Even though we aren’t sure we’ll have another child, I still have way too much fun dreaming of naming our next kiddo When I was young, I could spend hours in a bookstore – and one of those hours would be spent naming kids using the Big Book of Baby Names. I’m pretty sure I wrote stories as a child just so I could use all the names I loved most; I even had a set of stories about a babysitting-problem solving set of twins named Abigail and Audrey, which are still two of my favorite names for girls. (Also, I may have had a love of Babysitters Club and Nancy Drew when I was younger, ha!)
It’s probably clear, then, given my son’s name (William Edward) and the female names I gave my fictional friends, that I have a love of classic, solid, English/Germanic names. In that spirit, here’s a round up of some my favorite contenders for future children, or, you know, future characters in my great American novel.
Classic Female Names That Never Go Out of Style
- Margaret
- Anne/Anna
- Elizabeth
- Lillian
- Rose
- Clara
- Hazel
- Pearl
- Josephine
- Evelyn
- Elsa
- Marjorie
- Eleanor
- Grace
- Madeleine
- Charlotte
- Virginia
- Viola
- Vera
- Ella
- Vivian/Vivienne
- Violet
- Genevieve
- Marian
- Coraline
- Mabel
- Nora
- Rebecca
- Caroline
- Amelia
I love Coraline Ella, Vera Grace, and Rebecca Charlotte as pairings from the above list.
Classic Male Names That Never Go Out of Style
- James
- George
- Charles
- Thomas
- Henry
- John / Jonathan
- Benjamin
- Lawrence
- Andrew
- Peter
- Theodore
- Phillip
- Stephen
- Alexander
- Nicholas
- Franklin
- Wesley
- Nathan
- Matthew
- Patrick
- August
- William
- Joseph
- Kenneth
- Samuel
Some of my favorite combinations of the above include Franklin August, Alexander Lawrence, and Samuel Joseph. I might have a love of using -a in boys’ names…
What classics did I miss? What are your favorite combinations of the above?
cantaloupe / 6634 posts
Love these! I am definitely a classic name kind of gal. My son is William (nn Liam) Lawrence.
guest
You missed Catherine. But got my other three kids classic names.
I love the way someone grandmother age relaxes when I tell them my kids classic names. Particularly my Eleanor as that is invariably their mothers name, or their aunts it seems.
honeydew / 7230 posts
I love these lists! Definitely some of my favorite names. I’m partial to Alice, since it’s my daughter’s name. I don’t think of my son’s name as a classic (Blake), but we did consider a lot of those boy names!
guest
I love these names! I’m a Rebecca, and our Margaret is due this Saturday
guest
I love Rebecca but I’m unsure of the nicknames. Would you just use the full name?
pomelo / 5524 posts
You’ve got both of my boys’ names on your classics list, and that’s very much what we were going for!
blogger / apricot / 310 posts
@simplyfelicity: We are definitely twinners in that case! I love Lawrence and I love the nn Liam (couldn’t get my husband to agree
)
@Leigh: I TOTALLY missed Katherine/Catherine! Good call!
@twodoghouse: And I missed Alice! Great classic, beautiful name.
@Becky: awesome! I love Margaret
@B: I’d probably just go with Rebecca or Becca. I think, in the end, the kid ends up deciding his/her nick name, so she might love being a Becky!
@2PeasinaPod: oh awesome! There are so many good classic boys names out there. I might have 10 kids just to use the names
persimmon / 1095 posts
We are thinking about Adam for another boy.
cherry / 196 posts
I love this list! My little girl is Clara Elizabeth, and my boy is Jacob Alexander. If I have another boy, I hope to convince DH to name him Henry.
GOLD / cantaloupe / 6703 posts
Both my 3 year old and 3 week old have badness on this list. Dh and I have slightly unusual madness and wanted something classic but not top 10.
guest
Catherine/Katherine – definitely a classic!
guest
My daughters are Clara Kathleen and Evelyn Rose. Clearly I love traditional names.
blogger / pear / 1563 posts
Good list!! Our girl name is up there but not our boy name. I think it’s a great classic name, but it’s not very popular, which we liked.
pomegranate / 3350 posts
Love this list! Our two boys’ names are on the list and our top contender for boy #3 is on the list too, which makes me feel better that they all work together. Other boy’s names we’ve considered not on the list are Edward and Nathaniel which I also thought were kind of classic names.
kiwi / 739 posts
Love classic names. As a lover of all baby names I can understand how some people think they’re boring but they just seem right to me! I love classic paired with unexpected nicknames!
Frederick and Robert which are my top two seem to be missing!
kiwi / 556 posts
It’s funny. DD’s name is on the list and is a family name. My mother gave it to me as a middle name and says she didn’t give it to me as a name because it was so old fashioned and out of style back in the 80s!
GOLD / wonderful pea / 17697 posts
We have a Grace Eleanor and an Evan Charles