Sunday Summary: 4.14.24

Here’s something that’s different about naming a child in 2024: if we’ve named our kid after our hero, we want to you to know.

Lennon, not John. Avila, not Teresa.

Not every family, of course. And plenty of first names are plenty distinctive on their own. Tycho (Brahe), Solange (Knowles). But hero names are obvious and clear now, and not even a little bit subtle.

Elsewhere online …

Cool name. What could it be short for?

Hattie comes from Harriet. Unless it comes from … Hatteras? Laura Wattenberg talks us through some extraordinary names that are rising in conjunction with more familiar short names.

Speaking of cool names …

Elio, Zofie, Statham, Fern + more amazing finds at Eventide Pennant Company. One of my favorite Instagram accounts to follow!

Nature names you may never have considered …

Peridot is one of my long-time favorites, and Saffron is very Burrows, but I’m intrigued by Westland, Tree, and some others on this list.

I stumbled on this blog about life in France, and was delighted to discover her lists of names.

I started with this one: 264 Chic French Girl Names. There’s a similar list for boys, suggestions for pets, and this one about unisex names, which was rich with details I thoroughly enjoyed.

Thanks to Tiffany for suggesting a new-to-me name.

Emzara! Emma meets Zara? Not exactly. Tradition holds that Emzara was Noah’s wife, she of the animals two-by-two and grueling 370 days at sea. She’s not named in the Bible, but other writings – including the Dead Sea Scrolls – call her Emzara. (And other writings give her other names, too.) It’s a fascinating mix of current sounds. It’s never been used for even five girls in a single year in the US, but never say never …

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