Father's DayHappy Father’s Day to all the dads out there!

Linda at Nameberry wrote my favorite post of the season: Father’s Day Names with Meaning.

When I renamed myself in my 20s, I settled on Abigail for a bunch of reasons. But one of them was the meaning.”my father is joy.” My dear dad passed away when I was a teenager, and so there was something about the meaning that spoke to me. When our daughter came along, I loved that Clio was related to Cleopatra – “glory of the father.”

It’s a small thing, but I like that connective thread between our names.

Now, on to the name news:

  • Congratulations to Brooke on her three year anniversary of blogging at Baby Name Pondering – and double congratulations, because Brooke and her husband are expecting a baby boy later this year!
  • I agree with the Name Lady on this one. Spell the name Lucia, and just repeat your preferred pronunciation. And repeat again. It might be a headache, and if that troubles you overly much, name your daughter Francesca.
  • How fabulous is the name Bosco Ignatius? Congratulations to the Camp Patton family on their new arrival. Kate posted a name consult for them a few weeks ago, and I love the suggestions she offered.
  • Somehow I missed this list from Duana, and her prediction that Eugene is on the verge of a comeback. Could it be?
  • Is the definition of retro changing? My reaction to this post was “Huh? What?” I just plain don’t think you can call Jessica and Ashley retro. To me, retro signifies mid-century modern names. Or swingy 1930s names, maybe. Something much farther in the past than Jessica and Ashley. How do you define retro?
  • This name at For Real Baby Names strikes me as the perfect balance of classic and out-there: Elizabeth Jubilee. One name is an unassailable classic. The other is a big, bold, modern middle. I think the opposite works well, too – daring first, safer middle. From the same post: Elgin Thomas, Maxwell Floyd, Oliver Nico, River Josephine, and Sofia Antonia.
  • I tend to agree with Swistle’s advice: Watch for style outliers. If your girls’ shortlist consists of Grace, Caroline, Vivienne, and Ramsey, drop Ramsey. But I’m finding more and more parents who aren’t fussed about matching sibsets. Could this be changing? Then again, I think most sibsets that I come across are fairly well-matched – intentionally or not.
  • Yay for Rufus! Love to hear this name getting some love on British Baby Names. Also, Elea mentioned Fraser and Falco in this post. Could F be my new favorite letter?
  • Sofia the FirstWhile we’re on the letter F … could Sweden’s new Princess Sofia boost the ‘f’ spelling of this name? I’m still watching the Sophia/Sofia split, with a thought that the ‘f’ version will eclipse the ‘ph’ version … soonish. Though, as Angela pointed out on Facebook, there’s already a Princess Sofia.
  • Speaking of princesses, Ren has a list of great fictional princess names not from Disney.
  • Flynn is such a great name! Pleased as punch to see it profiled over at British Baby Names.
  • This quiz says that I’m a Jade. I don’t think I’m a Jade at all. But it looks like some of you got very accurate/pleasing results. So maybe it’s me!
  • I do love a good Joss Whedon name.
  • We finally saw The Avengers: Age of Ultron. Without giving away any spoilers, let’s just say that I think Nathaniel Pietro is a great name.
  • I’m in love with this Etsy shop.
  • Dear Benedict Cumberbatch, Congrats to you and Sophie. Would you be willing to share your son’s name? Pretty please? Because you’re a Benedict famous for playing a Sherlock, and, well, that’s just all kinds of awesome.
  • From the wayback machine: in 2008, the Baby Name of the Day was Valencia. In 2009, we talked about Marjorie. I was cautiously optimistic about a Marjorie revival back then, and check out the numbers: Marjorie was up 189 places to #720 in 2014! 2010’s Baby Name of the Day was Annis. Completely forgot I’d written about that one! 2011 brought us Adair, and 2012 featured Django. 2013 was all about North – thanks, Kimye! – and Kirby came up in 2014.

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

About Abby Sandel

Whether you're naming a baby, or just all about names, you've come to the right place! Appellation Mountain is a haven for lovers of obscure gems and enduring classics alike.

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What do you think?

9 Comments

  1. To me ‘retro’ is one that had a peak, and then went away for awhile.

    Judith would be a lot more retro to me than Jessica.

    However, I am 30 and Jessica feels like my age. Just like the ’90s are now retro. So I guess, to a market of 15-year-olds…? Thanks, if you need me I’ll be drinking.

    1. Josie, I think that’s a good working definition – and agree on Judith v. Jessica!

    2. Also – yes, how did the 90s become retro when they just ended yesterday? Crazy!

  2. Thanks for the congratulations Abby 🙂

    I’ve also done that quiz and gotten the result of Jade. Doesn’t feel like me either, so I’d love to know how they calculate their results – or how many possible results there actually are 😉

    1. There’s eight possible names, Brooke – I think I got Violet because I said I liked art, and clicked the picture of a flower. It’s very simplistic. From what I saw, Jade was a “tough girl” name, so if you said one or two sporty sounding things that might have done it. I did the quiz again, and got Jade simply by choosing the colour green and saying I liked skydiving.

      1. Wait, what? Jade is the tough girl name? I take it back. Now I kind of like it … not that I’m going skydiving any time soon! 🙂

  3. To me, a “retro name” has to have gone away and come back, or be in the process of coming back into fashion or popularity. In no way can Jessica and Ashley be said to have either gone away, or to be coming back.

    I was a Violet: I don’t think the name really suits me at all, although it’s a pretty name.

  4. From one ubiquitous name to another with that quiz! Apparently I should be named Isabelle -_- I might have been able to get behind Isobel…