My wife and I are expecting, and thus we have to pick a name for our new baby. We’ve perused baby name websites and tried the Freakonomics tactic of predicting popular names, but to be honest none of it was really working.
As a Googler, though, the answer should have been obvious – let the Internet do it! So that’s what we’re doing, opening up our baby’s name to an Internet-wide vote.*
In the next couple days I’ll also put up a live graph of the results. If you’d like to learn how to use Google Docs and Spreadsheets to put a poll on your site (or name your baby), check out this post.
Feel free to send this link to your friends, put it up on social news sites, or write about it on your blog – the more votes the better.
If you can’t see the poll, follow this link to get to it.
EDIT: Here’s a little preview graph, with the most popular boys’ and girls’ names so far. I’ll add a graph with user-suggested names soon too.
DOUBLE EDIT: I’ve moved the graphs to the next page, so as not to influence the voting.
TRIPLE EDIT: The form isn’t working for some readers, it looks like all the visitors from neatorama have taken Docs by surprise. I’ll talk to some folks at work tomorrow. If you can’t see the form, please try back again a little later. If you subscribe to my blog you’ll see an update when I’m sure everything’s okay.
* We do reserve the right to ignore the results of the poll completely. Otherwise we’ll end up with a kid named Mr. Splashy Pants. Actually, that has a nice ring to it…
I Suggested Zanele (Girls Name ) originally a Zulu name
and Kabilo, a Sotho name from South Africa.
Pretty unique in both counts. So if uniqueness are your goals then these two could do the trick.
Jason,
I suggested Antía for girl, typical name from Galicia (Spain), and for a boy Iago (that means Jacob, as well in Gallego).
I hope you like them! ;-)
All the best,
Lolo
Jason,
I suggested for a girl Antía which is a typical name from Galicia (Spain) and for a boy I like Iago (that means Jacob also in Gallego) ;-)
All the best,
Lolo
Here in Spain, Alexis is a name for boys… just fyi
Hey Jason — You’re forgiven for not yet finding a great name online, because we just lifted the password on our big new baby-naming website nameberry.com YESTERDAY so google hasn’t even found us yet! I’m the coauthor of nine bestselling baby-naming books written over 20 years, on which the site is based.
We’re the only baby naming experts to own all our own content so I promise nameberry is a deeper, richer, more authoritative and more interesting baby-naming experience than anything else out there — really!
By the way, the only name on your list that’s really distinctive is Cassia. I like Ada but it’s a lot like Ava, and our new book coming out next spring, to replace Beyond Jennifer & Jason, is going to be called Beyond Ava & Aiden. And no matter what, you can’t name a boy Sydney anymore.
Check out nameberry.com and let us know what you think. Best, Pam Satran
About Althea, tell you -maybe dont know- that is the name of a city in Alicante (Spain) called ALTEA , i think it’s sounds fine, i like too AITANA what is similar
haha I am born on November 16th :)
You guys should pick solid, traditional names. I know you may like the trendy stuff in an attempt to be different, but guess what? EVERYONE IS DOING THAT! It’s bad enough being one of 3 Johns but Levis or Olivias?
It’s positively maddening and will give your kid major esteem problems, or at least they will always hate their name.
If you really like music, I think the name Van is quite nice as well…
I think for a girl you could name her Shayla, Skye, Alexa Rae, Jaylyn to name a few. For a boy maybe Jaden, Matthew, Aidan, Nicholas, Austin. But if none of those you could always use Devon which is good for a boy or a girl. Well, I’d like to say, whatever name you both pick I only wish you all the best with your child. My thoughts will be with you both and wishing you all the best of luck and health. Congrats on your pregnancy.
Mum’s name, Ann, is a nice traditional name. It might be good avoid trendiness and give Baby a more traditional name — a serious name for your son or a beautiful name for your daughter — maybe a name from an ancester to carry the line along. So many parents give gender neutral names to their daughters, like Madison and Taylor. They’re trendy names and not very attractive for a girl, and the poor kids have to carry the moniker to their graves. Also, you might want to avoid nicknames and names often given to pets. Just imagine a 98-year-old man named Benji, sitting in an old folks home long after you’re gone, drooling into his coffee cup It’s not a happy thought. Your baby will spend such a tiny bit of his life as an infant. Give Baby a grown up name s/he’ll be proud to carry forever.
Chuck Norris!
Yeah, if you’re going to pick one of those names your child is likely going to have an awkward name like the Madisons that were born a few years ago. I don’t think you have to pick a boring traditional biblical name, but you can be creative instead of picking off-the-shelf trendy yuppie names. I voted for Erin and Sydney because I think those are the edgiest. I like Cat’s suggestions.
Angelica is a beautiful name…
Seven years ago, when I was 18, I met a woman called Angelica. I still remember her today… She was my fisrt Love, a gorgeous & wonderful red-haired lady.
I miss her a lot…
If someday I have a daughter, I’ll name her that way…
Angelica…
Also, a suggestion is to use numerology (even if one is skeptical), to try sound combinations, and to the meaning of the name.
A very important thing is if the future mother can simply try meditation, and ask the yet unborn baby: how do you want us to call you? And then wait for a response. In some seconds, hours, or maybe days or weeks, the name will come to you naturally in the less expected moment.
Good luck finding a name!
Happiness, joy, prosperity and alternative energy for the couple, the child and all!
Hi, I am an European girl from Spain and I’d like to suggest a Spanish name for a boy: Joaquin (like the actor Joaquin Phoenix). It is pronounced somewhat like “Hoa-a-keen”. If you find it too much complicated just try the English/international version (Joachim). Try Jess for the middle name.
I do like short names so my favourite in the girls list is Ada. This is also a Spanish name and a name in many different languages (French, Italian, etc), so it’s very international and easy to pronounce and spell, which is very convenient. I suggest Mary as the middle name (ADA MARY MORRISON, It sounds fabulous!).
Or just try my name… ;) (English Violet)
I voted for Althea and Aaron but only because I had to vote for something. Which is not to say that I don’t love those names, I do, particularly Althea. Its just that I cannot really in good conscience choose a name based on no background. I understand that you can’t give your surname but that is so important to the first name choice!
I consider myself something of an expert on names. I’ve been researching name origins and trends since I was 13. I have helped name several babies, including 3 of my own. You have some beautiful choices but a name needs to be more than pleasing to the ear.
Give this a read:
http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id=Lny8cKgPS_AC&dq=baby+names+satran&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=1B1jiCyp0w&sig=O7MtOs2PtCFLXDi0YEGFUH–hUs&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=2&ct=result#PPA323,M1
Best wishes! You’re headed into an amazing time of life…
Ha! I see Pam Satran posted before me (note to self…read first, post later)…lucky you! She’s the guru of baby naming.
Sorry, I forgot to say that I actually love the name of my best American friend: Coralie. It is such and uncommon and pretty name and she is so lovely that I also love this name.
Annnnd…I see that your surname is right in the blog title. At this point I’ll just pretend I was never here.
Hi !
I’m a “random internet stranger” from France. Your idea is really funny, and not stupid, in fact.
I do prefer Ada for a girl, as I’m an Ada developer (the computer language Ada was named after Augusta Ada, countess of Lovelace) :)
Long life for your child, girl or boy :)
I like Arycha Elizabeth for girl and Aryc Mikal for a boy…
Easy picks for me. Like Ann, I see many horrible names in my job. Thanks for not merging your named (e.g. Cheryl plus Ronald equals Cher-Ron). Don’t worry about domain names and the like. There is a two-test rule for baby named: 1) If I see it on a resume, will I know how to say it to call and offer a job interview, and 2) When he/she is 70, the name must sound good with the title of Grandma or Grandma.
I’d like to suggest a few more names
Althea and Esme for girls
Otis for a boy.
Happy baby internet strangers!
I would strongly recommend staying away from Dylan and Olivia – as nice as they are. They are a dime a dozen today. Same goes for Erin which will forever be stuck in the 70s and 80s in my eyes.
I love Ada and Althea for the girl names. I knew an Althea in high school and always loved the name.
Most of the boys’ names are pretty common, unfortunately. Levi was the stand-out name for me.
But please, no more Olivias! The general population is naming their daughter that so you must discount all their votes :)
Angelica is a beautiful name for baby girl
and Eric is most loved name for baby boy
if you need any indian name, I would recommend the following Indian names for :
(1) Neepra for baby girl
(2) Praneesh for baby boy
Long life for your child, girl or boy :)
Congratulations on your upcoming little miracle.
Let me say its one of the best experiences one could ever go through in life. Its amazing how much love you have for this little person who you never met before.
Good luck on the name poll. I named my daughter Riley. After a long extensive list including some more exotic names like Adan and Asia, a friend suggested Riley and it just seemed to fit. Now I couldnt see my daughter as anythinig else but a Riley.
Yes, I may be the baby name guru, but I’m not the tech guru! Here’s the link to our big new baby-naming site where you’ll find what’s good about Ada and bad about Sydney for a boy, and many thousand other useful baby-naming ideas: http://nameberry.com.
There are a LOT of baby naming sites out there. Many are very good; some are less so. The Right Baby Name tries to do something unique. Using a massive volume of data gathered from dozens of different sources and number of psychological and sociological studies TheRightBabyName.com provides analysis of names and their association with various characteristics. For instance, you can find out how memorable a name is, how much of a fad it is, whether it’s associated with felons or lawyers or even Ivy Leaguers. Check us out and test out some of your favorite names!
hi,
I couldn’t resist to drop a line here :) I think that this is such a great, cool and sooo original idea! I’m trying to imagine how will your kid feel when finds out that people all around the world helped to name him/her :) AWESOME!
And about names, from your list I would pick Alexis and Aaron but I like more names Damian for a boy and Leah or May(those two sounds great together :)) for a girl.
good luck&lots of happines, love and prosperity!
greetings from Croatia
SpongeBob xD
All the best with the result!!.
Blessings of the internet to the child :)
I’m a bit confused. Are you trying to avoid trendy names so to keep your kid being one of a dozen in his or her class, or are you trying to be on trend?
How about Asa for boy? Sasha for girl?
Love Althea and Athena. Jacob and Isaac don’t do it-too biblical. No to Aaron. Genevieve lovely. Petra cool and historical.
Our daughter is Saylor and son is Archer. Seneca almost made birth certificate.
Good luck. Whatever you decide on, I wish you a healthy baby.
boy: HAMMER
girl: TIME
Hammer time!
I like the name “Frogmella”
Prediction – you will decide on a name and then after the little one is born will totally change your mind as it won’t suit somehow. I’d go with George Castanza’s choice ‘Seven’. Don’t worry… it will grow on you.
if you are going to have a ‘famous’ or world renowned child then choose a name that stands out! esp if it is going to be a ‘mix’ baby – i have 2 euro asian girls – simply gorgeous! ruby and hunter (aka crickette) i want them to grow up so no-one forgets who they are! i chose strong names that they could live into – have an awesome life – not normal and mundane!!
i chose ‘Jasanne’ for a girl – father’s first name and mother’s first name and cause it is different!! it is still feminine yet interesting and beautiful…
Levi for a boy cause i’m guessing he would be good looking – yes?? and sexy!! also a strong name and not a push over… and very very cool!!
well enough from me – gotta get back to work:
http://www.rubyandcrickette.com.au
Sydney is good – just spell it properly – Sydney is a city
Sidney is a name.
China India – if its a girl because thats where your next fortune is going to come from.
awesome idea.
I like EDEN – apart from the fact that it’s my niece’s name – because it is non-gender-specific, and contains none of those pesky letters that cause massive mis-pronunciation in other languages, so she/he will be able to travel the world and still hear her/his name more-or-less correctly each time!! :)
And it has a beautiful meaning – paradise, or possibly pleasure (see http://www.aussiethings.com.au/babynames/eboy.htm)
Surprisingly enough, I found myself on this website, and typed in EDEN, and it has obviously taken a HUGE surge in the past few years in New South Wales, Australia, but they are claiming all female. That is misleading, as the FIRST ‘Eden’ of whom I heard here was a male.
http://www.nsw.gov.au/explorer.asp.
Wishing you much happiness with your child, girl or boy….
You cannot go passed:
Sunday Roast
… Sydney is a city and is also a name.
Hi,
I love your idea…and I’m sure whatever you choose will suit your little miracle. I chose Malaika for a girl – it means Angel. I think it’s a beautiful name. I like Isac for a boy…nice traditional name and goes wonderfuly with your family name.
Good luck!
I have suggested the new baby be named Darwin.