Hello from New York! I’m spending the end of August here in the big city. I’m working on something special that I hope I’ll be able to share in a few days.
In the meantime, though, let’s talk names!
- I walked through Saks Fifth Avenue earlier today. Irrelevant observation: my goodness, Jil Sander dresses? Cost more than I thought. Relevant, name-worthy observation: designer Alaïa makes me love the name.
- This is a fun puzzle for name enthusiasts: how do you honor four matriarchs with one child’s name?
- Love seeing the baby name data from Sonoma County, but I especially appreciate the list of one-off names: Amarilla, Edelweiss, Zinley.
- This is fun: How many Mets Fans Name Their Babies Shea?
- Love this essay on names from children’s fiction.
- Class lists are coming out! Spotted any great, gorgeous, or outlandish names on your children’s classmates this year?
That’s all for today. As always, thank you for reading – and have a great week!
We have a girl named Vesper coming into our preschool class.
Leaving and moving onto kindergarten are two other girls with interesting -er names – Zephyr and Juniper. All of the girls are blonde and blue-eyed and rather tall for their ages!
Honoring four people with one name? How fun! According to Behindthename.com Nola is a diminutive of Magnolia as is Maggie. May can also be a diminutive for Margaret/Maggie. So Magnolia really is the perfect name. It easily honors three of the women. That just leaves Thia for the middle name: Magnolia Thia. Thia is a variant of Thea/Theia meaning goddess so Theodora, Dorothy, Dorothea could also work. Margaret means pearl. Pearl and Opal are both gemstones so maybe Thia’s birthstone could be used as a middle. Theia in Greek mythology was the mother of Helios, Selene, and eos/ dawn. So Magnolia Dawn or Selene, Luna, Aurora, or Soleil. But this Thia will be the namesake’s grandmother. Theia had a granddaughter whose name meant “bright”. So Magnolia Claire, Bertha, Roxane, Zera, Phoebe could be a good option. My favorite is Magnolia Dawn nickname May, Maggie, or Nola; or Magnolia Thia’s birthstone.
Are you publishing a book?! *Squee!!*
Oh, I HOPE that’s why you are in NYC!
If not, well, I hope you are having a nice time anyway. 🙂
Speaking of designers and class lists, I heard a dad from school call, “Vera!” to his daughter. It struck me as odd until I thought of Vera Wang…then it seemed SO chic.
My daughter’s class (born 2011) is a world of K’s. They have Kai, Kody (2), Kane, Kade and Kyra, also 2 Charlies (girls), an Eva and Niamh (Evie and Nevie). Also the obligatory Sophia and Maddison. My favourite is a boy Lindsay not a name I have seen before IRL but I like it!
I’m glad you mentioned class lists! My second son just entered the 3rd grade and has a Hermione in his class! I think I’m more excited about that then him actually going to school. Makes me feel better about naming him Jedi. Also, my son August started kindergarten with another August (girl) and a Gus. I’m not disappointed because I love his name and it suits him, but it makes me wonder why there are 0 Noahs, Emmas, or Liams in a class with a Zade, Mireille, and an Opal. And 2 Harpers!
You must live in a hotspot for unusual names, like me. I also don’t know Noahs, Emmas, or Liams, but we have (in addition to the girls I wrote about on another comment on here) –
Huckleberry
Zinn
Zoley
Varenne
Tesio
Tycho
and some less unusual but still exciting choices for the US like Ingrid,
Millicent, Lucio, Felix, Lucian, Rye, Solveig, and three Hazels. (I guess we’re the perfect demographic for Hazels. Also Henrys. There are six.)