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Time for the names in the news 1.11.26.
It’s dark, it’s cold, and the world feels unbearably heavy right now. So I’m carrying these lines from Amanda Gorman’s poem “The Hill We Climb”:
For there is always light,
if only we’re brave enough to see it.
If only we’re brave enough to be it.
Back in 2020, I first pulled together a list of girls’ names with optimistic meanings: Paloma, Amal, Persephone. I’ve made a note that 2026 absolutely requires that I finish the boys’ equivalent of this list.
Also worth repeating: no matter what name we choose, I do think that naming is inherently optimistic – looking forward to an unknowable future and believing in our children. That’s powerful.
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ELSEWHERE ONLINE
Unusual circumstances deserve noteworthy names. If you discover you’re pregnant when you go into labor, I think it’s absolutely reasonable to choose a name accordingly. (And quickly, right?) Welcome to the world Champion!
Actress Britt Robertson and her husband Paul welcomed daughter Raffielle. I’m fascinated by this name. It reminds me of Elizabella, the name Alyssa Milano chose for her daughter way back in 2014. We can’t call it new, but it’s somehow a 21st century deliberate interpretation of a traditional choice, right?
Would you change your six-year-old’s name? My gut instinct is no to six but yes to 16. Except it always depends. This family legally changed their daughter’s name from Margaret to Maisie for her sixth birthday gift. From day one, she insisted her name was Maisie, and she was not content with a nickname. I do think Maisie Margaret-Olivia is the absolutely best compromise in such a situation.
UPDATING & THINKING ABOUT
Ransom is still on my mind. There’s this whole category of Christian word names with swagger, and I really don’t know how to feel about such a contradiction.
Eliana is one of those names that has quietly gone from rare to everywhere. So many potential spellings and sound-alike names mean it’s even more common than a sky-high Top 20 ranking suggests.
Juniper has also marched right up the popularity charts, again without an obvious pop culture boost. Just lots of style + plenty of appeal. Fun fact: this is one of the very first names I ever wrote about here, way back in 2008.
That’s all for this week. As always, thank you for reading – and have a great week!
