Baby Name of the Day: Amance

Amance église1

Church in Amance, France; Image via Wikipedia

Today’s choice is a rarity, a name all but gone – but Jennifer overheard her in a park a few weeks ago.

Our Baby Name of the Day is Amance.

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Baby Name of the Day: Indigo

Lump of Indian indigo dye

Lump of Indian indigo dye; Image via Wikipedia

David Bowie met a girl called Blue Jean back in 1984, but you’re more likely to meet a child wearing this colorful appellation.

Thanks to Photoquilty for suggesting Indigo as Baby Name of the Day.

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Baby Name of the Day: Inez

Poster for The Contrabandista

Poster for The Contrabandista; Image via Wikipedia

She sounds like a South America import, but this simple choice boasts a long history of use in the US.

Thanks to Stephanie and Kelleita for suggesting Inez as Baby Name of the Day.

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Baby Name of the Day: Adelaide

Coat of arms of the city of Adelaide

Image via Wikipedia

She’s a regal antique boosted by her mega-popular nickname.

Thanks to Annabel for suggesting Adelaide as Baby Name of the Day.

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Baby Name of the Day: Virginia

Virginia Colony Plaque

Virginia Colony Plaque; Image by cliff1066™ via Flickr

She’s a literary, regal, place name with an undeniable romance.  Yes, Virginia – it is your turn to be featured as Baby Name of the Day.

Thanks to Emily for the suggestion.

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Sunday Summary: 9/12/10

Let’s start a handful of picks from pop culture: first, True Blood’s werewolf Alcide.  He joined the cast in Season Three and will be back in Season Four.  If Sookie recently attracted attention, how about this romantic French spin on the Greek Alcaeus?

I’m also intrigued by Katniss, the heroine of the bestselling young adult trilogy The Hunger Games.  Her name is taken from the name of an edible plant, not just in her distopian fictional universe, but here on Earth, too.  Stephen King panned the name in a review, but I find Katniss pretty clever.  And what’s more, I can imagine Katniss catching on – she’s almost a blend of all those Kate names and the vintage, ends-in-ess choices, like Frances and Alice.

And let’s not forget TLC’s latest entry about families with lots of kids.  This one has lots of wives, too – yup, they’re profiling a polygamist family in Sister Wives.  The faces in their very crowded family portrait belong to:

  • Dad Kody;
  • First wife Meri and her daughter Mariah;
  • Second wife Janelle, and her kids Logan, Madison, Hunter, Garrison, Gabriel, and Savanah;
  • Third wife Christine and her kids Aspyn, Mykelti, Paedon, Gwenelyn, Ysabel, and baby-on-the-way Truely;
  • Fourth wife-to-be Robyn, who brings three kids to the bigger-than-Brady bunch: Dayton, Aurora, and Breanna.

It’s interesting to see that you can share everything, and still have very different taste in baby names.

Elsewhere online:

  • Speaking of family names, Laura Wattenberg’s article about A New World of Namesakes challenges readers to imagine the feminine form of today’s most popular boys’ names.  Will Connor’s granddaughter be called ConnieConnorine?  The mind reels.  Apparently Joshlyn is already surfacing;
  • A comment in that post led to these addicting Sporcle games.  Maybe I’m a geek, but I nearly didn’t get the laundry done thanks to these;
  • Sebastiane’s post on Gregory includes a long list of feminine variants, including Jorina. Which gives me hope that we won’t be meeting girls called Connorine;
  • Spotted in Montana: Huxley.  ON A GIRL.  For Real reports a Huxley Isabella was born in Big Sky Country;
  • This one is for Claire.  During our discussion of Endellion, she wrote: “What if we dropped the ‘n’? Endellia is nice.”  Guess what popped up in the new names at Namipedia just the other day?  Wait for it – Endelia.  She may or may not stay there – Wattenberg has some criteria for determining which names can be listed – but other people are thinking the same way;
  • Check out the Class Rosters list at You Can’t Call It “It.” I was traveling for work when her post came out, so I couldn’t put my hands on our lists, but the biggest surprise I’ve heard so far?  Aly has a classmate called Ovid.  I’m not sure if I’m misunderstanding a foreign name or if he really is named after the poet.

In starbaby news, besides Winnie Cooper’s baby dragon, there’s:

Lastly, I was curious to see the upcoming Easy A for tons of reasons – it’s a spin on The Scarlet Letter, Malcolm McDowell plays the principal, the reviews have been great.  But best of all?  The heroine’s name is Olive!

That’s all for this week.  If you haven’t already, leave a comment on this post for a chance at choosing the five names to be featured the week of December 27!  Thanks for reading.

Sunday Summary: 9/5/10

For those of you in the US, hope you’re having a happy Labor Day weekend!  There won’t be a Name of the Day post tomorrow, but there is something else headed your way.

Fall brings with it the return of network television, which means lots of new character names to consider.  Hellcats – heavily advertised in the Mall at Annapolis – will feature a Marti, plus fellow cheerleaders Dan, Lewis, Savannah, and Alice.  Marti reminds me of Marni, Kristin Bell’s charater in upcoming chick flick You Again.  I wonder if Marti/Marni will catch on, along with Sadie and company?

Speaking of the Mall, in about three weeks the good people at Pottery Barn are going to deliver a piece of furniture to me.  His name is EmmettA post I wrote way back in early ’08 was all about the names Pottery Barn gives to their product line. Who names their rugs and desks and bookshelves?  It must be an interesting job, and should there ever be a need, I think we could crowd source names for consoles and side tables right here!

Which brings us to the news of the week:

In starbaby news:

And remember, if you want to submit a Reader Baby Name Story? Now is a great time!

That’s all for now – thanks for reading, and I’ll see you soon!

Reader Baby Name Story: The Toughest Baby to Name – So Far!

Today’s Reader Baby Name Story comes to us courtesy of Fran, the mother to four beautifully named children.

But this is the story of her youngest – the most difficult to name!

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Reader Baby Name Story: A Botancial, Literary Choice

Today’s story comes to us from Elisabeth.  It’s a great example of how you can know exactly what you want – but it might still take a little work to find it!

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Baby Name of the Day: Adele

Stylish actress Molly Ringwald chose this name for one of her daughters.

Thanks to Melissa for suggesting Adele as Baby Name of the Day.

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