Happy sixteenth Sunday of 2015!
My name-related discovery of the week: every ZipCar has a name.
We’re brand new ZipCar members – after two years of playing ice hockey at our local, easily-reachable-by-transit-when-necessary ice rink, our son has graduated to the bigger rink in the ‘burbs. Since we’re a one-car family – and that car is older than the hockey player – this presents some challenges.
Enter ZipCar.
And thus, my discovery that every car has a name, including Aurelia and Susann and Enya and Effie and Clement. Guinevere and Penelope. Not all of the names resemble given names. The ZipCar closest to us is a called Steppig, and names like Fishingline, Wasabi, and Pagoda are pretty normal, too. Every now and then, one of those unexpected names might actually work as a given name. Calderin, maybe?
It had me thinking about the act of naming something. Steppig isn’t just a great transportation alternative for us – it’s like a new neighbor. I’d like to think we’d treat it with care even if it was just ZC78120b, but something tells me that the name changes the way I see the object.
Do you use ZipCar? Are there any great names on the ZipCars in your neighborhood?
Now, back to the names of actual human beings:
- Um, sorry. I lied. Before we get to human being names, let’s take a detour to Ikea. How great are their product names? Elea has the scoop on the Scandinavian mega-store’s system for choosing names, and also a round-up of imports that work well for a bookcase or a baby. How great are Jules, Benno, and Fialena?
- On to the humans for real now! Paul Ratner and his wife are expecting a baby, and trying to find the perfect name for their new son. While I think there are great reasons to choose classic names, I’m intrigued by the way he describes “… joining the millions of Johns, Pauls and Matthews that came before. Feels like just another verse of someone else’s song.”
- Another boy called Finnick! Call it the Luna Lovegood phenomenon: the name of a minor, but heroic, character goes mainstream. I don’t believe Finnick existed as a given name prior to The Hunger Games. In 2012, there were nine newborn Finnicks. By 2013, that number was 15. Definitely one to watch when the new data comes out … soon!
- Short names, long on style at The Beauty of Names.
- I’m encouraged by how much enthusiasm there is for the name Spero in this Swistle post.
- Wrangler didn’t quite catch on in the 1980s, despite the Jeep and the jeans. But could the name have a shot in 2015? With all those tough guy names for boys, plus our affection for ends-in-r names, Wrangler doesn’t seem quite so daring. Or quite so far a stretch from the fast-rising Walker.
- Speaking of W–r names for boys, this is the second boy Winter that I’ve spotted this week! This cute surfer boy was the first.
- And while we’re on Winter, can you name your baby after the season of his birth? Or is it better if your June-born daughter is called January?
- When is a baby name made-up and when is it an old name that was stumbled on accidentally? Interesting thoughts – and research! – from Sara at the Dictionary of Medieval Names.
- From the wayback machine: The Baby Name of the Day in 2009 was Elmer. In 2010, we talked about Russell. On April 19, 2011, the featured name was Melina. Fast-forward to 2012, and it was Leofric. 2013 brought Carsten and 2014 ushered in Sian.
- I don’t watch Nashville – I know, I should! – so I didn’t realize there was a baby on the way. Cadence seems like a logical choice for a musical baby. But were they really considering Blythe? And I could have voted? More than once!? Total missed opportunity!
That’s all for this week! As always, thank you for reading – and have a great week!
My name is April and I was born in April. I haven’t met a tremendous amount of people with my name, but all of them were also born in April. Every new person I meet feels the need to ask me when my birthday is and then immediately follow that with “is that why you were named April?” It does get old, but it’s been happening my whole life so I’m pretty used to it now.
My mom always said that when she was a teenager she’d written a short story about a girl named April and knew then that if she ever had a girl that’s the name she would give. She could never produce the story though so I liked to tease her that she had a long time to come up with that story before I started asking questions 🙂
Winter Fawn was given to me because I was born in a blizzard. I did some research, and apparently, it has been a really common norm to give babies names according to circumstances and that would include war names, war leaders surnames as first, locations of big events such as wars and treaties and even seasons. Also, If the people who chose the surname Winter can choose it as their lineage name because they liked the season and pretty cave paintings, then yes, a child born in the season deserves just as much right to the name. Although, it would be an awkward feeling to run into a man named Winter and even develope a or a elationship. Both my parents are Robin and spelled exactly the same. We owned a private business, and it was sometimes fun taking phone calls. Where customers would ask to speak with Robin, I then would have to ask them, “the male or female Robin? ” It confused the person on the phone everytime. After a while it did get old. So season, nature, location, street names do come with a small sacrifice.
Edit* that should be develope a friendship or relationship
Have to admit, I was less than impressed with that list. If you’re reaching back to Shakespeare using it, well, how do you know where he found it? I have a Gwendolyn, and I can tell you that getting to Wendy from there is not much of a stretch at all, especially given that we’re nowhere near the original Welsh pronunciation. I love her name, but that “Gw” combo is not an easy one for little mouths to make. Her little sister is just coming out of calling her “Go-knee”, but dropping the G for the w would have been just as easy, and much cuter (I had a brief fling with “Wendy” myself, just after she was born, but it didn’t stick.)