Playing with premades, a lot of Sims already have children so at those times I like to use Nymbler to find 'similar' names that they might also like, and pick out of those suggestions. When Sims without children have a first baby, I just pick a name that I think would match them, sometimes off name lists, and then also use Nymbler to name siblings - it's really useful to get new original names, so I don't just pick out of those few names that I know

What about you? Do you use name lists, name suggestion websites, etc.? Do you like having a theme, names which start with a particular letter (such as the Dreamers), match them with the Sims' ancestry, a specific style? Or do you just name Sims as you go with whatever name pops into your mind at the time?

Depends on the household. I have several challenge households that have specific naming themes spelled out in the rules. I have one family where the original members of the household randomly had names that started with A, and I gave their son a name that started with B (after a coworker I'd interacted with earlier in the day). He ended up with a woman whose name also started with B, so their children will all be C names, until this ceases to amuse me. I have one family where the children have Russian names because of a Russian-named townie who married in. At one point, I had a family with precious stone names (Jasper, Amethyst, Chalcedony) because of the townie named Opal who married in. That naming theme died out in the next generation. I have named sims after people I interacted with earlier in the day, and I named not one but two sims after our very own joandsarah77 after she saved my game from yet another rebuild.

I don't use lists or websites, because I read a lot and therefore know a lot of names already. Other than that, the answer to all your questions is "Yes."

Like esmeiolanthe, it depends, and yes!

For my RKC hood, many times I choose a "family" name or variant thereof. (All the first-born males in the royal family are named Edward I/II/III/etc; Felicity was named after grandmother Felicia, Henrietta was named after father Henry.) The royal family names are popular as well, and it's a sign of respect to name one's child after a royal, so one family named a daughter Bella after a princess had been named Isabella.

I sometimes use matching first letter/sound names for multiples (triplets Geoffrey, Jeremy, Jenna), but it's not universal (another set of triplets: Clifton, Wesley, Eileen). Or I do thematic naming: one family is using somewhat nerdy names for their boys: so far, I have Eugene and Grover. I have a family with predominantly French names, another family with German names - for those, I usually go to a baby names site and look up names with the right origin and pick one I like.

But when I'm stuck, I have Hook's RandomStuff that I downloaded from MATY and a big ol' list of names. When a baby is born, I have it set up to suggest 10 female and 10 male names. Then I pick one from the list, or keep rerolling until I see something that strikes a chord. Sometimes I'll see the same name several times through rerolls, so I'll take it as a sign and use that name.

In Widespot, I've been collecting names from the community to continue the pun tradition. I am so bad at coming up with pun names, but I love them!! I also spent some time looking up names with certain meanings, so when Mary gave birth to her baby after marrying Junior Mann, I named her daughter Ura, which means "the heart." So, lots of fun with that one.

Depends - I somtimes chose names to reflect a particular role or character (Egon Lovett; Crimson Lane) - actually if I'm making the sim new, I nearly always do that, it's one of my favourite things to do - children of in-game sims though usually get a name associated with the type of sims/family they are born to/into. I tend to prefer traditional English names (since I am English and my game is set in England) but I do pick names to reflect things like class and status so you might guess the relative standing of sims named Quentin or Sherryl.

Oh, what was that name that I heard the other day that i thought would suit a Sim???? Oh, yes, it was .... Whatever. Wrong gender. Make up a name if you want to play on now!

In my uberhood I usually pick pretty ordinary names that I think the sim parents would like, but for Nairnwind I whip out my encylopaedia of mythology and pick whatever jumps out at me. I've learnt a lot about british mythology doing that .

I haven't done this yet, but I might when I start the legacy challenge.

If it is a boy, the first letter in his name must match his father's first letter in his name.
Example: The Dad's name is Ben, so the baby's name would have to start with a B, like Billy.
If it is a girl, the first letter in her name must match her mother's first letter in her name.
Example: The Mom's name is Amy, so the baby's name would have to start with an A, like Ariel.

I tend to pick names that I know and like. I'm not keen on made up names, and a lot of American names are unfamiliar to me and I wouldn't use them.

I might look up a name from a particular culture if I see the family as coming from or having links to that area. Then I will happily use an unfamiliar name if I like the sound and the meaning.

Sometimes I go by meanings or a theme between siblings. Occasionally then I will make up names. Or use normal words which aren't names, but should be! I have gender swapped names before. I had a girl called Ryan in one of my hoods.

Often I draw a blank, so I do go on baby name sites (usually forums) for inspiration, but then I still tend to pick names that I already know. If I come across a name I like in the course of my life or random surfing, I will sometimes save it for a sim.

For one of my families I looked up the three(ish) most popular baby names in England from seven consecutive decades (I think it's from the 1890s onwards) and I'm picking the names as new generations are born. I have separate columns for girls and boys. So far in my game I have Edwin, Beatrice, Helene, Theodosia, John, William, James and Mary. I think the list is a bit biased towards the upper classes tho. The next names on my list are Franklin, Anna and Emma.

Sometimes I pick variants of names that already exist in the sim's family.

I have to have lists, otherwise all the sims would have the same name as I'm really poor with coming up with names on the spot.

behindthename.com/random. Great tool.

Usually names from a recent book I read or a show I watched. Those tend to be fantasy names. I also try to remember regular names I like for sims, but when an actual baby is born I have probably forgotten them.

I love names and actually have a baby name book and look at websites a lot. For Sims it depends on the family how I name them. The Dreamers names start with a D, the Smith's with a J. Otherwise I go with how the parents are and what I think they'd like to name their baby. I named Pascal's first alien baby Tycho and if he were to have any more they'd all be science related. Francis J. Worthington III just had a baby boy in my game and he is Francis J. Worthington IV as in my game I figure he's the Worthington heir and any first born boy gets the name passed down.

If I can make a pun, I make it! Believe it or not, I do have a few limits on that - I couldn't bring myself to name any humaniform Hawkinses Chicken, and but finally used it on a puppy. The Skirt family is a good example - parents Gene (jean) and Lacy; daughters Georgette (a fabric), Minnie, and Polly Esther (another fabric); son Dior; grandson Chase; poodles Maxi, Midi, Cotton, and Wool.

If no pun is to be made, I look for variants on the names of family members from previous generations. Minnie Skirt married Gallagher Newson. Her first daughter was Minerva; her second was Athena (Minerva and Athena being Roman and Greek counterparts of each other); her third was Lacy after grandma even though the name no longer punned. Her first son was Eugene, after his grandfather, and would have been Eugenia if a girl. Lacy's twin brother was a problem and I finally went with Luke for alliteration's sake. Nobody got named after Gallagher because there's damn all you can do with Gallagher as a name.

Last names may be preserved as first names. Martin Ruben took Allegra Gorey's name on marriage partly because Gorey would be an awful first name. Their daughter is Ruby and his alien hybrid son is Ruben.

In the Genderswapped Uberhood Challenge, starring Rhett Hart, all sons by premade babymamas get their mother's original name from before the genderswap. Female names haven't been an issue so far - he's only got one daughter, and of course he named her after his mother. Which means her name is Angel Mole, which is pretty funny even if it isn't a pun.

Ginger Newson's children continued the G tradition even though she changed her name to Hawkins on marriage - George and Gracie after her adopted parents (I got it into my head somehow, overwriting the Gloria of the bio), Ginevra arbitrarily, and Gozii after her late grandfather, Goz Hawkins. I haven't decided whether to continue the G tradition with Gracie's children by Nemo LeStrange, but I need to start thinking about it, because she's due in a rotation or two. Maybe I should use Gloria finally...

Lourdes Iana got her name as part of an L theme (mother Luz, brothers Luis, Lucas, and Lisandro), but now that she's Lourdes Newson and wants six kids they will all be named after sites of Marian visions - Guadalupe, Fatima, Carmel, and Laus, so far. But her mother just died, so the next girl born in the family will be named Luz - that's a given.

If all else fails, I have three baby name books on that desk, and a friend whose living is making gold wire jewelry to order, names never seen in stores a specialty. I can call him up and say: "Girl, biracial, solid urban middle class, artsy parents" and he'll start reeling them off.

I got tired of using the baby name lists and started picking names from random word generators. I have Elegy, Irony, Pennant, Meander, Generator, Sorrow, Filament, and so on. I definitely don't forget who they are. (I was going to use Photon but could not look at it without thinking Torpedo, so passed on that one.)

Something I really like to do is name sim babies after their grandparents or great-grandparents. Or if not the same name, then a derivative e.g. Baby Joanna named for her grandmother Joan. I think it's a nice way of establishing a family history

Honestly, sometimes I have the darndest time comin up with names and then others 'poof' the name jumps out at me. I can't say that I have a pattern I follow, though as some have said in that it depends on the family and/ or their situation.

I just recently made a CAS female who I know I wanted to be a romance sim and she was gonna go loooove up all the men she could find I gave her the name Bliss.

After lovin up ..umm.. I think it was seven Pleasantivew sims she finally got pregnant and had twins, a boy and a girl. I knew I didn't want traditional names for them, not with the mother they had. The girl I named Raven, though she is blond hair blue eyed, fair skinned. Her twin brother is Reece, who is also blond hair blue eyes, but with tan skin. Their male genetic donor was Amin Sims. He's been over a few times to visit Bliss, but he doesn't know his kids. :D

Pretty much as anyone else said:
Recurring letters e.g. David, Dylan, Dean and Darius Dreamer and Calvin & Clare Cleveland
Named after relatives e.g. Geoff Pleasant, Barbie & Beaumont DeBateau, Maida Patel
Names I just thought the parents would like e.g. Harry Riley or Zaharah Green-Gere
Themes e.g. Everyone descended from any pre-made sim in Veronaville will be given Shakespearian names.
Puns (I can't think of any examples off the top of my head however) Edit: Dustin and Angela's daughter 'Bea Pleasant' (Ironic because she actually lives a terrible life)
Ethnicity e.g. The Ramaswami's three daughters (that I've forgotten the names of now, but they all start with A. I'm pretty sure one was Anisha)

I usually choose a child's name based on what I think the Sim parents/parent would really name them. May seem strange, but I like to think my Sims are naming their offspring...and not me.

If the parents have fairly common names (e.g. John, Susan) then I'd most likely name their child/children something common (Adam, Mary) as well. If the parents have unique names, then so will the child/children.

I usually choose a name based on their (perceived) ethnic background or borrow from the earlier generation

But but ... you could do so much with Nemo though, think of the possibilities (and I don't mean that bloody fish film). Great name, especially as Nemo means 'nobody' or 'no-one'.

Funny enough, when I think of Nemo it generally isn't the orange clown fish, but Captain Nemo from 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea :D

From a whole bunch of different sources.

--I've done zodiac signs, months, seasons, cities, gemstones. Genus names count.
--Random name generators (good when I get stuck with alien/fantasy names)
--Baby name books and sites, particularly those with name origins.
--Family/friends/names I hear from others. Names in songs also fall in this category.
--Made-up/on-the-spot names. Sometimes, I'll look at things on my desk and make up a name using items I see around me (for instance, if I see a clock and a bottle of tea I may come up with "Clotea", though I'll do a quick search to make sure the name doesn't have any nasty meanings, like a name of a fungus), or see a name on a calendar or news clip and use a variation.
--Sometimes, I'll use a name based on meaning first. I don't do this very often, though.

Yes, I do that too! It's not about whether I like the name or not - sometimes I give my Sims names that I think are terrible, but I know that's just those Sim parents' weird taste
The names of the Sim parents themselves don't have much influence in my game. After all, someone with a common name may actually like giving their children a somewhat more unique name. I base the names pretty much on the culture/taste/interest/surroundings of the parents.