Let’s start out with a public service announcement to all name bloggers, big and small: I’m delighted to share your work.
Or, even better, I’m happy to have you post links to your posts on my Facebook page.
Names offer a lens from which to see everything – history, pop culture, language. There’s never a moment when every topic, every angle is covered, and happily, the internet is infinite.
There are moments when I’m slightly frazzled. Or, hey, completely overwhelmed – like, say, now, when the Glorious Summer has given way to driving children all over the DC ‘burbs to this activity and most of my work gets done in hockey rinks and coffee shop with (hopefully) decent Wifi. But please do share – more than once, if necessary!
Speaking of sharing, let’s look at some of this week’s most interesting news from the name ‘verse:
- How many days ’til the Rio Olympics? Looking forward to some excellent #namespotting in August. Cara kicks things off with her list of Olympic names to watch.
- I’m so very excited for the new Harry Potter book! (Obviously, not just me, right?) I took a look at some of the most intriguing names from the series so far in this post at Nameberry.
- Another great namer? Neil Gaiman. I mean, Coraline and Yvaine from one writer?
- It makes sense that tons of people are looking up Pokemon names. But giving them to their children? No. Not happening. They’re just too far removed from names, aren’t they? Laura Wattenberg makes a convincing case that I might be wrongish.
- Speaking of names to watch, Nancy has some great suggestions, including Lyanna. Could it be the next Khalessi? Lately, I’m intrigued by Halsey, as in the singer – post coming up in August.
- I wish we had good middle names data! My hunch is that double middles have become much more common. Or maybe I’m just reading lots of posts like this one at Names for Real?
- Agatha Marais must be my favorite first-middle name combination in months. Gorgeous!
- Conrad, Ulrich, Casimir, Ignatius, Hugh – another great onomastic calendar at the DMNES. Oh, and Godfrey!
- These cross-cultural naming challenges are incredibly tough, aren’t they? Duana handles them marvelously, but they’re never simple.
That’s all for this week! As always, thank you for reading – and have a great week!
I have long been convinced that Pokemon is one of the factors in the rise of Asher (ie Ash). It just made the name seem cool (Ash) rather than the getting dated Ashley and the biblical twist seems like a great coincidence to the gen y’s.