I overheard a mom calling a kid Semaj yesterday – my first proof that yes, people really are naming their kids James-spelled-backwards. On some level, I get it. I know how hard it is to incorporate family names and honor loved ones, especially if the name is a common one.
On another level, I simply do not think that children should be called Semaj.
Elsewhere in the world of names:
- Yes, I’m still reading Bringing up Bébé, and pausing to note French names. Eliette caught my eye. She’s a French feminine form of Eli, which makes her a possible sister for Vivienne and Cecile. Except in the US, she’d likely be misunderstood as a respelling of Elliot. Still, Eliette feels like an inevitable discovery for American parents.
- File Aveline in the same category. Thetxbelle has an exhaustive bit of research on Aveline posted in the Nameberry forums. Of course, if she catches on in the US, that’s probably more about a smoosh of Ava and Adeline than anything else. Proof? Avalyn, Avalynn, and Avalynne combined were given to nearly 250 girls in 2010, with over 50 more answering to Avelyn or Avelynn. Could Av- be the new Kay-?
- I share Rowan’s love of the mini-name Dot. If you weren’t keen on Dorothy, is there another long form to put on a birth certificate?
- Speaking of mini names, I’ve long admiredIo.
- Funny how we perceive things. I find Felix, Lucy, Basil, Titus, and Jane pretty compatible, but this blended family does not.
- Thanks to Zeffy for sharing her family trees. With masculine names like Anastor and Nicolau and feminine choices like Sidalia and Ivonete, I suspect Zeffy comes from a long line of talented namers!
- Blanchefleur is enchanting – but maybe best left to the middle.
- Speaking of the middle, Samantha Swan is my favorite from Name Soiree’s Friday Favorites.
- Isadora makes the case for borrowing names from nursery rhymes. Bo and Blue, anyone?
- Cleo, Colette, and Delia Blue in one Names4Real post? Be still my heart.
- Lou rounded up ends-in-o names from recent Marginamia posts. I’m still fascinated by Hallow.
- NameFancier is all about Louella these days.
Lastly, I really want to link to this post and say it is brilliant, but I feel like there’s some logic missing. I haven’t had time to puzzle through the subtleties, but the longer I spend thinking about given names, the more I’m convinced they’re terribly easy to oversimplify. The Social Security data looks straightforward, but any data set creates its own challenges. More on that in a future post …
For now, thanks for reading and have a wonderful week!
Eliette (and, to a lesser extent, Aliette) does seem to be an up-and-comer in France, and I do think the similar sonority to Elliott has a lot to do with that. Elliott is rapidly trending upward among francophones, part of the larger trend to choose decidedly non-French names.
I like the name Io in theory but it’s completely impractical. I think it could work as a nickname for Iolanthe, Ione or Iole.
I fell in love with the BBC series of Little Dorrit and I adore the idea of a Dorrit called Dot or Dottie.
I dislike Dakota as a name, but if I “had” to name a daughter Dakota… I’d call her Dot.
I prefer Dakota on boys for sure.
Semaj? Nevaeh? That trend must go!
Donatella -> Dot. Yes? No? I looked at the SSA for names with DO in them (anywhere, not just the start). Most of them were boy names. There were 5 girl names in the top 1000 with those letters: London, Gwendolyn, Meadow, Dominique, and Donna. I don’t think any of them are good contenders for Dot, though. And I’d never use Donatella. However, I think Dorothy is very cute and if you need a name for a spunky nickname like Dot, it would be my first choice.
Re: The study in the last paragraph: I took a look at it, and noticed some trends I’ve seen before when I took a look at the SSA stats myself. One is that the Northeastern states tend to be the most “conformist” with naming, and that the gender gap in girls traditionally being given more unusual names than boys has narrowed (in fact in some places, like many of the “frontier” states, it’s the boys who now win on name creativity).
Dot is an adorable nickname for Odette
Hallow sounded interesting for a second, but then I thought it would be heard as “Hello”…. and that would be weird.
I like the idea of using Peridot to get to Dot. (although Peridot is pronounced with a long o at the end and the t is silent)
You could use Turandot to get to Dot, but that’s for the really bold people.
I have to agree with you about names being oversimplified. Whenever I read an article in a newspaper that talks about names they are so often boiled down to the lowest common denominator.
Dot is very sweet. Much like Bo, which I’ve come to love. How about Dorit, Clotilde, Donatella, Dakota, Donata, Deodata, Odette, Theodora, Doretta, Dorinda or Dorita.
Although Dot wouldn’t be a direct shortened version, I think it is a cute nickname for Odette.