How Many of Me?

I don't remember where I found this link, but it's addicting! You can type in your first and last name and see how many people in America have your name... and the name of everyone you know!

There are 7, 899 Chantals in America. Combine that with my last name (500,000+ of those) and there are 15 people with my first and last name in America. Not bad.

So what would be ideal? Some people strive for unique. They want their baby to be one-of-a-kind. I don't necessarily think this is a good thing, and I'll tell you why.

My name is one-of-a-kind. I can pretty much guarantee that. But wait ...you say... she just said that there are 15 people in America who share her name! True, but that doesn't take into account my middle name. My middle name is so unique (why do we use that term like that anyway? Unique is unique. There's not more or less unique. It's one-of-a-kind or not!) that if you put it into google you will find:

My age, birth date, home address, what I do for a living (including my provider NPI number and place of employment), political affiliation, the date I registered to vote (including my voter identification number), and the dates I have voted. In the past I have also found my parents' names and my husband's name, but I didn't find these when I searched today.

Yikes, right? Do I really want to be that easy to find? Anyone who knows my middle name (and how to correctly spell it) can find out A LOT about me! I'm the only one, so it's all right there on the first page! I wish I would've considered this when I gave my daughter a fairly unusual middle name.

My point? It's something to think about. Maybe unique is not ideal.

Try your name! How many are there of you? howmanyofme.com


-Chantal

Middle Names for Girls

Marie, Nicole, and Danielle are the middle names of my generation. Most don't think about these coming and going in trends, but they do! The over-used middle names that you don't even realize you're over-using!

The "now" middle names are Grace and Rose. If you met a little Grace or Rose you'd think, "Oh that's a cute name!" because you don't meet all that many right now. I'd be willing to bet that you meet a whole lot of little girls with Grace and Rose in the middle though! 

Not that long ago, I suggested Rose as a girl's name to my husband. He came back with, "That sounds like a middle name!" My eyebrows shot up. That's the point! It is a "middle name" name right now. Step out of the box!

Filler middle names are everywhere. Ann, Elizabeth, and Lee... just to name a few. Think outside the box when it comes to middle names!

I would just like to add that an exception to this is family names!

Here are some replacements for Ann, Rose, Leigh, Jane, and Grace in the middle name spot:

Belle
Lark
Greer
June
Lace
True
Pearl
Quinn
Blue
Bee
Brooke
Shea
Elle
Maeve (prn "Mave")
Rue
Prim
Faye
Dove

Next are middle name replacements for the two syllable Nicole, Marie, Danielle and Renee. These names are/have been popular because of the flow that a two syllable name with emphasis on the second syllable gives to names. So here are some more:

Adele
Elise
Cosette
Brielle
Chantal (ha!)
Capri
Meadow (almost... I think it could work)
Camille
Sarai
Cheyenne
Soliel (prn "so-LAY")

My next list is multisyllabic middle names. These work best with one and two syllable first names:

Naomi
Lydia
Juliet
Olivia
Athena
Abigail
Annabel
Sophia
Temperance
Romily
Annalise
Callista
Cecily
Bryony/Briony
Magnolia
Penelope
Violet
Thalia/Talia

There are a whole lot more where that came from. This is just a concise list to give you an idea. 

As always, if you need any advice or have name questions feel free to email me! piperandposey@gmail.com

-Chantal

Exotic Boy Names

This is a continuation of the Exotic Girl Names post for my friend, Christen. To review, here is Christen's boy name list:

Cassidy
Cortez
Ezekiel
Jasper
Javier
Jeremiah
Julian
Kingsley
Kirk
Levi
Myles
Noah
Pierre
Raphael
Simeon

I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that Christen finds at least one on this list that she likes! Here goes nothing!...

Alaric - all powerful ruler

Antony - priceless one

Asa - born in the morning; biblical king

August - majestic; venerable

Basil - regal

Bode

Bodhi - awakening, enlightenment (boh-dee)

Breck

Caspian - think Caspian Sea or the Chronicles of Narnia and maybe you can look past the friendly ghost similarity

Clay

Cordell

Crispin - curly haired

Crosby - village with crosses

Dante - enduring

Ezra - help; biblical

Felix - happy, fortunate

Finnian - fair

Gabriel - God is my strength

Heath

Huxley

Isaac - laughter

Ivan - God is gracious

Jacoby

Joel - Jehovah is the Lord

Julien - youthful - I think I like this spelling better than Julian. It separates it a little bit more from Julianne)

Julius - youthful

Kendrick - royal ruler, champion

Koa - strong, brave, fearless - think Noah but not as common

Luc

Lucien - light - (loo-shin)

Matteo - gift of God

Nigel - black haired

Niles

Noam - pleasantness, charm, tenderness

Pascal - easter

Remy

Rhett - advice

Rufus  - red head

Samson - sun

Sebastian

Shai - gift

Shepherd

Shia

Thad - gift of God

Tibor - sacred place

Tobiah - The Lord is good

Zeb - gift of Jehovah

I think my favorites are Koa, Noam, and Pascal. Feel free to add suggestions in the comments! What are you favorite exotic boy names? 

Email me at piperandposey@gmail.com if you have any questions.

-Chantal

An Exotic Girl Name

This post is for my friend, Christen. Christen is the pickiest baby namer I have ever met. I am NOT joking. She has shot down almost ev.er.y.thing. I've thrown out in the past, but she was stuck, and I decided that I was up for the challenge. I've decided to break this one down into two posts. I will post the girl's list first, and then the boy's.

My first task was to figure out her style of naming. Here is the list of names she gave me (I included her boy names here so that you could also get a sense of what her naming style is like):

Esther
Isla
Jasmine
Leonie
Leilani/Lani
Maya
Naomi
Ruby
Samara
Selah

Cassidy
Cortez
Ezekiel
Jasper
Javier
Jeremiah
Julian
Kingsley
Kirk
Levi
Myles
Noah
Pierre
Raphael
Simeon

Take a long, hard look. Do you see a pattern? Christen and I decided that she tends to lean toward biblical names and international names. She likes names that sound exotic because her precious babies will be nothing short of that. Anyway, to complicate things even further, her husband has said no to every single name on the previous list.

Christen has also said that meaning matters to her. Plus, her last name makes the task even more difficult. For her privacy, I am going to use Kessler as her last name because the same problems exist. Names that end in -er are obviously awkward as well as names ending in -s.

I would just like to add, Christen, that you may have to give up something. I don't think the ends in -s names are nearly as bad as you think they are with your last name, but that's just my opinion.

Okay, onto my girl name recommendations:

Agnes - Esther makes me think of Agnes. I think Agnes Kessler doesn't sound terrible at all.   Amabel - lovable

Ana - grace - I thought the names that mean "Grace" would be nice to honor the Grace in your husband's family without naming your daughter Grace.

Anastasia - resurrection

Anina - let my prayer be answered

Annemarie - grace

Annika - grace

Antonia - priceless one

Ariandne - most holy

Athena - Don't count this one out immediately. My son has an Athena at his church. I didn't like it for the first year that I knew her. It grew on me and now that adorable little brunette girl is nothing but an Athena. It's a great name, and I can't believe I was so judgmental about such a great name!

Aurelia - gold

Calista - most beautiful - I love the option of calling her Kit!

Calliope - beautiful voice (kuh-lie-oh-pee)

Callixta

Corisande - healing heart

Cosette

Cosima - universe

Daphne - bay tree

Delia

Elodie - marsh flower

Evadne - pleasing one

India

Ione - a violet colored stone (ee-oh-nee)

Josephine - Jehova increases

Katrina

Lena

Liesel - pledged to God

Linnea - twinflower

Lyra

Maeve - she who intoxicates (mave)

Margeaux/Margo/Margot - Pearl

Naima

Nala

Nalani - calm skies

Nina

Noa

Noor - light

Ottilie - prosperous in battle

Paloma - dove

Priya - beloved

Rhiannon - devine queen (welsh)

Rocio - dewdrops (ro-see-oh)

Roxana - dawn; little star - Also the name of Alexander the Great's wife.

Ruth - compassionate friend

Sabine/Sabina

Saskia - name of Rembrandt's wife

Shea

Soleil - sun (so-lay)

Thalia - to flourish (Tahl-ee-uh)

Thisbe - (thiz-bee)

Zelie

I think my favorites for Christen are Nina, Nalani, Cosima, Athena, and Anina. I also love Naomi and Selah!


Email me at piperandposey@gmail.com if you have any questions!


-Chantal