NOTW: Sparrow

Gender:  Boy

Meaning: the sparrow bird

Origin: English

Rank: not in the top 1000

Other names that go with the name:  River, Oakley, Tansy, Freya, Felix, Judah

My opinion: I absolutely adore this sweet sounding, nature and animal related boys name. For me, Sparrow is a little out there for me, but for a braver namer, it could be a perfect name. I definitely see a little boy named Sparrow being a really cool kiddo!!

Your opinion: leave it in the comments! :)

My Top Names

Hey All! This weeks theme is favorites, so here are my top 5 combos per gender!

Adina Claire

Posy Alison

Caroline Paige

Layla Bee

Juno Poppy

Jacob Douglas

Calder Isaac

Pax Sullivan

Gibson Alty

Luke Silas

North American Place Names

For place name week, I thought I’d stay North American! These names are broken down by Canadian city, American city and American state. Place names are a trend I love and a few of these have bounces on and off my lists!

US States

Alaska

Georgia

Indiana

Virginia

Canadian Cities

Victoria

Kingston

US Cities

Dallas

Austin

Charlotte

Denver

Raleigh

            Although these are my favorite North American place names, I love place names from all over the globe. Other favorites of mine include India and Valencia (g) and Versailles and London (b). What are your favorite place names?

NOTW: Gibson

Gender: Boy

Meaning: son of Gib

Origin: English

Rank: 823

Other names that go with the name: Keir, Marco, Emeline, Romy

My opinion: this name is in my tops for boys, I just love it. I think it has such a cool feel without being unusable and music lovers might enjoy the Gibson guitar reference.

Your Opinion: leave it in the comments :)

Create a Girl combo bng!!

Hope you're enjoying girls names week, here's a create-a-combo game based on my top combos and my top gp combos!

1. Both the first and middle name of this combo are French, the entire combo is four syllables
2. First name has a masculine nickname, middle name is floral
3. First name is three syllables, middle name is an occupation
4. First name is a month name, middle name is a variant spelling
5. First name is the surname of a famous person, middle name is a word name
6. First name has a musical association, middle name is on the ssa top 10
7. First name is a virtue name, middle name is Biblical
8. First name is a type of animal, middle name is a place

Name(s) of the week!

It's Canada Day!!! In honor of my country's birthday, I had to do a double name of the week. These are Canada's most popular baby names!

Name: Emma

Gender: Girl

Meaning: whole

Origin: English

Rank: 1 (Canada), 2 (USA)

Name: Liam

Gender: Boy

Meaning: desire to protect

Origin: Irish

Rank: 1 (Canada), 5 (USA)

summer-y names!

Hey all!! Happy Friday! Today I thought I'd run down some summer themed names!

Summer
Posy
Marina
Lily
Poppy
June
Meadow

River
Sky

Sailor

August
Kai

What are your favorite summer-y names?

My Ideal Twinsets

Happy Friday everyone! Today, I thought I'd list how I'd break down my top 10 names into twinsets. This is based on what I like in a twin set, which is similar feels and styles, but non similar sounds!

Girls
Jordan Alice and Harper Elizabeth
Maxine Claire and Nora Paige

Boys
Jacob Douglas and Duncan Alty
Theo Sullivan and Bishop Silas

Boy/Girl
Calder Isaac and Tessa Jacqueline

Blue Jays Names!

Happy Friday! I've been on the baseball train with both feet lately so I thought I'd talk about some names from my favorite team: The Toronto Blue Jays. I'm going to discuss my five fav names on the team, as well as a three super unusual names. And of course, pictures will be provided!

Favorites

Colby

Dustin

Brett

Liam

Edwin

Unusual Names

Maicer (Mice-er)

Dioner (Dee-on-er)

Melky

Any other baseball fans around? If so, what are some cool names/your fav names from your team?

create-a-combo game

It's that post again! Using hints based on my top names, what would you name kids?

Boys
1. first name is on the ssa top 5, middle name honors your father (or other male relative if you're not close to your dad!) (my combo: Jacob Douglas)
2. first name is occupational, middle name is Biblical (my combo: Sawyer Isaac)
3. first name starts with w,x,y or z, middle is a family surname (my combo: Weston Alty)
4. first name is a literary surname, middle is the name of a scientist (my combo: Bennett Stephen)
5. first name is 3 letters, middle name come from Hebrew (my combo: Eli Benjamin)

Girls
1. first name is the name of a old time actress, middle is French (my combo: Audrey Claire)
2. first name is a feminization of a male name, middle is top 50 on the ssa list from 1993 (my combo: Maxine Alyssa)
3. first name is Italian, middle name is one syllable (my combo: Gemma Paige)
4. first name is floral, middle name is a derivative of Elizabeth (my combo: Posy Beth)
5. first name is unisex, middle name is three syllables (my combo: Harper Jacqueline)

Occupation Baby Names

Happy Friday! Sometimes when I'm in a bit of a names rut, i like to go back to what I know well. Occupation names have always been one of my fav 'genres' of name. They just have such an effortlessly cool sound to them I think! So today, I thought I'd write about some of my favorite occupation names. The colors corespond to the genders I prefer these names on

Name: Cooper
Meaning: barrel maker
Rank: 84

Name: Deacon
Meaning: cleric
Rank: 441

Name: Harper
Meaning: harp player
Rank: 16 for girls, 659 for boys

Name: Hunter
Meaning: one who hunts
Rank: 36 for boys, 930 for girls\

Name: Mason
Meaning: stone worker
Rank: 4

Name: Paige
Meaning: servant or page
Rank:128

Name: Piper
Meaning: flute player
Rank: 97

Name: Ranger
Meaning: park keeper
Rank: n/a

Name: Sawyer
Meaning: wood cutter
Rank: 120 for boys, 446 for girls

Name: Walker
Meaning: wool processor
Rank: 369

If it werent incredibly tacky, I could easily name a sibset using only occupation names! So, what are your favorite occupation names? And, are there any name themes you just cant get enough of?

my favorite floral names!

Happy Friday! We’re finally starting to get some nice weather here so I thought I’d throw down some of my favorite plant inspired names! I’m not a big nature names on boys kind of girl, so all of these are girl names!

Iris

Ivy

Lavender

Lily

Poppy

Posy

Zinnia

What are your favorite floral names?

NOTW: Calder

Gender:  Boy

Meaning: river/stream

Origin: English

Rank: not in the top 1000

Other names that go with the name:  Oakley, Lincoln, Maxine, Lilah

My opinion: love it! i think the sound is wicked cool and even though its virtually unknown, its not too out there to be usable to even the most conservative namer!

Your opinion: leave it in the comments! :)

BNG Tuesday

Happy Tuesday!
Today I've got a create a set game for you! You can do them using your ideal sibset/two of each/whatever you're feeling like! Also, for added difficulty, middles can be added! I'll include mine as a guideline so erreyone knows what's up :)

name kiddos using
1. All one sylable names (Luke, Grey, Gwen and Claire)
2. Russian names (Pasha, Aleksey,  Stasya and Liliya)
3. nature names (River, Sage, Lily and Ivy)
4. occupation names (Hunter, Mason, Piper and Paige)
5. French names (Étienne, Olivier, Josette and Camille)
6. guilty pleasure names (Ranger, Sapphire, Calico and Minnow)
7. nicknames as full names (Max, Luke, Abby and Katie)
8. names that start with the same letter (Jonah, Jacob, Jordana and Jacqueline)
9. names in Shakespeare (Duncan, Romeo, Celia and Miranda)
10. Irish names (Ciarán, Aodhán, Brighid and Fionnuala)

have fun!!
- Hayley

A Challenge!!

I've been a wreckkkkkk lately when it comes to boy names. A friend from high school plans on using Hunter for her son due in August and she is not the kind of girl I want to name share with! Since Hunter Douglas has been my top name for literal ever, I've basically burnt my boys list to the ground and am having trouble coming up with other names I dig. So, this week for my post, I'm gonna put the ball in erreyone else's court! My top 5 girl combos right now are Audrey Claire, Maxine Alyssa, Leah Paige, Tessa Jacqueline and Posy Annabeth. So if anyone wants to take up this challenge, please throw down as many boy names as possible that you could see as brothers to those girl names!
Further help: my general style tends to be occupation name heavy, two syllable, trendy classics. I also require that any name I use being one I could see playing hockey for Team Canada ;)
Any winners of this challenge will win all the friendship points. Good Luck!!

my top names!

Hey all! Hope everyone had a great week. It's that time again for me where I have combos and a relative amount of confidence in them, so, here's a look at my current top combos!

Audrey Claire
Audrey is an English name meaning noble. In the Olympics, there was an adorable Canadian moguls skier named Audrey Robichaud who overnight made this go from one of my most hated names to one I cant get enough of! Claire is a French name meaning clear, bright and famous. This is my nana's name and one of my long time favorites. I'd love to be able to use it as a first, but my syllable OCD just wont let that happen!

Piper Alison
Piper is an English name meaning one who plays the flute. I think this name is so spunky and fun but still very sweet. It's another long time favorite. I also love the association with the Charmed character. Alison is a French name derived from Alice, meaning noble. Alison is to honor one of my best friends, Alyssa.

Leah Paige
Leah is a Hebrew name meaning weary. I've always been a huge fan of this name but didn't like the spelling. I considered the Lia spelling but it just didn't look substantial enough for me. This spelling has def just kept growing on me in the last little while. Paige is an English name meaning one who is a servant. It honors another of my best friends. I think Paige is super spunky and perf as a middle name to balance out the ultra classic feel of Leah.

Hunter Douglas
Hunter is an English name meaning one who is a hunter. This is my all time favorite name. I just think its so masculine and strong and cool! Douglas is a Scottish name meaning dark river. This is my dads name and all though its not a fav per se, I can't imagine not using it.

Bowen Isaac "Bo"
Bowen is an English name meaning son of Owen. It's a recent fav of mine. I love the nickname Bo/Beau but was having a hard time finding a first I liked. Since Owen bounces on and off my favs, Bowen was a natural choice. Isaac is a Hebrew name meaning he laughs. It's my uncle's name, a cousin's name and my brother's middle so although it's a long time fav it'd be just a bit too confusing to use as a first.

Jacob Sullivan "Jake"
Jacob is a Hebrew name meaning holder of the heal. I know a lot of people don't dig Jacob because of how popular it is, but I just love everything about this name. It's a masculine and classic and Jake is the cutest nickname! Sullivan is and Irish name meaning little dark eye. It's my last name and I think it'd be a nice way to honor my whole fam.

Those are my top combos of right now! wdyt? leave yours in the comments :)

Names at Queens!

Hi all!
As i walking on campus this week, i realized that the buildings at Queens have some pretty cool names. So for this blog post i thought i'd list some.

Morris
Leonard
Adelaide "Addy"
Agnes
Harrison
Watson
Victoria "Vic"
Ellis
Grant
Miller
Walter
Douglas "Douggie"

i think that this comes from the tradition of naming our buildings after famous people. i know that Vic Hall is in honor of Queen Victoria and i thinkk Grant Hall is also in honor of some British royal. Anyone else have a campus with some cool names?

Meet The Blogger: Hayley

Today's Meet The Blogger is about admin Hayley! Enjoy :)

-------------

Hayley
Admin/Blogger

I’m 20 years old and in my third year of university, working on a Bachelor of Arts with a politics major and gender studies minor. I love learning and hope to get a Bachelor of Social Work and a Masters of Social Work someday as well! My passion for names stems from my love of writing and my love of words. My hobbies include hanging out with friends, family and pets as well as playing and watching sports, shopping, reading and writing.

Name: Hayley

Favorite Girl Name: Claire Alison

Favorite Boy Name: Hunter Douglas

Height: 5’9

Eye Colour: hazel

Birthday: November 16^th 

Favourite Colour: tied between pink and green

Day or Night: night

Celebrity Crush: lately I’ve been digging Morgan Rielly and Jason Segal. And then Miranda Lambert is my fav girl crush. 

Coffee or Tea:  both!

Favourite Food: anything tex mex

Random Questions

1.      Are you outgoing or shy?
Pretty outgoing. I lovee meeting new people and talking to people haha.

2.      What are you bad habits? 
Picking the dead skin around my nails. Such an icky nervous habit. I’m also horrid with money.

3.      Do you ever want to get married? 
I really don’t know. I don’t think I do, but not ready to rule it out yet!!

4.      Do you play sports? What sports?
I do. I’m a pretty big fan of soccer. I also used to play field hockey. Otherwise, I like to run and swim, but don’t really consider those “sports”.

5.      What are your favorite stores to shop in?
American Eagle, Urban Outfitters and Old Navy are my favs. I like Winners too, but I find it pretty hit and miss.

6.      Favourite makeup brand?
I love MAC, but my wallet doesn’t. I mostly buy Covergirl.

7.      Do you sleep with stuffed animals?
My teddy bear, Valerie.

8.      Do you have any pets? 
A menagerie. At home, two cats (Boris and Scout). At school, two cats (Indie and Charlotte), two rats (Artemis and Athena) and a turtle (Darth).

9.      What’s your favourite quote? 
Be the change you want to see in the world.

10.  How many piercings do you have?
 9. Both lobes twice, rook, helix, Monroe, nose and belly button.

names from 16&Pregnant

Happy Friday!! I’m writing this post on Wednesday a few hours before finishing my last exam. After this, I’ll only have three more semesters of my BA. Crazy. Before writing one of our harder exams, my friends and I decided that the best way to chill post exam would be to watch hours of trashy reality TV. Trashy reality show of choice? 16 and Pregnant. So, this post is on the names the moms picked from season 3 of 16 and Pregnant.

Noah James – I love this name. Noah is such a classic. James is a bit of a filler middle, but the combo sounds so lovely that I can’t fault it.

Joshua Devan and Noah Matthew – Noah Matthew is also gorgeous. Noah was a popular choice this season. Joshua was after the father and although I love the idea of honoring names, on this show it makes me cringe because of how often the parents end up hating each other. Sure enough, they didn’t stay together. I like Devan well enough, but would be more apt to spell it Devon.

Miah Christine – This spelling is cringe worthy. The mother pronounces her name as My-uh, but if I read it first, I’d definitely say Mee-uh. I seriously hate the name Maya, but at least Maya/Maia would make sense. I’m neutral towards Christine.

Jamie Jr – I like Jamie for a boy, but I’d prefer it as a nickname for James or Jameson. Also, the whole naming the baby after the father thing makes me super uneasy on this show. I’m not sure if this baby truly doesn’t have a middle name, or if Jr is the middle name.

Kylee Sue – At first, when they were talking about this name and I imagined it as Kylie, I was ok with it. When they showed it spelled out on the screen, I actually laughed out loud. Everything about this name says redneck to me. The spelling is ridiculous, the flow of it and Sue in general.

Preston Michael – I went to elementary school with a guy whose first name was Michael and last was Preston so this combo obviously sounded super familiar to me. Currently, one of my best friends is named Preston so I have a fab association that I think has made me like the name a lot more than I would otherwise. Although I really like the combo, Michael is another naming after the dad situation.

Enrique Jeiro – Seriously, naming after dads was the trend of the season. I really do not like either of the names, but this baby’s father is Hispanic, so I can at least understand wanting to use names from that heritage.

Kay’den Elijah – Ugh. Grammar in names is probably one of my biggest naming pet peeves. No one needs an apostrophe in their name. Ever. Caden Elijah would be a darling, totally valid combo, but Kay’den. Just no.

Aubri Rose – I have so many issues with Aubri. First issue, that spelling is ridiculous. If you’re going to use it, at least spell it right- Aubrey. Secondly, Aubrey is a masculine name. I feel like a lot of people think its related to Audrey, but it’s actually derived from Alberich a clearly masculine German name. Thirdly, I just don’t like it. Rose is so common as a middle name and another name I just don’t like.

Aydenn Anthony – Spelling. What even is Aydenn. Aidan is so lovely and that spelling just looks awful without changing the name at all. I just don’t get it! Anthony is cute, but alliterative combos aren’t my deal.

            So those are my thoughts on the names from season 3 of 16 and Pregnant. What are your thoughts on them- agree? Disagree? Leave a comment! :) And have a fab holidays!

Hayl

Leaf Loving

Happy Friday!!

            Tomorrow night, I will happily be sitting down to watch my Toronto Maple Leafs play the (smelly and awful) Ottawa Senators. I’ve never been to an NHL game before, let alone a Leafs game and I’m thrilled to be able to cross it off my bucket list! In honor of this occasion, I thought I’d talk about the names of some of my favorite Leafs players (and throw in a little bit of eye candy too).

Joffrey

I don’t think it’s a stretch to call Mr. Lupul the sexiest man in hockey, but the name Joffrey. Not sexy. Joffrey is the phonetic spelling of the French name Geoffrey. Geoffrey comes from Germanic roots but is ultimately of unknown meaning.

Phillip

Phil Kessel is not so much eye candy but oh my lanta can that man play hockey! And he seems like a really chill dude too, he’s beat cancer, just sayin’. Phillip is an alternative spelling of Philip meaning friend of horses.

Nazem

I actually don’t have words for how much I love this man. Seriously, Kadri has number one celeb crush and favLeaf status for life. He’s just the best.  Nazem is an Arabic name possibly a different transcript of Nadim, meaning drinking buddy. Nazem inherited his name from his grandfather and father, technically making him Nazem Kadri III.

Morgan

Morgan Rielly is only 19 and an NHL defensemen. Crazy town. He’s my fav babyLeaf and possibly the cutest human being in existence. I'm mad in love with this photo because what's cuter than pajamas and puppies?! It helps that I also adore his name. Morgan is a Welsh name meaning sea circle and is totally ready for a comeback on boys!

James

There are not enough good things to say about James Reimer in LeafNation. He just does bad ass things like stopping 51 shots in a game. From all accounts, he’s also the nicest guy ever. Also, his wife is a babe. All around winner. James is derived from Jacob, meaning holder of the heel.

Any other hockey fans out there? What are some of the names of your fav players? Leave a comment!

Hayl