Tag Archives: Hunter

Baby Name of the Day: Greil

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guitars

Guitars by Tuppus via Flickr

You might find this name on the pages of Rolling Stone or The Village Voice.  How would it look on your child’s birth certificate?

Thanks to Janelle for suggesting Greil as our Baby Name of the Day.

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Sunday Summary: 10/31/10

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Happy Halloween!  More proof that I truly have a one-track mind: let’s start with two name-related thoughts, prompted by my kids’ costumes:

  1. There will be more little boys named Anakin in the future.  Nancy tells us there were 117 in 2009 alone. Despite my insistence that Aly is Luke Skywalker, he keeps correcting me – no, Mommy – ANAKIN Skywalker.  “But he’s the bad guy, Aly.”  “No he’s not!”  A younger generation might very well find Anakin as wearable as Julian.
  2. What name do you use to get to Minnie as a nickname?  It’s a great nickname, but much too cutesy to stand on her own – moreso, I think, than Millie or Sadie.  The Shopaholic series has recently given Becky a daughter by the name.  Minnie Driver was born Amelia.  There’s Minerva, too, but that’s a lot of name for a little girl – almost too sharp of a contrast to sweet Minnie.  So what’s left?  Araminta?  Minnesota?  Ideas welcome!

Here’s a question for readers with daughters.  Did American Girl start sending you catalogs, as if they knew you were having a girl before the ultrasound results were in?  My first catalog arrived before Clio could roll over, must less request outrageously expensive doll babies.  Still, I do enjoy the names in the catalogs: Kaya, Felicity, Josefina, Addy, Rebecca, Kit, Molly, and Julie are the main Girls of the moment.  2010 Girl of the Year was called Lanie.  A number of the Girls have friends – Julie’s BFF is Ivy, and there’s also Emily, Ruthie, and Elizabeth.  So much better than Bratz.

And while we’re on pop culture, anyone else notice that the upcoming Nutcracker flick the little girl’s name has reverted to Mary?  The original ETA Hoffman story called her Marie, but she’s been Clara in nearly every adaptation since.

Elsewhere online:

  • What a lovely sibset over at Swistle, and you can help them name another daughter! Their current family consists of Ottilie Fflur, called Tilly; Adalia Seren, called Addie; Cecily Roma; Nolia Betsy; and Violet Lucina;
  • New at Nymbler in September:Brynley, Kiptyn, Snow, Galileo, Irelyn, and Posy. One of the contributors to Celebrity Baby Blog, before it was absorbed by People Magazine, had a son named Galileo, but I think they called him Leo.  About ten years ago, I knew a couple who used Ireland for their daughter’s middle name.  I like it full strength, but find the Irelyn spelling diluted;
  • For Real goes to Texas and you know it is going to be good! She spotted Abel Marcel, Hayes Gentry, Nicholai Luther, Landree Natali, Priscila Bethsabe, and Vierra Nichole. That’s the second time I’ve heard Gentry for a boy this week.  I don’t get it.
  • For Real also hit Tennessee where she found Isavela in the middle spot, plus River Gracily, Consuella Eliesa, Annalinne Rachel, and Atom Leegan. Is Gracily a Grace-Lily smoosh or a just an inventive elaboration?  It is pretty, even dainty;
  • At Nameberry, Pam raves about ends-in-s names for boys.  There are some really great ones.  I’ve known little boys called Magnus and Silas, and they wear well.  Plus, they can be more subtle than some of the ends-in-o options.

There were a number of celebrity births this week, but first, Jeremy Sisto’s 16 month old daughter is named Charlie Ballerina. How did I miss that?

Back to the newborns:

Over on the Facebook page, I think Stanley has officially been declared wearable.

Keep an ear out for interesting names worn by your Trick or Treaters, and have a great week!

Baby Name of the Day: Archer

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Bow and arrow

Image by Valerie Everett via Flickr

He’s a nineteenth-century rarity, newly returned to the Top 1000 in 2009.

Thanks to Rachel for suggesting Archer as Baby Name of the Day.

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Baby Name of the Day: Ellington

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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: 9/12/10

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Let’s start a handful of picks from pop culture: first, True Blood’s werewolf Alcide.  He joined the cast in Season Three and will be back in Season Four.  If Sookie recently attracted attention, how about this romantic French spin on the Greek Alcaeus?

I’m also intrigued by Katniss, the heroine of the bestselling young adult trilogy The Hunger Games.  Her name is taken from the name of an edible plant, not just in her distopian fictional universe, but here on Earth, too.  Stephen King panned the name in a review, but I find Katniss pretty clever.  And what’s more, I can imagine Katniss catching on – she’s almost a blend of all those Kate names and the vintage, ends-in-ess choices, like Frances and Alice.

And let’s not forget TLC’s latest entry about families with lots of kids.  This one has lots of wives, too – yup, they’re profiling a polygamist family in Sister Wives.  The faces in their very crowded family portrait belong to:

  • Dad Kody;
  • First wife Meri and her daughter Mariah;
  • Second wife Janelle, and her kids Logan, Madison, Hunter, Garrison, Gabriel, and Savanah;
  • Third wife Christine and her kids Aspyn, Mykelti, Paedon, Gwenelyn, Ysabel, and baby-on-the-way Truely;
  • Fourth wife-to-be Robyn, who brings three kids to the bigger-than-Brady bunch: Dayton, Aurora, and Breanna.

It’s interesting to see that you can share everything, and still have very different taste in baby names.

Elsewhere online:

  • Speaking of family names, Laura Wattenberg’s article about A New World of Namesakes challenges readers to imagine the feminine form of today’s most popular boys’ names.  Will Connor’s granddaughter be called Connie?  Connorine?  The mind reels.  Apparently Joshlyn is already surfacing;
  • A comment in that post led to these addicting Sporcle games.  Maybe I’m a geek, but I nearly didn’t get the laundry done thanks to these;
  • Sebastiane’s post on Gregory includes a long list of feminine variants, including Jorina. Which gives me hope that we won’t be meeting girls called Connorine;
  • Spotted in Montana: Huxley.  ON A GIRL.  For Real reports a Huxley Isabella was born in Big Sky Country;
  • This one is for Claire.  During our discussion of Endellion, she wrote: “What if we dropped the ‘n’? Endellia is nice.”  Guess what popped up in the new names at Namipedia just the other day?  Wait for it – Endelia.  She may or may not stay there – Wattenberg has some criteria for determining which names can be listed – but other people are thinking the same way;
  • Check out the Class Rosters list at You Can’t Call It “It.” I was traveling for work when her post came out, so I couldn’t put my hands on our lists, but the biggest surprise I’ve heard so far?  Aly has a classmate called Ovid.  I’m not sure if I’m misunderstanding a foreign name or if he really is named after the poet.

In starbaby news, besides Winnie Cooper’s baby dragon, there’s:

Lastly, I was curious to see the upcoming Easy A for tons of reasons – it’s a spin on The Scarlet Letter, Malcolm McDowell plays the principal, the reviews have been great.  But best of all?  The heroine’s name is Olive!

That’s all for this week.  If you haven’t already, leave a comment on this post for a chance at choosing the five names to be featured the week of December 27!  Thanks for reading.

Name of the Day: Seger

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Siegfried is best reserved for Las Vegas lion tamers and Wagnerian dragon slayers, but this related surname choice could wear quite well on a boy born in 2010.

Thanks to Karen for suggesting her son’s name as Name of the Day: Seger.

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Sunday Summary: 1/17/10

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The baby boom continues at AppMtn.  Congratulations to Emmy Jo on the birth of her son, Julius!

Have you been reading all of those press releases by this hospital or that about the most popular names of 2009?  They haven’t been terribly exciting, but I’m reading them anyhow.  This one caught my attention, not because of the Most Popular Names.  (Jack and Isabella, yawn.)  And not even so much because of the unusual names listed.  (Though Leviticus is a bit much and Minuet is lovely.)  No, it caught my eye because they listed Stella among the unusual names.  Clearly the compiler is not up on baby name trends.  Or doesn’t watch Oxygen.

I’ve been neglecting the Toronto Star baby name profiles lately.  Let’s check in on Kristin Rushowy’s latest:

From Canada to New Zealand, remember a few days ago when we were all abuzz with the birth announcement for Diammond Sparckle Zedekeyah Lilly Ann?  Turns out baby Diammond has ten big brothers and sisters.  I couldn’t find a complete list, but this article includes a few of her sibs:  Brandi Shyla Molly Robyn, Indego Raindrop Sapphire and the relatively ordinary Cruz Richard.  Mom Brinessa says Diammond’s name was inspired by an iPhone app.  “We just added a couple of letters to the name so it would be a bit different.”  Mission accomplished.

Also in New Zealand, the Bay of Plenty Times reports on a family determined to find a name more interesting than Jack.  They came up with Jaksyn.  Suddenly, Diammond seems like the more satisfying choice.

Elsewhere online:

Speaking of Margaret, Mark Walherg and Rhea Durham welcomed baby #4, the classically named Grace Margaret.  In other starbaby news, via Celebrity Baby Blog:

How could I top that?  As always, thanks for reading!

Sunday Summary: 11/15/09

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Here at AppMtn, it isn’t so very unusual to receive an outraged email or comment after I’ve said something less than flattering about a name.  The longer I write, the more keenly I think about the fact that these names are worn by real human beings.

So it is doubly thrilling when I write something and the parents are happy to discover the post.  Better still, they write about it on their blog.  Which brings us to adorable baby Estelle over at The Emperor’s New Crib.  Thanks to her parents, I now know that frikadelle means meatball in Danish.

A bunch of other random thoughts:

  • I like Anneliese.  I can understand respelling her Annalise or Annalisa.  But Analyse?  Yup, I’ve just spotted a baby Analyse.  I don’t think her parents are psychiatrists;
  • Anyone think True will catch on as a first name?  It’s sort of like a virtue name on steroids – far bolder than the established Grace and Faith, stark compared to the gently old-fashioned Felicity or Amity.  Actor Forest Whitaker has a daughter called True Isabella Summer.  True Jackson, VP is a Nickelodeon show ’bout a super-stylish teen who ends up heading up a line at an honest-to-goodness fashion label.  (And no, her mom’s name isn’t Kimora.)  The show is in season #2 and now airs on Nick UK an Nick Latin America;
  • Nicole Kidman is about to return to the big screen as Claudia in the musical Nine. If it is half the hit of Moulin Rouge, the sadly neglected Claudia could finally get a boost.  After all, the devilish Satine still surfaces on message boards;
  • I keep meaning to mention the compound name of my favorite project runway finalist – Carol Hannah.  I’m not wild about either name, but I find the combination strangely appealing.  Or is it too close to Poltergeist’s tragic Carol Anne?  I also heard a prospective model’s name mentioned during casting for the contestants’ shows – Drielle, which sounds a too much like a French power tool to be pretty;
  • Nancy mentions strangely appropriate names – as in, a retail analyst named Tiffany Co.  I recently met a cantor named Aria and while chasing the kids around the Bass Outdoor Extravaganza Warehouse Winter Wonderland, I heard a camouflage-clad dad call his son Hunter;
  • Bewildertrix spotted a Juno Alexandra Zénaïde, little sister to Hugh.  I agree with her – what a fabulous combo;
  • Digital Spy talked with Emmerdale (it’s a UK soap) star Charlotte Bellamy about the names she and partner Mungo Denison chose for their three kids: sons Sunnie and Herbie and daughter Teddie Boo Florence;
  • She’s not here yet, but Joey Lawrence tells Celebrity Baby Blog that Charleston’s little sister will be called Liberty Grace.

A few noteworthy posts you might’ve missed:

Speaking of one-syllable boys, a year ago I was writing about Rex.

Thanks for reading, and see you next week!

Sunday Summary: 4/19/09

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It’s springtime, and our family tree is blooming!  My brother-in-law tied the knot last week, meaning that I now have a sister-in-law with the lovely name Solange.  (She’s pretty fabulous, too.)

On the other side of the Atlantic, Alexei’s godmother, Paulina, is now engaged to Bartholomew.  I haven’t met him yet, but I did learn that he has a niece named Ala.  (They’re in Poland, so name trends are more than a little different.)

Now, on to the news!

  • I finally entered the Baby Name Wizard name pool, sliding in just under the deadline.  I’m not sure my picks were terribly inspired, but here they are:  for the three biggest gainers, I chose Emerson (f), Layton (m) and Adelyn (f).  My three biggest losers were Tanner (m), Ashley (f) and Scott (m).  And I guessed Bella as the tie-breaker at #132.  Laura Wattenberg revealed her picks here;
  • Speaking of Ashley, one of Bravo’s Real Housewives of New Jersey, Jacqueline, is mom to teenaged Ashley and elementary-schooler CJ – and she’s got one more on the way.  I’m not expecting a particularly exciting name.  Compared to the New York wives, the kids’ names seem to be pretty ordinary;
  • But on the extraordinary side, I just read a story about actress Sarah Clarke - she was on 24 early in the series – is mom to daughter Olwyn Harper.  I had a Great Aunt Olwen, so that caught my eye;
  • The Toronto Star profiled parents who chose the name Sapphire Ann for their new baby girl.  She has big brothers Tyler and Chase.  I go back and forth on Sapphire – I love Ruby, but somehow Sapphire seems outlandish.  And the couple uses the nickname Fire which really puts it over the top.  Or not.  Because I do think lots of gemstone names should be valid choices;
  • Brad Paisley and his wife, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, have welcomed a second son – but haven’t released his name!  Too bad, because William Huckleberry – nicknamed Huck - is one of my favorite boys’ combos of recent years;
  • Singer Kelis (of Milkshake fame.  Sorry  if that’s now lodged in your brain) is expecting a baby boy with Nas.  The proud papa-to-be suggests that he might let the fans pick Junior’s name;
  • I’ll admit I don’t recognize her name, but I like her naming style – Australian presenter Jessica Rowe and husband Peter Overton have welcomed a second daughter.  New baby Giselle Charlotte joins big sis Penelope Allegra;
  • Lastly, two interesting spots at the Box Office – in the Zac Effron vehicle 17 Again, the school bully is named Stan.  The actor who plays Stan wears the much trendier appellation Hunter in real life, and most recently played Silas on Weeds.  Then there’s the animated Monsters vs. Aliens.  Reese Witherspoon gives voice to the animated heroine Susan.  Anyone think Susan could make a comeback, or is still all about Susannah? 

That’s all for this week.  Thanks for reading!