Inspired naming

Inspired naming

This list includes potential baby names categorized by the inspiration behind them.

Girls' names

Inspired by fiction:
*Alaya - From Star Wars.
*Alia - From the Dune series. If we have a daughter named this, I hope she'll forgive me after she reads the book(s).
*Alice - Alice in Wonderland.
*Aura - Another minor Star Wars character.
*Chani - Paul's concubine in Dune.
*Chiana - Farscape. Sorry, I thought it was cute.
*Kara - From Battlestar Galactica. This is actually near the top of Dani's list, believe it or not.
*Kayla - Character on Days of Our Lives in the early '80s. Her appearance on the show actually catapulted this name from obscurity into the top 20 for several years.
*Kira - From The Dark Crystal. No, we aren't thinking about Jen for a boy.
*Labyrinth - We looked to a number of sci-fi/fantasy films, and the title alone was good here.
*Leia - From Star Wars. Duh.
*Lyra - From The Golden Compass.
*Marla - After Marla Singer from Fight Club.
*Newt - From Aliens. I was reluctant though because of a certain Republican.
*Rama - I had a huge crush in high school on a girl named Ramona, but I thought her name was gross. I shortened it ot this to make it more palatable. It was maybe a couple years after I had read Arthur C. Clark's Rendezvous With Rama.
*Rayna - From the Dune series.
*River - I was thinking of the character that served as the McGuffin on Firefly/Serenity, though Dani's first thought was of River Phoenix.
*Serena - Yet another from the Dune series.
*Sidney - Probably because Dani was a fan of Alias, although I didn't especially like the name.
*Willow - Dani came up with this one, maybe because of Buffy but maybe because a friend of ours named her daughter Elora after the baby girl in the movie Willow. (Another good one someone beat us to.)
*Zam - Another minor Star Wars character.

Inspired by science:
*Amygdala - Sounds like an extension of "Amy," but it's a brain region involved in fear. Yeah, probably a bad idea for a girl's name.
*Aurora - This is one of several astronomy terms under consideration. I went so far as to peruse the index of my college astronomy text for additional candidates. Aurora Dawn would be a good one.
*Beryl - It's the name of a mineral, but it's also a traditional Jewish name. I knew a girl in college named that. She was a geology major.
*Celeste - As in "Celestial."
*Echo - It's short and everyone already knows how to spell it.
*Flux Magnetic - Or a good name for a band.
*Jade - Another mineral name, though common already (so are Ruby and Opal, incidentally).
*Luna - I thought "Luna Ray" would be a great pairing for a meaningful middle name.
*Nebula - Sounds feminine already.
*Nova - Originally I was thinking of a comic book character (any FF fans here?) although this is what started me on the whole astronomy theme.
*Ovum - I tried shooting for biology-inspired names, but there aren't many good ones. A few made it to the boys' list.
*Solar Nebula - Luna Nova's sister maybe?
*Star - It's been done as a first name before, but I think it could be paired with a good middle name.
*Stella - Short for "stellar" (as in pertaining to a star). Another astronomy one. I was really set on Stella Nova for a while.
*Terra - Earthy! Funny combinatorial name: Terra Bell.

Other inspirations:
*Aria - We actually went though all the brand/model names of the guitars I own, and this is the only name I cared for. I love Gretsch guitars, so Dani liked the name Gretchen (or another spelling), but I think that's gross. Fender is too obvious, and Katherine (Happy birthday, BTW) and AleC are already Gibsons, so....
*Djanga - Female version of Django, as in Reinhardt.
*Eleven (or Five) - Everyone's going to think of Cylons or the Borg or that girl on "Blossom," but I just thought these sounded nice.
*Fresca - Dani's favorite soda.
*Kayak - A guy I was friends with in college came up with this years ago, and I thought it was hilarious.
*Lyric - Shanna came up with this one.
*Margerine - Come on. It just sounds cute.
*Olive Pimento - We started calling him/her this when that's how big the embryo was, and then it just sort of stuck even after (s)he'd outgrown it.
*Story - You've got to admit this sounds cool.
*Tope - I suggested this one as a joke, but we looked to colors for inspiration and came up with a few others.
*Tumble - I just thought this was cute.
*Valley - Dani said this sounded sexual. (WTF?)

Boys' names

Inspired by fiction:
*Anakin - From Star Wars.
*Caladan - A planet in the Dune series.
*Clive - After author Clive Barker.
*Duncan - From Dune.
*Ian Malcolm - From Jurassic Park. Also, I like non-fiction writer Malcolm Gladwell.
*Luke - From Star Wars. Duh. Katherine and AleC already beat us to it anyway.
*Newton - After Isaac Newton, only I don't like the name Isaac (Sorry, Isaac).
*Paul - Again inspired by Dune.
*Reece - From The Terminator.
*Tarkin - From Star Wars.
*Tyler - Fight Club.

Inspired by science:
*Axon - Part of a neuron (nerve cell).
*Atom - Actually there's already a famous film director named this.
*Blaise - After Blaise Pascal, the mathematician.
*Chitin - It's a molecule similar to cellulose. It makes up cell walls in fungi and the shells of arthropods (i.e., crustaceans, insects, arachnids).
*Echo - I was looking for names ending in "o" to counter a sister's name ending with "a."
*Pascal - See Blaise.
*Prime - Indivisible! I also thought about Megatron, but... nah.
*Rad Awesome - Unit of measurement for radiation, but also short for radical (as in chemistry), and then with that middle name? Epic win!
*Vector - No, not Victor.
*Xenon - The only name I liked from the periodic table.

Other inspirations:
*Case - I suggested this and then found that people were already using it.
*Cedar - Got wood?
*Circuit - I like electronics.
*Even - Sounded like a name.
*Ever - This too.
*Future - Dani sarcastically suggested Future Circuit.
*Grey - Another color. This one actually sounds masculine unlike most others.
*Leash - Dani hated this.
*Rook - Chess, anyone?
*Salad - But you'd be okay with Sal?

For fun:
*Gnorm - You know, like Norm, but different.
*Maximus Rex - This is almost as good as Rad Awesome.
*Saxophone - Dani's last name is Reed. Get it?

Twins' names

No, we definitely aren't having twins (this time around), but what if...? These are definitely the boy/girl fraternal pairing.

*Cobalt Blue and Cosmic Berry = The latter is the name of the color of the bathroom in the hall. The former is the color of my side in the wedding (e.g., my tie, the guitar, the groomsmaids' dresses, etc.)
*Xela and Inad = What do these spell backwards?

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