Sunday SummaryIt’s February – my least and most favorite month at once.  Least, because the weather can be brutal.  Most, because if I’ve made it to February, Spring is right around the corner.  Plus, I can see the days getting longer every evening.

Of course, it does mean that we may not get to see winter storms named Ukko and Xerxes.  Is that a bad thing?  I’m still trying to wrap my head around a winter storm named after a happy clownfish of Disney fame.

Onto the baby name news:

  • NameFreak! reports that Kiernan Shipka, the girl who plays Sally on Mad Men, is named Kiernan Brennan Shipka. She answers to Kiki.  I love the idea of Kiki as a nickname for Katherine, but I guess she works for nearly any K name.
  • At one Michigan hospital, Nolan made the boys’ Top 10 and Harper reached #5 for girls last year.  Shades of things to come?
  • Wow – Stanley made the Top Five in North Hertfordshire!
  • This Swistle post has me seeing Brooke as a modern classic for girls.
  • We loved Mem Fox‘s Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes – fun to see some backstory on her name.  Oh, and yes, it rhymes with gem.
  • What do you think of Bluebelle as a baby name?  Does it matter if it pays homage to Canberra’s 100th anniversary?
  • Corin is a great underused boys’ name!  Check out the rest of Anna’s suggestions – lots of finds.
  • I love Abbott for a boy.  But the best thing about Lisa’s list?  It’s from a 1964 magazine article suggesting Abbott – and Olney, Gale, and Wright as gender neutral names.
  • Love this list of -illa names, especially Drusilla.
  • A real story of life with an unusual name.
  • 30 Rock spoiler alert: Have you seen the last few episodes?  Liz and Criss have adopted 8 year old twins named Terry and Janet.  The names are a riff on Tracy and Jenna.  But isn’t it interesting that the names are wildly retro?  Trace and Genevieve would be more 2013-appropriate equivalents.  But suddenly I’m loving the idea of Janet …
  • Lastly, Kelli challenged us to name the fifth March sister.  This one was an eye-opener for me.  I was dimly aware that Louisa May Alcott was one of four sisters herself.  But somehow I’d missed the fact that the youngest Alcott sister was Abigail May, the inspiration for the youngest March sister, Amy.  My full name is Amy Abigail.  Funny to discover connections like that … and I keep asking myself if I had that factoid tucked away in the back of my head when I chose my name …

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

About Abby Sandel

Whether you're naming a baby, or just all about names, you've come to the right place! Appellation Mountain is a haven for lovers of obscure gems and enduring classics alike.

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4 Comments

  1. The old magazine list was fascinating – Duncan, Mitchell and Trevor for girls? I guess unisex trends that didn’t quite make it, even in the unisex-loving US.

    Btw, the article says that Quentin can only be for boys – our Governor-General is a woman named Quentin! 🙂

  2. The link to the post on naming the fifth March sister needs to be fixed – the colon is missing after the http.

  3. Loved the unusual name post. I can’t believe people would say she “doesn’t have a real name.” So rude! Even if you think that, you don’t SAY it. My sister-in-law’s daughter has a traditionally spelled Irish name… and they pronounce it how it is SPELLED, not how it is supposed to be pronounced. I cringe every time I hear it, but I am saying nothing. These lips are sealed.

    Recently I started lamenting that I did not take the opportunity to give one of my girls Little Women or Allcott-esque name associations. We probably won’t have another. Sigh.