Do you ever have problems with names that may sound nice but have bad connotations? I could never name a child Josh because I met an unsavory one in elementary school. Same with the name Tiffany.

Ditto about the name "Josh." In second grade, was it, we knew one who was none too pleasant.
And the name April. Otherwise, I do really like the name, but this summer at retreat, there was a girl called April and she was far from nice...

LOL, hyaline12, same here about "Ursula." The first thing I think when I see that name is, "Sea witch!" Of course, not that the person with that name is one, goodness no.

RE: Pet names: We have two cats called Cinnamon and Sugar, and I do like their names. (I'm glad we didn't go with other things we were considering...)
Some friends of ours have a little dog named "Smoky." It's quite a cute name!

I know about twenty Joshes, so one would have to be really, really evil to forever taint the name for me

My very favourite girl's name is Evangeline or Evangelina.

I quite like Evangeline too. We were going to name my youngest brother that actually, but he upset our plans.

George-I wouldn't name my son this, as it's a bit outdated, but I like it.

Just wait, by the time you actually have kids it will probably be in again!

I like names that are classic and have some history to them, so I'm not terribly in love with my own (Kelsey). Current favourites are Sophia, Charlotte, Will(iam), Jack...unfortunately they seem to be everyone else's favourites too, according to the popular-names lists. Also fond of Susannah, Ivy, Hannelore, Kirsten, Sebastian, Jasper, Alexander and variations, Jonas until a certain trio rather ruined it, and A Heap Of Others.

Russian names are the best Jewish too.

Their were this family that had 3 boys that were named merry, pippin and sam and their dog was named frodo.

Jonas until a certain trio rather ruined it

ha I know, one of my favorite names used to be Nick

IlF, that's such fun about the "Middle-earth" names. In a similar vein, I have heard (via another NarniaWebber) of a family whose children have the following names:
Galadriel, Elrond, Arwen, and Théoden.
And then Arwen's children are Anduin and Théoden.

Wow! Do they use shortforms, I wonder? 'Though that would quite lessen the beauty of the names calling Galadriel "Gal", or Théoden "Theo". How about "And" for Anduin? I must say, though, I do like Anduin for a name. What would it be: male or female, I wonder ... ? I think the latter.

The name "Anneka/Annika" is a favourite of mine, with the first "A" pronounced as in "on". If I ever have more children (which I won't at this point ) I really wouldn't mind considering "Éowyn" for a girl's name.

I liked Annika for a while but then I saw a Barbie movie in which the main character had that name...

Oooo! I have a lot of favorite names! Let me see if I can scratch them up off of the top of my head...

Girls' Names:
Adrianne
Aeronwen
Amanda
Ariel
Brooke
Christina
Dinah
Esther
Evelyn
Gabriella
Heather
Iona
Iris
Julia
Katrina
Leah
Lily
Maria
Marigold
Opal
Rachelle
Rae
Ruby (of course)
Victoria
Vivian

Boys' Names:
Aaron
Benjamin
Bryn
Calvin
Edgar
Elijah
Isaac
Jay
Joel
John
Joshua
Kevin
Luke
Marcus
Mervyn
Peter
Quintus
Raymond
Rodrick
Samuel
Seth
Timothy
Titus
Victor
William

Aaaand...that 'bout sums it up for me! *chuckles*

IlF, that's such fun about the "Middle-earth" names. In a similar vein, I have heard (via another NarniaWebber) of a family whose children have the following names:
Galadriel, Elrond, Arwen, and Théoden.
And then Arwen's children are Anduin and Théoden.

Wow! Do they use shortforms, I wonder? 'Though that would quite lessen the beauty of the names calling Galadriel "Gal", or Théoden "Theo". How about "And" for Anduin? I must say, though, I do like Anduin for a name. What would it be: male or female, I wonder ... ? I think the latter.

The name "Anneka/Annika" is a favourite of mine, with the first "A" pronounced as in "on". If I ever have more children (which I won't at this point ) I really wouldn't mind considering "Éowyn" for a girl's name.

awsome but I would have trouble saying soem of those names. It's good they named their dog frodo and not one of their kids.

My sister's name is Bryn. I hated it at first, both my name and my other sister's name are very traditional. Bryn is definitely not. I'm not sure Bryn really likes it either, but my parents do.

That's so cool! Well, it kind of stinks if she doesn't like it, but I think it's great I hope if I ever have kids they'll like...or else they'll just be stuck with it My name's...fairly traditional. It's getting pretty popular though, so it's kind of annoying

I have heard (via another NarniaWebber) of a family whose children have the following names:
Galadriel, Elrond, Arwen, and Théoden.
And then Arwen's children are Anduin and Théoden.

Now there are some dedicated LotR fans! Poor Theoden, the only son of man in there though Anduin is a really pretty name, as is Eowyn(I agree, it would definitely be on my name list). LotR names are all so pretty though! "Elanor" was on my list from the Lothlorien flower. (actually, "Lorien" could be a pretty name too...)

Wow! Do they use shortforms, I wonder? 'Though that would quite lessen the beauty of the names calling Galadriel "Gal", or Théoden "Theo".

That makes me think of what Sam's gaffer told him, "Make it short so you don't have to shorten it before you use it"

I thought of two other girl's names I love: Monet and Isis.

And I love Anduin, Eowyn, Arwen, Galadriel, and Theoden. Not sure if I could get away with Elrond though...I love that there are people who actually named there kids that though!

I would name my kids some pretty wierd names. I think I had a few elvish ones on my first list. There's this awesome website I go on sometimes and it tell you different English names, their meaning, and the name in Elvish...really cool

...Have any boys posted on this thread? Or am I right in that only girls are fascinated with names (I'm a girl as well, btw)?...

Okay, I'll 'fess up.

In my experience females do seem to be more fascinated with names, but the males who find them interesting often are writers. I began writing recreationally as a teenager, and it helps to have a 'pool' of names to draw from. (Unlike Tolkien, I tend to use ordinary names (like Abby, Molly, Erik, Dan, etc) in my stories since they're often set in the everyday world (albeit with fantasy characters). [/ramble]

Now I use online name sites (especially http://www.behindthename.com ) to get new ideas.

jo, Annika is a name I also like. A bit of trivia is that it was the name of Seven of Nine's character before the Borg assimilated her in Star Trek Voyager.

I chuckled at the thought of Tolkien's characters using nicknames, except for the hobbits, who seem so down-to-earth that nicknames would come naturally.

Glenstorm the Great, My name's not close to aguys, but I understand how that could be really obnoxious.

Ruby, why is my little sister's middle name on your favorite name's list? Kidding, it's a pretty name.

My real name is Alissandra. I used to hate it but now I don't mind it...besides the fact that everyone misspells/says it wrong...

Ooh,pretty! That's a variation of "Alexandra" right?
Ugh,I know the feeling. My real name's Racheal,but everyone spells it either "Rachel" or "Rachael."

Here's a quick list of names I like. Most of them are weird.

Girls

Gabrielle Lynne
Anastasia Nicole
Aria
Acacia
Whitney Jane
Rena(which,ironically,I've used on other forums)
Fidelity(LOVE this one!)

Boys

Alastair Flavian (probably the weirdest on the list )
Jasper (not like the "Twilight" guy)
Clifton
Griffith
Hunter
James

....eh,that's all for now.

Ooh,pretty! That's a variation of "Alexandra" right?

Thank you and yes it is. My mom actually heard the name b/c she used to babysit the kids of the Bissel (vaccuum) family and they had a daughter whose name was Alissandra. The only bad thing about it really besides spelling and misprounouncing is that you can never find keychains and such with your name on it I used to really hate that when I was younger...

Ugh,I know the feeling. My name's Racheal,but everyone spells it either "Rachel" or "Rachael."

Cool spelling but I'm sure it's annoying to have people spell it wrong...

I like some names of the Greek gods but I would never name my kids that. Like I love the name Artemis. And also Ares.