Sunday Summary: 42/2015

My kids name everything.

Kitchen gadgets. Fictional characters. Random animals that don’t belong to our household.

A few days ago, we made our annual trip to the pumpkin patch. Our preferred pumpkin patch comes complete with farm animals, including a pair of sheep.

“Their names are Dennis and John,” my son declared.

“No! He’s Baaaab. And she’s … Baaaaaannie!” my daughter argued.

Dennis, John, Bob, and Bonnie? What’s with the baby boomer names for livestock?

I suggested that a sheep deserved a more romantic name, like Rigoberto. (I’d just finished writing this post.) My kids were not on board, but then, they thoroughly enjoy skewering my taste in names, while I quietly wonder if my future grandchildren will be christened Debbie and Gary.

Do you name things other than children and house pets?

Elsewhere in name news:

I agree with the Name Lady: “Trying too hard to make spelling work for you can have disastrous results.”
Where is the original version of this story? A number of British news outlets are reporting that Baby Centre has released a list of the most popular names for 2016, a collection of gems like Hector, Pixie, and Cairo. But I can’t find the story on babycentre.co.uk, so I’m baffled. It goes without saying that Halo won’t hit #1 anywhere next year, but I’d love to know exactly what they predicted. If you find the original story, please share the link!
Laura’s analysis of the Top Ten over the years yields some fascinating insights. In brief: the most popular names today are far less popular than they were fifty years ago, tradition matter less than style, and we’re far more daring when naming sons. All good things, I think.
Love this list of preppy, zippy diminutives at Nameberry from British Baby Names. Dodge, Hitch, Jem, Ned, Bess, and more!
Name quotes from Nancy! Love, love, love. Especially the one about Denali, which I’m watching closely. It was given to 55 girls and 20 boys in 2014.
Thoroughly enjoyed this video on Autumn and Halloween names. Do you think Salem is wearable? October? And I adore Leif, but my husband isn’t on board. And my kids? They think it’s a crazy name for a little brother.
Speaking of spooky, seasonal names, I spotted a trailer for a new scary movie called The Boy. You can watch it here, but if that’s not your thing, here’s the only thing you need to know: the boy in question is named Brahms!
More on this idea: Meagan runs down names from American Horror Story: Hotel. Gorgeousness! While I can gear up to watch a scary movie, though, I’m far less likely to watch a chiller-thriller television series. (Probably because I rarely go to movie theaters solo, but I do watch television alone.) But these names and Lady Gaga in a starring role? I may need to get brave …
I was glad to see Kate talk about Regina, which definitely strikes me as a Catholicky Catholic kind of name. (Translation: I know more than one!) It was one of the names that I loved when I was younger, along with Veronica. A little bit clunky, lots of great nicknames, including some boyish ones.
Spotted a birth announcement for an Adalind, a sister for Amelie. Completely gorgeous, right? It’s new to me, but Sara pointed out that it’s got history galore – there it is in the Dictionary of Medieval Names from European Sources.
Another name find: Enerel, in a letter to Duana. Hello, Mongolian names! And I agree with Duana that Enerelle would make it even more wearable in the West.
Are you more of a Laura or a Wilder? I liked seeing these two names together in a post from Beloved Baby Names. Lately I’m also thinking about Ingalls … it seems like it could be an interesting name along the lines of Collins, which has been popular for girls ever since The Blind Side brought this Southern surname name possibility to greater notice.
Who knew there were so many formal names for Ollie? Much as I like Oliver, I’m not wild about Ollie – and I’ve yet to meet an Oliver who wasn’t just Oliver. Olson is fabulous, though, isn’t it?
The name Shepherd is really growing on me. I’ve always liked it, but lately it seems like a great choice for a son. Here’s the birth announcement for a baby Shepherd at Swistle.
How gorgeous is Vivienne Violet Rose?
These jazzy names at Waltzing More than Matilda are great. Do you think Django is wearable? I just realized that it isn’t on my list of ‘o’ ending names for boys. Should it be? Jesper, Darius, Quincy, Ida, Laine, Mamie, Mimi, Saskia … all sorts of styles, and I think many of them would wear beautifully.