your name? And if you have children, how did you come up with their names? spouses? My name is Tawnya. My mom wanted to name me Yvette but my dad wanted to name me Tanya. (Tanya Tucker, the country singer) so my mom agreed to it but it would've been spelled the way SHE wanted to so she spelled it TAWNYA. I have a boy named Powell. I went into labor at Lake Powell. I have another boy whose name is Jaisen. Me and my husband didn't we were having a boy because he was being stubborn and wouldn't let us see. The only name we could agree on was Jason but I wanted to be unique and spell it JAISEN. I have a daughter whose name is Miranda. My mom actually suggested this name (DH doesn't know) and we couldn't agree on this name either but DH let me chose it. I wanted to spell it different as well but DH wouldn't let me. I had to do it original being that he even allowed the name Miranda. She has a nickname of Rana. Jaisen couldn't say Miranda and ended up calling her Rana and we all picked up on it. And my 4th childs name is Kristopher. Again, this was the only name we could agree on and I wanted a different spelling for it. I wanted something really unique but not DH. He just wanted the K and I let it be being that it was really his turn for the name since I did the other 3. DH name is Leopoldo (leo for short). His name is actually passed down from generations ago. He's like the 8th or something like that. He hates his name. We have a boxer named Laydee (DH choose the name, I decided on the spelling) and another boxer by the name of Sancho (I got to choose that one). Laydee just had puppies and we get to keep one. We've decided to name him Chesty (from Chesty Puller who was a very well known general for the Marine Corps).

I don't frequently use real names on the internet, but I can tell you that my name, and my four siblings' names are all from the Bible. (My mother is very Catholic.)

My name is the same as a cousin -- except her middle name is my first and her first name my middle.

My oldest son -- his first name is actually the name my sister had given to a child she gave up for adoption when I was a teenager and the middle name is my dad's name.

My youngest -- his first name (since we were stumped) is the name of a very nice kid from my oldest's son's preschool and his middle name is my father-in-law's name.
(Sorry, I don't give out our names either )

I'm a big fan of traditional names. I also don't share names on the internet, but a few we considered are:

Lois
Elizabeth
Caroline
Margaret
(All are family names in one way or another)

Another thing that was very important for me when chosing a name was that there could be variations. For example Elizabeth could be Liz, Beth, Betty, Liza, etc. I have a name that cannot be shortened and I've always hated that I couldn't change up my name to suit myself in high school or college. So we picked a combination of names that have some variety.

As an aside (and please please don't take this the wrong way anyone - this is just my personal opinion): I really dislke the idea of spelling names differently just to be different. I think it makes it really hard on kids to try to fit in with their peers and it can open them up to a lot of teasing.

Also, and I know this is kind of a small thing, but I remember it with my brother growing up - he has an unusal name and he never could buy pencils or magnets or anything with his name on them and I know that there were many times it made him feel left out and upset. I remember once when he was 9 or so he actually cried because all his friends had ... somethin, dont' remember what it was ... personalized and he couldn't get one because his name wasn't available.

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Heh, I don't mind sharing my real name on the internet - kinda hard to narrow down all the Jennifers

I was born in 1969 and my mom said she only knew 1 Jennifer when she named me, which is hilarious considering how popular the name was after that! My middle name is Louise after my paternal grandmother who died when dad was a little boy. I'm not wild about Louise, but even I can agree that Jennifer Louise sounds nice together. My mom said she almost named me Catherine Elizabeth (which would have been as common, but still nice). My little brother is named Mark Andrew.

If I were to have children, I would definitely pick a name not in the top 100 (I don't want a kid to have a name as common as mine!) that is still attractive, regonizeable as a "real name" and is easy to spell/pronounce. I have to spell my last name/repeat my last name constantly and it's a huge pain in the butt I would never do to a child. My current favorite girl's name is Lilah Elizabeth

My favorite "guilty pleasure" names that I would probably not ever actually name a child:

Serafina
Jessamina
Clementine
Althea

My cousin and I are born in the same year and we have this exact same thing going on... how strange!

My mom chose my name because she knew I would be born around Christmas. Either way I would've had the same name whether I was a boy or girl, just with a different spelling depending on gender.

DH and I named our son after an uncle of his who passed away very young, the first name only. I got to choose his middle name. My side of the family has many other relatives with the same first name, but in different variations, like in English and Spanish.

I prefer simple names, simply spelled, like Michael--not Mychal . I had a friend who's husband was Irish. She named one of her boys Seamus, but spelled it Chaymes. I think it's a beautiful name with an ugly spelling. I think some parents are mean when they spell their kids' names "unusually" and the kid has to correct the pronunciation every time. But that's just me.

Glory, I love "Clementine". I think it's cute.

Mine is fairly simple, it was between Rachael Victoria, Victoria something, or Rebecca something....she started thinking about it and didn't want to have me called any of the nicknames for Victoria and she knew it would happen so she nixed that and then one night she was watching a movie and saw the name Lauren and she thought that Rebecca Lauren sounded pretty together asked my dad and he agreed. That's me

However, I have a funny story from one of my graduate student advisors, her mom named her after a "romance" novel (not the lovey dovey one....a dirtier version) There was some princess in there and her name was Aryn. She thought it was pretty so she named her that. Aryn said she joked with her mom that she was named after a bad book

Ha, I actually named a cat Clementine, I liked it so much.

To be fair, Irish names are just tough for us Americans to figure out. I used to work quite a bit with our subsidiary in Ireland, and it was tough to communicate in email with Sinead's, Mairead's, Niamh's, Aisling's, Aoife's, Sabhdh's, Siobahn's and then try to talk with them on the phone later! (key - Shu-nade, Muh-rade, NEEV, Ash-lynn, Ee-fa, SIVE, Sha-vawn) - names of actual coworkers!!!

Victoria is another one we considered. I love the old-fashionedness of it. Although I agree that Vicky can be a bit harsh to the ear!

I also have a bit of a pet peeve about naming children ethnic names when they aren't of that heritage. I'm 1/2 Irish, but born and raised in America (and my husband is Dutch and German and Indian and ... a general Heinz 57 mix) and I just think it would be pretentious of me to name a child Sinead or Siobahn or whatever ...!

(again, not trying to offend anyone, just my feelings)

I don't know where my first name, Allison, came from, but my middle name is Colleen. I was born on St. Patrick's Day and the husband of the woman Mom shared a room with at the hospital came in and said "My what a pretty little Colleen" (said in an Irish brogue) and my Mom thought that would be a good middle name. Had I not been Allison, I would have been Whitney.

My Mom didn't like the names I picked for my oldest child (Erica--she had an aunt named Erica whom she very much disliked). I handed her the baby name book and she picked Dana. The middle name is Jayne which is my Dad's Mom's name.

My son is James after my DH and his middle name is Nicklaus after my DH's favorite golfer. We call him Nicky (DH didn't want a James Junior in the house!) but his school friends call him James. Had I known that DH didn't want a junior, I would have named him Aiden James. It kind of rolls off the tongue like Dana Jayne.

My first name is by no means a common name but my midle name is as common as they get "Lynn" which is the same middle name as my mom

My brother is named from the bible and my parents & my dh have very common names as well

I don't have children but if the lord lesses me with one I would like to name her a name from the bible but is actualy a male name in the bible

My furbaby his name is Cruzor (cruiser) and he is named that because dh & I like to cruise & he had to come here in car from oklahoma

I don't mind giving out my name on the internet. There are over 150 people in my city that have the same first and last name as me.

My parents couldn't agree on a name they were arguing non-stop. Unlike photochick the only thing they could agree on was that the name could not be one that could easily be shortened. One day my dad was reading the paper and in the horiscope section they had a list of famous people born that day. My dad saw Shannon Tweed listed (the former playboy model, now married to Gene Simmons) and said I've always liked the name shannon. My mom I like it too. So I was named Shannon. Telling people you're named after a famous playboy model...not always the best idea Much to my parents dismay EVRYONE except them calls me Shan. And my nickname around the office is tweed. I told them the name story, and i happend to be wearing a tweed blazer that day. I've been Tweed ever since, and once or twice I've even accidently been introduced to a client as Shannon Tweed :blush:

My middle name is Troy. It was from a character in my mom's favourite book. The wife of the main character was a painter who signed all of her paintings Troy. My mom loved the idea that if I wanted I could go by the name Troy and no one would know if I was male or female.

As far as reasons behind a name, my moms good friend is named Victory, her mom found out that she was pregnant and moments later it came over the radiothat WWII was over. So she was named in Victory in honour of the allies winning the war.

Glory, my BIL's little brother is Rory, but its spelled Ruari. My niece is Bryna, pronounced Brinna. Those irish spellings are tough!

melekalikimaka, you think that's a tough spelling. I used to babysit a girl who's name was spelled Abcd. WTH!?! It was pronouced Absidy. Poor, poor girl....

I was named after a character in the movie "Laura"---the younger sister. My mom liked that name. You can shorten it but interestingly both my DH and my Dad both use the longer formal name. My Mom mixes my sister and I up so much that I am used to it.

My sister's name is the female version of my DH's, they both have the same nickname and he's named after his Dad, although he is not a junior?! So, there is a lot of confusion on all of the P's around on both sides of the family. Different middle names. And, he is the second son too. Go figure. Ironically, my only daughter's name would have been the same as my DH's ,although he is not her biological father, so that would have been even more to deal with. Now, my daughter says she was "meant to be" a boy so she is having her name changed legally for the second time! The first time was because she got tired of people mispronouncing her last name. Now, she has chosen a male name as she is taking male hormones. I hate it. It sounds like a cheap novel, speaking of books. It sounds fake and phony to me. I wish she would have at least shortened the name I picked out for her (it was my name given to me during French language class). If she would have it would be a male's name and still be what I had chosen for her.

I didn't like it when my sister used my daughter's middle name for both of her twins. I thought it showed a lack of orginality but now that my daughter won't be using it any more I guess it doesn't matter.

Speaking of the Irish, my mother-in-law's name is one of those Irish names that you can't pronounce either. It looks pretty on paper but no one ever gets it right. I so feel for her.

Again, if I had had more children the names would have changed many times as my taste in names change with time. As for spelling, well, I guess, that is an individual thing. I know that one of my twin nieces had the same problem with finding her name for personalized things and I felt so sorry for her. It's such a big deal when you are a kid. As you get older you do get tired though of having to correct people. I am called Pat all the time when actually I am a Pam. I don't know if people are hard of hearing or what.

Good topic though!

My parents decided to take names from each of their native countries and then they both picked out the ones they mutually liked. From there they thought it would be best that my first name should be that of the country I was born and raised in. Haha and then later in my life we moved west so, well.

I was supposed to be a boy. For my generation of cousins, we all have very traditional family names.

I was going to be Ceri, but as I'm a girl they decided to change the C to a K.

What makes it even more fun is my first middle name (i have three). I'm Keri Lynn.

I have cousins who are Carol Anne, Carolyn Anne, and Clara Lynn.