He strikes many as nouveau, but his roots go back to Ancient Greece.
Thanks to Sara for suggesting Phoenix as our Baby Name of the Day.
Baby Name of the Day: Phoenix
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Tag Archives: Gray
March Madness: Boys’ Quarter Finals
1905 Basketball Team from paukrus via Flickr
Thanks to everyone who voted in the first round of March Madness. The results were fascinating! We’ve gone from sixteen to eight.
The closest match-ups? Liam lost to Archer by just three votes. The biggest trouncing was Eamon, with 83% of the vote compared to St. John’s measly 17%. My biggest disappointment was that Gray failed to make it out of the opening round.
But all that is in the past. Vote now and help us whittle it down to just four!
The dashing Dashiell (1) versus the pointed Archer (8)
It’s the Celtic showdown: cheerful Eamon (2) versus friendly Finn (10)
Two rarities-on-the-rise face off: Huxley (3) versus Cian (6)
Possibly the most conservative names on the list: Tobias (13) versus Nathaniel (12)
March Madness: Boys’ Opening Round
Place your bets, name aficionados! It’s time for the first-ever March Madness event at Appellation Mountain.
Round One matches up the Top Sixteen names from 2010. Vote for your favorite in each of the eight polls below, and check back next week to see who makes the cut for the quarter-finals. We’ll crown the victors after the close of voting in the fourth and final round on Saturday, March 26.
The literary Dashiell (1) versus the wild Wolf (16)
The Irish Eamon (2) versus the ever-so English St. John (15)
A surname match-up: Huxley (3) versus Cohen (14)
Subdued color name Gray (4) v. Old Testament Tobias (13)
Otto the palindrome (5) v. colonial cool Nathaniel (12)
Kelly green Cian (6) v. très français Etienne (11)
The Scottish Lachlan (7) v. the Glee-ful Finn (10)
Sharp Archer (8) v. leading man Liam (9)
Baby Name of the Day: Bayard
Statue of Bayard; Image via Wikipedia
It’s a colorful surname with an equestrian vibe.
Thanks to Taylor for suggesting her daughter’s name as our Baby Name of the Day: Bayard.
Baby Name of the Day: Cordelia
She’s a legendary queen and an impeccable literary choice.
Thanks to Rosy for suggesting our Baby Name of the Day – the surprisingly underused Cordelia.
Baby Name of the Day: Gray
Girls can be Scarlet and Violet, but boys are a less colorful bunch. Here’s one that might reverse that trend.
Thanks to Leah for suggesting Gray as Baby Name of the Day.
Sunday Summary: 5/9/10
Happy Mother’s Day! I spent the morning indulging in an M-Day brunch at Max Brenner and then listening for kids’ names at the Union Square playground near my sister’s new Manhattan apartment. I heard Ezra and Sophie at Ladybird Bakery in Park Slope – near sister #2′s place – the morning before, but mostly the Big Apple was a big letdown in terms of name spotting. I was too busy to really listen. (But, no, dear sisters, that’s not why I come visit you in the Big City.)
As usual, the real Mother’s Day gift comes from Uncle Sam. The Social Security Administration has released the Top 1000 baby names for babes born the year prior. It’s pretty much impossible to collect all of the interesting commentary on the topic, but here are a few highlights:
- Laura Wattenberg’s analysis of the fastest rising and falling names is fascinating. Adios, Miley and Jaslene. Hello, Caylee and Khloe;
- Also from Laura, check out the fascinating case of Maximiliano;
- Nancy spotlights the fast risers and fallers, too, and correctly pins the success of Cullen on the Twilight franchise;
- Nameberry has their comments here – and more to come, I’m sure!
In non-statistical news:
- As someone who grew up with a Philadelphia accent, drinking Flahrida arrange juice for breakfast, I’m sensitive to how very easy it is to butcher a name. Maybe that’s why I’m always amused by posts like this one at the Baby Name Wizard about Sawyer;
- And there’s this mention of Gazelle, pronounced Giselle. Gazelle is a bit much, but it must be really frustrating to have an unusual name with a phonetically baffling pronunciation;
- As a first name, Riches would be surprising, but I’d go searching to see if it were a medieval variant or obscure feminine variant of Richard. But For Real Baby Names reported a baby Riches paired with Dior in the middle spot. It’s probably not a family name;
- The Stir covers Gray as a Baby Name of the Day. So it’s not just me. (And Joy!) I recently met a couple who named their son Graydon because Grayson was too trendy. Methinks all of the Gray names might be white hot;
- More proof that Gray is gaining – Nymbler’s Most Popular Names for April were as follows: Charlotte, Amelia, Oliver, Ava, Benjamin, Grace, Henry, Owen, Ella and Liam. And the Top Five new names? Gracyn, Zaden, Grayer, Clodagh and Ming. Ming? The Merciless? Well, Kimora is in the US Top 1000. And it is a traditional name in Chinese;
- I was delighted by this article from Kenya posted at Nameberry earlier this week;
- And another irresistible tale comes from the parents of Esther Claire. They were behind a pair of little old ladies out shopping and heard one say to the other, “Oh, Esther!” And it stuck! They call her Essie for short.
Our only celeb birth of the week is author Sophie Kinsella, mom to four boys: Freddy, Hugo, Oscar and Rex William.
I’m off to unpack luggage and wrangle overtired into their pajamas. Hope you had a fabulous Mother’s Day and thank you for reading! See you next week.
In Reserve: Possible Names for a Second Son
Even before the pregnancy test came back positive, I had a strong sense that our second child was a girl.
Intuition didn’t stop me from discussing boys’ names with Arthur. So much that he finally insisted that we wait until the ultrasound, at which point it was moot. Claire Caroline Wren – Clio – was on her way.
Our firstborn is Alexander Arthur, after my father-in-law Alexander, my grandfather Arthur and, of course, Arthur. There just wasn’t a clear choice for a second boys’ name. Plus, I always feel like we flubbed his nickname – though he wears Aly fine. Our list for a second daughter is well thought out, but a boy?
We would have figured something out. I think.
Sunday Summary: 7/19/09
To Twitter or not to Twitter? That is the question faced by every Luddite-turned-blogger. (Yes, it’s true. You can be a technophobe and spend much of your leisure time blogging. I can’t be the only one.)
Anyhow, I love the idea of Twitter. So I’m introducing a new series called Yea or Nay, first as blog posts then possibly … maybe … if I feel really brave … I’ll migrate it over to this newfangled thingamajobby later. And then, you know, maybe I’ll get m’self one of them color tee vees.
Anyhow, watch for the inaugural post here later today. In name news:
- Nancy had a great list of French given names. Another blogger actually culled them from birth and death announcements. I’m fascinated by Quitterie;
- Legit Baby Names continues sourcing some of the most original baby names from around the globe. Her post on Sayyna (pronounced SAY ee na – pretty, isn’t it?) marks the first and only time I’ve ever seen a Yakutsk name mentioned online;
- Bewildertrix spotted the name Grainger – as in Harry Potter’s Hermione and Are You Being Served’s Mr. Grainger? I agree that Gray/Grey are lovely, and Grainger is probably inevitable with all those Graydons and Greysons out there. Me, I’m going to hope Grainger is the mother’s maiden name;
- It’s a first! I love the name – Noa – profiled in this week’s Toronto Star, though the backstory isn’t so exciting. Noa was Name of the Day here a while back;
- I won’t link to the post, but a happy couple out there in the blogosphere dismissed Peter, Jackson and Parker – they must have a sci fi thing, don’t you think? – to choose the name Ridgen for their son;
- My, those English do love a good nickname name, don’t they? Coronation Street’s Simon Gregson and wife Emma welcomed son Harry, little brother to Alfie. Not sure ’bout Alfie, but the couple says that Harry is a family name;
- Nameberry has an oh-so-cool post on names that start with the letter U – Uma, Ursula, u get the idea. Only the link is to their homepage, since the site is acting up at the moment;
- Laura Wattenberg posted an article discussing a recent research piece suggesting that baby naming is becoming more local. I quite like her take on things;
- Lastly, from the Wayback Machine, last year today, the Name of the Day was Gilbert.
That’s all for the moment, but check back next week for Leland, Opal, Ferdinand, Marsann and Leora. And stand by for Yea or Nay later today!
Simple, Sweet and Stuck in the Middle
We’ve written about middle names before. But today, we’ve decided to offer a fairly simple list for your consideration.
While many of these are gender neutral, this list was compiled with girls in mind. For decades, parents have stuffed an unimaginative Anne or Lynne between the first and last names. More recently, Grace and Rose have become the most common answers to the riddle of the middle.
Many fabulous pairings do not require a single-syllable middle name. We love unexpected combinations like Mary Veronica or Alice Zenobia. But if you find that keeping it simple is more your style, read on.
