Queen Marie Antoinette; Image via Wikipedia
She was worn famously by an ill-fated queen. Could this fussy français appellation wear well on a modern girl?
Thanks to Lauren for suggesting our Baby Name of the Day: Antoinette.
At first glance, she’s Southern-fried, nearly Hee Haw. But if Minnie and Pearl can be stylish choices for daughters, why not this one?
Thanks to Jennifer and Jeannine for suggesting Mozelle as Baby Name of the Day.
You might know her as a passenger aboard sci fi cult classic Firefly, but this goddess name’s roots run deep.
Thanks to Fran for suggesting Inara as Baby Name of the Day.
She’s a literary invention and a shortbread cookie. Her most popular year was 1941, when names like Barbara and Judith, Shirley and Geraldine were all the rage.
She reminds me of names like Norma and Edna, but somehow I find her lighter. Maybe it’s RD Blackmore’s 1869 romance, complete with mistaken identities, a lost heiress, the bad getting their comeuppance and true love conquering all.
Or maybe it is the cookie.
In any case, I thought our Week of Boys could benefit from at least some discussion of a girl’s name.
So I ask you, readers: Lorna, Yea or Nay?
If you happened to be channel surfing early Saturday morning (on the East Coast of the US, anyhow), you might’ve caught Miss World 2009, broadcast live from South Africa.
Or was that just me?
I’m not into beauty pageants, but I stopped and watched, eager to hear contestants’ names. Except they kept referring to them as Miss Colombia and Miss Poland. So off to Google I went, and here are the international appellations that graced the stage.
Visit nearly any baby name forum and it’s amazing how often you’ll hear variations on one comment:
Give your kid a normal name!
What’s more dazzling is that this criticism can be in response to nearly any choice – from a chart topper like Ava or Aiden, to standards like Henry or Beatrix.
I’d like to put forward a simple tenet of baby naming: there is no such thing as normal.
The definition of normal is regular; conforming to the common type. The best measure of this then, must be the Top 20 – or perhaps 50 – names, and thanks to the Social Security Administration, data on “normal” names is readily available.
Scan it for a few minutes, and I’m sure you’ll agree: just like hemlines have always varied, baby names have come in and out of vogue. With the exception of a very few names – mostly for boys – the Top 50 are far from a stable list. Continue reading
