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Journal FortKnox's Journal: Baby #2's Name 77

Journal by FortKnox
Ugh... I'm back from Thanksgiving and have an issue that was argued throughout the trip home. The name for the baby girl to come in Feb...

I pretty much named Joey (wife didn't like it at first, but it grew on her). I'm not particular of her two names, though I can't think of a good name to add to the list.

Currently the options are "Emma" and "Jenna." Emma was going to be Joey's name if he were a girl. Fortunately, he was male, because Rachel on friends named her child Emma a week after he was born. Now it's too popular and trendy for me, so I'm leaning towards 'Jenna.'

What do you guys think? Which would you pick and why?
  • Also, any ideas for a girls name would definately help (I've asked this before, I know.... but I'll add more to it this time).
  • What I need is a girls name that isn't (white) trashy or a stripper/pornstar name (ie - 'Diamond'). Yeah, "Jenna" is a famous porn actress, but you know what I mean... no 'obvious' stripper names.
  • Pretty and fancy, but not too much (ie - "Victoria" is too fancy for my wife). She likes 'cute' names.
  • Nothing too exotic (I really wanted 'Zelda' but she absolutely refused.... she didn't dig "Luigi" for a boys name for Joey, either....).
  • I'm really not into popular or overused names (ie - "Jennifer", "Jessica", etc...).

Any help is appreciated...

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Baby #2's Name More

Baby #2's Name

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  • Sounds like a porn star name. Probably because it is. If you must go along the Jen* path, you could always name her Jennifer- plenty of nickname options. I would recommend Emily, but it seems that is nearly as popular as Emma, though still a good name.

    You may now return to your regularly scheduled life wherein you can name your baby whatever you please.
  • If #2 for us is a girl, then she'll be Abigail Marie. We also like Angelina (not Jolie, but the waitress at the pizzeria [amazon.com]) and Antoinette, but that brought images of eating cake and chopping heads off. ;)
    • Abigail is already one cousin's babies name, and my sister in law has laid claim to it.

      Angelina may be an option.... I'll attempt putting it on the list....
      • Abigail is already one cousin's babies name, and my sister in law has laid claim to it.

        When I hear the name Abigail, I immediately think of this [covenworldwide.org]. Probably not something you'd want to associate with your daughter (of course, I could be wrong!)

      • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • Dood (Score:2)

    by ellem ( 147712 ) *
    Jenna is a pr0n star who can handle 8 men at once.

    Emma a beautiful lass in a green field.

    Do the math!
  • Jenna sounds very white trashy. At least to me. If it doesn't make me think of the porn star, it makes me think of a certain president's daughter who used fake ID to go out and get sloshed on margaritas. Not very elegant in other words.

    And there are too many Emmas for the time being.

    Not sure how much I can help you. I prefer classical names (probably too fancy for your wife), and I also have a thing for alliteration for some strange reason. Marta/Martha perhaps?

    • As long as we're on the letter M, I like...Margot and Madeline (pronounced with a long i and the wife could call her Maddie for that cutesie appeal). I also tend toward classical, dignified names.

      Rebecca is another good one, and I don't think there are too many of those floating around this generation.
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • There are much subtler ways to make a Beatles reference. For example: Cynthia, Yoko(probably too obvious), Jane, Heather, Linda, Pattie, Olivia, Maureen, or Barbara the names of the Fab Four's wives/fiances. There are also the female names that appeared in Beatles songs: Anna, Lizzy, Michelle, Eleanor, Lucy, Rita, Penny, Prudence, Molly, Martha, Julia, Sadie, Joan, Rose, Valerie, Pam, Mary, Maggie (or Mae), Loretta, Sally, Maddona, Jude.
  • These are some of the names in my family that "work" in English as well: Christina, Elisabeth, Leila, Laura, Maria, Regina.

    Hope the list at least gives you some ideas.
  • i'm so gonna catch hell for that ..

    mary and margaret too
  • Molly (goes with Marotti too :-) ). And if you think Molly is a wimpy name, go read about Molly Brown or read/rent Rabbit Proof Fence. Or you could do what my great grandparents did: They couldn't decide if they wanted to name my grandmother Oma or Gerene, so they named her Omagerene. So is it going to be Emmajenna or Jennaemma (or Jemma?)? (Remember what I said before: you get bonus points if you suggest a name that makes her laugh so hard she pees her pants).
  • Meghan
    Alice
    Wendy
    Cary/Carrie/Carie/Karie/...
    Laura/Laurie/Lara/Laury/...
    Samantha

    In the slightly-less-common-but-not-totally-crazy department:

    Cora
    Isis

    It the on-to-more-unusual-choices department:

    Desiree/Des'ree (Dez-ih-raye/Dehz-raye)
  • Liz or Beth for short.......

    • My sister's middle name is Elisabeth. Mom says it was specifically so it could be shortened to Lisa or Beth.
      Her first name is Sarah.
      Her initials are SEE.

      My name was initially going to be Aaron Paul Edwards, but Mom didn't like the initials APE. I kind of do like that, I'd surely have used it as my gaming name.
  • Pick a name from your family. Don't do the baby name book thing. This is how everyone and her sister in my generation is called Jennifer.
    • That's what we did with Joey. He's named after my father. Both our mothers have the same first name (Kathleen) which is to be the middle name. I suggested making it the first name, but was shot down.
      • Kathleen is a great name. Too bad that didn't fly. What are your grandparents' names?
        • "Giovanna" (she's called "Jenny" now that she's in America). Too exotic (really pushed for this one, too.... call her "Gia" for short).
          "Margaret" which she just didn't like.
          Her grandmothers:
          "Evangeline" which is too preachy and she doesn't like anyway.
          I don't remember the other, but it was considered and shot down.

          I'm telling you... I thought I was tough on names... the wife is just being stubborn.
          • I'm telling you... I thought I was tough on names... the wife is just being stubborn

            i don't think finding a name is the problem. i think the wife is the problem. find a new wife. j/k =)
          • so go further back. There has to be something worthwhile somewhere there. Start here: http://www.familysearch.org/
          • "Giovanna" (she's called "Jenny" now that she's in America).

            How about Anglicizing "Giovanna", then -- "Joanna", "Joanne", "Joan", "Johanna", "Jeanne"...

            (really pushed for this one, too.... call her "Gia" for short)

            Hey, I kinda like "Gia". Gia Marotti. Sounds nice.

            I also highly recommend getting names from family members -- and hate trendy names. My wife hates it, too, because she has a trendy name -- she had three classmates in elementary school with the same name as she does, out of a class of ~20

          • Oooh. You know, Margaret has a TON of derivatives, don't you? Meg, Megan, Molly, Maggie (a *very* "cute" girl's name), Rita, and even Daisy (one of my personal faves!). It's extremely versatile!!

            I think it sounds like Wifey has specific ideas of her own, and is being pushed into something where's she's wanting to stand her ground. Y'all gotta figure out how to make it a win-win decision!!

            ....Bethanie....
            • We had this settled ages ago. But it turns out 'kiddo' and 'squirt' were already taken. So we changed.

              Seriously, I told Angie 'no baby books', use your geneology, and other than that, I don't care.

              She refined that: too many Angelas in the family, nothing too 'old' sounding, and try to pick from parents first (since none of them were prideful enough to name their own children after themselves).

      • This is a great tradition that my father started that I wil continue to my son(s) should I have any. My first name is my own but my middle name is his first name.

        My first son's name will be XYZ Jason [dads name] lastname.

        This is something that I realy believe in. Our culture looses a sense of where it has been. This is especially the case in two generation homes, instead of the three generation homes of our grandparents.

        For daughters my wife (God willing I'll marry...) will have more sway, but I would
    • My Wife and I used family names for our four boy's middle names, but tried to come up with not-so-familiar first names.
  • If you want a "Jen" kind of name, maybe Guinevere would work. It's pretty, a bit exotic, but not unknown.
  • Anna.

    Anna is in between jenna and emma, doesn't remind one of any of the jennas and isn't short for emmiline. Emily might work, or Emily Ann. But Anna is my first choice...

    For dress up you can name her anna marie, or annette, or anna jeanette, or anna gloria maria sanctificata, whatever...

    But frankly, i vote thing number two gets named Anna.

    Failing that,

    Rose
    Lana
    Lisette
    Eleanor (elle, ellie, or lena for short)
    Eva
    Gwendolyn
    Mr. Henries
    Audrey

    Yeah, i can't wait for the "gramma jasmyne" generation to grow up
    • A couple who my wife & I are friends with named their girl Annalise. It's kind of pretty and can be shortened to Anna.

      Anna[lise] Kathleen Marotti sounds nice.
    • I had a crush on a girl in sixth grade named Gwen. When I heard the long form of her name, it was great... so exotic. (Well, to me - I'd never heard the name before.) And if she wanted, she could shorten it to Lyn, which is cute, too.

      Personally, I like the really exotic name Sky. I can see though, where the 21st century thing is too fad-ish.

      • Whoa. I wanted Gwendolyn/Gwen as a name for any daughters we may have. (Since we were trying to get kids for years, we had lots of time to talk about it...)

        Unfortunately BoE shot it down. *sigh*

        I don't think Gwendolyn works for Josh, though -- Gwendolyn Marotti? A Welsh first name and Italian last name? Sounds kinda odd to me.

        Cheers,

        Ethelred

  • Amelie Rose Marotti
  • The name Jenna will probably have passed into relative obscurity (from the Bush family) from the perspective of her chronological peers. So the reputation of the Bush may not affect the child's interaction with others.

    Try to limit the amount of ridicule a child can recieve, either from popular culture personilities, potential rhyming slurs. Also take into account the last and middle names to discover any sources of ridicule that may arise from combinations of the names.

    Other than that, two names I like ar
  • I'm not going to venture to offer suggestions, because I have REALLY weird taste in kids' names. But I can HIGHLY recommend this book: Beyond Jennifer & Jason, Madison & Montana : What To Name Your Baby Now [amazon.com]. It's got all kinds of names organized into lists by type (like "Names so far out they're in" and "Feminissima names"). I think y'all could really use it!

    The way Hubby and I went about choosing names for BOTH kids, was we went through and made our own lists, completely independent from one anot
    • Cool book suggestion. I'll see if I can pick it up anytime in the near future.

      We used a very similar method for Joey. Write two independent lists, combine them, and then we had some wierd rules. We could veto out any of the other names, but each of us could keep 3 'vetoed' names (humorously, Joey was one of the 'vetos' I kept...). But this time around, I'm getting the "you named Joey yourself, so I get to name the next one." And, to be frank, I don't like either name very much. Luckily I've got a li
    • P.S. Someone tell SW that Emily has been the single most popular girl's name for something like 10 years now.

      No it hasn't. It has definitely remained consistently popular, but has not been #1 on the popular name list for 10 years straight by any stretch of the imagination. There are popular names (Emily, Ann, Katherine) and then there are favored names that have been beaten to death in a sudden surge of popularity (Emma, Jennifer, apparently my own name in the early 80s). Yes, if you select from the fi
      • It has definitely remained consistently popular, but has not been #1 on the popular name list for 10 years straight by any stretch of the imagination.

        Actually, Emily has been the top female name since 1995 according to social security [ssa.gov]. I graduated high school in 95....
        • Still not ten years, but I get the idea. I thought Emma was #1 last year, but apparently it was beaten out. There are going to be a lot of Aunt Ems someday soon. It's hard to find a name that isn't in the top 1000- even Athena was quite popular. Margot and George are all I could come up with.
  • My feeble attempt at suggestions.

    Melanie
    Emily
    Elizabeth
    Erika
    Ashley
    Caroline

  • I presonally like Kristen. I was going to use it for my first daughter, but it doesn't look like I am going to have one, so I am releasing it under the GPL.
  • I'd go with a "full length" name that can be abbreviated multiple ways. That way, you can pick the version you like best, and when she's old enough to rebel, she can pick something else without having to resort to a name change. :-) That also gives the satisfaction of lots of syllables when you're yelling down the street....

    For Jenna, I'd go with Jennifer or one of the variants.

    Of course you could always call her Jemma. :-)

    Our girl name, which we've had for years before having any kids, is Kathryn. It's

  • I really, really, really like the name Graciela.

    It is unique, at least in North America. It has an obvious short form, but it is still very dignified, very feminine.

    Another name to consider: Terralaina. Same thing - unique, but with a few short forms, so that you don't have to explain the long form unless you feel like it. And when you are mad, you can use the long form, and your child will know you really mean it this time!

    Cheers,

    Pixie

  • Hmmm (Score:2)

    by glh ( 14273 )
    Jenna is cool, I have a friend who is named that. Emma sounds kind of grandma-ish, and it is pretty popular as you say.

    I like the idea of Guinnavere (or however you spell it, as someone suggested).

    Speaking of interesting names, my BIL named their daughter Hannah Nicole... :) (I thought he was joking when he first told me her name). DON'T do something like that, google whatever name + nick you pick to make sure there aren't any obvious reasons not to go with it.

  • I read the JE, and my mind automatically stuck a 'Frost' after 'Emma', and turned 'Jenna' into 'Jean' then stuck 'Grey' on the end.

    I am now officially a True Believer! Stan Lee would be proud! :)

    Anyway, getting back to the subject, you might want to read this piece from my weblog [redunser.co.uk] (plug plug!) for some suggestion of what *not to call Baby #2... :D

    -MT.
  • I love all the Greek "oe" names:
    Chloe
    Zoe
    Phoebe
    Those are killer!

    You can look to other languages for names as well. Hebrew has some shit-hot names for girls:
    Mirav
    Inbal
    Hadar
    Maya (also Mayan, pronounced Mie-YAN, not MI-yen)
    Ronit (pronounced ro-NEET)
    Sivan (see-VAHN)...my daughter's name.

  • lillian (or lilly for short), yvonne, yvette, ashlyn, isabel, evelyn, adriana, matilda...

    ok, i'm about out.
    • I'll second Lillian or Evelyn. Especially Evelyn or maybe just Eve ("Eve Marotti" sounds very nice).

      BTW that old hoary bit of advice: you should be able to pick a name that you're willing to stand on your front doorstep and holler it out at the top of your lungs and not feel embarrassed for you or your kid.

      Thus I agree that "Jenna" is a no-no.

      Cheers,

      Ethelred

  • Yep, Justine is a nice name :)

    Let's see - Susan, Laura, Justine, Dorothy...

    er, I'm gonna shut up now :-p
  • My pastor has mentioned a few times how he came to the names used for his boys... Not he is a pastor so his name choices rather obviously came fromthe Bible... however that doesn't mean that a name from the Bible is a bad thing.

    He says to give a name meaning. That way the name can be a reminder to the child as he / she grows. His kids names Joshua, Kaleb, and Hazarmaveth have great meanings.

    Ok just kidding about the Hazarmaveth. :-)

    But I would use that as a inspiration for names. I will name my child
  • My girls are Katherine Delia (for the grandmothers), and Elizabeth Anne. No real reason for Elizabeth other than that we both like it, and Anne as a short name to complement it. I voted for Elizabeth Erin (can ya tell we're an Irish family?) but was shot down. I liked the e.e. thing.

    I'm told that if we have a 3rd girl, she's to be named Molly.

  • Sorry, but the first thing that comes to mind *is* pretty trashy. So's the second.

    Can you feminize the name of one of the grandfathers?
  • That's what my family did. I have a brother "Jason Walker" and a sister "Caitlin Whyte". I got left out somehow (middle child always gets screwed!). Of course, if your Mom's maiden name is Mussolini or something this may not be cool.
  • Erin.
    Sylvia.
    Eva.
    Carly.
    Carol.
    Anah.
    Jill.
    Julie. (If you don't mind a french name)
    Kristy.
    Mariam.
    Tracy.
    Natalie.

    Yeah I just went through my little blackbook. All those names belong to white women and only one of them was a striper. Though it's not the one you think it is. ;-)
  • Shannon... but I lost and we named 2.0 Sophia
  • "Unread.org"

    Look, over there! (runs)

  • Be retro and consider the popular names of the turn of the century!

    Plenty of uniqueness in Ethel, Esther, Lottie, Agatha, Agnes, etc.
  • there [ssa.gov] you can ask for say the top 1000 baby names (and they tell you how many registered with that name) for any year from 1990 on up. Boys on left, girls on right, it's the fastest way to scroll though a list of names and discard the wildly popular ones... and maybe one of the obscure ones will 'pop' for you..
    (the 1000th name has as few as 150 other people using the name! you can get more obscure, but you're looking for a name your wife will like that won't be carbon copy from everyone else right?

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