I often have conversations about baby names with people who have no idea how I spend my free time. It isn’t something I try to do – just a place into which I stumble over and over again. Do you do this, too?
Out there in the baby name blog ‘verse, where it is safe to assume that everyone else is equally obsessed:
- Do you ever flip through Who’s Due Next at people.com? I’m thinking that Jennifer Garner’s baby name might be fairly tame, but hoping that Hilary Duff will come up with something wacky and call it “not too weird.” (Peaches Geldof, I’m looking at you and baby-on-the-way Astala.)
- The Name Lady gave a very sensible answer to two parents’ questions regarding unusual names they plan to give their due-soon daughters: Idabelle Fae and Ramona. TNL writes “It’s easy to overreact to negative responses, because they pack an emotional wallop …” and praises diversity in naming. But in the comments? They savage Idabelle Fae. Huh? What’s that noise? Oh, that’s the sound of a good point whooshing right past …
- I love a daring, even a daffy middle name. Check out this list at For Real: Henry Discretion, Wilkie Mountain, Phoebe Bluebell.
- Which reminds me: I predict that Bluebell will pop up more and more often as a middle name – as familiar as Isabel with a touch of Beyonce’s stylish and daring color name, but still plenty of room to say, “Oh, no, we weren’t influenced by Blue Ivy. We’d never use a crazy celeb baby name.”
- Speaking of speculation, Paula Kashtan might have nailed it: “Can Blue Ivy do for colors what Apple couldn’t for fruit?”
- What did Picabo Street name her kids? Her four boys are Eli, Trey, Dax, and Roen. She shares their reasoning over at Celebrity Baby Scoop.
- Cabot – as preppy as Carter, but completely unexpected without being difficult to wear. There’s a nice write-up at Bewitching Names.
- Which reminds me – I love Abbott for boys, as well as many of these from British Baby Names’ occupational surname list: Thatcher, Foster, Ranger.
- And Leif. I love Leif.
That’s all for this week. Oh, except that when my son learned that he’s getting a new classmate called Phoenix, he asked “Why is called that? Is he a magic bird?” It wasn’t a mocking question in any way – more a reminder that, at least at a certain age, a cool name really can be a badge of honor among kids. Given my son’s current preference for mythical beasts, I can see that he’d like to be called Gryphon – at least for a few more years.
As always, thanks for reading. Be sure to stop by Nameberry tomorrow for more name talk, and have a great week!
I love Leif too! And I’m with you on daffy/unexpected middle names – love them! My picks would be Rosebud or Tigerlily for a girl, Balthazar or Valentine for a boy. I know real-life boys with middle names Pirate and Huckleberry.
Spice girl Geri Halliwell has a daughter called Bluebell Madonna (born 2006). Definitely a celebrity influence there!
Ondine?
I once met brothers named Phoenix and Griffin. Sometimes I try to think of a sister to complete the sib set and get nowhere…
Medusa? No?
What about Persephone, Athena, Andromeda, Penelope? Am I on the wrong track?
Selkie, perhaps?
Kestrel or Homa.
My immediate thought was Freya … but Bluebell would be neat.
Speaking of Abbott, I just found a little boy on the 1861 census with the first names Augustus Abbott Godfrey. Very grand 🙂
Like I said, I have always liked Apple. It was listed in a baby name book I had as a child. Also, Apple is actually the middle name of Fiona Apple and not her surname. I am surprised no one has brought that up.
I think Idabelle is sweet, it used to be more common in the 19th-century. It is a cool alternative to Isabelle.
Bluebell was another favorite of mine as a child. Sometimes I feel that these celebrities have psychically stolen from 🙂 lol
Henry Discretion makes me smile. I really love unexpected middles and in a way wish I had the courage to use something more zingy in that spot for my kids (I love there names, but I think sometimes the story behind how you came to give the name Discretion would be kind of cool for your kids.. or highly embarrassing… it’s really hard to know).
One name we did consider (and it’s relevant for today) is Darwin. I still like it a lot. It’s science-y and I like the way it sounds… but we dropped it because we were concerned it would send some kind of unintended political/social message (which would be fairly accurate, anyway – I mean, for us, we’re not on the creationist bandwagon by any means), but we didn’t want to even by accident make a statement that our kid had to live with. Although, I guess most names make some sort of statement, but few are as clear, I suppose. It strikes me as a similar, yet alternative, issue as with the virtue names. (Skywalker was another out there middle we considered. To be accurate, that was really my husband’s contribution… I had countered that I preferred Yoda, but he was not down with that.) If I had another (which I’m not planning on), I would challenge myself to get (more) interesting with the middle.
As for Phoenix – I have worked for/with a company by that name for many years (there are so many companies by the name of Phoenix, it’s staggering really)… so I could never consider it. But, people use London, Geneva, Savannah, etc… why not Phoenix as a place name? I do know a little Griffin nn Griff… and I like it… especially more than Phoenix.
I think that’s smart thinking about Darwin. Though I bet some people do chose it just for the sound and if it was the middle name, it wouldn’t come up so often.
A couple of years ago, I spotted a preschool girl called Liberal, which seemed overly political as a name. Her nickname was Libby, but then if the Mom needed her attention, she’d use the full name.
I’ve sometimes wondered if Paltrow is ever a bit miffed that Apple (still) hasn’t taken off. Or maybe she’s relieved!
I remember naming one of my Sims Phoenix. A girl Phoenix. IMO, that one is definitely not for people – even if you were the biggest fan of River Phoenix. In that case, just use River. 😉
Your son’s question is cute! What did you tell him? My daughter is also getting a new classmate this week. Her name is Maggie. I told my daughter that Maggie can be a nickname for Margaret and she was all “Ewww! I don’t like that!” She seemed to like the name Maggie though.
Bluebell does make a pretty middle name – still flowery like Rose, but much less common.
I found myself eavesdropping on a conversation in a cafe the other week – two Moms with young babies were talking about names. The one Mom was saying how she’d picked Adelyn for a girl but that boy names were tough and she wanted something more unusual and “nothing like John”. Her son was named Tristan. He had a couple of middle names too – something like David Laurence. She was saying how she’d suggested Tristan to her husband early on, but he didn’t like it. Then near the end of her pregnancy, her aunt (or his aunt) mentioned Tristan and then the husband liked it. The Mom was saying how she made sure that people knew she came up with the name first, as she didn’t want the Aunt “getting the credit”.