Speech therapist Lainie and her husband Jack, a lawyer, live in South Bend, Indiana with their son Griffin Leo, who they welcomed on May 29th, 2021.
Lainie told us, “I’ve been scrolling through Nameberry since I was a child, so naming our own baby was like my Super Bowl.” We knew we had to talk to her and hear about the process of naming Griffin.
I work with young kids — all under three, so as names get popular, I am on the forefront of the trends. I totally understand why popular names are popular — they’re nice names! — but I wanted to avoid something too popular. One thing that was important for me was that we chose a name where he wouldn’t have to be Griffin D. in his class.
We liked the idea of a name where you might know one other person with the name. With Griffin, that was true for me. I knew one person named Griffin growing up, my friend’s older brother. My husband liked that it was also a surname.
We had a couple of other names that we liked as well. I’d say our next runner-up would have been Ari. It’s really a cool name, but it also has this Old Testament-y kind of vibe. But I’m glad we didn’t end up deciding on that because three days before Griffin was born, Jack’s cousin had a baby girl named Ariella and they’re calling her Ari. Crisis averted!
And then, after a totally easy, uncomplicated pregnancy, I went into labor with him at 34 weeks. In true speech therapy fashion, my water broke at a home visit! Jack and I were sitting in triage and the OB said, “no, you didn’t pee your pants — that was amniotic fluid! Your water broke, so you’re here until you leave with a baby.” And then it was the whole conversation of with him being 34 weeks, the last thing to develop is the lungs. They were going to give me as many steroid shots as they could get in before the birth to really help those lungs. We just kept hoping he’d come out breathing. And that just solidified Leo. He needed a lion name! We wanted him to come out and roar.
I went into labor with him that night and he was born early the next morning. And he did come out roaring.
I have an honor name, which I love — I’m named after my grandma. Jack has an honor middle name, after his dad. And we thought, “You know what? Both of our dads are Michael, there are so many Josephs in the family — let’s introduce a new name so that if Griffin has kids of his own, there’s a new honor name in the mix.”
We bounced ideas off of people, one reason being with our last name, his full name might sound too much like Gryffindor. We bounced the idea off of some Harry Potter fans, and none of them came to that conclusion. Which is good, because he might just end up being a Hufflepuff!
For boys, I grew up liking the name Nolan. I knew someone named Nolan who was just the sweetest person. Having the positive association helps, but I always thought it was such a nice name. Also, one of my favorite books is A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, and the main character is Francie Nolan.
I always like the idea — although I probably wouldn’t do this now, it’s too confusing — of having a little girl named Elaine. My grandma is Elaine McVicker, and that’s my first and middle name. I could have seen having a daughter named that. My parents obviously loved the name as well. When my grandma is being silly, my grandpa will call her Lainie, so my parents vowed they wouldn’t call me Lainie — they associate it with being goofy. But with ababy you look for something that ends in that E sound, so I was Lainie from day one.
One thing that I don’t like about Lainie — and maybe it’s just because it’s not a popular name — is that there’s no prevailing spelling. I feel like I spell it in a particularly complicated way, even though it’s based on Elaine, which is why it has the first I. Lainie Kazan, the actress from My Big Fat Greek Wedding, spells it my way!
We really wanted something with a dominant spelling. I know you could spell Griffin with an -en or -on, but you would be wrong!
My husband liked that too. He is Jack, but actually John — don’t even get him started on that! His parents said Jack was their favorite name, but they felt John was the appropriate way to name a Jack. Most people don’t know that anymore! But one thing he does love about his name is that you never have to tell anyone how to spell Jack. I’ve never witnessed him have to spell out his name for a Starbucks barista. How nice! The hope is that nine times out of ten, the Starbucks barista will spell Griffin’s name right.
My husband and I were really good friends for three years in college before we started dating, so this is silly, but we had a girl name we both loved during that time. That name was Josephine, nickname Josie. But that also started to get popular, although we still like it. It could be in our future! It has that nice F sound that we like. My paternal grandmother was named Mary Josephine, so it has an honor component as well.
One of the things we talked about with Josephine was that we do like the idea of a maiden middle name. My middle name is McVicker, which is my mom’s maiden name. My maiden name, though, isn’t super usable, so we’re thinking of using McVicker as a middle name for a daughter.
We also tossed around Eileen, because it’s the Scottish form of Elaine.
Another girl name that we like, and could use, is Fiona. But could they stop making the darn Shrek movies? My husband is from Cincinnati and we plan to eventually move there. But of course, Cincinnati’s biggest celebrity — and she’s so cute, but come on — it’s Fiona the Hippo! We do still really like Fiona, but there’s the ogre reference and now, the hippo. The name is so cute it might overcome it.
A trend that I’ve also been seeing in this particular area is more gender-neutral names. My niece is Cameron. They ended up naming their second Sophia, but their runner-up was Avery. There are a lot of Carters in this area, and every time I have one as a client, I make a bet with myself about whether they’re going to be a girl or a boy. I always guess boy, and I’m getting increasingly more wrong! Lots of Rileys as well. That’s another one where I guess — I tend to guess girl, but I’ve started to be wrong sometimes too.
Even my coworkers say that the name trends shift every year. We joke and say, “oh you started this job after the -aydens — the Jayden, Kayden, Braydens.” Now those kids are middle schoolers! It’s really funny how that tracks.
Thank you so much, Lainie!
Photos via Lainie and Jessi Ann Photography + Film
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Sophie Kihm has been writing for Nameberry since 2015. She has contributed stories on the top 2020s names, Gen Z names, and cottagecore baby names. Sophie is Nameberry’s resident Name Guru to the Stars, where she suggests names for celebrity babies. She also manages the Nameberry Instagram and Pinterest.
Sophie Kihm's articles on names have run on People, Today, The Huffington Post, and more. She has been quoted as a name expert by The Washington Post, People, The Huffington Post, and more. You can follow her personally on Instagram or Pinterest, or contact her at [email protected]. Sophie lives in Chicago.
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