My guilty pleasure names: Jagger, Jubilee, Jennings, Jaclyn, and more!

Anyone reading this blog that is on Nameberry most likely has a guilty pleasure name (GP). For those of you that don't know, guilty pleasure names are names that you love, but you don't have the guts to use/can't use. For me, a lot of my guilty pleasure names are names that I don't feel like would either fit my child, or the adult it would grow up to be. I think you'll see what I mean by that when I start the list. Some of these names go back and forth; Sometimes I think I'd use them, sometimes I think I should be a bit more conservative. Sooooo, I'm gonna get started! Ladies first, as always:

 

 

Girls:

 

Jubilee-- This is the happiest, sweetest biblical name there is. It makes me happy just to see the name. It's just so... joyful! But I can't help but think of what big "happy" shoes my daughter would have to fill to fit this name... What would happen if her personality is generally serious? It would almost be comical. I guess it's the same deal with the names Joy, and Felicity... but still. This name is a bit more "out there" than those names.

 

Francesca-- Okay, I KNOW this would not fit my kid. I picture a beautiful dark haired, olive skinned little girl when I think of this name. And my child has no chance of looking like that, so I'll just admire this one from afar, always!

 

Dolly-- Yes... As in Parton. I love that woman! I wouldn't use the name as a namesake for her necessarily though... I just think it's cute, and I have ever since I saw Jerry O'Connell's twin girls, Charlie and Dolly. Seeing a child wear a name always, always makes me love it more.

 

Aislinn-- This was my favorite for a long time. I thought it was going to stick around too... but then I was corrected by the expertise of Nameberries, and come to find out, this very Irish name is pronounced like "Ash-lin" in Ireland, rather than "Az-lyn" and ever since then I'd feel really funny about using it, and pronouncing it the way I want, when I know it's not the way it was initially intended to be pronounced.

 

Rory-- I love this name on paper, and in theory. It sounds so spunky. But it's so hard for me to say with both of those strong R sounds so close together. I'd love to like this name.. but I dislike the way it sounds when I say it, so it's out.

 

Calliope/Kalliope-- Just recently found out how to pronounce this, and that was the same time that I both fell in love with it and knew that I would never use it. For the longest time, I said it like "Cuh-lee-oh-pee" rather than it's correct pronunciation Cuh-lye-oh-pee. If I have trouble mispronouncing a name correctly the first time.. I shy away from that name.

 

Jaclyn-- I'm torn on this one. I know the correct spelling is Jacqueline. But I want to say it like it's spelled here, and when I look at the correct spelling I want to say "Jack-leen." So I like the name visually better the correct way, but I couldn't bring myself to use the correct way. I hope that makes sense. :P

 

Winnie-- This one is very cutesy, which I LOVE. A toddler named Winnie is bound to be adorable. But it's almost too cutesy, and I'm not sure if it would age well. This one is one that I think I could potentially want to use.. just not at this point in my naming career.

 

Athena-- It's so strongly tied to Greek mythology, that I'm not sure I could use it personally, because I'm not really IN to that stuff. But I think this name is so beautiful, especially to say out loud.

 

 

Boys:

 

Ira-- Probably one of my very favorite names. I think it's so strong and handsome and vintage-y. :) But it's one of those that I'm not sure could fit my kid. (But if I met a little Ira, I'd die of happiness.)

 

Malik-- I love the way this sounds, but I hate the way it looks written out. Simple as that.

 

Jagger-- This is so cool. But almost feels.... Too dangerous? :P

 

Luke-- This name is very popular and used a lot, and some might say it even feels dated. But to me, Luke is such a strong, classic name for a boy. I'd be open to using it in the middle, but it's not quite... "spicy" enough for me to use as a first name.

 

Emory-- I put this down as a GP because I go back and forth on which gender I like it for. I'd use it for both, but as of now, I'm leaning towards boy.

 

Gideon-- This is another strong biblical boy name that I like. But when I say it outloud I just hear "giddy" and it makes the name feel silly, rather than how masculine it looks written out.

 

Orion-- This name is so strong, and a cute alternative to the popular Ryan. But it's in the same boat as Athena, basically, for me. I'd love to know a little Orion or Athena.

 

Jennings-- Okay so this one has been a GP name since the beginning of this blog when I found it on a grave stone! Ever since then, I really like the name. But it's so tied to being a surname, that I feel like the only way you could get away with using this name is having Jennings as a family name/maiden name of some sort. This one could eventually be a real possibility but for now, it's in the GP category.

 

Macsen-- I've seen some people on Nameberry say that this spelling feels like a misspelling of Maxon/Maxen. NOOOOOOOO! It's legit, I promise! I have done the research, and this is not a knock off of anything other name. But because so many people think it is, I have to let it go.

 

 

And those are my guilty pleasures! I'd love to hear yours. :) Thanks guys!