Image by holeymoon via Flickr

Between writing about Scarlett the other day and finally reading The Help, I’ve had Southern names on the brain.  Kathryn Stockett’s characters answer to names like Raleigh, Constantine, Eugenia and Mae Mobley – the “Southern double name” idea referenced by Nicole Kidman when explaining that her youngest daughter is called Faith Margaret, not just Faith.  There’s also a minor – but critical – character called Lulabelle, an intriguing smoosh of a name that brings to mind Breakfast at Tiffany’s Holly Golightly’s birth name, Lulamae.

This past week also saw a lively conversation about gender-bending names in the blogosphere this week:

• Laura Wattenberg investigated Alison, and all of the ends-in-son names that have followed her rise;
• I wrote In Defense of Riley Anne and Evan Marie: Ten Reasons Boys’ Names on Girls Are Not a Sign of End Times;
• Waltzing More Than Matilda weighed in on the topic, too;
• So did Nook of Names;
• Regardless of where you come down on the issue, parents are not likely to stop borrowing boyish names for some of their daughters, some of the time.  For Real spotted the following sibset: Bella, Cosette, and Reave, three big sisters – yup, even Reave – for Taite Victoria Paige.

Beyond the debate, it was a really interesting week.  I thoroughly enjoyed:

• Swistle’s list of plural-sounding names like Brooks and Wells.  Maternity concierge Rosie Pope gave the name Wells to her younger son; big brother is J.R.  Megyn Kelly of FOX News has a son called Yates;
• What do you think of Perpetua?  She’s featured over at British Baby Names;
• Nancy tallied up baby girls named Monalisa, like the painting – and the Oscar-winning song from Nat King Cole;
• I love the idea of Annecy, and pretty much all twelve of these water names at Nameberry;
• Babynamelover spotted the intriguing Ursula Cherry, a little sister for Hester;
• Unusual names mentioned at the AppMtn Facebook page this week: Betty, Wilbur-called-Willy, Cassity, Fletcher, and Kais, an Arabic name with tons of history, often spelled Qais – thanks to Allison for the name spotting on that last one, and Sarah for filling in the history!

In celebrity baby news, we learned that yes, Natalie Portman and Benjamin Millepied named their newborn baby boy Aleph.  Cue the Have Celebrities Gone Too Far With Crazy Baby Names articles.

We’ve also heard that both Kate Hudson and Victoria Beckham have welcomed their children – a second son for Kate, and Victoria’s first daughter after three boys!  No names announcements – yet.  Something tells me next week is going to be exciting, too …