Number 9 by Jon Tin Tin Jordan via Flickr

I had lunch with a mom-to-be friend of mine last week.  Dad has already veto’d her #1 pick for a son – Nehemiah – and she’s not on board with any of his ideas.  She’s not due for a few more weeks, but her doc is already murmuring things like “measuring big” and the pressure is mounting.  I’m going to share this great advice from Swistle with her: it isn’t about finding the perfect name, it is finding the name that most satisfies both parents – almost like averaging the parent’s scores.  (You give Nehemiah a 10; he gives it a 4.  That makes Nehemiah a 7.  The question is whether you can agree on a name that ranks an 8 or higher.)

Elsewhere online:

• Let’s say he’s from India and she’s from Poland. What do they name their three Canadian-born kids?  For one family, the answer is Anjali Isabel, Lucas, and Philip;
• Ooh, look – For Real spotted a baby Elowen!  And also a little Ezmae, which clears up Esme’s pronunciation, but at a cost;
• Here’s a fun way to slice and dice the US Top 1000: Nameberry published the Top Ten Names for each letter of the alphabet over the last 130 years.  Check out the Girls’ List and the Boys’ List.  The lists for the lesser-used letters like U and X are especially intriguing;
• Nymbler released their most popular names for November, plus their Top Five New Names: Briseis, Enya, Lumen, Ayelet, and Ashe.  Ashe is for a boy, suggesting that parents are over Ashton, but not ready to reclaim Ashley.  Asher, too, is rising, so no wonder Ashe is attracting attention.  And look at Ayelet, riding the Scarlett, Juliet, Bridget tide!
• Speaking of trends, Nancy suspects that Ruby could be the new top name in Australia;
• Quick, what do Ada, Elle, Emme, Otto, Renner, and Bob have in common?  They’re all palindromes!  Find more with Baby Name Wizard’s comprehensive list;
• Elisabeth pointed out the new Target Baby promo, featuring birth announcements in Times Square.  She spotted some great ones flipping through the photo gallery. To her list, I’ll add Soren, Caeleb, Ned, Paxton, Despina, and Abbey.

Plenty of famous folk announced their good news this week, including the arrivals of:

• Kristoffer Polaha’s sonJude, a little brother for Kristoffer Jr. and Micah.  Mom is Julianne Morris;
• Jason Schwartzman and wife Brady Cunningham went for the offbeat, choosing Marlowe Rivers.  Note to Natalie Portman and other pregnant celebs – Carlo/Carlow/Carlowe is still available;
• What do a pair of news anchors name their son?  Carter Evans and Courtney Friel went with Cash Hudson.  To the best of my knowledge, neither covers Wall Street or Metro New York;
• Top Chef alum Nikki Cascone will be pureeing lots of veggies in about six months.  She’s a new mom to Jackson Robert.  Cascone said that the tot’s name came from Sons of Anarchy.  Great show, but I’m partial to the name worn by Jax Teller’s son – Abel;
• And, of course, there’s a new member of the royal family.  No official announcement has been made, but prayers were offered for Peter and Autumn Philips and their new daughter Savannah.

Speaking of congratulations, let’s end on a high note: you can now buy the first eBook from Nancy Man, Strong Boy Names.  Based on the preview, it isn’t so much a list of Gunnar/Cannon/Slade as much as it analyzes more conventional masculine choices that are rarely borrowed by Team Pink.  Actually, this might be the baby shower gift I give to my friend who won’t be naming her son Nehemiah …

That’s all for today.  As always, thank you for reading, and have a fabulous week!