If you watched Thursday’s Project Runway, you spotted the mini models for the “Little Bit of Fashion” challenge. (Designers created a little girl look, and then a companion piece for their model.) Amongst the pint-sized fashionistas were Ava and Chloe, but there was also a Sylvie.
And you know you’re name-obsessed when you’re watching a haunting, twisting tale like Shutter Island and as it builds to the climactic scene you’re listening intently – for the ghostly children’s names. Ahem. (And I’m not giving anything away by telling you they are Rachel, Henry and Simon.)
In other name-spotting news:
- Over at For Real Baby Names, there’s a Cloverlyn Lemon. I like Clover, but I find Cloverlyn a bit too close to Brooklyn, Madalyn, Kailyn to be stylish;
- For Real also posted on the rise of Violet as a middle name. We know a little Elizabeth Violet, a name that I find classic without being at all dull. And she pairs well with many names, except for possibly one on For Real’s list – Truly Violet. I’m sure I’ve seen that combo on a color swatch somewhere;
- At first glance, the name looks Japanese, but he’s Finnish – check out Keijo over at Legit Baby Names;
- I missed this last fall – how? Daddy Types just referenced the designer Tina Roth Eisenberg’s attempt to crowd source a four-letter name for her son over at her blog, Swiss Miss. Tilo Red Eisenberg made his arrival on Valentine’s Day. Apparently Tilo wasn’t actually on the list, but the similar Till was, along with lots of ends-in-o choices like Arlo, Aldo and Theo;
- Speaking of unusual ways to choose a baby’s name, Renee Moilanen explained the process for arriving at her newborn son’s name, devised courtesy of her engineer husband. It involves an algorithm – really! – and resulted in the name Grant. She admits it isn’t a name they love, but it satisfies their criteria – not trendy, not strange, not likely to land in the Top Ten but also not likely to cause confusion. Bravo for knowing you what you want and getting it instead of being yet another parent to go for different and end up with Leo or Max;
- Alberta, Canada released their most popular baby names, and also the more unusual choices. Nancy has a nice summary. Some of the stand-outs for girls include Beauty (and I thought Joy was pressure!), the re-spelled Kwynn, Dessarhey and Qhloe, word names like Eloquence, Society and Fury. For boys, meet Alias, Wrath, Bison, Yak, Xayden, Seige and Voltaire;
- Bewildertrix takes an e-trip to the US and discovers a birth announcement for a baby called Castle. Could Castle possibly have been inspired by the ABC TV show ’bout the mystery-writer-turned-crimefighter? And if so, were Richard and Nathan really not better options:
- Kristin Rushowy’s column at Parent Central Canada recently profiled an Isla Catherine Mairi – lovely combo! – but the most amusing part is at the end, where the parents consider names that could continue the island theme with future children. How would Taransay wear on a daughter;
- BabyNameLover spotted an Olive Winsome and a boy called Cardigan. Yes, Cardigan is a place name. But it’s a sweater – or is that only in the US? I can’t see it catching on here;
- I started to write this post, but Jill Barnett’s guest post at Namberry beat me to it! She has an amazing list of names culled from Olympic athletes. Violeta, Jesper - it’s hard to go wrong with any of these choices!
No Hollywood babies this week, but sports and country music give us a few new arrivals:
- St. Louis Cardinal Albert Pujols will have a few weeks to spend with new son Ezra before reporting for spring training camp. Ezra is baby #4, joining sibs Isabella, Albert Jr. and Sophia at home;
- NASCAR driver Elliot Sadler welcomed a son, Wyatt Herman Fritz;
- Country singer Justin Moore is a first-time dad, to daughter Ella Kole. Ella Cole would be cool. Not sure why they opted for the K spelling, though mom is Kate.
While we’re on a musical note, how much free time do you have? Nancy at Nancy’s Baby Names has a YouTube channel. Incredibly addictive, even on my sluggish internet connection and aging MacBook.
That’s all for this week. As always, thank you for reading!
I chuckled when I saw Truly Violet. Like you, I love finding a Clover, but Cloverlyn doesn’t do it for me and paired with Lemon, makes it sound as if it is part of a recipe. I think if you go with a word name as a first, you shouldn’t pick a word name as their middle. But that is just me.
And Tilo, I haven’t heard that one before, but seems to fit with the Milo’s, Arlo’s, and Theo’s out there.
Have a good week!
Check out Miss Truly Violet’s sibs: http://onomastitrix.blogspot.com/2010/02/wyld-yvie-truly.html although her BA was pulled recently. That doesn’t bode well. I always wonder if I should delete the mention when this happens.
Someone else who commented on the BA said they know a Trulie. I don’t dislike Truly Violet (like I probably should) as it is a step up from many general British offerings I see such as Demi-Leigh, Maizie-Mai or Lexie-Lou. Contrary to what seems like a popular name nerd opinion, they don’t all name their daughters Arabella, Rosalind and Ottilie.
Um, it does irk me that Violet is cited to be the next big floral but all the first name and middle name Violet mentions in the Aussie, Kiwi and UK BAs bear this out already. So I should just lump it.
I didn’t read the article as it wouldn’t load but it’s rather common to see Scottish BAs containing sibs with Islay/Isla, Arran, Iona, Rona, Ailsa etc.. All “isles” names. Also, the place name Morven. Extremely themey but I can’t help but like seeing them. I love Ailsa but it’s not just place name matchy with my Isla, it’s redundant in sound too and Kiwis frequently slur it into something resembling ULCER. Not pretty.
Here’s the link to the story.
http://www.thestar.com/iphone/Living/article/766487
Nope, no good! Computer says no.
Darn. I couldn’t access it from her summary, but I can when I click this link, I can. I googled Kristin Rushowy, “Isla” and found it. Maybe try that.
I fixed the link … thanks!
Aw, Cardigan would be a cool name if it weren’t a sweater. Bummer. I’m kind of obsessed with cardigans, and I always think of Notting Hill, when Honey says “Ooh, sexy cardi”.
Truly Violet makes me laugh, it makes me think of Willy Wonka when the girl named Violet turns violet.
I just want to comment on Yak, because that is what grabbed me the most. Yak? I clean up cat yack on an unfortunately frequent basis. I know a Yak is a big hairy animal, too, but between that and the puke reference… wow… that’s one name I wouldn’t bestow on my kid! To me, Truly Violet is perfectly ‘normal’ (even though I’m not on the Violet super-fan wagon to begin with) when I find Yak a few lines away.
I must have had my “Appt Mtn safety filter on”. Didn’t see Yak and co. :/
Woah – and I missed Wrath the first time through. Say what now?
I’m baffled by Yak, too. I get animal names, really, I do. But Yak? Is it possibly a name in another language, with recent immigrant parents blissfully unaware that their little one has been named after a hairy beastie?
Yes, there was a Sylvie! There was also a Fabriana, which I found intriguing but BtN didn’t have an entry on. And what was Ixele/Ixelle (I can’t remember the spelling)?
That’s right, Corinne! I forgot about that one until you mentioned it. Nothing on BtN … hmmm … it is just a twist on Fabiana?
I love Violet but she is getting a little too popular for my taste.
In interesting news, a colleague just had a baby daughter named….Whin. I have never even heard of this name and some research didn’t enlighten me anymore. Anyone have any ideas? It seems like such a strange choice as her other 2 are named Anna and Michael…
I wonder if Fury was inspired by the Sherrilyn Kenyon novels? Ironically, in Afrikaans, the nickname for Jacqueline which is spelled Jakkie is pronounced YUCKY. That one is sort of similar to Yak. It could be a linguistics thing
The name “Tilo” is entirely too close to the entirely too famous “Tila Tequila” for me. That was the first thing that came to mind. We had an exchange student (I think from Germany) at my high school that was named “Timo” & pronounced with the “i” like in “Tina,” like swissmiss clarified.
I have a (female) cousin named Wynn (yep, like the casino)…I actually used to like it when we were kids, but I’m not as crazy about it anymore. & I agree that “Whin” seems odd with Anna&Michael.