In Defense of Riley Anne and Evan Marie: Ten Reasons Boys’ Names on Girls Are Not a Sign of End Times

Boy and girl posed, three-quarter length, stan...

Image via Wikipedia

Feeling feisty?  Head to a message board and announce that you’re naming your daughter Addison.  Or Quinn.  Or Mason.

Then run for cover.

Sure, some people will respond positively.  But depending on the forum, you could also find yourself accused of thievery, trendiness, and general bad taste.

I’m sympathetic to parents who feel they can’t use a name they’d long loved, for fear that their son Delaney will be scarred by sharing his name with girls.  But I’m not sure a girl named Ryan is a sign of the coming apocalypse.

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Baby Name of the Day: Tennyson

Tennyson statue outside Lincoln Cathedral

Tennyson statue outside Lincoln Cathedral via Flickr

The saintly Dennis had his day, but if you’re looking for a fresh spin on that classic appellation, here’s one option.

Thanks to Amanda for suggesting the poetic Tennyson as our Baby Name of the Day.

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Baby Name of the Day: Emrys

A welsh dragon. Found a very similar one on a ...

Welsh dragon; Image via Wikipedia

Emmett is big for boys.  Rhys, Reese, and Reece are on the rise for both genders.

Here’s an obscure option that combines the best of both.  Thanks to Shelby for suggesting Emrys as our Baby Name of the Day.

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Baby Name of the Day: Hawthorne

The fruit of Common Hawthorn (C. monogyna)

Image via Wikipedia

He’s outdoorsy and literary – a tough combination to find for a boy’s name.

Thanks to Evangeline for suggesting Hawthorne as our Baby Name of the Day.

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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:

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!

Baby Name of the Day: Ellington

Central Avenue Jazz Festival

Image via Wikipedia

He’s a surname worn by a jazz great.  How would he work in the first spot for a child born today?

Thanks to Chantelle for suggesting Ellington as Baby Name of the Day.

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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:

As for the starbaby round up – it’s a girl.  And a girl, and a girl …:

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That’s all for this week.  As always, thank you for reading!

Sunday Summary: 8/16/10

Can the end of summer really be so near?  It feels like just yesterday, Washington DC was digging out of the February snowstorms.

Speaking of the February snowstorms, we were at the city’s summer concert series on Friday night and we’re anticipating A LOT of November babies.  One expectant mom was kind enough to tell me they’re naming their baby-on-the-way Maxwell, but mostly I’m looking forward to a pre-Thanksgiving wave of birth announcements.

Speaking of waves of BAs, there were so many Hollywood births in the past week that I’m putting them first:

Is it me, or are gender-neutral names truly staying neutral?  Conventional wisdom was that once a name had “gone girl” it would never be considered for a boy.  But many of these celeb names are solidly ambiguous – and still used for sons.

Which reminds me:

I dragged a very reluctant Aly to shop for school shoes today and was delighted to overhear a father calling out Hasting.  It was in the Nordstrom’s at the Annapolis Mall – you sort of had the impression the kid might’ve been Something Hasting Something IV.  It’s possible I misheard, and he was Hastings, as in the Battle of, raising the possibility that his parents are experts on the Norman Invasion.

That’s all for this week.  As always, it wouldn’t be worth writing if you weren’t here.  Thank you!

Name of the Day: Emmeline

With Emily and Emma entrenched in the US Top 10, little wonder parents are starting to seek out alternatives.

Thanks to Alicia for suggesting one likely candidate.  Our Name of the Day is Emmeline.

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