To Twitter or not to Twitter? That is the question faced by every Luddite-turned-blogger. (Yes, it’s true. You can be a technophobe and spend much of your leisure time blogging. I can’t be the only one.)
Anyhow, I love the idea of Twitter. So I’m introducing a new series called Yea or Nay, first as blog posts then possibly … maybe … if I feel really brave … I’ll migrate it over to this newfangled thingamajobby later. And then, you know, maybe I’ll get m’self one of them color tee vees.
Anyhow, watch for the inaugural post here later today. In name news:
- Nancy had a great list of French given names. Another blogger actually culled them from birth and death announcements. I’m fascinated by Quitterie;
- Legit Baby Names continues sourcing some of the most original baby names from around the globe. Her post on Sayyna (pronounced SAY ee na – pretty, isn’t it?) marks the first and only time I’ve ever seen a Yakutsk name mentioned online;
- Bewildertrix spotted the name Grainger – as in Harry Potter’s Hermione and Are You Being Served’s Mr. Grainger? I agree that Gray/Grey are lovely, and Grainger is probably inevitable with all those Graydons and Greysons out there. Me, I’m going to hope Grainger is the mother’s maiden name;
- It’s a first! I love the name – Noa – profiled in this week’s Toronto Star, though the backstory isn’t so exciting. Noa was Name of the Day here a while back;
- I won’t link to the post, but a happy couple out there in the blogosphere dismissed Peter, Jackson and Parker – they must have a sci fi thing, don’t you think? – to choose the name Ridgen for their son;
- My, those English do love a good nickname name, don’t they? Coronation Street’s Simon Gregson and wife Emma welcomed son Harry, little brother to Alfie. Not sure ’bout Alfie, but the couple says that Harry is a family name;
- Nameberry has an oh-so-cool post on names that start with the letter U – Uma, Ursula, u get the idea. Only the link is to their homepage, since the site is acting up at the moment;
- Laura Wattenberg posted an article discussing a recent research piece suggesting that baby naming is becoming more local. I quite like her take on things;
- Lastly, from the Wayback Machine, last year today, the Name of the Day was Gilbert.
That’s all for the moment, but check back next week for Leland, Opal, Ferdinand, Marsann and Leora. And stand by for Yea or Nay later today!
There’s a CDP here named Granger. Not only that, but the sound itself isn’t appealing to me in the least, so I couldn’t imagine giving that name to a child.
Abby, I just got on facebook, so I figure twittering can’t be far off. Tweet, I say. Tweet.
Noa reminds me: I know a couple who has sons named Neo and Rez. Those are their full, birth certificate names. I’m really hestant to ask, but I think Neo is a reference to the Matrix. I’d be really interested to know if Rez is a legitimate name with any history.
*whispering* Coro St fan here (months and months behind in NZ). I didn’t even know Simon had a son in real life let alone another. Harry and Alfie are huge in England/Wales. I think Freddie (a current Times/Telegraph golden boy) will head the way of Alfie soon enough. Another nickname favourite, Archie, is already in the 30’s I believe.
Grainger does surprise me given it was a Telegraph birth. Surnames in this vein are not the norm in those BAs. I’d expect to see a Montmorency or Montgomery over a Grainger. If it was familial, I’d have expected it in a middle name slot. Definitely unexpected anyway. And I missed the Harry Potter connection. Obviously my coffee was not strong enough when typing that one out. Oops. I even skipped over Are You Being Served? and thought of Grange Hill instead.
Quitterie (which I personally like KEET-teh-HREE) is currently kinda trendy in France. Its from a Latin name I believe.
I found Sayyna on a Russian baby name site, its in Russian and I had to find someone translate it for me. I found several Tartar, Mongolian and Kazakh names that will be coming featured on my blog shortly,
I’m not in the least bit surprised about seeing a Grainger on a baby. It fits right in with those other trendy occupational names and as mentioned, it also fits right in with the Gray names.
I love Noa personally. Its the number 1 female name in Israel right now. Its probably one of the very few Biblical females names I quite like, though I could probably never use it, due to Noah’s popularity, most everyone would probably assume she is a boy.
Looking forward to seeing Opal and Marsann!
On the subject of Twitter, I do have an account, but I never go on it. I more prefer Facebook — Where you can give status updates, and do lots of other stuff too. Twitter bores me, and you can’t control who ‘follows’ you, so it seems like a prime stalker site.
Noa is actually my car’s middle name! Her first name is Azura — Can you tell she’s blue? And since Noa means ‘movement’, her full name is ‘Blue movement’ — Which is what my car is, really.
Very excited for Yea or Nay, along with Leland, Opal, and Leora. Leland brings up happy memories, but not the kind that influences a baby name — My best friend Porter’s middle name was Leland, and I remember laughing so hard at the name! (Granted, I was in 3rd/4th grade.)