• I recently heard a writer named Ethlebert Miller read at the local indie bookstore;
• Nameberry had a great post on Easter Names.  I’m intrigued by Parasha and Birch.  And I went to high school with a Pascal.  (Or was it Pascale?  Or Pasquale?)
• The Toronto Star column I mentioned last week spotlighted a baby called Dante Matteo this week – which reminded me …
• This week’s post on Elliot had me thinking of Christopher Meloni, father to Dante Amadeo and Sophia Eva Pietra.  I quite like his naming style;
• Emmy Jo’s article on Naming Ahead of the Curve was quite interesting.  The idea of choosing a name like Cynthia or Shirley, Dennis or Raymond might seem unfashionable.  But if your goal is to stand out while still using a “normal” name, it’s a great approach;
• Actress Penelope Ann Miller welcomed Maria Adela, little sister to Eloisa May;
• Iron Chef Cat Cora and her partner Jennifer welcomed Thatcher Julius, little brother to Zoran and Caje.  I must admit, I’m not wild about their first two sons’ names, but I love this one.  Julius is a family name on Jennifer’s side.  Thatcher is coming up as a Name of the Day on 4/15 in honor of readers Nick and Erin’s son Thacher.  And get this – the Cora family is expecting one more baby this summer.  Jennifer delivered Thatcher; Cat is also pregnant with a baby boy!
• Speaking of boys, there was an adorable toddler called Finn at our Easter Egg hunt yesterday.  I really think he’s the new Max;
• Yesterday, I tuned into ABC Family for their showing of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, in an attempt to introduce Alexei to anything other than Thomas the Tank Engine and Pixar’s Cars.  It didn’t take.  But I was reminded that the little girl in the story is called Jemima.

I wrote a few weeks back that I’m scaling back Name of the Day posts to Monday through Friday.  I’ll actually write daily through May 8th.  That’s because my first Name of the Day post was on May 5, 2008.  (The name was Juniper!)  So I’ll have written for more than 365 days straight.  Which, I dunno – I’m kind of impressed with myself.  :)

Anyhow, I’m planning to use the extra time to improve the site.  It could use a little oomph!