Looking for a lighter form of the clunky Edgar? Searching for a truly distinctive name that leads to the heard-everywhere Addie?
Thanks to Kristin for suggesting Adair as our Baby Name of the Day.
Since I’ve starting writing AppMtn, I’ve learned that I can usually tell you why a name rose – hindsight is 20/20 – but I cannot tell you, with any certainty, which names will make the US Top 1000 in the year 2020.
I can say, with some confidence, that the majority of the names in the Top 100 will likely still be there in another decade. It takes years for popular names to wane: Jennifer reached #1 in 1970, but didn’t leave the Top 100 until 2009. Jason reached #2 in 1972, and he still came in at #69 last year.
The Freakonomics 2015 predictions at Baby Name Garden reflect the power of momentum. It is easy to imagine that Avery and Jackson would rise, but nearly impossible to guess which names would enter the Top 1000. They identified stylish choices like McGregor and Eleanora – not bad for baby naming rookies – but it takes more than that to make a popular name. There’s also this Business Insider article, suggesting that Griffin and Adele are among the ones to watch.
So I’m always in awe of the annual po0l winners at Baby Name Wizard. They seem to have a crystal ball, or maybe just a really sharp sense of how trends impact statistics.
Elsewhere online:
In starbaby news:
Last week at Nameberry was all about names borrowed from the labels of kids’ designers. This week I’m off in a different direction. Think fjords + comic books + popcorn + the ancient world.
That’s all for this week. As always, thanks for reading and have a great week!
The Social Security Administration released their Top 1000 names today. Here are a few quick observations from the data:
Color me surprised! If you’d asked me to predict the final match-up, well, I’d have guessed the opposite.
In last week’s action, Elodie squeaked past Isla, 53% to 47%, or 197 votes to 177.
After trailing for a few days, Louisa beat Adele, 54% to 46%, or 204 votes to 173.
But that’s why we play the game, right?
Please join me now in voting for a champion for this year’s March Madness Girls’ Final.
The polls remain open until Friday, and winners will be announced on Saturday.
The boys’ Quarter Finals were all close, with no one name winning by a landslide.
The girls were a different story. Louisa beat Ophelia handily, 67% to 33%. And Elodie bested Lorelei by a comfortable margin of 20%.
Still, you can’t quite call any of those runaway victories. I have my guesses as to which name will walk away with the trophy on the boys’ side, but the girls’ victor? I haven’t got a clue.
Get us one step closer by voting!
The enchanting Isla versus the ethereal Elodie
Literary Louisa versus the elegant Adele
March Madness continues, and the competition is fierce!
Elodie barely squeaked past Claire. A mere two votes decided that race.
The biggest victory went to Adele. She thoroughly trounced Eithne, garnering 86% of the vote to her rival’s mere 14%. Lydia and Lila both won by impressive margins, suggesting that L truly is the letter to watch.
One surprise was watching Louisa win handily over Stella. Has this star already had her moment? Are too many Hollywood littles wearing out Stella before she really catches on?
My biggest heartache was watching Romilly lose out to Lorelei, especially because that was a close one – Lorelei earned 55% of the vote.
And now, on to the quarter-finals!
It’s a rhyme time match-up: Isla versus Lila
Little Women’s Louisa versus Hamlet’s Ophelia
The elaborate Lydia versus the trim Adele
Three-syllable showdown: Lorelei versus Elodie
She’s hidden in the history books, but if you look closely, you’ll find this intriguing medieval moniker hiding between the lines.
Thanks to Emily of In the Name for suggesting Aleydis as our Baby Name of the Day.
Christmas came early to Appellation Mountain, with a guest post on Nameberry leading to a shout-out from Lisa Belkin’s venerable The Motherlode blog at the New York Times. Christmas also officially arrived in our town – a tree was lit in the City’s park, we had breakfast with Santa, and we spent a few hours at our parish bazaar.
But back to naming news, because those kids? They’re not gonna name themselves!
And on to the rich and the famous:
While I’ll still post celeb births here if the name is stunningly different or eagerly anticipated, I’m putting some of the more routine announcements up at the AppMtn Facebook page, along with interesting links and intriguing name sightings.
As always, thanks for reading and have a GREAT week!
She’s a regal antique boosted by her mega-popular nickname.
Thanks to Annabel for suggesting Adelaide as Baby Name of the Day.
Today’s story comes to us from Sara. She had the opposite problem from so many of us – she and husband knew what they wanted to call their daughter, but had to agree on what to write on her birth certificate.
My husband and I love names that are a bit unusual, but not too hard to pronounce.
When we were pregnant for our daughter it took us months to agree on a name. Finally we were able to agree on the name Kesi. It was cute and new, but not too weird.
The only problem? The name’s meaning: “Born in time of father’s misfortune.”
Little girls will look up the meaning of their name and I advised my lovely husband that this just would not do.
We now had a dilemma. After months of negotiations we had a name … that we could not use!
So I decided to see if I could find a name that we could shorten to Kesi as a nickname.
After some searching I located the name Kestrel, meaning in Old French “little rattle”, and also belonging to a small hawk. Perfect!
Just last year at school her class had a project: look up your name’s meaning. She was thrilled with hers, and really enjoyed reading about the small hawk that shares her name. I can only imagine what may have ensued had we stuck with the original name. I’m not even sure HOW you would make a poster out of that … LOL!
Our daughter and all of her friends love her name, so it has been a hit! She is now 11 years old and I can’t imagine her with any other name. She is spunky and cute. The name really fits her. Everyone seems to be able to pronounce it with no trouble, and we get to call her by our cute nickname of choice, Kesi.
We also have a wonderful, intelligent, and kind-hearted son named Colby as well as a new little girl to come. We have yet to settle on a name for the new addition, but Elodie, Sofieke, Evelyn, Brynley, Adele, and Bijou are on our list, along with many others. We have two weeks to decide and I have changed my mind every few weeks.
Wish us luck!
Best wishes, Sara – and congratulations on your newest addition! (If Sara doesn’t comment, I’m guessing it is because Elodie Sofieke Evelyn Brynley Adele Bijou has already arrived.) My son had a similar project in kindergarten – well, just a worksheet instructing him to find out why his parents chose his name. I was delighted that I had a story to tell.