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Influencer Hannah Neeleman of Ballerina Farm recently welcomed her ninth child with husband Daniel.
Thanks to Abigail for sending me a link to their their vlog breaking down their challenges naming baby nine.
The couple were parents to sons Henry, Charles, George, and daughters Frances, Lois, Martha, Mabel, and Flora Jo.
After ruling out some great names – Imogen, Bonnie, Ida, and more – they chose Greta for their youngest.
Naming is that rare parenting task that gets harder with experience, for so many reasons. One thing that leapt out at me: while they didn’t plan to give their older kids a vote, they absolutely had opinions about their sibling’s name. And, as Hannah phrased it, they made “compelling cases.”
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Did you let your kids weigh in on a younger sibling’s name?
ELSEWHERE ONLINE
Laura’s analysis of Knox is brilliant. Two things stand out: first, a name dismissed as outlandish when first announced can quickly become a mainstream favorite. And any fresh name that catches on will inspire more choices. In the case of Knox, names like Knoxlee and Knoxton now appear in the data, and silent-K names like Knight have been boosted, too. Plus all of that was before that big Knicks win …
If you name your first baby Sunday, then welcome six more kids … obviously, their names will have to be the other six days of the week. Patterns can be tricky, but after baby Sunday arrived on Sunday, the other siblings obligingly all arrived on their own day of the week.
The UK’s top names are out! If you’re into the numbers, check out the data here. They provide some fascinating tables. The most popular names by mother’s age at birth always grabs my attention. Why? The #1 name for mothers under 25 was Delilah, with Olivia trailing at #20. Olivia comes in much higher, at #4 for mothers aged 25 to 29; #2 in the 30 to 34 age bracket; and #1 for the 35 and up set. Meanwhile, Delilah falls with every gain in maternal age, ranking a chilly #105 in the 35-plus category. One of the strongest drivers of name choice is the age of the parents – but since the US doesn’t publish that data, it’s tougher to tease out those trends.
UPDATING & THINKING ABOUT
Ulysses is more popular than Greek equivalent Odysseus, at least in the English-speaking world. Could that change with the Christopher Nolan movie out this summer? My guess is no, but I wonder it if could boost Ulysses in a round-about way?
Holly – not just for Christmas or winter-time babies. Potentially a good compromise between novel nature names like Briar and more vintage picks like Hazel.
Milo once read as offbeat and unexpected, outside the mainstream. Now it’s quickly becoming a go-to choice for boys in our age of Leo.
That’s all for this week. As always, thank you for reading – and have a great week!
