First, congratulations to JNE on welcoming Imogen’s little brother, the nicely named Oliver George!

Aly turned five on December 17, but we finally got around to throwing his birthday party this weekend. We invited his whole pre-K. (No, the party was not in our house. Our guests wouldn’t fit in our house, even standing still.)

Anyway, I knew his classmate Micah was a girl. (Lest that trouble you, the Biblical Micaiah is a gender neutral name – the original Peyton.) But imagine my surprise when I learned that Delayni is a boy.

In other random name spotting:

  • I met a baby Miriam;
  • Apparently an Australian family has a singleton (or two), two sets of quads and now twins born in October. And no reality show deal as of yet! Darren and Dale Chalk named their kids Shelby, Matthew, Ellie, Joseph, Emma, Samuel, Alice, Sarah, Milly (who died in infancy) and Tiger-Lilly. After solid classics like Alice and Joseph, the parents chose Tiger-Lilly feels a bit off, doesn’t it? They have yet to release the twins’ names;
  • Could Lux be the next Zoe? Life Unexpected debuts on the CW January 18. Heroine Lux grows up in foster care. The series begins when she finally finds the parents who put her up for adoption. Another contender for baby name inspiration? The dad is Nate Bazile, nicknamed Baze;
  • The latest series of The Bachelor includes contestants named Tenley, Valishia and Vienna. (In DC, two of three names appear on a Metro Map.) I can hear Tenley catching on. But Vienna? Pretty, but all I think is sausage. Oh, and the bachelor this time is Jake;
  • For Real Baby Names spotted a Zoeanna – a new, but inevitable and not unappealing compound name. But does it rhyme with Joanna or is it Zoe Anna? There’s also a girl named Swift and and boy called Rugby;
  • Bewildertrix spotted a Vitalia. Vidalia is an onion, but Vitalia is another of the lively Vita/Vida names;
  • For every local hospital releasing the generic “Emma, Aiden Top Baby Names at Hospital Center,” a few do post surprising results. At the Greater Baltimore Medical Center, the top girls’ name was Mary. At Cowlitz County, Washington’s Saint John’s Medical Center, it was Peyton/Payton/Paityn;
  • What a lovely surprise to stumble on a blog featuring four nicely named children – Mountain Mama Jenny is mom to Evelyn, Gretchen, Sylvia and Peter.

Elsewhere online:

And in starbaby news:

  • Sarah Chalke wears the boyish Elliott on Scrubs, but she gave her new son a nickname name more often heard on girl starbabies – Charlie, middle name Rhodes;
  • The lovely Jean Smart has adopted a daughter, Bonnie;
  • Country music’s Clay Walker has finally wearied of using his own name for his offspring. After MaClay DaLayne, Skylor ClayAnne and William Clayton, he is now father to Mary-Elizabeth. (MaClay and Skylor are Clay’s daughters with his first wife, which also explains the abrupt shift in style.)

That’s all for this week. Thanks, as always, for reading!

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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  1. Congratulations, JNE, on baby Oliver! Great name, by the way, and Ollie makes a fantastic nickname.

    Not in reference to anything in particular, but the “Grade Your Parents” facebook application is currently making the rounds on my friends’ pages. It’s actually not a terrible application, as far as facebook goes — grading parents on their originality in name choices. But the reason I bring it up is the comment my dad made when he saw the application and the grades most people were getting: “Kid naming is an extreme sport, but most participants are pathetic at it. Either overly used or bizarro or both.”

    Of course, when I was named, Charlotte was not the most popular name on Nymbler for many months in a row *sigh*

  2. Thanks, Abby! We are enjoying our little Ollie and Imogen loves being a big sister.

    Lux is a ‘no’ for me. Same with Swift (which sadly makes me think of Taylor first). But I like Miriam and Leonie a lot (had classmates with each of those names, but the Leonie wasn’t originally from the States).

    Congrats to EmmyJo!

  3. Vidalia is an onion, but I actually know a little girl named that. Brothers named the more pedestrian Logan and Rowan.

  4. I also think of Kirsten Dunst when I hear a Lux.

    There was also a movie in which Jessica Biel played a Tenley too, which is probably why I see a Tenley ever now and then. 🙂

    Have a good week!

  5. I do like Lux but here in NZ it would be like calling your child Vacuum Cleaner or Hoover! Couldn’t do it 😉

    I totally never realised that Sweden had a say in its citizen’s baby naming. That’s kind of a great idea but also kind of weird.

  6. Evelyn, Gretchen, Sylvia and Peter make an unexpected yet refreshing sibset. I particularly like Sylvia; one of my all-time top 5 for sure!
    Emmy Jo had her baby? How exciting! I seem to remember they liked Julius and Wesley… wonder if they went with either one or something entirely different.
    Congratulations to JNE! Imogen and Oliver are lovely names, and particularly satisfying for me and my my OCD tendencies; same number of letters, same amount of syllables, vowel beginnings, consonant endings : )
    Happy birthday Aly, you are precisely two days and thirteen years younger than me!

  7. I really like Lux, I must admit, I first heard it from the Virgin Suicides.
    Bazile with a dot over the final e is also a Lithuanian feminine form of Basil.

    Swift is incredibly unappealing on a female imo.

    1. I hear Swift and think Boat.

      Interesting about Bazile – strangely appealing, at least if I were Lithuanian.

  8. I just assumed Tenley was named after the gold medal figure skater Tenley Albright, who is probably in her 70’s now. I didn’t think it was that unusual and I certainly wouldn’t have lumped it in with Vienna and Valishia.

    But seriously, what were those people thinking with Tiger-Lily? All I can come up with it’s either an homage to Michael Hutchence or they thought Lily by itself was too boring.

    1. Of course! I’m sure it is Tenley Albright. And that does give it a certain charm. Actually, I’d file Tenley with Langley or Riley – I love it when as long at is rare, but I quickly tire of Rylee, Langlee, Tenlie. Not that any such thing has happened with Tenley or Langley, but I’ll take my surname-names full-strength, thanks.

      And I share your surprise at Tiger-Lily.

  9. To me, Lux is a vixen name. Ever read/see The Virgin Suicides? Kirsten Dunst played Lux. I wouldn’t have the chupka to name a baby Lux!

    As for Swift – it’s eh. I know a girl who named her new daughter, Frost. Older brother is Prosper. Those are really bold choices. Swift doesn’t come close, in my book!

    Tenley? Tenley? What is with adding the -lee sound to any random syllable? Yuck!

    News: Emily G. (EmmyJo) had her baby, but I have no details yet! I saw some pics on FB – he looks like a big boy. 🙂

    1. How did chupka get in there? Obviously that should read chutzpa. I don’t know what happened there, but my Yiddish speaking great-grandma would be ashamed!

    2. Lux is all Virgin Suicides to me, too. It is still appealing, though. I like it as a middle name to honor my MIL Lucretia.

      1. Here’s where I get to brag. My husband went to the same high school as Jeffrey Eugenides. There are two prizes for literature given to a graduating senior. Eugenides was the first to win both; fourteen years later, my husband was the second.

        Arthur isn’t a writer, but it still makes me proud. 🙂

  10. I’m embarrassed to know this, but Payson is from the abc family show “Make It or Break It” (about the gymnasts).

    Do you know how Nymbler decides the 5 new names? Because I know I’ve put Dash in there many times before. Also regarding Nymbler, I love Azalea! I know of a 7th grade Azalea and she is adorable (at least in pictures) and her name really seems to fit her.