In Defense of Riley Anne and Evan Marie: Ten Reasons Boys’ Names on Girls Are Not a Sign of End Times

Boy and girl posed, three-quarter length, stan...

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Feeling feisty?  Head to a message board and announce that you’re naming your daughter Addison.  Or Quinn.  Or Mason.

Then run for cover.

Sure, some people will respond positively.  But depending on the forum, you could also find yourself accused of thievery, trendiness, and general bad taste.

I’m sympathetic to parents who feel they can’t use a name they’d long loved, for fear that their son Delaney will be scarred by sharing his name with girls.  But I’m not sure a girl named Ryan is a sign of the coming apocalypse.

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Sunday Summary: 11/22/09

First off, a Thanksgiving news alert:  I don’t plan to post on Thursday, November 26 or Friday, November 27.  I’m headed off to visit my in-laws in Detroit, and they have these crazy ideas about people sitting in the same room and enjoying each others’ company.  :)

It’s been a quiet week as the US readies for the holiday.  

Well, not entirely quiet.  The second Twilight flick,  New Moon, premiered.  Names spotted among those turning out for the festivities included designer Rachel Roy brought her 10 year old daughter Ava.  Rachel and husband Damon Dash also have a toddler called Tallulah Ruth.  (via Celebrity Baby Blog)  It’s interesting to see parents who embraced Ava ten years ago, when she was still on the rise, using Tallulah more recently.  Anyone else think that the once-outlandish name that had everyone abuzz when the Moore-Willis clan used it will go mainstream?  And if a search for “baby names Twilight” brought you here, check out this post: Not Just for Vampires Anymore.

In other celeb news, Tiffani Thiessen tells Extra that she and her husband aren’t considering “any freaky names.”  She doesn’t mention whether going through life as Tiffani-Amber colored her view.  We’ll have to wait and see.

On to some real life name-spotting:

  • I just returned from Target.  I was buying toddler tights while another mom was trying to persuade her daughter to try on a coat, but the daughter?  Was fleeing to the just-steps-away toy department.  The name the mother was calling?  ”Miracle!  Miracle, come back here!”  Insert your own joke about it-taking-an-act-of-God to distract a 3 y.o. from the toy department here;
  • Bewildertrix has spotted Leonidas George.  My baby brother swears Leonidas will be the name of his firstborn son, should that happy event ever come to pass.  She also uncovered an Elisabetta Ivy.  And a Zuma.  (No Gwen Stefani isn’t in New Zealand – he’s Zuma Louis, a non-celeb baby brother for Ava and Remi.)
  • For Real Baby Names spotted Dafne.  It may be a valid foreign variant, but to me it is like Jorja/Georgia - this one just looks better as the more familiar Daphne

Now for two Language Lessons from that sage font of wisdom, Nancy:

  • Hard G vs. Soft G – Sometimes they’re interchangeable – as in Jorja/Georgia – but other times, swapping a J for a G leads to confusion;
  • Doubling consonants – Ditto doubling a consonant.  It’s another popular way to make a name “unique,” but it can also cause confusion.

Truly unusual names are always found at Nameberry, and this week’s posts were no exception.  Check out the Lost Boys’ Names of 1880.  Why aren’t more boys named Zeb?  Or Hardy?  Others – including titles like Squire and Commodore – are best left to history.  (I work with a man in his 50s named General.  I don’t get the impression that he thinks much about his name one way or the other.)  For a change, the girls’ list is almost less interesting – maybe because I wouldn’t raise an eyebrow if I met a 2 y.o. called Mahala or Texas

Let’s end on a controversial note: the shortcomings of the Baby Name Wizard.  I recently noticed a post on Swistle (a big BNW adherent) that troubled me.  Just a few days earlier, Nancy recounted a similar story on her blog.  

An expectant mother, mom to Sophia, wrote to Swistle about the name Allegra.  She and her husband loved the name Allegra.  Loved the way nicknames Allie and Sophie sounded together.  But she worried about the allergy medication association.

Swistle wrote: “I love the name Allegra—and every time I want to suggest it, I back away because of the allergy medicine. I’m ANGRY at the company that stole it.”

Swistle’s poll was evenly split: 52% no to Allegra; 48% yes.  But here’s the thing: Swistle’s framing of the question – “Is the name Allegra too associated with allergy medication to be used for a baby?” made it pretty clear that she thought Allegra was beyond consideration.  (Swistle is usually so judgment-free that I was really surprised by that.)

The mom herself recently wrote in:

“We ended up naming our daughter Lucy. I love her name, but I regret not being gutsy enough to go with Allegra. Personally, I’d encourage anyone considering the name to go for it. No matter what name you choose some people will like it and others will hate it.”

Lucy is a fine name.  I like it lots.  But how sad that much naming advice often tends to push parents to the middle, rather than embracing the names that we really love. 

I suspect the allergy medication reference is fleeting.  When the blogger at For Real Baby Names spotted a Dexy Adelaide, I mentioned the 80s pop hit “Come On, Eileen” – and sent ForReal running to Google.  Dexy, it appears, no longer means “one-hit wonder responsible for lodging the phrase too-rye-aye in my brain.”  And it hasn’t been that long.  It makes me think Allegra will be free of medication association by the time Allie hits the teenage years, if not sooner.

Thanks for reading!

What’s in a Name? Not So Much.

We at ApMtn can’t decide if we’re thrilled by the evidence uncovered by Michael Sherrod and Matthew Rayback in their new book Bad Baby Names, or a bit disappointed.

I’ve yet to read the book, but wanted to recommend the New York Times article.  If you haven’t already read it, check it out.  The duo suggests that there have always been outrageous, outlandish names and that a moniker like Candy Stohr or Mary Christmas does not hamstring a child.  The same is true for a name like Oswald or Harriet.  While we might have a negative impression of the name, the person we meet can quickly overcome our initially unfavorable impression.

There are two ways to take this, of course.

One: Go ahead.  Name your kiddo Ebenezeromeo.  He’ll do fine in life anyhow.

Two: Not so fast.  Sure, it won’t ruin your kid’s life to christen him Diesel.  But that doesn’t make it a good plan.

For now, we’re going with Two.  And running down to the bookstore to order a copy of the book.

The Myth of the Normal Name

Visit nearly any baby name forum and it’s amazing how often you’ll hear variations on one comment:

Give your kid a normal name!

What’s more dazzling is that this criticism can be in response to nearly any choice – from a chart topper like Ava or Aiden, to standards like Henry or Beatrix.

I’d like to put forward a simple tenet of baby naming: there is no such thing as normal.

The definition of normal is regular; conforming to the common type. The best measure of this then, must be the Top 20 – or perhaps 50 – names, and thanks to the Social Security Administration, data on “normal” names is readily available.

Scan it for a few minutes, and I’m sure you’ll agree: just like hemlines have always varied, baby names have come in and out of vogue. With the exception of a very few names – mostly for boys – the Top 50 are far from a stable list. Continue reading