Saturday, February 28, 2009

It's a girl!

Update--Rebecca H. and her husband welcomed a beautiful baby girl into the world yesterday. I did a list for her back in January.

MOLLY LOUISE

Love the name!

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Krystal's name list

Krystal is expecting a little boy this spring, she has a little guy named Hugh scampering around with her in Michigan. (Michigan people love my babynaming skillz...)

She wanted a name that sounded well with Hugh but wasn't common or popular. Hugh has been floating in the bottom of the top 1000 for the past decade, according to the Social Security site. It peaked in the 1890s at #80 but has fallen out of fashion, which ironically, is now in fashion, since uncommon baby names are quite the rage. The middle name will be Samuel. The names I found are definitely old fashioned but nothing that is obsolete or too wonky.

August (Augie, Gus for nicknames)
Baxter
Calvin
Chester
Dexter
Duncan
Ellis
Elton
Everett
Felix
Fletcher
Foster
Forrest
Gerard
Gilbert
Harlan
Jasper
Judson
Kent/Kenton
Lewis
Merritt
Murray
Olin
Otto
Palmer
Pax
Rufus
Rupert
Sander
Stuart
Theo
Vance
Willis (Will)

Any winners?

**UPDATE**
Krystal and her hubby have decided on DEXTER!! YES! I actually helped name a baby!! I can't wait to see pictures of little Dexter Samuel. <3

Friday, February 13, 2009

Obscure Names that I Love

I had some time this afternoon and I made a master list of names that I think are cool that are not really on the current naming radar. The first set of numbers is when they peaked and the second number is where it is now. I used the voyager site for most of this project.

Ada (1880s at 46, 646)
Adele (1910s at 202, n/a) I wonder if Adele will make a comeback due to the singer Adele, who is awesome--listen to Chasing Pavements
Agnes (1890s at 39, n/a) We seem to love Maggie, why not Aggie?
Aileen (1920s at 304, 500) There is an Aileen in my son's preschool class, she's adorable and the name has really grown on me.
Alma (1890s at 54, 713)
Antonia (1920s at 307, 996). My Antonia anyone?
Audra (randomly peaked in the 1910s, 1970s, currently n/a)

Beatrice (1910s at 30, n/a)

Cleo (1910s at 30, n/a) My BFF Brooke has a daughter named with this name and it perfectly suits a spunky, cute, feisty little girl.
Cordelia (1880s at 269, n/a)

Dara (not in the top 1000, ever)
Della (1880s at 68, n/a)
Dora (1880s at 5, n/a) If you can get Dora the Explorer out of your head, it's a great name.

Estella (1880s at 115, n/a)
Evangeline (1920s at 430, 459 currently!) Evangeline came out of nowhere in 2007, I blame Lost.

Fern (1900s at 180, n/a)
Flora (1880s at 155, n/a)
Frieda (1890s at 155, n/a)

Gemma (not in the top 1000 ever) I LOVE this name, it's popular across the pond and a great alternative to Emma, Emily, etc.
Gilda (1920s at 469, n/a)

Harriett (1880s at 194, n/a)

Imogen (never in the top 1000)
Iola (1910s at 345, n/a) My husband's great aunt (a spry 92) is Iola V. (no middle name, just the letter V)

June (1920s at 45, n/a) Juno, Junebug, Junie, all super cute.

Laurel (1950s at 203, 942 today)
Leona (1900s at 16, n/a)
Louisa (1880s at 151, n/a)

Matilda (1880s at 110, n/a)
Millie (1880s at 143, n/a)
Mona (1950s at 240, n/a)

Neva (1900s at 277, n/a)
Nola (1900s at 289, n/a)

Olive (1890s at 88, n/a)

Polly (1930s at 326, n/a)

Rosalie (1930s at 153, n/a) My money says Twilight boosts this name up quite a bit in the next five years.
Rosalind (1940s at 346, n/a)

Susanna (1880s at 344, n/a)

Terese (1950s at 643, n/a)

Viola (1920s at 301, n/a)

Willa (1920s at 301, n/a) If my married name didn't start with a W, I'd be all over this lovely name.

Zelda (1900 at 441, n/a)
Zora (1900 at 408, n/a)

There are so many cool baby girl names in this list. I am 2-2 for boys and I feel that even if we go for three I'll just end up growing yet another penis.

Michele's name list

This request was sent in by a reader in Grand Rapids, Michigan (my home state!). She found the link through my friend Willo's earth friendly site.

Michele has a little girl named Avery Roselea and it due with a surprise this summer. The new baby's middle name will be Michael for either sex so she wants a feminine girl name to balance it out. Names she likes are Lillian (Lily), Adeline (Addie), Carter and Everett.

Girl name suggestions:
Alia
Amelia
Annalise
Audrey
Carolina
Cecilia
Clara
Eleanor
Ellery
Eve
Gemma
Georgia
Hazel
Ivy
Juliana
Juliet
Lena
Lila
Nora
Olivia
Stella
Vivian
Willa

Boy names:
Anderson
Atticus
August
Blake
Camden
Carson
Chandler
Cooper
Dawson
Declan
Eli
Harrison (Harry)
Hunter
Merritt
Owen
Parker
Preston
Prescott
Sloane
Travis
Trenton
Xavier

Any winners?

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Twilight Names

I have a confession to make; I didn't like it. I'll admit that I was biased going into it as I had read a million reviews and I knew the plot from hearing people talk about it. I kept waiting for my mind to be blown and I kept waiting to care about the characters. Edward bothered me with his PMS, Bella acted a fool and has self-esteem issues (I am so clumsy, I'm not pretty, I'm not good enough, etc). Maybe it gets better in the next three books.

I liked the vampire names though--Carlisle, Esme, Alice, Jasper, Emmett and Rosalie are all great names.I liked how the modern kids had names like Jacob, Jessica and Mike.

Is it true that Bella and Edward name their vampire baby Renesme? I know it's a combo of Renee and Esme but that doesn't make it right.

Flame away.

New lists coming soon--one for a reader in GR, an US Weekly compilation and names that I predict will make their way back onto the lists.

Monday, February 2, 2009

The History of the Snob



It all started when my mom had my little brother, and then my other brother, and other, and then my sister, and then another brother...I am the oldest of 11. There is an almost 18 year gap between myself and the youngest sibling. I remember being so upset that my first sister's name ended up being Bridget. I wanted something cool, like Samantha or Jessica because after all, it was 1989. And so my parents named her Bridget (for a great grandmother) Christena (my mom's name, also my grandmother's middle name, so sometime back in the 1920s the great grandmother balked at Christina).

If you recite our names fast enough, it sounds like a spell-- or roll call at your local Catholic school circa 1950. Theresa Moira, Shaun Michael, Ryan David, Garrett Patrick, Bridget Christena, Patrick Rory, Catherine Aquinas (after St Thomas Aquinas), Derek Daniel, Thomas Cormac, Rosemary Monica and Brendan Alexander.

With each pregnancy she would pull out the baby name book and start leafing through it. She was convinced that we all needed saintly names so out came the Saints of the Catholic church encyclopedia as well. I pushed for names like Cecilia and Rose while my step-father argued for names like Monica (during 1996, too!) and Tabitha.

I wore the name book out; the spine weakened, pages fell out and peanut butter grease stains dotted the pages. I decided my name was lame, Theresa means 'reaper' in Greek. What is that? At least I had two saints to claim as my own, St Therese the Little Flower and St Theresa of Avila. During Catholic school we celebrated feast days (which I just can't see happening nowadays with the plethora of Emerson/Addison/Madison/Jaden/Hayden names) and I got the pick which date I wanted, naturally I chose whichever one was soonest. Patience has never been a virtue of mine.

When I became pregnant with my first child I found BabyCenter which soon led me to the baby naming polls. You would not believe some of the names and the catty comments and fights that happen over naming babies--even the hypothetical not yet conceived ones. I made a poll with names I liked, mostly Irish, and braced for the aftermath. My boy picks were Roan Morgan, Finnian James, Jude Cieran and James Fitzgerald (my grandmother's maiden name). My girl picks were Sofia Jane, Meara Quinn, Aidan Elisabeth and Norah something. I think James and Sofia won. However, I remember someone making a comment on my poll saying that if I really wanted to use the proper Gaelic spelling of Kieran I should spell it Ciaran. This is what I was thinking when James finally emerged after a loooong labor with a c-section on top. They told me it was a boy and he had a head of black hair. So here I am, crying and exhausted and thinking about something a stranger said on my baby name poll in regards to the spelling of my child's name. And I took her advice.
With my second pregnancy I pulled the books out as soon as I found out. I spent the better part of nine months with my friend Jess, who was due two weeks before me, pouring over names (German for her, Irish/English for me) and eating my weight in bagels. She ended up being a week late and I was 10 days early, so our guys are only three days apart. She had a Maddox Oberon and I ended up with a Bennett Jude. We were both insistant that we would never nickname our boys. Bennett has more nicknames that I can count, the most used being Benny Boo, Benny Judy and Bennett Ciaran--all bestowed by James. Apparently James thought Ciaran W___ was a swear word because when he used to get ticked at me he'd scream "MOM CIARAN W___!!"

I like all names, I really do. I've never met a Sophia, an Emily, an Aiden or a William that I didn't like. I'm sure I'd even love little Bronx Mowgli.