Remember this scene from Mean Girls? I think about it often when I’m working on posts.
If you haven’t seen the movie, Gretchen is trying to get “fetch” – meaning cool – to catch on as the new slang. She’s one of her high school’s very most popular girls, along with reigning queen Regina, air-headed Karen, and, at least for part of the movie, a newcomer played by Lindsay Lohan.
Gretchen’s gambit fails, but it could’ve worked. Fetching comes from the Old English feccan – to bring. The word’s meaning has evolved over time, but by the late nineteenth century, fetching was high praise – for example, a fetching bonnet.
The world is filled with attractive names, names that don’t get enough attention – names that never, like Gretchen’s slang – happen. This series is my attempt to highlight a handful of names that aren’t on everyone’s list but might wear well anyhow. They’re short lists, but I think there’s great potential in each of the names.
The first list of Fetching Names is inspired by mean girls – or maybe not so mean girls with great names. We’ve grown up with on the small screen and in movies, too.
Blair – She’s just one sound removed from the fashionable French Claire, plus she’s been worn by two enduring small screen poor little rich girls: The Facts of Life’s blonde shopaholic Blair Warner in the 1980s, and more recently, the scheming, but not irredeemable brunette Blair Waldorf of Gossip Girl fame. Some might dismiss Blair as borrowed from the boys, but she’s scarcely used by either gender since the start of this century.
Cady – Katie is everywhere – one-part Katharine Hepburn, one-part Kaitlyn short form. Cady takes her in a different direction, thanks to suffragette Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the Mean Girl made famous by Lohan in 2004′s hit flick. She’s novel but not quite nouveau, and despite her current sound, has never really caught on. Not only is Stanton a worthy role model, but despite Ms. Lohan’s woes, let’s not forget that her character did the right thing by the end of the movie.
Edie – Take Evie, mix with Eden and you’d arrive at this rarity. Andy Warhol made a 1965 indie movie called Poor Little Rich Girl starring Edie Sedgwick. Sedgwick was, in real life, a socialite heiress, an early version of Paris Hilton, born Edith Minton Sedgwick.
Veronica – 1989′s dark high school comedy Heathers starred Christian Slater as J.D. and Winona Ryder as Veronica Sawyer. Veronica was a good girl – a “girl scout cookie” – who grew up to hang with her high school’s most popular, powerful trio – three girls all named Heather. Despite her vibrant v, Veronica has been falling since the 1970s, but she still sounds surprising.
Other names in this category have made it big in recent years. There’s Sweet Valley High’s Lila, Disney Channel original series The Suite Life’s London, and Legally Blonde’s Elle, all of which are very much in vogue.
Would you use a fictional character’s name for your child? Does the character have to be clearly on the side of good, like Luke Skywalker, or are shades of gray okay?
