Hagia Sophia interior view; Image via Wikipedia
She’s a lovely, literary classic riding high atop popularity charts throughout the English-speaking world. But she’s also the product of one big ol’ misunderstanding.
Thanks to Sophie for suggesting Sophia as our Baby Name of the Day.
Dupont Circle Fountain in Washington DC; Image via Wikipedia
He’s a French spin on a peaceful, saintly appellation.
Thanks to Arthur for suggesting Irénée as our Baby Name of the Day.
Circe Offering the Cup to Odysseus; Image via Wikipedia
She’s a beguiling sorceress who captivated Odysseus.
Thanks to Heather for suggesting the enchanting Circe as our Baby Name of the Day.
Nature's Number 6 by CarbonNYC via Flickr
First, a question for a friend: let’s say you were expecting a daughter. Not only is she going to be your last child, you’re the youngest sibling, so this baby is probably the last in her generation. You’d love to pass on your maiden name. Trouble is, your maiden name sounds exactly like a popular name, but with a totally different spelling.
For argument’s sake, let’s say the name is Reily. It looks like a creative respelling of a popular name, but it isn’t – it’s the most meaningful name you can imagine. You could respell it to Riley. But you’d rather not.
What would you do? Use Reily, knowing there’s no name more meaningful? Accept the less meaningful Riley in an attempt to save your daughter spelling hassles? Or are there so many girls called Rylee that you have to spell everything anyhow?
Opinions appreciated!
Elsewhere online:
I am absolutely bursting with excitement over my post at Nameberry for Monday. The names range from Amoret to Sedley, Lucien to Arthemise.
Hollywood gave us just two announcements this week, but oh, what names!
Which reminds me – do you know the most popular season name? This article at Babble reads “We all know at least one Summer, right? And Autumn isn’t unheard of. But Winter? That’s a first.” Actually, Autumn is in the US Top 100, while Summer has never ranked that high. And can Winter really be called a first when Nicole Richie’s Harlow Winter Kate is so visible? Nancy tells us that 259 girls received the name in 2009, meaning that Winter ranked just a few spots beyond the Top 1000.
As for Spring, there’s always Oscar-nominated actress Spring Byington.
Speaking of spring, remember that voting for March Madness preliminaries for both Boys and Girls is open until Friday morning.
Thanks all for this week. As always, thanks for reading!
Christmas came early to Appellation Mountain, with a guest post on Nameberry leading to a shout-out from Lisa Belkin’s venerable The Motherlode blog at the New York Times. Christmas also officially arrived in our town – a tree was lit in the City’s park, we had breakfast with Santa, and we spent a few hours at our parish bazaar.
But back to naming news, because those kids? They’re not gonna name themselves!
And on to the rich and the famous:
While I’ll still post celeb births here if the name is stunningly different or eagerly anticipated, I’m putting some of the more routine announcements up at the AppMtn Facebook page, along with interesting links and intriguing name sightings.
As always, thanks for reading and have a GREAT week!
For those of you in the US, Happy Independence Day! There will be no Baby Name of the Day on Monday, but national-holiday/great-excuse-for-a-cookout or no, I couldn’t let a Sunday go past without the news.
I’m going to flip the starbaby info to the top. If you recognize Diego Luna, he of Milk and Y tu mamá también, you might know that his firstborn with actress Camila Sodi is a son called Jerónimo. I don’t know how that reads in Luna’s native Mexico, but if he were better known in the US, I can’t help imagine the name appearing on lists of wacky celeb baby names, sandwiched between Dweezil and Apple.
Anyhow, their new daughter is Fiona, named after his late mother, costume designer Fiona Alexander. And nope, Fiona isn’t a traditional Mexican choice; mom was English. But I’m intrigued – will we see lots of little Latina Fionas? Shrek’s ogre princess helped propel Fiona to #312 in 2009. It wouldn’t take much to push her into the Top 100.
Moving on:
Here are two questions to mull over while you watch the fireworks:
Lastly, this has GOT to the be the Most Fun Mash-up. You’ve been following Elisabeth’s Ohdeedoh baby name lists, right? Because where else can you find kids called Beckett, Enzo and Ruthie Sue? Ohdeedoh noticed!
That’s all for now. Have a great week, and as always, thank you for being here!
Happy Mother’s Day! I spent the morning indulging in an M-Day brunch at Max Brenner and then listening for kids’ names at the Union Square playground near my sister’s new Manhattan apartment. I heard Ezra and Sophie at Ladybird Bakery in Park Slope – near sister #2′s place – the morning before, but mostly the Big Apple was a big letdown in terms of name spotting. I was too busy to really listen. (But, no, dear sisters, that’s not why I come visit you in the Big City.)
As usual, the real Mother’s Day gift comes from Uncle Sam. The Social Security Administration has released the Top 1000 baby names for babes born the year prior. It’s pretty much impossible to collect all of the interesting commentary on the topic, but here are a few highlights:
In non-statistical news:
Our only celeb birth of the week is author Sophie Kinsella, mom to four boys: Freddy, Hugo, Oscar and Rex William.
I’m off to unpack luggage and wrangle overtired into their pajamas. Hope you had a fabulous Mother’s Day and thank you for reading! See you next week.
I’ve heard she’s considered old-fashioned overseas, but she has an interesting indie edge in the US.
Thanks to Bek for suggesting Hannelore as Baby Name of the Day.
She’s a true rarity with a disputed meaning but a strangely appealing vibe.
Thanks to Emma for suggesting Winola as Name of the Day.
I doubt we’ll ever have a third child. There are dozens of practical reasons.
And one reason that’s trivial for him, dead serious for me: we could never agree on a name.
We do have a few candidates, scraps from the cutting room floor. I’ve mentioned them in comments from time to time, but I thought a round-up was in order.
Our girls’ list is first; I’ll post the boys’ list later.
