Conventional media is still abuzz with news that Jacob and Isabella are the most popular baby names in the US for 2009. Yawn. Luckily, the baby name blogosphere has moved on to more interesting topics. Here are my two Big Questions of the week:
- Is the speed of change in baby name trends accelerating? Elisabeth mentioned the possibility in her post about the Top 100 baby names of 2009 over at You Can’t Call It “It.“ We’ve certainly seen the pace pick up over the generations, but I was whopperjawed at the rise and fall of Miley.
- Is it right to correct a name’s meaning when a parent’s assertion is just plain inaccurate? Nancy asked the question specifically about reporters, but it comes up in discussion, too – online and off.
And, of course, Time Magazine pondered Why Do Babies Have the Same Names? They called it “The Twilight Effect.” Is it me, or did they completely miss an important point? Sure, lots of us are naming our kids Jacob and Isabella and Emma and Ethan. But, generation after generation, we’ve become more tolerant of diversity in baby names. Maybe my perspective is skewed by living in a big urban area with a huge international population, but I’m most impressed by how few kids continue to receive the most common names.
In good ol’ fashioned name-spotting this week:
- Design Mom blogger Gabrielle Blair and husband Ben welcomed daughter Flora June, a little sister for Ralph, Maude, Olive, Oscar and Betty. They’re calling her June. Congratulations;
- Speaking of June, she’s on the Quirky Classics for Girls list at Nameberry’s Baby Names 2010: What Names are Heading This Way? In the harder to classify category are the testosterone-charged Gunner and Ace. All this means that circa 2040, we should be seeing marriage announcements for mismatched couples like Annabelle and Colt;
- For Real brings us reports of London newborns called Myrtle, Ludovic and Albus, as well as a girl called Betzabet in Maine and another named Manhattan Rose, presumably not in New York;
- Nancy crunched the data to bring us Which Baby Name Ranked #1 in the Most States? The handful of names that the top spot in just one state are an interesting mix: Addison, Aiden, Allison, Daniel, Jose, Ryan and Wyatt;
- More data-crunching: Baby Name Wizard announced that Kaydence was the fastest rising name of the decade. The name Cadence was worn by American Pie’s band camp alum Michelle’s little sis in 2003′s American Wedding, but she was on the rise before. Caydence is just a step behind the K-spelling;
- You give your child a nice, normal name like Richard and what happens? Language Log tells us that Richard Smith of Carlisle, England, legally changed his name to Stormhammer Deathclaw Firebrand. And I thought For Real spotted some truly eye-popping appellations;
- I love Julie’s description of her kids: “My children are wonderful, hilarious, terrifying little creatures. It is still mind-boggling that we have one kid, let alone three.” Their names are nice, too: Henry, Eli and Zuzu;
- Nancy brings us a story about baby Karina, born to the wife of a Soviet scientist aboard a ship in the Kara Sea in 1933. And that’s only part of the story;
- Ellie Kate’s mom mentions Sylvie as a possible name for a future daughter. Well, Sylvie and Phyer. But Ellie’s dad veto’d Phyer, so that’s out. I found her post via Kelly’s Korner, a blog that asked parents to share lists of their kids’ names or future names – there are over 400 links!
And Claudia Schiffer has a new daughter, but if Caspar and Clementine’s little sis has a name, they’ve yet to share. The supermodel mentioned she was struggling with name choices, so it is possible they’re still debating. My money is on Cordelia, but I bet she’ll surprise us all.
That’s all for today. As always, thanks for reading and have a great week!
Oooh, I love the last link with the list of “future names”. Makes for some interesting reading. Especially when I can’t decide on names ahead of time and if I could, I don’t like telling everyone anyway.
”All this means that circa 2040, we should be seeing marriage announcements for mismatched couples like Annabelle and Colt.”
I LOVE the fact that this might happen
It makes life so much more interesting & gives people more naming freedom. It’s a big positive for me
Kelly’s Korner is completely fascinating. Not only just for the names, but there are prayer lists for people waiting both to get pregnant, as well as for “a godly husband.”
For Claudia Schiffer, I don’t think she will go with a C name. If she were to, I would love to see Cordelia or Cecily.
Kelly’s Korner is completely fascinating. Not only just for the names, but there are prayer lists for people waiting both to get pregnant, as well as for “a godly husband.”
For Claudia Schiffer, I don’t think she will go with a C name. If she were to, I would love to see Cordelia or Cecily.
I’m pretty sure I’m never going to stop laughing about Betzabet! Oh lordy! Hahaha, I wonder if it really was a bet…
That’s funny. I just googled “Betzabet” and this post was the first thing to come up. For REAL is the fourth. In between are two Betzabets on Facebook, plus some more– all with Latino surnames.
I’m betting it’s a version of Bathsheba.
Ugh. Cadence is bad enough (might as well name your child Rhythm) but Caydence and Kaydence really piss me off.
Love the last link too!
My 2 yr old daughter has a Kaydance in her class.
I thought it was interesting in the Times article when it pointed out that about 1/2 of girls’ names in the top 100 end in ‘a’. My husband and I were just noting that almost all the baby girls we know have ‘a’ ending names. Makes me want to avoid that trend entirely (which deletes a lot of my names!)
Interesting. Almost none of the little girls I know have names ending in ‘a’.
When we were naming our daughter, I noticed that most of the names I liked ended in ‘a’ (Sylvia, Stella, Isla, Willa, Arabella) but we ended up with a name that didn’t end in ‘a’.
I just made a quick list of all the girls I know locally. There’s Cora, Emma and Ava – but most of the names don’t end in ‘a’. Oh and there was a Laela at Kindergarten when we visited last week.
In fairness, many languages, including most indo-european languages, denote the feminine with an -a ending, so it naturally follows that many girl names in English and borrowed for other European languages end in a. Names that end in a automatically sound a little bit more feminine or frilly at times, to me. I know plenty of a-enders (2 Mias, Eva, Sophia, and Rebecca). But I also noticed that 20% of the top 100 end in an -ee sound (a variety of spellings) and 10% end in and -n (mainly -lyn and -son). I know plenty of those enders too (for starters, my kid is Imogen, but I know 2 Madisons and a Madelyn, plus a Catelyn and on the -ee side I know a Riley, a Manouki -not sure how it’s spelled, but mom is from Sri Lanka – a Cassie, a Lily, a McKenzie – that is how she spells it- and a Callie). Breaking the pattern, a neighbor recently welcomed a Camille, which they pronounce cah-MILL.
I don’t so much mind the a enders, but I note that there are few on my list of names we truly considered for a girl. Since there is such a variety of sounds that precede the a endings, it feels less like a pattern that the -sons and the -lyns, for example.
i think that there is a trend for the more romantic, even italian-spanish sounding names hence all the a endings. as i tend towards liking more french sounding names there isnt many names ending in a that i really love. oh and jne i love that you called your daughter imogen, its not so unusual in england where i am but i can imagine she will be the only one in her class with that name!