Sunday Summary: 28/2016

The news has been heavy this week, hasn’t it?

I’m craving some onomastic distraction, of the light and lovely variety, so let’s jump right into the name news.

• Could four names be the new three? There’s a birth announcement for Frederick Hugo Tristan George in the latest round-up from British Baby Names. On the one hand, it seems excessive. On the other hand, I might have said the same thing about two middles not so long ago.
• I knew I was going to love Nancy’s Five-Name Fridays. But the outcome of the first post was better than I could have predicted!
• This problem from The Name Lady made me laugh out loud: what do you do when your favorite name is the name of your new neighbor’s dog? A few years ago, we moved into a new development, so all of the families were new at the same time. Two doors down was an adorable newborn baby named Seamus. And a block away? A dog with the same name. We referred to “dog Seamus” for a while to distinguish the two. Still, the dog and his family eventually moved on. I’m inclined to say it’s fine … but then, I was the neighbor, not the mom! How would you feel?
• I love to share Living with Kids home tour names, so no surprise I’m just as enchanted by this post from Cup of Jo, featuring three kids: Griffin, Louise, and baby James.
• Could there be more backstory to Finnick? I tend to assume that Suzanne Collins invented it, inspired by popular Finn names, Finn McCool, and District 4’s fishing industry. But here’s a theory connecting it to surname/place name Fenwick.
• Hmmm … are we really surprised that someone with a big social media following would ask followers for help finding baby names?
• It’s fun to see these vintage nicknames for royals: Thora and Babette and Minnie. All nicknames not obviously from the children’s first names – love!
• How much do I love the name Liv Tyler chose for her new daughter? Lula Rose is just darling.

That’s all for this week. As always, thank you for reading – and have a great week!