After last week’s bumper crop o’ starbabies, it has been a relatively quiet week.  

The only big question is this:  Did Hank Azaria really name his son Hal?  Or have they simply not released his full name?  Wikipedia tells me that dad’s full name is, indeed, Hank Albert - so maybe they decided junior should have a nickname name, too.

Here’s the rest of the news:

• In RL, I live in one of two towns that can claim to be Jim Henson’s boyhood home.  (We cover the teenage years, including high school.)  And I’m a huge David Bowie fan.  But I’d forgotten that Bowie’s Goblin King character in 1986′s Labyrinth was called Jareth until I saw a teenager sporting it on his plastic nametag. He’s one of the few, though – Jareth has never caught on as a name, not even cracking the US Top 1000;
• I wasn’t expecting former Girl Next Door Kendra Wilkinson to name her daughter Esther or Mary, but ever since she announced her pregnancy, there’s been endless chatter about her frontrunner name for a girl – Kaleigh.  Apparently, Kendra’s middle name is Leigh.  (And her first initial is, obviously, K.)  A boy would be named after dad, Philadelphia Eagle Hank Baskett.  (Hank again!  That’s an AppMtn record.)  But that would be Henry Randall Baskett IV – not bad, actually;
• In other reality star baby news, Real Housewife of New Jersey Jacqueline Laurita welcomed son Nicholas Francis, little brother to CJ and Ashley.  I assume CJ stands for Christopher Jr. but I’m not sure ’bout that.  Another cast member is also expecting a visit from the stork;
• Guiding Light’s Jessica Leccia welcomed a daughter named Ivy Lola;
• From this week’s Toronto Star comes the report of a couple with five kids.  Lucky number five is named Angus Raymond Mercury.  Wait for it – Angus is after Angus Young of AC/DC and Mercury is after Freddie Mercury of Queen.  (Raymond is after a mere blood relative.)  Angus’ four big sibs are called Madelyn May (May after Brian May of Queen); Heath, after a golf course in Scotland; Shea, after Shea Stadium and Cheyenne.  Apparently mom veto’d Kashmir, as in the Led Zeppelin song – all of a sudden Shea and Cheyenne sound like perfectly reasonable choices.
• If you follow sports news, you might’ve picked up this report (Click here for ESPN’s coverage)  Apparently, a high school senior all set to play football for FSU was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers.  I can barely catch a ball, so the idea of being recruited in two sports?  Wow.  Anyhow, the uber-athlete’s name is Jacobbi McDaniel – one Jacob variant I had not heard previously;
• As if my linking to ESPN is not proof enough that it was a quiet week, names-wise, the Daily Express announces that wacky names are nuthin’ new.  As they await the opportunity to comment on the next wacky celeb baby name, of course.

From the wayback machine – a year ago, the Name of the Day was Madrigal.  Really.  This week’s names will be Naomi, Lyle, Eugenie, Boaz and Kylie.

I’ll leave you with a quick update on search names – Esme continues to top the list.  Lorelei, Isla, Pomeline, Java, Eithne, Aurelia, Ayelet, Noa and Oona are close behind.  The list is much shorter for boys: Finn, Elmer and Remus.  If you can’t tell from the list, boys generate far fewer searches than girls.  And yet, nearly everyone agrees that boys’ names are harder to decide than girls’ names. 

I’m off to fill up the wading pool for me the kids.  As always, thanks for reading!