by Bex
We got quite a few suggestions from people regarding Indian names when I announced the babies were a boy and a girl. Some of them were already on our list and thank you for the extra inspiration. Our initial list was made while on holiday in Thailand on a particularly stormy day. I made a den on the balcony to listen to the rain on the pool and we snuggled up with snacks, drinks and an Indian name website on the ipad. We just went through adding each name we both liked to an email to ourselves and then didn't look at it again until we knew the babies' sex.
Once we knew it was one of each, we spent more time thinking about it and went back to our list. We also looked through Nik's family tree which someone spent a lot of time putting together a few years ago and found a few more names to add to the list, although most of the ones we liked were too recent - i.e. Nik's cousins! We also scrubbed off quite a few from the original list we made. Both our Mums sent us lists of names they liked too. It then didn't take us long to narrow it all down to four names. 2 boys and 2 girls. We realised that 2 of them didn't work together and split them up into two options. As it happens that means that one pair has Nik's favourite boy name and my favourite girl name and vice versa.
Strangely after having a few girls names I liked for quite a few years and finding a much shorter list of boy names I liked, I ended up finding the boys names easier in the end. Luckily we have now settled on our final two names and have actually both gone off one of the others. Of course, that could still happen with the ones we've chosen so they could change but we're keeping them secret until the birth anyway. (We've also checked meanings and pronunciation to make sure of no surprises since they're Indian and we don't want the twins having problems forever reciting/spelling/explaining their names, we have enough trouble doing that with our last name!)
I will, however, share some of the names I originally liked. Nik has never liked two of them and I always hoped he might change his mind but they've all been definitely scratched off the list now so I should be safe sharing them here!
The first one I liked was Amalia. I don't know if it's strictly an Indian name (after a wee search, Amala is) but it always sounded to me like it would go well with our surname and I love the shortened versions of Malia, Mali or Mia.
The second has a bit more of a story to it and was my favourite for a long time. I came up with it on our honeymoon and the inspiration was one of the reasons Nik never liked it. At the end of our honeymoon in Tanzania, we flew to Kenya to stay with Nik's family for a few days. While there, we were loaned the use of their little 4x4 which was a Feroza. I thought the name would be nice spelled Firoza and it turns out that actually is an Indian name which means Turquoise (obviously one of my favourite colours too!) The shortened version of Roza is also lovely. Nik was never keen as it just reminded him of the car which is not such a great thing to be named after, I just liked the idea that we thought of it on honeymoon.
Another one I liked was Nylah which is actually a Gaelic name which means cloud. It seems I have a thing about names ending with an -ah sound! We're now thinking of adding in Scottish or Gaelic middle names and I've found a couple which go nicely with the Indian names we've chosen but lots more research is needed.
A particular website I like is baby names world which seems to have ALL the names, lists their origins, meaning, etc. but one of the best things I love about it is the page which has survey results from people who have the actual name you're considering! It tells you how many people have filled it in and answers questions such as how often it is misspelled or mispronounced, whether they were bullied because of their name and if they'd recommend parents naming their baby with it. I found it really interesting to see the answers to the final question of 'do you like your name in general?' as even those who seem to have issues with people spelling and pronouncing it still liked being called by their name.
I particularly like that these names are all more unusual, even for Indian names. I don't know anyone with these names and like the fact they're not very traditional. The only reason I would check the most popular name lists is to make sure I avoid popular names. I used to LOVE Olivia/Liv until it became popular. As for boys names, there weren't any that I thought of prior to starting name research, Indian or otherwise. The only one I can remember liking a few years ago was Sebastian. During our sorting of stuff for the big house move, I actually came across a little sheet of notepaper the other day with a list of names on it from when I was probably about 13 judging by my handwriting! I remember loving looking through Mum's old baby name book (which had her lists of names in the back), sadly I lent it to someone years ago and never got it back. Some of the names on my old list I still like but others - well, let's just say I always liked unusual names!!
Boys: Oran, Orville (seriously - as in the duck 13 yr old Bex!??), Payne, Ryder, Ross, Rowan, Ryan, Sebastian, Tristan. (Apparently my son was going to be a hero in some American fantasy film!)
Girls: Paige, Ria, Rowan, Stella, Storm, Terri, Kathryn, Gale, Deborah, Danni, Nikki, Stacey. (Other than the random addition of K,G, N and D names in there, I'm guessing the was the O-T page but I've yet to find others!) I still like the first 4 but none of the others.
Anyway, I'm really excited about the names we've chosen and can't wait to share them with you all when the time comes! ;)
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| Image Source |
We got quite a few suggestions from people regarding Indian names when I announced the babies were a boy and a girl. Some of them were already on our list and thank you for the extra inspiration. Our initial list was made while on holiday in Thailand on a particularly stormy day. I made a den on the balcony to listen to the rain on the pool and we snuggled up with snacks, drinks and an Indian name website on the ipad. We just went through adding each name we both liked to an email to ourselves and then didn't look at it again until we knew the babies' sex.
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| Reading kindle before Nik joined me with extra cushions and the ipad. |
Once we knew it was one of each, we spent more time thinking about it and went back to our list. We also looked through Nik's family tree which someone spent a lot of time putting together a few years ago and found a few more names to add to the list, although most of the ones we liked were too recent - i.e. Nik's cousins! We also scrubbed off quite a few from the original list we made. Both our Mums sent us lists of names they liked too. It then didn't take us long to narrow it all down to four names. 2 boys and 2 girls. We realised that 2 of them didn't work together and split them up into two options. As it happens that means that one pair has Nik's favourite boy name and my favourite girl name and vice versa.
Strangely after having a few girls names I liked for quite a few years and finding a much shorter list of boy names I liked, I ended up finding the boys names easier in the end. Luckily we have now settled on our final two names and have actually both gone off one of the others. Of course, that could still happen with the ones we've chosen so they could change but we're keeping them secret until the birth anyway. (We've also checked meanings and pronunciation to make sure of no surprises since they're Indian and we don't want the twins having problems forever reciting/spelling/explaining their names, we have enough trouble doing that with our last name!)
I will, however, share some of the names I originally liked. Nik has never liked two of them and I always hoped he might change his mind but they've all been definitely scratched off the list now so I should be safe sharing them here!
The first one I liked was Amalia. I don't know if it's strictly an Indian name (after a wee search, Amala is) but it always sounded to me like it would go well with our surname and I love the shortened versions of Malia, Mali or Mia.
The second has a bit more of a story to it and was my favourite for a long time. I came up with it on our honeymoon and the inspiration was one of the reasons Nik never liked it. At the end of our honeymoon in Tanzania, we flew to Kenya to stay with Nik's family for a few days. While there, we were loaned the use of their little 4x4 which was a Feroza. I thought the name would be nice spelled Firoza and it turns out that actually is an Indian name which means Turquoise (obviously one of my favourite colours too!) The shortened version of Roza is also lovely. Nik was never keen as it just reminded him of the car which is not such a great thing to be named after, I just liked the idea that we thought of it on honeymoon.
Another one I liked was Nylah which is actually a Gaelic name which means cloud. It seems I have a thing about names ending with an -ah sound! We're now thinking of adding in Scottish or Gaelic middle names and I've found a couple which go nicely with the Indian names we've chosen but lots more research is needed.
A particular website I like is baby names world which seems to have ALL the names, lists their origins, meaning, etc. but one of the best things I love about it is the page which has survey results from people who have the actual name you're considering! It tells you how many people have filled it in and answers questions such as how often it is misspelled or mispronounced, whether they were bullied because of their name and if they'd recommend parents naming their baby with it. I found it really interesting to see the answers to the final question of 'do you like your name in general?' as even those who seem to have issues with people spelling and pronouncing it still liked being called by their name.
 |
| Image Source |
I particularly like that these names are all more unusual, even for Indian names. I don't know anyone with these names and like the fact they're not very traditional. The only reason I would check the most popular name lists is to make sure I avoid popular names. I used to LOVE Olivia/Liv until it became popular. As for boys names, there weren't any that I thought of prior to starting name research, Indian or otherwise. The only one I can remember liking a few years ago was Sebastian. During our sorting of stuff for the big house move, I actually came across a little sheet of notepaper the other day with a list of names on it from when I was probably about 13 judging by my handwriting! I remember loving looking through Mum's old baby name book (which had her lists of names in the back), sadly I lent it to someone years ago and never got it back. Some of the names on my old list I still like but others - well, let's just say I always liked unusual names!!
Boys: Oran, Orville (seriously - as in the duck 13 yr old Bex!??), Payne, Ryder, Ross, Rowan, Ryan, Sebastian, Tristan. (Apparently my son was going to be a hero in some American fantasy film!)
Girls: Paige, Ria, Rowan, Stella, Storm, Terri, Kathryn, Gale, Deborah, Danni, Nikki, Stacey. (Other than the random addition of K,G, N and D names in there, I'm guessing the was the O-T page but I've yet to find others!) I still like the first 4 but none of the others.
Anyway, I'm really excited about the names we've chosen and can't wait to share them with you all when the time comes! ;)
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