We just wrapped up Disney Week, and that’s because we’ve been enjoying The Happiest Place on Earth.
It’s a name spotters’ paradise, from the cast members’ name tags to the embroidered ears to the personalized shirts so many guests wear. (Yup, that crazy lady looking at your Disney family reunion shirt is really just trying to read all of your grandchildren’s names.)
My favorite find so far? Socorro, which I’m surprised I haven’t written about yet. I’ll fix that next month!
On the plane trip to Florida, I managed to re-read The Name Therapist, the tremendous new work on all things onomastic from Lainey Gossip’s Duana Taha. You can read my review here, but really – it’s nearly impossible to do the book justice.
In other name news:
- Okay, this one is still a little Disney. Romper strikes again, with 7 unisex baby names inspired by fairy tale heroines. It’s an intriguing list, though it’s actually a mix of traditionally feminine and masculine names, along with a few that work across genders.
- I love the name Maxim! It’s big in Moldova, where I guess there’s no magazine to talk parents out of using it.
- I’m reading Crazy Rich Asians, which I hesitated over for a hundred reasons. But the names? The names are fascinating, especially the switching between traditional Chinese names and assimilated English ones. More on this once I’ve read more, but for now, I’m most intrigued by Astrid and Araminta.
- This seems like a lovely way to remember a grandparent – especially if you’re not settled on a shortlist of names.
- And the flipside of that story: a grandmother determined to help name “her” baby. Yikes!
- Coraline Ivy – such a gorgeous find from Hello, My Name is Pabst.
- There’s something about this list of Wild Names for Boys that really draws me in. It’s not quite my style, but it’s a very cool category.
- Speaking of not quite my style, but still cool, I’m so curious about the name Ransom, and why parents choose it. Here’s a birth announcement list including Ransom Dax.
- Bird names are flying high, but how about Linnet?
- On naming shoes and bags people names.
- Speaking of birth announcements, there’s a Henrietta in the latest round-up from British Baby Names! Move over, Ava and Mia.
That’s all for this week! As always, thank you for reading – and have a great week.
Well, since you said you’re curious about Ransom, I’ll tell you why it’s on my list. I take a lot of inspiration from books I love and Professor Ransom is the main character of the Space Trilogy by C.S. Lewis. It turns out that the character has a significant name because he ends up being a savior figure for an alien race, paying the “ransom” for them. Lewis uses him to combine Christian theology, Arthurian legend, and speculative science fiction, which are all things I love and are pretty much just plain awesome together. That’s a lot of really powerful meaning laden into one unusual name. I don’t know if most other Ransom fans are also Lewis fans/ picking up on the Biblical connections, but that’s my reason.