Time Is Running Out and I Need a Baby name-EDIT: Baby Still Not Here :(

It sounds like you have girls names that you love but you just can't agree. I think Ellison will be shortened to Ellie and that is what you said you don't really like. When you meet her you may have more of a gut feeling as to the name you want to give her. I found my son's name at the last minute when I was reading a novel and I like the character's name. Inspiration comes in the strangest places.

V.,

Congrats! Here are some of my favorites :

Ashlynn, Abrielle, Brianna, Brielle, Cassidy, Cashe', Dianne, Haley, Kelsee, Martina, Riesse, Gia, Gabriella, Talia, Victoria.

Boys : Caden, Aron, Bryce, Cody, Diego, Devon, Derek, Marco, Marcus, Tanner, Tenor, Leland, Garrison, Gabriel.

Good luck and hope this helps!!!

M

My daughters name is madisyn. My other favs right now are:
vivian
sydney
berlin
britton
let us know what you like!

Here is what I'd do in your situation:

Find out the top 10 or 15 girl's names. Dump them first. These will be the names all your child's future teachers will have 'associations' with, and some won't be good. Trust me. (I'm a preschool teacher and I'll never have a child named Cameron for that very reason, ha ha. I'm sure *your* particular Cameron is a nice kid, mothers of Camerons everywhere, but these two were painful.)

Names of popular stars and rock/pop/music stars....out.

Names popular people choose for their babies...out. Especially if it's something very copycat. (This is why we chose not to name our son Phinneas, even though we liked the name.)

Names of any reality tv personalities... out. No Baby Snookie.:)

Go for something classic and intelligent, something she can wear if she's a doctor or a world traveler or anything she wants to be. If we'd had a girl, we would've named her Clementine. Bringer of clemancy.

If you've nothing better to do, watch the "Freakanomics" documentary. Their whole segment on name cycles and the naming of children is astute and very savvy. I'd read the book before I had my son, and it gave me a bit to think about. Entertaining, too.

When my son was born I took one look at him and knew his name. It just suited him. I always thought about names before my kids were born, but never picked one for certain until I saw them for the first time. Of course I gave the standard run through for potential teasing. how it would sound in adulthood and such before I put it in writing, but both names worked beautifully and suit my kids perfectly.
If you can't decide just now don't stress over it. Wait until you meet your baby if you need to and it will come to you.
Congratulations!

Can you compromise and name the baby Elise and you call her Ellie. Your hubby can call her Elise if he doesn't like Ellie? I like both of those. Very cute!

We have an Emma, Violet, and Rhys (Reece) for our girls. We are prego with #5, and just found out we're having a girl. We're going to be naming her Sage. Good luck!

We have an Ava Grace and a Ruby Grace

Cassidy
Isabelle
Thalia
Simone
Grace
Lyric
Camille
?

After having my second boy I'm pretty sure that my girl names will not be used (by me at least)...so I am passing them on...with love...

Fern (my grandma's name, I've always loved it)
Pearl
Willa

Love Hazel's advice!

When looking for a name for my daughter, I started by looking up name's with meanings that are close to my heart. I looked up girl names that mean: Courage, compassion, wisdom, oak, etc.

We gave her my Husband's mother's name, who passed away when my husband was a youth. I like family names.

I refined my search by origin/story of the name. Also, I wanted the name to have a certain sound. I felt drawn towards "round" names (only way I could describe it). ---Alexander (and feminine derivatives) is a family name on my side, and I LOVE the meaning, but it didn't seem right, or round, for my daughter.

We decided on three or four possibles, and then, did practice runs by writing the full name out, calling it (loud, soft, singing), shortening/lengthening for potential nicknames, and picturing it as the name of an adult woman. Would this work if she were an artist, a bank teller, a stay at home mom, an insurance salesman, a professor, a chef, a biologist, an author, a doctor? In other words, will the name box her in, or will it bend with her.

I, too, struggled with coming up with names. I watched the full credits of movies since there are thousands of people that work on a film. Also, I loved the Pixar babies names. If you haven't watched a Pixar movie (as I didn't before I had kids!): in the credits they have a listing of all the first names of babies born to their people during production. You might get some really good names from here--there are both unique and traditional names. So, pull out your Toy Story(s), Finding Nemo, Cars, The Incredibles, Wall-E and Up... :)

Good luck!!

My daughter is Jenna Grace-- I got it from watching a movie. Maybe go catch a couple of movies this weekend and see if you like any names.

I read through the book with my husband and wrote down every name that either of us liked. Then when back to the list and we chose ones we both liked. We didn't decide on the name until after they were born.

Shortly after meeting my husband, he told me he loved the name Elise. I told him I'd always loved the name Annalise. He liked that even better. So our oldest child's name is Annalise Marie. I always thought we'd have another girl and name her Madeline Grace, but we ended up with two boys. It's doubtful that we'll have any more, but if we do, I still love Madeline Grace.

Ryleigh
Parker
Peyton
Catherine or Katherine (Cate or Kate)
Sidney
Bailey
Sara
Kyra

Well... I named my DD Alina. Obviously I thought it was pretty. :)

Cheyanne, Celeste, Kenedee, Maize, Vilace...

A friend of mine named her DD Taylor Grace. I think that's a pretty combination. :)

I looked to my family for names I liked. My baby girl is named after my beloved grandmother that passed away 10 years ago. Her name was Magdalene, so we went with Madelyn, which is a variant form of Magdalene and has the same meaning. Her middle name is Jane after my mother. Same scenario- my mother's middle name is Jean and Jane is a variant of that. It's just different enough on both so that other family members don't get upset that we didn't name her after them.
We do call her Maddie, but somehow, she has gotten the nickname "Ducky" by her big brother. Now she is responding to that more than her name- I sure hope it doesn't stick! lol

charlotte
marilla
collet

My daughter is Sarah and I love it! Traditional, can't be shortened, and it goes well with Grace.

I also like Amanda, Alison, Ashley, Megan and Hailey.

Congrats!

K.
http://www.discoverytoyslink.com/karenchao - great toys from birth through school age!

I named my daughter Carys Elizabeth. Carys rhymes with "Paris" and is a Welsh name meaning "love". To avoid mispronunciation, I would probably spell it "Caris" instead if I were to do it over again. Our second choice was Isobel Grace, which I think is also very pretty. Good luck!

my daughter is Gwenyth Annette. I changed the spelling a bit cuz i wanted her to be gwen not gwyn like the traditional gwynth spelling and i wasnt fond of gwendolyn. We do call her Gwen which i love.

Use the internet. You can search for the kind of names you lean toward. I liked old names so I did a search for names from 100 years ago or 75 years ago. I also like names with Scottish or Irish origin so searched by that. One twin has an old name, one has an Irish name, and our son was actually named after a student that I had in my class when I was pregnant. He was such a neat kid and I loved his name. Searching short lists in specific categories made it easier than searching through a book with thousands of names. Good luck and congratulations!! :)

My husband and I were two hours away from giving birth to our son and we STILL hadn't thought of a name. We lay there between contractions and listed our favorite musicians, authors, artists names. We considered even last names as options. My kids are Madeline Dearie and Samuel Wyeth.

Good luck!

What about Ella? . I named my daughter Jadilyn. I also like Ava, Scarlet, and Aubrey for girl names.

How do you feel about Native American names? So long as they are authentic, they are quite beautiful. One name that I have always loved is Netane (pronounced Netanah) and it is Navajo for "our daughter". Our youngest's middle name is Tanis, which is Cree for the same.

Here are three others that I always thought were pretty and very different:

Brisa
Allegra
Malia

Cheers (this is not one of them!)

E.

Why not name her Elyse Grace but nickname her E.? (Honestly, all that matters is what mama calls you!) If you call her E., her name will be E.; and dad will get his choice for her official name.

We use grandmother/family names for our daughters' middle names. My favorite girl names are:
Mae
Jessa
Eris
Arden

But my husband didn't like them... <sigh!>

Paige, Reese, Karli, Brynn, Taylor??

My daughters are Ava Therese and Noa Justine. Both middle names are after my husband and my maternal grandmothers who have passed away. I liked Noah and Julian for boys and also liked Sasha, Stella, Brynn, Ella, Leah for girls. Congrats!!

Alexis Grace (more traditional)
Willow Grace (different and cannot be shortened really and not so traditional)
Olivia Grace

Good luck!! You'll know her name when you see her!!

Ella Grace or why don't you just go with Grace since you like it already if you have a girl. I have 3 boys and if I went crazy and had another baby and God graced me with a girl I would name her Grace! It's a beautiful name.

Did you have the baby yet? I would love to here what you decided!

If not, my friend just named her baby Analise which I think is adorable. My daughter is Emma Kate. But I also love the name Lucy, Sophie, Tessa and Honor.

Please let us know what you had:)

We have a Khai (Variation of a Navajo Word, my heritage) Anthony (Dad's middle name)
Parker (A name from a video my son liked :)) Thomas (family name)
Sage (Mother's Maiden name) Marlee (Combination or Mark and Marie (hubby's name and my middle name) and Lee (my dad and Grandpa's middle name))
Asa (Good Guy in the Bible) Dallas (Grandpa's name)

Hope this gave you some ideas on where to look!

We started watching the end credits of movies we liked to see if any names there caught our attention. Star Wars was on TV one day and we began watching the credits and my husband was reading on of the books as well. A name popped up in both the credits and the book he was reading and then something else we watched that same day had the same name come up and the lightbulb went off. For our next 2 kids we went through the credits of Star Wars movies yet again. All 3 children have "Star Wars" names without being the weird ones (we used actors/production etc LOL) Find something you and your husband love and try watching the criedits, or look up the credits on IMDB which is what we also did when we decided they all had to have SW names. If you could not tell Star Wars is something very special to both my husband and I.
If you're not into movies look at what you are really into and go from there. I found myself insanely overwhelmed with those baby name books and gave up. My kids have their first name and 2 middle names each and every one of them are from strong favortie movie or TV characters which cross over into books as some of them were books first.

Just want to put a vote in for Sylvie. It was the name we picked out for when we had a little girl...we now have three boys...lol. Good luck finding the perfect name.

what about combining your names into Ellis? I think Ellis Grace is adorable! Or if you like Grace you could also look into Gracynn? I am also like you where i like real traditional names, but not run of the mill. I have a Colin and a Cayla. Other name i considered were Charity, Candace, Piper, Lydia, Leona, Tabitha, Payton, Eleanor, Cassidy, and Christiona

Your last name matters the most! I like alessandra, Avery, amelia, Allyson, Alice, Bailey, brynn, brooklyn, caroline, Delia, delaney, Elle, elyse/Elise, everly, emma, emerson, eliza, Francesca, Gianna, giuliana, Harper, Hadley, jenna, Julia, jillian, Juliette, jaclyn, Kendall, lane/laine, Lila/lyla, maren, maura, Madeline, Naomi, Nadia, Olivia, Paige, Quinn, Reese, Sasha, taryn.

I like Cheyenne Nicole.

Elysia Grace
Harlow Grace
Hayden Grace

This name can be hacked into a thousand pieces but I love it- Elizabeth

Angelina
Julia
Angelica

My daughter's name is Malia, and we get more compliments on her name than you would believe! It is becoming slightly more common, but is still different enough that there are no duplicates in her classes. Maybe you could do a search for baby name meanings and look for names that mean something special to you. I would also look through some of your family names and see if you like any of your ancestor's names - or could tweak them into something that you like. My sister liked our Great Grandma's name which was Anna (pronounced AHna), and named her daughter Ahnika based on that. I'm sure whatever you choose will be perfect! And Congratulations!! :D

My daughter is Anna Grace (we also considered Sara Grace). I like simple classic names like Jane, Jill, Kate (my other daughter). You could always name your daughter Elise, but call her Ellie (friends of ours did this), then you both win.

I know a Laurel Grace

We were in the same exact position a week ago, and on Monday we had a little girl! We ended up naming her Liliana Carolyn (Carolyn after my late Grandma). We also really like Ainsley, Addelyn, Jilliana, and Lyla.

What about Ella , Emma , Olivia, Daniella,Gabriella, Amalia. Good luck!

I didn't read your responses. I was SUPER picky about our girls' names.

We have Ainsley Marie (we do call her Ains a lot) and Wren Elizabeth.

We used a name book for Ainsley (Scottish....matches our last name) and my hubby came up with Wren one day.

Best of luck! (Of course you know you will have a girl since you can't figure out the name.) Let us know what you choose and have!

i have a Ava Marie and im currently pregnant with our 2nd and we also chose not to find out the gender and i have our boy and girl name picked out. If its a boy it will be Mason and a girl it will be Claire.

Both of my kids spent a couple of days with no name. We couldn't agree either. But, after spending some time with the new baby, we came to names that are perfect-Benjamin & Claire. We had a name picked for our daughter, Rebecca, but it didn't fit her. Relax & don't stress on it. You will find something that is perfect for your baby.
Congrats!

Go to a Borders or Books-a-Million and browse their baby name books!

Elana
Elaina
Helene
Ellen
Willow
Eva
Sabrina

What about Elliana Grace

oh I had the opposite problem! I had tons of girls names but only one boy name, I had a boy so i guess it was a good thing i didnt have to choose between those names. If our next baby is a girl these are our tops picks. lillian margaret Grace, Sydney Elizabeth Grace, Madelynn Grace (yes I like grace for a middle name too) Paige catherine grace.

I love the name Hannah Grace. If I had had another girl it would have been that. My daughters name is Rachael Michelle and my step daughter is Emilie Suzanne although we call her Emma Suzanne my son's names are Andrew Michael (Drew) Joseph Matthew (Giuseppe italian form of Joseph) and Samuel Alan (we call him bean lol he came along a lot later than the others) grandsons are Liam Jacob, Ayden Hunter and Anna Paris maybe some of those will help

wanted to add that it won't matter what name you have picked out. When your baby is born you will pick the name that fits him or her. I had the oldest one picked out as an Anthony figured he would look very Italian as that's what my husbands family is. instead he came out with blond hair and blue eyes. had the name Jeremy picked out for the next one and he came out looking all Italian so Joseph it was lol. you will know when you see the baby the name. don't stress over having it picked out ahead of time

Social Security Department has a website with a list of like the top 100 baby names...

I bought name books from the book store.

What kind are you looking for? Traditional? More modern? Unique?
Might help us with some suggestions?

Here are some of my all time favorites:
Kennedy
Mia
Piper
Tru
Fiona (Fi)
Ainsley
Grace
Quinn
Kendra
Lola
Maddison
Leah
Lilian (Lilly)
Shelley
Shawna

and my most favorite, my daughter's name:
Gillian (pronounced like Jill-ian)

Good Luck!
Picking out names was THE HARDEST PART for me!

Why not name her one of the boy names? I think it's kinda neat when a girl has a boyish name. Here a few(sorry, there's not many I like) girl names I like...

Morgan
Brynn
Tristan
Ainsley

My girls are Braelyn Keianna and LaWanda Zhane', and we are thinking about no. Three and the top girls names I like now are
Kassidy,
Autumn, Are my top 2
Kalynda.. From the good wife
And Phyliss... Starting to like Abby, and Sadie
And my husband is George but I like for a girl Geordyn, and Jord'ann ( like jord+ Ann) not pronounced just Jordan

Try www.babynamegenie.com

You can plug in names you already have and it comes up with options. Some are goofy, but some are cute. You just keep clicking until you find something you like. Congrats!

My daughter is Madelyn Grace! And we love it. If you do not want it shortened to Maddy just call her Madelyn all the time. I also like Ellie, Lily and Rose.

Janice
Shirley
Dana
Maryjane
Irene
Deborah
Ruth
Janet

Good Luck!

My favorite is Sara...can't shorten it much and Sara Grace would be good!

my favorites -
Elise
Tara
and
N.
all are unique enough to be the only ones in the class, but not so unique no body can say or spell it

We look through old family records and pick names that we like from our ancestors. That's how we got Robert Paul, Dorothy Jane (which we won't ever get to use, now), and Soren Thomas.

I also like the idea of naming her Elise and calling her Ellie, at least some of the time. With our daughter, my husband was in love with Alykay, but I couldn't stomach it for a given name. Names her Alyson Kaylynn and he can call her Alykay all he wants (she still responds to it at 12, but has also adapted her own nickname of Aly).

FYI: You can go home from the hospital without a name... I know we had only boy names with my daughter and took nearly 10 days to get a name figured out!

I like the name Dorothea. It just seems like a beautiful and wise person to me.

Oh i wanted a girl sooooo bad.
Here were my top picks

Julia
Jillian
Malia
Gianna
Chloe
Ashley
M.
Sydney
Sienna
Sophia

Can you tell I REALLY wanted a girl. My son is named Gavin.

You probably have baby named but my favorites if we were blessed with another girl would be Madeline or Camdyn...both go with Grace beautifully. Enjoy your new little baby girl..such a precious time right now for you and your hubby.

Since you like Grace for a middle name, we recently named our daughter Raquel Grace. We have gotten several compliments on the name. Best of luck!

I went to the library and checked out every name book I could find from the last 3-5 years. I sifted through the names and read them out loud to my husband with our last child. We had 2 boys and needed another boys' name (even though I had a ton of girls names I liked).

Once I read his name aloud, we just knew.

Our other kids' names are from movies or tv shows. I just hear them and know it is it. There are also tons of online baby name sites. Just google girls baby names.

Good luck! Oh and I know a ton of people who narrowed it down to 2-3 names and didn't name their child until after they met them:)

Emily Grace
Vivian Grace
Alandra Grace

Looking at your update...maybe "Eliana"? Pronounced Ehl-eee-ah-nuh. Maybe a combo of the names you like? We just had a daughter, Leah Annabelle. I also really liked the name Lucille - to be shortened to Luci. We also looked at Grace for a first or middle name. Also liked the name Meredith. Just throwing some out there... Hope you've already had you little sweetie by this point anyway!!

we did the "list" method for our daughter and the baby we'll be having in june. I made a list of about 250 baby names i liked and loved from a baby name website, and gave it to my husband. He then had to circle any names he liked.

With my first daughter, Rhiannon... it worked great! He picked 3-4 names and then we just worked to find a middle name combination we both liked.

This time I let my preconceived ideas get the best of me! I left a bunch of names I loved off of the list, thinking "oh, he'll never like this one..." Well, he didn't like ANY of the 250 girl names on my list! ugh.... well, we got into a heated discussion, because I was irritated and frustrated that he was so "difficult" to please... in the discussion I said... "WELL, I left a ton of names that I love off of the list because I new you would say you hated them!" he asked "like what" and I said "like Zoie, and Vivienne, and..."

He stopped me and said that he really loves the name Zoie, and thought I wouldn't like it! go figure! Anyways... the new baby will be named Zoie Marie.

Anyways... moral of the story is: pick a ton of names that you love, and have him do the same... then go over each other's lists. You may have to do it a few times. BUT chances are you will find a name you both love or similar names you can compromise on! For inspiration, look to your family roots, either your heritage, or your family tree... or look for names that have the meaning of a quality or trait you want your child to possess... or simple look for names with the right "sound"...

Good Luck!
-M.

PS:

Ellen Grace
Elodie Grace
Elsie Grace
Elisa Grace
Elisabeth Grace
Elle Grace
Ellette Grace

Sophia, Olivia, Julianne. Jillian, and I love Evangelina

Faith
It's what I named my baby girl after 3 days in the hospital struggling for a name... turns out it was perfect