Last week I found out I’m the proud host of a little baby girl. Now let the naming game begin!
My thoughts over the last week having been busy taking name inspiration from any and every source. After poring over the baby name websites, I’m equally bored with both the more common names and the wildest choices (I’m looking at you, North West). I’ve been so desperate to find new ideas that it’s made watching My Little Pony extremely dangerous to the future well-being of this second child. Hey, what about “Pinkie Pie Coffin,” I thought to myself. Hmm, no, I guess I shouldn’t.
As with our first child, we have a long and stringent list of requirements for the first name. Because my name gets butchered so much in the U.S., I want something simple to pronounce and spell. Because my first language is French, I want something that sounds good in English and French as well. And, of course, my husband comes with his own list of preferences.
But with the middle name, we feel free to let the creative juices flowing and pick something fun. Our first daughter’s middle name is Faye, a name I found and adored from Cowboy Bepop. It’s a little geeky and uncommon, yet short and sweet.
For the middle name of this second child, I’ve been trying to find more geeky ideas. First we thought we should stick with the Cowboy Bepop theme, but the only other main female character on the show is called Edward, Ed for short. We were seriously tempted, just for the sake of the theme, but ultimately it’s not a name we love for a girl.
I’ve considered moon names from greek mythology, our favorites so far being Eukelade and Adrastea. But they are such mouthfuls! They sure sound lovely, but four syllables is a bit much.
We’ve also considered continuing the fairy theme. My favorite fairy name was Maeve until I realized it was pronounced mayv and not may-vee. My husband liked Titania until he realized it was pronounce tee-tanya and not like titanium. Don’t you hate it when you pronounce words incorrectly cause you’ve only ever read it in books? I know there is flexibility in spelling and pronunciation, but then again having a frequently butchered name has made me a stickler for accuracy over malleability.
Anyway, we’re also considering Aurora, Titania’s daughter. And that pretty much sums up all the fairy names we know, thanks to reading Jim Butcher.
Oh, dear readers, will you help me? Is there a fairy name, or really any cute name with a fun geeky reference, that you’ve always liked? Please share it in a comment!
I was looking for names to go with a sky theme for my kids. My first to are Starr and Skye but I could not find anything I liked for moon. Then one day on an old D & D character generator I came across Nodel for moon as an elvish name, but was more masculine. So I added an la like in Spanish to make it more feminine. She ended up as Nodella Raine, but we call her Della for short.
Cute theme!
The dictionary disagrees with pronouncing Titania tee-tania. It gives tie-tania for synthetic rutile (TiO2) and tih-tania for the fairy queen. So I’d use it and just pronounce it as you’ve always read it.
Very interesting! I hadn’t noticed that. Thanks for sharing!
Kaylee from Firefly.
A pair of my geeky friends named their daughters Nyssa and Arya. I suggested “Tegan” for the younger (or “Adric” if she’d been a boy) but somehow that didn’t stick. 🙂
I considered naming my daughter Rana, the genus of the leopard frog that so many of us dissected in high school Biology class.
Tianna – fairy queen
I had a friend with this name in school and loved it.
Il y avait aussi une fille dans mon ecole primaire francophone qui s’applait Eolande (fee violette).
Ginevra (from Harry Potter’s Ginny Weasley) might fit the bill. Zoë also has an illustrious geeky pedigree from Firefly and other sources.
Why not use Françoise? That’s Edward’s actual name from Cowboy Bebop.
A friend of mine gave their daughter the middle name Aldebaran, which is the brightest star in the Taurus constellation, and their son got the middle name Rigil, another star. I always liked the idea of star names, especially since many of them are connected to ancient stories.
I looked at all the moon names, but I didn’t think about looking at the stars for ideas. Thanks!
Kira from The Dark Crystal, which is what I thought your photos were of.
Ariel – from The Tempest, not The Little Mermaid.
Belphoebe, from The Faerie Queen. (Or maybe just Phoebe…)
You can’t go wrong with the computer pantheon:
Ada
Grace
Or With something from Tolkein:
Elanor
Douglas Adams:
Trillian
Random (Though it may be a bit much for the psyche of a child and specially a teen)
Terry Prattchet:
Angua (No idea of pronunciation, in Spanish sounds like water)
Esmerelda
Tifanny
Classic (Greek and Roman)
Clio
Leda
Helen
Diana (+1 if you like Winder Woman)
Hekate (Only if you aren’t fundamentalist Christian of course)
Warning, always try-run any names with your less polite family members as an early warning system versus name mocking in school.
Our 4.5 year old daughter is Aurora. Everyone comments on how beautiful her name is and either asks if she’s a princess (which she’s happy to agree with) or if her middle name is Borealis. We actually got the idea for her name while reading about the Aurora Borealis, so we generally disavow connections with the princess, but she looooves princesses. The main problem with the name is that she has trouble pronouncing it and no one understands her when she says it (right now the best she can do is uh-wov-uh). I guess those Rs are difficult for little tongues…but I love her name and don’t regret giving it to her.
I don’t have any other suggestions, just wanted to pipe up on the Aurora name idea. 🙂
Darwin.
That was on our list for boy names!
Amalthea – When Peter S. Beagle’s Last Unicorn transforms into a human girl to escape the Red Bull, she goes by the name Lady Amalthea. She is regarded for her incandescent beauty, purity, and quiet wisdom. She is forced to face the Red Bull and to decide between life as a human or as a unicorn.
Amalthea is also the 3rd moon on Jupiter, and is regarded in Greek mythology as a nymph who nursed Zeus with goats milk. She is oftentimes regarded as Zeus’s stepmother or even as a goat, herself.
How about faerie names from True Blood? Claudine, Delilah, Lilianne, or Maurella?
I like Maia, the eldest of the Pleiades, Annika, a name for the goddess Durga and the little girl from Pippi Longstocking, or Lirazel, the king of Elfland’s daughter.
I’ve had a penchant for River…I’m obsessed with River Song from Dr. Who, and then found out that there was another kick-butt River in Serenity. Both gals are women whom you don’t mess with, and yet have a nature related name. Not sure about a middle name…Hope that helps.
This is one of my husband’s favorites too.
Corrigan — she’s a fairy from Brittany, thought to be an ancient Druidess
Ileana — the most beautiful Romanian fairy. She has a middle name, Cosanzeana, but that might be a bit of a mouthful!
Leanan Sidhe — a Celtic fairy called the fairy sweetheart.
Can you tell I like the fairy theme? I really like Leanan. I think it is pretty, but different. Good luck!
Leela
Leelu
Aeryn or Claudia
Elphaba or Galinda
Coraline
Primrose
Valkyrie
Andromeda
Zelda
Juniper or Willow
Drucilla or Winifred
Galadriel or Evenstar or Arwyn or Eowyn
Guinevere
Hildegard (not nerdy per se, I just really like it)
Emmajean (I really wanted to name my daughter this, Emma Frost + Jean Grey)
My son’s name is Sam and my daughter’s name is Elanor Rose. These come from LOTR.
How about the Icelandic name Dis ( the i has a coma over it not a dot) pronounced dees. In Iceland a fairy is call dÃs or alfur (alfur is a male word and dÃs is a female word) My nieces name for example is Sunna Dis (the Icelandic meaning for sunna is sun) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%ADs here you can also see different uses of this name in stories and folklore. Then your daughters bear the same meaning in their middle name.
Thanks, that’s a great suggestion. I don’t think I would have ever found it on my own!
My daughter will be Ayla (from Clan of the Cave Bear books). I also love the names from Firefly/Serenity – River, Kaylee, Zoë, Inara.
I agree that you can totally use Titania and pronounce it Ty-tay-nia. I think it is also a name that translates well into multiple languages.
I do love Zoe, but it’s so popular these days!
I wanted to name our first Luthien (from LOTR and The Sillmarillion), if it was a girl, and call her Lucy, for short (Chronicles of Narnia). My husband was decidedly UNcrazy about the idea, though, and our first was a boy anyway. 🙂 Still like the idea, though.
My 7 year old girl is Lark, love it so. I have also met a Larkin this year which is also lovely. As far as spontaneous adventures go…
I have also met a Riven which is modern. (Rivendell) Best of luck to you.
We named my younger daughter Raven. (She’s 2 now.) It’s not geeky in the classic sense, but Ravens pop up a lot in mythology, fantasy novels, and Raven was the completely badassed villain in Snow Crash. Down side: She’ll be subjected to Poe/Nevermore jokes for her entire life. Alas. Feel free to use it if you like it!
Ha! We have a black cat that we named Raven after the character from Snow Crash!
My wife really really really wanted to name our daughter Amelie (after the movie character played by Audrey Tautou). I wasn’t completely sold on it, though I do love the movie. We settled on Amelia, but I think Amelie would be a great fit for you!
My daughter is named Delenn. 🙂
We named our daughter Linnea. Science geekiness since it’s related to Carl Linnaeus. Added bonus is that it’s unique yet not trendy and has been around for awhile.
Elfa
Astrid
I don’t have a good name for you but we gave our son geeky initials instead of a name. I think this might be the first place I’ve been that someone other then my husband and I will enjoy his name too. Our son’s first name is Adam and his initials are ATOM (one middle name and a middle initial long story) My favorite maternity shirt was one from cafepress that said Adam’s Atoms on it!
You could do Valentine to continue the Bebop theme as in Faye Valentine.
Since you’re a programmer and your husband also. Both in the IT industry. Go for IANA or ARIN
By the way im looking for a geeky baby name also, my wife and I are also from the IT industry that’s why I saw your blog. 🙂
We named our daughter Lorien and my hubby wanted her middle name to be after his grandmother Eleanor. We used the LOTR spelling and found out that Elanor is a flower found in the land of Lorien. How perfect was that? Too perfect! But we did not stop there! We needed an I middle name so her initials spelled out LEIA! We used Ivy for the I name! We had a LOTR wedding we needed a LOTR baby!
I named my son Loki, both from Marvel comics and Norse Mythology. His middle name is Alexander (not only is it nice, but also a nod towards Alexander Graham Bell). His initials are LAN, which his dad in the IT profession loved. I’m expecting my second and we’re having difficulty coming up with a girl name though.
I was gonna say Phoebe, but I just saw this is from 2013. Curious what you picked. : )