My kids name everything.
Kitchen gadgets. Fictional characters. Random animals that don’t belong to our household.
A few days ago, we made our annual trip to the pumpkin patch. Our preferred pumpkin patch comes complete with farm animals, including a pair of sheep.
“Their names are Dennis and John,” my son declared.
“No! He’s Baaaab. And she’s … Baaaaaannie!” my daughter argued.
Dennis, John, Bob, and Bonnie? What’s with the baby boomer names for livestock?
I suggested that a sheep deserved a more romantic name, like Rigoberto. (I’d just finished writing this post.) My kids were not on board, but then, they thoroughly enjoy skewering my taste in names, while I quietly wonder if my future grandchildren will be christened Debbie and Gary.
Do you name things other than children and house pets?
Elsewhere in name news:
- I agree with the Name Lady: “Trying too hard to make spelling work for you can have disastrous results.”
- Where is the original version of this story? A number of British news outlets are reporting that Baby Centre has released a list of the most popular names for 2016, a collection of gems like Hector, Pixie, and Cairo. But I can’t find the story on babycentre.co.uk, so I’m baffled. It goes without saying that Halo won’t hit #1 anywhere next year, but I’d love to know exactly what they predicted. If you find the original story, please share the link!
- Laura’s analysis of the Top Ten over the years yields some fascinating insights. In brief: the most popular names today are far less popular than they were fifty years ago, tradition matter less than style, and we’re far more daring when naming sons. All good things, I think.
- Love this list of preppy, zippy diminutives at Nameberry from British Baby Names. Dodge, Hitch, Jem, Ned, Bess, and more!
- Name quotes from Nancy! Love, love, love. Especially the one about Denali, which I’m watching closely. It was given to 55 girls and 20 boys in 2014.
- Thoroughly enjoyed this video on Autumn and Halloween names. Do you think Salem is wearable? October? And I adore Leif, but my husband isn’t on board. And my kids? They think it’s a crazy name for a little brother.
- Speaking of spooky, seasonal names, I spotted a trailer for a new scary movie called The Boy. You can watch it here, but if that’s not your thing, here’s the only thing you need to know: the boy in question is named Brahms!
- More on this idea: Meagan runs down names from American Horror Story: Hotel. Gorgeousness! While I can gear up to watch a scary movie, though, I’m far less likely to watch a chiller-thriller television series. (Probably because I rarely go to movie theaters solo, but I do watch television alone.) But these names and Lady Gaga in a starring role? I may need to get brave …
- I was glad to see Kate talk about Regina, which definitely strikes me as a Catholicky Catholic kind of name. (Translation: I know more than one!) It was one of the names that I loved when I was younger, along with Veronica. A little bit clunky, lots of great nicknames, including some boyish ones.
- Spotted a birth announcement for an Adalind, a sister for Amelie. Completely gorgeous, right? It’s new to me, but Sara pointed out that it’s got history galore – there it is in the Dictionary of Medieval Names from European Sources.
- Another name find: Enerel, in a letter to Duana. Hello, Mongolian names! And I agree with Duana that Enerelle would make it even more wearable in the West.
- Are you more of a Laura or a Wilder? I liked seeing these two names together in a post from Beloved Baby Names. Lately I’m also thinking about Ingalls … it seems like it could be an interesting name along the lines of Collins, which has been popular for girls ever since The Blind Side brought this Southern surname name possibility to greater notice.
- Who knew there were so many formal names for Ollie? Much as I like Oliver, I’m not wild about Ollie – and I’ve yet to meet an Oliver who wasn’t just Oliver. Olson is fabulous, though, isn’t it?
- The name Shepherd is really growing on me. I’ve always liked it, but lately it seems like a great choice for a son. Here’s the birth announcement for a baby Shepherd at Swistle.
- How gorgeous is Vivienne Violet Rose?
- These jazzy names at Waltzing More than Matilda are great. Do you think Django is wearable? I just realized that it isn’t on my list of ‘o’ ending names for boys. Should it be? Jesper, Darius, Quincy, Ida, Laine, Mamie, Mimi, Saskia … all sorts of styles, and I think many of them would wear beautifully.
That’s all for this week! As always, thank you for reading – and have a great week.
I adore Wilder for a girl, I would use it in a heartbeat if I hadn’t already named my son Wiley 🙂
I have friends with twin girls named Olivia and Emma and they almost exclusively call Olivia Ollie so to me that’s a girl name!
And I LOVE Shepherd! I tried to get my husband on board when I was pregnant with our son but I failed. If we have another boy someday I plan to push for it again!
Grandchildren named Debbie and Gary — yes! I think it’s totally going to happen!
Here is a link to the original story:
https://www.baby.co.uk/mum_stories/which-names-will-be-popular-in-2016/
Totally misleading title — basically just a list of some of the more unusual choices registered on their site recently.
The Australian media do the same thing: they take ten of the most unusual names they can find on Baby Centre Australia, then title it some clickbait like “What We’ll All Be Calling Our Children in 2016”, or “The Hottest Name Choices of 2016”.
You’re diplomatic to call it totally misleading – it’s nothing more than a complete pack of outrageous lies, and very infuriating.
Definitely more of a Laura ;). I was named after Laura Ingalls Wilder, and through serendipity, ended up with her daughter’s name as my middle name. (I’d also totally name a daughter Rose.)
Does naming appliances count?
Washer: Eglantine
Dryer: Zephyrina
Dishwasher: Tallulah
Microwave: it’s just a microwave 🙂
My first car was named Boone. My second car was jokingly called Otto Von Carlton. I don’t tend to name random things but I have a bad habit of making educated guesses regarding names of other people’s kids that I see in public.
My first car was Layla and my second was Linus.
I love me some Little House, and I’ve got distant but documented ties to Almanzo’s family (although, come to think of it, our research never turned up any other ‘Manzos) I have an aunt named Lori, which knocked Laura out of the water, but my 8yo gets great pleasure from the fact that my Great-Grammy Mary Wilder had sisters named Laura and Grace.
Having said all that -Ingalls is way too close to Jingles for me, even if I was fond of surnames. Couldn’t do it. Would love to meet a little ALmanzo, though. May be my next dog name.
My 7 month old Shepherd Bryson. It feels down to earth and vaguely Biblical to me. We occasionally call him Shep!
I name things that aren’t pets or people… I’ve named my family’s vehicles – Luna, Tennant, and mine is named Umbridge (Um for the days she is good). I also have stuffed animals name Jethro, Cera (she’s a triceratops), Penda, and Koada (a bear). I also name random objects and chairs in my house…