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.
Baby Name of the Day: Gray
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Tag Archives: Graydon
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.
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!
