I don't think it will come as a huge surprise that we are going to continue with our irish/scottish name theme for this baby. But we are getting stuck in a rut of encountering the same 'ol names we discuss every time. So I'm looking for suggestions...maybe one of you can come up with a few new ones for us to consider.

Requirements for the name:
uncommon, but not strange. So 'no' to names like Patrick, Kevin, Sean, etc. (lol...didnt' exactly accomplish that with Liam, but as far as around here is concerned, we were at the beginning of the trend! :) )

We use family names for middle names, so the girl name has to go with (okay, shouldn't sound ridiculous with) Marianne. (Tough for a middle name, I know!) And for a boy, the middle name would be Brian.

Our last name ends in 'y', so most names that end that way don't sound great together with first and last.

Any ideas??

I really wish I could help you... unfortunately I know nothing about Irish or Scottish names. There was a few posts on http://nameberry.com/nametalk/ recently with a lot of ideas for Irish/Scottish/Welsh names. Good luck!

I really wish I could help you... unfortunately I know nothing about Irish or Scottish names. There was a few posts on http://nameberry.com/nametalk/ recently with a lot of ideas for Irish/Scottish/Welsh names. Good luck!

Thanks for the link....I think part of it is that when I do a search online, I always end up on the same handful of websites. So another website to browse through is not a bad thing! :D

Oh how fun to see your post I was wondering if you were going with the celtic name again? Here I am the resident Irish girl on here and both of my boys have Biblical names! :)

My ideas are Aiden, Kieron, Rory, Eion, Ewan
here is a fun website I found http://www.namenerds.com/scottish/

For girls I love Ciara, Niamh ( pronounced Neve) , Mairi pronounced Mar ree ( although wouldnt go so well with Marianne? ) Myra, Aine, ( Ann)
Bronagh, Grainee, Aiofe

Anyway hope this helps??

Thought of a couple more Niall, Darragh, Garron :)

Thanks for all the suggestions, Jayne! :D We do like the name Aiden (considered it before Liam was born!) however, my brother now has an Aidan, so no go. Ewan....that one is a huge debate over here. Dh loves it. Always has. But my other brother has an Owen....do you think they are too similar?

I like the name Niamh (Neve) but I just can't get over the traditional spelling being so similar to Liam. I just *know* that one would never be pronounced correctly. Maybe we would have to consider a more phonetic spelling.

How do you pronouce Eion and Aiofe?

Thanks for the additional website! I'll do some searching there too!

I think Eion is just the celtic spelling for Owen and Aiofe is pronounced like EVA but with an f in there Instead of a V if that makes sense?

I also thought about Clare as in County Clare?
I am having fun with this can you tell? :)

I think Niamh would be mispronounce and mispelt here but still if you like it you could go with the Neve spelling??!

oh another girl name that I like is Maeve or the celtic spellng is Mabh I think?

I think that if you like Ewan I wouldn't worry too much about it being similar to Owen? My sister had girls both times but loved the name Ewan :)

Well then I guess Eion is out! haha. :D I think you are right about Aiofe, now that you mention it. I don't think we'd use that spelling, but we do like that name.

I've always liked Clare, but we have a niece Clara. lol. Too many neices and nephews! ha!

Maeve...thanks for the reminder! We've talked of that one in the past but maybe we should consider it again. :D

Oh, and just thought I'd mention...one of the reasons that we are avoiding the more common Irish/Scottish names (particularly boys) is that we have almost all of them within our close family/friend circle. Neil, Ryan, Brian, Patrick, Sean...you get the idea. :) Kevin and Rory are names I don't have good associations with. lol

Isn't Hamish Irish? (for those who don't know, it is a long A sound, Irish for Jacob I believe.) If we are ever blessed with two boys, I like it as our last name starts with a B and Jacob does not work at all.

Isn't Hamish Irish? (for those who don't know, it is a long A sound, Irish for Jacob I believe.) If we are ever blessed with two boys, I like it as our last name starts with a B and Jacob does not work at all.

I'd have to double check. Although I know dh has brought it up at least once! :D For me though, it doesn't feel like a perfect fit for us.

You are so far ahead of me here lol. :) I am absolutely no help as I have no suggestions but I think some of the names listed her are cute, I hope you find the perfect one!

You are so far ahead of me here lol. :) I am absolutely no help as I have no suggestions but I think some of the names listed her are cute, I hope you find the perfect one!

Not really! lol. That's why I posted. We've had some conversations, but that's about it. I'm just looking for some fresh ideas. :D

Names are a huge thing for me too... with both our boys we had the names picked out by 6-8 weeks... this time it's taking a little longer but we definitely have ideas already! Some of my friends got to the hospital and still didn't really have a name - I could never figure that out!!!

Names are a huge thing for me too... with both our boys we had the names picked out by 6-8 weeks... this time it's taking a little longer but we definitely have ideas already! Some of my friends got to the hospital and still didn't really have a name - I could never figure that out!!!

We typically have taken at least 6-7 months to get *both* names sorted out (because we don't find out gender in advance) with the exception of Callum who was named 5 hours before he was born. :D My brother is one of those who takes a long time to name his kids...two of their three were named 24-48 hours after being born. Naming your kids is an important job, and you want them to have the right one, but I would find it really difficult to be struggling with a name *after* baby was born.

Dh was at a silent retreat all this week...just picked him up today and we *might* have a girl name chosen. Still no idea on a boy. Oh well! Good thing we still have lots of time! :D

Hubby says-

Boys: Jock, Dougal, Angus, Alastair, Duncan, Farquar:mrgreen:, Finlay, Gavin, Gordon, Lachlan, Nevin, Ross, Tavish, Wallace

Girls: Ailsa, Edana, Ena, Gillian, Iona (my personal favorite:-D), Isla (pronounced I-lah), Kenna, Lorna, Nessa, Rhona, Sheena, Shona

Thanks for the suggestions, Eva! :mrgreen:

Let's see....we almost named Callum 'Lachlan' so it kind of feels like a 'used' name. (Does that sound strange? We feel the same way about the opposite gender names chosen for each child. So that means that Isabella (Liam), Caedmon (Fiona) and Evelyn (Callum) are all 'used', so to speak. lol. Just call us weird. heehee)

Angus...it has come up in conversation, but we live in Alberta.....beef country....Angus beef to be precise! So because of that association, it's out! heehee

Is Dougal a form of Douglas?

Gillian...I have always loved that name. :D But our last name starts with "G" and we prefer to not alliterate. How do you pronounce Iona? (I'm sure I've read it somewhere but I can't recall. I keep wanting to think it's just like 'Fiona' but I don't think it is.) And like I mentioned, I *think* we may have a girl name. We won't tell what it is in advance, but I'm betting you'll like it! :mrgreen:

ETA: Farquar made me giggle. I know it's not exactly the same.....but it reminds me of the name of that bad guy in Shrek....you know...the one who sends Shrek to rescue Princess Fiona. heehee.

Oh I thought Eva may have some ideas :) I love the name Shona, if E had beena girl he would have been named shona, it is Scottish for Jayne and also my best freinds name!

Ohhh can't wait to here your choice, we love Caedmon too :)

Thought of another boy name Connor..........ok I will stop now :) :mrgreen:

Thanks for the suggestions, Eva! :mrgreen:

Let's see....we almost named Callum 'Lachlan' so it kind of feels like a 'used' name. (Does that sound strange? We feel the same way about the opposite gender names chosen for each child. So that means that Isabella (Liam), Caedmon (Fiona) and Evelyn (Callum) are all 'used', so to speak. lol. Just call us weird. heehee)

Angus...it has come up in conversation, but we live in Alberta.....beef country....Angus beef to be precise! So because of that association, it's out! heehee

Is Dougal a form of Douglas?

Gillian...I have always loved that name. :D But our last name starts with "G" and we prefer to not alliterate. How do you pronounce Iona? (I'm sure I've read it somewhere but I can't recall. I keep wanting to think it's just like 'Fiona' but I don't think it is.) And like I mentioned, I *think* we may have a girl name. We won't tell what it is in advance, but I'm betting you'll like it! :mrgreen:

ETA: Farquar made me giggle. I know it's not exactly the same.....but it reminds me of the name of that bad guy in Shrek....you know...the one who sends Shrek to rescue Princess Fiona. heehee.

Iona is pronounced like eye-o-nuh. There is an island off the cost of Scotland called Iona and it is such a beautiful Island. It only takes 4hours to walk around the entire thing, it's so tiny.

Farquar made me giggle too! Love it! (not enough to name my kid it, but still love it all the same...lol)

Gavin would go well with your other kids names but if your last name starts with a G then that's maybe a no go.

I'll have a think of some more Scottish names and see if I come up with any more for ya.