23 March 2010

le bébé french...

mrs. french is expecting a bébé of the girlie variety, and she said i could choose the name!

{crickets.}

oh, just go with it. you never know.




i wish she'd bring back beulah, don't you? i also like annie. grae-rose was going to be an annie, but uncle sugar wanted a gracie. and i just heard of a girl named annie-blake who has a sister named rebel. how adorable is that?

i love poppy and lavender, oona and merrilee. i love anything that means something else. i love names so outrageously special that you'd be silly not to give it to a new little person. the perfect first gift, do you know?




i adore the name hely - pronounced helly - because it's the name of the sweetest, wryest best friend any of us would be lucky to have in donna tartt's the little friend. i lost my copy, but i wish i could share one of the book's funniest moments involving hely and harriet. you'd die laughing.

back to mrs. french. i'm ever-so-oddly excited about this new babe of hers. plus i consider her a truly real imaginary friend. does that make sense?





which is why i've decided to share my all-time favorite name. it's esmé. pronounced essmay or ezzmay or essme or ezzme or may-may or maisie daisy or mabel mabel mabel on the table table table or mookie blaylock. depends on the accent, i think.

do you have any favorite names for girlies? who knows. maybe mrs. french will choose yours. i doubt it, though. i kind of think i hit it out of the park with beulah, yes? yes. xoxo.

photos found first on mary ruffle.

140 comments:

Kelly said...

i adore that book by Donna Tartt. so good. my favorite name? it's a secret, can't tell. :)

xo
kelly

Keri said...

I adore the name Poppy! It's so cute and happy. Xx

TWINTALES said...

sadie
sadie
sadie
sadie

no more babies for me but if i were to have a miracle one (another miracle, that is), i'd wish, wish, wish for a girl named sadie.

Anonymous said...

one of those you posted is on our list for this girl. but I don't think I'll tell which.

fun!

Miss B said...

Esme is one of my fave's and I shall want to brainstorm bebe names with you when the time comes:)

Here's my pick:

Tristan

Yes, it is my name but if I were to rename myself I would rename myself Tristan. My mother Marie (I love that name too, so tiny French girl) calls me Gigi sometimes, maybe Tristan is too much to say? I love Gigi and Lou Lou. Gigi Marie?

My middle name is Shout, yes Tristan Shout, my mother is very clever. My baptized name is 800 names long:

Tristan Stellina Sophia Belmarche B.

Stellina is little star in Italian, nice no?

Belmarche is a family name but Bel or Belle or Bella would be sweet Bella Stellina (beautiful little star).

I think I like this name too much. I can't wait to play again with you soon.

xo,

Miss B.

P.S. Can these photo's be any sweeter?

Amie Adams said...

I had so many girl names, but alas...

Jane/Janie has always been a favorite.

But if I ever get pregnant again (my husband's blood pressure just went through the roof by the sheer fact of me typing that), you are so naming the baby.

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leigh said...

i love reading you ;) you make me smile and well up with tears at the same time ;)

that last pic of a little one just blew my biological clock into high gear... le sigh.

i have mostly boy names, but i love mostly irish names.

right now though - one girl name that i would love love love to use is honor. it's the hubs greatgranny's name.

Rachel said...

My friend is naming his little girl, London. And calling her Lonny. I LOVE.

Anonymous said...

well you already took esme.....grrrr...grumble, grumble.
of course you would love "the little friend".
twirling.

mrs. darling said...

i told husband the other night that if we ever have a baby and it's a girl i would like to name her clancy grace. he said, clancy? and i said, yes, isn't it the most beautiful ever? he said, yes.

Rowena said...

I really love the name Jane. And Violet, and Ivy (my daughter's name, shh) and Clementine, and Bridget, and Clover, Willamina, Dinah, so many great girl names.

Robin said...

You are so creative...I love the names of the girlies three and the ones in this post, too. I have lots of favorites...
Boys: Micah (obviously), Dov, Beck
Girls: Ruby, Olive, Harper, Dahlia
ps I also adored yesterday's truffle :)

Melissa de la Fuente said...

Well...yes. you are adorable and hit it out of the park on all of them my friend. And yes, I know what you mean because I think of you two that way as well, very real IF's. :) Well, I have always adored Tallulah, which is Choochie's name as you know....and I love the name Olive and Louise....Scout & hope. I am so incredibly excited too, about the new frenchie bebe....if only the two of you lived next door....get ON that.
xoxo
Melis

caroline duke said...

annie-blake and rebel?

those kids were born to be mine. where can i find them?

i love esme, too, thanks to you. i'd have a whole brood of them if i could.

i also like... della. and frankie. and opal and lou.

my (very very very future) kid is going to be 87 when she comes out.

la la Lovely said...

If I had a girl it was going to be Olive. Olive Esme´. Before I knew you, I happened over to your site one pregnant day and saw that name and swooned and then I looked up the meaning and that was it. But of course Olive Esme´turned out to be Liam Brave. But if I ever have one more and it happens to be a girl I think I will still probably love that name ever so much!!!!

Oh and Poppy... I like that a lot too!

and speaking of pregnant...there is a really pregnant girl singing on Ellen...in case you just wanted to know - ha!

karey m. said...

tristan wins the name lottery. hands down. wow.

and i want another girlie now!

clancy and clementine...and caroline duke needs an annie-blake and a rebel.

{i keep re-reading ALL your genius names! wheee!}

xoxo.

Mrs.French said...

oh my. so, was it a big goal of yours to set out to make me tear up this afternoon? well...done and done. i can honestly say that no one brings happy tears (other types too) to my eyes more than you dear karey.

all of them. i love each and every name here. especially esmé...which has always been a favorite, but since finding you and your girlies i love it more than ever!

i am frantically compiling a list, based on your post, and all of the wonderful comments left by your amazing readers...this is the most thoughtful of gifts my real life friend.
xoxoxoxoxoxo
t
p.s.
i really think we need to give melis's idea a go...three houses all in a row!

Mrs.French said...

oh and don't get me started on the photos! you are killing me!

Kate said...

my 7 year old daughter announced the other day that her children would be named thomas (her new cousin's middle name) and mabel (her middle name). then she asked if she should have 2 or 3 kids. I told her it was up to her and she decided 2. so her second choices were lillian and jackson. then she did admit that her husband would have to okay the names too. then she announced that she was going to have a nice husband and not a drunk one!

where do they come up with it? I think all of us little girls started planning our baby names at age 7. future husbands- watch out!

beth said...

RUBY is my pick....
it was my grandmother's name and when I had a little girl 22 years ago, the world would have fallen apart if had named her ruby, since back then, nobody would have bestowed that on a tiny infant....BUT NOW.....OMG....if i had her now, she would SO be ruby and her middle name...LUNA.

hence the name of my photography site....
ruby luna photography.....it makes me smile !

karey m. said...

kate! her middle name is mabel?! that's what i call esme...

and RUBY! lillie kate was almost ALMOST ruby kate. even eleven years ago, it would've been too soon. also...she was nearly cooper kate. ruby...

man, i love naming babies...

kathleen said...

i love poppy!! hannah has a friend named poppy, and i haven't told david yet but that name has to be on the list. eventually, of course. i was digging phillippa for a bit, b/c i'd love a young thing to rock an old name--then i heard about a rather easy wanna-be-young thing with that name and had to nix it.

TX Girl said...

My first born is named Tallulah Belle which is and will always be one of my favorites. My second Theodore Halsted.

I'm in love with the name Alice these days and regularly tell my hubby if we have another baby her name will be Alice. Unless of course it is a boy and then he will be known as Llewelyn (or Llew for short).

Piper of Love said...

If my boys would have been girls they would have been Isabel and Jasper Lily.

However, I do adore the name Ruby so much that I've named two (ill-fated) kittens that.

My secretest wish, that I have always hoped, is that I would have the courage to name a girl Hyacinth.

I also adore Beulah though, really.

I love old-fashioned names.

Brandi said...

when i was younger, i used to list out names i'd give to girls -- almost girls entirely, though there were a few boys names in there. i've always believed in special names because i felt like i had one growing up. still to this day, when i meet a brandi, it's like finding a long lost sister. lastly, i've stopped planning. i imagine that the right name will be whispered to me by the wind the moment i see her face. (we'll see what the far future brings.)

c.bean said...

I love these names! almost makes me want to have another babe so I can play the name game again, but I am content to play from the sidelines!

I like olive.... I had an aunt olive. also had an aunt cora and an aunt flossie too... I wonder if anyone is naming their child flossie these days.

I've always liked eloise, penelope or imogen(e)... but my girls came out looking completely different from those names, so we had to throw out our list and start over. each time.

Shelley said...

i love every word of your post!

out of all of the suggested names, i think i like tristan the best... although i always figured if i'd had a boy i'd name him tristan. not to say it isn't perfecly lovely for a girl though.

can i still submit my contributions?

signe. pronounced sig-nee. so french!

daintree. a former coworker had a friend named daintree popp. that is just about the best name i've ever heard.

kenadie. like kennedy, only more girly.

and finally... and i think my favourite:

carys. care-iss. sigh!

crow said...

two names:

mimi

ruthie

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crow said...

oops. three names: name number three is the best:
penny (from penelope)

meezo said...

love, love, love the photos. i think my eggs are jumping right now.

if i were to have another...it would probably be a lillie or a janie :)

of course i still love my own two....rae and anna. rae is actually elizabeth rae, but we call her rae. anna is often called annie, but she prefers fairy princess sweet pea.

Kristin said...

we had SO much fun picking names for our twinkies. Amelia was a favorite name that I held in my back pocket for years, and I truly love getting to call my darling girlie this every day. i hope she grows to love it as much as I do. on my backup list was hattie, beatrice (bertie), elodie, ruby, and alice.

names are the best, and picking one is SUCH an important task. I mean, your name is yours forever, right?

Kristin said...

i just read the comments left by everyone else, and well, I'm just so giggly to see how it seems that we all have the same fondness for so many of the same names. kindred spirits abound.

krista said...

we decided on 'finn' for our girl. it was our boy's name pick but when we found out it was a girl, it stayed on the short list.

the others?
lulu
cyan
harper
greer
grae (yes, really)
esme (totally not kidding)

no wonder i have such a crush on you.

Simply Mel {Reverie} said...

Yellow Poppy because just reading it makes me feel her future would always be bright, sunny, and happy!

Catherine Peart said...

I have never met anyone else who loved the name Buelah! I also love my girlie's name - Eliza. My other picks were Clementine, Arabella and Anna.

HannahB said...

goodness me, my head is spinning! These ideas are helping to create a 'one day' list though...

the first picture is amazing, i love it!

dee said...

Francie. After the character in my favorite book, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Quite certain we discussed this back when Devon was still just a zygote.

Rebel=love.

Gray=next daughter o' mine.

Ruby=can't use it because it sounds ridiculous with my last name. You know the one.

Jane=was going to be Devon's middle name up until week 39, when it occurred to me that people might then nickname her "DJ". Deal breaker.

Hope this helps, my sweet Frenchie! xo

jules @ The Diversion Project said...

Hmm, i didn't have to think much about girls names, because i knew both were going to be boys, but a couple i wanted were Annabel and Zoe (i love Z names).

But since then i've kind of had a crush on Audrey - makes me think of a slightly bossy little thing with a creme caramel centre - and of course an incredibly stylish and independent lovely thing when she's older.

xxxx

Lauren said...

Ya know what's funny? I just read an article yesterday about a couple who named their daughter E. Just E. Their son? Yo Xing Heyno Augustus Eisner Alexander Weiser Knuckles. (To the tune of Jingleheimer Schmidt) It is not a joke!

Shortest and longest names in New York City. Something so off-putting yet inspiring about those two.

Miss Nell said...

Hmmmmm after having my boys upon whom I bestowed the strong Irish names of Declan and Liam. We struggled with names for our number 3!!!
But whilst out shopping one day these two names popped into my head - Mischa and Lexie. We named our little princess Mischa, hubby wasnt keen on Lexie but I still love the name. Other faves on my list were Imogen, Sheridan, Cassidy and Abbey.

Estelle Hayes said...

O.k. here it is because I'm not having any more but if I were and it was a girl she would be....

Soci Zoe

You are very much welcome. Best name ever, after my sweet Emerson that is.

peege said...

Beware the 3rd Grade playground when naming your babies, kids, no matter how much we love them can be cruel beasts, especially in the 3rd & 4th grade, God help Gwenyth P's children at school in London - seriously Apple & Moses are going to be shredded, and as for poor little Shioh Pitt, the second some clever dick figures out that ultimate humiliation comes by just switching a few letters around- her playground life is over (think Pile of).
Having had the pleasure of an education in The Middle East & England I've come across some real show stopping names (mine being spectacularly unpronounceable) some really pretty ones too:
In England:
Briony (whose BFF had the misfortune of being named Thomasina - really!) Jessamie Clea Lola Cathra Sasha Sheherazade Imogen,
Middle East:
Layla Aysha Lara Haya Dalia, Masa & my all time fave Ayat (pronounced A (as in apple) yaat)

As for Beulah...I think Montgomery Clift named his car that..

Richie Designs said...

I have a friend named Audra Michelle but she goes by Chelsea.

I love Audra and Chelsea so she won twice in that respect

karey m. said...

rajha! i love you. that's all...

Shannon said...

Wow, what a great list, I am copying away, you know, just in case. But my girl is Avery Grace Porter, it is double name so we call her Avery Grace, but we also call her Ave, or Avery, or 'pril as she was born on the 1st day of April, her middle name, Porter is for my grandmother she passed away the weekend before my girl was born. Originally I was going with Eloise, for both grandmothers, Elizabeth and Louise, but it was poo pooed by my husband. I love the names Polly and Mimi...ahh maybe someday.

Joslyn said...

i love this flippin post. love it.

i also love lola and eliza.

xox

Carla said...

I have two little kidlets of the girlie variety - Dessa & Farrah. I swoon over their names all the time. I do have a long list of favorites, ones my hubs shook his head firmly to, so even if another sweetie pie girl came along, she'd never have these but here perhaps for someone else my might have beens:

Pilar
Anais (pronounced ahna-ees)
Harlow
Xiomara (pronounced siomara)

Carla said...

Almost forgot, I adore the name Fable. It is the name of Rebecca Wolf's lovely darlin' and it's just perfection. Her blog, Girls Gone Child, has a great post on baby names:

http://www.girlsgonechild.net/2008/06/short-list-baby-name-edition.html

Enjoy!

Pretty Neat Designs said...

I like the name Caverly. And Eleanor.

Elizabeth @claritychaos said...

Nell.
Hazel.
Zinnia.

(i have three boys.) ;)

peege said...

Oh, forgot Zoya, Zinya and Suraya

KareyM Love you too xx

Anonymous said...

Bronwyn.

I live in an all-male household. But had one of my boys been a girl, I might have gone with Bronwyn. There won't be two or three in her Kindergarten class. And it's just a pretty name.

http://nicolaysseljohnson.wordpress.com

Unknown said...

my favourites?

tessa


jordon


gemma

Alicia said...

Since there are no more Bock babies to come I will happily share my unused favorites with baby French....
*Juniper
*Clover
*Clementine
*Isla
*Francesca (we'd call her Frankie.)
(probably too many F's for you...)
*Mathilda
xoxo- A.

karey m. said...

JUNIPER! YES!

and hazel. of course! can you imagine b calling her haze?!

this is a very. excellent. list.

{i promise i won't delete this for future baby-naming reference!}

Caroline said...

I love the name Della. It's unique but still has a touch of earth and lemonade and robins' eggs in it if you know what I mean. And Isolde! No explanation needed for that one. Gemima is underrated, imagine a cute little Gemma! Or Domino, a little unconventional, but it would only make her special in the best way. Veronica always sounded so strong but feminine at the same time, and Ronnie is such a cute nickname. Eloise is so charming and makes me thing of a dusty rose color. The name Electra sounds a bit eccentric, but it's actually from Greek mythology and it's so sweet sounding. So is Iris, though it's also a pretty flower that reminds me of the talking flowers in Alice in Wonderland. Terra was the Roman goddess of earth, you could spell it Tara too, one of my favorite names. :) And finally, Oceana. Beaches, a million shades of blue, and the warm sand beneath your feet.

Oh, so many names. I'm glad I'm too young to have kids, I'd never be able to choose just one. ;)

Khali said...

Esme is such an adorable choice. I also love Sylvie and Edie.

Can't wait to hear what Mrs. French eventually chooses. It will no doubt be just as adorable as she is.

Brigitte said...

I just popped by after seeing Mrs. French mention this post. Most fun ever!

Lucy
Anabelle
Marie
Elaine
Eleanor
Madeline

Anonymous said...

I, too, came over from Bliss. Love the name game.

Azalea - a friend named her sweet one after the gorgeous flower, and I love it!

I have two boys, Caedmon & Ansel, and I'm saving my ultimate girl name in case I get the courage to have a third bebe ;)

Chantelle said...

I like names that not everyone has. If I ever had a girl I wanted to name her Addison, but everyone knows that name since its Kate Walsh's character on greys/private practice. So it is no longer a choice which makes me said. My other favorites are: Emerson, Bella, Adelyn or Adeline. I also love love the name Synne you pronounce it sin-ya. It's Norwegian I believe.

Sonya said...

I have 3 delicious girls. They are Kristiana Grace, Mattia Lee and Josianne Marie - have fun the name of your little miracle.

Anonymous said...

i work with someone who named his girls grayson and carter

L.G. said...

I love the name Rose
and also Elsa .

katie//salt+pine said...

i'm partial to the names of my two daughters:
liv
and
iris
:)

Sido said...

Claire is one of my favorite names, and Chloe. For french names Ghislane (gil-enne).

Amanda said...

Just found your blog (from Mrs. French) and am totally and overwhelmingly in love with it! Your name picks are lovely! I'll always love my girls' names (Loreena, Isabel, Jolene) because it makes them who they are, but it would be hard to say no to Esme! xo

Art Wall Katie said...

I love my little girl's name: Polly. It was between Polly and Lottie. I love them both. Along those lines, I love Hattie and Clancy (I know a little Clancy--so so cute). I don't really have any favorite boy's names that come to mind.

Kathryn said...

I love this post! And I love the baby name game! Some of the girl names I love: Althea, Elliott, Iris, Willa, Annalee, Harper, June... the list goes on and on!

Corina said...

Hi here via Bliss. Lovely lovely images.

I very much fear that Esme, along with Bella, will be the next Emma, thanks to the Twilight books. Sad. Hopefully there will be no Renesmes.

These days I'm partial to Tamsin, Bianca and Dimity. But my baby naming days are done, I'm pleased with my three girlies names which all have a special reason for being selected.

Baby naming is a gift.

Kathy C said...

If I would have been lucky enough to have daughters, I would have named them Olivia and Eloise and Laurelie (pronounced Laurel Lie, which can be spelled many ways).

Brooke said...

I LOVE the name Esme!! not enough people are embracing it!!

Clementine Is... said...

I would like to put in my vote for Clementine (pretty self-centered since it's my own) but i can tell you that i love it more than anything.

Anonymous said...

My future daughters will be

Evelyn Louise

and

Hadley Grace

(hadley is my favorite of all time, but Evelyn is my recently deceased beautiful grandmothers name which I must give the honor of my little person)

I also love

Ellery (my husband thinks is sounds too much like celery...but I still love it)

Nellie

Claire

What about the boy names? It's much harder finding sweet and strong boy names....anyone?

Mich said...

If it were only up to me, and I were to only have little girls (of course), I would choose Naomi and Salome (sal-o-may).
I just love old names, and I love that they aren't entirely foreign to other countries. Since my family is spread around different parts of globe, I'd like everyone to be able to pronounce the names of my (future) children, and have those names sound just as beautiful as intended.

Tonia said...

My all-time fave girl name {and what I plan on naming mine someday...} is "Siri". It's Norwegian and you pronounce it sear-y. Lovely. :)

Clementine said...

So funny that I named my business after such a popular name. Maybe it's because my own name - Cassie - is not at all popular! :)

Poppy is adorable.
I love flower names as middle names. Everything sounds better when you put Rose or Lily after it.

Mindy said...

I am loving the name Eloise right now. And also Emmaline. I just had a baby girl 6 months ago and she is our Ruby Jane.

j. wilson said...

this is my first visit here and say...i think i quite like your words!

favorite names and i have many since i had been storing them up for years and just found out i can't use them (long sad story)...

ernestine, bernadette, birdie, sparrow, hazel, calliope, beulah (yes !), mabel (after my aunt), penelope (after my mother) and jimmie (after my father-in-law)...

karey m. said...

birdie. i think i just died. and you even love beulah?!

well. i quite like your words, too, jek-a-go-go. xoxo.

Sugar said...

I'll share since all my favorite names are family names:
Stephanie Francis
and
Josie Rose
And the names my husband doesn't like:
Annabel, Johannah and Rosemary

Unknown said...

i have an Alabama Tate and a Hattie B, who was almost Wallace like Wallace Simpson. I also like
Jemima, and finish girls names.

Anonymous said...

My nana's name is Beulah!Esme is also so pretty!
My fav names are

Alma
Luella
Nora gwenivere
Cora jacqueline

Anonymous said...

oh and also marabelle

Jill said...

I have three girls and I LOVE thinking of girls names. My girls are Ava Grace (so sad it has gotten so popular), Lola Marie and Elinor Rose. I LOVE the name Willa, Isla, Cora, Calla, Mira, Adelle and Esme. :)

HollyG said...

My favorite girlie name of all time is Tessa, after my favorite book, Tess of the D'Urbervilles. I also love Cecilia, Lyla, Sophie, Carolina, Stella, Charlotte, and Emmeline. Also, I need an I name: would it be too weird to name a girl Imelia? I like Ivy, but it's a bit too modern for me.

Ms. Spinach said...

i know a sweet little philippa ... who generally goes by pippa ... or sometimes just pips.

i've lately come to realize my parents were quite visionary by naming me "betsy" (not elizabeth, mind you, just betsy) -- it has the perfect throwback-but-not-too-proper vibe. i think i've grown up to be a betsy, and that's a good thing.

Julie said...

What's more fun than baby-namin'?! My have a Ruby and an Iris. I do love Esme. Tilda was a front runner. When I considered Astrid, my sister suggested that my baby would never forgive me. Thanks for letting me play too.

Anonymous said...

I have 4 girls, all under 10 years. We gave our first 3 names so we could incorporate both grandmothers, then decided to keep the tradition for the other 3:

Gemma Kate Maureen
Lydia Bree Louise
Lorelai Belle Celeste
Sylvie Ever Mae

karey m. said...

loving all of these names, aren't you?!

sylvie ever mae, i would write it five times daily. perfection.

mrs. french! are you dying over this inspiration?!

Courtney Lane said...

Coralie


Koralie


Coralee



do it.

Kellie said...

My husband and I have numerous names picked out, but just found out that we can't have our own little bebes. So I am giving some of our names to you!

GIRLS
Ellis
Quincy
Emery
Ainsley
Leona

BOYS
Liam
Oliver
Milo

We also have two dogs named Ruby & Sadie, so I obviously love those names as well. :)

Kellie said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Caroline said...

Such a cute post! And adorable names! And is she really letting you name her kid? That's cool. :)

Caroline of Red Glasses

Unknown said...

I love this sweet post Karey and your name picks. I haven't played the name game in so long...sometimes it breaks my heart a tiny bit that I only got to name one. And then I remember how lucky I am to have my brown bear.

Elena Rose (after our maternal grandmothers) is tucked away because you just never know... : )

Miss you!

Kate said...

I spent my childhood thinking about baby names (and I still think about them pretty regularly!) These are my favorites for now:

Grace Winters
Olivia Jayne

(both Winters and Jayne are family names)

I also love Caroline, Victoria, Ava, and Sophie. And by reading the comments I've noticed that a lot of people worry about naming their baby something that is too popular. My name was always really common growing up, but I didn't mind. I love my name, and you make it your own.

So glad to have found your blog!

emily said...

I was on a blog of a wedding DJ named theflashdance.com and he has a baby girl named Elodie Swan. I hope one day I have a baby girl - there are so many amazing names - I love the name Elodie. Beatrice is also really beautiful!!

Anonymous said...

I love these names

Girls: Freya, Quinn, Lola and Fiona. Wren is a Guilty pleasure.

Boys: Eli, Charlie, Luca and Brody.

Rachel said...

Beulah has always been one of my favorite names for a girl. My husband and I mentioned it to his mother and she laughed and told us we were crazy. So, I'm glad to see someone else loves the name too. Besides, it's not her kid, so what does it matter what she thinks, right?

Though I'm really digging Poppy!

shannon said...

I love names :)

Maeve
Charlotte
Bette
Shire
Nazreen
Calliope
Grainne
Truly

mridula said...

I always loved the name Noor - it means light in Arabic/Urdu. But Bliss would be a beautiful name. And Lydia Ever from an earlier commentator is lovely. The 'Ever' in combination with other names. Look to the ancient languages like Sanbskrit and Latin. How about Althea? It means truth in Latin.

annie (the annilygreen one) said...

i'm an annie blake too! without the hyphen, though, so it's not as exciting. i will hyphenate it in my heart from now on.

lesfifoles said...

Billie, Ollie, Nina, Thelma, Lou.

Or Jeanne, Clara, Madeleine.

Good luck. Anne

iheartart said...

Mimi..............

Maria | Vintage Simple said...

I love love love the name Esme, especially since I've started reading your blog. Noah was going to be a Lily or Ava when we were thinking about names before he was born... I still love Ava especially.

xoox,
-maria

Anonymous said...

I like:
Liberty- Libby for short
Daysha- no short for that
and
Journey- its a band, I know, but i still think its a good name.

Beulah is a Bible name and it means married or unforsaken.

Anonymous said...

oh... I forgot a very important name. I cant use it because there is a business here named it, but I love it anyway.

Bijou.

Anonymous said...

oh and I forgot.. with the name last name French... Bijou.

Anonymous said...

This post tickles me! I love it almost as much as I love names. I'm currently smitten with the names Pepper, Paisley, Grayson, Everleigh, & Margeaux.

Anonymous said...

JETTE!

Anonymous said...

Jette!

Marnie said...

clementine is pretty great - i love isabel too although that has gotten to be too popular - very unusual 18 years ago when i named my girlie - louisa is a nice old fashioned fave too - loove your lao tzu quote - all set to print for my office wall in your hand too

Michelle said...

Baby names are among my top ten discussion topics, so I just can't resist!

I have two daughters,

Emilee Ranae
Adeline Mae

(yes, they kind of rhyme....we didn't do that on purpose)

Favorites for a future daughter include:

Mia Lisette
Elle Marie
Isla Grae (this one fits the rhyming lol!)
Clara Noelle

I love, love, love this post!

Little Mave said...

Esme is so pretty! I like Liberty, so cute. Vivienne is my favorite. My great grandmother's name was Laura Annie. Love it. So happy for her, she's the best!

Kate Buckley said...

I am drooling over this list and all the comments. My husband and I managed to come up with THIRTEEN girls names we both loved (Willow, Zoe, Phoebe) and then proceeded to have two gorgeous boys. Esme was always on my list but not his. I hope Mrs. French is able to make good use of it!

dimityjane said...

I just got bumped over to this page and completely captivated by all the gorgeous names...and I can't believe my name was among them, since I never see it anywhere (certainly not on any of the souvernir mugs or keychains!)- mine is Dimity Jane.

I second the love for Juniper- was the name of a character in one of my favorite books as a child, so it would carry on the family tradition of naming babies from books (my mom got Dimity from Gone With the Wind!)- and same goes for Trixie and Aubrey.

I also adore Finn for a boy or girl- Finnegan Belle, in the girl's case- and Quinn...and now reading all the ones here, I have about two dozen more I want to use- I'm either going to have to give ridiculously long names to each child, or get a menagerie of animals to use them up on, or become a writer so I can use them for all my characters!

Sophie said...

Oh goodness I got so many good ideas just from reading this! Here are some of my favorites that were not mentioned previously (as far as I know):
I tend to err on the side of more traditional, but with a twist.

Judith Elaine (after my maternal and paternal grandmothers, respectively. I love the idea of naming your children after someone, but don't so much like the 'naming after the father' theme, I feel like it would get confusing)

Estelle Etoile (I read once about a French performer who worked in vaudville during the 1910s-20s named this. I think its darling, your child would definitely be destined for stardom.)

Evangeline

Jolene

Sloane

Frances

Zooey

Shelbie (or Shelby)

Louis (for a boy)

Winthrop (for a boy)

Amarylis

(does anyone else know where the last 2 names are from? :))

Danielle Cockerell said...

Sophie those last 2 are from The Music Man! :) "Amarylith!"

I LOVE names. I am obsessed. I have always said I don't want a lot of kids so my kids will either have a million names or I'll end up having a lot of pets with really awesome names!


My current favorites are

Girl - Álainn (pronounced Aw-lin) Gaelic for beautiful.


Boy - Draven. (as in Eric Draven...anyone?)

Anonymous said...

lovely.

Girls:
Atari Swan
Moori Dean
Cameron Ever
Mabel Jewelette
Annie-jane Lisette
Marie-Paule Angelina

Boys:
Bob Swade
David Sean Louis John
Horton Justin
Carlyle Spencer

x

Samantha Honey said...

what a wonderful blog post and love all this inspiration in comments!

Especially Bella Stellina- oh how pretty!
I'll add
Bliss and Fintry to these lovely choices. Fintry is my husband's sleepy little home-village near to Loch Lomand in Scotland- we don't have babies yet... maybe one day...

babysinblack said...

I've always loved the name Geneviève, with the French pronunciation (JON-vee-ehv).

Amy K said...

I love Asha Grace...

Asha is an Indian/Hindi name meaning hope, expectation, or new beginning... it's also a Swahili word meaning life or great one.

Pronounced ah-shah

Faith said...

My son is named Jasper, which is my hands down all time favorite boy's name. My daughter is named Carys (pronounced Kah.ris), which means "Love" in Welsh.

Anonymous said...

Ivy Constance

Kellie said...

Well, I am revisiting this post! Seven months ago I posted some of my favorite names after being told that my husband and I were unable to have children. Fast forward to October, and I'm 7 weeks pregnant with a little miracle! It's fun to look over all these again.

I think that if it's a girl, I'd like Clara Mae. It combines two of my great-grandmothers' names, and has just the right touch of vintage appeal to it. Boy? Liam or Milo or Silas, please.

dee said...

Revisiting this post today...baby naming is just so damn fun, isn't it?! I could have seventeen more children, just to have the joy of naming them. And you know what? Someone on this post suggested the name Luella. Pretty fantastic, huh?!

Holiday-ay....celebra-ate!! ;)

PS: Susannah (Petunia Face) is looking for boy names for her little man today, too!

tallulahnscarlettsmama said...

stumbled across your delicious blog+so glad i did!
names is one of my favourite things,my 2 special ones(as they are our precious little girls names)are tallulah belle violette + scarlett ruby rose.i have heaps more but we will be stopping with the darling little ones we have,so i will share : )
girls names: amethyst,araminta,aurelia,
fable,bloessem,luxe,cosette,
waverley,evanthe,allifair,florence,delilah,meliorra,harlowe
boys:seamus,finlay,lincoln,kash,tex,true,storey,grayson,tulloch,archer,cullen,breykerr

Kerry said...

Why not keep this post rolling? My sister's daughters are Rowan, Trinity and Pallasgrean.

Yes. Pallasgrean.

It's a tiny village in Ireland, to which neither my sister nor her husband have ever been. Now they have a reason to go, I guess.

Anonymous said...

Hello Beautiful People,
This is my first comment, sent from work, where I secretly while away boring afternoons being inspired my Miss Karey's words. They cheer me up.

I'm a Rose, who was almost a Gracie, and at the very last minute was stopped from being an "Elodie". And it's my favoritest name ever. I was only not named it because I have a half sister named Harmonie...and Elodie sounds too much like Melody...and then my father worried he'd look crazy. Which he was, but in a good way.

If I can't be an Elodie, I think the name should go to a pretty frenchie bebe.

x Rose

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Anonymous said...

My name is Everly and i have always loved it, but not as much as i love my niece's name : Alethea. Her nick name is Lay, but we mostly call her Alethea. Thinking about naming my daughter something like Calypso, Silas (i know its a boys name, but i love it), Saga or Lyric. For a boy im pretty set on Kellan or louis (not lewis louis like Lou-ee) Love the name Ace too, but i dont think i will ever name my son it. Just doesn't fit

Ellen said...

I just popped by after seeing Mrs. French mention this post. Most fun ever! Lucy Anabelle Marie Elaine Eleanor Madeline

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