Happy Sunday! And a very happy Father’s Day to all who are celebrating!
Time is flying today, so let’s get right to the baby name news:
- Does Fennec work as a baby name? I’m a huge fan of Fox, so I’m inclined to say yes. Interestingly, the original question was asked by a mom who thought it might be more acceptable than the Hunger Games-inspired Finnick, but I think Finnick would wear just fine.
- Speaking of quirky name choices, Hopper Penn – son of actor Sean – was apparently almost named Steak. Hopper is a hero name, since Sean was a big fan of Dennis Hopper. That sounds completely, absolutely normal when compared to naming your kiddo Steak. Though I still think Hopper is tough to wear.
- Laura asks what name is the next Brooklyn? Right now, I’d bet on Adalyn, but all of the spellings make it tough to tally. She mentions Gracelyn as a contender – and I can totally see that, too.
- A birth announcement for Oswald, a little brother for Margot and Wilbur, in the most recent British Baby Names birth announcements. Love!
- Fauve Florentine is such a bold baby name! My first thought is fauvism, the style of painting pioneered by Matisse. I’ve always heard that Les Fauves translated to “The Wild Beasts,” but Google Translate reads Fauve as Wildcat. Anyone shed any light on this one? It’s in sparing use in France.
- Rosemary Valentine called Rory? What an amazing name!
- Hmmm … I think Ermengarde would be really tough to wear in 2016, but I’d like to be proved wrong.
- Don’t you love it when a list is so good you can’t possibly pick a favorite? This list of gorgeous and rare girls’ names is exactly like that. I’ve loved Leocadia for ages, so I’m tempted to make that my favorite. But lately I’m loving Socorro, and Cassiopeia and Talitha are on the list, too.
- A closer look at the character names from Finding Dory. There’s a Hank!
- Let’s look at surnames for a minute. I know a few couples who have both created a new last name together at the time of their marriage. I think it makes a lot of sense. My husband and I considered it for about thirty seconds, but it felt borderline crazy back then. If one of my kids told me they were doing this? I’d cheer for them.
That’s all for this week. As always, thank you for reading – and have a great week!
My brother and his wife are expecting baby Ravenna Rose this weekend! She will be a little sister to Annabelle Olivia.
Raven is a family surname, and Ravenna is where they honeymooned.
Always love seeing the birth announcements, but that Nameberry list was just swoon-worthy.
Now that I think about it…I know of a baby Leokadia (that spelling).
I have only heard Fauve as the heroine of a trashy 1980s romance novel by Judith Krantz. Fauve was the daughter of a scandalous model and a famous artist, who named her after the artistic movement. She had bright orangish red hair that reminded him of a Fauve painting.
My maiden name was “Friedemann”. My married name is “Uckelman”. After we got engaged, it didn’t take our friends more than one drunk night to see the natural portmanteau. There was never any question of hyphenating or combining our names. We wouldn’t do that to our poor unsuspecting children!
I like Fennec a lot!
But Ermengarde is a little too reminiscent of the Ermahgerd girl meme for me to consider it.
Behind the Name says the name Fauve is usually given in France with the meaning of “yellow, tawny”, rather than “wild beast” (as you say, literally the big cats/beasts of prey). But I think Anglophones usually think of the “wild” meaning, or the art reference.
Would have been happy to combine surnames, but FIL would have thrown 36 fits, and as both of us have rather awkward surnames, putting them together would have been doubly awkward to say, and would have sounded enough like existing names, like Richmond, to be confused with them all the time.
I first fell in love with Ermengarde after seeing The Matchmaker by Thornton Wilder (the play Hello Dolly is based upon). It’s full of glorious monikers: Ambrose, Cornelius, Barnaby, Minnie, Irene… back! Love them!!
And, yes, if my kids wanted to make a new last name together, I’d be so very onboard. My husband and I have even suggested it to some couples with abusive families.