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Grayling
I saw this on another board and I've never heard of it before.
What's your impression?
What gender you do feel it best fits?
Grayling or Greyling?
Middle name ideas?

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Perfect for the baby who has been given chloramphenicol (see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gray_baby_syndrome).But really, it sounds like something some yuppies would think sounds posh, but it's just not (joke's on them that it's a fish-- they didn't know!). I get the gray alien image others have mentioned as well. It's a vaguely nefarious Other being that lives in the woods and kids scare each other with tales of. Or the rich neighbors' sickly child with, like, porphyria. It's definitely a male.Greyling Devereux Augustus
Greyling Wentworth Sinclair
Greyling Montgomery Floyd
Greyling Rudyard Vaughn
Greyling Publius?I love all of Ew_Chloe's suggestions for the gray alien thing.
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Me too. Grayling Phrixus was my favourite.
Of yours, I have to go with Greyling Wentworth Sinclair because what a novel character. I bit too stuffy for my novel, but still- that's a character that needs a story.
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Don't care for it, sorry. It looks like a name for the young of an animal called a "grey"...or the young of a "grey" alien perhaps?
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It makes me think of a tiny gray alien. So it's kind of cool in a way, it's creepy and kinda gross, I get that fun spooky frisson you get when you're watching a horror movie. It's growing on me.I see it as a boy name.Grayling Damien
Grayling Dorian
Grayling Phrixus (though this is super ugly, it's still my fave. Maybe Phrixus Grayling would be better)
Grayling Grimalkin
Grayling Otto
Grayling Aleister
Grayling Mordecai
Grayling Roswell
Grayling Samhain
Grayling Vincent Priceit's lots of fun
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I agree with both you and basilisk - it's either a tiny gray alien or a hilarious Caucasian concoction.
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Personally I totally hate it! It's all the modern trendy sounds, dressed up in the very phonetically ugliest old-fashioned garb. If I heard it I would not be able to suppress an inner patronizing groan/laugh. But, that's just me. I guess I think... boy??? "Grayling"? That sounds like a mean name for an ugly, spiritless, unmemorable kid. Like Drabling. How about:Grayling Beats
Grayling Gumb
Grayling Drainwater
Grayling Dish
Grayling Porridge
Grayling Greebles
Grayling Grundle
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Might consider Grayling Porridge. I mean, it's for a character's celebrity baby name so I feel like any random words are fair game.
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I sounds like a name for a squirrel. (male or female.)
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I'll keep that in mind. haha.
Thanks.
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It's Raelynn with a surnamey varnish on it.Sounds namey, though. I could get used to it IRL. It'd be a bit annoying on a book character, however. Unless it was a fantastical genre.I'm not feeling like it fits either gender that well, but I'll go with F because the ling part is sort of like duckling.

This message was edited 2/16/2017, 11:21 AM

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I don't like Raelynn though. Waaaaahh.But I want to use it as the child of a celebrity in a book. I wanted a name that said "posh celebrity child" without being as crazy as some of them we've seen in real life.And I'm leaning toward female too. Thanks.
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Exactly! It's like Raelynn, which is ugly to me in a flashy, shallow way, with a few extra assets trying to overcompensate for its shallowness by going way far in the opposite direction. For me the effect is totally incongruous to the point where it's comical.
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I think it sounds kind of awful and not very much like a name, and therefore doesn't sound more male or female to me because it doesn't sound like a person at all.
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:) I used to have a little plush squirrel that I named Greyling because I got him in Greyling/Grayling (?), Michigan. He was a boy. I like it ok and definitely prefer it for a boy. I prefer the Greyling spelling because I like to spell Grey this way. I have synesthesia and Grey, to me, is a truer slightly bluish grey, where as Gray is more yellowy grey and not as attractive.
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I don't have synesthesia, but I can totally get behind that difference in the two spellings.
And that's a very suitable name for a squirrel.
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I've considered it beforeIt's a town that has a lot of significance to me, the town being named after the fish. I think it makes a great middle name for a boy (if one had reason to use it), but I definitely wouldn't use it as a first name or otherwise. Too fishy!eta: Thomas Grayling was my favorite combo back in the day when I was giving this some thought.

This message was edited 2/16/2017, 6:15 AM

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I feel like we often have the same interest in names. You would the one who turned me onto Finlo years ago. Bless you.I started considering it when I saw it on the list, look it up, and found out there is a Grayling River in Alaska. Alaska is important to the story so... Thanks.
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Makes me think of badgers. Like it could be a different name for them. "Oh, look a grayling!"
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This actually made me very happy. I recently wrote a story about a badger. haha.
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Well...it is pretty close to "Grävling' :)
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I was thinking the same thing!
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Ha! Of course! I don't know why I didn't realise that's why I associate it with badgers. :D
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It's a fishIt isn't even a very attractive fish! I wouldn't use it
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Shut up this fish is beautifulfish shamer

This message was edited 2/16/2017, 9:51 AM

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Ok, fish shaming is pretty low....I will mend my ways :)
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well, I mean, as far as fresh water fish go, you're not wrong...
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It's also a butterfly and a place and a surname so...
And I quite like fish and this is for a story- the daughter of a girl who has fish tattoos. You're doing nothing but encouraging me here.

This message was edited 2/16/2017, 6:43 AM

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Well in that case, it sounds perfect!I always thought Minnow would be kind of cool as a name...
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It doesn't sound like a name, actually. It sounds like a dwarf-like creature from LotR.
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Entlings, Halflings, and Graylings. I'll give you that. :)
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It's a fish! So it sounds very odd as a name to me.
I just looked it up and it's a surname and has been used here a couple of times as a first name on both sexes, but all the more recent ones were female. I feel quite sorry for them.
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It sounds like a mixture of yearling and gray, so it makes me think of a gray horse. It is better on a boy, but pretty strange and unattractive in general. Just Gray or Grey would be better. I prefer Greyling. Depending on whether you come from the US or UK the color is spelled gray or grey.

This message was edited 2/16/2017, 3:08 AM

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I live in the US and have seen is spelled (by Americans) both ways. I prefer grey.
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It sounds horrible I think.. because of the -ling ending I can't see it used on an human, it just sounds too thing related.I absolutely can't see it on a girl..so I'd prefer it on a boy. But like mentioned above, I can't really see it as a given name at all.

This message was edited 2/16/2017, 3:01 AM

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-ling?
Ling is a name. As are Aisling, Sterling, Kipling, etc.But okay. Your opinion has been noted.
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It sounds like it could be the name of a creature from the underworld in a science fiction book or film (think Gelfling from The Dark Crystal, for example). As such, I think that this name is best suited for the middle name spot.I would prefer to see it on a boy, by the way - it doesn't look remotely feminine to me, despite the diminutive -ling suffix.https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/-ling#Suffix (in English)Also, I prefer the spelling Greyling, but that is because I personally go for British English wherever possible.
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