Conference oass::babynames

    Karen
    
    I am not to sure how common Scott is, however, My sister named her son
    Scott Michael (he's 5), and my SIL named her son Scott (he's 7).
    
    I do like the name, but won't personally won't use it, becasue both
    sides already have it..
    
    Anne Marie
    

    Karen, 
    
    Scott Healy sounds great!  What is your husband's name?  Maybe you'd
    like to use it for a son's middle name. Scott _______ Healy. 
    
    I like Melissa much better than Marissa.  Marissa is DEFINATELY more 
    common today than Melissa.  I know 5 people in the past 3 years - the 
    lastest is now one yr. old - named Marissa.  I personnally think it
    sounds like Melissa pronounced incorrectly.  Melissa on the other hand
    is a nice classic name, that was common when the song "Sweet Melissa", 
    was popular around 7 years ago, but isn't so now.  Everyone tried to 
    be different and use Marissa, Celissa and so forth.  I know one little 
    girl named Melissa and she is 6 years old.  She is ALWAYS called
    Melissa too, never MEL or Lissa...
    Melissa Kate Healy sounds super!  Melissa Karen Healy sounds real nice
    too!
    
    Melissa and Scott get my vote!
    

    Karen,
    One cannot really tell you how popular a name is, since this is
    basically an international forum. I know of several names that are
    very common in Canada and the British Isles that are very rare in 
    some regions of the U.S. and vice versa. What matters is if YOU
    hear the name often enough to consider it too common. However that
    too need not be a factor in choice of a name - I normally dislike 
    common names but have chosen a common name for a future child. 
    All depend on you.
    I like the name Scott and know a few people with that name. 
    (are you or your husband of scottish descent? this would add meaning
    to the name as well).
    
    Go with your heart.
    
    Monica

	re: all

	Thanks for your input.  In answer to a few of your questions:

	1.  My husbands name is Steven.  Scott Steven Healey?  I'm not
	    sure...

	2.  Steve doesn't like Marissa at all so I guess of the two,
	    Melissa gets my vote.  I just don't want my child called
	    Missy which is why I pushed for Melissa.  Mel is allright
	    but I'll call her Melissa and if Steve does not agree to
	    call her that as well (and he is threatening this) then
	    I won't name her Melissa.

	3.  I live in the U.S., Massachusetts to be exact.

	4.  Unfortunately, I don't know alot of young children so I
            don't know what names are popular or not.  My SIL owns a
            dance studio though so she has given me some input.  Told
            me that Alyssa is very common nowadays!

	5.  I don't want my child to have my name as their middle name.
            No particular reason for that though.  I would love to use
            Patricia as a middle name since both our mothers are named
            that but it doesn't go with Melissa.  Perhaps Scott Patrick
	    Healey?  

	6.  Not scottish descent... irish and english and some french
            on steves side.  I believe that Healey is Irish and Healy 
	    is English).  We use the Irish spelling.

	Karen

    Karen,
    
    I wouldn't call Scott "common", but it's not "uncommon" (read weird)
    either (I, too, have one nephew Scott and a cousin Scott, but so
    what? That's nothing compared to all the Matthew's, Daniel's, and
    Ryan's out there!).  I agree that it sounds good with Healey...
    
    For girls, have you considered Melinda? I've always thought it was a
    pretty name and sounded less "prissy" than Melissa (although I *do*
    like the name Melissa, I don't like the "Missy" nickname, etc.). Just
    a thought.
    
    Here are some suggestions of non-weird/non-feminine boys names that I
    like with Healey and some "pretty"/non-H/non-ee-ending girls names:
    
    	Scott Richard Healey	    Melissa Kate Healey
    	Jay Patrick (J.P.)          Melinda Kate
    	Adam James                  Alicia Nicole
    	Brent Steven                Lauren Dana
    	Mitchell Scott              Lydia Suzanne
    	Sam Patrick                 Mariel Patricia
    	Jason Andrew                Madeleine Renee
    	Alexander Paul              Erin Patricia
    	Kent Steven                 Marina Shannon
    				    Tricia Danielle
    
    I guess my favorites would be Erin or Melinda and Scott or Adam.
    Good luck with the decision...
    
    -Cori
                    

    I named my daughter Melissa, and she's 19 yrs. old now.  I had actually
    liked the nickname Missy, and we called her that until she started
    school, at which time she announced that she wanted to be called
    Melissa.  No nicknames!  Well, as I said she's 19 now and everybody
    calls her Melissa.  Some kids have tried to get the nickname Mel going,
    but she's been adament about being called Melissa, and so the nickname
    hasn't taken hold, and everyone says the full name.  So, it *is*
    possible to avoid nicknames with the name Melissa.
    
    When I named her, I had never known anybody named Melissa.  It was just
    a name from books, and The Allman Bros. song, but there were other kids
    all through her school years with the same name.  And, last year in her
    Freshman year at college, her roommate was named Marissa!!
    
    I guess it hasn't been as popular for babies in recent years.  At any
    rate, even though the name became more popular than I had hoped, I've
    never regretted naming my only child Melissa.  I still think it's a
    beautiful name.  Her full name is Melissa Renee, which both she and I
    like.  I especially didn't want to use Melissa Ann, which I had seen
    before in birth announcements, and seemed like it might become common.
    
    Lorna
    

    One name that I like, that I sort've made up, though I'm sure it's
    probably been used before is:
    
        Marinda
    
    I got the idea from a combination of Marissa, and my
    great-grandmother's name, Clarinda.
    
    
    Lorna
    

    Then there are the names of our four good friends' daughters:
    (2 couples whose daughters were born 1 month apart) 
    
    Marina and Melanie.
    
    Monica
    

	Well, its been 6 months since I've been in here and I thought
	I should make my announcment.  I had a baby girl on December
	3rd and named her Lauren Andrea Healey!!!  She is beautiful!

	We had settled on Melissa Caitlin as a girls name but 2 weeks
	before the baby was born, I decided I didn't like it.  My
	husband was groaning when I made my announcement.  I just felt
	that Melissa was too cutesy (sorry if I offend anybody) and
	wanted a more mature name.  I then picked Lauren.  

	We had a heck of a time with middle names for Lauren.  Nothing
	sounded right except A names.  We didn't even pick the middle
	name until after she was born because we thought she was a he!
	Then, when she was born, we picked Andrea (our other choice
	was Angela).

	I'm going to have to look under the Lauren topic (if there is one)
	to see what other people use as a middle name with it.

	Karen

Congratulations, Karen! And, welcome Lauren Andrea! Sounds like you are
very happy with your choice - it's a nice feeling to finally decide, isn't
it?

For what it's worth, my niece Lauren's middle name is Marie (after a
grandmother), and here are some other combinations I've heard:

	Lauren Danielle
	Lauren Michelle
	Lauren Elizabeth

Have fun with your little angel!
-Cori