Ah, September.  The leaves change color, apples of every possible variety can be found in stacks at the Farmers’ Market and me?

I’m glued to the television:

• Okay, not really.  I missed the debut of the rebooted Melrose Place the other night.  (Though I was sorry to miss Bronx‘s mom in action.)  This edition includes an Ella and a Violet, as well as a female Riley.  On the masculine side, there’s Auggie and Jonah;
• Also on TV, I hear that Glee’s characters include Finn (a boy) and Quinn (a girl). Of course they’re dating;
• Before there was Twilight, there was The Vampire Diaries.  Now a series on the CW, Elena is torn between blood-sucking centuries-young, suntan-challenged brothers Stefan and Damon;
• Technically this is big screen news – So You Think You Can Dance alum Kherington Payne has a lead role as Alice in the big screen remake of Fame.  But will Kherington catch on for girls?  Or the Dynasty-esque original, Carrington? 

Also on the big screen, there’s Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds.  Stand by for boys called Aldo, after Brad Pitt’s hyper-masculine hero.  (The character was named after a real-life tough guy actor from the 50s and 60s, Aldo Ray.)   There’s also the heart-breaking Jewish-French Shosanna, a name memorably yelled by the creepy Nazi Sicherheitsdienst officer Hans Landa, and her alias Emmanuelle.

Onto starbaby news:

• Yup, Nicole Richie and Benji Madden named their boy Sparrow.  He’s sure to fly to the top of worst celeb baby name lists.  Some rumblings suggest that Sparrow was inspired by a Simon & Garfunkel song, but the parents have yet to confirm the theory;
• Ioan Gruffudd and Alice Evans welcomed  a daughter named Ella Betsi Janet.  Ella is fine and I adore Betsy.  Janet is engagingly retro.  But Ella Betsi together seems like a deconstructed version of Elizabeth.  What’s next?  Ella Noor?  Nia Cole?  The mind reels;
• Country music’s Zac Brown and wife have welcomed a daughter named Georgia Sloan, little sister to Lucy and Justice – both girls, too;
• Katherine Heigl has confirmed that she is about to follow in a family tradition and adopt from Korea. (Hat tip to Photoquilty.) The baby on the way is to be named Naleigh.  It’s a smoosh of family names – mom Nancy and sister Leigh.  It’s a lovely thought, but all of a sudden, Sparrow seems perfectly reasonable.

Should you find yourself in a pediatrician’s office this month, pick up the current issue of Parents Magazine – there’s an extensive article on baby naming.  For true name aficionados, it is not exactly news.  (Though the report of one couple’s use of a name consultant was interesting and it was among the better coverage I’ve seen in a mainstream publication.)  But the big takeaway?  Laura Wattenberg contributed her Top Ten picks for the most popular names of 2019:

GIRLS:  Lila, Peyton, Lucy, Violet, Aubrey, Amelia, Piper, Ruby, Juliet and Harper.

BOYS: Miles, Rowan, Lincoln, Eli, Jude, Cooper, Wyatt, Ryder, Lucas and Henry.

I’ll have to do some thinking about her lists – some strike me as spot on, others … maybe not so much.  But seriously, if Laura Wattenberg is touting them as the likely hot names of 2019?  That alone might be enough to make it so.

Thanks for reading!