Sunday Summary: Love You, But Your Name? Not So Much …

This question at Swistle has me thinking: what do you do when you love the person, but aren’t wild about the name?

The name in question for this family is Marvin. I know a couple who used a similar antique for their son recently; again, it honors a beloved relative.

My take is that style matters far, far less than meaning. But that’s an incredibly unhelpful response.

You know when your mom told you to just ignore the mean kid on the playground? Yeah. We all have feelings, and when someone grimaces at your child’s name? Or says, “no, wait, what did you really name her?” That’s gonna be a thing.

And really, no matter how much you love your aunt Beulah or Bertha, I completely understand if those names don’t sound like children to you.

If style still counts, then we have to balance it all out.

Here are my best thoughts on family names:

• 6 Great Reasons to Use Family Names
• 8 Reasons to Forgo Family Names
• 9 Creative Ways to Honor Loved Ones with Your Child’s Name

But I’m curious to hear from you: how have you handled possible names that honor loved ones – when the names themselves don’t appeal to you?

Elsewhere online:

A massive congratulations to Elea at British Baby Names on the birth of her son! Welcome to the world, William “Will” Brian Kenneth. What a handsome name!

Did you read the Nameberry unique word names list? We’ve talked about some of these before – Kismet, Meridian, Madrigal, Aviatrix, and Calyx especially – but some of these are suggestions that I’ve truly never heard before, and that? That’s a true delight!

Duana has good advice for naming Luca Alexander’s sister. To sum up? Yes, Lola is out. But pretty much everything else is a maybe. Also, I love her take on names associated with famous figures, like Phoebe: The idea that a name makes you think of a famous bearer is kind of a fact unto itself, but unless the name is, like ‘Manson’, that’s not a negative! 

What do you think of these six reasons to second-guess your baby name choice? I think they’re good things to consider in general, but they don’t strike me as the real tension points.

Barron and Tessa Hilton came up with a great name for their newborn. The couple welcomed daughter Milou Alizée last week. I think this might be one of my favorite celeb baby names of 2020 so far …

Lastly, don’t forget to vote in March Madness baby names! The girls’ quarter finals contest is posted here, and the boys’ contest is here.

That’s all for now. As always, thank you for reading!