Comments on: Sunday Summary: 5/31/2009

By: appellationmountain

appellationmountain — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 00:35:09 +0000

Ah, 2009 is a strange place indeed. Hi, Justin.

My daughter is Clio, so I’ve got a soft spot for all things mythological myself. And while Zaphyn wouldn’t be my choice, I do think you landed on something truly unusual. Which is better than all those parents who say, “We wanted something unusual, so we name her Emily Grace.” Ahem.

Thanks for your candor.

By: Justin Monk

Justin Monk — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:06:02 +0000

What a seriously random thing to stumble across…

I am the father in the aforementioned article about my daughter Zaphyn. The name is unique, yes, but no more unique than naming a boy ‘Tony’ rather than Anthony, or the multitude spellings of Crystal.

We did not chose the name very lightly, also up for the running was Lillyanna, named for my wife’s sister. As seen in the article its a shortning of an Egyptian name, from a Bible story dear to my wife’s heart and though we changed the spelling from Zaphenath-Paneah to simply Zaphyn, its no more odd than naming a child Noah, Yale or Jason…common enough names, Jason is even a greek name itself! Nevermind the unisex names of Ashley, Courtney, Taylor and Logan.

Athena was of my choosing, for my love of Greek mythos and one of my favourite goddesses. Could have easily have been Zaphyn Aphrodite or Zaphyn Demeter… Zaphyn Anne or Zaphyn Rose or something had no real connection for us, family history or otherwise.

We all have strange names when it comes down to it, ours maybe a little in left field, but that does not make us crazy Canadians any more than the next person. Zaphyn will either LOVE her name or HATE it…but no one would ever confuse it and I doubt she would have the problems that I have being called Jason all the time.

Most who hear the name just love it, then ask how to spell it…

Maybe I am biased with my daughters name but we love it, so does our circle of family and friends, maybe it will catch on like wild fire and be the new Sarah

By: Laney McDonald

Laney McDonald — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 23:08:52 +0000

Kimora Lee Simmons named her son Kenzo Lee Hounsou. Personally I would have preferred Kenji or Kengo to Kenzo, but Kenzo isn’t a bad name. It fits well with her daughters’ names. It’s alot better than Pilot and Audio Science. I really love Japanese names, but Kenzo is not one I would have thought of.

Another Celeb baby: http://celebrity-babies.com/2009/06/04/bobby-brown-welcomes-son-cassius/ Love this one. Cassius is one of my favorite boys names.

Zaphyn is horrible but LOVE Athena.

By: Lola

Lola — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 18:42:26 +0000

I love your potential bluebirds names! (All we’ve got is Theodore the chipmunk living under the back porch) [yes, Josie's a hge Chipmunk fan, Theodore's her favorite] I hope you spend the summer enjoying them!

Helio floats my boat. Warm, freindly feeling, and an “o” ender? yep, Winner! it’s made my long lists but I’m still working on his reaction. (So far? Helium) Bah!

At least odd Zaphyn has the stunningly awesome Athena to go by. Maybe as an adult she’ll be Z Athena? Would work for me.
I have yet to catch up at CBB or Namberry, I am so far behind on everything! I missed this place most, though.
Nice sum up, as always!

By: appellationmountain

appellationmountain — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 02:53:35 +0000

I’ll admit, Allison, that I’ve been wondering if there’s something that I don’t know about Toronto, either. But I think it might simply be this – Toronto is almost shockingly cosmopolitan. I’ve spent time in New York and San Francisco, and I live in Washington DC – and I think Toronto rivals any of those cities for the sheer number of cultures represented. (My aunt and uncle live there – have for years. My aunt works for the library system, where nearly every branch houses collections in multiple languages.) I married into the Canadian part of the family, so until I’d been there, I think I would’ve expected Toronto to be more like, say, Des Moines.

I can only imagine that this column would read the same if it were written in nearly any big city – after all, they’re looking for stories about unusual names. And if the column were penned in, say, the ‘burbs of Calgary, it wouldn’t be nearly as interesting.

Which doesn’t change the fact that Zaphyn is pretty wildly weird.

By: Allison

Allison — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 01:21:26 +0000

Okay, I’ve been holding back for awhile now, but every week leaves me wondering: what in the hell is wrong with people in Toronto?!? Matheson “sounds like a girl,” was bad enough, but Zaphyn?? Arrrgh! Maybe it’s the extreme cold, maybe it’s the cultural obsession with hockey, but something is seriously impairing these peoples’ naming judgement. This example emphasizes the parent’s almost deranged need to be “unique,” while offending me with the bizarro corruption of classic Greek names. The final insult is that it sounds like a boy’s name.

By: Fusty Yet Feisty « You Can’t Call It “It”!

Fusty Yet Feisty « You Can’t Call It “It”! — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 13:06:03 +0000

[...] old news that when not opting for Zaphyn or Bandit, celebrities embrace this type of name in droves. And for good reason. They sound [...]

By: Christina Fonseca

Christina Fonseca — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 05:20:16 +0000

Basil, Coriander and Rosemary – love the babies’ names. What’s the momma’s name? I’m sure you’ve named her too – after all, I I named the mockingbird that wouldn’t let me sleep when we moved to our current house.

I’ll be looking forward to reading about the five names you’ve selected for the week.

By: Emmy Jo

Emmy Jo — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 03:12:05 +0000

I like the sibling names in your circle — Ailis and Maeve, Miles and India. I actually like Carsten a lot, too. It’s so much more interesting than Christian or Carson.

I’m planning to buy “Beyond Ava and Aiden” when it comes out. I’ve decided now that I’m pregnant I can justify spending money on baby name books (though my husband keeps pointing out that I know PLENTY of cool names without having to buy books of them). I also really want to get the second edition of Laura Wattenberg’s “The Baby Name Wizard.” I wonder how different it will be from the first edition. I’ve spent some time looking through the first edition at a bookstore, but I figure I may as well wait and buy the most updated copy.

Speaking of baby name books, if anyone has particularly awesome ones to recommend, I’d love to hear about them.

By: Laney McDonald

Laney McDonald — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 02:42:46 +0000

Helio is a guilty pleasure of mine. I’ve never heard of the racer guy, but one of the characters in the 4th season of the Sailor Moon anime series is named Helios, after the Greek sun God.

I’m a sucker for mythological names. The only issue I can find is that people will think his name is Ellios as in Ellio’s pizza because the H is sometimes silent.

Muziq and Lyriq are ridiculous spellings of Music and Lyric and Music doesn’t sound like a name to me. Kaydnz is even worse. The “K” makes it look feminine, and the spelling makes me think his parents are illiterate. It gives me a headache. I’ll admit I sort of like Kodah, but without the “H”. I would never name my child Kodah though.

I love Kai David. Cute name! I like that Ms. Nagra mixed a modern name with something classic. It has a nice flow. David Kai would have flowed better, but other than that, it’s great.