Image via Wikipedia
How can a Top 100 boys’ name borrowed from a faithful Biblical figure be so very controversial?
Thanks to Kelly for suggesting the surprisingly complex Caleb as our Baby Name of the Day.
Baby Name of the Day: Caleb
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Tag Archives: Aiden
Baby Name of the Day: Robert
Robert Pattinson; Image via Wikipedia
He was a Top Ten pick in the US for over a century, and the #1 name for fifteen years. Today he’s fading, but a young Hollywood star might just bring him back.
Thanks to Heather for suggesting Robert as our Baby Name of the Day.
Sunday Summary: 5/29/11
Image via Wikipedia
I was recently trailing a just-pregnant-enough-to-need-maternity-wear friend through the mall when I spotted a baby names book. Moth to a flame, I flipped through the pages.
And I was horrified. The definitions weren’t just wrong – there’s room to quibble about the origins of many names – they were absolutely uninformed. Cleo meant “Egyptian queen” as did Cleopatra. (Wrong.) Julie was listed as an American name, Juliet as Italian, and Juliette as French. One out of three is … pretty pathetic.
I stopped short of telling the clerk they really needed to stock Beyond Ava and Aiden. And I must say, I have a renewed sense of how hard it is for the non-name-obsessed to get good information.
Speaking of which, there was quite a lot of great conversation this week:
- All the buzz was about Girl’s Gone Child’s list of names she’s not using for their twin daughters. My favorites from her list: Season, Blythe, and Nova;
- Check out Chanara’s list of possible names for Rosy’s little sister or brother. Alice Cordelia is my favorite, but she’s not made the final cut;
- For Real spotted a Madalina – pretty, but loses something thanks to all of those little Madelines and Adalyns;
- British Baby Names has a list of families from the Edwardian era that rival the Duggars for matchiness;
- Did you see this list at Nameberry of double names? I’ve long loved Coco, Gigi, Mimi, and Lulu – and never noticed that they shared a pattern;
- What do you think of Eisley for a girl? A Swistle reader has it on her short list;
- As if Glee wasn’t enough, Cars 2 features a British secret agent car called Finn McMissile;
- While we’re looking at animated characters, Nickelodeon is about to import an Italian series about fairies at a Hogwarts-esque academy. The main character of Winx Club is called Bloom. I get a very Producers/grocery store vibe from Bloom, but I like it anyhow.
If you follow AppMtn on Facebook, you heard me shouting “Noooooo!” when David Schwimmer’s daughter’s name was announced last week. Even more strange? A New Zealand news site said this of Cleo Schwimmer: “After several weeks of bizarre celebrity baby names, it’s refreshing to find someone who has given their newborn the best chance of a normal life.”
H’okay. I’m not saying Cleo is especially weird, but it isn’t exactly Anne.
Speaking of celebrity names, Oprah inspired last week’s post at Nameberry. There’s no post here tomorrow thanks to the Memorial Day holiday, but my list at Nameberry is super-season appropriate and very much fun.
As always, thanks for reading and have a great week!
Sunday Summary: 2/20/11
No 20 - flowery by Kirsty Hall via Flickr
Let’s start with an announcement: every Saturday in March will be March Madness at Appellation Mountain. Nope, I’m not writing basketball-related posts. Instead, you’re voting on your favorites from last year’s most popular posts.
It should be fun!
Elsewhere online:
- I love Lemon’s guest post at Nameberry on word names: Echo, Tansy, Temple. Ages ago I stumbled across Cascata – the Italian word for waterfall, as in cascade – and I always think of that one when word names are discussed;
- Speaking of word names, here’s one in the same key from Nancy: Invicta, inspired by a steamroller;
- ForReal spotted a boy named Ridge. I completely understand why parents would gravitate towards such a rugged, outdoorsy pick, but it seems a little hard to wear for a real kid. It seems more appropriate for a soap opera character;
- Is it me, or is Finn making a stealth attack? This story from the Chicago Tribune about a 61 year old woman who served as surrogate for her daughter mentioned that the baby name’s is Finnean. Finley, Finnegan, Finbar, Fintan … it seems like every day there’s another way to get to that oh-so-popular nickname;
- There was a lively conversation about unisex names at Nameberry earlier this week, and so I thought this was timely: from the Quinnipiac Chronicle, a girl named Kyle who loves her name. However, she would’ve liked to buy pink pencils with her name on them. No word on how sisters Shawn, Casey, and Riley feel about their names;
- MTV suggests names for Honor Warren’s little sister or brother. Somehow I don’t think Jessica and Cash will be using Louboutin or Money, but hey, Sterling has some possibilities;
- The 30 Rock baby is Elizabeth called Liddy. Here’s the quote from Alec Baldwin‘s character Jack: “We’re calling her Liddy, as in Liddy Dole, G. Gordon Liddy, and my martial arts instructor, Li-Dee.”
- From Babynamelover – Braden loses his “r” and becomes Baden. I wonder if they were thinking of the German resort town?
- I do truly love the name Evander.
Just a few celebrity birth announcements. I also post these on Facebook:
- No Doubt’s Tom Dumont and wife Mieke welcomed a third son, Koa Thomas. Koa joins Ace Joseph and Rio Atticus at home. I spotted Koah more than a year ago. Let’s see if it catches on;
- Rod Stewart and wife Penny welcomed a son called Aiden. All those years of naming babies, and I’m not sure Rod has mastered the art. His older kids are Kimberly, Sean, Ruby, Renee, Liam, and Alastair.
Tomorrow at Nameberry: a list of designer names drawn from Fashion Week 2011, and no, Chanel is not on the list.
That’s all for this week. As always, thanks for reading!
Baby Name of the Day: Grant
Grant Memorial; Image via Wikipedia
He’s a strong, masculine, single-syllable name with an almost virtue-name vibe. Why isn’t he more common?
Thanks to Nicole for suggesting Grant as Baby Name of the Day.
Sunday Summary: 6/13/10
So the Glee baby was named Beth. And Nikki Blonsky has a new series on ABC Family called Huge, apparently set at a summer weight-loss camp. Her character’s name caught my eye: Willamina, though I believe she’ll be answering to Will.
In other, completely random news:
- If you’ve got World Cup fever, you’ve probably been glued to the television of late. But even if you’ve never heard of a vuvuzela, you might want to check out Elisabeth’s post on names inspired by the 2010 World Cup. We’ll have to see how Landon and Donovan fare, but she’s quite right – it wouldn’t be a surprise if both rise;
- Regardless of how you feel about a 54 year old woman giving birth to twins, I suspect you’ll want to know their names: Asa and Imogen. Parents Karen and Roger have eight other kids: Daniel, Scott, Amy, Jemma, Aiden, Bethany, Joseph and Willow;
- I love this trio from ForReal’s Arizona post: Trek Larson, Ramona Bean and Jersey Rose. They all sound more like fictional characters than newborn babes;
- Remember all those lists we all made of possible future children’s names ages before we were ready to have kids? Teenagers today are posting them online. Tristan Bellamy on a girl has a certain appeal, but I suspect The Girl With Too Many Converse (great blog title!) will probably change her mind before the big day comes;
- I’m not familiar with Suite101, but the article seems to be thoroughly researched, and I found their list of Etruscan Baby Names interesting. Tanaquil is really growing on me;
- Then there’s this one from Nancy: a baby girl named Elora, after a gorge in Ontario;
- From ancient Etruria to modern Sweden, here’s Sebastiane’s review of Swedish baby names, complete with a round-up of Swedish birth announcements. Axel is just grand, I like Maja, and I can see Emmalisa catching on in the US;
- Speaking of compound names, do you ‘spose Rylejean is pronounced Riley Jean? (Once again, the intriguing find comes from ForReal.)
And then there’s the biggest discovery of the week: Nancy posted the Social Security Administration’s lists of Names outside the US Top 1000 that were given to 100 or more newborns in 2009. You can check out the girls’ list here and the boys’ list here. You’ll finds lots of variant spellings – Alexandrea, Jurnee, Olyvia and Kooper, Mykel, Trever - as well as some lovely surprises – Constance, Juniper, Honor and Thatcher, Perry, Gibson. And were more than 100 little girls really called Halo? And were the 177 baby boys called Major inspired by the Novogratz family?
Since the birth rate in Hollywood was a disappointing zero this week, I’ll leave you with Nameberry’s Will Maisie be the next Daisy? It’s a fascinating list, and it suggests why it is so very hard to find a name that is just a little bit different.
Have a great week, and, as always, thanks for reading!
Sunday Summary: 5/16/10
Conventional media is still abuzz with news that Jacob and Isabella are the most popular baby names in the US for 2009. Yawn. Luckily, the baby name blogosphere has moved on to more interesting topics. Here are my two Big Questions of the week:
- Is the speed of change in baby name trends accelerating? Elisabeth mentioned the possibility in her post about the Top 100 baby names of 2009 over at You Can’t Call It “It.“ We’ve certainly seen the pace pick up over the generations, but I was whopperjawed at the rise and fall of Miley.
- Is it right to correct a name’s meaning when a parent’s assertion is just plain inaccurate? Nancy asked the question specifically about reporters, but it comes up in discussion, too – online and off.
And, of course, Time Magazine pondered Why Do Babies Have the Same Names? They called it “The Twilight Effect.” Is it me, or did they completely miss an important point? Sure, lots of us are naming our kids Jacob and Isabella and Emma and Ethan. But, generation after generation, we’ve become more tolerant of diversity in baby names. Maybe my perspective is skewed by living in a big urban area with a huge international population, but I’m most impressed by how few kids continue to receive the most common names.
In good ol’ fashioned name-spotting this week:
- Design Mom blogger Gabrielle Blair and husband Ben welcomed daughter Flora June, a little sister for Ralph, Maude, Olive, Oscar and Betty. They’re calling her June. Congratulations;
- Speaking of June, she’s on the Quirky Classics for Girls list at Nameberry’s Baby Names 2010: What Names are Heading This Way? In the harder to classify category are the testosterone-charged Gunner and Ace. All this means that circa 2040, we should be seeing marriage announcements for mismatched couples like Annabelle and Colt;
- For Real brings us reports of London newborns called Myrtle, Ludovic and Albus, as well as a girl called Betzabet in Maine and another named Manhattan Rose, presumably not in New York;
- Nancy crunched the data to bring us Which Baby Name Ranked #1 in the Most States? The handful of names that the top spot in just one state are an interesting mix: Addison, Aiden, Allison, Daniel, Jose, Ryan and Wyatt;
- More data-crunching: Baby Name Wizard announced that Kaydence was the fastest rising name of the decade. The name Cadence was worn by American Pie’s band camp alum Michelle’s little sis in 2003′s American Wedding, but she was on the rise before. Caydence is just a step behind the K-spelling;
- You give your child a nice, normal name like Richard and what happens? Language Log tells us that Richard Smith of Carlisle, England, legally changed his name to Stormhammer Deathclaw Firebrand. And I thought For Real spotted some truly eye-popping appellations;
- I love Julie’s description of her kids: “My children are wonderful, hilarious, terrifying little creatures. It is still mind-boggling that we have one kid, let alone three.” Their names are nice, too: Henry, Eli and Zuzu;
- Nancy brings us a story about baby Karina, born to the wife of a Soviet scientist aboard a ship in the Kara Sea in 1933. And that’s only part of the story;
- Ellie Kate’s mom mentions Sylvie as a possible name for a future daughter. Well, Sylvie and Phyer. But Ellie’s dad veto’d Phyer, so that’s out. I found her post via Kelly’s Korner, a blog that asked parents to share lists of their kids’ names or future names – there are over 400 links!
And Claudia Schiffer has a new daughter, but if Caspar and Clementine’s little sis has a name, they’ve yet to share. The supermodel mentioned she was struggling with name choices, so it is possible they’re still debating. My money is on Cordelia, but I bet she’ll surprise us all.
That’s all for today. As always, thanks for reading and have a great week!
Baby Name of the Day: Zebedee
Zach is heard everywhere. Zeke is gaining. What other Z names might catch on?
Thanks to JNE for suggesting Zebedee as Baby Name of the Day.
Sunday Summary: 1/3/10
It’s the first Sunday Summary of 2010. Happy New Year! Congratulations to Chanara and her family as they celebrate their first New Year’s Day with new daughter Rosemary Amelie Belle.
Now, on to the random name spotting:
- Hat tip to Photoquilty for the heads up on Today’s story about bizarre baby names, including Marijuana Pepsi. Yes, really! And she’s lovely, and nope, she doesn’t shorten it to Mari;
- My neighbors have welcomed a daughter named Murielle! They weren’t sharing pre-baby, but did say that they found the name on their family tree. Can’t wait to learn more, but maybe I’d better stick with saying congratulations first;
- One of Clio’s Christmas gifts was a Parents-branded ladybug popper thing-a-ma-jig. Very cute. The lagniappe was a toy catalog tucked inside, complete with cute kids identified by name. The model kids were called the predictable Emma, Ava, Charlie and Brady, but there was also a Delana. Is it a twist on Delaney? Or a smoosh of Della and Anna? I’m intrigued, and I can’t find it mentioned elsewhere;
- Not only does Laura of Heavenly Homemakers make her own vanilla wafers, she named her four boys Asa, Justus, Elias and Malachi. Yes, it’s true. If I follow a link to your blog to find a recipe, my second click is your “About” page to see if you share your kids’ names;
- Bewildertrix spotted a Harryo Lucy, twin sister to Poppy Grace. I’ve been thinking about Harryo ever since I watched The Duchess. Harriet was her daughter’s name, but she answered to the nickname Harryo;
- I’d never use it, but I love Richlinde, recently profiled over at Legit Baby Names;
- While flipping through an old Martha Stewart Living, I spotted a sibset: sisters Io and Adda, and brother Ray. I’m always impressed when parents manage to use short names and still make them distinctive;
- Remember my How Close is Too Close post? Discovery Health has a new show called Make Room for Multiples. A couple named their triplets James, John and Jack – then welcomed twin boys called Jason and Jacob;
- For Real spotted a Daphnee. Is it a typo, or will an -ee spelling emerge as Daphne variant? Should we be expecting to meet Daphni and Daphnie, too?
In year-in-review news:
- I was thinking about writing a Celebrity Baby Names Year in Review post, but instead I’ll just point to this Nameberry article at Celebrity Baby Blog. What they said;
- Nancy has a nice round-up of a few of the recent Most Popular Names of 2009 posts. William is #1 in Tennessee;
- Data guru Laura Wattenberg has declared Emily and Jacob the Top Names of the Decade. She’s referring to total use, of course;
- And I say again, Isabella’s popularity is not related to Twilight. Nor is Aiden’s popularity in Arizona related to Jon & Kate Plus Eight. And their son is Aaden.
A few starbabies arrived just before the clock struck twelve, including:
- Black Crowes’ frontman Chris Robinson welcomed a daughter named Cheyenne Genevieve. Chris is also dad to Ryder Russell with his ex, Kate Hudson. Ryder and Cheyenne sound like siblings, but I’m surprised by the choice – Cheyenne is fading fast from her peak of #68 in 1997 and sounds rather uninspired for such a stylish dad;
- Indy car driver Hélio Castroneves and girlfriend welcomed a daughter called Mikaella. Call me crazy, but I like the spelling. I’m just weary of any -ayla sounding name;
- Van Morrison is a dad – again – at the age of 64. New baby is named George Ivan Morrison III. (Hmmm … can’t confirm this on his website, and the original link is gone. Am I imagining things? See the comment below – thanks, Joyce! The birth announcement was a hoax, but hey, Van as a nickname from George Ivan is still pretty cool.)
There’s an interesting article on double naming quoted at the Omaha World-Herald. You’ll note that she’s mostly talking about English and French practices. In the US, you can give a child a compound name, but unless you smoosh it together, Ava-Leigh is usually recorded as Ava L., not Avaleigh. NOTE: Please see Meredith Cane’s comment below. She is, indeed, the expert quoted on double names. But Cleveland Kent Evans wrote the article, and his research incorporates more than just Ms. Cane’s observations. And 48 variant spellings for Lily-Mae is something else!
That’s all for this week. Many thanks for reading!
In Defense of Isobel and Aiden: Ten Reasons to Embrace Variant Spellings
Head over to a baby naming website and suggest naming your baby-to-be Alivia. Or Jaxon.
Some will applaud your choice and add that Alyveah and Jaxin are cute, too. Several will sigh, and ask what’s wrong with Olivia and Jackson.
I’ll admit to a few snarky comments about Konner and Mackynzee. So maybe it sounds like hypocrisy – or blasphemy – to now write that perhaps variant spellings are not the end of the world.
