I just run
cat /dev/urandom | strings | head -10Until I find something that slaps.
Are you checking out the competition Elon?
TIL you can generate random character strings like that
There’s room for improvement, as strings in this configuration will output arbitrary lengths, so it’s very likely to result in 10 lines with 1 char, or one line with a length of 100+
grep ‘[[:alpha:]]{3,16}’?
In general I look for receipts or random pieces of paper I find on the side of the curb on a rainy day. But that’s just me.
My third son, for example, is named Hmmmblehgjlighininah Stornagherighison
A proud Finnish heritage lives on 🫡
That’s so poetic.
My mom found my name in the ending credits of a random show.
My son is Subtotal Tree Fiddy.
Me and the wife each separately looked through lists of names on those sites, then we compared notes on ones we liked. This lead to our shortlist. Over the course of a few weeks we managed to narrow it down untill we had a name we both liked with the advantage of having said it out loud many times… so it was good.
Using the name before deciding on it is definitely a critical part of picking a good name.
I thought this was the way of doing it. It’s exactly what we’ve done too.
Get one of the books with baby name suggestions. Weed out all of the names of annoying uncles and aunts, childhood bullies etc. Let your partner do the same. Then get rid of all of the names that rhyme with something silly so they won’t be bullied in school for their name. Then argue about the few remaining names and pick one or a few. Sleep a few nights, then take a long, hot/steamy shower and commit to it.
(You can doodle around in the book, circle a few names and add a few or your favorite movie characters.)
Don’t have kids, but one important tip to keep in mind for the name is, does the name work on an international basis? So many names in my country does not work at all for when they travel abroad.
For example, a very common name here is Simen. Although an alright name, as soon as pronounced in English it does not sound great…
On a related note, unless there is a very good reason to choose a different one (e.g. naming the kid after someone else) try to pick the most common spelling variant if there are multiple.
“Sir, I don’t think he’s a ‘Susan’”
“That’s because you’re not a linguist, Tucker. It’s pronounced, ‘Shu-shan’.”
I actually met a male ‘Susan’ in Asia once! I never knew quite for sure how he pronounced it!
We have Dung…yeah…
For our kids, we wrote down a small set of rules :
- french origin (with my very french and common surname, living a in french-speaking country)
- kind of rare (I have a very common firstname)
- that would go well or be used in english as well
- that would survive the atrocities of the local heavy accent (teachers and so on…)
- not too long, easy to write
- aesthetically pleasing when written down
We had a couple important criteria for the names we chose. First, it should be pretty easy to yell in case you need to call them, and second is that it’s hard to turn into an insult.
We added the second after a friend named their boy Hurley. Poor guy.
Hurley murley?
Or girly hurley. Or just Hurl. Or maybe they’ll nickname him Chuck.
We were careful to choose first names that are easy to spell on first hearing and can be understood in multiple cultures. Their second names are a little bit more exotic in case they don’t like the simpler ones.
It’s a tradition in my family, that all children have the same 1st letter.
I come from a family like this and my husband’s family did the same. Coincidentally my husband and I also share the same first letter. Our family gatherings can get confusing so most of us have family nicknames.
This is my grandmother Ursula…
And my grandfather Umbridge. My uncles ‘Uncle 1’, ‘Uncle 2’ and ‘Uncle 3’, and my step-aunt, Ugly.
My mum here is ‘Unfortunate’ (gran and gramp were big Les Miserables fans but couldn’t stand French).
Here’s my brothers Ulysses and Ussher. And my sister Ungoliant. My youngest sister miscarried, you can find her grave over there, marked with her name: Unobtanium.
Oh, me? Pleased to meet you: I’m Umphrey.
For first names we separately compiled lists of names that we liked from whatever sources we could find (Internet lists, books, media l names used in media, etc). We went through each other’s lists and vetoed names that were a hard no. Then we wrote the names out on a sheet of paper in random order in a playoff bracket style arrangement. Each pair had a winner until there was only one.
For middle names, it had to be something that flowed well with the first name. It also had to be able to convey that special sense of “you done fucked up” and disappointment when said with the first name (while emphasizing the second), like “John PAUL”. Finally, candidates were from (mostly deceased) family members.
Names and initials were checked to minimize bullying potential; if we could think of a way to abuse it the name or combination was rejected. For example, Karen would be a no due to current slang usage. Or if the initials would spell ASS.
My wife and I have first names that start with consecutive letters of the alphabet, so I wanted a name that would continue that.
I’ll be honest, the name we chose (that starts with that letter) came from my high school crush. But my wife was aware from the beginning and I was so introverted back then, especially with girls, that it was never remotely serious. The only takeaway from that was that her name was kinda cute (but ages well too - plus her legal name has a lot of flexibility for nicknames)
Spent ages making lists and whittling it down.
Then yeeted the list 30mins after the birth and picked a name we never discussed, mentioned, no family history, or knew anyone with.
Had to keep suggesting them until we landed on a shortlist of names she hasn’t yelled out in frustration. She was a teacher.
“What about ‘Kevin’”?
“ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?”
War of attrition.
1st kid: a more or less random name that I liked.
2nd kid: My dads middle name
3rd kid: rand9m name my GF liked
4th: Ada, after Ada Lovelace
