Today officially marks the first day of Spring – or so says my calendar. After weeks of warm weather, we’re bracing for chilly temperatures and a dusting of flurries.
Can I blame the weather switch on my complete cluelessness earlier this weekend? Somehow I completely failed to notice that the boys’ semi finals round of March Madness Baby Names just plain didn’t post. (This happens once in a while, but never before I have not noticed it all day!) My oversight has been corrected, and the post is now live – and ready for you to vote.
And, of course, the girls’ semi finals round of March Madness baby names is waiting for your input, too! Could it be Marigold versus Sylvie in the final round? The matches are too close to say, but I think that would be an exciting contest!
Now, on to the name news:
- If March Madness Baby Names isn’t enough to occupy you, we can soon vote for the Name of the Year. F
- This is a fun one from Cleveland Evans: Cinderella: Her real name, like her shoe, is lost. Her wicked stepsisters, on the other hand, have been named and re-named dozens of times. Here’s my list of the best names for those not-so-nice girls.
- It’s always interesting to see how politics impacts baby naming. In Scotland, names like Indie, Alba, and Caledonia were in use in Scotland in 2015, the year following the Scottish Independence Referendum Bill, which failed.
- Oh, this list! Such great daring names for girls!
- This story of name theft ending a long-standing friendship has me reeling. I’d love to hear it from Jessica’s side. And I suppose I really need to pull together a post on the topic. It’s among the most frequent questions I get from expectant parents.
- Love this list of boy/girl twins at Names for Real! A few things I find fascinating: in some pairs, it’s not immediately obvious which is the boy and which is the girl, even with middle names considered; there are more style mismatches that I’d expect – I wonder if that’s me being finicky, or if it reflects how parents often prefer different types of names for boys and girls; and lastly, wow, was I surprised to see twins with rhyming names! It’s been a long time since I spotted the equivalent of Carrie and Larry.
- Elea’s list of vibrant Russian names was just lovely. I think Agnessa and Rodion are my favorites.
- I found this discussion on surnames in medieval Europe absolutely fascinating.
- Sort of in love with Radko after reading Sophie’s post on Czech names. My husband has a cousin in Poland named Radek, and I’m just realizing how perfectly the name suits him.
- A great find via Clare’s ever-marvelous Scoop.it site, Name News: Greek names for girls. In French! If you like Sybil, you might swoon over Sybille.
- I finally watched the first episode of Netflix’s Jessica Jones and I wondered if Krysten Ritter had changed the spelling of her name for professional reasons. (Ginnifer Goodwin was born plain Jennifer. Etcetera.) But Krysten’s spelling is as her parents intended. Proof? Her middle name is Alyce.
That’s all for this week! As always, thank you for reading – and have a great week.
Names of Greek origin seem to be popular in France at the moment, especially for girls. To the list you linked to, I could add Thaïs, Sixtine and of course Zoé and Chloé. There is a little girl at my son’s school named Anémone – I love the flower and the meaning (daughter of the wind) but not sure I love it as a name! (And I think some people would think of the sea creature first.)
I bet I can guess Jessica’s POV. The letter is full of clues that the writer cares more for their connection than Jessica does.
“The daughter of my mother’s friend has a very close connection with me and my family. They seem to think of us more like cousins and like to invite us to family events, put us in their wedding, refer to our parents as their godparents, etc. I have two children, a boy and a girl. This woman has three daughters. Imagine my surprise when, upon announcing the name of my daughter, which happens to be the same as her first born, I received an extremely rude email, about how I should not have named my child without consulting her first! She told me that she could never look at me or my daughter without “resenting” us for choosing the same name as her daughter already had.
“Her reasoning was totally bizarre. She said she’d chosen the name because it was an unusual “Jewish” choice, but she’s not even Jewish! I know this because we’re invited to Christmas Eve at her house every year. I like this woman and her daughter just fine, and feel shocked that she would be so rude to me and my baby. To me, all it proves is we have similar taste. The girls are nearly ten years apart in age, so they are unlikely even to be confused with one another at family events. Speaking as a thirty-something Jessica, sharing a name is not a big problem.
“Well, after that email, my husband and I decided to skip any fake-family reunion events going forward. We have our own friends and family, and don’t need to go out of our way to see people who have told us they resent me and my baby every time they see us because we didn’t deign to give them a say in how we named our child! “
Nicely said, Diana – that sounds very possible. And completely logical on Jessica’s part.
Great list as usual! I loved the twin names, especially Asher Robinson and Everly Lola!
Regarding politics impacting baby naming in Scotland, I can’t help but notice the similar rise of Indie and Alba in England & Wales and that started out at around the same time these two names were starting to rise in Scotland (2011 was when those names rose more steeply in Scotland). As for Caledonia, looking through the data from the National Records of Scotland going back to 1974, the first Caledonia born between 1974 and 2015 was born in 1987 and the name appeared occasionally in the data since then, the peak year being 2003 with 4 Caledonias being born.