Table of Contents
Name-inspired news and notes for your Sunday reading.
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Can we talk about Jonathan?
There’s been lots said about the new Snow White movie.
My take? It’s actually pretty decent.
The original story is thin. Iconic, yes. Genre-defining, obviously. But in terms of plot?
No way could a 2025 story hinge on a comatose princess rescued by a kiss from a random royal she’s barely met. There had to be more, and adding the more? Yeah, that was never gonna be easy.
So in lieu of Prince Florian (not named in the original movie, but typically accepted as the character’s name since), we get Jonathan. He’s a bandit with hints of Robin Hood and a heavy Flynn Ryder vibe. Broadway’s Andrew Burnap plays the part.
The name Jonathan is a steady classic, and I’ve always liked it. But I feel like I might’ve called the character something just a little more romantic. Raphael called Rafe? Even Sebastian, maybe? I think even Jack could’ve been a little more dashing-leading-man. Maybe.
Have you seen the movie? Any thoughts? I know I’m overthinking Jonathan, but I’m curious to know if anyone else had the same reaction.
Names in the News
I love this question, and I think plenty of parents mull it over: Should older siblings get a say in naming the new baby? The survey results match my gut instinct: yes to suggestions. And who knows what it might lead to?
Bestselling author Colleen Hoover is a serious namer, but I’m not sure she’s proved influential … yet. Her 2018 novel Verity caused a tiny uptick in the name’s use. With the 2026 movie coming out, might that change? Character names from books and movies rarely trend, but I suspect there’s an exception for movie titles. Remember the one-two Logan punch in 2017? (Logan Lucky and Logan pushed the name back into the US Top Ten.) So it’s worth watching …
Speaking of pop culture, are you watching Paradise? I’ll keep this spoiler-free, but James Marsden plays the president, Cal Bradford. His son is named Jeremy. Cal’s dad complains about Jeremy’s name; Cal makes it clear that Jeremy is a Pearl Jam reference. Which would be a tragic reference, to be sure.
A fun quote from Mrs. Plansky’s Revenge. Her granddaughter, Emma, has her name as a middle. “The fact that Loretta was the middle name made it better – like a ring with a secret compartment.” I would hope that lots of grandparents feel like having their name handed down for a grandchild’s middle is this kind of honor. (Also, Emma Loretta is a great name!)
Updating & Thinking About
Elaine, a mix of Helen and French medieval literary tradition, became a Boomer favorite. But thanks to white hot nickname Lainey, Elaine is back, ahead of schedule.
Cool nature name Cove is trending, a sort of Cole-meets-Levi sound with heavy Kai influence, too.
Isn’t Douglas dashing if used in full? I think this classic name might be ready for a rethink.
Noelle meets Lailani in Hawaiian import Noelani. Kind of love this one.
That’s all for today. As ever, thank you for reading and have a great week!
We saw Snow White this weekend and loved it. I don’t know what people are complaining about. The story needed to be tweaked to make it fit a modern movie, but it was still very much Snow White. It was visually beautiful, had solid musical numbers, a great cast, and was just plain fun. As for Jonathan, I’ve always really like the name, but never liked John near as much, which is why it never made our list.
Speaking of older siblings getting a say in naming a new baby, my parents had a list of maybe six names when naming my brother, and he was almost Gilbert. But I chose another name from the list, which I am not going to share it here, and that is now his name. We have a pretty big age gap, and since I was about 16 at the time, my opinion mattered more than if I had been a kid.