Sunday Summary: Eleventh of 2015

First things first: I’ve been meaning to start an Appellation Mountain newsletter forever, but what would I possibly include? And then you were so lovely with your response to the first Mailbag post that it hit me: that’s the newsletter. A theme of the week, and then answers to reader questions that you won’t find anywhere other than the newsletter.

You can subscribe right here:

First edition comes out Wednesday, and then every Wednesday after that!

Now, about that spare, modern nursery at the top of the post. Have you seen this idea from Wayfair? Find your nursery style, find your baby name. Or the other way around!

When I was expecting our son, I never quite got around to decorating his nursery. Sure, he had a crib and a quilt and a mobile. But other expectant moms I knew were designing rooms like “A Day at the Circus” complete with mock-big top ceilings and oversized plush elephants. And I was … really not in that space. Then our daughter came along, and her nursery was a corner of our bedroom. Again, no elaborate anything. I’ve sort of always wished for a do-over. (And we’re about to decorate both of their big kid rooms, so I’m finally getting a chance – but at 10 and 6, they have ideas of their own.) My favorite is the nursery meant for kids with names like India – sure enough, it’s one of my favorite names and a design that I would happily imitate, if I had the chance.

• Speaking of design and baby names, Morgan Georgie of Ampersand Design Studio is mom to two adorable boys: Shaw (her maiden name) and Lennon.
• One of my favorite design/baby name posts: Names from Design Mom’s Living with Kids series. Though my new favorite might be from this recent installment in the series: Dante and Indro.
• If I suddenly gave birth to a baby in the shower without even realizing I was pregnant, I might name her Miracle, too. No, who am I kidding? I’d still stick to my short list. But I completely understand why a parent might go with Miracle.
• Swistle answers this question from a large family nicely. Have you ever felt like you’d created a name pattern without realizing it?
• How timely is this? The Art of Naming has a list of D names, just right for the family in Swistle’s post, above.
• And another large family dilemma: looking for an unusual Biblical name for a daughter.
• Names for Real found an Avonlea in Colorado! I do love a great fictional place-name name. In the same post, there’s also a kid named Rebel ZZ Bishop, which sounds straight out of a novel. But is, apparently, for real.
• You may have heard all the flap about how no one is naming their kiddos Gary these days. True enough, but here’s what dazzles me. We’ve describing Gary as a “traditional” name. But that’s not entirely accurate. Gary is subject to trends, just like Noah and Jacob and Robert and Michael come and go. Elmer, Eugene, Dustin, Rodney, and Bruce have all been Top 50 baby names for boys in the past century. There’s no such thing as a normal name.
• What’s your favorite formal name for Connie? I do love Constance, but I cannot imagine calling her Connie for short. I’d use Tansy. Or Coco.
• This Humans of New York post about a girl named Sunshine makes me see the name in a whole different light.
• This is an interesting problem. What do you do when you want to give your child a name that reflects your heritage, but requires a character that doesn’t exist in the Roman alphabet? As the Canadian official notes, it isn’t just about allowing the parent to register the name in the Northwest Territories, where she was born. It’s about making sure the name can be used on a passport and insurance paperwork and all sorts of other official forms in the future. It’s encouraging that the answer isn’t no, you can’t do that, but okay, let’s see how this can work.
• Did you find it more difficult to name baby #2? For me, it was the opposite: the experience of having named a child once made it easier to understand what I wanted in a name. Though when your last-minute compromise is Rose, as it was for this family, I think everything worked out fine.
• Speaking of second children, this family came up with a great solution for naming a Chinese-Italian baby: Massimo, called Max. But now it’s time to name his little brother. Duana, as always, has some great suggestions.
• I’ve developed a habit of staring obsessively at this Pinterest board featuring all the Baby Names of the Day.
• Have you voted in March Madness? The quarter-final round is up for boys here, and for girls here. Voting stays open through Friday, and the semi-finals will be posted next Saturday.

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