Before I move on to the weekly sum-up, one quick piece of business: I only approve comments written in English, regardless of whether or not I understand the comment. (Make that especially when I don’t understand the comment.)
On to the names:
- I’ve finally spotted it on Yahoo!Answers – the dreadful, but inevitable marriage of Ryan/Riley and Wyatt: Ryatt. All of a sudden, Rylan sounds as classic as James;
- Then there’s this post: What about the baby name Reznor? Yikes;
- ForReal Baby Names spotted a Brewer. Sure, Brewer’s an occupational surname name a la Archer and Carter. But this one seems hard to wear – or maybe too easy to wear around the college years;
- Also via ForReal: if Erykah Badu can have name her daughter Mars Merkaba, why not Aries Antonia?
- Thanks to Sebastiane for pointing out that Liv is more than just a short form of Olivia – she’s an Old Norse name with a different derivation;
- Nancy wrote a thoughtful post on Chinese names. They’re about to limit names that can be bestowed upon a child – and get this, it will be retroactive!
- Guest blogger Jill Barnett wrote about Colonial names at Nameberry. Her lists are interesting, but there’s also a fun literary fact in her post. Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women were inspired by her and her sisters, as were their names. Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy were actually Anna, Louisa, Elizabeth, and Abigail May, called May. I find Amy/May anagram especially intriguing;
- Speaking of fictional sibsets, the trio in Jackie Chan’s new comedy, The Spy Next Door are Nora, Ian and big sister Farren. Not sure if the movie gives a reason for bestowing a Karen/Fallon mash-up on the firstborn.
In starbaby news, all via Celebrity Baby Blog:
- American Idol alum Bo Bice and wife Caroline have welcomed a third son, Ean Jacob, a little brother for Aidan Michael and Caleb James;
- Soap opera regular Greg Vaughan is a dad again. He and wife Touriya Haoud attracted attention for naming their firstborn Jathan James. His little brother is Cavan Thomas;
- How did I miss this one? Oh, right. I’m not following Bravo’s Millionaire Matchmaker this season. But I might have to start, because Destin and Rachel named their baby Sin Halo Jude. And no, Sin Halo is not some exotic import from Tagalog or Cham. It’s just the two English language words, described by mom as “the yin and the yang.” Words fail me.
Lastly, one year ago today I wrote about Isabeau. And two years ago today? Well, January 23 was the first ever post at AppMtn: Ava and Harlow.
So thanks to each and every one of you for the past two years!
I knew a girl named Brewer in college. I always assumed it was her mom’s maiden name or something and didn’t really think much about it. It didn’t seem particulary odd as a one-off, but I wouldn’t want to see a sudden crop of tryndee little boy Brewers, for sure.
Sin Halo is bollocks but that British Nevaeh-Lleh still beats it. At least Sin has Jude. I hate to think what the middle name for the hyphenated Heaven-Hell gone awry might be.
True, Jude is a decent fallback. He just has to hope no one ever asks what the S.H. stands for on his business card …
Sin Halo is absolutely cruel!
Aria is quite pretty!
I agree that Ryatt and Brewer would be rather hard to wear. Ryatt reminds me of Riot and Brewer, I hope he doesn’t join the temperance movement when he grows up.
Sebastiane, that makes me think of the virtue name Temperance! It would be awful if she grew up to be a lush.
Or perhaps Brewer could date Temperance? 🙂 Cheesy I know, but I couldn’t resist.
Nice! I do think that’s the problem with noun names – it is always possible that your kid will grow up, fall in love and form a sentence. The marriage announcements of the 2030s will surely include Skye marrying River and Savannah marrying Dakota.
Of course, we’ll also probably see Mabel & Jayden, Kaylee & Oliver. It’s all a little bit strange.
Ah yes, I saw that celebrity babies post about Sin Halo. I sure wouldn’t want to go around introducing myself as “I’m Sin.”
Ryatt makes me think of ‘riot’. Not good.
Reznor makes me think of the bad guys you beat in Super Mario World. I guess that’s a better association than the NIN singer, but not great either.
My sighting of the week was “Arya” on the name tag of a little girl at the library. The librarian mispronounced it, so the Mom had to explain that it’s pronounced “Aria”. I guess like the musical term. I looked it up and found: “Aria or Arya is a Persian male given name meaning ‘Aryan’ in reference to a people of Scyth origin. It is also occasionally used as an Italian female given name with the meaning “air”.”
Arya – interesting. I knew an Aria in high school. She was one of those brainy girls – you’d have expected her to be Margaret or Catherine, something very buttoned down and sensible. The lightness of her name was always surprising to me.
If there wasn’t an 80s hair metal band called Ryatt, there should’ve been. 😉
LOL! I guess he was born a few decades too late. 🙂
Can I suggest Ara (boy) & Sable (girl) for NotD?
I’m gobsmacked… Sin Halo?! That’s plain Evil Evil to do to your child… I don’t usually like to come down too hard on the “no friggin way” side of things, but for this name… I’d be OK if the US instated a “retroactive” rule against it!
Can’t say many of the names spotted this week are making me think – “oh yeah – that’s a nice one,” but Brewer makes me giggle (also makes me thing of Punky Brewster).
I’m with you, JNE. The last time I’ve really found a name irresponsible was the whole Adolf Hitler madness from our neck of the woods … and clearly, that family had other issues. The MM couple seems mostly normal, at least by reality TV standards, underneath the tats and the Hot Topic.