The live action Little Mermaid comes out next month, and I’m beyond excited.
I mean … Melissa McCarthy as Ursula? Daveed Diggs as Sebastian? Pass the popcorn.
Even better news? There’s a name fan surprise built into the film.
In the 1989 animated original, King Triton has seven daughters: Attina, Alana, Adella, Aquata, Arista, Andrina, and the youngest, Ariel. The older sisters appear only briefly, but in spin-offs and sequels, we learn more about them.
The sisters are back in the 2023 reboot and they have new names!
Mala, Indira, Caspia, Tamika, Karina, and Perla.
Excuse me while I update my list of mermaid baby names.
ELSEWHERE ONLINE
Do you know the NATO Phonetic Alphabet? I stumbled on it the other day, and found myself thinking that a bunch are clearly established given names: Charlie, Juliett, Mike, Oscar, Victor. Others have roots as given names or could easily be used as such: Delta, Echo, India, November, Romeo, Sierra. But I wouldn’t dare consider Foxtrot, Uniform, or Hotel, right? Now I find myself mentally rewriting the NATO Phonetic Alphabet to be all names: Andrew, Brian, Charlie, Delta, Evan, Florence, Georgia, Heidi …
Welcome to the world, Louetta Isley Thomas Willis! Rumer Willis, daughter of Hollywood megastar Bruce, is now a mom. She and boyfriend Derek Richard Thomas welcomed their daughter earlier this month. It’s an interesting name – vintage, feminine, sparky, and familiar but seldom heard. (Fewer than five girls were named Louetta in 2021.) Do you think it will catch on?
I’m NOT surprised that a TikTok advising parents to avoid names their children will outgrow went viral. But I am astonished to discover that the original poster named her daughter Karla Esmeralda. (Note: that’s a link to the Scary Mommy story, not the TikTok, though you can watch it through an embed in the link.) I think there’s a lot to be said for contrarian naming; I’d definitely put Karla in that category. But it’s not for everyone. I fully expected her daughter’s name to be something far more mainstream – Evelyn, maybe?
YouTuber Dude Dad welcomed fourth son Kelso. Here’s the video about his name. Taylor – aka “Dude Dad” and Heidi Calmus are also parents to Theo, Juno, and Otto. So I guess an o-ending name was a given. Up until now, Kelso has been all That ’70s Show to me, so I’m intriguing to realize that it’s an outdoorsy Colorado name, too. (And yes, I’ve added it to this list.)
There are a staggering 135 ways to spell Michaela. Thanks to Laura Wattenberg for counting ’em all up!
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That’s all for this week! As always, thank you for reading – and have a great week!
As the mom of a Vanessa, I was hoping the Little Mermaid would also rename the Vanessa character. Her scene is so quick in the original, though.
Kelso is also a city in the southern part of Washington state. It feels like the masculine version of Kelsey. Very nice!