#27 by DJ Dwayne via Flickr

I’m a television addict under the best of circumstances.  But when I’m under the weather?  I’m incorrigible.  The TV stays on 24/7.  I’ve just recovered from the sickest I’ve been in years, and here are my hastily scribbled notes from a few days’ with the remote in one hand and Puffs-plus in the other:

• A sibset from one of those bringing-home-baby shows: Genesis, Marlena, Tina, Justin, and the family’s newest addition: Paris Angelina, because it was a “classy” name.  They seemed like a nice couple, but maybe not the most thoughtful of babynamers.
• I watched a healthy chunk of the Haylie & Hilary Duff vehicle Material Girls, where the real-life sisters play characters with a passing resemblance to real-life sisters Paris and Nicky Hilton.  Should I admit this? Anyway, their characters were named Ava and Tanzie Marchetta.
• Then there was a predictable-but-sweet Julia Stiles movie, Carolina.  Julia plays Carolina, big sis to Georgia and Maine.  All three sisters were named after the states where they were born – “postmarks” as Carolina tells it.  During the flick, Georgia has a son she names California Theodore;
• At rock bottom, I watched several episodes of Toddlers & Tiaras.  A pageant-obsessed mom to an uncooperative 18 month-old said she had considered naming her daughter America, so she’d be Miss America.  Instead, they went with Samijo.

Elsewhere online:

• I’m thoroughly enjoying Nancy’s series on Hollywood Baby Names, like her post on Kiefer;
• ForReal spotted a boy named Vale Joseph.  I’m very curious about the -ale names.  I mentioned Vail here last year, inspired by Young and the Restless actress Vail Bloom.  It didn’t get a great response for a girl.  Is it any better on a boy?
• This gallery of celebrity-inspired baby names was fun.  Bowen and Bardot, anyone?
• Ooh, look … Nameberry mentioned Nona!
• And a Swistle reader named her daughter Cleo Celine, a little sister for Meryl and Quentin;
• Nomes e mais nomes mentioned the lovely Cleodora on a list of mythological names – but it isn’t approved for use in Portugal.  Too bad!
• Here’s a story from Texas about a couple with two kids – Evonne, called Evie, and Cohen, plus baby-on-the-way Cate Elizabeth.  The names are unsurprising, but it’s that last paragraph that really bugs me: how many parents really “agree on a theme, such as modern or spiritual” then “each make a list of their favorite names, then compare …”  Um, okay.  If I’d asked my husband to define his baby naming style, I can guarantee I’d have been met with a blank stare.  Has that approach worked for anyone?
• By now I’m sure you’ve read reports about babies in frontier states having more unusual names. There’s something to their findings, I suppose, but I’m not sure they’ve got the whole picture. Statistics also show that moms living in the Northeast are, on average, several years older when they have their first child.  Experience tells me that older parents tend to choose more conservative names, and they’re far less likely to use off-the-wall spellings.  Their findings on names might be correct, but their assumption that frontier states’ individualistic cultures are the reason … not necessarily so.

It was a quiet week in Hollywood, but there was one notable new arrival: E’s Kristin Dos Santos welcomed a son, Matteo Tomaz, a little brother for Luca Alexander.  As Pam pointed out, those Mateo and Luca are also the names of Colin Firth’s two sons with Livia Giuggioli.

Tomorrow at Nameberry, I’m bringing you NASCAR-inspired baby names.  There are more than you think.

Be sure to visit next Saturday, when we’ll kick off March madness.  I’ll have a post up explaining the play-off process later this week.

As always, thanks for stopping by!