old names

Naming our babies has to be one of the most stressful parts of pregnancy. Our first time around we were in the mindset that we needed to make a decision before they arrived and we quickly settled on Henri Frances if Edith was to be a boy. As for a girl we had three names and stressed about deciding on which we would use until 36 weeks when we finally decided to stop stressing and wait to meet our baby; I also was convinced Edith would be a boy and that we wouldn’t use any of the names anyway.  Well Edith was born and we immediately knew she would be Edith no question about it and the other two names were never considered again (in case you’re curious the other names were Evelyn and Everly.)

Enter baby #2 and we were back at square one. We were over our two girls names we didn’t use and the playgroups were saturated with Henry/Henri’s so that name was out for us. So what did we do? We spent 9 months creating lists of names that were remote possibilities. We would each create a list, exchange the list and cross of any that we disliked and then merge or lists together. We then would return to the list ever few weeks to cross off and add names. We ultimately decided just to wait to meet our baby. I can’t remember what names made our list but I’ll tell you one that didn’t – Alder Grey. Yeah that’s right all that list making and we decided on a name that wasn’t even on our list. Actually a name that 18 months earlier Neil had given me a hard ‘NO’ on when I said that would be a nice name and then he of all people was the one to say “what about Alder?”

Now onto baby #3. We once again were back at square one. We didn’t have any baby names that we were really into or holding on to from previous pregnancies (except for a few that were on my list only – I’ll share below). Our list this last time seemed to be miles long made up of any name that sparked even the slightest interest. We had a few that stood out a bit more than others – like Ingrid – but ultimately there were not many that really spoke to us. Again we decided to wait to meet baby and after she arrived and we spent time with her we knew Ingrid Rose was the perfect name for her. 

Okay on to the real reason you are here all those names that made our list that we didn’t use. Okay maybe not all because who has time for that (if you do want to know message me) but here are our top 10….or rather my top 10 because at least two of these names are ones that made my individual list ever baby and Neil vetoed every time. 

1. Olive 
2. Wilder 
3. Astrid 
4. Hollis  
5. Winnifred/Winnie 
6. Basil – makes my list every time and Neil uses his veto every time.
7. Laurel 
8. Cecil 
9. Stella – another that has been on the list every time and Neil again uses his power of the veto. Fun fact Stella and Basil is the names of my great-great maternal grandmother and her brother. 
10. Frances 

As you can see we go for names that are older sounding, botanical and Scandinavian. As I write this I realize that that is exactly what we did as well – Edith (older), Alder (botanical) and Ingrid (Scandinavian). 

What names made your list that you won’t be using? What name(s) did your partner veto? I could write an entire post of the names that Neil vetoed (there were a ton). Ultimately I’m happy with all the names we picked and who knows maybe a few will end up being used for the future four pawed friends we plan to adopt.