We were discussing this at work a few days ago. Simply put, what are the first names that you like and what are the ones you're not too crazy about. Can be any first names you've ever heard of, from the traditional to the bizarre.

For girls/women, for some reason I really like names that were popular in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, like Tammy, Traci, Michelle, Nicole, Christine, Kelly, Karen, and Rachel. They're very feminine names, but they're also very strong-sounding. I really can't deal with today's popular names like Ava, Isabella, Chloe, Emma, etc. Chloe, to me, is the absolute worst (no offense to any Chloes on SON!). It's just so dainty and feeble-sounding, like a tiny little flower that's just waiting to get squashed.

My tastes in boys/men's names are kinda similar. Rex, Keith, Blaine, and Levi are favorites. Nice strong, hard names. I'm not too crazy about older-fashioned names like William, Charles, George, Henry, and Ronald.

What are your faves/least faves?

Edited September 28, 201213 yr by All My Shadows

I guess I should name my two favorites for a girl and a boy: Savannah and Wesley. They are my top picks for each gender.

I also love:

Harrison

Hayden

Michael

Nathan

Alexandra

Autumn

Gabrielle

Grace

Sage

Mara

I'll post more as I think of them.

I'll also say this: Now that I'm older, I'm GLAD I was named Mary, because with the exception of maybe two girls who I knew in middle school and high school, I was always the only Mary in my class/age range, which made me feel I had my own identity (ironic, given how many years my name was THE number one girls name in America).

Speaking of which, are you guys interested in a thread listing the number boys and girls names through the years (courtesy of the SSA)? I'd be happy to post a thread featuring every number one name from 1880 (when these lists began) to 2011 (when the most recent list came out).

Names I cannot stand:

Boys

Bob

Alfredo

John

Boris

Kevin

Michael

Gary

Logan

Caleb

Garrett

Howard

Rupert

Ethan

Skylar

Connor

(insert letter here)-J

Fred

Benjamin

Burt

Devin

Cayden

Harry

Terry

Marvin

Elliott

Girls

Megan

Macy

Doris

Piper

Kaitlyn

Bertha

Shelby

Genesis

Mackenzie

Paisley

Betty

Kylie

Kimberly

Evangeline

Nevaeh

Jade

Chastity

Charity

I'm so SORRY to anyone with those names!

Names I like

Boys

Demitri

Amir

Omar

Andrew

Miles

Lucas

Damian

Emilio

Nicolas

Dominic

Julian

Girls

Camille

Nicole

Olivia

Rhonda

Giselle

Carmen

Sydney

Dominique

Thalia

Denise

Simone

Gabrielle

Isis

Priscilla

Scarlett

I would consider any of these names for my future children!

Chloe, to me, is the absolute worst (no offense to any Chloes on SON!). It's just so dainty and feeble-sounding, like a tiny little flower that's just waiting to get squashed.

LOL...OMG. I think Chloe is a pretty looking & sounding name!

Gabrielle

;-)

Lord knows I love Kendall, but I would never name my daughter after her. LMAO!! I don't like that "dall" is prononunced "dull" (my girl was anything but) and I can't help but put a space between the N and the D sometimes in my head. IDK, I don't hate the name, I just all around find it strange. LOL.

I'll also say this: Now that I'm older, I'm GLAD I was named Mary, because with the exception of maybe two girls who I knew in middle school and high school, I was always the only Mary in my class/age range, which made me feel I had my own identity (ironic, given how many years my name was THE number one girls name in America).

I wish I had my own identity in class like that too, and I could've, but my first name is so confusing for people to even say right that I just started (mostly) going by my middle name. LOL. When I was in elementary school there were three Spencer's in class. It was kind of a nightmare.

Edited September 29, 201213 yr by AllmyDaysatGH

Names I like:

Boys- Seth, Adam, James, Stephen, Pierce, Andrew, Hugh, Scott, Connor, Ezra, Leo, Maxwell, and Evan

Girls- Hannah, Ellen, Margaret, Francesca, Jacinta, Freya, Phoebe, Gemma, Melissa, Bonnie, Julia, Jemima, and Caroline

Names I dislike (Sorry to anyone with these names!):

Boys- any of the names ending in the -ayden sound, Harry, Cooper, Liam, Riley, Callum, and Koby (and any variant spellings)

Girls- any misspelling of Caitlin, Sienna, Isla, Madison, Bella, any misspelling of Michaela, Jade, Indiana (so popular here and so ugly), and Lacey

We were discussing this at work a few days ago. Simply put, what are the first names that you like and what are the ones you're not too crazy about. Can be any first names you've ever heard of, from the traditional to the bizarre.

For girls/women, for some reason I really like names that were popular in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, like Tammy, Traci, Michelle, Nicole, Christine, Kelly, Karen, and Rachel. They're very feminine names, but they're also very strong-sounding. I really can't deal with today's popular names like Ava, Isabella, Chloe, Emma, etc. Chloe, to me, is the absolute worst (no offense to any Chloes on SON!). It's just so dainty and feeble-sounding, like a tiny little flower that's just waiting to get squashed.

My tastes in boys/men's names are kinda similar. Rex, Keith, Blaine, and Levi are favorites. Nice strong, hard names. I'm not too crazy about older-fashioned names like William, Charles, George, Henry, and Ronald.

What are your faves/least faves?

You DO know that there was a perfume in the 70's called "Chloe". I think they still make it. It stinks like HELL. Now as far as girls names go... I always liked Amanda, Caroline, and my favorite... it's VERY VERY old fashioned (From the 40's) is Althea. People always made fun of my middle name because nobody had it, nor had heard of it. But now that Arlen Specter came along... people are used to hearing it, now.

I have never liked the -ers/ors (Tanner, Parker, Connor, Hunter, Cooper).

You can always tell when certain names become trendy because they show up all over pop culture. In the 80s everybody was named either Dylan or Heather.

Now I think we're in the era of Rylie and Tyler, both for boys and girls. I think we've just come off the age of Natalie, Madison, Aiden, Jaden and Taylor.

A friend of mine who does book editing said that she's sick to death of the Jessica/Jasmine/Jessalyns that she sees in every manuscript. Apparently they are everywhere.

One of my favorite names is a very rare girl one: Amara. Both it and Mara are pretty, although Mara is obviously more common.

I also like the name Clare, without the "i", if only because she is supposedly the patron saint of television, and that's just awesome .

Favorite male names.....

Aaron, Marc, Christopher, Brian, Blake, Casey, Eric, Gregory, Lance, Matt, Nicholas, Ryan, Steven, Steve, Kirk, Trent

I LOVE Steven but hate "Steve," and I usually prefer shortened names (Matt over Matthew, Jake over Jacob, Josh over Joshua, Mitch over Mitchell, etc).

For boys, I like Christopher, Vincent (but not Vinny), Jared, Mitchell, Adam.

For girls, I like Jenna, Samantha. I like the letter J for girls' names, so Janet, Julianna, etc. work for me.

I'm not crazy about names where the syllables repeat, like Didi, Bibi, Mimi, Gigi

i like Adam and Jared as well....

i really only hate someones name when the spelling is just dumb. such as Ahmanduh or Evyan (the y is silent) or Rebeccha.

I LOVE Steven but hate "Steve," and I usually prefer shortened names (Matt over Matthew, Jake over Jacob, Josh over Joshua, Mitch over Mitchell, etc).

Steven is a BEAUTIFUL name (so is Stephen, actually), and I agree on not really being crazy about Steve as a nickname as well.

I also LOVE the name Evan. Always have.