Number 11 by jeremysalmon via Flickr
Last night, I dreamed of twin daughters. One was named Solstice. The other had another S name, one that escapes my waking mind. A sign? Maybe that I want to go see the new James Bond movie … But would Solstice work as a given name in another family? And what was the other S name?
Elsewhere in the world of baby naming:
- I watched the US premiere of Made in Chelsea just for the names. Do you know the premise? It follows a group of London socialites based in the exclusive neighborhood of Chelsea. Men’s names include Francis, Hugo, Spencer, Ollie, and Fredrik. The women’s names were fascinating. There were the deliciously English ones – Camilla called Milly and Rosie – but also more unusual, even outlandish, ones. There’s an Alexandra who answers to Binky, and a Francesca called Cheska. The it girl of the series was born plain old Catherine Dunlop, but she’s called Caggie. Can you imagine Caggie catching on? Other than Catherine, what could Caggie be short for?
- Did you see Nancy’s analysis of the most popular first letters for given names?
- Speaking of letters – this New York Times article is right about the idea that similar-sounding names catch on. I’m not so sure about their predictions that Stephanie, Steve, and Susan, as well Randy, Mandy, and Brandi will catch on. If I were picking S- names likely to rise, I’d go with:
- Could Aliza be the next Alivia?
- And yet another question: does every name ultimately age well? Laura Wattenberg’s post on Tammy Power makes the argument that even the most cutesy of-the-moment names do grow up. And win seats in Congress. After all, someday Madison will sound like a grandma name.
- Thanks to Sally Peck at The Telegraph for the shout-out! She raises an important issue. The idea of a family sharing the same surname is relatively new – and today, it is far from standard. If immigration officials have relied on matching surnames on passports to verify legal guardianship, well … maybe we ought to be updating the passport instead of warning parents to travel with additional documentation.
- Because really, the issues are thorny and the right answer elusive – like this reader question at Swistle.
- What a great sibset – I love Moss for a boy.
- Oh, Sebastiane’s birth annnouncements from Gazeta Wyborcza! Love ’em. It makes me think that we need to accelerate our plans to travel to Poland. Not this summer – but maybe in 2014?
That’s all for this week. As always, thank you for reading, and have a great week!
I checked out the Polish names post. Wow, what a list! Found some real beautiful names.
Katarzyna, Róża, Lidka, Zosia, Jarema, Olgierd. It was quite a list of double names. My favorites were Adrian Henryk and Nina Eleonora.
Solstice is interesting. What would her twin’s name be? Sandrine? Sunshine? Sapphire or Saphira? Sophronia? September?
Last night, I dreamt I had a daughter named Keira. Keira isn’t on any of my lists so I have no idea where it came from.
Moss is cool. I really like that one.
Solstice & Meridian seems very natural to me.
That is delightful, in a quirky way.
I know a Katherine nn Taffy…I think it originated from a small child trying to pronounce Kathy. Maybe Caggie was discovered in a similar fashion.
Taffy is a fun nickname for Katherine.
I agree about Taffy for Katherine being cute. Also thought of Caggie for Cagney and Caligula. Not that I’m recommending those names. Maybe Agnes.
The little kids in our family always call my mom “Aunt Taffy” until they can pronounce Kathy properly. 🙂
I’ve always found the argument that particular names won’t age well rather odd. After all, Shirley was once in the same place as Madison.
Shirley was the one that came to mind for me as well, when I read that. However, if you think about it, you do have a different image for a Shirley and a Mildred or Marie of the same age, don’t you? Not that it’s bad to have a different image like that. But something to consider, Madison versus Madeleine, for instance. Even when Madison grows up, will she always feel that much less sophisticated than Madeleine? Because though Tammy has grown up enough to be thought of as a grandma name, it’s not the same as Tamara with the nickname Tammy.
That’s an excellent point, Dellitt. I think it is a strong argument in favor of names with nicknames. I do definitely see Marie as different – I know women named Marie of all different ages. I think I see Mildred and slightly older than Shirley … but hmmm, so I see them differently? I’ll have to think about that …
Solstice and Solaris perhaps?
I love dream names. Solstice seems like a fun name/middle name option, especially if it’s shortened to Sol or Solly. But definitely for the rare parent.
The Sally Peck article and Swistle post were very interesting, especially since I tend to worry about similar problems with my own situation. I often daydream about simply adopting a new, modern surname to describe my family; Nerds might be my favorite for a laugh.
The other S was clearly Scorpio (Scorpia?) or Saggitarius. 🙂
I was in London for a couple of weeks in the summer of 2011 and got to see Made In Chelsea while I was there. I freaked over the names, especially when I found out Caggie was a nickname for Catherine. Love it! And I’m a little partial to Szymon on the list of Polish names. 😉 (I lived in Poland for three years… I hope you are able to make your trip there like you plan!)