More on the name game
Jul. 15th, 2010 03:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rkoldA few caveats, while I am looking for some opinions, I don't care if you prefer other "V" names or other names which begin with a different letter. I also don't care if you prefer the "V" names and think they would make a better first name. It has been my fondest wish since my grandmother died in 1994 to have a little girl to name after her. So the "A" name is coming first. What name you all like the best is not necessarily the name I am going to pick, I'm just letting you all give a little input. I already have various family members all campaigning for their favorite lol
So the next stage with baby naming is finding out what various people think of when they hear a particular name. For example, when I say the name "Clementine" someone might think the song "Oh My Darling Clementine" while someone else might think those yummy little readily peelable oranges one eats in Winter. Anyone who would like participate, please make a comment with what is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the following names.
The following first names are our current top choices:
Adina
Alice
Anne
Anya
Aviva
The following list of names are our top choices for middle names:
Vera
Verity
I might be willing to consider suggestions for other girl's names that start with A but again, I want a name that is not popular of which all of the following are: Abigail, Alexandra, Alexis, Alison, Amelia, Audrey, Aubrey, Audra, Ava. I also do not like gender neutral names, WASPY surnames as first names (think Addison) and I don't want a name that sounds made up. Also I am paying attention to ethnicity of names, Akiko is a perfectly nice name, but sounds really sort of silly when no one in her family is Japanese.
So the next stage with baby naming is finding out what various people think of when they hear a particular name. For example, when I say the name "Clementine" someone might think the song "Oh My Darling Clementine" while someone else might think those yummy little readily peelable oranges one eats in Winter. Anyone who would like participate, please make a comment with what is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the following names.
The following first names are our current top choices:
Adina
Alice
Anne
Anya
Aviva
The following list of names are our top choices for middle names:
Vera
Verity
I might be willing to consider suggestions for other girl's names that start with A but again, I want a name that is not popular of which all of the following are: Abigail, Alexandra, Alexis, Alison, Amelia, Audrey, Aubrey, Audra, Ava. I also do not like gender neutral names, WASPY surnames as first names (think Addison) and I don't want a name that sounds made up. Also I am paying attention to ethnicity of names, Akiko is a perfectly nice name, but sounds really sort of silly when no one in her family is Japanese.
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Date: 2010-07-15 07:23 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2010-07-15 07:41 pm (UTC)I tend to prefer Verity as a middle name but my husband I think prefers Vera.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-15 08:04 pm (UTC)I think Vera's a bit short to work with a one- or two-syllable first name. The full Veronica would work better.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-15 08:10 pm (UTC)I Anna is the popular version of the name now, no one in the US is using Ann/Anne/Annie just Anna or Ana.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-15 08:13 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-15 08:16 pm (UTC)Anne is # 544 while Annie is #382. I might use a nickname like Annie but I don't think I would ever use it as an actual name.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-15 08:22 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-15 08:34 pm (UTC)Word associations!
Date: 2010-07-15 07:37 pm (UTC)Adina - No firm opinions, but be prepared for people to mishear it as Dina.
Alice - Alice in Wonderland! I think there's another Baby Alice on my friends list.
Anne - Anne of Green Gables, Anne Hathaway... both good associations for me. It sounds like a sweet name that could be as elegant (or not) as you like. And I think it would sound and look good with your last name, too... so long as you make sure to have the "e" at the end, to avoid Ann Coulter associations! ;)
Anya - Aside from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer association, I think it's a pretty name. It's a distinctive name, one that feels connected to its heritage. EDITED TO ADD: Warning, if she is named Anya I will totally knit her kitty-themed things (because cats say "nya").
Aviva - For some reason it makes me think of cosmetics or medicine. I'm probably thinking of Aveeno cosmetics and Spiriva inhalers, as I keep seeing ads for those while I'm working out. :p
Vera - My only association is with Vera Wang. Seriously, as soon as I see Vera, I think "Vera Wang". And then I think "Ha ha, wang is a funny word." I might be 12.
Verity - Very pretty old-fashioned name! The only Verity I know is a minor character in Discworld (minor enough that Daniel didn't even remember she existed). I think the middle name is a great place to have a classy name like Verity.
Re: Word associations!
Date: 2010-07-15 07:45 pm (UTC)I'm concerned Alice has become way tooooo popular to consider. I think Aviva is a healthcare provider in Japan (a la Oxford XD;) I saw some adverts for it on the Yamanote line. I would definitely use the "e" at the end of Anne, since in that case I would be using the actual name of my grandmother.
BTW no matter what her name is, I'd love you to knit her kitty things XD; I love cats!
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-15 07:43 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-15 07:45 pm (UTC)And see that is the problem with the name actually, it feels a little awkward to use a name when I have porn of Anya and Sayoko double teaming Orange >>;
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-15 08:08 pm (UTC)I like Anne too though. It's a wonderfully simple name =w= And it reminds me to Famous Five ♥
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Date: 2010-07-15 08:14 pm (UTC)BTW did you ever get the postcard I sent?
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Date: 2010-07-15 08:19 pm (UTC)W-when did you send it? D: Not to my old address, I hope? ;w;
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-15 08:21 pm (UTC)I don't remember what the first book I read on my own was. I read an odd selection of children's books growing up lol
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-16 10:19 am (UTC)Well, diversity is always good xD
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-16 10:38 am (UTC)You might want to give it to me since I am planning to send baby announcements! :D
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-15 07:58 pm (UTC)Alice - Alice in Wonderland, the Terrorvision song 'Alice What's the Matter', my childhood friend Alice...
Anne - the youngest sister in the Famous Five
Anya - a nice Ukranian girl I know
Aviva - the insurance company, formerly known as Norwich Union. Probably not most people's first association, but in my line of work it's impossible not to think of it.
Vera - Vera Lynn
Verity - truth, gives me the impression of someone very straightforward and strong-willed, with good character
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-15 08:01 pm (UTC)Actually, I can totally see the Aviva association after riding the Yamanote-line so many times and seeing the advert for Aviva as some sort of health insurance company. lol
Though I don't know if the two Avivas are connected somehow.
Vera and Verity have the same meaning, I just personally prefer Verity while I think my husband prefers Vera :D
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-15 09:58 pm (UTC)Alice Verity Kold also sounds good. Or Alicia Verity as well.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-15 10:18 pm (UTC)I have seen the sitcom Alice but I only remember Flo from it really and well the eponymous Alice. I prefer Verity, but we shall see what we decide on lol
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-15 10:09 pm (UTC)A little old-fashioned but not old-lady-ish
Makes me think of Edina on Absolutely Fabulous (one of the greatest shows of all time :D)
Alice
Makes me think of people who are into lolita fashion a bit, but not in a bad way or overwhelmingly. it's more like "pretty classic name" -> "the book" -> "the fashion"
Anne
Conservative sounding, but pretty and simple
I guess it reminds me of Anne of Green Gables but... no strong association really.
Anya
To me this is a nickname for Anna because I'm thinking Russian names. Simple and pretty - but it may be a little common right now. I was really shocked to find that "Mikaela/Michaela" etc has become (slightly) more common!
Aviva
To me this sounds like something you take to activate your sex drive. It really sounds like a pharmaceutical product. Otherwise, it sounds like a name people thought hard about to try and make their child ~unique~.
I know it IS a genuine name but those are the associations I get from it.
Vera
Old-fashioned but could be pretty. To me I think it's "veh-ra" and not "vee-ra" because I'm also thinking of Russian names. I don't like "vee-ra" but most people would probably say it that way.
Verity
To me this is a little precious, but as a middle name I think it is OK. If it were a first name, I would say no, because it's a bit too fussy.
Anne Verity
Veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeery conservative sounding... wow
Alice Verity
I like the sound of this one a lot. I think this would be my personal favourite.
Anya Verity, Adina Verity
These also balance well IMHO.
Adina Vera is my favourite when I try the names with Vera.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-15 10:24 pm (UTC)I would never use Verity as a given name. I'm not so fond of V names overall but you take what you can when you're naming for dead people and we don't have the Hebrew Name cheat since neither relative we're naming for was Jewish >>;
I'm so glad you gave me all your associations! I do appreciate it. I know when my siblings hear Aviva they think the chick who spends her summers in Israel and teaches everyone to smoke, so associations can really really vary!
I was getting my MiL's opinion the other night. She likes the name best that Kennis likes the least. I think if we use Anne, he's going to campaign for Anne Vera for balance.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-16 02:01 am (UTC)Technically, *my* name, Anita, is supposedly a Spanish version of Anne -- the other day someone also said it was Egyptian?!
My vote is for Anne Verity. I'm just rereading one of the Harry Potter books & Verity is a passing, one sentence, character's name. As the book, the name is very English to me. I like it.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-16 10:41 am (UTC)You got your postcard right?
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-16 07:32 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-16 03:47 am (UTC)Second of all, for names I really like the sound of Anya Verity. Although personal bias insists that I put in a plug for Amelia. ;D
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-16 10:46 am (UTC)and huge bustedsinging Lady Gaga.It does feel sort of weird when she kicks! Sometimes it is not so hard and other times much more so. I like it, because it means she's doing well but that doesn't make it feel any less weird. I think yesterday I was able to see some of her movements under my skin!
I like the name of Amelia a lot, it's just waaaaaaay too popular. It's funny there are names that became popular I can't stand like Addison, Madison, Avery, Brooklyn, and then there are the popular names I really like, Juliet, Lucy, and Audrey and I feel like... "Stop liking off beat names like me!"
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-16 11:26 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-16 10:52 am (UTC)The nice thing about Adina and Aviva is they both have built in Hebrew names, which is helpful since technically my grandmother didn't have one since she wasn't Jewish. (My mom use to make one up for her, but that's not the same thing.) It's going to be a problem with Vera or Verity where I will need to figure one out.
I love getting other people's associations. Like for me, Violet always makes me think Violet Westing from the Westinghouse Game, while to many other people it's Violet from Charlie and Chocolate Factory and to a few friends a character in Phoenix Wright! lol
I'm really excited! It seems more real now that I feel her move more. It also helps that I saw my cousin's new baby girl on Wednesday (Temima Basya, she's so cute and tiny!) BTW did you get your postcard?
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-17 02:36 am (UTC)Alice - 1) my great aunt Alice Harper, born 1906, her nickname was always Al (Aunt Al) and 2) Alice in Wonderland - seems hyper trendy (doll fad) although not as a baby girl name in the USA today. Overall an old fashioned name.
Anne of Green Gables & my cousin Anne Elaine, born 1962 (& she was named after two grandmothers too but they were actually Ellen and Helen... somehow that became Elaine)
Anya - sounds Russian - very Russian - like a 6'tall well-built Russian model(!)
Aviva - sound like hair care products, natural hair care, close to the word Aveda, or maybe Viva paper towels, a short name for 3 syllables, pretty cool symmetrical name - a palindrome - kids might like this feature of this name - Aviva!
Adina - 1) since I live in Edina, this sounds like the mispronunciation of a place name that we sometimes hear from telemarketers who are in Florida not MN, or 2) like Dina (long i, Alice's cat's name) and since Dina is a country name it makes me think of the granny in "She'll be coming round the Mountain" - so Dina is hillbilly sounding as in Someone's in the kitchen with Dinah, someone's in the kitchen I kno-o-o-ow, someone's in the kitchen with Dinah, strumming on the old banjo and singing fe fi etc etc) whereas Adina is pretentious sounding... like Adonis would be pretentious for a boy! Also my father's mother's mother was Dina (long e, so not Dinah long i), a Norwegian country farm wife name, in her case.
Vera - either 1) the housekeeper at a Midwestern sorority house, a farm wife, sturdy and practical (c. 1976) OR 2) the lead in a Noel Coward play, someone who uses a cigarette holder, or an Auntie Mame type
Verity - fussy & delicate, dressed in Victorian lace
Anne Vera Koldewyn
AVK
your mother's mother wasn't Jewish??
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-19 10:33 pm (UTC)Adina is pronounced similarly to Idina or Edina I suspect or like Ah-Dee-Na. To be honest other than in that song and Starlight Express even when I see Dinah I pronounce it Dee-Na since that is the usual spelling used for Jacob's daughter and her name is pronounced in the Torah Dee-Na. I never even considered a pronunciation like Die-Na. It's a bit like how I was startled to learn this week end that some people pronounce "Aaron" the same way as "Erin"
All this talk of Anne of Green Gables is something of a turn off for me, since I ABHORRED that book >>;
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-20 05:06 pm (UTC)Maybe think Anne Hathaway, Anne Frank, Queen Anne? or even Annie Oakley? Little Orphan Annie?
Could be too much Anne of GG on this list because of over-rep of doll people and all those Anne dolls???
Hope you're doing great and stay in AC if too hot and humid!
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-20 10:35 pm (UTC)I'm not into any of those Annes at all except for Annie Oakley >>;; I think a lot of people just think of Anne of GG since not all the respondents are doll people I just know I read the first book because of the dolls and spent the whole book wishing a tsunami would destroy Prince Edward Island and the anti-semities there. >>;
I am discovering how both AC and fans are wonderful wonderful things though it has cooled down slightly.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-20 10:48 am (UTC)Adina - Middle East; deserts, sun, sandals
Alice - in Wonderland
Anne - of the Green Gables
Anya - Code Geass loli
Aviva - Viva l'Espana~
Vera - A character from a fighting game
Verity - truth, purity
In terms of which names I personally like (not that it really matters here, but shhh~), my favourite is Verity. Out of the A-names, I think I like Anya the best. Not because of the fandom association, but because I think it sounds nice, is not too exotic (aka won't be too problematic for the child) yet isn't too common or uninteresting.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-20 10:43 pm (UTC)Technically, where I use to live none of the names would qualify as exotic. lol Unsure about the new location though but it's close to NY still. Adina and Aviva are both pretty common Israeli names used by Jews in general.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-21 09:17 am (UTC)Out of curiosity, what is the root for Anne and Anya?
True, true, "exotic" does strongly depends on where one is located. XD
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-21 04:48 pm (UTC)Verity means truth and so does Vera. Again it's just another geographical variation.
And yeah, I know some people don't know the roots, which is one reason I wanted opinions. I have a friend who really likes Aviva and thinks it is a pretty name, but not knowing Hebrew she doesn't know it means Spring, which is a negative IMHO since our daughter will be born in October.
To me, Annika sounds extremely exotic and foreign sounding, but considering it was #69 in MN in 2009, in MN it is probably not an exotic name. While in NY, Chaya was #81, Miriam was #90 and Chana was #92 and all seem like completely normal names to me.
I personally hate the name Alivia. It's a made up spelling for Olivia and no matter how popular it might become it just sounds dumb. The same goes for Rylee.