1. HUNTER, just a good strong boy name.
LEE, his dads middle name.
2. DAKOTA, we're from North Dakota.
JOHN, his grandpas first name.
3. CHASE, fit with the first two.
DWIGHT, other grandpas first name.
4. TYE, it's just cute!
VINCENT, his dads first name.
My ex picked out all the names. He kept them all sounding like they come from the same family and the first names are all not just names. I was happy with them and it was important to him.

Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, She became a butterfly. -Proverb

Layton Isaiah- Layton was my grandmother's (on my dad's side) middle name. Two of my cousins also used it, one for their son's first name (he's about 9) and the other for thier daughter's middle name (she's 17). It was the only boy name that DH and I both loved and could really agree on, there are not many boy names that I like that much. And I like that so many of us chose to carry on a woman's name in the family, instead of a man's. Not that my grandfater wasn't worthy of that, but it's so traditionally the male's names that get carried on.
Isaiah just seemed to go really well with it and our last name, and it's actually a family name for his family, though much older and no one else has used it. It was DH's mom's great,great, great (I don't know how many greats!)-uncle. And he actually was the founder of Jacksonville (or one of the founders). There is a bridge named after him here, Isaiah D. Hart. My husband has done some research on it all, I don't remember all the details. The really cool thing is we didn't even find this out until after we had moved here, so that was pretty cool.

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i've been afraid to use the monkeygirl's real name bacause i didn't know if it was safe or a good idea or whatnot, but i'm guessing if it wasn't safe y'all wouldn't be telling us all your own kids' names. right? so here goes:
monkeygirl's name is noa madeline. i picked noa because it's just a simple, beautiful name. we thought we 'made it up,' but it turns out that it's in the bible! the story is that noa and her sisters fought for their right to own land, and ended up being the first women EVER in the bible to be landowners. i gave my daughter a feminist name without even meaning to! her middle name's madeline because that's my grandmother's name, and she's noa's oldest living relative. i thought it was a nice homage.
thanks for sharing your name stories, mamas, i loved reading them.

I've been naming my future children ever since I was a kid. Course, those names aren't still on the list (I remember Zoe being prominent), but even my husband and I have talked about names since before we were married. The Wee has not arrived yet and we don't know (and won't find out) the sex yet, it's all still theoretical. But I'll give you our top 3 boy and girl names and the rational.

Adelita - This is at the top of our list although there's a bit of a debate b/c my husband wants it to be Adela and we call her Adelita. But I want just Adelita. Adelita is from an old Mexican song about a woman who was a soldadera in the Mexican Revolution (they provided support, carried ammunition, and sometimes fought). There are a number of Chicana groups around now who call themselves Las Adelitas. This started out as a middle name.

Dorothea - I originally wanted there to be an apostraphe between the D and the o. Making it D'oro (of gold). But husband thinks this is too weird and I have comprimised to keep the silent "h" - so it sounds like Dorotea. I like how it is spelled with an h though. I've no idea how I came up with this one, it's been on the list for awhile. Greek origin.

Nathalia - Also with a silent h (I like those silent haitches!!!). When I lived in Portugal my landlady thought my name was Nathalia for quite a while. I was too embarrassed/shy/language-challenged to tell her otherwise. We thought this was so funny and like the name, so one the list it went!

Boys

Aldo - At the top of the list currently. My husband actually found this by using nymbler.com which comes up with names that you might like, given the names you already like. When he mentioned it, I was like, Hey! Like Aldo Leopold, the father of conservation biology/ecology in the US. My husband had no idea but I love Aldo Leopold but had never thought of it as a name.

Gael - I first heard this name from the actor Gael Garcia Bernal, who is downright DREAMY, as far as I am concerned! Gael is Celtic. For a long time my husband didn't like it-- thought the kid would get too much "Gay" from other kids but now he really likes it. Just took a little time.

Béla - This is pronounced Baay-la. After Béla Fleck (of Béla Fleck & the Flecktones) as well as Béla Bartok. Of Hungarian origin. My husband adores the Flecktones, I do too, well maybe not quite so much, but still, I think Béla Fleck is a super cool guy, very talented, very nerdy, very devoted to his art, all good things. So the association goes with his name.

Middle name will be after a revolutionary of some kind- César, after César Chavez, and Frida, after Frida Kahlo (that's why Adelita was originally a middle name option).

Yea yea, bo-ring but strong. My DH is a huge boxing fan and when I met him over 10 years ago, he told me he was going to name his first born John L. Sullivan after the world's last bare-knuckles, heavyweight prizefighter. Yeah, RIGHT! I thought, only into like the 3rd date. Fast forward a long time, to an ultrasound that showed a boy and a long discussion about Nathaniel, Daniel, Nicholas, Duncan, and no agreement in sight. Add to that a huge family on his side that has already named their bazillion kids everything under the sun and a hubby who wouldn't dream of an unusual name for his boy. We now have John Sullivan - we dropped the L, thank goodness and made Sullivan the middle name. I made the deal that if we ever make a baby girl, she's going to be Cerridwen. Besides, Johnny is downright retro these days-- I have yet to meet another in the 0-5 set.

I have to admit, I heard the name Maddox first after Angelina Jolie adopted her first child. I liked the name, and didn't know anyone with it. At the time I couldn't even find it in baby name books - once I realized that I knew I had to have it.
Mandt was my father's middle name. Together, I think, the name sounds extremely strong.
We're having a girl in October and the name game has gotten a lot tougher with in-laws this time around. Suddenly everyone has an opinion! My husband, son & I haven't found the name we LOVE for her yet.

We chose Rhythm because my man's name is william, his dad's name is william, My dad's name is william & we didn't want to go down that "expected" road. We liked owen, but our very close friends named their baby Rowan & we knew these babies would be growing up close and Rowan/Owen would be too click & clack. We used Owen for his middle name. I had a boy in my class named Rhythm & my husband really liked that name. If we had a girl, I got to choose the name, if we had a boy, I would entertain a few of his suggestions ( controlling... moi?). Turns out I liked his suggestion.

hmmm
dean michael - dean is nate's middle name, nate's dad's middle name, nate's grandmother's middle name, nate's great grandfather's middle name - big family name...
michael is my dad's name, my brother's middle name and also gives nods to important men in nate's and my pasts
vivian mecah - vivian is nate's other grandmother's first name
mecah (which is what we call her, pronounced me cah)
just sounded pretty and goes well with vivian. it is also a kind of nod to my dad michael as well.
i haven't thought of why we named our children for a while! thank you for the reminder to celebrate my children!

Flora Liese--Flora is the goddess of spring (celtic?) and Liese is my MIL's name.
Devon Mac--Devon means poet and Mac is the first bit of my last name.
Callum Mac--Callum means dove and the Mac is ditto as above.
The Mac middle name is also relevant because it means "son of" and the boys have DH's last name whereas Flora has my last name.
"I'm drowning and monkeys dressed as lifeguards are throwing me anvils"
Dilbert comic strip

We needed to make sure our kid's name fit into our historical reenactments. ha!
Poor DH really didn't have a lot of say in the end. We still hadn't picked a name when he was born, and it took five days to figure it out.

Isaac Nathaniel ~ Isaac for my great-grandfather who was Delaware Nanticoke indian. My great-grandma was white so he gave up his land and community and moved all the way to California to be able to "pass" (that was the 1920's). Nathaniel because, well, it was the best I could come up with to blend with Isaac.