The Secret Behind Your Favorite Names
What’s the common denominator among the names you like? How can you qualify your name favorites in a way that leads you to other names you might like?
Usually, in my experience, it’s not really popularity or origin or age or style of name. You might like antique names AND sleeker contemporary names, word names AND royal names. Rarely does anyone like only one style – that’s why your Baby Name DNA is a mix of styles.
But there may be a secret factor that draws you to some names and not others. A factor that’s hard to identify but is present in all names.
It has to do with sound, basic consonants and vowels. Consonants and vowels can each be hard and soft. K and D are hard consonants, S and H are soft. Long vowels – say, see, sigh, so, sue – are also called hard vowels, while short vowels as in bat, bet, bit, bot, and but are considered soft.
Depending on their dominant consonant and vowel sounds, names can fall into one of four groups. Notice a fruit (Nameberry, get it?) theme in the naming of these groups. Also, the sound of the name of the group is also the sound of the names IN the group. So:
Coconuts – Hard consonants, hard vowels – Kate, David, Grey, Beau, Zoe, Kai
Peaches – Soft consonants, hard vowels – Theo, Sophie, James, Elijah, Joseph, Felix
Bananas – Soft consonants, soft vowels – Sasha, Josh, Charlotte, Sebastian, Helena, Frances
Raspberries – Hard consonants, soft vowels – Vivian, Maverick, Cameron, Bennett, Claire, Dylan.
I like names in all the groups, but my favorites tend to be Peaches. What does this mean? Knowing which names sound most attractive to you might give you a new way to analyze your taste, judge names, and find new names that you might like.
To further define the idea and help you identify which group appeals most to you, here’s a starter set for each type.
Coconuts
Hard consonants, hard vowels
- Abel
- Ava
- Blake
- Bodhi
- Cadence
- Davis
- Deacon
- Diego
- Drake
- Eliza
- Goldie
- Grace
- Ivy
- Keziah
- Koa
- Nico
- Oakley
- Romy
- Ruby
- Violet
- Zadie
- Zion
Peaches
Soft consonants, hard vowels
- Chase
- Cyrus
- Ethan
- Fay
- Fiona
- Hope
- Ione
- Jane
- Jonah
- Jude
- Julius
- Layla
- Luna
- Ocean
- Ophelia
- Sage
- Saint
- Shay
- Shiloh
- Silas
- Thea
- Wiley
Bananas
Soft consonants, soft vowels
- Alice
- Asher
- Celeste
- Cecilia
- Chance
- Felicity
- Finn
- Gabriella
- Georgia
- Harris
- Jasper
- Jill
- Jonathan
- Justus
- Laurel
- Philippa
- Sarah
- Spencer
- Stellan
- Sutton
- Tessa
- Thor
- Timothy
- West
Raspberries
Hard consonants, soft vowels
- Alexandra
- Atticus
- Breccan
- Brooks
- Brynn
- Camilla
- Campbell
- Colin
- Cora
- Cormac
- Declan
- Donovan
- Dove
- Edward
- Ezra
- Evelyn
- Isabella
- Kendall
- Mackenzie
- Magnus
- Max
- Quinn
Sure, plenty of names defy classification in this way, and lots have both hard and soft consonants as well as both hard and soft vowels. Beatrice is one example. But see if you have any new insight into which names appeal to you, and why.