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!