Tristan and Isolde by Herbert Draper; Image via Wikipedia
She’s been a tragic heroine for centuries, and yet her name sounds surprisingly modern.
Thanks to Sadie for suggesting Isolde as our Baby Name of the Day.
Baby Name of the Day: Isolde
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Tag Archives: Claire
Sunday Summary: 6/5/11
Image by Leo Reynolds via Flickr
We live in a magical age. Earlier this week I spotted an unusual name scrolling across Nameberry’s “currently being viewed” ticker, and mentioned it on my Facebook page, with a link to the entry. Within minutes Elixyvett appeared in their Most Popular Names cloud, and stayed there for a few days, prompting a thread on their message board. At the same time, Nameberry’s Pam sourced an entire post on Old People Names from a Twitter craze.
Saints and royalty and popular legends and music and novels and television and movies have all put new names on the map. Surely social media will function in a similar fashion. But will there be, say, a baby name Elixyvett because a mom-to-be spotted the name when it loomed large in the tag cloud? Will someone’s Twitter handle inspire a future baby name?
Elsewhere online:
- Stork Bites Man must be the best dad blogger site name ever, so it is no surprise that his daughters are nicely named, too – Astrid and Elsa;
- I’m not sure Google translate is coming through for me with Voornamelijk’s post on Madelief and Flores. Is there really such a thing as a celebrity gardener? Regardless, I love the idea of Madelief, derived from the Dutch for daisy;
- There’s a brilliant post at the Baby Name Wizard on The Antique Name Illusion. I’ll never forget the time a mom told me her daughters’ names – Stella and Matilda – were “old family names.” Maybe they were, but they’re also about as stylish as you can get right now, and betcha she overlooked a Gertrude or a Beulah in the mix, too;
- I can understand why you might name a child Lennox. I cannot fathom why you might feel compelled to respell it Lenixx;
- Has anyone read the Penderwick sisters stories? From the cover art, and even the plots, you might think the books are gentle antiques from the era of Louisa May Alcott. Instead they’re a contemporary series, with the latest installment just published. The four sisters answer to Rosalind, Skye, Jane, and Batty. I’m dying to know if Jeanne Birdsall reveals their full names, or explains them at any point;
- This list at British Baby Names had me captivated – Curiosities of the Seventeenth Century, proving that you might meet a Jeronimo, Dessorell, or Nazareth in ages past;
- For Real met a girl named Candle. How cool! Or should I say smokin’ …
- How well can you define your name style? Nameberry’s Pam pegs hers as “Eccentric Aristocrat” while Bewitching Names’ Isadora calls hers “Worldly Strega.” I have a theory about my style – and I’ll share eventually – but after years of thinking about names that we could actually use, I think I’ve lost touch with those I just love because I love them;
- This irritates me: an expectant mama writes in that she and her husband have decided to name one of their twin boys Decklan. What should his brother’s name be? I’ll admit that I prefer the Declan spelling, but let’s face it – the original is Deaglán. The longer I write, the more I feel like I should wear a tee shirt that says “Variant spellings are not going to bring down Western Civilization.” The reverse of the shirt would say “Of course, you can go too far. Lenixx is too much. And Reillee hurts my eyes.”
Spotted amongst the glitterati:
- Pink’s daughter arrived, and she’s named the rather reasonable Willow Sage, a flower child for the tough chick. My favorite headline has to be this one, from Holy Moly: Pink has baby girl, names her after shrubbery;
- Actress Dorian Brown welcomed a son, Cayman Tyson Pham. No word on the parents’ inspiration for the choice. Brown is set to appear in the American remake of quirky Australian TV series Wilfred. I’d give Cayman and Wilfred equal odds of catching on;
- I’m enjoying learning more about Australian celebs thanks to Waltzing – this week alone brought us a baby girl called Allegra Eve and a boy named Lux Edward. Lux joins a big sister called Autumn Claire. I came across a boy named Lux years ago and had a hard time thinking of it as masculine, probably thanks to Lux Lisbon in Jeffrey Eugenides’ The Virgin Suicides. But he really could fit right in with Luke, Max, and Gus, couldn’t he?
I’ve gone out on a limb and waded into deep water for this week’s Nameberry post. I think it is one of my wackier, less wearable lists – but also a trend that seems to be catching on. Last week’s post was Surfer Names, a list I ended up really loving.
That’s all for this week. As always, thanks for reading and have a great week!
Baby Name of the Day: Noor
Diamond copy of the Koh-i-Noor; Image via Wikipedia
Want something more subtle than naming your daughter Diamond, less expected than calling her Claire? Here’s a culture-spanning appellation that might fit the bill.
Thanks to Sarah for suggesting Noor as our Baby Name of the Day.
Is C the new K?
Image via Wikipedia
Even if you’re not even a teensy, eensy bit interested in the royal wedding, it would be pretty tough to avoid the topic today. William and Kate’s wedding is an all-out media frenzy.
Chatter about royal baby names has been non-stop since the engagement was announced, and I’ve very much enjoyed dreaming up possible names for a future heir to the throne.
But here’s the big baby naming question that I’m wondering about: when commoner Kate becomes regal Catherine, will C become the new K?
March Madness: Girls’ Quarter Finals
Collins Fieldhouse girls basketball team, 1917 Seattle Municipal Archives via Flickr
March Madness continues, and the competition is fierce!
Elodie barely squeaked past Claire. A mere two votes decided that race.
The biggest victory went to Adele. She thoroughly trounced Eithne, garnering 86% of the vote to her rival’s mere 14%. Lydia and Lila both won by impressive margins, suggesting that L truly is the letter to watch.
One surprise was watching Louisa win handily over Stella. Has this star already had her moment? Are too many Hollywood littles wearing out Stella before she really catches on?
My biggest heartache was watching Romilly lose out to Lorelei, especially because that was a close one – Lorelei earned 55% of the vote.
And now, on to the quarter-finals!
It’s a rhyme time match-up: Isla versus Lila
Little Women’s Louisa versus Hamlet’s Ophelia
The elaborate Lydia versus the trim Adele
Three-syllable showdown: Lorelei versus Elodie
Baby Name of the Day: Gillian
Image via Wikipedia
She’s a medieval spin on the evergreen Julia, a name that first found favor in the 20th century.
Thanks to Photoquilty for suggesting Gillian as our Baby Name of the Day.
Baby Name of the Day: Cora
Baby Name of the Day: Clarissa
Title page from Clarissa; Image via Wikipedia
There’s spare Claire and vintage Clara. But what about the frilliest of them all?
Thanks to Fran for suggesting Clarissa as Baby Name of the Day.
Sunday Summary: 10/17/10
I’m on a reality television kick. (Right, well, it’s worse than usual.) How can I not, with names like Truely on Sister Wives and Bret Michaels’ daughters Raine and Jorja on his new series. Will the trio of real life monikers become the new Destiny, Skye, and Alivia? Or will the trends take us elsewhere?
Speaking of celebs, this week we welcomed Egypt, a son for Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz, plus twins GideonHarper, a son and daughter for Neil Patrick Harris.
Elsewhere online:
- From the Telegraph UK comes a fascinating report: parents consider, on average, twelve names for their child, and more than a third of all couples quarrel about the final choice. My reaction: Just twelve names? And not 99.9% of couples?
- I loved Sebastiane’s post on Jenny – it is a great reminder that nicknames attach to different names over the years;
- Remember my post about Archer? The Name Lady talks a mom-to-be off the ledge after she frets that Archer is getting “too popular” – while the Name Lady assures her, the only thing is that the mom’s fears might be right. While there aren’t that many, there might be more than you expect in your circles. Our friends and family and even colleagues often tend to have similar naming styles. I know two boys named Finn, another two called Kai, plus two girls called Esme. None of them seem remarkable to me, though they’re not common in statistical terms. I imagine that happens a lot – I also don’t know a single Nevaeh;
- I’ve been pondering the emerging trends for 2011, and the one that seems clear is this: the rise of single-syllable names for boys. It’s been coming for a while, but look at this list For Real compiled from Montana: Cade, Quade, Gage, Drake, and Clive. Over in Minnesota, there’s Jence, Joab, Jude, Tate, and Clark;
- Are we really going to name our children after the rescued Chilean miners? Or are names like Esteban and Lilianett (the wife of a miner) irresistible even without the happiest ending outside of a Disney movie?
- This is fascinating: remember Elisabeth’s post on twin girls Ellis Catherine and Claire Emerson at You Can’t Call It “It”? Check out the same question at Swistle. I still like the original set just fine, but it is fun to see two different bloggers tackle the same question.
Lastly, to all of those parents thinking that Flynn was the perfect, simple, unusual, swashbuckling, Irish surname for a son’s first name, the name never to be shared by another, I regretfully inform you that the hero in Tangled, Disney’s upcoming Rapunzel reboot, is called Flynn. Yes, he was originally named Bastion. And yes, Flynn was awfully close to the white hot Finn anyhow. Regardless of the movie’s success, this is Disney, and suspect Flynn will rise. Of course, he’s never been in the US Top 1000. But Disney plus the single syllable trend that seems to be accelerating? Make that he has been in the US Top 1000 yet.
That’s all for this Sunday. Check out the Facebook page for more Summary-esque chatter during the week.
As always, thanks for reading and have a fabulous week!
Sunday Summary: 10/3/10
The longer I write, the less judgmental I become about names. Don’t get me wrong – many still astound me. While researching the upcoming Tate, I stumbled across Tatelyn, a name that seems appropriate only for the firstborn daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head.
And yet, Charlotte recently mentioned Lecandro – surely the invention of a creative mama – and I found myself liking it quite a bit.
Maybe it is that I’ve found there’s a backstory for nearly any name. Or possibly I’m far more aware that my own opinions have changed over the years. Two decades ago, Finn would’ve been a shark reference, destined to hear the low strings of Jaws. Today he’s among the most fashionable of names, even before Glee ricocheted him to wider notice.
And the name news:
- I’ve been meaning to post this ever since Kim sent it my way: Wee Decor posts lists of names parents have ordered on nursery wall art. Check out their Summer 2010 list here. Dario, Allica, and Juddefrey are all gracing the name of a nursery somewhere. But hey, if you love it enough to put it on a birth certificate, why not put it on a wall;
- Or chisel it on a stone(age) wall. Nancy tells us that in the 1960s, some parents went prehistoric and named their daughters Pebbles shortly after the animated series adding a daughter;
- Check out For Real’s list of baby names featuring alliteration – though some of these go too far. Alexis Alexandra and Coleton Cole both feel repetitive. Ava Autumn is lovely, and I kind of like Elijah Ezra, too;
- Speaking of how close is too close, I’m intrigued by this post at You Can’t Call It “It” about twins named Claire Emerson and Ellis Catherine … or maybe something else entirely;
- Even if you read zero Dutch, you can pick out the names Emma posted from Benelux’s Next Top Model. I ran the page through Google Translate to confirm – there apparently is a contestant named Epiphany;
- Here’s a quick check at the box office. Besides the animated owl sibset I mentioned on Facebook – Soren and Eglantine – there are a few other intriguing choices. Renee Zellweger’s just-in-time-for-Halloween horror flick Case 39 includes a little girl named Lillith. In Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, we learn that Gordon Gekko named his daughter Winnie. And Ben Affleck’s The Town is generating buzz for other reasons, but also gives us two to consider – a criminal named James who answers to Jem, and Jem’s niece, a little girl called Shyne.
As for the starbaby round up – it’s a girl. And a girl, and a girl …:
- This is an interesting choice: Yul Kwon, the winner of 2006′s Survivor: Cook Islands is a new dad to daughter Genevie;
- Here’s a truly lovely choice: Esai Morales and his girlfriend have welcomed a daughter, Mariana Oliveira;
- What percentage of girls called Madeline (or Madison, Madelyn, Madasyn, etc.) answered to Maddie? And how many are Maddy? Rascal Flatts’ Jay DeMarcus has announced his daughter-on-the-way will be called Madeline Leigh, answering to Maddy-with-a-y;
- James Van Der Beek bucked the Hollywood embrace of unusual names to choose Olivia for his newborn daughter.
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That’s all for this week. As always, thank you for reading!
