Tag Archives: Blossom

Sunday Summary: 3/28/10

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Yesterday morning was The Great Magruder Park Egg Hunt in our town.  The kids were there for candy; I was there to listen for names: Jonah, Nora, Dorothy, Caroline, Clara, Seamus, Ellis, a pair of Abigails, Zora, Micah, Carsten, Jackson.  There was also a mom toting an Orla Kiely bag, but I seem to recall that her kids’ names aren’t quite as surprising.

Speaking of Orla and surprises, here’s a new one: I wrote about Orla a few days ago.  The post felt familiar, but that happens sometimes.  This has never happened: I’d actually written an entire Orla post in September 2008. It’s pretty much the same … except not.

In other news:

In starbaby news, all via Celebrity Baby Blog:

Think it is weird to name your kid Kimora?  Nancy tells us that back in the 1930s and 40s, at least a few dozen parents named their kids in honor of Kay Kyser, bandleader and radio host. Kyser responded by sending out a commemorative gift.  Hmmm … if I named my daughter Orla, would I be able to snag one of those bags?

That’s all for this week.  As always, thank you for reading!

Sunday Summary: 3/7/10

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First, thanks to Pam and Linda at Nameberry for running my guest post on Movie Award Names: Looking beyond Oscar.  Lilia, Magali, Denholm, Tahar … I could’ve gone on for pages.

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:

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

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!

Sunday Summary: 2/7/10

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I usually don’t pre-post my Sunday Summaries.  (I do schedule my Name of the Day posts, sometimes weeks in advance.)  But a record-setting snow is descending on Metro DC, and as you read this, I may be huddled ’round a Maglite with a 5 y.o. who really wants to watch Team Umizoomi now and doesn’t care about downed power lines.

Let’s hope not.

But just in case it really is the Snowpocalypse, here’s the news through, er, Friday night Saturday morning.

  • Charlotte remains top dog at Nymbler in January, followed by Ava, Ella, Amelia, Audrey, Jack, Benjamin, Finn, Grace and Addison.  Jack and Addison are both making their debuts in the Nymbler Top Ten;
  • The always-more interesting new names include Tenley (Influenced by The Bachelor or nostalgia for Winter Olympics past?), Finnigan, Huck, Ryden, Jovie and Bently.  On MTV reality show Teen Mom, one of the couples named their son Bentley.  Either way, I guess it is slightly more subtle than Lexus;
  • Bewildertrix spotted a Nixon.  Yes, in Australia, so maybe it doesn’t have the same politically charged meaning on the other side of the world.  And he’s a little brother for Reid, Cruz and Rourke, so it seems like the parents were going for an “underused surname” vibe rather than a “disgraced US president” thing;
  • Nancy’s Bad Tattoos and Baby Names should be required reading for all expectant parents considering bestowing a cross-cultural name on their child;
  • Speaking of names from other cultures, have you seen Nameberry’s post on French baby names?  It’s a guest post from Stephanie Rapoport, the founder of  Meilleurs Prenoms.  I love Hugo and find Lilou intriguing.  A few others on her hot list surprised me – the Italian Enzo, the Irish Kylian (it’s Cillian en français) and Louane, which reads 1950s to me, but might be quite charming on a jeune fille;
  • Speaking of Enzo, Elisabeth at You Can’t Call It “It” spotted one in her most recent Ohdeedohkey post.  Plus a Bijou, which yes, is a French word.  But search it on Meilleurs Prenoms and it will tell you: Le prénom bijou n’existe pas;
  • With the debut of Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland just weeks away, the Baby Name Wizard wrote Names on the Verge: Alice, asking whether the name really is headed for the top of the charts;
  • Sebastiane covers Agatha at Legitimate Baby Names. That’s one that is really growing on me, and with all the little girls called Abby and Addie, wouldn’t Aggie fit right in?  Elisabeth Shue has kids called Miles, Stella and Agnes, so something tells me we might hear more of both Ag- names.  Sebastiane also covered Disa, which is far more wearable than the related Dis;
  • I need to stay away from Yahoo!Answers, but I followed a thread about the name Madden and stumbled on this quote about the best spelling for Kayden:  “I have always liked that name Caden, but i prefer it spelled Caden with a “C” and with out extra y’s because i think it looks less trashy and made up.”  I don’t get it.  Wait, I do – I understand that Caden looks restrained compared to Kaydyn.  But it still is a name of recent coinage – attractive, maybe, but undeniably trendy.  Spell it as you like, but it still isn’t William;
  • Speaking of names of recent coinage, 4Real spotted a Wolverine Collin Christopher and a Featherlee Blossom.  Words fail me.

It’s been a light starbaby week, but Busy Phillips explained daughter Birdie’s name at Celebrity Baby Blog.  Apparently the actress – born Elizabeth Jean – was intent on choosing a nickname-proof name, because she disliked explaining her name.  Ten bucks says that Birdie calls her kid Margaret.  And so the cycle continues …

The only other celeb birth this week was Brothers & Sisters’ Sarah Jane Morris welcomed a son, Emmett Andrew.

Thanks for reading!  And if you’re also snowed in, I’m sending warm thoughts your way!

Sunday Summary: 5/17/09

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She’s yet to crack the Top 1000, but could she be the next Isabella?  Friends of friends recently welcomed their second child – a daughter called Esme, 2008′s most popular search name at AppMtn.  What’s more, their firstborn is called Finn, 2008′s second most popular search name for boys here.
In Namespotting News:
  • My mother recently dropped me an email about a colleague’s new son.  His middle name is Hades.  And no, it isn’t a family name that just happens to sound like the dark lord of the underworld.  The colleague informed my mother that they chose the middle name because it means dark lord of the underworld.  Wonder if they’ll want to reconsider their choice during the terrible twos?
  • Photoquilty reports coming across a girl called Asher, another girl called Morrissey and a third named Brennan, plus a boy named Bey.
  • The cover story for this issue of Washington Parent is all about baby names, and included an interview with a mom who named her four girls Tse Iris, Sloane Ivy, Blake Ocean and Chase Blossom.  I love Sloane Ivy.  Chase Blossom sounds like a command.  Tse Iris seems unnecessarily complicated – Tse is pronounced “Say” – and yet strangely appealing.  The mom goes on to note that “On paper – with the middle initial – my girls can be any American.  Their names give them the choice to say if they are female.”
Each snippet is really about the same thing – the urge to give our children distinctive names.  It’s obviously something I think about, too, and yet I can’t help but notice that we so fall short – Tse, Blake and Chase, with that “ay” vowel sound – don’t really stand out too far from Grace, Kate and Jayden.  Now that Chloe is in the Top Ten, Clio sounds downright ordinary, too.
A few other thoughtful posts:
A few celeb notes:
  • Actor James Gaffigan and wife Jeannie welcomed daughter Katie Louise.  He’s already the proud papa to son Jack and daughter Marre.  Anyone know anything about Marre?  It’s an interesting pick – I don’t think I’ve heard it before;
  • Comedian Wanda Sykes and her wife Alex welcomed twins Olivia Lou and Lucas Claude; 
  • I’m fairly certain that I heard an interview with Charlie Sheen about his twin boys, in which he noted that his sons are named Max and Bob – not Maxwell and Robert or Robinson and Maximillian or … you get the idea.
It’s not exactly name news, but I recently spotted an obituary for Venetia Phair – the only woman to ever name a planet.  Hearkening back to my earlier mention of Hades, she’s the person who christened Pluto. 
Thanks for reading!

Sunday Summary: 4/5/09

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It’s been a bumper week for starbabies wearing pink – Satyana, Petal Blossom Rainbow and Blakesley Grace.

  • I triple checked to make sure this wasn’t an April Fool’s Day hoax – but I still don’t want to believe it!  Babble’s Strollerderby is reporting that a Mexican couple named their newborn daughter Krisis Mundial.  I suppose if Chinese parents can call their kids Aoyun, this one isn’t so shocking.  But can you imagine wearing the name World Crisis when you hit the teenage years?  Yikes!
  • While I was looking for stories about children named Wynn, I stumbled across a Toronto Star column called “What’s Your Name?”  You can find it on the home page of ParentCentral.ca.  It’s been around for a while, and you follow the links to more than forty stories.  This morning, articles on the page today included a boy named Erik Andrew and a girl called Georgian Lima.  No, that’s not a typo!  She’s named after Georgian Bay;
  • I know a pair of sisters called Hazel and Ivy – with the eyes to match – but did you know that soap opera actor Peter Reckell named his daughter Loden?  Somehow I don’t think it is the next Scarlet;
  • Thanks to Photoqulity for tipping me off that Party of Five alum Scott Wolf is a new father.  His son, Jackson Kayse, arrived on March 22.  The first name is unremarkable, but I can’t help but scratch my head at Kayse.  Is it pronounced Case?  Or Casey?  And why?  Random spellings in the middle spot aren’t really a hassle, but I do wonder;
  • On a similar note, Paul Walker of The Fast and the Furious franchise has a daughter named Meadow Rain.  I love Meadow’s hippie-chic vibe, but when paired with Rain, it sounds like a Yankee Candle fragrance.  I’m taking a page from Lola’s book and mentally renaming her Meadow Jane;
  • Over at Nameberry, Pam wrote a great article on the Four-Generation Rule when it comes to baby naming.  I like it better than the “100 year rule” I’ve heard referenced.  It makes it personal – because often our grandparents’ names seem hopelessly old-fashioned, while someone else’s grandparents’ names epitomize cool;
  • Which brings me to the small screen.  PBS is airing the BBC’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’ Little Dorrit.  Anyone think Amy will defy the Four-Generation Rule and make a comeback sooner rather than later?

I’m off to assemble Easter baskets – I volunteered to coordinate our neighborhood’s Easter Egg hunt for next Saturday.  Here’s hoping I struck the right balance between tooth-decay-inducing candy and parent-pleasing-organic-alternatives.