Sunday Summary: 6/19/11

No 19 - blue paint

No 19 - blue paint by Kirsty Hall via Flickr

Happy Father’s Day!

Thanks to a gap between the end of the school year and the start of summer camp, we headed for Rehoboth Beach (Delaware, on the Atlantic) this past week.  We finally met our friends’ darling daughter Helen Claire, and there were a few interesting name spottings – Allaire, Harlow, Amalia, and a bitsy girl called Birdie.  But mostly I was amazed at how consistently I heard the exact same names, over and over: Emma, Ava, Abby, Noah, Taylor, Alex, Jake, anything that ends in -aden.  Nothing wrong with choosing a popular name, but I found myself thinking about how very refreshing it is to hear something even a little different - Beckett or Abel or Tate, Ivy or Luna or Ruth.

So in the spirit of surfacing options that are just a little bit different:

  • Any name from Waltzing More Than Matilda’s 1930s list would be quite stylish in 2011: Iris, Alma, Josephine;
  • Nymbler’s May 2011 most popular names list included the following five new debuts: Lake, Makai, Maple, Shia, and Reef.  Water names seem especially seasonal, but the inclusion of Maple makes me think that parents are really branching out into ever-more adventurous nature and noun choices;
  • The comments on this NameLady post are fascinating.  Parents expecting twin sons want to give them subtle, baseball-themed names.  Is Ty too obvious?  Are parents really naming twins Clark and Addison after the address of Wrigley Field?  My favorite suggestion: Homer and Fielding – literary and sportif, all at once;
  • Take the names of the reigning Swedish monarch, Carl Gustaf, and his family, translate them into Portugeuse, and you get this list from Nomes e mais nomes: Madalena, Doroteia, Ingride, Bertil;
  • My favorite nymph name has always been Io, but this list from British Baby Names includes more than you can imagine;
  • Could Dax be the next big thing?  For Real just spotted him in Alaska.  He’s part-Dexter, part-Max, but very modern, too;
  • The list of birth announcements at Nameberry was just so much fun.  I spotted Caspian three times!

In celebrity news, both Natalie Portman and Josh Duggar welcomed sons this past week, and both declined to reveal their newborns’ names.  In Natalie’s case, it may be because she and husband Benjamin Millepied are adhering to the Jewish custom of first sharing their child’s name at his bris, eight days after birth.  As for the Duggars?  They’re hoping to lure us in for the big name reveal during tonight’s episode of their reality show.

Speculation about both families’ choices has been nonstop:

  • For young master Millepied, will it be AnakinOr maybe Alef?  Elisabeth guesses that it will likely be an A-name, which tracks with Jewish custom – Natalie’s dad is Avner, and while names are rarely repeated, initials often are;
  • On the small screen, Josh and Anna have announced that all of the grandduggars will wear M-names.  Big sis is Mackynize, so options suggested range from Michael to Maddox.  Or Maddyx.

Other notable birth announcements from the week include:

Last week’s Nameberry post was how to name a boy, Pinkett-Smith style; this week, it is the girls’ turn.  One of my favorite categories of names has to be unconventional ways to honor your loved ones, so this was really a thrill to write.

That’s all for this week.  As always, thank you for reading – and commenting!  The conversations here and on Facebook never fail to surprise and delight.

Sunday Summary: 6/5/11

Clock number 5

Image by Leo Reynolds via Flickr

We live in a magical age.  Earlier this week I spotted an unusual name scrolling across Nameberry’s “currently being viewed” ticker, and mentioned it on my Facebook page, with a link to the entry.  Within minutes Elixyvett appeared in their Most Popular Names cloud, and stayed there for a few days, prompting a thread on their message board.  At the same time, Nameberry’s Pam sourced an entire post on Old People Names from a Twitter craze.

Saints and royalty and popular legends and music and novels and television and movies have all put new names on the map.  Surely social media will function in a similar fashion.  But will there be, say, a baby name Elixyvett because a mom-to-be spotted the name when it loomed large in the tag cloud?  Will someone’s Twitter handle inspire a future baby name?

Elsewhere online:

Spotted amongst the glitterati:

  • Pink’s daughter arrived, and she’s named the rather reasonable Willow Sage, a flower child for the tough chick.  My favorite headline has to be this one, from Holy Moly: Pink has baby girl, names her after shrubbery;
  • Actress Dorian Brown welcomed a son, Cayman Tyson Pham.  No word on the parents’ inspiration for the choice.  Brown is set to appear in the American remake of quirky Australian TV series Wilfred.  I’d give Cayman and Wilfred equal odds of catching on;
  • I’m enjoying learning more about Australian celebs thanks to Waltzing – this week alone brought us a baby girl called Allegra Eve and a boy named Lux Edward.  Lux joins a big sister called Autumn Claire.  I came across a boy named Lux years ago and had a hard time thinking of it as masculine, probably thanks to Lux Lisbon in Jeffrey Eugenides’ The Virgin Suicides.  But he really could fit right in with Luke, Max, and Gus, couldn’t he?

I’ve gone out on a limb and waded into deep water for this week’s Nameberry post.  I think it is one of my wackier, less wearable lists – but also a trend that seems to be catching on.  Last week’s post was Surfer Names, a list I ended up really loving.

That’s all for this week.  As always, thanks for reading and have a great week!

Baby Name of the Day: Orly

o41

O by Too Far North via Flickr

Today’s choice has two distinct origins with similar meanings.

Thanks to mom-to-be Michelle for suggesting Orly as our Baby Name of the Day.

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Sunday Summary: 2/13/11

Clio + Aly, February 2011

I took the kids to get their hair cut at our local Cartoon Cuts, which isn’t local at all – it requires a drive on the Beltway to Rockville Pike.  While the kids were being coiffed, I flipped through a rack of personalized hair barrettes.  The selection included the predictable Emma and Elizabeth, but also some out-there picks like Ayriel, Divany, and DarleneAriel has been in the Top 100 as recently as 1992, so okay.  But Ayriel?  Are there faithful salon customers with those names who buy a set every six weeks?

It was a good week for unusual name spotting.  Over on the Facebook page, I mentioned seeing a boy called Sovereignty in the local media, and Sarah spotted a bride-to-be on Say Yes to the Dress called Duvae.  Get this: the parents chose it so she “would be a comfort in their lives.”  Hokay.

Beyond Sovereignty and Duvae, there’s been another round of chatter about unusual names – are they over in Hollywood, are they anything new, and so on.  I’ll round up a few of the articles at Nameberry tomorrow.

In the meantime:

Amongst the fashionable and famous:

One more thing: from time to time, I have a question about the site’s direction, and it would be really helpful to get readers’ opinions before I make a decision and put anything live here.  So I’m forming a tiny little AppMtn Advisory Board.  (Dare I call you the Mounties?)  If you’re willing to get a VERY occasional email from me, please let me know by sending me a message at appmtn (at) gmail (dot) com.  I truly value your feedback, and it would be fun to get it before I try new things every once in a while.  It doesn’t matter if you’re a diehard lurker, occasional visitor, or regular commenter – just drop me a line, and you’re in the club!

That’s all for this week.  As always, thanks for reading, and have a great week!

Baby Name of the Day: Frank

Frank Sinatra at Girl's Town Ball in Florida, ...

Frank Sinatra; Image via Wikipedia

Zappa.  Sinatra.  Gehry. Baum.  Does this pick guarantee your son will be destined for creative genius?

Thanks to Jane, aka the Foxymoron, for suggesting Frank as our Baby Name of the Day.

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Baby Name of the Day: Grant

The Ulysses S. Grant Memorial is a presidentia...

Grant Memorial; Image via Wikipedia

He’s a strong, masculine, single-syllable name with an almost virtue-name vibe.  Why isn’t he more common?

Thanks to Nicole for suggesting Grant as Baby Name of the Day.

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Sunday Summary: 10/24/10

Is there a baby names arms race?

I happen to be writing from New York City, just a week after the Health Department released their 2009 stats proclaiming Isabella and Jayden top of the charts. Yawn.

But then the  Wall Street Journal’s Metropolis blog interviewed Baby Name Wizard’s Laura Wattenberg on the results. Two things stood out:  first, Wattenberg is a master of linguistic analysis.  She declares that today’s parents prefer names lacking “two consecutive voiced consonants.”  Buh-bye Robert and Alfred, Nancy and Betsy.

But this quote grabbed me: “Individuality has become a prized virtue and there’s a kind of competitive landscape — a baby name arms race — where parents are determined to make their child stand out.”

It is true that even the most common given names are given to fewer children with every passing year, whether that name is Mary or Isabella or Ava, John or Jacob or Jayden.  But I’m not sure that we’re intentionally competing for a stand-out name for our kids … more in a future post.

Elsewhere online:

In celeb news, I was so busy speculating about Egypt catching on, and what Beyonce might name her maybe-baby, and how crowd-sourcing works because second-born Bowen Brees has a much better name than elder son Baylen … well, I missed the arrival of Lance Armstrong’s daughter, Olivia Marie, a little sister for Luke, Isabelle, Grace, and Max.

And, of course, Matt Damon and wife Luciana welcomed daughter Stella.

Celine Dion has also welcomed her twins – two boys! – but names have not yet been released. Please leave a comment if you hear anything!

That’s all for this week.  As always, thanks for reading!

Baby Name of the Day: Steinbeck

He’s a literary legend, but how would his surname wear on a child today?
Thanks to Kate of My Kids Eat Off Floor for suggesting one she’s considering.  Our Baby Name of the Day is Steinbeck.

Baby Name of the Day: Otto

It’s a great choice for a German ruler, but what about a little American boy?

Thanks to Emma for suggesting the surprisingly wearable Otto as Baby Name of the Day.

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