Image via Wikipedia

Note: This is a special Saturday Baby Name of the Day for an expectant mama!

There’s the actor.  The aircraft.  And yet has this Scottish heritage choice lost his dash?

Thanks to Bridy for suggesting a family name she’s considering for her baby on the way.  Our Baby Name of the Day is Douglas.

Douglas begins on the map, the name of a river derived from the Gaelic dubh – dark and glas – stream.  The river gave its name to a nearby village, and the village shared its name with a castle.  The castle was the stronghold of the Earls of Douglas, once Scotland’s most powerful family, the heads of Clan Douglas.

Legend has it that the clan was founded by an eighth century knight named Sholto Douglas, the hero of a decisive battle.  There’s not much in the way of historical evidence for Sholto, though family members have used the name since.  The first Douglas on record as a landholder appears in the twelfth century.  Early leaders fought alongside William Wallace and Robert the Bruce, rising to prominence over the years.  By the 1400s, they were such a big deal that it became rather hazardous to be the top of the family – if you didn’t die in battle, there was a decent chance others would conspire to send you to your death.

It’s no wonder that the family’s name filtered into use as a given name, too.  Douglass is a valid variant, and the first female Douglas appears in the history books in the 1540s, an English noblewoman likely named after her godmother, a member of the powerful Scottish family.

It is impossible to list all of the notable bearers of the name, but a few highlights include:

• Explorer Douglas Mawson reached the South Pole in the Antarctic in 1909;
• Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, the 14th Duke of Hamilton.  The well-born double Douglas distinguished himself as a member of the Royal Air Force, taking part in the first flight over Mount Everest and organizing the air defenses of Scotland during World War II;
• Actor Douglas Fairbanks played Zorro and Robin Hood, and with wife Mary Pickford, was part of the original Hollywood super couple.  (The name of their legendary Hollywood estate, Pickfair, presages smooshes like Brangelina by nearly a century.)  Fairbanks also co-founded United Artists and the Motion Picture Academy.  He and wife Mary were the first pair to ever put their handprints in cement at Grauman’s Chinese Theater;
• General Douglas MacArthur remains one of the most decorated military leaders in US history;
• Writers like Douglas Adams and Douglas Coupland take the name in a creative direction.

If that’s not enough history, there name is wrapped up with the entire aeronautics industry.  In 1921, Donald Douglas, Jr. founded the Douglas Aircraft Company in 1921.  Four of their planes were the first aircraft to circumnavigate the world by air in 1924.  Chances are good that you’ve flown in a DC-9 or DC-10.  The company merged with McDonnell Douglas and then Boeing, taking the name out of the skies.

Despite all of this history, Douglas is falling fast these days.  From 1929 through 1989, he was a Top 100 staple, reaching as high as #23 in 1942.  Today he comes in at just #485.  You might have an Uncle Doug, but odds are you don’t know many little bitsy Dougs.

But could Douglas be revived?  Boys today answer to Daniel and William, not Danny and Bill.  While Doug feels dated, Douglas seems to retain much of his daring past, combined with a certain surname style.  If you’re looking for a classic Scottish option that is instantly familiar, but relatively underused, Douglas could be a surprisingly fresh choice.

Bethany; Image by See The Holy Land via Flickr

She’s a Biblical village, and a reality superstar.

Thanks to Clio for suggesting Bethany as our Baby Name of the Day.

Bethany appears in the New Testament, first as the home of Mary and Martha.  You might recall that Mary of Bethany sat and listened to Jesus’ teachings while her sister Martha bustled about.)  Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead in Bethany.  And, according to the Gospel of Luke, Jesus ascended into heaven from an earthly spot – in Bethany.  It’s an awful lot of action for a Jerusalem ‘burb.

There’s a second place, a village on the Jordan River, sometimes called Bethany in the New Testament, too.

With all of this significance, no wonder scholars have been eager to unpack Bethany’s origins.  There’s general consensus that her first syllable – bet – means “house of” in Hebrew and Aramaic.  A few theories for the second syllable include:

• Hini – figs.  House of figs is the preferred definition in many a baby name book;
• Ananiah – the name of another town outside of Jerusalem, possibly related to a feminine given name;
• Anya – poverty.  The Biblical village was the site of a large almshouse for the poor, and Jesus cured Simon the Leper in Bethany.  While this may not be the most appealing option, it is the one that most scholars agree is likely accurate.

You can find Bethany on the map throughout the US.  There’s Delaware’s Bethany Beach; Connecticut’s Bethany, just outside of New Haven; and a pair of colleges, one in West Virginia, one in Kansas.

Odds are that some parents embraced Bethany for her status as a place name, but many more parents simply liked her sound.  She first appears in the US Top 1000 in 1949.  Bethany climbed steadily until she peaked at #87 in 1987.  She reached even greater heights elsewhere in the English-speaking world.  She’s been sliding ever since, reaching #369 in 2010.

It’s easy to see why she caught on in the 1980s:

• Another three-syllable, starts-with-B, ends-in-y, girl’s name with a geographic bent entered the US Top Ten in 1986 – Brittany;
• Bethany’s first syllable links her to the evergreen Elizabeth;
• While the connection is less obvious, Bethany also contains the classic Ann or Annie as a nickname option;
• As an independent given name, Beth had a good run in the 1960s, with a spike in 1977 thanks to Kiss’ power ballad of the same name.

Bethany is still around.  Reality star turned SkinnyGirl entrepreneur Bethenny Frankel is one of the most famous bearers of the name, and she has a show about raising daughter Bryn – and fitting into a size 4 less than a month postpartum.  There’s also actress Bethany Joy Galeotti, known as Haley on One Tree Hill.

All of this makes Bethany feel a little bit dated – more of a mom name than an obvious choice for a newborn baby girl.  Fresher alternatives could be Hollywood surname Bettany, Belle-inspired surname option Bellamy, or even three-syllable noun names with a vaguely spiritual bent, like Harmony or Amity.

And yet she’s not impossibly faded, and her Biblical status and sound-a-like qualities to so many classic girls’ picks give her some staying power.  You won’t meet many little girls called Bethany these days, but that could make her a good option for parents seeking the familiar, but not too common.

Coat of Arms of Scotland; Image via Wikipedia

At first glance, she seems invented – maybe even misspelled.  But she’s actually an obscure Scottish option.

Thanks to EK for suggesting the intriguing Merrilees as our Baby Name of the Day.

For every name that comes out of nowhere and climbs steadily into the Top 100, there are others that come out of nowhere and go … nowhere.  Or not enough of a somewhere to make it into our collective treasure trove of given names.  Samantha is a good example of an invented name that feels like it has always been with us; Merrilees is a great example of the opposite case.

My first impulse was to check if Merrilees was a smoosh of Mary and Lee or Lisa, possibly influenced by Anneliese.  In some cases, that guess is probably right – I’ve found women named Marilee, and her similarity to the word merrily would probably appeal to some parents.

But what explained the spelling?  I was stumped, until I realized that Merrilees is sometimes spelled Mirrlees.

Mirrlees, with several variant versions, was a Scottish place name.  It is part of the West Lothian council district today, and Mirrlees has all but disappeared from the map.  She lingers on in small places – a street in Glasgow, another in Stockport.  It’s a mystery exactly where Mirrlees comes from – I thought she might be Pictish, but if she is, her origins are lost to time.

She’s also a surname, and is worn by a few notable figures, with various spellings, in both the first and middle spots:

• Scottish economist and Nobel Prize recipient Thomas Mirrlees;
• Chef/television personality Merrilees Parker;
• J.B. Mirrlees, a co-founder of the engine manufacturing company that would become known as Mirrlees Blackstone – and, given its production facility in Stockport, probably also inspired the street name.

The name’s most notable bearer might be Hope Mirrlees, the visionary writer known for 1926′s Lud-in-the-Mist.  Her fantasy novel isn’t set in Scotland, exactly, but a fictional place called Dorimare, just a hop, skip, and a jump away from Faerie land.  Do faeries make good neighbors?  At least in the novel, things are tense.  The residents of Dorimare initially tried to deny the existence of faeries, even though everyone knows it isn’t just a tale.  Instead, eating fairy fruit is a crime and it’s just plain bad taste to speak about the neighbors.  Then the mayor’s son takes a bite of the forbidden fruit, and their quiet little world is forever changed.

There are two additional literary uses that might appeal:

• Sir Walter Scott used the name Meg Merrilies for a gypsy in Guy Mannering, his 1815 bestseller.  Meg was based on a real figure;
• The poet John Keats heard about Scott’s figure, and based his own poem, “Meg Merrilies” on Scott’s character.

All together, Merrilees is a rarity, even an oddity – there’s just not much like her, even though she sounds an awful lot like some very popular monikers.  If you’re after an obscure Scottish appellation with literary overtones, then Merrilees might just be the name you’re seeking.

Mask of Tlaloc, Nahua God of the Rain; Image via Wikipedia

There’s Luna and Stella.  Skylar and Haley, too.  How would this celestial appellation wear on a child?

Thanks to Claire for suggesting Citlali as our Baby Name of the Day.

Parents love names with attractive meanings, and why not?  At some point, our kids will be able to Google.  Just look at the comments for Caleb – here or on any baby name site – and you can watch parents pretzel themselves trying to figure out if a name that might mean “dog” is an insult.

Maybe that’s why nature names are so big these days.  They’re vaguely spiritual, but not as specifically religious as Mary.  Many of them have a modern feel, though you can find antiques like Esther, too.  And it is easy to find international variants, like model Niki Taylor’s daughter, Ciel, from the French word for sky.

Depending on your background, Citlali is either a great example of an exotic name borrowed from the natural world, or maybe just a bit over the top.  Like Stella, she means star.  But in this case, the source language is Nahuatl.  You can hear her pronunciation here: SEET lahl lee.

You might find her listed as an Aztec name.  Aztec comes from Aztlan, the mythological place the Mexica people considered their Garden of Eden.  Aztec is the word that outsiders used to describe not only the Mexicas, but also the empire they ruled.  It’s easy to be fascinated by stories of pyramid building and human sacrifice, but there’s far more substance there.

Nahuatl refers to a group of languages spoken by around 1.5 million people, mostly in Central America.  If you’ve eaten a tomato or an avocado, you’ve had a taste of Nahuatl.  It was originally written in ideographs.  By the 1500s, Mesoamericans merged Nahuatl with the Latin alphabet and developed a written form that was used for practical matters as well as literary and creative endeavors.  It makes the language relatively accessible and defines Classical Nahuatl.

Like Latin, Classical Nahuatl doesn’t exist as a living language, but Nahuatl perseveres in various dialects, somewhat altered by the influence of Spanish.  Nahua culture embraced compound words – try your hand at this puzzle and you’ll see how you can fit a whole sentence into just one word.  There’s a mountain in Mexico called Citlaltepec – hill of the star.

Citlali has been used for some time, for men and women, and sometimes spelled Citlalli.  The earliest reference I found was 1520, when Chief Citalali ruled Cocula, a city in Jalisco, Mexico.

There’s a long list of possible Nahua names to consider, and here’s a great video that will introduce pronunciations – as well as the politics.

There’s a Citlali in Laura Esquivel’s novel Law of Love, and I suspect I’m missing another influence.  From 2001 to 2006, she was popular enough to rank on the fringes of the US Top 1000.

If you or your partner trace your ancestry to Mexico, Citlali might make for a surprising heritage choice.  But like Cohen, if you choose the name merely for sound and style, you may find that it is interpreted by some as insulting.

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.

Make no mistake, this is a touchy subject.  And yet, I’m finding it easy to defend the practice of borrowing from the boys.

10.  We have a long history of borrowing our daughters’ names from boys.

Before there was Madison, there was Shirley.  Charlotte Bronte used it for the heroine of her 1849 novel, explaining that Shirley’s dad had wanted a son.  Shirley was gaining steadily for girls in the US when child star Shirley Temple became a household name.  The name peaked at #2 in the 1930s, and while she’s no longer popular, it is hard to imagine parents using Shirley for a son today.

There are countless stories like this, names that transitioned from male to female several generations back.  The average, non-name-obsessed person is only dimly aware of the switch.

9.  She’ll hate her name.

Yes, she probably will.  But only because lots of kids hate their names at some point.  Should you go the opposite route, it is possible that she’ll find her overly feminine name stifling.  (Nymphadora Tonks, anyone?)

You Can’t Call It “It” featured a story of a girl named Tyson who would have much rather been called Marie.  But for every Tyson, there’s a girl called Kyle who finds her boyish name pleasing.

8.  Many names have an ambi-gendered past.

Purists would like every name to correspond to pink or blue, end of discussion.  It is easy to believe that all names were created with a clear gender identity – Mary for girls, John for boys – and we’re the ones who have mucked it up.

Not so.

Take Evelyn, an off-cited early theft.  The male writer Evelyn Waugh was married to a woman named Evelyn.  Evelyn was a surname that caught on as a given name for boys.  The surname traces its roots back to the feminine appellation Aveline.  Aveline died out, but variant Evelina was revived in the nineteenth century.  All of a sudden, Evelyn sounded just right for a girl.  I’ve spotted at least one aristocratic family tree with men and woman named Evelyn over the generations.

There are more stories like that than you might imagine, from obscurities like Ismay to chart-topping choices like Madison.

7.  Stealing from boys isn’t fair.

Maybe.  But very often a name was scarcely used for either gender when it is first discovered by the parents of girls.  Lauren has some history as a short form of the masculine Laurence, but was decidedly obscure when Betty Joan Perske chose it as her professional name, becoming a major Hollywood star as Lauren Bacall.  Before Madison made a splash, she hadn’t charted for either gender since the 1950s.

The most common pattern is that a gender-ambiguous name will rise for both genders, at least for a few years – like Shannon or Avery.  In fact, Avery currently stands at #23 for girls, the highest ranking for girls ever – and at #210 for boys, also the highest ranking for boys ever.

6.  Plenty of families have long traditions of passing down surnames without regard to gender.

I’ve met families from the American South and New England, too, who pass on family surnames without regard to gender.  When a neighbor announced that their firstborn would receive her maiden name regardless of gender, the practice seemed nicely egalitarian.  If your maiden name happens to be Parker or Bailey, it would be a shame to never pass the name on just because you have daughters instead of sons.

5.  Why should certain family names be reserved for boys?

In response to #6, some insist that families should reserve the masculine choices for future sons, and look elsewhere for a daughter’s name.  Grandma Eleanor, maybe.

But there are compelling reasons to give these names to our daughters.  Kate Garry Hudson received her masculine middle because her Uncle Garry had passed away shortly before her birth.

Why not save it for a son?  Sometimes that makes sense.  But in an age of smaller families, it is not always realistic.  Imagine that you’re 42, and this is your first child – and almost certainly your last chance to use Cameron.  It would be a shame to forgo your favorite name in favor of something less meaningful.

4.  It isn’t parents using a name for girls that makes it feel feminine.

Some parents probably do look through the boys’ side of the baby name guide to find options for a daughter.  But most of the choices feel appropriate because of other names that are current.  Ava and Emily combined to make Avery a powerhouse.  Emerson follows Top Ten picks like Emma and Madison.

3.  Not every boys’ name used for girls “goes pink.”

In some cases, girls are borrowing a popular boys’ name, but it hasn’t diminished its appeal for boys.  Ryan has appeared in the US Top 1000 for girls since the 1970s, but that didn’t push Ryan out of the boys’ Top Twenty.  The same is true of Evan, Devon, and Jordan, to name just a few.

There are all cases where a name that temporarily seemed unwearable for a boy makes a quick recovery.  Jamie rose for girls and boys in the 1970s.  Today it isn’t especially stylish for either gender, but a growing number of boys named James or Jameson favor Jamie as a short form.

2.  In our enlightened age, it seems possible that some names will remain gender neutral.

Plenty of nouveau coinages seem almost deliberately gender neutral.  Peyton and Jayden are popular for girls as well as boys.  In other cases, spelling can signal the name’s gender.  I’d expect Rylee to be a girl, and chances are that’s correct -  Rylee ranked #102 in the US for girls in 2010.  But Rylee also ranked #723 for boys – and is climbing, just his feminine counterpart.

Depending on your perspective, Tate is either just one letter removed from Kate, or maybe a sound-alike to Jake.  If you’re open to names that are new, chances are that a certain amount of ambiguity will follow.  But there’s reason to believe that Tate Elizabeth and Tate Alexander can share the same playground.

1.  But there aren’t any good names left for boys!

The right name can be the right name, regardless of gender.  If your beloved grandfather was Courtney, you might name son after him regardless of concerns about being mistaken for a girl – even if you call him C.J.  And parents do seem to be daring to consider gender-shifting choices like Robin and Kelly for their sons.

It is true that parents have always exercised a greater degree of restraint when it comes to our sons’ names.  But that doesn’t mean that there’s not a great option out there for every boy.  The same freedom that lets us consider boyish choices for our daughters lets us pick from a wider range of options for our sons, too.  That’s a good thing  – even if does make you hesitate over some of your favorite boys’ names.

Image via Wikipedia

Nameberry called her freckle-faced, but she’s picked up an edge in recent years.

Thanks to Claire for suggesting Polly as our Baby Name of the Day.

The precise evolution of Mary into Polly is fuzzy, but let’s say this: even purists who insist a formal name should always go on the birth certificate might find a little Mary called Polly confusing circa 2011.

Regardless, Polly does sound just right on a girl with pigtails, a pinafore, and yes, freckles.  ome of it is her nickname status: she’s one of many short forms that evolved over the many years Mary dominated choices for girls.  But most of it is about all those famous Pollys:

• Nursery rhymes tell Polly to “put the kettle on” for tea;
• Aunt Polly was the good-hearted guardian of Tom Sawyer;
• Eleanor Porter’s 1913 Pollyanna was about a super-optimistic orphan, able to melt the heart of her grim guardian Aunt Polly, while selflessly improving the lives of everyone she meets.  Sequels followed, as did film adaptations.  In 1920, Mary Pickford – then aged 27 – played the twelve year old.  (And you thought the kids on Glee were old!)  Hayley Mills’ 1960 turn as the ever-so-sunny youngster is also famous;
• Shirley Temple sang the children’s song “Polly Wolly Doodle” in 1935′s The Littlest Rebel, after rescuing her father from certain death;
• More recently, girls can play with Polly Pocket, a sort of mini-Barbie.

They’re sweet, even saccharine, but more recent uses are something of a mixed bag.  There’s

• Polly Holliday – you know her as the no-nonsense waitress Flo on 1970s sitcom Alice;
• 1970s Britcom Fawlty Towers included a staff member called Polly;
• 1980s staple thirtysomething included Polly Draper as Ellyn;
• Actress Polly Bergen has had a long career, with recent appearances on The Sopranos and Desperate Housewives.  Bergen was born Nellie Paulina;
• Polly Plummer is a character in C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia series;
• Meg, the heroine of Margaret L’Engle’s young adult novel A Wrinkle in Time eventually grows up and has a daughter of her own, named Polly – short for Polyhymnia.

Polly was popular in the late nineteenth century, and again in the 1930s.  At first glance, you might attribute her rise to Porter and Pickford, but there’s also Bertolt Brecht’s 1928 The Threepenny Opera, an adaptation of 1728′s The Beggar’s Opera by John Gay.  Polly is the daughter of a criminal mastermind, and she plans to marry Mack the Knife – also a thief.  The cast consists of beggars, prostitutes, and prisoners.  Polly herself is fairly virtuous, though that’s mostly by comparison to the notorious company she keeps.

The Kinks recorded a song called “Polly.”  So did Nirvana.   There’s also independent musician P.J. Harvey, born Polly Jean. The musical connection takes Polly in a different, darker direction.

Polly could’ve made a comeback thanks to the 2004 Jennifer Aniston-Ben Stiller romcom Along Came Polly.  Stiller played a risk-averse guy who has just been jilted when he meets fun-loving free spirit Polly Prince.  Their unlikely relationship takes off, but the film wasn’t enough to make parents reconsider the name.

Perhaps parents might revisit Polly as a short form of another name: Paulina, Penelope, Pomeline, or even Appoline.  Diminutives like Molly and Sadie have graduated to independent status, but Polly is not quite there – yet.  That could make her the perfect choice for parents seeking something different, but still familiar.

Can’t see the video?  Click through here.

She’s a twentieth century staple that might make you burst into song.

Thanks to Fran for suggesting Valerie as our Baby Name of the Day.

Valerius was a Roman family name, derived from the Latin valere – to be strong.  It’s the same root as our words valor and valiant.  Today we equate valor with bravery; the earlier sense is closer to worthy.  Either way, they’re desirable qualities and it is easy to imagine parents embracing the name.

Val names are plentiful, including:

• Valerian, a Roman emperor and more than a half dozen saints;
• Valeriy, Valery, and Walery, Slavic masculine forms;
• Valerio, found in Romance languages;
• The feminine Valeria.

And then there’s Valerie.  Some might accuse parents of stealing Valerie from the boys, but it just isn’t so.  She’s a feminine form dating back to at least medieval France.

St. Valerie of Limoges may be pure fiction.  Her gory story goes like this:  either because she was a Christian convert, or possibly because she refused to marriage, Valerie was put to death.  But no mere beheading could stop her.  Valerie picked up her noggin and marched into the church.  Depictions of headless saints were more popular than you might guess.

Valerie begins to resurface in the nineteenth century.  At least two figures wore the name:

• Archduchess Marie Valerie of Austria, usually known by her middle name only;
• Lady Meux, born Valerie Langdon, who made the kind of marriage that romance novelists invent.  Langdon was either an actress or a prostitute or both when she captured the heart of Sir Henry Meux, a baronet and wealthy brewer.  She drove herself around London in a zebra-drawn carriage.

Valeria was slightly more common in the late 19th century.  The French form began to catch on in the 1930s, reaching #214 in 1940 and peaking at #60 in 1959.  Part of her initial boost might have come from actress Valerie Hobson – Frankenstein’s beloved in 1935′s The Bride of Frankenstein.

Rather than a steady rise and equally measured decline, Valerie has reached a comfortable plateau.  In 2004 she ranked #180; by 2010, she was back to #149.  She can’t be called dated, exactly, even though a great many Valeries belonged to the Baby Boom generation.

Maybe it is the steady succession of songs that keeps her young:

• The Monkees scored a hit in 1968 with “Valleri“ – the single originally appeared on their television show in 1967.  I can’t find any explanation for the unorthodox spelling;
• Steve Winwood recorded his “Valerie” in 1987;
• My favorite – Material Issue – scored their biggest hit with “Valerie Loves Me” in 1991;
• Amy Winehouse’s hit was also covered on Glee.

The small screen has also been kind to the name:

• Valerie Harper played Rhoda on The Mary Tyler Moore Show then starred in her own spin-off;
• Valerie Bertinelli hit it big on One Day at a Time, married a rock star,and rebooted her career as a Jenny Craig spokeswoman;
• Tiffani Thiessen moved to Beverly Hills 90210 as Valerie Malone, a bad girl who made Brenda look like a saint;
• In 2005 Lisa Kudrow starred on short-lived HBO original series The Comeback as Valerie Cherish.

Material Issue’s single lends the name a certain indie edge.  1996′s I Shot Andy Warhol is based on the true story of Valerie Solanos, the radical feminist turned would-be assassin – and gives good-girl Valerie a dark side.  Speaking of dark, Amanda Seyfried donned a red cloak and the name Valerie to take on a werewolf in 2011′s Red Riding Hood.

And so Valerie remains – never quite fresh, just short of truly stylish, but somehow still current, even surprising.

Linda McCartney; Image by Antoon's Foobar via Flickr

She skyrocketed from obscurity to the #1 spot in the US.

Thanks to Kelly for this suggestion.  With a happy birthday to Nameberry co-founder Linda Rosenkrantz, our baby name of the day is Linda.

Up until 1947, there was a constant in the US Top 1000: Mary occupied the top spot, year after year after year.

If you checked the rankings, the name would eventually unseat Mary was there, too.  Linda hovered in the 200s or 300s most years.  And then she started her climb:  #97 in 1936, #15 by 1939, and #1 in 1947.

Linda stayed at #1 through 1952 and  remained in the Top Ten until 1965.  Not only was she wildly popular, she was wildly popular during the post-World War II baby boom.  There are a LOT of Lindas.

What explains her rise?  I suspect it is mostly music:

• In 1931, Al Bowlly recorded “Linda.”  The lyrics “Linda, I’m in love with you, Linda … Linda, do you love me, too?” must have stuck with parents.  It wasn’t Bowlly’s biggest hit, but the crooner was wildly popular in his day.  He died in London during the Blitz.  You’ve almost certainly heard his songs, as they’ve been used in everything from the soundtrack for The Shining to EastEnders;
• Opera gives us Linda di Chamounix, an 1842 work by Donizetti, first performed by the Metropolitan Opera in 1934 and 1935.  Lily Pons – a big star in her day – sang the lead soprano role of Linda;
• In 1945, The Story of G.I. Joe scooped up a handful of Oscar nominations, including Best Original Song, for Ann Ronell’s “Linda;”
• Then came 1946′s “Linda,” written by Jack Lawrence and first performed by Buddy Clark.  The song hit #1 in 1947 – as did the name.  Plenty of recordings followed, including Jan and Dean’s, which added the le-le-le-le-linda refrain.

There’s a fascinating backstory here.  The song had been written years earlier, but never recorded.  As Lawrence tells it, he was asked by his friend, Lee Eastman, to record a song for his young daughter Linda.  Mrs. Eastman – Louise – had a popular song bearing her name; so did their firstborn, Laura.  Linda felt left out.  Could Lawrence – then in charge of oodles of musicians entertaining the troops – help out?

It is no wonder that the Eastman family ended up with a Linda – apparently, they wanted to continue the “L” theme.  But it is surprising that they’d never discovered Al Bowlly’s song.

But my favorite part of Lawrence’s story is this: apparently, he was urged to change the name of his single:

Most of them like everything about the song but the name Linda. “Why Linda?” they would ask. “That’s not a popular name”. One guy said: “Call it Ida — after my mother-in-law and I’ll publish it” … Another maven suggested the name Mandy. He felt that had a more musical ring than Linda.

Just like new parents today are often surprised to learn that Ava is a top ten name, neither Lawrence nor the publishers he approached realized that Linda was exactly the right song title.

There’s more, of course.  Linda Eastman grew up to marry Paul McCartney.

There are two possible origins for the name.  First, names like Rosalind contain the Germanic element linde – tender.  In Spanish, she means pretty – and that’s the meaning that the Buddy Clark recording references.

The list of famous Lindas is too long to include here, but most of them are grown-up.  In 2010, Linda ranked a relatively obscure #624, even as parents embrace names like Adalyn.

Odds are Linda will be back in baby naming vogue in another generation or two – and you’ll have your choice o charming, retro lull-a-byes.

Image via Wikipedia

Today’s name falls somewhere between trendy nouveau coinages and undiscovered gems.

Thanks to Racheli for suggesting Rayna as our Baby Name of the Day.

There are names that have a clear, single origin – the poetic Pamela, the Scandinavian Astrid.  Rayna just isn’t one of them.

She has multiple possible spellings, and a bunch of meanings, too:

• She’s the Bulgarian form of Regina, a name related to the Latin rex – king.  Regina means queen, but thanks to a second century saint and Regina’s connection to Mary, she takes on a certain Catholic vibe, too, making her as saintly as she is regal;
• While we’re still in Bulgaria, there’s a cluster of names all related to rad – care.  A man named Radomir or Radomil might answer to Radko as a diminutive; Radka is the feminine form.  In Bulgarian, Rayno and Rayna are also used;
• Rai is a Bulgarian word for paradise.  Perhaps that helps explains the popularity of Raina;
• In Yiddish, Reina is related to their word rein – pure.  Because of a shared meaning and similar ending, Reina is sometimes listed as a Yiddish form of Katherine;
• Reina literally means queen in Spanish.  This takes us back to where we started with Regina, and, in English, it is slightly more subtle than naming your daughter Princess.

Rayna has been on the fringes for a while, slowly gaining use.  She charted in 1976 at #913, again in 1996 at #994, and has ranked every year since 1999.  Her most popular year so far was 2008 when she made it all the way to #757.

She might just catch on.  Consider:

• From Olivia to Willow, names with a link to nature are quite popular.  While our word rain isn’t linked to any of the meanings above, Rayna’s sound gives her a meteorological vibe.  Storm charted for boys in the 1990s.  Misty peaked at #40 in 1970.  It’s not a total stretch to put Rayna in their company.
• Then there’s the name blob: Kayla, Leyla, Kylie, Miley, Rylee, Raylee.  Rayna sounds like part of that trend.  While some parents have grown weary of the these sound-alikes, Jayden, Hailey, and many other members of the tribe rose in 2010.

There is a literary Raina, the heroine of George Bernard Shaw’s 1885 play “Arms and the Man.”  While the play has faded into obscurity, there’s always the possibility of a revival.  But Shaw’s Reina pronounces her name rah EE nah.

A handful of other uses includes:

• A contestant on VH-1‘s Flavor of Love, and another on America’s Next Top Model;
• One of the the Flutterfield fairies in the direct-to-video film Barbie Mariposa;
• A minor character in the extended Dune universe.

The references feel a little lightweight, but there are some inspiring 20th century namesakes: a pioneering Bulgarian aviatrix, Rayna Kasabova, and soprano, Raina Kabaivanska.

And the list would be incomplete without Rayna Knyaginya, the Bulgarian Betsy Ross, a nineteenth century revolutionary who did jail time for sewing the fledgling nation’s flag.  She’s the fierce woman in the black and white portrait in this post, and I can’t imagine her answering to Cailei.

Glynis Johns; Image by joanna tidball via Flickr

Looking for a modern name that still reads Granny chic?  Hoping for something with an indie edge?  Today’s choice combines all three qualities.

Thanks to Shan for suggesting Glynis as our Baby Name of the Day.

Think hard for a minute, and the most famous Glynis might come to mind.  Born in South Africa of Welsh descent, actress Glynis Johns managed to be incredibly memorable and yet strangely unknown.

On Broadway, Johns nabbed a Tony as Desiree in A Little Night Music.  She sang “Send in the Clowns” in the production – a song that was written specifically for her.  That’s not because she was such a huge star.  On the contrary, they didn’t know Johns could sing when she was cast.

Johns also had a long history of appearances on the small screen, including a short-lived sitcom, the eponymous Glynis.  She played a mystery writer and amateur sleuth – a formula that would eventually prove remarkably successful for Angela Landsbury, but did little for Johns.

Still doesn’t ring a bell?  Remember the crusading suffragette mum in Mary Poppins, the one who didn’t quite keep track of young Jane and Michael Banks?  Yup, that was Glynis Johns, too.

In more recent years, she was Diane‘s mom on Cheers and sweet grandmother Elsie in the Sandra Bullock rom-com While You Were Sleeping.

Glynis sounds like she might be a medieval rarity, but instead she was a fairly recent innovation.  Welsh parents took glyn – valley – and came up with the name.  Or maybe the root was the Welsh word for pure.  Either way, she fits right in with other ends in -s feminine names.  Some, like Dilys, seemed fated to obscurity, while others, like Carys, are catching on.

Back at the heights of Johns’ career, her given name appeared in the US Top 1000 several times, peaking in 1964 at #673.  That’s not much of a high, and the year after was her last in the rankings.

All of this might make her an unlikely candidate for discovery circa 2011, but there’s one other factor.  Back in 1993, the Smashing Pumpkins took the world by storm with Siamese Dream.  They were asked to contribute to the AIDS research benefit album No Alternative, and their song?  A single titled “Glynis.”

They were in good company – the compilation included recordings from Soul Asylum, Sonic Youth, Bob Mould, and other leading indie recording artists.  Smashing Pumpkins’ single was written in tribute to bassist Glynis Johnson, a fellow Chicago-area musician who died of AIDS.

It’s not a well-known single, but it is lovely and haunting.  The first lyric is this:

Here’s a name you cannot forget

Maybe that’s the best way to describe Glynis.  She doesn’t quite fit into any of the obvious categories for fashionable names, but that might be what makes her a stand-out – Alice with an extra-sharp edge.