Friday Baby Name Game
The wife of a friend of mine is expecting a girl, so we decided to try to help him out with a name. Obviously without knowing the last name, this is kind of a silly exercise, but I still thought I’d poll our sophisticated and intelligent readership. Which of the following would you vote for as the name of an adorable little girl soon to be born in Manhattan, of parents of old American stock with roots all across our fair land:
Adelaide
Cordelia
Diotima
Florence
Fredy
Gerda
Gwendolyn
Illeana
Imogen
Leonora
Marina
Marion
Paolina
Penelope
Robin
Rosaline
Rosemary
Rowena
Wanda
Winifred
Our operators are standing by for your votes.
My wife and I want Gwendolyn for ourselves, so I vote for Imogen.
— Ross Douthat · May 30, 04:21 PM · #
wanda.
— razib · May 30, 04:24 PM · #
Penelope or Rosemary. Strangely, the name of every single one of my Classics teachers appears on that list.
— Nicola · May 30, 04:31 PM · #
Our final four for our daughter were Adelaide, Francis, Clementine, and…. I can’t tell you the last one becasue that’s what we went with and we don’t want it to get used up. But of that list, I like Adilaide. It’s got a great kid name, Addie, and a pretty good adult name, Adelaide. Plus it’s a city in Austrilia, which might be a fun connection for a little kid.
— cw · May 30, 04:35 PM · #
Please don’t do this. Find a name you like, don’t tell anyone.
— matt · May 30, 04:35 PM · #
matt: I highly doubt my friend – much less his wife – will pay any attention to us. This is just for fun.
— Noah Millman · May 30, 04:42 PM · #
Rosemary.
— Andy · May 30, 04:49 PM · #
I vote for “Krystyl.” She’d be the only one in her Upper West Side co-op.
— Matt Frost · May 30, 04:51 PM · #
sir,
might i say that the list you present bespeaks a level of grace & sophistication much in deficit in this fair land. bravo!
my own preference would be Imogen.
yours truly,
c. v. snicker
— chet snicker · May 30, 04:52 PM · #
Her name should be in binary so that our inevitable robot overlords will take kindly to her.
— Allison · May 30, 04:58 PM · #
Rosaline or Cordelia, based on my rule of thumb that all good English names are in Shakespeare.
— Jim · May 30, 05:19 PM · #
Susan. Think outside the box.
— Tim of Angle · May 30, 05:19 PM · #
My vote goes to Paolina.
— Dara · May 30, 05:21 PM · #
Adelaide. God that’s adorable.
— Jim · May 30, 05:37 PM · #
Gotta go with Imogene or Rowena. Classics, but they’ve been sleeping long enough to be fresh again. They’re clearly ready for comebacks. Maybe in 10-20 years, there will be additional names ready for a revival like Mabel, Edna, Ethel, and Annetta.
— John · May 30, 05:50 PM · #
It doesn’t matter. Loose lips sink ships. Really, just don’t do it.
— matt · May 30, 05:51 PM · #
Robin: it’s a good name.
— Klug · May 30, 05:52 PM · #
I don’t like any of them and the little girl won’t either!
— linda · May 30, 05:58 PM · #
Penelope.
— Adam Greenwood · May 30, 06:13 PM · #
I’m not a big fan of this list, but then as a 20something Indian/Pakistani guy what do I know.
Not sure what the thing about Australian cities is. Sydney (generally – not in this list), Adelaide…but if you do want to go down that line how about Brisbane?
More seriously, if you want to go with an elaborate name then Genevieve seems quite popular in the UK.
— shariq · May 30, 06:23 PM · #
I vote for Adelaide or Imogen. Unless you’re a Lostie, and then you’ll have to go with Penelope.
— EG · May 30, 06:47 PM · #
Marion
Is a responder to your question required to tell his age?
— The Spokesrider · May 30, 06:54 PM · #
1) Penelope
2) Adelaide
3) Cordelia (although I’d need to reread Lear first)
— right · May 30, 07:10 PM · #
I like Marina… it says ‘im classy because I might be able to sail” while also being easier to pronounce than some of the others
— Peter Boumgarden · May 30, 07:27 PM · #
Leonora, but spell it “Lenore.”
— Randall Hopkins · May 30, 08:47 PM · #
1) Marion
2) Penelope
3) Rowena
— Derannimer · May 30, 09:05 PM · #
Leonora or Roseline
— Clarke Ries · May 31, 12:37 AM · #
Florence, Imogen, Leonora, Marion, or Rosaline. Gwendolyn is not bad but is far more common than the general drift of this list. most of the rest sound either gimmicky, unlovely, or both.
— donald · May 31, 04:28 AM · #
I really like Adelaide as well.
— Sam · May 31, 11:22 PM · #
I vote for Penelope, but I have no idea what a “Lostie” is.
— Kate Marie · May 31, 11:36 PM · #
Winifred = “Oh, I’m sorry, I wasn’t aware you were giving birth to a 60 year old”.
Diotima = Is this even a name?
Gerda = “Oh, I’m sorry, I wasn’t aware you were giving birth to a female STASI officer”
Of those listed, I’d go for one of:
Gwendolyn
Penelope
Rosemary
Imogen
— Anthony · May 31, 11:40 PM · #
Adelaide is good, had a distinguished great aunt (archivist) of that name, who made fine hot chocolate. But I’d go with Leonora; she’d have her own overture (of which I have been fond since before we discovered fire).
— felix culpa · Jun 1, 01:04 AM · #
This list is disturbingly similar to the one my wife and I drew up when we were trying to name our daughter. (We ultimately settled on Prudence.) Of the listed names, I’d go with Winifred or Adelaide. Mrs. Dwyer likes Florence.
To violate the rules of the exercise, I’d also suggest similar, non-listed names like Agnes, Astrid and Hildegarde. And of course there’s always Eglantine, a name ripe for a comeback if ever there was one. Oh, how she’ll shine.
— Angus Dwyer · Jun 1, 11:29 AM · #