Happy Easter! I’m organizing our neighborhood egg hunt today. Somehow I’d lost count of how many kids have moved in/been born in recent weeks, and so I ended up filling 120 eggs last night.
Which is why this post is later than usual. It’s also why I didn’t catch the fact that I’d set Hannelore to post on the wrong day. Sorry ’bout that – she’ll be back as Baby Name of the Day tomorrow, 4/5.
In other, better organized corners of the blogosphere:
- Elisabeth at You Can’t Call It “It” and Pam and Linda at Namberry offer up lists of names for children born on Easter. Some true rarities appear on the two lists: Ostara, Lissa, Nicodemus. But me? If I actually gave birth to a daughter on the holiday itself, I think I might just name my little Cadbury bunny Easter;
- Speaking of Nameberry’s Pam, did you catch her fabulous list of Top 50 Hot Names of the Future on The Daily Beast? There he is, on the boys’ list – my beloved Huxley. Plus Dante, Nico, Beau and Asa. It’s official – I’m not nearly as original as I thought I was;
- More proof! Over at 7×7.com, an article on The Frisco Kid pegs Huxley as a liberal Mission District name, along with Calder and Coyote, while Cow Hollow – my youngest sister’s former stomping grounds – is home to kids called Boden, Webb and Grace;
- CafeMom’s The Stir has Archie profiled as a Baby Name of the Day;
- Over at Legit Baby Names, there’s the pretty Dainora, plus Nissan isn’t just an import. He’s a Hebrew given name, too;
- Laney Russell‘s mom wouldn’t be here if not for the two paramedics who saved her life – and inspired her name;
- Names4Real spotted a newborn Coco Imogen in Australia. Is Imogene Coca unknown down under, or is little Coco in for a lifetime of wishing her parents had gone with Isobel or Evangeline;
- Of course, Coco Imogen is nuthin’ compared to Tequila Marie, also via For Real. Pretty sound, yes. And girls are called Brandy. I once met an Amtrak bartender called Champagne. (True story.) While I don’t think unusual names are necessarily burdensome, I do think Tequila is … well, not the best choice;
- ParentCentral Canada profiles a baby called Cedric Xavier – a name that seems weird to parents, to the post-Harry Potter generation will probably seem effortlessly cool;
- Laura Wattenberg’s post on The New Belle Epoque was interesting – and she’s quite right. I can imagine Elizabella catching on in a big way. But Sarabella? Maybe if she grows up to be a brain surgeon.
In all things related to the glamorous set:
- Okay, I kind of love Bret Michaels. It’s like eating a row of marshmallow Peeps – you know there’s nothing redeeming there, but you just can’t stop. I had no idea he had daughters, but a recent interview with Celebrity Baby Blog talked about his life as dad to daughters Raine and Jorja Bleu;
- Andrea Roth of FX’s Rescue Me welcomed a daughter, Ava Reese.
In other news, a few days ago a blogger called Crystal wrote “It looks like the ‘hot’ baby names right now aren’t as Twilight-centric as they were last year (thank GOD, there is nothing creepier than naming your baby Esme, people).” She’s not yet a mom herself, and that’s what interests me.
I don’t think there’s much connection between the rise of Esme and the Twilight novels. And the rise of Esme is so far a quiet event – I know two, but both were inspired more by JD Salinger than Stephenie Meyer. And both predate most of the Twilight hysteria. So does Michael J. Fox and Tracey Pollan’s youngest daughter, Esme Annabelle, born in 2001.
As of 2008, Esme remains outside of the US Top 1000. The average person might connect the vamp matriarch and your little girl, even if you were blissfully unaware of the story until after you’d signed the birth certificate. Edward, on the other hand, could make a big jump thanks to the vampire of the moment. But he’s such a classic that it probably won’t register for anyone outside of a few baby naming sites.
And that, dear readers, is why I’m so glad you’re here. Have a fabulous week!
Apparently you’re a year behind time (you listed the date as 4/4/09).
Thanks! I clearly need to start checking my driver’s license before I put my key in the front door, or else I’ll end up trying to barge into the wrong house …
I kind of love Bret Michaels too, but I hate when I see Georgia spelled Jorja.
I spent the morning at the public farm/playground near my house and met a pair of siblings named Chandler and Ambrey. Ambrey is pronounced AIM-bree. I don’t know how her parents spelled it, and I don’t know why they chose it – but somehow it goes with Chandler. Chandler, by the way, is definitely old enough to have been inspired by Friends.
It’s interesting to me to see how many girls are named Noelle or Holly or Natalie or other Christmas inspired names, and there are Easter inspired names, too. However, I can’t think of a name I’d use on my child if he were born on Channukah or Passover. Sam was born on the first day of spring. Anyone have suggestions for what I should have named him, based on the timing of his birth?
Would March be a good name for a boy? April, May and June seem feminine; January does too. But March seems masculine and makes me think of the family from Little Women.
Also, as he was born on the vernal equinox, you could have called him Knox.
Hopper makes me think of Easter bunnies, actors and artists.
That’s all I can think of for now. I fixed Easter dinner here, and my family just left, so I’m settled in to watch Undercover Boss.
Happy Easter!
March is from the god of war, so that’s definitely more masculine than feminine…but not at all an option.
Ah, but I love March … maybe in the middle spot.
Happy Easter, Verity! We here in Canada are set to enjoy the final day of Easter weekend: Easter Monday. I love four week holidays, even when I’m a SAHM! It means that the grandparents are about to lend a hand.
Cedric is the boys-name-of-choice for my husband and I, so I sincerely hope it doesn’t become too common or too intrinsically associated with Harry Potter (as much as I love the books).
Roseanna was born right around Easter last year, and while we made no effort to giver her an Easter name, I have had comments that her name seems to suit the season. I’m not sure that I would ever actively try to make a connection between when my child was born and their name, although I supposed that might change should I end up with a December 25th baby.
Wow, that’s a lot of eggs! Good on you for getting into the Easter spirit.
I did read Nameberry’s list of Top 50 Hot Names of the Future on The Daily Beast. Am I the only one who thought that the list is right on the money – but not for the future, for NOW? There didn’t seem anything “future” about it to me – all of those names were SO popular in 2009 and continue to be NOW, in 2010. Or is that just because I live in New Zealand, and recently lived in the UK? I have heard many times that we’re ahead on baby name trends, but never believed it until now.
apologies for the lower case letters, replying through my mobile phone. anyway, i adore esme as a name and think that despite the twilight phenomenon it really still remains a name nerd appellation, just because the majority of twilight fans are in their teens and by the time they get around to having children they may have moved on to the next naming trend (fingers crossed my twins are esme and cara, definetly on the j.d. salinger side
and most of my family remain blissfully unaware of the twilight connection!) happy easter everyone!
Happy belated Easter !
This whole Esme thing is actually quite funny to me. I’ve grown up thinking of Esme as a very normal name – it’s like Sarah or Jane or Rachael to me. My mom has known two. So, whenever I saw the whole Esme thing on the net or anyone mentioning Twilight, it was often a surprise as most of those names were always so normal to me. It’s very strange,as most of the suddenly ‘cool’ names or names that are vintage, different or refreshing (so described by people on forums that I’ve viewed) are often normal to me. It’s probably because of where I live.It’s the same as Louise- I think you said once that it’s not in the US 1000 , but I come across them or names like it reasonable often. Lol, it all leads to a rather odd reading experience when viewing blogs or similar things
Anyway, thanks for a great week & I hope you had a lovely weekend
Pesach and Nissan are usually given to males born around the Passover season, which falls on Spring.
Pascal, Anastasia, Parascheva are all Easter Names and are quite popular in the Eastern Orthodox world.