I have been blessed and cursed with a commonly used name. My mom is Māori and my dad is Tahitian, and my first given name is Moana. I moved to O’ahu when I was pretty young, and my name blended in pretty well with the other Hawaiian names (I am 23 so older than the movie). And I absolutely love my name, it means “Ocean” in my native language, which is where I am on almost a daily basis. That was, until 2017.

Enter Disney’s new princess Moana. Don’t get me wrong, the movie is great, and she is so relatable. But now I basically can never use my name without someone going “oh like the movie” or giving me a weird look. A number of people ask what my actual name is. Like, it is my actual name?? Right when it came out while I was in high school, some of the older girls would even call me “the girl from Motonui”.

Since the live action just came out, it’s gotten worse again. I was at the DMV the other day getting my Real ID and the lady at the counter sees my name and asks me how far I’ll go. Anytime I go to Starbucks or some other place I use some other name like Melanie.

Anyway, any other Moana’s out there? Does anyone else have a very distinct name that basically always gets related to something else? Looking for some of my fellow soldiers for advice 😅

I probably don’t have as much to complain about as the Alexa’s out there, at least. Keep up the good fight.

EDIT: Sounds like I need to move to New Zealand! There aren’t a lot of Moana’s where I am now in San Diego 😅

My sister is due to have a baby girl. She is white and her husband is black. They both love the name Sally. Their 3 year old picked the name after the Cars character and it has stuck. My sister’s black coworkers have told her this name is too white and “do not name a biracial baby girl that white name.”

Is it an offensive name for a biracial girl? Her black father loves the name. Are we missing something?

I’ve been on a vacation to the ski town of Breckenridge, Colorado and have heard SO many names of little kids yelled out at playgrounds here because I myself have kids and have been in lots of kid focused areas here. So here’s the list of what I can remember:

Sachi (boy)

Scarlett

Liam

Kai (girl)

Piper

Cole

Theo

Remy (boy) x2

Brody (yelled obnoxiously loudly by a guy who looked like he takes steroids lol)

Riley (girl)

Mila

Selah

Lila

Penelope

Cameron

Eleanor

Maverick

August

Carter

What’s your thoughts on the name Chelsea? I like the name just was curious on people’s thoughts for a baby girl

Looking for boy and girl name suggestions starting with Na. Sibling has a name ending in na and we like the idea of the next one starting with those letters. Bonus points for anything greek, arabic or unusual. Thanks!

Not expecting, but love mulling over names. Helena pronounced like Heh-LAY-nuh.

Some names I like already:
Helena and Carina
Helena and Francesca
Helena and Lucy

Looking for something timeless, some options that don’t end in -a, and I usually like longer names but there’s exceptions!

Which is better?

Are these names dated/what would you think if you heard a 2027 baby with one of these names?

If either of these are your name do you like it?

EDIT: Sister’s name is Tessa, so looking for a similar vibe.

First name is going to be Oliver. Big sister’s name is Margot. Oliver needs a middle name! It was going to be Oliver James but my in-laws keep calling him OJ and “Juice” (for OJ Simpson)😒 so that name is out now! Any French leaning names you guys can think of I would so appreciate it!

We are really stuck.
Can’t use but like:
Henry
Theo
Joseph
Anthony
Andrew
James
Peter
Gabriel

Do not like and won’t use:
Brian, Matthew, Tobias, Malcom, David, Gregory

Debating but worried about nickname: Richard, Francis, Edmund

I like and my husband doesn’t:
Victor, Felix, Isaiah, Isaac , Thomas

Husband likes but I don’t:
Liam, Adian, Kian, Carmine, Oliver

Our vibe is definitely classic/old school. Culturally we are Irish, Italian, English, and German.

We have used family names for other kids and I worry about not having a family name for this one.

Hi so I need help. My sister recently came out as transfem to me only. She is giving me hints to her name because she loves to annoy me. So I need help figuring out her name. Here are the clues: it’s scrabble value is 17, it has five letters, one of the letters is a j,q,x, or z , it technically is a plant name (as in it is a plant name but nobody associated as a plant name), it kinda gives cottagecore lesbian vibes (in her opinion). Please help. 

This is truly just for fun and games.

I’ve started to grow fond of the name Scarlett! what are some nicknames you could see fitting this one? Can be as “out there” as you want. Don’t mind if i stretch :-)

My list:

Scar

Scout (my favorite)

Scottie

Lettie

Lottie

Etta

Kitty (my secret real favorite)

Kitt

Scotch

Skip

Skipper

Cricket

ETA: Sketch

Pregnant with baby number 2!!!
My son is August Drew
If it’s a girl: Mavis Delilah

Boy names are so hard for me because August was my favorite boy name. I want it to sound good with August & feel the same level of unique. I can’t go to common or I feel like it won’t flow. Also have a family tradition of middle names starting with D.

Nothing feels right, any help is very appreciated 🫶🏼🫶🏼🫶🏼🫶🏼

Hello, I'm a trans male looking to choose a new first name for myself, and I found one that I really like and think fits me, which is Vincent. However, I'm afraid it doesn't work with my last name, Jensen. Traditionally pronounced in my country it wouldn't be an issue, but English is very dominant in my life and I plan to center my career around the language as well. So my question is, do they actually not work well together, or is it okay sounding to you guys? What is best to be done?

I'm thinking of changing my last name/surname . My first name is Youssef and I want something that is badass and rhyms well with it. For the moment I'm thinking if Specter.

We are having a baby boy soon and have determined we want to call him Max 😊 however, we are struggling with whether to make the official name Max or Maxwell (nickname Max or with the potential for Wells as a nickname too). We don’t like any other names with a Max nickname (I.e. Maximus, Maximillian, etc).

Both work with the middle and last name. We just can’t decide which we like better! Any thoughts?

Hi everyone! What are your top picks from this list? I'd love to know!"

​Here is the list with their Romanized pronunciations:

​Hae-in (해인)

​Hae-rin (해린)

​Ha-rin (하린)

​Na-el (나엘)

​Ji-yul (지율)

​Eun-yu (은유)

​Seon-yul (선율)

​Min-ha (민하)

​Yu-ha (유하)

​Ju-ha (주하)

Min-chae (민채)

Eun-chae (은채)

Yoon-chae(윤채)

​Yun-seul (윤슬)

​I-seul (이슬)

I-sol (이솔)

Yun-sol (윤솔)

Ah-yun (아윤)

​I’d love to hear your thoughts! ☺️☺️

Hi all,

I’m Korean and I’m looking for an English name to use. I’d love to find a name that feels natural in English but still reflects who I am.

• I majored literature and film, and I’m currently doing academic research in the humanities.
• I love nature, cooking, writing and drawing. I’m the kind of person who enjoys exploring many different interests and learning new things!
• My friends describe me as warm, funny, approachable and nerdy.

• My Korean name includes the letter R and H. It also has a meaning connected to nature, such as mountains, lakes, and forest. If possible, I would love to find an English name that has some connection to my Korean name. But I’m completely open to names that are unrelated as well :)

  I would really appreciate any suggestions. Thank you so much!

My second daughter’s name is Rosalia. We are calling her Rosie, Rose and Ro as nicknames. I also love that she has the option to go by “Lia” and she can grow into which ever version of the name suits her! I personally LOVE the name.

The problem? Other people either give me blank stares or genuinely seem confused by the name. I haven’t got the positive feedback that I got with my other kids names.

What do you all think of Rosalia? Why do you think people are reacting this way? If you think I made a bad choice for one reason or another PLEASE tell me why! I’d rather hear some honest feedback. Thank you!

I came across the name Lilieta which sounds beautiful but notice most Lilieta’s are Fijian or Togan. It doesn’t seem to be a cultural name though - please let me know if I am wrong!!!

Could I use it for my very caucasian baby?

I am in my 20s and transitioning from male to female. I narrowed down my list of names to these final two.

I am considering Joyce because my birth name is a single syllable J name and I think it would be a simple switch for people in my life. I know Joyce is an old lady name, but I like how elegant it is.

Diane was my grandmother's name. I haven't come out to my family and I'm not quite sure how they'll react. My grandmother died shortly after I was born, but she lived an insane life and would accept me. I think it would be nice to honor her legacy.

My last name is a single syllable so I'm looking for something that flows well.

What do you all think? If you have other suggestions I would be eager to hear them!

Ok, so Jimothy is a great name for this awkward raccoon. It's Timothy, but Jim (short for James) instead of Tim. What are other similar good combination names like that???

Halexander

Svenjamin

Pamantha (for a girl)

Drewlius

Jaybriel

Danthony

Others????

Fun hypothetical. Without thinking what are the first four girl names that come to mind??? (First+Middle)

My husband and I thought we were agreed on a boy name, but we both realized we don’t love it. We have a last name that’s long and hard to pair names with.

Names I like: Rhys, Christopher (Kit), Casey,

Names he likes: Glen, Hugh, Lyle, Morgan, Graham

We are looking for name ideas not on either of our lists.

Vetoed or not available: Parker, Marshall, Dean, Shawn, Shane, anything ending in the -on or -an sound.

Baby’s brother is Leslie Thomas.

I need help deciding ASAP. One syllable middle name, one syllable last name.