Looking for even more name talk? Join us on the AM Baby Names Patreon. Join for free to keep up with Name Games. Upgrade and unlock even more great content, like this deep dive into substitutes for Lucy. Wendy, Dinah, or Neve, maybe?
Have you heard of The Killer Isn’t Alice?
It’s a book that’s nothing but a list of names, with instructions for how to narrow the list down to a single name until the actual murderer is identified.
I just ordered a copy and I’m working my way through. After spending so much time playing games like Wordle on my phone, it’s so old school to pick up a pencil and cross things off by hand.
Right now, you can try little mini games on their site – one for every day of August!
Table of Contents
ELSEWHERE ONLINE
Charlotte, Juliette … Gabbriette? Model Gabbriette uses just a single name professionally. She and the lead singer of The 1975, Matty Healy, recently got married. The headlines prompted me to Google Gabbriette. Turns out she was born Gabriella Leigh Bechtel. I’m not sure how I feel about the name Gabbriette. Both the double-B, double-T spelling, as well as Gabriette, are virtually never used as given names in the US. But I get the appeal …
Rosie ranks in the Scotland girls’ Top Ten, Archie in the boys. Not too far behind: Maisie, Hallie, Freddie. The casual-cozy vibe is strong.
Here’s a fun rabbit hole I tumbled down the other day: the surname Cates or Kates does not come from Katherine. Instead it’s from Káti, from the Old Norse kátr, meaning merry or cheerful. Kind of love that. And, as it happens, Katie was not used as a short form of Katherine during the Middle Ages. It was definitely in use by the time Shakespeare gave us Katherina called Kate in The Taming of the Shrew in the 1590s. One more thing I discovered: there are a handful of instances of Katherin as a masculine name formed from the feminine Katherine.
UPDATING & THINKING ABOUT
Elias is racing up the popularity charts, not just in the US but everywhere – in fact, American parents are the last to catch on.
Jolene is forever tied to the Dolly Parton song, but it’s also sparky and sort of retro-Western in a very appealing way.
Ferdinand counts as a classic throughout much of Europe, but is nearly always overlooked in the US.
That’s all for this week. As always, thank you for reading and have a great week!
