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Funny that you should say that your friend says it sounds like a Playboy Playmate! And that you think it sounds a little stripperish! There used to be a young couple who lived next door to us. They had a two-year-old daughter named Heather. They told us that when they were expecting her, the mom-to-be had suggested Autumn as a possible name. The husband vetoed it on the grounds that it sounded like a stripper name. He performed a facsimile (a poor one at that) of a stripper-walk-down-the-runway while he told us this story.

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I couldn't see it then and I can't see it now. I don't see how Autumn is in any way a Playboy Playmate or stripper name. In fact, I think it is much less so than Heather, the name they ultimately chose. And I was blunt enough to say this to them. And then he agreed with me, that Autumn is no more of a stripper name than Heather is. So...not really sure why Autumn was vetoed on the stripper grounds while Heather was approved.

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Anyway...I don't think that objection has any merit. Nor do I think that Autumn is tacky, though I'd agree that it's non-traditional. My son-in-law's four-year-old niece is named Autumn. She's a very sweet little girl. My personal opinion is that the name has some charm....but I don't personally find it attractive enough to use myself. Autumn is also my favorite season (though I commonly use the word fall instead of autumn)---but I don't think I find autumn an attractive enough word to make a really attractive name.

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But if you and your husband do, go for it, and don't worry about it being non-traditional, since there is a place for non-traditional names--if every single name were traditional, the world would be a boring place--and don't worry about Playboy Playmates or strippers, because it's not that kind of a name!