We are just under 2 months from the due date....having a baby boy.  We are leaning toward something a little different and quirky.  

Our last name is also a first name, so we are in a bit of a dilemma.  And it just occurred to me I should ask all my friends here who

read a lot too (DH does not read much fiction, he is a physicist).

Husband and I are both huge fans of Lord of the Rings, but we haven't found anything we agree on yet.  I like long names (daughter's

name is Elizabeth Ann mine is Jacqueline Ann).  Husband likes short and unique names (his is one syllable, Kurt).  So the meet point was 

a longer name that could be shortened to one syllable and thus passed off as something not to weird.  With both like Kasper, but because

of the name of the cartoon Casper, we have shot that one.  I'm going to suggest Caspian tonight but I don't think he will like it.

Any suggestions about where to look or even possible names?  I've started name searching in all of my favorite HF and Fantasy Fiction

novels but have not come up with anything yet.

Such fun, Jacqueline!  I just did an internet search for "baby names from fiction" and "baby names from science fiction" and got quite a few sites. Have you tried that?  One name that popped up was Tarquin, which I guess you could shorten to Quin - I can't remember what book this is from, though.     

Well. What a set of parameters you have set for us! I briefly perused a list of physicists on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_physicists, but didn't see anything that caught my attention - at least not on first glance. Maybe you will.

 Also, any intersting city names in your area? Guthrie, Clinton, Bixby, Davis, Durant, Byng, Edmond, Fletcher, Langston, Lawton, Noble, Quinton & Roland are all Oklahoma names ... and obviously, I quit before I got to the S's! Wikipedia will give you a list of your state's city names just for the asking!

 Another idea is old family names ... have you explored that avenue? My family tree has a Pegrum and a Shadrach ... feel free to borrow either name if it appeals to you! :) Of course, to balance those, I also have a John Rhodes, a James Newton, an Allen Casey & a Wythe Walker ... all pretty cool names, I think. Feel free to grab any of those that you like as well! :)

 Mostly though, Jacqueline, CONGRATULATIONS on the impending birth of your son! Such fun ... regardless of his name!

Good luck!

 Kelly

I love Tarquin --- the only one I know is Tarquin Hall (I think) and he is an author.  I love using old family names too.  Also a fun idea about city/town names.  I notice Kelli that you stuck to our more pronounceable town name in Oklahoma --- no Ouchita, Talequah, Eucha, etc.

Glad to hear you seem to be feeling fine Jacqueline.  Sometimes I think when one finally sees the new baby names come easier.  Will be keeping you in my prayers.

Well Tarquin is on the list!  And Caspian as well.  At first, DH didn't like Caspian, but he likes the short version of Cas.  I'll have to keep checking in other places, this is the closest we have come to agreeing on any names at all.

I will do another search on baby names from sci fi and see where I get to.  I had not even thought of town names.  We live in Boston, so everything up here is either really common or so strange it's hard to pronounce.  But I will look around in the rest of the state too.  We have very common names in my family: Anthony, Adam, Michael, John, Jack, Alexander.  3 generations on my side have a combination of those names for boys.  DH's side is the same: Thomas, Ian, Bernard (Bernard is the only one I would go for but DH said no!).  No creativity!  Girls on the other hand are all over the place: Tena, Olga, Elizabeth, Jeanne, etc.

I had a flare of RA when we got back from Japan and it knocked me down for a few weeks.  Thankfully it didn't slow the baby's growth down.  I had to start meds again much to my chagrin.  We were supposed to move yesterday to a new apartment (we've been living with friends for 2 months since our condo is leased) but 3 days before the move we were informed that the tenant had not moved out.  That put a lot of stress on me.  DD was early at 36 weeks so I want to be prepared just in case this one is early too although I don't think he will be unless my stress levels get out of control again.  I am 32 weeks now.  We had made all of the arrangements, changed addresses, evenfilled out medical paperwork for the birth with that address on it.  The owner's agent made arrangements to move the tenant out but then changed the plans yet again on Friday this week to a later move out date which would have been much too close in timing.

What a drama.  I had enough.  I lucked out and found an apartment that meets all of our needs, had a bonus of 6 weeks free rent, but has one draw back: it's on the 3rdfloor of a no elevator building.  But we still took it.  DH says he will carry everything upstairs with no complaining (he doesn't usually complain) until we buy a house thisyear if I can walk the stairs every day.  He knows how hard this is for me on flare days and will be tough carrying an infant.  So we started moving into this apartmentyesterday.  Such a relief to have a home again.  I can't wait to sleep in our bed after having abandonded it 10 months ago!  We move furniture on Friday, and I'm hopingit goes really smoothly.

What a mission you have in front of you and in your condition too, Jacqueline! Please, don't push it even though I'm sure you are anxious to have your own place. Get DH to get some of his buddies over. And when you do the grocery shopping - take him along! I'm not even going to recommend a name. My DH and I had trouble enough with ours. We both finally agreed on Constance for our daughter and she now hates it - goes only by Connie- on everything!

You can look at Social Security records to see what other people are naming their babies recently, if you want to avoid what's popular at the moment.  (When I had my first I thought I was choosing a slightly unique name - but when she started kindergarten there were 5 other girls in her class with that name!  Big research fail!)

Also consider what the initital will end up "spelling"  if your surname is Davis you don't want to name your child Steven Thomas!

I just reread your post and I see you said yuor DH is a physicist - tell him you want to name the baby Sheldon, Leonard or Rajesh and see if he gets it!

So we now also have Crispin to add to Caspian and Tarquin.  We are on a roll!

Clarinda, I think we are more concerned with the phoenetic sound of the name since our last name starts with a Ja.  Unbelievable how many names we have had to say nevermind to because it makes the name sound like one long Jjjjjssss because those two letters are combined many times.  And DH's not much on remembering names, but he got the Sheldon reference and said "nah!"

My sister liked long names and her husband didn't so they named my nephew Richard Gabriel, and call him RG.

We ended up with a lovely baby girl (Eloise), but these were the boy names on my short list....

Theo/Theodore)

Thaddeus/Thad

August/Gus

I loved picking out names for our baby.  Can't wait til we have our second and I get to do it again!

Great names, Kate ... Love Eloise! Do you call her El ever? The main character in Secrets of Mary Bowser is called Mary El by her parents ... nickname from her first & middle names: Mary Elizabeth.  What middle name did you put with Eloise?

Jacqueline, I was wondering about Cambridge (as in Cambridge, Mass) w/ Cam as the nickname ...

Kelly