Sunday Summary: 12/6/2009
Deck the halls!
With a mere 19 days ’til Christmas, I finally settled down to watch last season’s romantic-comedy-just-in-time-for-the-holidays, Four Christmases. Vince Vaughn’s character, Brad, finally takes his girlfriend home and, in the midst of yuletide merriment, she discovers that Brad legally changed his name – from Orlando. Brothers Denver and Dallas were introduced, and Brad explained that they were all named in a very Brooklyn Beckham-esque way. You’re forgiven, Brad. Posh, are you listening?
Speaking of the holidays, on my recent travels I heard tots answering to Lyle, Hugo, Mara and Cecily – or I suppose Sicily, but let’s hope it was the former.
As for movies, I’m dying to see Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law in the upcoming Sherlock Holmes movie. While other girls were reading Anne of Green Gables, I was off in Victorian England, solving crimes with Holmes and Watson. There are already hints of franchise potential, not unlike Pirates of the Caribbean, which got me thinking – if Sparrow could pop as a boy’s name in the wake of Captain Jack, will this film have a similar impact? Sherlock and Holmes are out, and John is evergreen. But how ’bout Watson? I’ll be watching the boards!
Elsewhere in the blogosphere:
- Sebastiane has been featuring classics with all of their international variations included. Think Andrew is a bit obvious? Try Dreves. Cathy and Cate don’t appeal? Call your daughter Catherine by the unusual short form Trine – or opt for the variant Cathereau;
- My new favorite name of the week has to be Lillemor - also from Sebastiane’s site. I’ve been puzzled by the so-fashionable Moa in Sweden. Turns out Moa is a nickname for Lillemor, one that has eclipsed the original. Apparently Lillemor is considered stodgy by modern Swedes, but in the US? I think she’d offer an unexpected way to get to Lily – and fit just right with names like Eleanor, too;
- Over at Names from Adam to Eve, Laura wrote of her love for Hester, nn Hettie. I’m a fan, too, so it is nice to see Hester get some love;
- Bewildertrix spotted a newborn girl named Montanna Skye. It was an Aussie birth announcement, so maybe the parents don’t get the joke? Or did they vacation in Big Sky Country and … cancel that thought;
- For Real Baby Names spotted a tot christened Basil Leif. I suspect he’ll be one of those guys who refuses to hand over his driver’s license for fear his friends will discover the L isn’t for Leon or Lawrence;
- You’ve heard about New York’s just-released baby names of 2008 list, right?And Sophia and Jayden coming out on top? Check out the Nameberry post for details and discussion;
- It’s that time again - Nymbler has released November’s Top 10 favorite names. They’re the usual suspects: Charlotte, Ava, Ella, Finn, Jack, Amelia, Claire, Henry, Grace and Benjamin.
- But then there’s the far more interesting Top 5 Brand New Names:
- A twist on Brianna and Riley, Briley;
- The lovely Cosima;
- Word name Fable, a choice almost single-handedly launched by blogger Girls Gone Child;
- The literary Bronte;
- Starbaby-inspired Nahla.
Speaking of starbabies, it was a busy week. Thanks to Celebrity Baby Blog for the heads up on the following:
- Maya Rudolph welcomed Lucille, a little sister for Pearl - what a great sibset. Please leave a comment if you hear about the girls’ middle names;
- Scrubs’ Judy Reyes welcomed Leila Rey. Leila is the new Hailey – it is impossible to say how many there really are thanks to Layla, Lailah, Leyla, Laila … But Rey is a clever nod towards mom’s surname;
- Singer Lisa Loeb welcomed daughter Lyla Rose;
- Martin Brodeur of the New Jersey Devils welcomed his fifth child – son Maxime Phillipe. For those of you who don’t follow hockey, it’s mahr TAN. He’s from Montreal. Older siblings are Anthony, William, Jeremy and Anabelle Antoinette;
- Also in the Wide World of Sports, Chunky soup pitchman/Philadelphia Eagle Donovan McNabb welcomed his fourth child. Son Devin James joins sisters Alexis and Sariah and brother Donovan;
- Heavenly Joy! It’s a girl for music producer Rodney Jenkins and his wife, Joy Enriquez. It’s not only an exclamation, it’s her name.
That’s all for this week. Thanks for reading!
Filed under: Silver Screen, Starbaby, Sunday Summary | 13 Comments
Tags: Ava, William, James, John, Alexis, Charlotte, Grace, Anne, Eleanor, Antoinette, Catherine, Cecily, Sicily, Henry, Finn, Skye, Rose, Nahla, Ella, Jude, Pearl, Lily, Claire, Donovan, Hugo, Basil, Lucille, Leon, Hester, Orlando, Jack, Sophia, Jayden, Fable, Brooklyn, Leif, Briley, Robert, Andrew, Hailey, Amelia, Brad, Anthony, Cathy, Lyle, Benjamin, Sparrow, Hettie, Lawrence, Denver, Dallas, Mara, Watson, Dreves, Cate, Trine, Cathereau, Lillemor, Moa, Montanna, Cosima, Bronte, Leila, Rey, Layla, Lailah, Leyla, Laila, Lyla, Maxime, Phillipe, Jeremy, Anabelle, Devin, Sariah, Heavenly, Joy
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At least Montanna isn’t Montannah. The addition of the typical Aus/Kiwi H worsens things.
And LMAO at Lillemor. I remember one Swedish person online quick to kick heads over anyone considering it. I think she was more irked that people not familiar with it were deliberately mispronouncing it LILY more (using it as a ‘kewl’ Lily alternative) which is fair enough. She went to great lengths to try to explain how the Lille- and the -mor were actually said. Of course it’s musty status and twee meaning came into it too.
Ugh to Bronte. It’s a semi-regular sight in the Aussie BAs. I wonder if they’d had found Brunty as appealing? And they tend to have sibs called Jhye and Jaiden also.
“they’d had”
Way to go me!
I forgot to add this link about Brunty/Bronte http://www.yek.me.uk/bronte.html
And then there’s the mythical Cyclops.
I really liked Four Christmases a lot more than I expected to. And still like Vince or even Vaughn more than Brad. And loved your dig at Posh (who is so not posh). I have a friend who went to visit her husband in Italy when our husbands were on a six-month submairne deployment. She came back pregnant. A bunch of us were trying to figure out if she needed to name the baby Rome, Florence, Maddalena, or Italy. It was much fun. (She went with Benjamin.)
I’m with Bewildertrix on Bronte. It just reminds me of donkeys. Love the wroters, but forget it as name choice. It is seriously lacking in asthetics.
Just read the NYC name stats article. Wow. I am hugely surprised.
Also, don’t forget that NY is made up of more than Manhattan and the hipster areas of Brooklyn. There are also the less hip Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens, and the sad Staten Island. It’s not all cool people and thin mommies in skinny pants.
There are a lot of places where girls with bleached, frizzy hair get their weekly manicures and tsawk like dis.
I know an Australian Bronte in her 30s. I assumed her name would be pronounced “Bron-tay” but she says “Bron-tee”. Not very nice sounding, despite the romantic connotations evoked by the literary reference.
Too bad – bron TEE just seems liked a wasted opportunity!
I actually kinda like Bronte, so I must be in the minority.
It must get awfully confusing in the McNabb house – Donovan x 2 and a Devin. Yikes. Must be going for almost but not quite George Foreman type names…
There was a baby girl baptised at my church recently named Magali Lillemor
Hmmm. You nixed my idea last year when I said I liked “Delilah.” But you like Hester? As in Hester Prynne with the Scarlet Letter? Plus, it makes me think of Lester for a boy.
Yikes, KimR – did I really nix Delilah? I guess I still find her story difficult, but if I can argue that there’s a feminist reading for Hester, and she’s really a worthy hero, well … you’re right. Delilah deserves the same consideration.
I can’t get to my NotD calendar right now, but I’ll put her in the rotation.
KimR, Delilah will be NotD on 2/10.