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Number 14 by Moe via Flickr

Happy Sunday!  I’m curious – did you find out the gender of your child/ren while you were expecting?  With our first, I thought it would be fun not to know, but my husband insisted.  (My aunt did, too.)  With our second, I knew instantly that she was a girl.  I can’t explain it, but I just knew.  Still, my husband refused to finalize baby names until we saw the ultrasound results both time.  I’ll admit that only having to figure out one name simpled things up for us.

We have friends who aren’t finding out for baby #2 – just like they didn’t find out for their firstborn.  I’ll admit that I’m enjoying getting to toss around names for both genders.

Elsewhere online:

  • Would you name your baby Boss?  What if you’d already used Romeo, Valentino, Cassanova, and Duke?
  • Zeffy’s post on thirteenth century feminine names was great.  And wouldn’t Annora work well in 2012?  Same goes for Ismay.  P.S.  Congrats on your one year blogoversary!
  • Speaking of lists, Elea has a great round-up of surnames with feminine nicknames.  I can imagine Aveley catching on.
  • I think Hollis might be my favorite ends-in-s name.  For Real spotted a Hollis Brielle … oh, and a Gideon Buck!
  • Mer de Noms went looking for alternatives to Freya.  She suggests Embla, a name I’ve heard one or twice before.  That reminds me … I’ve never done a “getting to Emme” post.  That’s a rich category …
  • Can you imagine that instead of compromising with your partner, you just throw every name on the birth certificate?  Nancy’s tale of Rose Mary Echo Silver Dollar.  She was known as Silver, which was fitting for the daughter of a man who made his fortunes in the Colorado silver mines.  The story ends sadly – dad lost his fortune and Silver died young.  And yet, the name shimmers … in our era of Harper and Scarlett, I’m wondering if Silver might be wearable.
  • Speaking of great sounds, less-than-appealing stories, Baby Name Pondering has Amity in the spotlight.  But I think she’s right – despite the gruesome horror-story associations, I love the idea of Amity.
  • We all know that Hello, My Name is Pabst is mostly a joke.  I say mostly because the real kids profiled on the site have great names: Miles, Silas, Rose.  It’s their lists that are wackadoodle.  Lisa Milbrand’s review suggests that the book’s contents are mostly on the impossibly outlandish side, though she concedes that gems like Eames are mixed in with Linux and Matrix.
  • Over at the Facebook page, Sarah is looking for a name for a little sister for Florence.  What do you think?  Clara, Beatrix, Emmeline, Olive, Petra, Estelle?  So many great possibilities …

That’s all for this week.  As always, thank you for reading – and have a great week!

About Abby Sandel

Whether you're naming a baby, or just all about names, you've come to the right place! Appellation Mountain is a haven for lovers of obscure gems and enduring classics alike.

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What do you think?

17 Comments

  1. I really like Hollis, even though the non-family-surname-name usually turns me off. I’m generally loving names that end in s these days–Maris, Mavis, Ellis, Agnes, Betrys…

    Charlotte, what province forbids finding out the baby’s sex in utero? Are there exceptions for medical reasons? I haven’t heard of that.

    1. good names! I like all of these: Maris, Mavis, Ellis, Agnes, Betrys. I’d add Phyllis, Nerys, Chloris, Doris (I know, I’m its only fan),
      for boys I’d add James and Thomas and Lewis. Kind of liking Morris, actually. Harris. Davis. Tavish doesn’t count, does it? Wallace (it’s the s sound). Ignatius (yes, I do like this, even if it isn’t practical). Not usable but kind of cool – Thelonius. Octavius. Julius. Oh wow, there are a bunch, so I guess I’ll stop.

    2. It’s now illegal in British Columbia for anyone connected with the Public Health system to tell you the sex of your child in utero (as of around 2010). Of course, you can still choose to go to a private clinic and fork out some money, which really makes the law seem rather foolish to me. The practice of not sharing the sex with parents was put into place because of the large population of immigrants in the lower mainland from culture that favour boys of girls. I guess there was an increase in gender-selected abortion. Anyways, I figure that if the couple really cares that much about the sex of their child they won’t mind forking out $100.00 for a four-minute scan to find out the gender. It just wasn’t important enough to us to fit into our budget.

  2. I had a student named Hollister. Hollis is ok, I guess. Silver, not so much. I do not like it. With Florence I like Emmeline best.