First, he was a Hollywood leading man.  Then he was Superman’s mild-mannered alter ego.  Then along came the candy bar and the Griswolds …

In honor of my dear dad, our Baby Name of the Day is Clark.

Depending on your perspective, Clark either conjures up the golden age of movies, the golden age of comic books, or possibly memories of family vacations.

But Clark’s roots are older.  He’s an occupational surname, originally worn by someone tasked with recording or secretarial duties.  The term emerges in Middle English, in an era when most educated men were monks.  Think of our word cleric, derived from the Late Latin clericus.  It became clerc in Old French and eventually clerk or clark in English.  Clark stuck as the surname form.

Thanks to William Clark, of Lewis and Clark fame, there’s a healthy dose of Americana associated with this name.  The duo set off from 1804 to 1806, traveling from the lands of Missouri all the way to the Pacific Northwest and back again.

Bearers of the surname range from Hilda Clark, a nineteenth century model who rose to fame in an ad campaign for Coca-Cola, to American Bandstand’s eternally youthful Dick Clark.

There’s also David L. Clark, an entrepreneur who founded the D.L. Clark Company in 1886 in what is now Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  The sign pictured above advertises one of the company’s most famous products – the Clark Bar, a milk chocolate and peanut butter confection that is still widely available today, though the company is no more – NECCO now produces the candy.

But the first Clark who springs to mind as a bearer of the first name is likely Hollywood screen legend Clark Gable.  The actor was born William Clark Gable, and it is sometimes said that he was named after the co-leader of the Lewis and Clark expedition.  (Though it is worth noting that his dad was called William and Clark is a common surname that appears elsewhere on his family tree, suggesting that resemblance to the explorer is a happy coincidence.)  Gable’s career began in the 1920s, accelerated in the 1930s, fueled by his Best Actor Oscar for It Happened One Night.  His last film was 1961′s The Misfits – he died just two weeks after production ended.

Clark Gable was a major Hollywood force when DC Comics writers gave the name to Superman’s alter ego, Clark Kent of Smallville, Kansas, by way of the doomed planet Krypton.  Superman has been one of the most enduring of superheroes, recently rebooted for a decade-long run in prequel television series Smallville.

Between 1983 and 1997, Clark was worn by comedian Chevy Chase.  The Griswold patriarch took his wife, Ellen, and kids Rusty and Audrey, on a series of disastrous vacations.  Chase made the name famous once more, but probably inspired few parents – after all, a station-wagon driving dad isn’t necessarily the most stylish source of inspiration.

Clark had always ticked along in the US Top 1000, ranking in the 200s and 300s from the nineteenth century into the 1960s.  He’s teetered on the edge of obscurity recent years.  His rank of #694 in 2010 marks a slight improvement.

With parents choosing names like Cade and Cole, Gage and Finn, Clark fits in better than you might expect.  Between the Man of Steel and the Hollywood icon, there’s reason to think that Clark could wear well today.

Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel; Image via Wikipedia

Every year I take back the reigns during my birthday week and choose a few of the names to profile here at AppMtn.  As it happens, my first pick was also suggested by Nicole.

Today’s name of the day is Coco.

Back in 1994, Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon welcomed a daughter, Coco Hayley.

Until then, the only Coco that came to mind was probably Coco Chanel, born Gabrielle.  She spent her adolescence in an orphanage, trained as a seamstress by the nuns.  After leaving, she earned a living as a cabaret singer.  There’s a popular story that her nickname comes from a song she used to sign, but Chanel herself said it came from the word coquette – flirt.  Starting with hats, then moving on to perfume, and eventually her own couture house, Chanel’s mark in fashion history is almost impossible to understate.

A handful of works have attempted to capture her story.  Katharine Hepburn played Chanel in a 1969 musical.  A 1981 biopic starred French actress Marie-France Pisier.  More recently, Lifetime produced a 2008 television movie with Shirley MacClaine as a late-in-life Chanel, and a year later, Audrey Tatou starred in Coco avant Chanel.  Tatou also became the spokeswoman for Chanel.  Did you ever since the Chanel No. 5 commercial featuring her on a train from Paris to Istanbul?  Far more glamorous than Amtrak.

Chanel has appeared in the US Top 1000 for girls most years from the 1970s through the present, but Coco has never charted.

Besides the fashion legend, Coco brings to mind:

• Coconuts!  It is a funny muddle that gets us there – in Spanish, coco refers to the palm tree, via cocos, from the Latin for berry, but altered by association with coco – face – as in the three holes on a coconut shell;
• There’s also cocoa, the seeds from which we make chocolate.  The word was originally cacoa, but coco influenced its spelling, and the confusion endures.

A handful of men have answered to the name, though it generally isn’t on their birth certificates:

• Ko-ko is a male character in the enduring Gilbert and Sullivan musical The Mikado;
• Coco and Koko have been popular names for clowns;
• Late Night talk funnyman Conan O’Brien picked up the nickname;
• Coco Crisp plays center field for the Oakland A’s.  Born Covelli, Coco is a childhood nickname.

Plenty of girls have probably answered to Coco for similar reasons.  Any name that starts with Co can easily lead to the short form: Colette, Corinne, Coleen, Cordelia, Constance, Coraline, and Coralie all come to mind.

Courtney Cox answered to the nickname Coco, which is how her daughter, Coco Riley, got her name in 2004.  Earlier this year, No Doubt’s Tony Kanal and girlfriend Erin Lokitz welcomed their daughter, Coco Reese Lakshmi.  In between, singer Colbie Caillat released a 2007 album titled Coco.

Coco often makes the list of craziest celeb baby names.  Online there are references to Koko, the gorilla who learned sign language, made famous in a 1978 documentary; video game hero Crash Bandicoot’s little sister; or as suitable for a poodle, but too frou-frou for a child.

As an independent name, Coco is a bit of a risk – like any short name, there’s no room to hide if it doesn’t quite fit.  But she’s a stand-out nickname, and a great way to make a more formal choice easier to wear.  But with Willow and Harlow in favor, Coco starts to sound absolutely reasonable – and very much on trend.

Image via Wikipedia

She’s the stylish short form of Elizabeth worn by the unforgettable Audrey Hepburn.

Thanks to Lemon for suggesting Eliza as our Baby Name of the Day.

When My Fair Lady opens, Professor Henry Higgins is bragging that he can teach any person to speak the most elegant English.  His friend Colonel Pickering calls him on his boast, and soon Higgins is charged with transforming the churchmouse-poor, Cockney-accented flower seller Eliza Doolittle into a lady.  And not just a born aristocrat, but one who can fool Professor Higgins’ rival linguistics expert into believing she’s the real McCoy.

Even if you haven’t seen the movie, you can probably guess the ending: Eliza succeeds, and wins not only the bet, but Higgins’ heart.

That’s the Hollywood version.  The Broadway musical ends with a slightly more ambiguous approach, more faithful to the original, as penned by George Bernard Shaw in 1913.

But Eliza fell even as the tale succeeded.

She had ranked in the Top 100 in the 1880s, thanks to:

• A patriotic opera called Eliza, about Queen Elizabeth I of England by Thomas Arne, dating to the 1750s;
• in the 1790s, a French opera set in the Swiss Alps, with a totally unrelated storyline.

Eliza was a popular name for seafaring vessels in the era, and a bronze sculpture in Perth, Australia’s Matilda Bay answers to the name, in honor of Eliza Darling, the wife of an early Governor of New South Wales.

There’s a legend about a pair of conjoined twins named Mary and Eliza Chalkhurst from a village in Kent, circa 1100.  Skeptics say that written proof of the sisters’ existence is scant.  In any case, their names appear to be nineteenth century innovations.

Other literary uses from the nineteenth century include:

• Jane Austen’s Elizabeth Bennett answered to Eliza and Lizzy in 1813′s Pride and Prejudice.  She’s an enduring heroine, played by Keira Knightley in the 2005 movie adaptation;
• In 1852′s Uncle Tom’s Cabin, rather than see her young son sold to another owner, Eliza flees.  They make it to freedom, as did the real-life figure who inspired Harriet Beecher Stowe.

More recently, parents might think of:

• Actress Eliza Dushku has worn two intriguing names on a pair of short-lived television series: Tru on Tru Calling, and Echo on Dollhouse;
• Eliza Thornberry, the younger daughter on cartoon The Wild Thornberrys.  Eliza can talk to the animals, the basis of her adventures during the show’s run, from 1998 to 2004;
• Eliza Doolittle has another musical association.  British singer Eliza Caird took it as her professional name.  I’m in love with her quirky video for “Pack Up.”

Today Eliza is climbing once more, reaching #240 in 2010.  If you love Elizabeth, but prefer a nickname-free option, Eliza is a great choice.  Then again, Ellie, Lizzie, and several other short forms remain options.

Eliza is classic but vivacious.  She qualifies as an antique revival but her zippy z makes her perfectly modern.

The only downside to Eliza is that it is easy to imagine her reaching the US Top 100 by 2025.  Big sister Elizabeth has hovered around the Top Ten for decades.  But for the moment, she’s a stylish option for parents seeking something just a little bit different.

I had a girl’s name picked out years before I even got pregnant.Adelaide Helena. It’s so completely regal and seems like she could be a character in Canterbury Tales or a busty role-playing woman at the yearly Renaissance Festival. I was dead set and often found myself doodling the name Adelaide on pieces of paper absentmindedly. The boy name that I had picked out was Oscar Seamus, but that became irrelevant.

I found myself pregnant about three years before I was planning on trying to conceive a first child, and for the first few weeks, I thought of the baby as Adelaide. I tried it out with her last name, Adelaide Brown. It sounded good enough, but suddenly I couldn’t get past the ‘laide’ at the end of the sentence (it means ‘ugly’ in French.) Then I thought my boyfriend wouldn’t like it. Then I thought it sounded too weird. Then I didn’t think it sounded like my baby. Then I just plain didn’t like it at all.

So I went months without a baby name picked out. If you combined all of the hours that I spent on baby name websites reading and re-reading the top 1000 lists (I wouldn’t pick anything in the top 100 names for 2009), editing my favorites, asking questions on message boards, tossing and turning in bed trying out different combinations, trying to convince myself that Violet Brown didn’t sound too bad.. it would probably equal out to an entire week without sleeping.

My criteria were difficult to work with. Her last name, Brown, limited my first names to nothing with one syllable, nothing that is a noun, nothing that is a color, nothing that could be an adjective, nothing starting with B. As her middle name, I was dead set on Alanna to honor her late paternal grandfather, Alan, because I thought it would be extremely important to my boyfriend even though my grandmother, Glenda, had just passed away when I was about 20 weeks pregnant. I changed Alana to Alanna because the word ‘anal’ just stares at me whenever I look at the name. Alanna as a middle name also limited first names to nothing ending in ‘A.’ Between the no color/nature names, and nothing ending in ‘A,’ 3/4ths of my favorites list had been nixed before even consulting with my boyfriend.

Ultimately, I had narrowed down my list for first names when I was about, oh I don’t know, 9 months pregnant:

• Ivy Alanna (I loved this so much!)
• Noelle Alanna (Too much ‘L’)
• Coralie Alanna (Boyfriend pronounced this as Cor-AL-lee.. nixed)
• Juliette Alanna
• Lorelei Alanna (also too much ‘L’)

Around the time that I was 36 weeks, my boyfriend suggested a name. “How about Lily?” I was horrified! I have always LOATHED and been disgusted with my first name because it is overly-cutesy, trendy, and over-popular.

Alas, the only two cents that baby daddy had to put in was suggesting a name in the exact popularity slot as my first name. Ugh. Besides that, Lily Alanna was just way too much ‘L’. I seem to have that problem a lot.

While half-way fuming about the only name he suggested and half-way trying to find a way to make it work somehow in her name, I googled lilies to see what they looked like. The first picture that popped up was a beautiful bright orange lily, my late-grandmother’s favorite color and coincidentally the same flower that I had picked off of her casket at her funeral before we buried her. It made me cry.

As I thought about it, all of the perks to the name Lily kept flowing. My 9-year old sister had suggested lily, my boyfriend had suggested lily, Lily is also a Harry Potter name, it’s a nature name, and it would balance out whatever crazy first name I eventually would pick, assuming my boyfriend would let me.

Lily became her middle name and a whole new universe of first names opened up to me! Mostly just names ending in a: Tabitha, Cora, Nora, Matilda, Alaia, Isla, Cambria, Leyna, Nona, Clara, it was mind-boggling. It was also mind boggling to my boyfriend why I couldn’t just picked a ‘regular’ name, as in something in the top 10 most popular.

I have never been a fan of the name Sasha on a girl, but for some reason it jumped out to me and for some reason I knew my boyfriend with his limited taste in names would approve it.

I never talked to him about the name and suddenly at 37 weeks my water broke and the baby was born that night. We sat in the hospital for 2 days without a name because I was too afraid of having Sasha rejected. I worked up the guts and surprisingly, we both agreed on it. Sasha Lily. It isn’t the kind of name that I would like at all. I wouldn’t have picked this. My boyfriend wouldn’t have picked this. I’m convinced that my baby named herself from the womb, because her name fits her to a ‘t!’

Afterwards, I did have name regret. I saw the looks on people’s faces when I announced her name and couldn’t stand the questions like, “So what made you decide on Sasha..?” I went back over my lists thinking about what I should have chosen. Something more common like Audrey, maybe Caroline. Something that actually fits my taste in names. I felt it necessary to add that I don’t really like her name when talking to people about names. I was embarrassed.

I’m finally warming up to it now though. Actually, I  love it now. The look on Sasha’s face when she answers to her name makes everything make sense. She picked her own name.

Thank you for sharing, Courtney!  You’ve done a great job of illustrating the differences between the names that we love, and the names that we actually use.  It can be surprising what a gap exists between the two!  And Sasha Lily is a great name – feminine and sparky, unexpected but not in an outlandish way.  And what a cutie!

Image via Wikipedia

From a ninth century monk to a 21st century television show, with pit stops in Hollywood and the White House, this name has history aplenty.

Thanks to Paul for suggesting our Baby Name of the Day: Humphrey.

Back in the 800s, in a little German town called Prüm, there lived a monk called Hunfrid.  Hunfrid eventually became a bishop, and is remembered as a saint.

In his lifetime, Hunfrid’s Latin name would’ve been Hunfridus.  But today, look him up in official church records, and he’s St. Humphrey.

Hun comes from a Germanic element meaning something along the lines of bear, or possibly strength.  You’ll recognize -frid from Frederick; the element means peace.  The Normans brought him to England, but found him waiting there, too, as Hunfrith.

The n-to-m switch wasn’t unusual.  Humbert took a similar path.  And many a name appears with both ph and f spellings.

In various forms, Humphrey had a good run in Medieval England.  King Henry IV of England gave the name to his youngest son, the 1st Duke of Gloucester.  He wasn’t the first well-born Humphrey; the royal Humphrey was named after his maternal grandfather.  The 2nd Earl of Buckingham answered to the name, too.

By the late nineteenth century, Humphrey was only in sparing use.  His last appearance in the US Top 1000 was in 1894.  Hollywood legend Humphrey Bogart – yup, that’s his given name – was born on Christmas Day, 1899.

Despite Bogart’s privileged Upper West Side upbringing, he fell in love with acting.  First came Broadway, then Hollywood.  He graduated from tough guy to romantic lead.  He’s remembered best as Rick in Casablanca, heroically giving up the woman he loves.  His career flourished from the 1940s into the 50s, when he won a Best Actor Oscar.

Today Humphrey might strike most as a surname.  Possibly that’s thanks to Hubert Horatio Humphrey, Jr., vice president under Lyndon Johnson in the 1960s.  His son, Hubert Horatio Humphrey III, has also had a career in Minnesota politics.

If not a surname, then Humphrey might give you more of a zoological vibe.  Animals aplenty have answered to Humphrey, including:

• A cat in residence at 10 Downing Street, jokingly referred to as the Chief Mouser.  He was named after Yes, Minister character Sir Humphrey Appleby;
• A pair of bears.  The first is a staple on Australian kids’ television, the star of Here’s Humphrey.  The second is a minor Disney character who starred in shorts in the 1950s and 60s;
• In last year’s animated wolf movie Alpha and Omega, Humphrey is the underdog.  He’s thrown together with alpha wolf Kate, and through a series of unlikely events, they fall in love.

Humphrey’s hopes for a renaissance come not from the animal kingdom, but from the small screen.  TV’s Gossip Girl features the Humphrey family – aspiring writer Dan, his former rock star dad Rufus, rebellious little sister Jenny, socialite stepmama Lily.  Dan is often referred to by his last name, and somehow it starts to sound just right.

With playgrounds filled with screen legends like Natalie, Ava, and Audrey, a little Humphrey might fit right in.

Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire; Image via Wikipedia

He’s a Hollywood legend, but his first name is a little fishy.

Thanks to Jennifer C. for suggesting Marlon as our Baby Name of the Day.

The first one Marlon springs to mind is almost certainly the late Marlon Brando, known for bellowing “Stella!” and making you an offer you can’t refuse.  He was named after his dad, Marlon Brando, Sr.  The elder Brando was born in 1895.

Marlon Brando, Jr. started his career on stage in the 1940s and rocketed to fame in 1951′s film adaptation of A Streetcar Named Desire.  He was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar for his turn as the brutish Stanley Kowalski.  Three years later, he won the award for On the Waterfront, where he uttered the immortal line “I coulda been a contender.”

When Brando won again in 1972, as the unforgettable Vito Corleone in The Godfather, he turned down the award.  (Read more about that here.)

The fish that bedeviled Santiago in Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea was a marlin.  The fish gets his name from a tool used by sailors in ropework: the marlinspike.  A marlin’s spear-like snout resembles the tool.

Marlin was the name of the nervous father fish who rescues his son in Pixar’s 2003 hit Finding Nemo.  There’s also Marlin Perkins, host of Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom for more than two decades.

Despite his zoological overtones, Marlin appears to have a longer history of use than Marlon.  Marlin first appears in US Top 1000 in 1884, and ranked every year from 1900 to 1990.  Marlon only pops up in the US Top 1000 beginning in 1950.

As surnames, Marlon and Marlin are both considered variants of Merlin.  Merlin takes us back to the sea once more.

Geoffrey of Monmouth took Welsh legends about a prophet and historical figure called Myrddin, and merged them with the tales of King Arthur.  Myrddin probably lived in the sixth century; Monmouth wrote in the twelfth.  Ever since, we’ve combined the tales of a powerful sorcerer with the stories of the legendary ruler.  Monmouth transformed Myrddin into Merlinus or Merlin.  The Welsh name referred to a sea fortress.

Merlin charted in the US Top 1000 every year between 1901 and 1969.  Merlin Olsen, the NFL player turned actor, was apparently named after his mom, Merle – which takes the name in yet another direction, ultimately connecting to Muriel or Miriam.

Other Marlons include:

• Part of the original Jackson 5, Michael’s brother Marlon;
• Marlon Wayans, a member of another successful family in the entertainment industry;
• Since 1996, UK soap Emmerdale has included character Marlon Dingle.

Marlon is surprisingly international.  He’s big in Germany, and you might hear him in Latin America or the Philippines, too.

Despite the success of Ava, Natalie, and Audrey for girls, Hollywood screen legends have not been a major influence for boys.  With his two-syllable, ends-in-n sound, Marlon ought to sound stylish.  Instead, he seems dated, possibly because a cluster of 1970s-born Marlons make him sound like someone’s dad.

Boys’ names tend to hold on for generations, so Marlon will likely remain in use.  Whether he’ll be fashionable once more is hard to say, but his story is rich.

Clio + Aly, February 2011

I took the kids to get their hair cut at our local Cartoon Cuts, which isn’t local at all – it requires a drive on the Beltway to Rockville Pike.  While the kids were being coiffed, I flipped through a rack of personalized hair barrettes.  The selection included the predictable Emma and Elizabeth, but also some out-there picks like Ayriel, Divany, and Darlene.  Ariel has been in the Top 100 as recently as 1992, so okay.  But Ayriel?  Are there faithful salon customers with those names who buy a set every six weeks?

It was a good week for unusual name spotting.  Over on the Facebook page, I mentioned seeing a boy called Sovereignty in the local media, and Sarah spotted a bride-to-be on Say Yes to the Dress called Duvae.  Get this: the parents chose it so she “would be a comfort in their lives.”  Hokay.

Beyond Sovereignty and Duvae, there’s been another round of chatter about unusual names – are they over in Hollywood, are they anything new, and so on.  I’ll round up a few of the articles at Nameberry tomorrow.

In the meantime:

• Aussie notables Simon Marshall and Sally Burke have named their daughter Shugar.  The parents say that Shugar’s name “could be a world first for all that we know.”  Shugar certainly isn’t likely to catch on any time soon, but I found more than a dozen people called Shugar in the 1880 US Census.  At least one of them was a he!
• Here’s an unusual name that could stand out in all the right ways – Orchid, as profiled at Bewitching Baby Names.  There’s a hint of the “Lily was taken, so we looked elsewhere in the garden” about Orchid, but she’s an intriguing choice anyhow.  Just don’t focus too much on her Greek origins;
• For Real spotted a birth announcement for Paul Wager.  Is Wager a family name, or is it the new Chance?
• In Arizona, For Real spotted a girl named Calexia Lavae Marie and a Johntavia Dashey;
• I love these lists so much I’m imagining mash-ups between Windy City Baby Names and Geek Baby Names: Linus Comiskey and Waldo Caray, anyone?
• Nancy asks what you would name an 11-11-11 baby? Dearest’s suggestion of Ellevine – a traditional Norweigan name for the eleventh child – is my favorite, but there was no shortage of clever:  C in DC’s Prime, Julie’s Undine, Nikki’s names with the initials XI, as in Xandria Isabel;
• There’s a birth announcement for a little Juniper over at Swistle, but I’m fascinated by some of the other choices they considered for a daughter: Albany, Winslet, Ottilie, Hermione;
• Back in 2009, I wrote about Angus.  And in 2010, it was Sasha;
• Coming up this week: Lovett, Antoinette, Elsinore, Albert, and Flint.

Amongst the fashionable and famous:

• Two Top Chef families expanded this week: Richard Blais and wife Jazmin welcomed daughter Embry Lotus, who joins big sister Riley Maddox, and Tania Peterson’s new daughter Zuzu Audrey, the first child for Tania and husband Phil;
• Cynthia Nixon and Christine Marinoni welcomed a son, Max Ellington;
• And we think we know the name of Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz’ son: Leo.

One more thing: from time to time, I have a question about the site’s direction, and it would be really helpful to get readers’ opinions before I make a decision and put anything live here.  So I’m forming a tiny little AppMtn Advisory Board.  (Dare I call you the Mounties?)  If you’re willing to get a VERY occasional email from me, please let me know by sending me a message at appmtn (at) gmail (dot) com.  I truly value your feedback, and it would be fun to get it before I try new things every once in a while.  It doesn’t matter if you’re a diehard lurker, occasional visitor, or regular commenter – just drop me a line, and you’re in the club!

That’s all for this week.  As always, thanks for reading, and have a great week!

Image via Wikipedia

It’s Liz’s week at Appellation Mountain!

Her first choice is a sturdy German name mixed with a generous helping of Hollywood glam.

Our Baby Name of the Day is the glamorous nickname Hedy.

Once upon a time, Hedwig was worn by saints and royals.  These days, she’s been ceded to Harry Potter’s snowy owl and a cult classic musical about a transgendered rock star.

Along with Hedda, the names relate to a Germanic element - hadu, combat.  Hedwig ranked in the US Top 1000 from 1880 through 1926, but it seems unlikely that she’ll make a comeback anytime soon.

But Hedy is in a whole other category, thanks to Hollywood’s Golden Age star Hedy Lamarr.  Born in Austria as Hedwig, she started out in Berlin, before heading to Paris, London, and eventually the US.  She borrowed her last name from fellow actress Barbara La Marr, a silent film star who lived fast and died young in the 1920s.

Lamarr scored plenty of famous roles from the 1940s into 1950s.  She played Delilah in a hit and Joan of Arc in a flop.  She starred as the exotic Tondelayo in 1942′s White Cargo.  This would be enough to put Hedy in the same category as Ava, Natalie, and Audrey.

But there’s a twist.  Lamarr once quipped: “Any girl can be glamorous.  All she has to do is stand still and look stupid.”  Once her star faded in Hollywood, Lamarr had a second career in science.  She and George Antheil – who got his start in music – secured a patent for frequency hopping, a technique that allows secure radio communications.  Lamarr and Antheil proposed it to the the US military.  It didn’t catch on in the World War II era, but by the early 1960s, the technology was in use on US Navy vessels.

Hedy charted in the US Top 1000 a few times during her heyday, between 1939 and 1947.  Other famous Hedys include:

• Folksinger Hedy West – you might recognize her song “500 Miles.” West was born Hedwig in Georgia, in 1938;
• Actress Hedy Burress was born Heather in 1973.  Name nerd trivia: Burress played a recurring character called Money Raspberry Dupree in short-lived 2001 medical drama Gideon‘s Crossing.  She most recently appeared on Southland.

Add in politicians, athletes, and other notables, and it is clear that unlike Cher or Madonna, Hedy is not too closely tied to any one figure.

If you’re looking for a nature tie, there’s also hedychium – better known as ginger lily – a plant native to tropical Asia.  Maybe that’s a stretch.

Hedy seems fresh, a simple name that stands on her own, and a viable option to honor a Hedwig (or a Jadwiga, or any of the many Slavic variations) on your family tree.  She’ll be mistaken for Heidi, but that’s a challenge with any uncommon name.  Despite her homespun sound, Hedy sounds like heady – thrilling, as in “it goes to your head.”  Putting Hedwig on the birth certificate feels a little extreme, though, so you might ask yourself if you’re content to let Hedy stand alone.

If nickname-proof style appeals, then Hedy offers a surprising mix of Hollywood glam, smarts, and modern style with serious roots.

From 1954's The Barefoot Contessa; Image via Wikipedia

She’s Biblical, saintly, international, Hollywood-glam, and nature-themed, too.  Is it any wonder she has become one of the most popular names of our time?

Thanks to Meredith for suggesting Ava as Baby Name of the Day.

That’s the legendary Ava Gardner in the picture to the right, and along with Audrey, Natalie, Harlow, and Bardot,  Tinsel Town often gets credit for encouraging parents to choose Ava for their daughters.  While the Carolina farm girl who shed her drawl to become an Oscar-nominated star quickly comes to mind, that’s not quite the way the story really goes.

Ava’s possible origins are many:

• She’s often listed as a variant of Eve.  If you remember our discussion of Eva, you’ll recall that Eva Gabor pronounced her name like Ava – and she’s not alone;
• Plenty of Germanic names start with the element av.  There’s much debate about that bit’s meaning, but gems like Aveza, Avia, Avacyn, and Avekin can be dredged from various historical documents;
• Speaking of history, there’s a ninth-century Saint Ava, usually listed as a daughter of Pepin, King of the Franks, and thus a descendant of Charlemagne;
• I’m sure this is a fluke, but I couldn’t help but notice that the Franks often found themselves up against the nomadic Avars, eventually absorbed by Hungarians – couldn’t confirm origin of their name;
• Some sources list her as a Persian name meaning voice;
• It is impossible to overlook her similarity to the Latin avis - bird.

When Gardner’s parents chose the name, Ava was unusual but not obscure.  She’d ranked in the US Top 1000 every year since 1880.  Gardner initially bolstered a falling name, leading Ava to #376 in 1954.  But though Gardner’s career was long, her name’s popularity didn’t last.  Perhaps it was her reputation as a homewrecker after Frank Sinatra famously left wife Nancy to wed Ava.

Ava did appear as a popular television character in the late 1960s – only we knew her as Buffy.  Family Affair’s tale of three cute orphans moving in with their man-about-town uncle usually referred to the moppets as Cissy, Jody, and Buffy, but their formal names were Catherine, Jonathan, and Ava Elizabeth.

As Family Affair left the small screen, Ava fell completely out of favor and wasn’t seen in the rankings through the 1980s.

If Hollywood didn’t invent Ava in the first place, it should get credit for her resurgence.  Starbabies called Ava include:

• Heather Locklear and Richie Sambora’s 1997-born daughter when the name ranked #618;
• Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe’s 1999-born daughter, Ava Elizabeth arrived when her name charted at #259;
• By the time Hugh Jackman’s daughter, Ava Eliot, made her appearance in 2005, Ava charted at #9;
• More recently, Caroline Rhea, James Otto, Kevin Dillon, and Andrea Roth all welcomed girls called Ava.

Smashing Pumpkins’ 1998 single “Ava Adore” and masterfully creepy video lent the name some edge.

Today parents eager to find something just a little different from Ava and her surname cousin Avery are experimenting with everything from elaborations like Aveline and Avaleigh to similar-but-unrelated choices from Aven to Avalon.

Despite her popularity, Ava still retains much of her Hollywood sheen.  She’s as appropriate on a child as an adult.  But with ever so many little girls answering to Ava, some parents are certainly seeking less popular options.

Speaking of winners, whilst channel surfing earlier this week, I caught an episode of Toddlers and Tiaras featuring BFFs turned rivals, Jacee and Mayce.  I like Macy, but find Jaycee a touch too civic to wear.  But here’s the thing – neither of those spellings immediately suggests the correct sound.  I think I’d say JAH see and mace, like the weapon, except that I can guess what they’re meant to be.  Maycee, sure.  Jaycie, okay.  But Jacee and Mayce, IMHO, fail some essential test about phonetic transparency.

Not that that’s anything new.

And of course, I watched the two-part special episode of The Office just to hear the baby’s name.  Pam and Jim Halpert are now parents to Cecilia Marie.  Cecilia ranked #270 in 2008, and seemed to have plateau’d.  I suspect she’ll rise in 2010, because even though Nancy’s advice to Turn Off Your TV When Choosing Bad Names is sound, pop culture is powerful.

Elsewhere online:

• Momlogic posted their list of 8 illegal baby names.  Most of them are international violations of various codes – I suppose you could name your baby Metallica in the US.  Heck, someone probably already has;
• Speaking of illegal names and heavy metal, a bitsy Québécois baby gets to keep her umlaut.  New mom Kriystal – not a typo – decided that she wanted to make #19 name Zoé more unique with a gratuitous diacritical mark.  So she called her newborn babe Zöé and ran afoul of those crazy Canadian authorities who think that diacritical marks should indicate how to pronounce a name, not simply be strung on like so many Mardi Gras beads.  Kriystal won, and can look forward to years of explaining to the insurance company and school registrar precisely how to spell Zöé;
• Also in Canada, parents settled on the name Porsha, but insist it isn’t for the Shakespeare or the car.  The spelling Portia was dismissed because “it looked like a witch name.”  Here’s hoping Porsha grows up to be a lit major and discovers that Portia is actually the quick-witted woman who saves Antonio’s life when everyone else falls short – and a worthy namesake if ever one was;
• Nancy asks how similar should twin names be? I voted, then visited the Social Security Administration’s Top 100 list of twin names. Most strike me as on the edge of being too close:  Jacob and Joshua, the #1 combo, are fine.  But #5 pair Taylor and Tyler, #25 pair Christian and Christopher and #75 duo Heaven and Nevaeh all seem much too much.  I prefer sets like #33 Benjamin and Samuel or #35 Abigail and Emma - the names have similar styles, but it is clear that each child is an individual, not one half of novelty salt’n'pepper shakers;
• For Real Baby Names spots a lot of interesting names, but here’s one that baffles me: Gossip Anthony.  There must be a story there.  The girl name Loyalty Justice – also spotted this week – seems tame by comparison;
• If you prefer meaningful names with a more subtle style, Sebastiane brings us the lovely Honorine.  Also the Russian Lara;
• Road trippers might appreciate this one – For Real spotted a boy saddled with the name Soul-Ryder Prescott, to be called Ryder, which isn’t so unusual.  But his brother’s name?  Truck;
• All of a sudden, I love Aidan.  At least for this couple. Dad Daniel and mom Ailene settled on Aidan because it combines the first syllables of their names.  Clever;
• Nymbler stats are out for February 2010! No surprises in the Top Ten favorite names: Charlotte, Ava, Amelia, Grace, Ella, Audrey, Oliver, Jack, Benjamin and Henry.  But the four brand new names quite eye-popping:
  • Siri – An intriguing twist on Sigrid and Signe, but where did she come from?  I’m missing something!
  • Baylor – Are there really that many Bears alumni out there?  Or is this a riff on Taylor?
  • Emersyn – Okay, this one isn’t a shocker.  She fits with Addisyn et. al.;
  • Wednesday – As in Addams?

Here’s the starbaby news, via Celebrity Baby Blog:

• Country Music’s Little Big Town Band members Karen Fairchild and Jimi Westbrook are new parents to a son, Elijah Daniel;
• Jenna Elfman welcomed a second son, Easton Quinn Monroe, a little brother for Story Elias;
• Joey Lawrence welcomed new daughter Liberty Grace, a sister for Charleston;
• Keyshia Cole welcomed a son named Daniel Hiram, Jr.;
• Christina Milian and The Dream welcomed their daughter, Violet Madison;
• Jamie Oliver and wife Jools are expecting baby #4. With three daughters called Poppy Honey, Daisy Boo and Petal Blossom Rainbow, well … let’s just say I am eagerly expecting their new arrival!

Drumroll please!  It’s time to enter the 5th Annual Baby Name Wizard 2009 Baby Name Pool! Guess three fastest rising and three fastest falling names and win bragging rights.  Serious bragging rights.  Entries are due April 15.

That’s all for this week – thanks for reading!