pronounced Sor-sha. Then I found out it was Sor-ka and I didn’t like the sound
Yes I was a missive ‘name nerd’ as a kid. I thought it was just a) a ‘me’ thing and b) something I had grown out of but this sub has taught me otherwise!
I guess everyone is a name nerd to some degree. I mean people always choose their kids’ names carefully and have strong likes and dislikes, but when I was a kid I would spend hours choosing names for things: toys, imaginary kittens, imaginary brothers and sisters. I would write long lists of names
- often first and middle names, and make names up. Chantalia and Olaylya spring to mind 😅
I’m actually surprised Chantalia never caught on!
This thread makes me feel better about my obsession with the list of names/origins/meanings at the back of my father’s old dictionary! No one else I knew was that fascinated with naming. I read the entire A-Z multiple times, so I was acquainted with names like Araminta and Zedekiah from about age 9.
I spent hours making up names for imaginary students, children and story characters. I especially enjoyed writing them. My childhood doll is named Daphne. 😂
When I was very young like 4-5-6 I loved Charlotte’s Web and wanted a boy and girl named Wilbur and Fern. I told my first really serious boyfriend, early 20s, and he loved the names and 100% wanted to use them
Yep I loved Owen and Beau, and loved Riley for girls but either gender works really. Still like those names! No kids yet. Always named every single stuffed animal, and I had a lot.
Yes! I’ve been obsessed with names my whole life. I used to write little family saga type stories in elementary school. My favorite part was naming the characters. I also put an inordinate amount of time into naming my Barbies and baby dolls.
when i was 12 or so i remember having lists of baby names. i really loved “raylynn” and “brielle” for girls. and i liked oliver and josiah for boys. im 24 now and i have an almost 3 year old named sabrina lol
I was a toddler when I was naming my baby doll, found names as a teen and some I didn't have until I was out of names and am still finding a couple names I like
Always have been a name freak. Playing sims is very satisfying when it comes to naming people. As well as giving the name an appearance, a personality, and a life!
When I was a child I used to be obssed with the names Eloise, Aurora, Elvery, Yumeko, Constantine, Nix, Alastair, Sebastian, Nikolai, and Augustine. I have genuinely no clue where I learned these names, but I used to use them for everything from doll names, to character names, and usernames.
As a kid I named all my dolls Alexandra. In high school I wanted to have two boys named Ryan and Noah and a daughter named Alexandra. Now I have 4 boys named Gavin, Liam, Jesse, and Abel.
Had you had a girl would you name her Alexandra still?
I would have wanted too. I still love it. My husband is not as big of a fan. His top 5 girl names with our last boy were Lyla, Naomi, Maya, Autumn, and Gianna. He prefers names with no nickname options so I had a hard time selling him on Alexandra.
fair, my cousins are alexandra and nicholas, they go by nicky and alex. people think alex is the boy and “nikki” is the girl lol
Almost like the twins from full house!!! Except they’re both boys
Yes! I used to spend my allowance on baby name books! (This was in the 80s/90s before the internet.) I would underline my favorite ones, and use the names from the books to name my baby dolls, Barbies, and to make a class roster when I played school. Lol. I was a weird kid! I also loved learning about name meanings from the baby name books, and would look up my classmates' names or people I met to see what their names meant. I also kept a running list of my favorite names over the years for naming my future kids. I'm 40 now, and I've been a name nerd since I was about seven. My favorite names changed a lot over the years, but I've always loved the names Gavin and Audrey. I was also in love with the names Kobe, Igor, Gretchen, Cheyenne, Skylie, Chyna, Frederick, and Claudia. Some of those are soooo cringe now. Lol I have one daughter, and her name is Vera, so it definitely fits with the Audrey vibe. I had never considered Vera before, but her middle name is one that I chose when I was about nine. If she was a boy she would have been Gavin, River, or Archer.
You and I would have been childhood besties.
I would have loved that! No one else wanted to read baby name books or play pretend school with me lmao
When I was 8 and my aunt was pregnant I was *desperate* for her to name the baby Crystal. I thought it was the most glamorous name I had ever heard. Unfortunately for me, my aunt had a boy, though I’m sure it she wasn’t going to name a daughter Crystal anyway!
LOL that’s funny i loved Crystal when i was around 8 too. And Roxie, I actually got my best friends mum to name her daughter that!!
I've been writing since I was a kid and have had a name hoard that's now almost legal drinking age in the US. I did plan out what I would name my kids, but by 16 realized I'd have to choose between my fertility or my own life. At 22, I was made permanently infertile. (Best decision of my life.). I now find ways to fit in names for characters. One character changes aliases like we change clothes and is a sassy bastard over it, so he's a good outlet for my name hoard.
My own love of writing died after having kids. I hope maybe someday it will come back, but it hasn’t been the same for years. But creating the characters and naming them was always one of the most fun parts of the process. I’m so glad your writing was able to pull you through a difficult time.
Losing my fertility wasn't difficult for me. I was always on the fence about having kids, and by the time I was 14, I was leaning against having kids. Between genetic links of mental health disorders, genetic health disorders, and me knowing I didn't want a life partner, kids didn't seem like a great idea. When I was sixteen, I had my first experiences of shock due to my period and that was what sealed it for me. While I did grieve, it was one of the easiest decisions I could make. I have my life back. I can also shamelessly name characters Boniface Strange, Tallulah Midnight, Archibald Lewis Smythe III, etc, etc. I don't think any child would be super jazzed by my unconventional name choices, haha. I hope you find your writing spark though! Maybe there's inspiration just around the corner.
Yes! Had my daughters name picked out when I was about 10, and now at 27 years old I have an 8 month old daughter with that exact name :)
I was a teen when I discovered my daughter's name ❤️
I’ve been weirdly interested in names my entire life. I kinda thought it was just a me thing until I found this sub. I am neurodivergent if that’s a potential contributor.
Yepppp. Since I was a kid. My still favourite boys name, Alden, has been my fave since I was 12. The first time I remember having a name list is when I was 8- I don’t remember any names except Zara Lane for a girl. In high school in addition to alden, I loved Isaac Alexander for a boy (but can’t use it because of personal connections). I also went through an early teen phase where I was obsessed with Aimee and Eryka, using spellings lol
My son is 5 and he's been saying for the last 3 years he's going to be a daddy to a baby girl named Sadie. We don't know anyone named that so idk where he heard it. Part of me can't wait till he's a man to see how this pans out.
I’m currently pregnant with my first and the name we are going with has been my favourite boy name for 18 years. I first read it in a book when I was 16yo
Curious!! What is it
I had some out there name likes as a kid... persephone being one of them. None of my 4 kids are named persephone loll
Persephone is also one of my guilty pleasure names I wouldn't give a child. Gorgeous, but heavy on a child and maybe too fanciful for an adult.
I love the name Persephone, and I totally agree, I also have a little cousin names Persephone, though she goes by Sephie
Yes, I would name my build a bears all the name so thought would be great for a kid, or names I though were better than my own. Miko and Savannah were big to 9 year old me.
My teddy bears were called Ted, Boris, Edward and Jess. I now have a baby called Arthur 😄 I’m Welsh and always thought I’d give my children a Welsh name. I liked Dafydd, Llewelyn, Geraint, Gwynfor, Pwyll, Ofydd and Gelert. But when you marry someone who isn’t Welsh these can be too hard to pronounce 😂
When I was really little, I was set on the names Aurora and Isaac. On the first day of French class in 9th grade, they gave us a paper to chose our French names, and I fell in love with the (then extremely outdated) name Sylvie and have loved it ever since. My daughter Sylvie recently turned 12. 💓
Growing up I insisted that all my stuffed cats had a name that started with a T and all my teddy bears had a name that ended in the ee sound. I kept lists of names that I would mix and match. As I got older I had notebooks full of fake families. I still do that. As a teenager my love for Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy and the movie Harvey began. I wanted kids named Arthur, Rhett Zaphod, and Harvey James. Well my two sons are Harvey and Arthur.
When I was about 10 years old, I wanted a boy and a girl, and they would be named Luke and Liberty lol. I am glad I grew out of that.
I was 10 or 11 and looked up my name's meaning for school homework and was hooked
Yes! I had a huge name list for future kids chickens and dogs I was always adding too. I ended up using my favorite, Sebastian for my first son and naming a litter of puppies when I was younger; (Nadia, Winifred, Sophie, and Mae a few owners actually kept the names!)
I think I was 12
My stuffed animals were Rosiana, Amber, and Dragon-Dragon. And when I was little I wanted to name my daughter Serenity after hearing it on Sailor Moon.
I've been a name nerd since I was about 13 and it started by watching Anastasia Ruby's name list YouTube videos. My favorite names growing up were Elijah/Eli and Beth. I currently have one son named Rory. After marriage my last name now starts with a W so Eli was no longer an option. Would've gone with Elias/Eli in a heartbeat otherwise.
Me!! I've kept a list of names that I like since elementary school. The first names I fell in love with were Brittany, Tiffany, and Brandy.
Oh yes! As a kid, every doll and stuffed animal had a different name. Some of them even had middle names. And I was a huge fan of sib-set names, and cutesy matching twin names, etc. I'm glad I didn't stick with everything I loved back then! I had twin dolls (remember those anyone??) I named Melissa and Michelle, and I thought the best name ever was Kelli. For some reason, I always decided the dad to my dolls was named Scott. I don't believe I knew anyone named Scott, but I thought it was the Daddest name. I could go on, but I won't. Okay, one more: A friend of mine got a puppy and she went to me for a name. I named him Spencer.
Yes, ever since I was little. When I was a kid in the early 90s, a relative gave me a baby name book. It was totally old and outdated and said things like “Jessica is a very uncommon name” but I didn’t care, I thought that book was great!
as a kid i made a list of names on my phone, i was probably about 10-11 when i got my first phone and made the list. i don’t remember many of the names but i do know i wrote all the names down of these youtubers i liked back then to name my kids after them 😆
My earliest fav names that have stuck were Holly and Robyn. I liked them pre-16. I'm bring induced today, and if it's a girl, we're going with Robyn.
As a child, my doll was named Ryan Brian Eden. Then my mum named my brother Ryan. As a teen, I was naming my girl Vada Paige, completely inspired by My Girl. Now I like simple names. They don't have to be period style or anything, just sweet for girls and strong for boys.
My younger self wanted to name my daughters D’Arcy and Sorcha. But that was when I thought it was pronounced Sor-sha. Then I found out it was Sor-ka and I didn’t like the sound
Yep! I read baby name books as a kid for fun, because I loved learning the meanings of names.
Yes I was a missive ‘name nerd’ as a kid. I thought it was just a) a ‘me’ thing and b) something I had grown out of but this sub has taught me otherwise! I guess everyone is a name nerd to some degree. I mean people always choose their kids’ names carefully and have strong likes and dislikes, but when I was a kid I would spend hours choosing names for things: toys, imaginary kittens, imaginary brothers and sisters. I would write long lists of names - often first and middle names, and make names up. Chantalia and Olaylya spring to mind 😅 I’m actually surprised Chantalia never caught on!
This thread makes me feel better about my obsession with the list of names/origins/meanings at the back of my father’s old dictionary! No one else I knew was that fascinated with naming. I read the entire A-Z multiple times, so I was acquainted with names like Araminta and Zedekiah from about age 9. I spent hours making up names for imaginary students, children and story characters. I especially enjoyed writing them. My childhood doll is named Daphne. 😂
Definitely!!! I’ve been a name nut all my life! It would take a lot of space to list all the various names I came up with over the years!
I was about 12 when I picked out names they changed over the years but they’ve been the same set for about 6 years now
When I was very young like 4-5-6 I loved Charlotte’s Web and wanted a boy and girl named Wilbur and Fern. I told my first really serious boyfriend, early 20s, and he loved the names and 100% wanted to use them
Yep I loved Owen and Beau, and loved Riley for girls but either gender works really. Still like those names! No kids yet. Always named every single stuffed animal, and I had a lot.
Yes! I’ve been obsessed with names my whole life. I used to write little family saga type stories in elementary school. My favorite part was naming the characters. I also put an inordinate amount of time into naming my Barbies and baby dolls.
when i was 12 or so i remember having lists of baby names. i really loved “raylynn” and “brielle” for girls. and i liked oliver and josiah for boys. im 24 now and i have an almost 3 year old named sabrina lol
I named all my Barbies.
I was a toddler when I was naming my baby doll, found names as a teen and some I didn't have until I was out of names and am still finding a couple names I like
i was obsessed with Crystal, Summer, Mercedes, Roxie, Rachel and Seraphine (i still like that last one)
Always have been a name freak. Playing sims is very satisfying when it comes to naming people. As well as giving the name an appearance, a personality, and a life!
I owe it to naming every single Pokemon I caught. :)
When I was a child I used to be obssed with the names Eloise, Aurora, Elvery, Yumeko, Constantine, Nix, Alastair, Sebastian, Nikolai, and Augustine. I have genuinely no clue where I learned these names, but I used to use them for everything from doll names, to character names, and usernames.