Baby names we loved and haven’t used

Mama to Atlas, Ocean & Velvet.

I’ve had an overwhelming response on Instagram to sharing our list of baby names that we have loved, but haven’t used. As soon as Ocean was born, we had such a strong feeling that our family wasn’t complete and that we would try for a third. Now, just having welcomed our baby girl Velvet into the world, I’m 99% sure that our family of five is now complete, but it’s such a hard decision to make…

I have always loved the idea of a large family that are all really close and supportive of each other, travel together, experience life together, carpe diem — especially in their adult years. Sammy and I will be the kind of parents that if our children want to move to London or New York or back to Byron Bay, we will be on the plane with them and ready for a new adventure. Not sure if that’s practical, but they are our best friends for life. I hope they can be each other’s best friends too — honestly my number one dream as a parent.

If you’re new here, my husband and I have two boys, Atlas Fox (almost five, a Valentine’s Day bébé) and Ocean Sundance (two and a half). Our beautiful baby girl Velvet Ever is nine weeks old.

I always love hearing the names parents choose, especially if it is their firstborn. Sammy and both loved the name Atlas for years before he was born in February 2020, and always knew our first baby would be our sweet Atlas. I remember the name came to me one day when we were wandering around East London, long before we started trying for a family. Before Atlas, my favourite name was always Sylvester, and Sammy loved it too. Atlas though, felt perfect and all our names that followed were of a similar style.

I love short names with one or two syllables, and am drawn to certain words that I find beautiful, even if they aren’t necessarily traditional names. Our previous wellness business was called BEAR. Holiday would also make a cute first or middle name.

Below is a small list of non-traditional names that could be paired together as first and middle names. If you love the names Atlas, Ocean and Velvet and are looking for something a little different for a first or middle name, these might be perfect. I hope you find one or more that you love!

Ps. being Australian, everyone loves a nickname but don’t stress too much about what the names sounds like shortened. My nickname growing up was Sassy, Sazzleberry or Sazzle. When I’m not calling the boys cutie, Atlas is always ‘Atlas bear’ or ‘rabbit’, and Ocean is ‘bunny’. Velvet is ‘Velzy’, ‘Velzy roo’ or ‘chickie’. I always love hearing the boys say Vel-zeee.

Ocean’s first nickname when we moved to Paris was also pamplemousse (which means grapefruit in French). We just loved the sound of the name and he was such a cute little pamplemousse in those early months.

Subscribe to see the full list of 26 names. If you would like help at all with a baby name, I would love to help, please send me a DM. I could think of baby names all day long!

All the below names I feel are unisex, but some might be more suited to a girl or boy. Some names work well as a family with Atlas, Ocean and Velvet but some are a completely different style/direction but also names I love and thought I would share. Some of these we have loved for years, and some are more recent additions.

I have also included a few name combinations with first and middle names together to help you on your name journey.

In alphabetical order