When David and I started our family we wanted to give our kids names that were uncommon, but not crazy. With the exception of Irelyn, all our kids first names were pulled from some of our favorite comics, television shows, and movies – most of those on the nerdy side. The middle names we decided would be “family” names.
So…as I am about to reveal the name we have picked for our fourth baby or “Baby F” as he is known around the web right now, I wanted to share where our names came from.
Irelyn Alicia: I think we were pretty successful with her first name being uncommon. We have not met another Irelyn yet. Of course, I thought I was the only Lacey in the world until I was about seven years old. Irelyn’s name came from a baby name book; it was listed as a variation of the name Ireland. Being that I am half Irish and David has a bit of Irish in his blood we went with it. When she was born with a full head of red hair it was like an added bonus. Her middle name is in honor of David’s grandmother, Alice. Also, my great-grandmother was an Alice as well.
Chloe Elisabeth: Had I realized Chloe was such a popular name I probably would have searched longer for another name. Yet, the name fits Chloe perfectly. The inspiration came from one of our favorite shows, “Smallville.” While I was pregnant with Chloe David suggested the name and I was like, “Yep. That’s it!” Her middle name, Elisabeth, is also my sister Chelsea’s middle name (though Chelsea’s is spelled with a Z). And it is also the middle name of one of my aunts and one of my cousins.
Grayson Harlow: Again, kind of blew it with the uncommon first name again – the little boy next store shares the same name. Any comic book nerds out there? How about Batman fans? Then you might recognize Grayson as being the last name of the first Robin from the Batman comic. Dick Grayson AKA Robin (and later) AKA Nightwing. Harlow is my husband’s middle name, and my husband’s first and middle names are for a friend of his father’s who died while they were in Vietnam.
Nothing too crazy for us, we may have grown up a short drive from Hollywood but we definitely don’t have the Hollywood mentality when naming our kids.
And now for Baby F…
Flynn James: If you follow me on Twitter (which you probably don’t since I had to start a new account) you may have seen me lament over how this name has been hit and miss with our family. We get a lot of long, awkward silences when we share it. It doesn’t matter though, we love it and so do his siblings. After finding out we were having another boy I was trying to think up a name that did not start with a D, L, I, C, or G (a little OCD of me, yes, but we all need our own first initial!). I looked through baby name books and web sites and the name Flynn popped into my head the morning after we had watched Tron & Tron: Legacy. Yep, this kid is names after a movie David and I grew up with. When we told the kids the name, they immediately thought of Flynn Rider from Tangled. His middle name is also my dad’s middle name as well as my grandfather’s first name and one of my uncles. Also, it means “ruddy or red haired” so it’d be awesome if he ended up with red hair like his sister.
I can’t wait to use my little dude’s name. December 25th cannot get here soon enough!
So…how did you come up with your kids’ names? I’d love to hear your story!
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Cool Stories! Wow, you are due close to the same time as I am. I am due on 12/27. We had our first child’s name way before she was even a thought. My husband has a background in Physics and one day while we were driving to work and listening to NPR a segment on the Aurora Borealis came up and afterwards we both almost said at the same time wouldn’t Aurora be an awesome name for a girl. We chose Daniela as her middle name since it is my name (that I don’t use) and to give a nod to my husband’s favorite uncle Dan. Baby #2 is a boy and we are going to name James (yes very creative). My hubby has a cool uncle named James and there are a bunch of cool Jimmy and James musicians we both like. We don’t do nicknames so baby #2 is going to be just James. We are still working on a middle name.
LOVE IT! I was trying to figure it out all weekend, but sadly I’ve never see tron.
Way to go.
I’m a new follower from the hop! I absolutely love your childrens names, my nephew is named Grayson!
We don’t have children yet but we do have names chosen. For a girl: Zoe Kay (Kay is my mothers middle name, she passed away last year) and Connor Jennings (Jennings is my uncles middle name and he passed away in 2009). I can’t wait to use them. 
Jen…I really like the names you have chosen. I hope you and your husband get the opportunity soon to become parents! It’s truly amazing and I am grateful for my little accident!
Hi ~ I am a new follower from the walkabout! I love that you posted about your children’s names and why they came about! Love the name Irelyn by the way!
I have a unique name and I wanted to give my daughter a name that people would be able to pronounce and spell but still not be too common (mine was butchered my whole life.)
Would love for you to check out my blog Raising Reagan!
Thanks!
Lanaya
http://www.raising-reagan.com
I really like the name Flynn!
I love all of the names you’ve chosen. They are so creative and have a gret ring to them. I also think its so smart to pick middle names that are family names and slightly more traditional.
I found you through the BBN and wanted to welcome you to the group. Hope you’re enjoying being a part of the network. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about the site.
Take care,
Katie
I love all 4 of the names of your kiddos!! I’m also a big fan of the uncommon but not too crazy! And my daughters name, Payton Jewel, also was chosen from tv (not necessarily a movie we liked though) We had already picked out her middle name, she’s named after my grandfather and we were having a hard time coming up with a first name that fit with Jewel that we really liked. I was watching tv one afternoon and a commercial for that football movie with the Rock where he ends up with a daughter came on and the little girls name in the movie was Payton and I immediately knew it was perfect! Now we call her PJ for short!
Stopping by from the BBN ~ Texas Group!! Following via BlogLovin!
I always wondered where Irelyn came from.. my mothers name is Erelyn.. and she is yet to stumble across anyone else with it. We are in the process of choosing a name for our baby boy, due new years eve.. his Dad is pushing for a Samoan name (he’s samoan)… I have something else in mind!
I love the name for your new baby! I too wanted to name my children something uncommon, but not too crazy. My first daughter is Hannah Elizabeth which isn’t too common, but it is pretty traditional. My husband wanted a more traditional name. My daughter due in November will be named Meeghan (pronounced with a long E sound) Fallon. I wanted a Cetlic name so we googled to find one we liked.
I forgot to mention I found your blog through the Walkabout!
LOVE FLYNN!! We got Maelynne’s name from a Friend. She was texting me a bunch of random names and she texted “May” then right after she texted “Lynn” and I read it as Maylynn and fell in love
her middle name is a name after my friends lil girl. She was born too early and she passed away at four days old. She was 5 months older than Maelynne. So came Maelynne Isabella
This one we haven’t told everyone the name yet but my hubs and I couldn’t agree on a name! Finally I said this one and it was th ONLY name he liked ha. Her middle name(s) are after both our moms Jo (his moms middle name) and Elisabet (after my moms middle name [dutch spelling])
I loved reading the meanings of the names you’ve picked for your kids – I think they’re all wonderful names! And I throw my full support behind Flynn. I love it. And of course, James is one of my top 2 boy names right now, so I think the whole name is awesome.