Help picking a baby name...?

Question

I'm only 10 wks pregnant but with our first child it took forever to decide on a name. At one point I actually called the hospital to see how long after the child was born we had to choose a name. We didn't decide until the night before he was born. We like strong traditional names. Even old fashioned names. We don't know the gender yet so all names are welcome. Nothing "new-ish" though.

Names that are used or not allowed:
(Boys)-James, Daniel, Nathan, Grant, Samuel, Ronald, Warren, Rickey, Eric, Michael, Russell, Ellis, Colby, Clayton, Dylan, Brent, Wyndell, Aiden, Robert, Anthony, Benjamin.
(Girls)-Erica, Lynn, Abigail, Taylor, Susan, Yvonne, Jeannie, Sue, Kennedy, Sydney, Barbara, Glenda, Wendy, Adelle, Patricia, Sara

We kind of like Emma for a girl and Owen for a boy but don't know what to pair with them. Our last name starts with an M. I do kinda like Bradley Owen but that will make his initials BOM. Do you think that matters?

I like ALL the names on my 'do not use' list but they are either our names or close family members names that can't be reused.

Answer 1

I have been obsessed with baby names since I was 12/13 (I really don't know why!). Anyway, I am super-picky about names. I don't like any Top 10 Names like Isabella or Kailey or Connor or Ethan. (They're nice names, but there's too many of them!) And I don't like names that sound too made up- like Graylin. And I don't like names that are too 'out there' like Sunset or Liberty.

Theeee ultimate baby name book is "Beyond Jennifer and Jason, Madison and Montana". It has every baby name category you can imagine and tells you absolutely everything to consider when naming your child (including initials, like you mentioned).

I think Emma is a beautiful name, but she'll likely be Emma M. b/c there will be two or three other Emmas in her class. I love Owen! It's classic, and not overused-yet.

Good luck! And I hope you find the book interesting if you buy it. I bought it for one penny at Amazon.com!

Answer 2

For a girl: Emily, Emma, Suzanne (too close to Susan?) Katharine, Katie, Rebecca (can't get more traditional than the bible!), Anne, Anna, Isabel, Marianne, Marilyn, Rachel, Alice

For a boy: Gregory, Mitchell, Henry, Jacob, Nick (Nicholas), David, Walter, Brad, Matthew, Allen, William, Ian

Answer 3

I was just curious as to why those names could not be used. I have friends that are Jewish and they avoided names of living relatives.
Here are some names that I came up with:
Boys: Joshua, Matthew, Ethan, Christopher, Joseph, Noah, Caleb, Elijah, Andrew, Logan, Nathaniel (is that too similar to Nathen??), Austin, Gabriel, Zachary, Aaron, David, Issac, Kyle, Jeremey, Jonathan, John, Mark, Luke, Justin, Julian, Avery, Adam, Charles, Ryan, Simon, Steven, Richard, Brian, Patrick, Theodore (Teddy), Ivan, Frank, Jay, William, Micah, Thomas, Charles, Shane, Chad, Corey, Timothy, James

Girls: Emily, Emma, Olivia, Isabella, Ann, Anna, Hannah, Ruth, Samantha, Ashley, Grace, Andrea, Lily, Paige, Michaela, Kayla, Ella, Brooke, Madeline, Caroline, Morgan, Rose, Faith, Amelia, Charlotte, Victoria, Caileigh, Caitlyn, Julie, Jade, Arianna, Mary, Marie, Sophie, Lillian, Megan, Leah, Lindsay, Emily, Brianna, Eileen (Greek form of Helen), Rachael, Sandra, Alice, Sandra, Sharon, Whitney, Cynthia, Courtney, Brenda, Shirley, Diane, Chloe, Ellen, Jennifer, Robin, MacKenna

Answer 4

Joseph, Kenneth, Stephen, Jeffrey, William

Kathryn, (Catherine, Katherine) Hannah, Elizabeth, Lily, Lucy, Emma, Stephanie, Carolyn, Caroline

Answer 5

Congratulations! I hope that you will have a very healthy baby, regardless of the gender. Some names I can think of:
For a boy:
Patrick, Joshua, Adam, Evan, Gabriel, Nathaniel, Paul, Luke,
For a girl:
Lindsey, Bethany, Danielle, Hannah, Elizabeth, Caleigh, Linda, Molly, Grace or Gracie, Anna, Rose, Savannah.

Answer 6

For a girl: Madeline, Madelynn, Madeleine, Maria, Maree, Judith, Ruth, Elizabeth
For a boy: Eduard, Jacob, Joseph, Matthew, Noah, Robson, William

Answer 7

Just a Few Ideas

For a girl : Angela, Audrie, Tiffany, Kylie, Gracie, Hope
For a Boy : Brandon, Lucas, Conner, Ricky, Sterling

Answer 8

My daughter is Emma Kathleen and a girlfriends daughter is Emma Rose. A tradition in my family is to use the mother's maiden name as a middle name i.e. Andrew Harrison. You can also look in your family trees for some other ideas.

Answer 9

What about Jacquelyn (or Jacqueline) for a girl and Jonathan for a boy. Both traditional and strong names.

Jacquelyn is my name and I have only run into one other my entire life (with the exact same spelling), but the name is not considered new or trendy.

Answer 10

Boys: David, Keith, Dale, Kay, Doyle, Karol or Carroll.Johnthan,
Girls: Karen, kelly or kelli, Stacy, Lindsey, Whitney