Morning everyone,

My wife and I are expecting our first child in May 2010 and we've started discussions regarding name options for either sex. We've bought a couple of books and so far it's been a blast reading up on the history of various names, what's trendy and what's not, and which celebrities are naming their kids (for those that care about that kind of thing).

Given the fact that my name is Mike Davis, which I believe is the second most popular first/last name combination in North America, I'm looking for a first name that is different but is not unheard of or needs to be spelled. For instance, Moon Unit probably wouldn't work.

Anyways, it's an interesting topic and I've found thus far that everyone seems to have an opinion or two so I thought I'd ask the forum for some recommendations for both sexes.

Thanks and Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Canucks!

My sister bought such a book to and when I opened it the first name that came up was Adolf, so I stopped reading. She said Aldolf is just a name, but I said The title says Recommended names, so I expect something better than Adolf, Saddam, Osama and Napoleon in that book or the book is shit.

Boy = Paul

Girl = Claire or Nicole

If we'd had a boy we were thinking of "Kent".  Also Nolan, which turns out is pretty common nowadays.

For girl names, I tend to like names starting with 'A' for some reason: Annabeth, Anastasia, Amberle, Ariana, etc.

I like Nolan for a boys name.

Like Meredith for a girls name

Patricia Lynn

Charles Alexander

That sort of thing.

Also, when your next child comes along, try to avoid names that start with the same sound as their older sibling's: my older brothers were named Bayfield and Dana, and I was 5 before I figured out that my "real" name wasn't "Bay-Day-Wayde".   : )

Oh, and congratulations on the happy news.