Happy Sunday … and, if you’re celebrating, Happy Halloween!
If you’ve haven’t voted for your favorite Harry Potter names yet, now is the time:
- The Witches’ final round is here.
- And the last Wizards’ showdown is here.
In both cases, I read tea leaves with Sybill Trelawney. The Divinations professor agreed that both contests had a clear favorite – but in one case, it’s not turning out quite as expected. (At least as of Sunday morning …)
Elsewhere online:
- My heart breaks for the people of Pittsburgh. I don’t normally comment on current events, but I lived in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood for a few, happy years, just blocks from the Tree of Life Synagogue. I can picture it, in every season, from the windows of city buses, passing by on foot. One of the victims of Saturday’s shooting survived the Holocaust, only to lose her life to the same hatred. Her name? Rose. I’m reminded again of how strong and resolute this name sounds, how classic, feminine, and enduring. It was my grandmother’s name, too, and I keep thinking about the tremendous power in such a simple, restrained, elegant, but open sound. I don’t know a thing about the late Rose Mallinger, but I’m carrying her name in my heart today.
- On a far more trivial note: these are thirteen spooky names, all given to children in real life. Meet my twins, Alucard and Morticia … erm … maybe not.
- Last week, British Baby Names turned the spotlight on the distinguished, but oh-so-wearable Albert.
- And actor Danielle Gross named her second son Jagger.
- Which brings me to a point: in an age when you can name a son Albert or Jagger – or Albert Jagger, or Jagger Albert?! – I declare that it’s a great time to name a boy. We have so many options, from the traditional to the modern, and everywhere in between …
- Tarka, Bria, Cleo, Sally, Verena, Letitia, Yara, Sabina, Lourdes, Simone, Fatima, Larsen, Kiki, Sistine, Destry, Kit, Sailor … the group of entrepreneurs and influencers dubbed the Modern Swans by Town & Country magazine answer to some truly distinctive names.
- Love the names they chose for their twin daughters! And it makes me wonder: do you have a “sad-you-can’t-use-it” list?
- Eglantine Emma Olivia! I wonder if it sounds less daring in France – or more? (Found via the always amazing Scoop.it page Name News. Hi, Clare!)
- Ooh … what would you name a sibling for Avalon and Orion? I like some of Duana’s suggestions. And I so agree – kind of hoping they have a few more kiddos, because what. amazing. names!
- Who knew there was a National Color Day? (But of course there is.) And so many names inspired by color …
- The #babynaming questions that keep us up at night. Have you wrestled with any of these?
My shortlist for my first son was: Jonah, Jonathan, Ivan, Johann, & Jack. My husband vetoed all of them as being far too common and boring. I vetoed all of his short-list on the grounds that none of them were pronounced anything close to the way they were spelled. We ended up compromising with Ioan – which I love. It’s a wonderful name and I can’t imagine him being anything else (he’s almost 11 now.) But – it pretty much wiped out my entire list of boys names. (Even though technically Jonah and Jonathan are not related to John the way Ioan, Johann, and Jack are, I think Jonathan is eliminated by association and Jonah is by sound.)
My list of girls names is much more varied, but I would be shocked if we end up with enough daughters to use them all. Some of the names on my sad-not-to-use list include Imogen, Verity, Mercy, Genevieve, and Gwenllian.
‘Eglantine, Eglantine, oh how you shine!’ Eglantine is the first name of Miss Price in ‘Bedknobs and Broomsticks.’ It never occurred to me that it was French.
Technically, Chaucer used it as a given name first, so this one is English! But it’s the same word for the flower in French, so I guess they have equal claim. More here!
Sad-we-can’t-use-it list:
Glen
Hugh
Otto
Oscar
Rollo
Victory
Thisbe
Roxy
Wonderful but unusable for us. :/
I grew up just outside of Squirrel Hill. My oldest sister knew Rose Mallinger. I have no words to describe how awful it feels for this to have happened “at home” (though it’s been more than a decade since I lived in Pittsburgh).
Oh, Kay V – hugs from one former Pittsburgher to another. Thank you for commenting.