Appellation Mountain

Name of the Day: Hamish

November 10, 2008 By appellationmountain 14 Comments

Many classic names sound just a bit different in other tongues. But no name has shapeshifted as dramatically as James. We’ve discussed the Cornish Jago and the Italian Giacomo. Thanks to Katharine for suggesting yet another variant: the Scottish Hamish.

Name of the Day: Guy

November 6, 2008 By appellationmountain 6 Comments

Katharine tells us that today’s choice is quintessentially English. And indeed, he should’ve been yesterday’s Name of the Day. Because had we been on the other side of the Atlantic on November 5, we’d have been off to a bonfire in celebration of Guy Fawkes Day.

Brave New World: Make Way for Baby Barack?

November 5, 2008 By appellationmountain Leave a Comment

The Nameberry mavens posted <a title=”Barack at Nameberry” href=”http://nameberry.com/blog/2008/11/05/barack-name-of-the-future/” target=”_blank”>a fabulous article about the name of our new president elect</a>. Sure, we’re worried about the economy, the war, the environment and a host of other Big Serious Issues. But since we can’t do much about any of that, we’ll pose this question: Do you think […]

Name of the Day: Geoffrey

November 4, 2008 By appellationmountain 17 Comments

With a modern spelling, he became one of the most popular names for American boys born in the 1950s, 60s and 70s. But in his original form, he was once equally trendy – back in the Middle Ages. Thanks to Katharine for suggesting our Name of the Day: <strong>Geoffrey</strong>. <!–more–> In recent years, the best […]

Name of the Day: Zenaida

November 3, 2008 By appellationmountain 10 Comments

We’ve stumbled across this one before, but admit that we knew nothing about her until Christina was good enough to nominate her as our exotic, Eastern-leaning Name of the Day: Zenaida.

Name of the Day: Alasdair

November 2, 2008 By appellationmountain 14 Comments

Alexander is about as popular as it gets, but this cousin from across the pond still sounds distinctive. Thanks to Emmy Jo for suggesting our Name of the Day: <strong>Alasdair</strong>. <!–more–> First, a confession: we’ve probably backed the wrong variant of this name. While many of us would prefer all given names to have one […]

Name of the Day: Boris

October 31, 2008 By appellationmountain 8 Comments

Happy Halloween! Today’s pick is a Slavic classic that just screams spooky. Our Name of the Day is Boris.

Baby Name Claudia: Confident and Distinctive

October 30, 2008 By appellationmountain 8 Comments

The baby name Claudia feels confident and distinctive, a name that promises great things. In honor of The Baby-Sitters Club arrival on Netflix, Claudia is our Baby Name of the Day. ANCIENT WORLD This one comes straight from the ancient world. It’s the feminine form of Claudius, which means lame. However, we remember Emperor Claudius […]

Name of the Day: Regan

October 26, 2008 By appellationmountain 15 Comments

We’re just days away from Halloween, and so this week’s names are drawn from everybody’s favorite monster movies. Today’s moniker is inspired by one of the scariest horror films we’ve ever watched with our hands over our eyes. From 1973’s The Exorcist, our Name of the Day is Regan.

Starbaby News: Welcome Archie!

October 26, 2008 By appellationmountain Leave a Comment

Congrats to Amy Poehler and Will Arnett on the birth of Archie. Word is that he arrived yesterday and Mom, Dad and baby are all doing well. We’ve yet to learn if Archie is the full name or short for Archibald. (Or Archer, maybe?) But we’re quite excited about the first name – it’s a […]