Yea or Nay: Beth

There’s no Baby Name of the Day today, but there is a name that’s been on my mind: Beth.

She’s a nickname for the evergreen Elizabeth, but if you’re under thirty, you’re more likely to answer to a different diminutive.  I’ve met Elizabeths called Libby, Ellie, Elle and even the retro Betsy, but all of the Beths I know are Boomers.

Beth peaked in the 60s, was immortalized in a 1976 Kiss ballad and then left the rankings after 1997.  But the recent Glee rendition of Beth, coupled with last year’s teen flick I Love You Beth Cooper, has me wondering if Beth will make a comeback.

And so I ask readers: Beth, yea or nay?

Sunday Summary: 5/30/10

For those of you in the US, Happy Memorial Day weekend!  There will be no Baby Name of the Day on Monday, May 31.

But never fear!  There’s news aplenty to occupy your quiet hours:

  • This post at Swistle raises one of my favorite questions: how close is too close? Can you name your daughter Dorothy and your son Theodore?  It seems awfully close to me, and it would be nearly impossible to name a third child.  But both names are great;
  • Speaking of my favorite questions, The Stir raised the question of misspelled baby names. Comments ran the gamut from those who hate, hate, hate them to the mother of four kids named Corynne, Caleb, Caidy and Cayleigh.  They raised the question thanks to a rant at CafeMom prompted by a birth announcement spotted for a Madicyn.  I think there’s a lot going unsaid in these conversations, but mostly, I find myself leaning more and more towards defending variant spellings;
  • Which reminds me – I didn’t realize Cyndi Lauper had kids, much less a tween son called Declyn;
  • For Real spotted a birth announcement for Sweden Piper.  It’s a far more inventive place name than Brooklyn or Savannah and I guess they can call her SwedieSweetie – for short.  Whether that makes the name extra fabulous or seriously problematic, I cannot say;
  • I stumbled across this post from a mom of ten (soon to be eleven!) who listed all of her kids’ first and middle names.  It’s an interesting assortment:  Morganne Natalia, Brennan Geoffrey, Lliam Donal, Bonny Dianne, Gavin Xavier, Dierdre Marie, Ronan Wainwright, MacKenna Elyse, Grayse Dawn and Avalon Noelle.  I’m particularly impressed by Wainwright – it’s a reboot of the family name Wayne;
  • Which reminds me – this is one of my favorite lists of all time is Linda’s Rubes, Hayseed and Bumpkins at Nameberry.  The range from nearly mainstream choices like Gus and Jasper to up-next picks like Chester, Rufus and Silas to wow, out there options.  I can’t quite picture a baby named Floyd;
  • I’m not suggesting you give your child an Inuit name inspired by the beluga whales at Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium.  But it is an interesting list, and if Maya is so popular, maybe Naya could catch on.  Just don’t tell your daughter about the connection until she grows up to be a marine biologist;
  • I lived in Western Pennsylvania for years, not so very far from the West Virginia border. Laura Wattenberg’s post on the name Dreama struck a chord – I did, indeed, know a Dreama and she was from WV and named after her mother.  No idea why, though … I once asked Dreama and she wasn’t sure how her grandmother settled on the name, either;
  • ABC Family’s latest show about the secret life of American teenagers is Pretty Little Liars, based on a series of young adult novels.  The characters’ names?  Hanna, Emily, Aria and Spencer.  Spencer is played by an actress called Troian.  If the show is successful, it could have an impact on baby names in 2010;
  • I’m a huge fan of the name Rebecca L of Girl’s Gone Child chose for her daughter, Fable.  Sebastiane gives us the intriguing Estonian equivalent, Valme;
  • Sebastiane also rounded up some of the most intriguing names for saints from across the globe.  If truly unusual but not invented is your wish, this is the list for you.  I can just hear it now: meet my sons Fragan, Malo, Ot and Lot, and their sister Elined;
  • In the wake of the rankings announcements, CNN attempts to put a fresh spin on the name conversation by asking Does Your Name Shape Your Destiny? They trotted out some reliable experts and some solid facts, but the important point they missed, I think, is that our perceptions of specific names are not fixed.  Barbara and Linda were once the height of fashion, today’s Olivia and Ava.  Now they’re your aunt’s names.  Someday, they may be back in style right in time for you to do a double-take when your daughter announces her name for a daughter.

In starbaby news:

Next Saturday we kick off our Reader Baby Name Stories.  I’m SO excited to share what you’ve shared!

Have a great weekend, and see you on Tuesday.  Thanks for reading!

Baby Name of the Day: Morven

If Erin and Tara can be names for daughters, why not this poetic place name?

Thanks to Anya for suggesting Morven as Baby Name of the Day.

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Baby Name of the Day: Anemone

Deep Sea Anemone

Deep Sea Anemone from NOA

The world’s most famous clownfish stumbled over this word.  How would it wear on a daughter?

Thanks to JNE for suggesting Anemone as Baby Name of the Day.

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Baby Name of the Day: Kateri

There’s Katherine and Katelyn, plus Katie, Kate, Kaitlyn and Catherine, too.  With six Kate- names in the US Top 200, and endless variants heard over the years, how has this intriguing option failed to chart?

Thanks to Meredith for suggesting Kateri as Baby Name of the Day.

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Starbaby News: Welcome Cosima

Claudia Schiffer’s daughter has a name! (Hat tip to Names from Adam to Eve.)  Her three kids are Clementine, Caspar and new baby Cosima Violet.

Celeb chef Nigella Lawson has a Cosima, too.  What a great name!  It’s never been in the US Top 1000.  Wonder if she’ll catch on?

Baby Name of the Day: Thisbe

If you love Zoe and Chloe, but fear they’re too popular, here’s one to consider.

Thanks to Urban Angel for suggesting Thisbe as Baby Name of the Day.

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Baby Name of the Day: Lydia

She’s an ancient place name with an appealing spiritual link plus she starts with a lovely, lilting letter.

Thanks to Danielle for suggesting Lydia as our Baby Name of the Day.

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Sunday Summary: 5/23/10

Thanks to everyone who has submitted their Baby Name Stories.  Keep ‘em coming!  They’ll be found here on Saturdays starting in June.  And I also appreciate all of you who de-lurked to suggest a Baby Name of the Day.  I’ll be scheduling the lurker posts tomorrow, so check back and you’ll know when your name is going to be profiled.

Summer movie season is just beginning.  Aly and I have plans to see Toy Story 3, but what I’m really wondering when I walk past the multiplex these days?

Will Russell Crowe’s Robin Hood revive interest in the name?  He did wonders for Maximus.  And, of course, there’s Jake Gyllenhaal’s upcoming turn as Dastan in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.  If parents can embrace Daxton and Zayden, will Dastan be far behind?  Oh, and Ellen Page plays Ariadne in the new Leonardo DiCaprio thriller Inception.  Adrianna is fine, but Ariadne is stunning.

But the theme for this week seems to be more about those Really? name moments.  Gracing the front page of my local paper Thursday morning was a pair of cute little girls at a community festival.  Their names?  Cashay and Lashay.  Not twins, but sisters just a year apart.

Along the same lines, there’s:

  • Nameberry’s Most Hated Baby Names was another of their ask-the-readers columns.  Nevaeh and the -aidens featured prominently, but also perfectly conventional picks like Emily and Hannah;
  • Creative spellings featured large on the Nameberry list, which reminds me of this news story about an Australian family.  All four kids have a -y in their namesTayla, Mitchyl, Harrisyn and Samuyl. The only one that strikes me as really beyond is Samuyl.  I’m just not sure that -uyl can substitute for -uel;
  • For Real spotted a Happi Star Evelyn Rose. All of a sudden Cashay seems like Margaret;
  • The Stir gives us a little girl called Syren. After an evil mermaid/human on supernatural soap Passions.  And her dad is a firefighter;
  • But hey, unusual names are nothing new, as Nancy proves in her story about the first baby born in flight, back in October 1929.  And get this: the parents chartered the flight just so mom could give birth!  Nancy does some digging and determines the baby’s name very appropriate name was Airlene;
  • Baby Name Pool winners were posted at Baby Name Wizard.  Jill was the high scorer.  She picked Bentley, Bristol and Bradyn to rise; Joseph, Jessica and Diego to fall.  Laura Wattenberg’s comment on the winning ballot was priceless:  ”Of all of the cultural memes shaping name trends, ‘pregnant teenagers’ hardly springs to mind. Yet the sudden rise of Bentley was spurred by a baby featured on the MTV reality shows 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom. Bristol Palin, meanwhile, emerged as a naming force not in the year that her mother ran for vice president, but in the year that she became a single teenage mom.”
  • Proof that you can put anything in the middle spot, especially if the first name is a classic: For Real’s post on the Best of Grace: From the classic-with-a-classic Grace Catherine to a more current pick, like Grace Harlow or Grace Presley.

Let’s turn to Tinsel Town, where the biggest starbaby news was the arrival of Aviana Olea, there’s also:

That’s all for this week.  As always, thanks for reading!

Calling All Lurkers

If you’re a regular here, you’ll know that the best way to request a Baby Name of the Day is to email appmtn (at) gmail (dot) com.

But if you’re not quite that bold, here’s your chance: if you’ve never, ever, ever requested a NotD here, go ahead and leave a suggestion in the comments.  I’ve blocked a week in July for requests from readers who have never asked before.

You can suggest as many as you like, but I’ll take just one per lurker.  I can’t wait to read what you think up!