Zona Gale; Image via Wikipedia

She’s a blast from the past, a once common name worn by a famous writer.  Today, she’s all but unknown – and not likely to return.

Thanks to Beth one from her family tree for our Baby Name of the Day: Zona.

Zona literally translates to girdle in Greek.  Plenty of ancient mythologies considered them garments of great power – Aphrodite’s could ignite love and passion.  Ishtar’s girdle kept the world fruitful and multiplying.  They could be borrowed and stolen, and men wore them, too – Odysseus had a magic one that was part-life vest, and Thor stored his weapons in one.  They’re little more than a belt.

Since then, girdles evolved to a sort of women’s foundation garment, something to cinch in the waist, and then changed once more, to something also as obsolete as a petticoat.

Zona is also the source of our word zone – a geographic belt.  The sense has expanded until zone is synonymous with area.

I’m not clear if the given name is related to the Greek word.  But here’s what I do know: Zona ranked in the US Top 1000 from 1880 through 1941.  A few possible origins include:

• Other -ona names were big in the era – Nona, Ona, Lona, Leona, Dona, Mona, Iona, Arizona, Winona, Ramona, Verona, and Frona all ranked in the Top 1000.  And short, seemingly invented Z-names were in favor, too, including Zella, Zula, Zora, Zelma, Zola, Zetta, Zilpha, Zada, Zettie, Zelda, Zoa, Zelia, and Zana.
• Zona has Serbian roots, too, though I can’t pin down a specific origin.  A 1906 novel was titled Zona Zamfirova, and it was successfully adapted for the big screen in 2002.  In the story, a rich man’s daughter – Zona – falls for an ordinary Joe.  All ends happily.

Speaking of literature, Zona Gale was born in Wisconsin in 1874, became a writer, and eventually the first woman to the win the Pulitzer Prize for drama.  Gale was well-educated – she earned a master’s degree – and worked as a journalist in New York before returning home to devote herself to fiction.  Her stage adaptation of her bestseller Miss Lulu Bett would win her the Pulitzer in 1921.  In the story, Lulu strikes out on her own, leaving an unappreciative family and a failed marriage.  Besides her literary triumphs, Gale was a suffragette and activist.

There’s another nineteenth Zona, and her story is very sad.  Zona Heaster was murdered by her husband in 1897.  The crime might have gone undiscovered, but shortly after Zona’s funeral, her mother claimed that her daughter’s ghost appeared and explained that her death was no mere accidental fall, but murder.  Her mother successfully campaigned to have her daughter’s body exhumed, and an autopsy performed.  Sure enough, Zona had met a bad end, and her husband spent the remainder of his days in prison.

All of this makes Zona feel like an intriguing forgotten name with a modern sound.  And yet there is one almost insurmountable problem.  In Hebrew, Zona translates to prostitute – and that’s a gentle translation.  In our ever-so-connected world, this fact would be readily discovered by a daughter.

If you have Zona on your family tree, she’s a lovely choice for the middle spot, with her subtle connection to mythology and her literary pedigree.  But as a given name, it seems likely to prove challenging.  There are many other Zo- names from the same era without baggage.  Then again, I’m not certain how widely known zona is as an insult in the US.  Have you heard it?  And is it a deal-breaker?

Photo by me and the sysop via Flickr

Looking for name that is both a literary and a Biblical heavy hitter?

Thanks to Marlene for suggesting one that fits the bill.  Our Baby Name of the Day is Ishmael.

Ishmael has a distinctive sound, one that isn’t found in too many names.  (Alicia and company are the glaring exception.)  But the -ael ending is fairly common.  Michael and Raphael both spring to mind, and other popular names, like Gabriel, Samuel, and Nathaniel are similar, too.

If not the sound, could it be the meaning?  Nope.  Ishmael comes from the Hebrew for God will hear, or maybe God has heard – and this child is the answer.  After all, the Old Testament Ishmael is the much-longed for son of Abraham.

Oh, wait – maybe that is the problem.  After all, Abraham has another son – Isaac - afterwards, and Isaac is the one who inherits, making Ishmael the also-ran, eventually sent away.

Depending on your history, Ishmael became the father of the Arabs, including eventually the prophet Muhammad, making him a big deal in Islam.  He’s slightly less significant in Judaism – there’s speculation that Ishmael got the boot for living large, not just for offering a rival to Isaac.

But in Christianity, Ishmael seems to be largely synonymous with outcast, with emphasis on his dismissal.  And this leads us to the most famous bearer of the name, the fictional narrator of Herman Melville’s classic fish tale Moby-Dick.

Published in 1851, Moby-Dick is the story of Captain Ahab and the whale he seeks.  The narrator introduces himself with the memorable opening line “Call me Ishmael,” but we never learn if it is his real name.  He’s highly educated and keenly aware that going to sea was a sort of self-imposed banishment, not unlike the Biblical figure.  It’s led to speculation that the narrator’s phrasing “Call me …” was intentional, since he reveals little about himself.

The story’s success wasn’t enough to make American parents embrace Ishmael, though he’s long hovered at the edge of the Top 1000, making his most recent appearance in 1998.

The Spanish version of the name – Ismael - tells a different story.  Ismael ranked #362 in the US last year, a steadily used name.  In Spain, Ismael was quite popular just a few years ago, and still hovers near the Top 50.  He’s still on the rise in France, nearing the Top 100.

Ismael’s success might be attributed to Spanish or Islamic influence, though the ordinary spelling in most Arab languages is Ismail or sometimes Esmail, worn by rulers and politicians, athletes and actors.

All of this leaves Ishmael at sea.  He sounds very religious, the kind of Old Testament appellation non-believing parents often avoid.  But if you are looking for a name from the Judeo-Christian tradition, you’ll only use Ishmael if the story of his exile isn’t a concern – and that’s less likely.  Ismael and Ismail have an appealing sound, but probably only work for families considering them as heritage choices.

A young adult novel and a work of philosophical fiction also bear the name, but they have not changed our perceptions.

And so Ishmael remains on his own.  This makes him either the choice you’ve been looking for – the literary, Biblical name that isn’t as popular as Noah and Elijah - or one whose story puts him on the not-quite list.

Casimir II; Image via Wikipedia

He’s a Slavic import with a certain dashing style.

Thanks to Larkin for suggesting Casimir as our Baby Name of the Day.

Casimir comes from two apparently contradictory elements.  Mir means peace, but kazic means to destroy.  The original sense is probably something like “one who destroys the peace of his enemy,” but modern parents could focus on the peaceful part.

You can hear both French and Polish pronunciations here.  In English, kaz EH meer is probably closest.

Polish kings, nobles, and a saint have answered to the original form of the name, Kazimierz.  Neighbors in Pomerania had adopted it by the twelfth century, but it would be centuries until he reached Western Europe.

The quartet of Polish rulers make for a relatively admirable bunch.  Casimir III established the Jagiellonian University in Cracow in the 1300s, the oldest university in Poland and among the oldest in the world.

But perhaps Casimir IV’s son – the future saint – is the one that helped the name spread.  He was expected to inherit the Polish throne, and even served as vice-regent in his father’s absence.  But Casimir wasn’t willing to marry, and spent much of his time fasting.  He died in 1484, while visiting Lithuania.  He’s the patron saint of Poland, Lithuania, and youth.

A German prince is called Johann Casimir in the late 1500s, and over the next few hundred years, the name goes global:

• Spanish-born Casimiro Diaz evangelized the Philippines in the early eighteenth century.
• He’s also found in France by the eighteenth century, where Casimir, Comte de Montrond, was involved in various diplomatic affairs.
• Born Louis-Casimir Escoffer and known as Casimir Ney, the nineteenth century French composer was a master at viola.
• Casimir Dudevant was the French nobleman best known for marrying Aurore Dupin – the future George Sand.
• Count Kasimir Felix Badeni was a Polish aristocrat, who played a key role in administering the Austro-Hungarian Empire administration, though he was not particularly adept at his work.
• Casimiro de Abreu was a Brazilian-born poet who flourished in Portugal in the mid-nineteenth century.
• Casimiro is also in use in Italy around the same time, with a powerful Italian-born cardinal called Casimiro Gennari.
• Jean Casimir Guyon was a French surgeon and pioneer in urology in the early years of the twentieth century.

Casimir had a good run in France, peaking in the 1930s.  But in the 1970s, an orange dinosaur called Casimir dominated children’s television.  Just like Barney struggles to overcome his associations with a purple T-Rex in the US, I suspect it has put a damper on the name.

In the US, Casimir appeared at the fringes of the Top 1000 into the 1930s, but today is simply unknown.

Short form Cass leans a little girlish, though Cas, pronounced Kaz, is almost cowboy.  And if you think you’re likely to use all three syllables, just like so many kids called Sebastian and Isabelle do, then there’s no barrier to Casimir.  It’s a great Slavic option with plenty of history and style.

e61 by Too Far North via Flickr

Take the -ia from Olivia and Sophia, borrow the El- from Ella and Elizabeth, and you’ll arrive at a terribly pretty possibility for a daughter, one that just might have ancient roots.

Thanks to Cindy for suggesting her daughter’s name, Ellia as our Baby Name of the Day.

Ellia has multiple possible origins, from the simple assemblage of popular sounds to ties to a traditional Old Testament name.

• Ellia may simply have emerged as a variant, and perhaps even a feminine form, of Elijah and Elias.  Elijah was slimmed down to Elia in Italian and several other European tongues – think of legendary director Elia Kazan.  Census records suggest that plenty of men answered to Ellia, too, at least in the US, and almost certainly as a twist on the Biblical name.
• In more modern moments, I’ve heard Ellia connected to the French elle - she.  But since Elle is also a given name with ties to the popular Ella family, this one is probably on the fanciful side.

But here’s the most intriguing of them all.  The Roman gens Aelia was prominent for centuries in the ancient world.  The Emperor Hadrian was among their members, as were many distinguished figures well into the fourth century.  Aelia Paetina was the second wife of Emperor Claudius, so we know that Aelia was the preferred feminine form for family members.

The origins of Aelia and company are debated, but one suggestion is that it connects to the Greek helios - sun.

Plenty of names have come down to us from ancient days, and while Aelia is poorly represented on the map today, it was once common, bestowed by Hadrian and others to places where they constructed bridges or settlements.  Aelia Capitolina once stood on the site of modern-day Jerusalem.  Aelia survived in the Byzantine Empire even longer, worn by a few more empresses.

Could the personal name have trickled down over the years?  Cindy found it on her husband’s Italian family tree, traced back over several centuries.  This tracks with the census records – while some nineteenth century American Ellias were men, an equal number were women – suggesting that two separate origins for the name might be perfectly plausible.

With the exception of Cindy’s report, I can’t confirm another medieval Ellia.  Still, Italian was such a fragmented language, and written records were so slim that it means little.  It also strikes me that Ellia might have been recorded differently in Latin – could she be hiding as Elisabetta?

Two pop culture references might put Ellia on a 21st century parents’ radar:

• Actress Ellia English has had a long career, from the television adaptation of Fame in the 1980s to the present-day Disney Channel series Good Luck, Charlie.
• There was also a minor – but important – character on sci-fi series Stargate Atlantis.  Jewel Staite of Firefly fame, played Ellia.

But is Ellia the kind of name that a modern parent would consider?  Look no further than Project Nursery.

Ellia has all the markings of a stylish moniker.  Her sound fits right in with Amelia, Stella and Eleanor - strong, smart, creative names for a daughter that wear well throughout life.  And while she might strike some as invented, her roots run deep.  If you’re looking for something just a little bit different, Ellia is one to consider.

Photo by ambernectar via Flickr

It’s a classic cocktail and a medieval appellation.  Would it be a possibility today?

Thanks to Findley for suggesting Pimm as our Baby Name of the Day.

I first encountered Pimm as a nickname for the heroine’s friend in the chick lit-ish Me Times Three.  Then it was a mysterious concoction favored by all of the posh socialite types in Madeleine Wickham novels.

Pimm’s is a gin-based liqueur, touted as medicinal by inventor James Pimm in the 1820s.  The original drink is Pimm’s No. 1 Cup.  As the company expanded, additional blends were added, all with a number.  Although it is now owned by global spirits conglomerate Diageo, Pimm’s still has a certain cachet – at least from an American perspective – thanks to its associations with Wimbledon, polo, and all things English country house.

The surname predates James Pimm, found on families back to the Middle Ages.  There are two possible – and possibly overlapping – origins.

First Pimm could come from Euphemia - a Greek name that literally translates to “good speech.”  The second-century martyr St. Euphemia is a major figure in Eastern Christianity.  Chances are that she came to the attention of the English-speaking world thanks to the Crusades starting in the late eleventh century.  The saint’s relics were captured by Crusaders, and her name begins to appear throughout Western Europe around the same time.

Effie and Phemie are the logical short forms of Euphemia, but why Pimm?  It may have simply been a corruption, or it may come from the Middle English tendency to pronounce every letter.  Many medieval Euphemias actually spelled their name with an f – Effemy is one vernacular form.  Pymme, Pimme, and Pimm are all found, too.

Second, it could be derived from a Saxon masculine name Pymma.  But whether your surname related to the Saxons or developed later would be difficult to say.  A number of sites conflate the two, even though several centuries separate them.

There’s another masculine origin for Pimm.  In Dutch, he’s a short form of Willem.  Just like the English William can answer to Bill, Willem becomes Wim and Wim has morphed into Pim.  Anne Frank and her sister Margot used this nickname for their father, though his given name was Otto.

Today you might catch financial journalist Pimm Fox of Bloomberg News – I’m not certain how he came by his unusual name.

You won’t likely meet a child named Pimm, though.  It was given to fewer than five girls or boys in 2010, and has never registered in the US Top 1000.  It’s so little used that gender is impossible to assign.  On the one hand, Pimm has the same sweet simplicity as Nell or Ann.  On the other hand, with short names like Finn and Flynn on the rise for boys, parents are considering choices like Penn or perhaps even Pimm.

The alcoholic associations are probably why more parents haven’t landed on this particular sound, but there’s enough history here to consider Pimm a possible choice in the middle spot.  Or, if you dare, a simple, crisp given name that you can explain has origins that date back to well before happy hour.

Artemis was a goddess, eternally young.  Today’s choice honors the huntress, but has been worn by some rather extraordinary women.

Thanks to Christina for suggesting Artemisia as our Baby Name of the Day.

The meaning of Artemis is debated, with speculation linking her to everything from artemes - safe – to artamos - butcher to arte – great.  In any case, she was Apollo’s twin sister, a huntress and moon goddess, and a major member of the Greek pantheon.  It is no surprise to find personal names that honor Artemis.

The masculine version is Artemisios, and there are a few.  But it is the women answering to Artemisia who have been such a fascinating bunch.

First there’s the fifth century BC Ionian ruler Artemisia I of Caria.  She took the throne after her husband’s death and rode into battle with her army.

A few generations later, in the 350s BC, Artemisia II followed a similar path, succeeding her late husband.  The death of her departed husband hit her hard, and she truly mourned for Mausolus.  She lived just two years longer than her beloved, long enough to commission one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World – the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus.

Artemisia remained in use, at least in Italian:

• Florence’s exclusive Academy of Arts first female member was Artmeisia Gentileschi, a seventeenth century Baroque painter known for depicting famous women from myth and the Bible.  Her most noted work is Judith Beheading Holofernes.  Holofernes was the head of an invading army.  Judith slips into his tent and cuts off his head.  Most artists show her spiriting away his head, but Gentileschi painted the actual murder, complete with gory details.
• You’d expect one of these women to inspire an opera, but the seventeenth-century work by Cavalli called Artemisia follows a conventional romantic plot about star-crossed lovers.

Artemisia appears in the US Census records, often paired with an Italian surname, but not always.  In the era of Homer and Virgil, parents rediscovering a name associated with the Mausoleum, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, is plausible.  In the mid-1800s, archeologist Charles Thomas Newton was excavating the site and brought statues of Mausolus and Artemisia back to the British Museum, where they remain on display.

She’s never cracked the US Top 1000, but here’s something to consider: Artie was a Top 1000 choice from the 1880s into the 1930s.  A feminine form of Arthur, or an adaptation of the frilly and foreign Artemisia?  At least some of the census records conflate Artie and Artemisia, so it is possible – though still very much speculation.

Elaborate choices are popular for girls today – Savannah, Alexandra, Isabella.  Artemisia is slightly clunkier than those choices – among the vintage Hermiones.  She fits in the category of elaborate A- names with tomboy nicknames, too – think of Arcadia and Astoria.

As for specific nicknames?  Artemisia could answer to Artie, Ari, Mimi, Tem, or, for an Eastern European twist, Mishka.

There’s also the French version, Arthemise, which could be gorgeous in the middle spot.

It’s also rumored that a prequel to 2007′s 300 is in the works, one that will feature Artemisia I prominently – possibly reviving this name for a new generation.

If you’re looking for an unusual ancient name worn by strong, creative women, Artemisia is one that could work.

Image via Wikipedia

We have daughters named Ruby and Pearl, Gemma and Jewel, so why not this sparkling appellation?

Thanks to Marianne and Larkin for suggesting Garnet as our Baby Name of the Day.

Before you dismiss Garnet as another modern wacky noun name akin to Apple or Blue, check out the statistics.  Garnet ranked in the US Top 1000 most years from 1884 through 1944, and I’ve stumbled across elaborations like Garnetta.  Her best decades were from the 1900s and 1910s, so she’s on track for a 100-year revival.

Garnets have been prized since as early as 3000 BC.  They don’t have to be red, but we associate them with the color.  In fact, garnet comes from the French word grenat, referring to dark red, originally from the Latin granatum.  There’s a decent case that the color words relate to the pomegranate, the dark red fruit that figures in the myth of Persephone.

This lends some ancient and elemental heft to Garnet.  She’s less showy than Diamond or Emerald, more mineral than dazzling jewel.  Garnet is the birthstone for the month of January, making her a subtle seasonal choice, too.

While Garnet’s gemstone status pushes this one into the feminine category today, that wasn’t always the case.  Garnet – and Garnett and Garnette - also have a history as surnames, either for jewelers, or possibly for makers of hinges.  The cross-garnet hinge looks like the letter T, and was around well into the American colonial period and beyond.

Lastly, I’ve found a few attempts to connect Garnet to Guarin, an Old French name meaning protector, derived from the Germanic warin – guard.  It feels like a stretch, but it isn’t completely implausible.

With the surname connection, it should come as no surprise that Garnet has a history of use for men.  Like many unisex names, it was used in the same era it was popular for girls.  Garnet ranked in the US Top 1000 for boys a handful of times between 1882 and 1924.

A few notable Garnets include:

• British Army Field Marshal Garnet Wolseley, known for his service in Africa in the 1870s and 1880s.  Such was his reputation for efficiency and order that “everything’s all Sir Garnet” became a phrase meaning that all was in order.  Wolsley was parodied by Gilbert and Sullivan with their catchy tune about the “very model of a modern Major-General.”
• World War I flying ace Garnet Malley, later an advisor to Chiang Kai-shek.

Today Garnet’s feel is almost at home with boys’ names like Garrett, Everett, Emmett and Bennett.  But with ends-in-et is big for girls, too, with choices like Juliet, Scarlett and Violet in vogue.  Factor in Garnet’s gemstone and color connections, and this one starts to feel slightly better suited for Team Pink.

But mostly Garnet is a 21st century rarity.  In 2010 just five girls received the name, along with seven boys called Garnett. That’s impressively unusual, and suggests that you could use it for either gender.  I love Isadora’s description: It’s also unisex in the best possible way. I wouldn’t think, “Oh, they must have wanted a boy,” if parents gave this name to their daughter. And I wouldn’t worry about a son getting picked on.

Overall, Garnet is colorful, unusual, and has more history than you might expect from a nature name.

She’s the princess-ogre in Shrek, an Irish(ish) option with an appealing sound.

Thanks to Melissa for suggesting Fiona as our Baby Name of the Day.

Fiona is one of the first names I ever wrote about, before Names of the Day were a feature here at AppMtn.  She’s an intriguing appellation, with less history than some, but more story than most.

Some connect her to Fionnuala, a name from Irish myth, Anglicized as Fenella or Fionala or Finola.  But Fiona isn’t heard until the eighteenth century, when James Macpherson interpreted the old legends to create a wildly popular series of writings, starting with Fragments of ancient poetry, collected in the Highlands of Scotland, and translated from the Gaelic or Erse language in 1760.  Despite the ring of authenticity, evidence suggests that Macpherson invented more than he translated.

Debates about the stories’ origins raged, even as Macpherson’s work became an international sensation, widely read and translated into most European tongues.

Irish hero Finn McCool appears in Macpherson’s writings, as does Fiona.  Fiona appears to be a feminine form, based on the original spelling of Finn – Fionn.

This gives Fiona an appealing meaning – fionn means fair.

Despite the success of Macpherson’s writings, Fiona takes a while to appear in use.  The name doesn’t appear in the US Top 1000 until 1990, though there are Fionas in Census records far earlier.

Parents might have heard the name:

• Scottish writer William Sharp wrote many of his best-known works under the pen name Fiona Macleod in the late 1800s.
• In the musical Brigadoon, Fiona is a resident of a mysterious, unchanging Scottish village that appears to outsiders for only one day every century.  A pair of visitors from New York stumble upon the village, and set events in motion.  The musical debuted in 1947, with a film adaptation ten years later, and a television movie in the 1960s.
• In 1965 James Bond film Thunderball Fiona Volpe was one of the bad guys, an  assassin sent to take down 007 – though things don’t go exactly that way.
• Lois Lowry’s 1993 novel The Giver is chock full of ahead-of-the-curve character names, including Jonas, Asher, Lily, Gabriel, and yes, Fiona.

By the early 1990s, Fiona started to edge into the US Top 1000.  She’d reached #460 by 2000.  And then along came Shrek.  Cameron Diaz voiced the lovely princess with a secret.  Princess Fiona ultimately decides to embrace her part-ogre heritage and go green, all the time.  Not only was Shrek was a smash hit, it was also the genesis for a successful franchise.

Fiona has gradually inched up the popularity rankings ever since, rising to #257 in 2010.  On sound alone, she’s right at home with Sophia and other stylish choices.  It may be that parents hesitate to let their daughters share a name with an ogre – though it is clear that character is admirable, as worthy a namesake as animation offers.

Beyond Shrek, there were characters in 1994′s Four Weddings and a Funeral; and USA Network’s Burn Notice, plus Grammy-winning singer Fiona Apple.

She’s feminine but not flimsy, current but not at all overused.  There are reasons aplenty to consider Fiona for a daughter.

Fraser Coat of Arms; Image via Wikipedia

He’s a surname that nods to Scotland, and to the great outdoors.

Thanks to Fran for suggesting Fraser as our Baby Name of the Day.

The best guess is that Fraser – and Frasier, Frazer, and Frazier – are Scottish surnames of Gaelic origin, with enough Anglo-Norman influence that as they were whispered down the alley, the original name was lost to memory.

Regardless of where he started, Fraser is solidly established as a common Scottish surname.  There’s a Clan Fraser, and Lord Lovat is a title in the peerage of Scotland reserved for the head of the clan.  They’re present throughout much of Scottish history.

If you glance at the Fraser coat of arms, you’ll notice that there are strawberries included in the design.  Some sites list Fraser’s meaning as strawberry; it is more likely that strawberries were added to their coat of arms later, as a play on fraises - the French word for strawberry, which just happens to sound an awful lot like the family name.

Fraser sounds like an occupational surname keeping company with Archer and Miller, but it isn’t so.  But there is a profession attached to this appellation – radio talk psychiatrist, as in Dr. Frasier Crane.

Frasier first appeared on sitcom staple Cheers during season three, as a suitor for Diane, a rival to her on-again, off-again love interest, bartender and bar owner Sam Malone.  He stayed long after Diane’s departure, eventually marrying a fellow psychiatrist, the frosty Lilith Sternin.  Cheers was set in Boston.  As the series wound down, Lilith and Frasier divorced, and the stage was set for Frasier to move home to Seattle and try a career change – he’s still a psychiatrist, but now more of a pop culture self help figure on Seattle radio station KACL.

Incidentally, the only possible explanation either series ever offers for his unusual first name is this: Frasier’s mom, also a psychiatrist, named him for one of her lab rats.

The television character certainly put Frasier on the books as a possible name for a child.  Other associations include Smokin’ Joe Frazier, a former Heavyweight World Champ.  The boxer’s heyday was the 1960s and 1970s.

Choose your field of endeavor and you can almost certainly find a Fraser.  One of my favorites is Honolulu-born artist Juliette May Fraser, whose work eventually graced the Hawaii State Library.

None of these associations – not even the sitcom – was enough to boost Fraser into greater use.  Frazier appeared in the US Top 1000 a few times from the nineteenth century into the very early 20th – the only spelling to do so.  Just like any surname, there’s some limited use over the years.

Today the Fraser fir, an evergreen native to the eastern US and popular as a Christmas tree, lends Fraser a nature vibe, and a seasonal one, too.  It is easy to imagine naming a December-born son Fraser.

In fact, it is just plain easy to imagine naming a son Fraser.  With his ends-in-r construction, his vibrant ay sound, and that surname style, he’s exactly on trend.  And yet he’s virtually unused, too – a promising combination!

If Story is a name, why not this poetic choice?

Thanks to Kaela for suggesting Sonnet as our Baby Name of the Day.

A sonnet is a type of poem, a form with specific rules.  There are three major types, and then a bunch that break the rules but still count.  The average person might not be able to recite much after Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?, but would likely recognize Sonnet as a literary reference akin to Poem, Poet, or Fable.

The word itself comes from the Italian sonetto – little song, ultimately from the Latin sonus - sound.  The term first appears in English in the sixteenth century, but sonnets had been written in Italian since the 1200s.

With girls answering to Cadence and Harmony, perhaps literary terms were the logical next frontier.  Actor Forest Whitaker has a daughter called Sonnet, fitting right in with his other word-named children: Ocean, True, and Autumn.  Flickr co-founders Caterina Fake and Stewart Butterfield have a daughter called Sonnet Beatrice.

Despite these high profile uses, the name has never cracked the US Top 1000 – in fact, Sonnet is in sparing use, given to just eight girls in 2010.

But there have been Sonnets in the past, and many of them have been men.  I suspect that they’re wearing a family surname.  The late sixteenth/early seventeenth century French poet Thomas Sonnet de Courval came from a minor noble family.  There are Sonnets and Sonnetts in the US, too.

It could come from a lost Saxon name, Sinod, the origin of the surname Sinnott.  Sonnet is close enough to be related.  The elements sige – victory and nod – brave – were popular in many given names, and still survive in Siegfried and Leonard, though Sinod is long gone.  Or the -et ending could signal a diminutive form – though that’s really just a guess.  Sonnerie is the French word for ring, as in the ringing of the bells, but I’m still not sure if that’s a coincidence, another musical association.

Alternate origins or not, Sonnet has been almost exclusively female since its reintroduction sometime in the 1960s or 1970s.  Since the numbers have always been so small, it is nearly impossible to gauge – but there are a handful of women by the name who are all grown up now, suggesting that Sonnet was discovered by a few parents back in the day.

After all, word names aren’t really new.  Heather and Crystal seem ordinary, even dated, today.  But they were the height of style in the 1970s.  2010′s Top 100 includes Lily, Grace, Jasmine, Destiny, Brooke, Trinity, Faith, Autumn, Serenity, and Genesis.  From the traditional to the nouveau, word names have always had a place in the dictionary and on our daughters and sons.

Thanks to her similarity to Violet and Scarlett, Sonnet feels like a very wearable choice – poetic, frills-free, and different, but not difficult to spell or pronounce.  If you’re looking for an ahead-of-the-curve rarity, Sonnet is one to consider.