Appellation Mountain

Where every name has a story

A Give-Away: Your Chance to Choose a Week’s Worth of Names

By 112 Comments

Candles spell out the traditional English birt...It’s my birthday week, and I celebrate this every year by choosing the names to feature.  Most of the year, I take suggestions from the floor – so I always have plenty of ideas saved up by the time July rolls around!

Here are the names I’ve written about in years past:

  • Last year, I turned this week into Hated Names Week, and profiled Nevaeh, Jayden, Brooklyn, and Mackenzie.
  • In 2011, I chose Coco, a name I wished we’d used, as well as my dad’s nickname – Clark, and three names that I was curious about: Azalea, Greta, and Katniss.
  • The first year I chose the names, I wrote about my (heartily disliked and deliberately unusued) first name Amy, along with two I’d love to use – Huxley and Romy – and two that I was thinking about: Madelon and Sally.

And this year was Swan, Hadley, Domino, Kenelm, and Tigerlily.

The Prize

I’m also celebrating by giving something away this week: your chance to choose an entire week’s worth of names to be profiled here at AppMtn.

That’s right.  One lucky reader will get to choose the names featured at AppMtn for the week of September 9th!

What does that mean?

You’ll get to suggest a whole bunch of names to me via email.  I’ll write original posts about the names that we mutually agree on.  If your list is long, I can write as many as five.  If you only have a few to request, we can stick with just three.

If you’re the randomly selected winner, I will shoot you an email on Friday, August 2nd or Saturday, August 3rd.  You’ll have until Wednesday, August 14th to dream up names you’d like to see featured at AppMtn.

How to Enter

Comment below with a name that you’d love to see profiled here at AppMtn.  Don’t forget to check Facebook for a second chance to enter.

I’ll gather up all of the entries, and then use the random number generator at random.org to select a winner.

The Fine Print

At least three of the names must be names not previously profiled at AppMtn.  There’s no foolproof way to see every name I’ve written about just yet – though Google searching appellationmountain and whatevername generally gets good results.  I’m happy to check your list, too.

I reserve the right to decline a name if it is too close to something I’ve already written about.  (For example, I’ve written about Clio – so there’s not a ton new to say about Cleo.)  I’ll also reject a name if I just plum can’t find a thing about it, though this happens very rarely.

If I don’t hear back from you by August 14th, I may choose a new winner.  (I’m not sure if this is obvious, but I usually write between 5 and 25 posts ahead.)

Ready, Set, Enter!

So what are you waiting for?  Good luck!

Comments

  1. Kaeli says

    What a great idea! Oh, I would LOVE to win! My initial suggestion to enter is Junia or Julia.

    It’s my husband’s birthday week too! Happy Birthday, Abby!

    Reply

  5. Jennifer says

    Happy birthday Abby! Its my bday week as well, coincidentally! Id love to see Kalila and Rowen featured, if they havent already!

    Reply

  7. Vicki says

    I will suggest one boy and one girl name I don’t think you’ve profiled yet 🙂 (And my birthday is two days before the week of the chosen names so a win would be a bonus birthday gift!)

    The boys’ name is my brother’s: a rarely heard classic, NEIL.

    And the girls’ is a potential middle for my next baby: the flower-and-virtue-in-one, HONESTY.

    Reply

  19. Sarah A says

    Happy Birthday Week!

    I would love to see Montgomery profiled! I have many more in my back pocket if that’s already been suggested…

    Reply

  21. KatieB says

    I’d like to enter with the name Sidda/Sidda(lee), Sandra Bullock’s character from Divine Secrets of the YaYa Sisterhood. I love the name Sidda for a girl, but unfortunately my SO doesn’t agree.

    Reply

  22. Danielle says

    I would love to know more about Desdemona, Persephone, Daisha, Digby, Apollonia, Artemisia, Deianira, and Bellona. Happy birth week!

    Reply

  23. liz says

    Ok I have 3 sets:

    Balinese names Mayan, Made, Nyoman & Ketut. Their story is just great!

    Then maybe Tasman, Marimba, and Iluka

    And how about Aviv, Stav, Adva & Omri

    Reply

  29. jasmin says

    Abelia & Cadogan

    Though I’m a first time poster I’ve been around for a while, checking out the names and loving it 🙂 Happy birthday and may there be many more to come 🙂

    Reply

  35. Dellitt says

    Wow, so many great suggestion! Not sure if you’ve profiled these:

    Armeline
    Mintory
    Eltnora
    Zaida
    Iseult
    Corliss
    Sarai
    or
    Gawain
    or my name 🙂 It’s usually a surname and has various spellings.
    Dellitt

    Reply

  42. Kendra says

    I’d love to see Asenath profiled. It was my grandmother’s middle name and great-grandmother’s first name.

    Reply

  53. Roksalanna says

    Happy Blog Birthday Abby and AppMtn.
    I would love to read a profile on the Russian sounding name Katinka.

    Reply

  60. Jamie says

    I would love to see something on my son’s name, Henning. We plucked it from my husband’s family tree….there must be more to it than sharing a root with Heinrich.

    Reply

    • Julie says

      We considered it, because of Henning Mankell. I’m so glad to hear someone has a little Henning! Love it.

      Reply

  65. Kathleen says

    Wow! I love this idea, and happy birthday week! Though I have many suggestions, my choice is Rosalind. Best of luck to all! 🙂

    Reply

  66. Kristi says

    Happy Birthday Week! I’d like to suggest a couple of names: Rosaline and Rosmerta.

    I thought they’d be fitting consider the recent update on your Rose post and they’re 2 of my favorites.

    Reply

  76. Mia says

    Caedmon. (I have had it on my list for a long while now, and then I saw it mentioned as the name of a person’s son in a blog on other aspects of parenting and got all happy about it.)

    And I totally second “Rasmus” as suggested by Havoye above.

    Reply

  91. Caitlin says

    This is cool – The first name I’d suggest is Luella which you have written about a lot but never profiled.

    Reply

  95. Elle says

    My suggestion would be Ravenna. I am really loving this name and would love to learn more about this gem!

    A few others I would suggest…
    Achilles
    Reed
    Harmon
    Caddam
    Canaan
    Lydian
    Thessaly
    Julitta
    Amaryllis
    Gwyneth
    Aine
    Audrea
    Cressida

    Reply

  96. Raquel Somatra says

    Yay, this is so exciting!

    I’d choose my most recent name obsession, Greta.

    (I’m Gilliland Caravan on facebook, by the way… running off to try to win there now…)

    Reply

  100. Nadia says

    My current favorite name is Kestrel. But I would love to see what you can find on my daughters name; Teagan. So, I can’t decide on just one. . 🙂

    Reply

  104. Strawberry36 says

    Here are some names from current top 200 in Holland, a couple of them are Dutch in origin but I selected only those that can be pronounced easily in English:
    Fenna (Dutch)
    Tara
    Thirza

    Dean
    Fabian
    Floris (Dutch)
    Ruben
    Yannick
    Wessel (Dutch)

    Reply

    • GraceNicole says

      I forgot to mention the name, ahh Adalie or Gerogina (though you’ve done Gerogia, is that too close) or Elspeth.

      Reply

    • GraceNicole says

      I forgot to mention the name, um Adalie or Georgina (though you have done Gerogia, is that too close?)

      Reply

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