number 6

Cue the confetti cannons: Anna has reached 1,000 posts!  Let’s kick off this weekend’s summary with a link to her post What I Know About Australian Names.

And if that wasn’t enough wonderful for one week, lets’ hear it for Laura’s post on Creativity or Mistake? at Baby Name Wizard.  “You can’t assume that an unexpected spelling you come across is “wrong,” even when the name is traditional or based on a common English word.”  Yes, I think Steffany and Kristapher are probably going to introduce themselves as “let me spell it for you” and I agree that Autunm might just be a typo.  But we shouldn’t assume.  And variant spellings are not a sign of the apocalypse.

Elsewhere online:

  • Oh, Miro!  And Cassatt!  And the rest of these inventive names on this list from Nook at Nameberry.  Still no Kahlo, though – am I the only one who thinks it works?
  • I mentioned Australian names earlier, and this list showcases some truly lovely finds: Koa Indigo, Mae Dorothy, Rory Quinn – though I was surprised to realize that Koa is a girl.
  • While we’re on birth announcements – and artist names! – let’s go to Indiana with For Real.  There’s Margot Christine MonetBlythe Adelaide, Cora Monroe and Julian Duran.
  • Hmmm … I like Duran.  Like Dante, it could read as a spin on Durante.  Or is too 80s pop star?
  • More name-spotting, with unusual names in the Netherlands.  Is Nuance too dramatic?  Praise Chica makes me smile, but I wonder what the parents were going for with that combination … And a boy called Rover?  Maybe it isn’t a go-to dog name in Dutch.
  • A nice description of types of nature names is up at Baby Name Pondering.  I like ’em all!
  • Mythological names for girls at The Art of Naming.  Love the way she has suggested middles as well as sibling names.
  • This post isn’t about names necessarily – Laura’s toddler daughter wears glasses, which makes her rather memorable – but it makes me think about what it means to have a stand-out name in a part of the world where no one else does.
  • Stumped for a middle name?  I feel like I’m writing about middles a lot lately.  More inspiration here.  Meet my children, James Ocean Ridley and Elizabeth Ella Sage.
  • Supermodel Doutzen Kroes and her DJ husband Sunnery James are expecting baby #2.  Their son is Phyllon Joy.  It goes without saying that I am eagerly anticipating a name announcement for the happy family.  Can’t you just see their names scrawled on the bottom of a Christmas card?  “Happy Holidays from Doutzen, Sunnery, Phyllon, and …”
    Portrait of Wallis Simpson, 1936
  • What do you think of Sochi as a baby name?  I’m tempted on sound, but with all of the chatter about Sochi’s inadequacies as a destination, I have my doubts.  Still, thanks to Sophie for calling out Atlanta as a possible given name.  Love that suggestion!
  • Duana suggested Djuna in this post – swoon!  But I wonder – am I alone in my affection for Wallis?  Incidentally, while we tend to think of Wallis as the feminine version, that’s not exactly so.  Wallace and Wallis are both valid surname spellings, given to someone of Welsh descent.  (The Anglo-Norman French word for Welsh was waleis.)  We think of Wallis as feminine thanks to Bessie Wallis Warfield, later known as Wallis Simpson, and eventually the woman who caused a king to abdicate his throne.  Still, I like Wallis – Anthony Edwards has daughters named Esme, Poppyand Wallis, plus a son called Bailey.
  • Via Clare at Scoop.it, a static sticker for a Teodora Mila.  I do love an unexpected middle – whether it is longer than the first name, ends with a, ends with y, or just takes you by surprise.
  • Two friends welcomed sons this week: Spencer and Duncan.  Can’t wait to meet them both!

That’s all from me for this week.  As always, thank you for reading!  And tell us – have you spotted any great names this week?

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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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6 Comments

  1. Thanks so much for the mentions, Abby! 🙂

    Koa has historically been a girl’s name in Australasia – it’s the Maori form of Joy. We are just discovering it as a boy’s name, and finding it works well for both genders.

  2. We were thisclose to naming our daughter that was born 3 weeks ago Sochi! My husband heard it years ago and brought it up way before we’d ever even heard of the city. Everyone we mentioned it to said, “Oh! It sounds so [a different country]” We got African, Asian, and European. With the association of the Olympics so close to our daughter’s birth, we went with a different name.

  3. The art of naming post was great! I love seeing the opportunity to make a nice, fat list taken advantage of 😀
    I’m not sure I agree with Huffpo about middle names being a practice of the British aristocracy only. After checking out the original article, I feel the need to geek out and mention the lovely (and ancient) German practice of bestowing the first name of a saint and the person’s given name as their “middle” name which they would be known as. The given name was most often the name of someone present at the baptism. This certainly predates the 16th century British claim! Hence the plethora or Anna Barbaras and Maria Katherinas, who would be known not as Anna and Maria but Barbara and Katherina. This isn’t name geekery so much as genealogy geekery but I think it applies 😉

  4. Congrats Anna! And thanks for the shout-out, Abby. Mythological names are some of my favorites!