Bold Baby Names by Sarah Douglas
One of my favorite destinations in the name-o-sphere, hands down, is For Real Baby Names. It’s an elegant concept. Sarah simply gathers up armfuls of the loveliest, daffiest, no-way-they-named-their-baby-that, how-cool-they-named-their-baby-that names in the English-speaking world. She hits post and we devour every single Ellis Creed, Landry Ulrich, Boone Elijah, and Ruth Delaney.
Addictive.
Now she’s gathered them up in an eBook, and I can confidently say that it is very different from any baby name guide I’ve ever read. It’s something like the Cool Baby Names that Pam and Linda of Nameberry offered up a few years ago. And yet this is different. Sarah passes no judgement, but all of the names she lists are, well, bold. Some of them are throwbacks – like Godfrey and Lois. Others are daring, but not unknown, like Leta and Neo.
But the real joy in Bold Baby Names is the sheer number of never-before-heard names she’s included. Hannablue and Trella, Timber and Wake – if any of them ring a bell, it is likely because you’ve read them previously on her site. And no matter what this week’s Social Security data reveals, Sarah’s book will be chock full of names beyond 1,001.
Sarah is generously giving away a copy of her eBook to one Appellation Mountain reader. To enter, simply leave a comment with your favorite bold name. Need inspiration? Visit Sarah’s site for fresh ideas.
Entries close Friday evening, May 18. The winner will be chosen at random Saturday, May 19.
I love my daughter’s name and I believed it was bold before and still now 20 months later! Saoirse… now d aughter number 2 needs to be named… I have less than a month the pressure is on! I love Scout and Story and so many literary names but my husband believes we need to keep with our Gaelic theme we have going (Lochlann too!)
Boy: Tiberius
Girl: Primrose
I suspect I only go for the bold names: usually between “virtue” names and hardcore Irish Gaelic ones.
Bower and Caisel (“Cash-el”, Irish meaning castle) on the boys’ side
Legacy and Dubheasa (“Dov-essa”, meaning dark waterfall) for the girls.
Benaiah. We are planning to use this for a boy… probably Benaiah Boaz.
I’ve always liked Amaryllis for a girl and we have toyed with using it as a middle name!
We have 2 children so far, our firstborn (a boy) is Elijah and our second born (a girl) is Ketzia.
Bright for a boy
Allegra for a girl
Ooooo! I like Oona too. How many names begin with a double o?
Lately I’ve been digging Belsante, Constantine, and Tova.
Love Saffron and Prairie for a girl.
Boys are always harder for some reason but Seneca and Arrow are names I’d love to use.
My favourite right now is Oona.
Mariot (pronounced Marriette), a medieval pet form of Mary
I love obscure virtue names: Solace for a girl, Valor for a boy.
Werner or Walter for a boy (I love old German names; I know they’re horribly oldfashioned in the US – as they are in NL actually) and probably Hedwig for a girl (or something similar ‘old’, like Welmoed or Lidewij).
I’m quite a fan of Digory, lately.
Birdie
Remedios.
I love love love so many bold names, and am getting some great new ideas from the comments!
My absolute favorite is Atlas.
I hope this will be our first son’s name!
Ransome for a boy.
I really love the name Dare for a girl. I read a biography about Dare Wright, the woman who created the Lonely Doll childrens books, and it never once explained where her name came from. Infuriating. But I love it.
Agnes Lark is my fave.
I love Sorrel for a girl, but it is terrible with our last name and my husband doesn’t like it. Sigh…
My favorite bold name is
Ocarina Bluebell
Ocarina is a small egg-shaped wind instrument with a mouthpiece and holes for the fingers and my mother’s and I’s favourite flower.
Oh dear oh dear what a choice…. I want to say my favorites, Veronica and Dexter, are at least a little bold. Also: Jethro, Abel, Harvey & Cordelia, Gwen, Odette, Lenore.
However, I’ll go with a more definite bold name that I love: Barnaby. Just love that sound.
As I commented on your Sunday Summary, my favourite bold name for a girl is probably Swan.
For a boy, it’d have to be Navy; well if Blue can work, why not? 🙂
My favorite bold name has to be
Ocarina Bluebell
Ocarina is a small oval-shaped wind instrument that makes a beautiful whistle-like sound, while Bluebell is my mother’s and I’s favorite flower.
I think Azalea would be my favorite one right now.
Right now my favorite bold name is Seneca for a girl. I know that’s probably crazy!
My favorite would have to be Astrid, my daughter’s name. 🙂
Oooh, that’s such a tough question. I guess my kids’ names would be considered bold by some, but I’ll go for bolder still. Lately I’ve been loving Sepphora. I thought it would be kind of fun for a seventh child, though it’s actually related to Zipporah, which means “bird” apparently.
My favorite bold names for boys are: Percival (Percy), Nightingale and Evergreen.
My favorite bold names for girls are: Agatha, Pomme and Artemis.
Bold names are the only kind I like…Georgiana, Prairie, Percy (f), True (f), Eller, Amos, Rand & Theodore!
Arrow!
Dempsey for a girl.
I really love North.
It’s hard to choose, of course, but I love Oakley for a boy, and Lennox for a girl.
Boy: Erastus or Seaborn (couldn’t decide)
Girl: Quenilda
My absolute favorite bold name is the biblical Jerusha, and I find myself oddly attracted to Zerrick Dolan, posted a few months back.
My favorite bold name is Yuna. I’d never use it, but I would be delighted to meet another person with that name.
Hudson Vann, because it sounds like a tri-state area moving company.
I love so many “bold names,” but my favorite of this exact second is Loki 🙂
My absolute favorite is Wake for a boy. I also love Clear for either.
Desmas
Desmas AKA the Penitent Theif
The boldest name on my list is Aster. I love it for a girl but just don’t know if I’d have the guts to give that name to my child.
Probably my son’s name, Archer.
One that’s on my and my husband’s short list of names for a future daughter is Cortana Esperanza Faye. She’s not our top choice but I feel like she’s bolder. 😀
I really like Zebedee. 🙂
My favorite bold name would be Guinevere. The grace and strength are unparallelled!
Gosh I love so many bold names.. but I think October on a girl would be my all time fave
Bold boy name: Montgomery
Bold girl name: Decima
The named I loved the most growing up was Saffron, which I think is a pretty bold choice. I still adore it, but don’t think I will ever use it on a child.
Pimm!
…so hard to choose just one… I guess at the moment would be tie between “Sainty Reed” and “Tua Vittoria” 🙂 Happy Mother’s Day!
It’s hard to choose just one but I think my favourite bold name would have to be Penn, I would easily call a son it.
My favorite bold name?
Story.
I want it so bad to be my first child’s name.
-Night