Best products from r/namenerds

I really like Oxford's A Dictionary of First Names. It's mostly a list, like your standard book, but with better research and helpful lists of variants, plus a bit of info on different name categories and trends with the history behind them.

Laura Wattenberg is one of my favourite more casual, commercial baby name writers. She focuses primarily on the cultural aspect and I find her book "The Baby Name Wizard" is more insightful than most. It's very cognizant of trends but not too judgey. However it's very much a theme/style-grouping kind of book. I like that it shows popularity charts for each of the names.

Neither of these is great for OP's purposes but I figure I'll throw it out there in case it's useful to someone else.

It is a beautiful name - it always makes me think of Robin McKinley's book Beauty - it's a wonderful retelling of Beauty and the Beast. In it the two older sisters are Grace and Hope with Honour as the youngest. When she's old enough to understand the meanings of the sisters names, she grumpily says "I'd rather be Beauty" - and the nickname sticks, much to her distress.

So, of course, her comment is the first thing I think of when I hear the name Honour. I'd have to work at reprogramming my brain before I could use it!!

I really liked this book: The Baby Name Wizard, Revised 3rd Edition: A Magical Method for Finding the Perfect Name for Your Baby https://www.amazon.com/dp/0770436471/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_.xvMybKP5A34J

It gives some interesting ways to categorize names too. Like if there is a nickname you both like, it'll help you find a name for the shortened version. Or if you both like names that are similar (girlier, short and sweet etc) you can look through the list of other names like that.

I don’t have any advice on the name but wanted to recommend this book to help your LO understand. I think it does a great job of explaining how grandparents or loved ones can pass away but they are still a part of our lives

https://www.amazon.com/Upstairs-Downstairs-Picture-Puffin-Books/dp/0698118367

I think Poppy is amazing. That's the name of one of my favorite YA books starring one of my favorite literary heroines: a deer mouse who battles the despotic owl who killed her boyfriend. She wears an earring and carries a porcupine quill sword. In my opinion, a Poppy is spunky, smart, and fearless. Also, you have a great "how you got your name" story!

I would pronounce the first LIN-nee-uh, the second Lin-NAY-uh. I am from the northeast US, but the only experience I have with this name is from a children's book my mom used to read to me. She is from Ohio and pronounced it LIN-nee-uh. Sidenote--if you do ever use this name on a kid and also like gardening, get her the book Linnea's Windowsill Garden! I loved it so much as a kid, and it really got me interested in gardening.

I found the wikipedia page :)

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it sounds adorable!! and like it may have been partially inspired by this... ?


My favourite witchy Christmas book was "the little witch celebrates Christmas" (or Merry Christmas Little Witch, in the English translation....)

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One of my friend's was named after her parents' cat, because it was the only name they could agree on. She thought it was a cute story, even in her grumpy teens. Winter is lovely though, and more uncommon (506th) than Willow (96th).

I agree with others who've said to choose a name that isn't a regular noun for the middle name. Especially if the last name is Green/Walker/King/Hall/Hill or any of those other top-thirty noun names. Though if it actually is Winter Smith, she might like this book :)

So I clearly have my mom brain on but your post reminded me of 2 books my son loves:
Perry - https://www.amazon.com/Perry-Paola-Opal/dp/1772290351/ref=nodl_

PJ - https://www.amazon.com/Easy-Being-Bunny-Beginner-Books/dp/0394861027/ref=nodl_

So on that note - it’s a yes from me!

I love Harriet and seriously considered it for my daughter. When she's little you can read her Harriet, You Drive Me Wild and when she's older she'll enjoy Harriet the Spy. Kids can make fun of any name.

https://www.amazon.com/J-R-R-Tolkien-Century-Tom-Shippey/dp/0618257594

In it, he talks about the origin of certain names in a bit that begins "Philologists know the name is not the thing, but the name is a lot closer than other things." and I want to say he says that it comes from Grey-Clad (not grey-home), and the grey-clad was a method of referring to wolves.

It's possible I'm wrong, but Shippey and Tolkien were both philologist scholars of Old and Middle English, so I'm generally inclined to trust them.

(Also, until very recently, googling it pulled up "Graham=Wolf". I remember laughing because a lot of werewolves in fanfic at the time were named Graham, because google. Now that joke just doesn't make sense, and I'm sad)

Obadiah has been one of my favorites since childhood because of the book Thy Friend, Obadiah. Zipporah is also a favorite from this book, where the main character was sometimes called Zippy!

Ava is so popular there is a name book titled “Beyond Ava & Aiden”.

Beyond Ava & Aiden: The Enlightened Guide to Naming Your Baby https://www.amazon.com/dp/0312539150/

I love Audrey!

My dads name is Clark! Although he spells it Clarke.

If you want a cute children’s book to read to your new baby boy, I highly recommend Clark The Shark!

Thanks!!!

If you're interested: Science pants

But the kids' books about Carl are the BEST!

Too close to Stellaluna (one of my favorite children's books!) imo.

http://www.amazon.com/Stellaluna-Janell-Cannon/dp/0152802177/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1457672873&sr=1-1&keywords=stellaluna

Edit: just saw that OP said she liked the Stellaluna link.

I'm reminded of the kid's book series Clementine

She's spunky, a little ADD, creative and fun.

There's a store in Hawaii called Sedona that smells so strongly of incense that the name alone makes me want to sneeze or the book by Iichi Lee The Call of Sedona: Journey of the Heart.

Swayze. Patrick Swayze (or Christy Mack's adorable pittie Pitrick lol). Not wholly unusable but after Ghost came out, Swayze kinda became a synonym for ghosting someone/disappearing.

Leondra is cute.

Stellaluna!

Seriously though, I actually like Stella more (it was also my great-grandmother's name!) but my husband doesn't like it :(

https://www.amazon.ca/Baby-Name-Wizard-Revised-3rd/dp/0770436471/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_1/143-2650797-1059622?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=Y1P4W0R96QM7B6DSCH6V

My friend's, which I didn't steal...