Hard to believe it, but as of yesterday I had officially posted for 367 days.
In a row.
Which means that I’ve posted Names of the Day while on vacation, before major family events, even the morning I left for the hospital to deliver my darling daughter. If I’d thought about what it meant to post every single day, I don’t think I’d have ever planned to do so.
Having run a marathon, I’m not quite hanging up my running shoes. Instead, I’ll be posting Names of the Day Monday through Friday, along with (hopefully) a few more articles and my Sunday Summaries of baby-naming news from the week.
Read on for a few more thoughts … and a list of all the Names!
After my most recent trip around the sun, I have a few thoughts:
1. Most names have more to recommend them than I might initially think. There were names that I didn’t like at all when I agreed to add them to the calendar. By the end of writing the post, I’d be thinking of having another child just so I could call him Tavish.
2. Some of my biggest regrets have been offering lukewarm – or downright disparaging remarks – on certain Names of the Day. It’s a challenge to strike a balance between having a point-of-view and the reality that real people give all sorts of names to their kids. And some of them are wonderful, lovely people, even if they name their daughters Jaidynne.
3. The universe of names is nearly infinite. I’m amazed at how many names I’d either never heard, or could barely find any information on. (I’m looking at you, Emmy Jo, Lola and Christina – I believe each of you has stumped me more than once!) I could write for 100 years and never exhaust the possibilities.
And that’s certainly thanks to all of you. I suppose I’d probably have kept writing if just a handful of readers had shown up. But the fact that oh so many of you have written and commented and wrote in suggestions for more Names of the Day, well … that’s just made this so much more worth doing.
So thank you for being part of a successful year. I’ll doubtless have more analysis on these names in the future, but for now, here’s where we’ve been since May 2008:
| Juniper |
| Rhys |
| Felix |
| Hazel |
| Ariadne |
| Wyatt |
| Juno |
| Cruz |
| Tuesday |
| Matthias |
| Cady |
| Caspian |
| Tallulah |
| Orion |
| Clementine |
| Ambrose |
| Poppy |
| Henry |
| Esme |
| Ignatius |
| Yvaine |
| Jude |
| Lucia |
| Raphael |
| Haven |
| Quillan |
| Piper |
| Ezra |
| Odessa |
| Harper |
| Giacomo |
| Dante |
| Maeve |
| Omar |
| Clarinda |
| Hugo |
| Signe |
| Gideon |
| Iris |
| Julius |
| Madrigal |
| Simeon |
| Alethea |
| Marius |
| Ophelia |
| Everett |
| Valencia |
| Cyrus |
| Romilly |
| Sterling |
| Mercy |
| Emmett |
| Holland |
| Sebastian |
| Imogen |
| Cosmo |
| Lucretia |
| Otis |
| Felicity |
| Clarence |
| Liberty |
| Jasper |
| Honor |
| Marco |
| Jemima |
| Levi |
| Ottilie |
| Basil |
| Saskia |
| Callum |
| Luna |
| Etienne |
| Prudence |
| Ira |
| Paulina |
| Gilbert |
| Millicent |
| Harris |
| Assumpta |
| Crispin |
| Loveday |
| Ronan |
| Verity |
| Dixon |
| Gloria |
| Coriander |
| Lorelei |
| Cullen |
| Nina |
| Giles |
| Whitney |
| Arthur |
| Eulalie |
| Orrin |
| Balthasar |
| Octavia |
| Zuleika |
| Aoyun |
| Helena |
| Corbin |
| Annika |
| August |
| Mallory |
| Aloysius |
| Aurelia |
| Urban |
| Isla |
| Bruce |
| Liesel |
| Clara |
| Abel |
| Dexter |
| Elsa |
| Magnus |
| Xanthe |
| Garrett |
| Wilhelmina |
| Zephyr |
| Marisa |
| Finn |
| Frances |
| Simon |
| Susannah |
| Lewis |
| Sylvia |
| Linus |
| Magina |
| Desmond |
| Orla |
| Vaughn |
| Tamar |
| Hector |
| Yarden |
| Theron |
| Gwendolen |
| Remus |
| Sybil |
| Malcolm |
| Noa |
| Xavier |
| Alberta |
| Vladimir |
| Jago |
| Clio |
| Eamon |
| Ayelet |
| Wesley |
| Evadne |
| Romeo |
| Alwilda |
| Clayton |
| Pomeline |
| Cornelius |
| Maxine |
| Martin |
| India |
| Walter |
| Flora |
| Calvin |
| Josephine |
| Story |
| Oona |
| Raymond |
| Faye |
| Vincent |
| Ethan |
| Xiomara |
| Isannah |
| Leo |
| Regina |
| Payton |
| Celeste |
| Theodore |
| Cecily |
| Regan |
| Jason |
| Sidney |
| Bram |
| Claudia |
| Boris |
| Natasha |
| Alasdair |
| Zenaida |
| Geoffrey |
| Carys |
| Guy |
| Matilda |
| Luke |
| Ingrid |
| Hamish |
| Nicola |
| Seth |
| Evangeline |
| Rex |
| Georgia |
| Ewan |
| Meredith |
| Cassius |
| Abigail |
| Jubal |
| Eloise |
| Edward |
| Faith |
| Zedekiah |
| Priscilla |
| Titus |
| Hester |
| Alfred |
| Minerva |
| Oliver |
| Wren |
| Ivan |
| Deirdre |
| Trevor |
| Bridget |
| Lance |
| Nora |
| Frederick |
| Cloelia |
| Trent |
| Corisande |
| George |
| Araminta |
| Stuart |
| Zelda |
| Bruno |
| Alexander |
| Harvey |
| Mabel |
| Philip |
| Dorothea |
| Roland |
| Odette |
| Malachi |
| Ivy |
| Caradoc |
| Isadora |
| Nigel |
| Gemma |
| Gordon |
| January |
| Primo |
| Dinah |
| Blaise |
| Jade |
| Kyle |
| Lena |
| James |
| Alice |
| Kenneth |
| Paige |
| Rufus |
| Eithne |
| Jarvis |
| Genevieve |
| Niles |
| Freya |
| Hadrian |
| Eleanor |
| Craig |
| Elodie |
| Tavish |
| Delphina |
| Remy |
| Isabeau |
| Donald |
| Coralie |
| Caelin |
| Christabel |
| Philo |
| Lunette |
| Arlo |
| Rowena |
| Roarke |
| Marian |
| Cillian |
| Svetlana |
| Eben |
| Doris |
| Javan |
| Bronwen |
| Emil |
| Agnes |
| Ansel |
| Demetria |
| Agnes |
| Edith |
| Jair |
| Jane |
| Alvar |
| Winifred |
| Egan |
| Pearl |
| Johann |
| Rosanna |
| Brendan |
| Agatha |
| Adlai |
| Willia |
| Reason |
| Maud |
| Gavin |
| Seraphina |
| Jonah |
| Pandora |
| Adrian |
| Talia |
| Leif |
| Idonia |
| Declan |
| Dilys |
| Hosea |
| Afton |
| Peregrine |
| Ursula |
| Zenas |
| Riley |
| Bartholomew |
| Elvia |
| Barnaby |
| Hero |
| Eloy |
| Petra |
| Eric |
| Calista |
| Lorne |
| Lana |
| Wolfgang |
| Mariana |
| St. John |
| Avril |
| Damian |
| Daphne |
| Sylvester |
| Anastasia |
| Wynn |
| Rosamel |
| Jesse |
| Calliope |
| Sinclair |
| Medea |
| Elliot |
| Peter |
| Bishop |
| Athena |
| Thatcher |
| Astrid |
| Virgil |
| Lyra |
| Elmer |
| Leandra |
| Ptolemy |
| Calla |
| Warren |
| Gail |
| Glenn |
| Saffron |
| Cynthia |
| Meeka |
| Cecil |
| Eliza |
| Somerled |
| Miriam |
| Simone |
| Joan |
| Heath |
| Micaela |
| Dirk |
| Amelia |
Yes, congrats on a job very well done! I’ve only recently found your blog so I’m glad now to have the complete list of the names so I can make sure I haven’t missed anything. Thanks for all the fun!
Congratulations and thanks! I don’t want to repeat all of these wonderful comments, so I’ll just say that I really, really love this site for all of the above-mentioned reasons! It is one of the things I look forward to every day at work: taking a few minutes to read the NotD posts (and Sunday summaries). 🙂 Definitely a great way to feed my interest in names!
Congratulations! And Happy Mother’s Day!
I love your blog and have been reading it daily for quite some time… I absolutely love the rich stories and history behind each name.
I also really appreciated your help when I was struggling with finding a name for my daughter. Thank you!
Happy Mother’s Day to all! And thanks for the kind comments.
And yes, Elisabeth – you’re exactly right. January 2008 was the birth of AppMtn, but I didn’t start writing Names of the Day until May. I actually forgot all about my one-year anniversary. *Blushes.* Like I said, researching and writing those names every single day sometimes leaves me missing things!
But seriously, I’m honored to be read by so many smart, interesting people. And I’m delighted when you trust your favorite names to me. Or (Photoqulity, I’m looking at you) dig up the craziest, wildest names that you ABSOLUTELY cannot stand and ask me to find something positive to say.
Wow, I can’t believe I discovered you so early on… I love reading ‘the name of the day’ and look forward to reading some more of the Sunday summary style posts. Here’s to the next year!…
Happy Mother’s Day! To Everyone! 😀
Oh, congrats!!! 🙂
That is amazing work, blogging every day – I don’t know how on earth you do it, but I know it is much appreciated. I love coming here when I have a spare 15 minutes and browsing all of the interesting facts you seem to dig up 🙂
Congrats again!
And happy mothers day to you! 🙂
Congratulations! Blogging every day *period* let alone posts that require so much research is an impressive feat!
Wow, I had no idea Juniper was *the* very first NotD – how fun 🙂 I just named a daughter that 10 weeks ago. And (I don’t know what the usual protocol is for suggesting Names of the Day but…) since you’ve covered two of my four daughters names, what about featuring Philippa (Pippa) and Beatrix sometime? 😉
Thank you so much for all the time and energy you have taken in creating this great site. I consider it a naming destination. 🙂