Name Game

Another fun questionnaire! 

1. How did your parents decide on your name?
I believe they liked the name after watching a local newscaster who had the same first name?  At least I think that’s the story.  Little did they know this name would become VERY popular. Luckily I only had a few classes in school when there was a second Emily in class…it became most annoying when there was another Emily at work last year but she left after a few months.  According to the SSA, Emily  was the 24th most popular name in 1985, was ranked #1 from 1996 to 2007, and is still #6 of most popular girl names in the U.S.

2. Do your initials (first/middle/last) spell anything funny?
Nope.  Though, if I married someone with a last name starting with “F”, I would have been “ELF”.  Luckily I did not :)

3. Did you take your middle name from childhood or did you drop your middle name & take your maiden name as your middle name? (Or if unmarried, what do you plan to do?)
I kept my middle name from childhood, as it’s my mom’s first name.  If the middle name didn’t have any significance, I may have thought more about taking my maiden name.

4. Are you or will you name your children systematically? (ie, same first letter, same origin, etc)
Hmmm I don’t want any names that start with “E”, “J” or “C”. 

5. Did you decide on baby names as a little girl? Did you stick to them or change your mind?
Omg the names I liked as a kid were so weird.  I loved the name “Marie” when I was little.  Now I think it’s just a little too old-fashioned. 

6. Does your family have any names that have been passed down through generations?
My family does not…the only tradition I can think of is that my mom and grandma both took their maiden names when marrying and dropped their middle ones.  For Hubby’s family, I guess they did pass down his name since his grandfather also has the same first and middle names. 

7. Do you look at the meaning of the name or just the name itself?
Just the name itself.  Though it would be more interesting to actually research the meaning.

8. Do you name pets with human names or pet names?
Haha human names.  Ellie and Maggie are names I almost thought about using for future girls if we have them.

9. Are there any names that you have an affinity or dislike for based on a childhood experience/someone you once knew?
Hmmm…no one from childhood “ruined” a name for me.  But last year at work, I had to deal with this awful bride, Molly…I used to LOVE the name “Molly” and I just don’t know if I could name a girl that now, because that bride was one of the worst customer service experiences!  “Kimberly”  and “Sarah” brides also tend to have bad reputations. 

10. What are some of your favorite names & why?
For girls…I like Leah, Molly (have to get over the horrible bride, though), and Avery.  All of those names are fairly simple, easy to spell and were not that popular…except I just looked at the SSA site and “Avery” is now getting more popular, ranked at 39 from 2009 and “Leah” is ranked 28.  For boys I like Nolan, Drew, and Brennan.  Again, names that aren’t too hard to spell and are not extremely common, like how “Matthew “and “Michael” are.  For a middle name for a girl, I will try to use “Beth” as that was my grandma’s first name.  And I’d like to use “James” for a boy’s middle name since that’s hubby’s name.