For those of you in the US, Happy Memorial Day weekend!  There will be no Baby Name of the Day on Monday, May 31.

But never fear!  There’s news aplenty to occupy your quiet hours:

• This post at Swistle raises one of my favorite questions: how close is too close? Can you name your daughter Dorothy and your son Theodore?  It seems awfully close to me, and it would be nearly impossible to name a third child.  But both names are great;
• Speaking of my favorite questions, The Stir raised the question of misspelled baby names. Comments ran the gamut from those who hate, hate, hate them to the mother of four kids named Corynne, Caleb, Caidy and Cayleigh.  They raised the question thanks to a rant at CafeMom prompted by a birth announcement spotted for a Madicyn.  I think there’s a lot going unsaid in these conversations, but mostly, I find myself leaning more and more towards defending variant spellings;
• Which reminds me – I didn’t realize Cyndi Lauper had kids, much less a tween son called Declyn;
• For Real spotted a birth announcement for Sweden Piper.  It’s a far more inventive place name than Brooklyn or Savannah and I guess they can call her Swedie – Sweetie – for short.  Whether that makes the name extra fabulous or seriously problematic, I cannot say;
• I stumbled across this post from a mom of ten (soon to be eleven!) who listed all of her kids’ first and middle names.  It’s an interesting assortment:  Morganne Natalia, Brennan Geoffrey, Lliam Donal, Bonny Dianne, Gavin Xavier, Dierdre Marie, Ronan Wainwright, MacKenna Elyse, Grayse Dawn and Avalon Noelle.  I’m particularly impressed by Wainwright – it’s a reboot of the family name Wayne;
• Which reminds me – this is one of my favorite lists of all time is Linda’s Rubes, Hayseed and Bumpkins at Nameberry.  The range from nearly mainstream choices like Gus and Jasper to up-next picks like Chester, Rufus and Silas to wow, out there options.  I can’t quite picture a baby named Floyd;
• I’m not suggesting you give your child an Inuit name inspired by the beluga whales at Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium.  But it is an interesting list, and if Maya is so popular, maybe Naya could catch on.  Just don’t tell your daughter about the connection until she grows up to be a marine biologist;
• I lived in Western Pennsylvania for years, not so very far from the West Virginia border. Laura Wattenberg’s post on the name Dreama struck a chord – I did, indeed, know a Dreama and she was from WV and named after her mother.  No idea why, though … I once asked Dreama and she wasn’t sure how her grandmother settled on the name, either;
• ABC Family’s latest show about the secret life of American teenagers is Pretty Little Liars, based on a series of young adult novels.  The characters’ names?  Hanna, Emily, Aria and Spencer.  Spencer is played by an actress called Troian.  If the show is successful, it could have an impact on baby names in 2010;
• I’m a huge fan of the name Rebecca L of Girl’s Gone Child chose for her daughter, Fable.  Sebastiane gives us the intriguing Estonian equivalent, Valme;
• Sebastiane also rounded up some of the most intriguing names for saints from across the globe.  If truly unusual but not invented is your wish, this is the list for you.  I can just hear it now: meet my sons Fragan, Malo, Ot and Lot, and their sister Elined;
• In the wake of the rankings announcements, CNN attempts to put a fresh spin on the name conversation by asking Does Your Name Shape Your Destiny? They trotted out some reliable experts and some solid facts, but the important point they missed, I think, is that our perceptions of specific names are not fixed.  Barbara and Linda were once the height of fashion, today’s Olivia and Ava.  Now they’re your aunt’s names.  Someday, they may be back in style right in time for you to do a double-take when your daughter announces her name for a daughter.

In starbaby news:

• The big noise was about Claudia Schiffer’s Cosima Violet, a name that seems to be getting mostly good reviews;
• There’s also Monica Bellucci’s new daughter, Léonie, a little sister for Deva;
• ABC correspondent Andrea Canning also welcomed daughter #2: Charlotte Brewster, a little sister for Anna Katherine;
• And a very, very special thanks to British American for posting the link and excerpt from the Kerri Walsh interview explaining her choice of Sundance’s name – and SarahinJune’s video clip that shows us why we might meet more baby Sundances!

Next Saturday we kick off our Reader Baby Name Stories.  I’m SO excited to share what you’ve shared!

Have a great weekend, and see you on Tuesday.  Thanks for reading!