Discussing what name we want to give our baby boy has definitely been one of the most fun things about being pregnant! It’s not something Ryan and I chat about daily, but it comes up a lot, especially since we didn’t go into this pregnancy as one of those couples who already has names picked out ahead of time. Sure, it’s something we’ve talked about in the past, but it was never a super serious discussion until now.
We’ve been given one piece of advice from numerous couples time and time again: Once you settle on a name, do not share it with everyone you meet. This will open you up to feedback and opinions and can potentially strip some of the joy away from finding your perfect name.
I love this advice and though my secret-keeping abilities rank at a two on a scale of one to 10, Ryan and I are going to try to keep our little one’s name under wraps until after he’s born. Realistically, we’ll probably share his name with some people very close to us, but I can also see us not totally committing to a name until after we meet our baby. I feel like I may have to meet him before I could really know what name truly suits him.
In the meantime, we’ve been having a blast brainstorming names and discussing tons of possibilities! When it comes to selecting a name, we do have a few random factors we’re taking into consideration when it comes to naming our baby (<— just our personal preference) which you will find detailed below.
And if you have any fun baby naming stories, I’d love to hear about them in the comments section of this post! I’m not sure why, but I find this kind of thing super fun to talk about… I’ve heard some hilarious and heartwarming stories surrounding baby name selection that always make me smile! (Oh and if you haven’t seen the hilarious comment thread surrounding a Humans of New York story about a girl named Beyoncé, click here for a good name-related laugh!)
Our Personal Baby Name Guidelines
- Avoiding Rhyme Time
As it turns out, Fagan is last name that rhymes with a lot of names and can sound almost “sing-song-y” when paired with certain names at times. I’ve always loved the name Reagan for a girl and after Ryan and I got engaged, I realized I’d never have a little Reagan… though Ryan said if we ever have a girl we should totally name her Reagan Megan Fagan. YES! Haha!
I’m also funny about names that end in “an” with Fagan which is kind of crazy because I’ve never thought of Ryan’s name clashing with Fagan and it falls into that category. Maybe it doesn’t bother me since it doesn’t rhyme at all?
- Paying Attention to Initials
I knew a girl in high school with the initials A.S.S. and always felt horrible for her! Fortunately there aren’t many three letter words that end in F that we have to work around, so I feel pretty safe on this front!
- Family Names
Neither Ryan nor I have any names in our family that have a long-standing tradition of being passed down from generation to generation. I do love the idea of giving our little guy a middle name that has some sort of family significance, but we’re still chatting about this one and go back and forth on middle names all the time. And no, Baby O’Fagan isn’t a real contender. Haha!
- Nothing Too Trendy
You know the cutesy names you see popping up all over your Facebook feed? We’re trying to avoid anything like that. Both of us like classic names, but we also love names that aren’t too traditional – striking a balance between something that feels current but not too trendy or old fashioned can be tough!
- Nothing Too Popular
We’ve ruled out any names we’ve seen on current “most popular baby names” lists even though there are quite a few boy names we both love that have become very popular over the past few years. (Liam and James are two names I personally adore!) Actually, one of the names up for consideration for our baby’s middle name is on this list, so…
- Easy to Say and Spell
Ryan and I both have very easy names. They’re easy to say and easy to spell (well, unless you’re a certain Starbucks barista – I’ve been “Jewlie” and “July” before) and we both appreciate the fact that we’ve never really had names that we’ve had to repeat over and over again for someone to understand them after we introduce ourselves. We’d like something similar for our little one!
Question of the Morning
- Do you have any fun baby name stories to share? I’d love to hear them!
- For the parents: Did you share your baby’s name with people ahead of time?
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I can give you a little name history on The Fagan side…Joseph and Ruth Fagan named their four sons…Michael Wayne, Gregory Kevin,Douglas Joseph…Brian David…Doug’s sons are named Michael and Douglas…Michael has a son named Ryan…and Dougie his sons are Blake and Chase Fagan…I love names…so I am really looking forward to the new baby…blessings and love
Oh….I saved the best for last my boy…Daniel Michael
At our gender reveal party, Bobby shared some of our favorite names with my MIL and she promptly told us which ones she did NOT like. That’s when we knew there was no way we were sharing the name or wanting opinions from anyone! I know Emma is very popular, but honestly 1.) I haven’t met a single other emma that is a baby, they are all older and 2) we went with “emma kate” to mix up the popular and 3.) I cannot tell you how bummed I was when Rachel named her baby Emma on Friends b/c I knew at that moment my favorite baby name would forever be popular. Oh well, I still love it!
My name is Julianne with the middle name of Elizabeth …well I recently got married (yay!) and took his last name that starts with a “W”
I will forever have the initials J.E.W.
The running joke is “please! nothing monogrammed!”
PS I love your blog 🙂
haha! my middle name is also Elizabeth 🙂
I was Kimberly until my mom had an odd worry attack regarding the length when combined w/ my maiden name. she said she imagined me taking a test and still filling in my name when the instructor called time. So she (and, i suppose, my dad too but he probably didn’t play a big role in the decision) made a quick switch. When some friends came to the hospital (back when women stayed for a bit!), they asked “How’s Kimberly?” My mom replied in a deadpan serious tone “Cheryl’s doing great”
Naming would/maybe will stress me out! I have some in mind, but the husband isn’t a huge fan
P.S. I’m kinda ambivalent towards my name but I do like the “popularity level”….it’s common enough that people know it and even know how to spell it (i don’t mind the “S or C” query, even if S is so clearly wrong or totally miss the boat like some baristas) but I am usually the only one in a group with the name (though i had one class WAY back in HS where i sat behind another Cheryl and for a whie had another sitting near me at a job and was always thrown hearing her answer her phone saying “This is Cheryl” (no, i’m cheryl!!)
Mother’s Day 2012 is when my husband and I picked our son’s name over ‘mama-to-be mother’s day brunch’. We didn’t know ANYONE named Oliver- it wasn’t on any popular boy name lists and now three years later- it’s in the top 10 for 2015. We thought we were being all cool with brining back an old name that we literally knew no one with that name and now it’s all popular. So my advice, when you find the name you and Ryan love- go with it. For all you know, in three years it can be a sneak attack popular name too 🙂
I always loved my initials L.A.R. because it is the first 3 letters of my first name, Larissa =)
When I picked my first son’s name…NO ONE we knew (and still know) had that name! We picked Julian for #1…I still love this name!! When son #2 came along, again, we picked a name that NO ONE really knew, unless you watched Sex in The City or knew of this particular actor. Unbeknowst to us, we ended up picking Aidan (the unpopular spelling,btw) and found out that this name has made the list several times! We have only run into a few Aidan/Aiden/Aaeden’s over his short 8 years, but we couldn’t have picked a better name for this guy. (Gaelic meaning..”little spitfire” or “little fiery” one!!
My husband and I are nowhere near ready to have kids or talk baby names, but our last name is Hamm so we often joke about naming our kids Honey and Blast Forest. Thinking about little Honey Hamm and Black Forest Hamm running around really cracks me up. 🙂