The Art of Naming

What are your favorite "country western" or "mid-western" names for boys?  Which names might suit a little cowboy?  This is obviously going to be highly subjective, but it's fun to explore possibilities in this category. What do you think of this list?: Alden Ames Amos Anders Angus Ashley Aston Atkins Atticus Augustus Austin Avery Bailey Barnes Barrett Barrick Bayard Beau Bedford Benjamin Billy Blaine Blaze Bo Boone Brick Brooks Buddy Buford Calvin Cash Chance Clayton Colby Colt Dallas Daryl Davis Dawson Deacon Duke Earl Elliott Emmett Everett Fenton Finch Galen Garland Garth Goddard Grady Graham Granger Granville Greer Gunnar Hampton Hank Harley Harper Harrison Hayes Hollis Hoover Houston Huck Hunter Ignatius Ingram Jackson Jameson Jareth Jeb Jebediah Jed Jedidiah Jefferson Jenner Jennings Jeremiah Jody Johnson Jones Josiah Judson Junius Kade Kasey Keaton Kipling Knox...

What are your favorite "country western" or "mid-western" names for girls? Sweet, sassy, and southern mixed with hospitable charm. Which names might define that? This is obviously going to be highly subjective, but it's fun to explore possibilities in this category. What do you think of this list?: Abigail Adabelle Agnes Alice Aliza Althea Alma Amabel Amelia Amy Anna Annabelle Annie April Ashley Augusta Autumn Avril Bailey Bea Bess Bethany Betsy Blanche Blossom Blythe Bonnie Braelyn Callie Caroline Cassidy Celia Charlotte Clementine Constance Coralee Daisy Delilah Della Dixie Edie Eliza Eloise Emmylou Faith Florence Frances Frankie Georgia Glenda Glory Hadley Haley Hannah Harper Harriet Hazel Heather Heidi Henrietta Hillary Holly Ida Imogene Iris Ivy Jacqueline Jana Jeanne Jill Jocelyn Josephine Julia Justine Kassidy Katherine Kay Larissa Layla Leigh Leora Lilibeth Lucille Luella Lyla Macy Madeline Magnolia Maribel Mary Maxine May Mayella Molly Narvie Nel...

Finally, after three and a half years, the long-running Statehood Initial Challenge series has finished! In this series, I took the two-letter abbreviations of each state in the USA, and challenged you to use those two letters to name a boy and a girl. I played right along with you. After we covered 25 states, I listed all the sets of twins that I named throughout those two years of posts and found that I had repeated several of the names multiple times. I tried to avoid repeats for the 2nd half of the challenge, so let's see how I did. I posted these states in the order in which they gained official statehood, which means Delaware was first, Pennsylvania came next, then New Jersey and so on until we finally reached the 50th state of Hawaii.  Here's the first 25, which I previously posted here : 1. DE -   Dante Evander & Dahlia Emmeline 2. PA -   Pierce Averill & Posey Augusta 3. NJ -   Nash Julian & Nova Jessamine 4. GA -  Gregor Aug...

We've been exploring different name endings based on specific letters lately. We saw -ina names for girls, and -ian names for boys. Last week we looked at boy names ending with -us. Today we will try our best to narrow it down for the letters "-ra".  Like the other series, I limited myself to only choosing one name per letter. Here are my 26 picks from A-Z. What would you pick? I also listed the ranks of those within the Top 1000, so as you can see, most of these names are rare picks! Audra Barbara  (#908) Cora   (#83) Deidra Electra Flora Ginevra Honora Indira Jara Keira   (#331) Lysandra Mara   (#670) Nora    (#28) Ophira Pandora Quorra Riviera Sierra    (#452) Theodora Uhura Vespera Wara Xantara Yadira Zamora Would you use any of these names?

The majority of names that end with -us may bring to mind Ancient Latin rulers. While many of these will remain rare, there are others gaining popularity. I put the ranking of those within the Top 1000 in parenthesis.  Which do you like? I used Maximus for my son, and would consider Augustus, Cyrus, Erasmus, Julius, Thaddeus and Xanthus! What about you? Augustus  (#423) Belarius Cyrus  (#427) Darius  (#500) Erasmus Fergus Gaius Honorius Ignatius Julius  (#336) Klaus Linus Maximus  (#200) Nicodemus Octavius Pius Rufus Severus Thaddeus (#666) Urbanus Vitus Wenceslaus Xanthus Yunus Zacchaeus Do you have any other favorite names that would also belong on this list? 

We are nearing the end of this series. We have already explored a number of names ending with -y. Now we move on to the -ty names.  There's a number of virtue names that end with -ty on this list. Do you like any of these? Girls: Amity Arrietty Betty Charity Chastity Christy Clarity Cristy Divinity Dotty Dusty Enity Esty Eternity Felicity Hatty Hetty Honesty Jonty Kaity Kassity Katy Kirsty Kitty Kristy Letty Liberty Marty Maty Minty Misty Modesty Patty Royalty Serendipity Serenity Tranquility Trinity Unity Vanity Verity Boys: Barty Coty Dusty Getty Infinity Jonty Marty Monty Moriaty Rafferty Reality Rusty Scotty Trinity Ty Vincenty Walenty Wincenty Pick a name or two and give them a middle name! Share in the comments!

We previously looked at boy names ending with the letters "-ian" .  I swapped those letters around and found girl names ending with the letters "-ina". Do you have any favorites on this list? What about other names that aren't on this list but still end with "-ina"? Angelina Bettina Celina Delphina Emmelina Florentina Georgina Helaina Irina Josephina Kristina Leontina Martina Nicolina Olivina Paulina Quelina Regina Seraphina Trina Ursina Valentina Wilhelmina Xina Yekaterina Zarina Sometimes I make lists like this for fun, so naturally I decided to share. Have you ever challenged yourself to choose names fitting specific criteria? I often do this to sharpen my naming skills and discover new names.  Play along with me! Share your favorites in the comments!