Tag Archives: Nameberry

Review of The Baby Name Wizard

08 Sunday Dec 2013

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BabyNameWizardLogo

Laura Wattenberg is the author of The Baby Name Wizard: A Magical Method for Finding the Perfect Name for Your Baby, first published in 2005. If you recall, this is Swistle’s favourite baby naming book, which is a very high recommendation. The Baby Name Wizard is described as a “field guide to American baby names”, in that it doesn’t give definitions or histories of names, but provides lists of names by style, has a popularity graph, and also makes sibset suggestions.

The Baby Name Wizard website was started in 2004 – I guess to promote the book, and create a place where its readers could discuss names.

There is a weekly blog entry from Laura, where she discusses name trends and often does some interesting things with name data and statistics. For example, last month she looked at the name Cressida, and concluded that it already seemed dated, because of the SS sound in the middle, shared with Vanessa and Melissa. Earlier she examined which were the most American and most British names of 2012, noting that the British Alfie and Archie were cuter than the American Landon and Gavin, while American girls Harper and Addison were more androgynous than the British Imogen and Florence.

This seems like a good moment to mention that The Baby Name Wizard is very much about American name trends, and American perceptions of names. For example, she categorises Jenson (a fast-rising name in Britain thanks to Jenson Button), as a “semi-androgynous name”. Yep, Jenson is apparently half-ready to hand over to the girls. Or maybe all-ready to hand over to half of the girls? Or maybe just the Jen half of it is androgynous? (I confess to not really knowing what a semi-androgynous name is).

Another rather glaring example that I hope will suitably rile up my Australian readers is one of Laura’s early blog entries, where she very sensibly defended the celebrity baby name Apple, and pointed out that other celebrities had much sillier baby names … among them, Rachel Griffiths, who had chosen the name Banjo for her child. Pause for patriotic display of righteous indignation.

The entries on statistics are probably my favourites, but I also love her name myth examination and debunking, such as looking at the massive popularity of celebrity name Shirley in the 1930s, how Biblical names are in steep decline, where the name Bree came from, and how there aren’t really twins named Lemonjello and Orangejello.

The Baby Name Wizard is essential for anyone even slightly interested in name trends – and most of these are international trends. Learn about trends such as the “Biblical-sounding” names, the “raindrop names“, and the “huggable names“. But also listen to Laura’s sage baby naming advice not to be a slave to trends. This might sound slightly contradictory, but you have to identify trends in order to not follow them.

The Baby Name Wizard got a forum last year so you can ask questions about baby names, including taking part in baby name games and asking about character names. You will get helpful advice for your naming dilemmas, given with candour but not meanness. In my opinion, the forum was very much needed, as people were using the blog comments to ask for baby name help. (Some still haven’t got the memo).

There are other cool tools as well. The Name Voyager is an excellent popularity graph of names in the United States, which has been copied by England/Wales and New South Wales. There is also a Namipedia to look for more information on a particular name, and a Name Finder to help you find names that suit your requirements. I’ve had a go using this, and found it brings up quite a few names that didn’t fit my requirements.

For example, I asked it to exclude anything very unusual, and it suggested Lovely – a name which has never ranked in the US. It was also quite insistent about me using Hispanic boys’ names, for some reason. However, it did offer some good names too, although I felt that if it was up to the Name Finder, my next child’s name would be either Vorgell or Lorenzo. Lots of fun if you don’t take it too seriously.

You can also sign up and pay for the Expert Name Tools, which are reasonably priced. As these are based on American popularity rankings and perceptions, I really don’t think these are worth it for Australians, except for interest, or if you are doing name research (or moving to America).

The Baby Name Wizard and Nameberry are both websites set up by the authors of baby name books, and I’m guessing most name enthusiasts would belong to both sites, even if they prefer one over the other. It would be insulting to compare them, except to say that they are different enough that you can follow and enjoy both of them, and never feel that you are covering the same ground.

Famous Names: Indi and Mirabella

13 Wednesday Nov 2013

Posted by in Famous Names

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murray_river

The 44th Parliament of Australia opened yesterday at 10.40 am, with the swearing in of new MPs. When I covered a name from the election back in September, I hinted that there might be more political names coming up when all the votes had been counted. Now more than two months later, after an extraordinary vote-counting process which seems to have been more than usually disorganised, all results seem to have been declared, and we can go ahead with some names from politics.

One of the electorates which political pundits were keeping a close eye on was Indi. The division of Indi is in north-eastern Victoria, and its northern border is the Murray River, while in the south-east it is bordered by the Australian Alps. Its largest settlement is the city of Wodonga, on the border between Victoria and New South Wales. Although one of the largest electorates in Victoria, much of it lies within the Alpine National Park and is uninhabited.

Indi has existed continuously since Federation, being one of the original 75 electorates formed in 1900, and for almost all of its history has voted conservative. The last time Labor won here was in 1928, and that was because the conservative candidate rather carelessly forgot to nominate. The first person to represent Indi was Sir Isaac Isaacs, who went on to become Attorney-General, Chief Justice of the High Court, and the first Australian-born Governor-General.

The name Indi is taken from a local Indigenous name for the Murray River. Names starting with Ind- are very trendy in Australian, such Indiana, India, Indigo, Indie and Indy, and Indi seems like a great way to follow this trend with a specifically Australian meaning. It could be used for either sex, although many people feel an -i ending seems “feminine” eg Toni is for girls, Tony for boys.

Traditionally, Indi has been represented by what has been described as the “rural gentry”, but this changed in 2001 when former Melbourne barrister Sophie Panopulous (later Sophie Mirabella) won the seat with a primary vote of 40%. She was dubbed “Uptown Girl” by those who didn’t relish the thought of a young, female, Greek-Australian city lawyer representing their rural seat; however she had no trouble gaining pre-selection for the seat from the Liberal Party, and easily defeated her opponents.

Sophie continued to win elections in the safe Liberal seat, however some residents felt that she was taking them for granted. They formed a grassroots movement, Voice for Indi, to find an Independent candidate to run against Sophie Mirabella, and eventually Cathy McGowan accepted.

Cathy had been a staffer for Indi’s Liberal MP in the 1970s and ’80s, a regional councillor for the Victorian Farmer’s Federation, and President of Australian Women in Agriculture. She has a Masters in Applied Science in Agricultural and Rural Development, and received an Order of Australia for raising awareness of women’s issues in regional, rural and remote areas. Cathy lives in Indigo Valley, where she was born and raised, and works as a farmer and rural consultant.

The contest in Indi was extremely close, and counting of votes went on for eleven days, but on September 18, Sophie Mirabella conceded defeat and Cathy McGowan claimed victory by 431 votes, giving her a swing of 9.2% and a slender majority of 0.2% – the first time an Independent has won in rural Victoria since World War II, and the first Independent to ever win Indi. I believe this was the narrowest win in the lower house for this year’s election, and Sophie Mirabella was the only Liberal incumbent to lose her seat.

I can’t help feeling rather tickled that an Independent from Indigo Valley won the seat of Indi. Amazingly, nobody thought to use this as a headline, which would have been rather fetching.

An important message from the Voice for Indi election campaign is that a sitting MP should never take a safe seat for granted in the long term. The good news is that if you are stuck with a lacklustre MP in your electorate, you may be able to get rid of them with the right candidate, a well-orchestrated campaign, and grassroots support. Yay, people power!

Although she didn’t manage to make herself very popular in politics, Sophie Mirabella has a fantastic surname.

Mirabella is an Italian name which is the Latinate form of the English name Mirabel, from the Latin for “wonderful”. In the Middle Ages, Mirabel was a unisex name, but is now considered feminine, while Mirabella is specifically feminine (the male form is Mirabello – Mirabello Cavalori was an Italian painter during the Renaissance).

Beautiful, elaborate and right on trend, Mirabella would be a great choice for someone who loves Miranda and Isabella, but worries they seem too common. This has been chosen as a name for his daughter by Canadian rock singer Bryan Adams, and it’s a long-time favourite of Linda Rosenkrantz from Nameberry – that’s a very high recommendation! You could use hip Mira or popular Bella as the short form.

One other issue is that Mirabella is the name of an Australian company which makes electric light-bulbs, but when you think about it, light is a positive association. Unfortunately, I fear that the widely-loathed Mrs Mirabella may have done this pretty name more harm than a few light globes ever could.

POLL RESULTS: Indi received an approval rating of 60%, while Mirabella enjoyed more success with a rating of 75%.

(Photo shows the Murray River near Wondoga, from where the Division of Indi receives its name)

Famous Name: Winsome

30 Wednesday Oct 2013

Posted by in Famous Names

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If you were in Sydney in early October, you could have attended the Royal Australian Navy International Fleet Review, celebrating one hundred years of our navy. Or, if you were of a more musical bent, you could have been there for The Renaissance Player’s 35th Runnymede Pop Festival. Held at Sydney University in its Gothic-style Great Hall, this is a unique concert of music, mime and poetry from medieval Europe, performed in brightly-coloured costumes.

The Runnymede Pop Festival has been going since 1973, and from the beginning has featured early music specialist Winsome Evans. Winsome is the director of the Renaissance Players, Australia’s oldest early music ensemble, and she is a professional harpsichordist, composer, and arranger. She conducted the first Renaissance Players concert while still a student.

Winsome is a recipient of the British Empire Medal in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List, The Order of Australia, and a NSW Jaycees Award for services to music.

Winsome is an English word meaning “charming in an innocent manner”. A winsome person is cheerful and open-hearted, engaging, and perhaps slightly naive, in a completely delightful way. The word comes from the Old English for “joy”, and is ultimately from an ancient root meaning “wish, love”.

Winsome is also an English surname, coming from the village of Winchcombe in Gloucester, or from Winscomb in Somerset. In either case, the name is Old English, and means “remote valley”. However, in some cases, the surname may have come directly from the Old English word winsom, meaning “attractive, lovely”, used as a personal name. If so, it means that the first name Winsome could date back to medieval times.

The first name Winsome can be found in records from the middle of the 19th century in North America, and seems to have been especially associated with Ontario, Canada. The reason for this may be Winsome Lake, which is one of the many thousands of smaller lakes in the Great Lakes region of Ontario, but why it inspired baby names is something of a mystery to me. I have been unable to discover how Winsome Lake received its name, because it is relatively obscure.

There are over one hundred women named Winsome in Australian records, most of them born around the turn of the twentieth century. There is another famous Winsome in Australia – Winsome McCaughey, who was Lord Mayor of Melbourne in the late 1980s. And another Australian musical connection too – Peggy Winsome Glanville-Hicks was a Melbourne-born opera composer and music critic who flourished in the middle of the 20th century.

Other successful Winsomes include British playwright Winsome Pinnock, and US Republican politician Winsome Sears. Interestingly, Sears was born in Jamaica and Pinnock’s parents were Jamaican, so there seems to be a West Indian connection. There was a grassroots playwright in Jamaica who wrote under the code name “Winsome” about 20-30 years ago. You can still find the name Winsome in use in Jamaica today, including singer Winsome Benjamin, and prize-winning cook Winsome Murphy.

Although Winsome is a secular virtue name like Felicity or Honour, the word winsome has come to have a particular meaning for evangelical Christians. The book Winsome Christianity by Henry Durbanville was published in 1952, and Winsome Evangelism by Ponder W. Gilliland came out in 1973.

I can’t pretend to be an expert on the subject, but my understanding is that the general message is to be winsome in your Christianity in order to attract more converts, and that some evangelists even use the word winsome to mean “capable of winning souls to Christ”. Author Neil Gaiman is apparently a big fan of the meaning of language changing over time, so I expect this example would be of great pleasure to him. It does give the name Winsome a special meaning for some Christians, so that it could become a religious virtue name in this context.

Winsome is a name I find very intriguing – the meaning of the word winsome seems very feminine to me, and Winsome is overwhelmingly used as a female name. Yet the name itself isn’t frilly in the least, having a similar sound to the male name Winston (which also comes from the Old English for “joy”). It’s a strong-sounding name for a girl, but with a dainty meaning.

Winsome isn’t a name I’ve ever seen on a baby or a child, and its heyday (if it can ever be said to have had one) was over many years ago. However, Winnie is becoming hip once more, and Winsome would be a rare and unusual way to reach it.

POSTSCRIPT: Abby Sandel mentioned Winsome in her Nameberry Nine column, and I was surprised and pleased at how many Berries liked or even loved the name Winsome.

POLL RESULT: Winsome received an approval rating of 61%. 21% of people thought it was an interesting modern virtue name, while 19% loved the idea of Winnie as the short form. However, 18% were reminded too strongly of the phrase win some, lose some. Only one person thought the name Winsome was too cutesy.

Never Out of Season: Different Varieties of Classic Name

27 Sunday Oct 2013

Posted by in Your Questions Answered

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roberts_springtime

Classic baby names are a perpetual subject for discussion. This week Abby Sandel wondered in her Nameberry Nine column what makes a classic name, and Laura Wattenberg at The Baby Name Wizard shared her “magic formula” for turning classic names into pure gold (unfortunately her mathematical formula doesn’t work in Australia – either we don’t have a big enough population, or enough data, or both).

“Classic baby names” are a popular search term too, but it didn’t seem helpful to just write down a list of classic names. I sorted them into categories, so you can see what kind of classic each classic name is.

I counted as a classic any name which had charted in Australia for a century, never disappeared from the charts for more than a decade at a time, and never did so more than twice. After some experimentation, I found this was the most generous definition I could work with that didn’t become meaningless.

Contemporary Classics

These classics have a very modern feel to them, because they are more popular now than they were a century ago, and didn’t experience a peak of popularity in the middle. Choose one of these, and you get a name that feels both traditional and up to date.

  • Amelia
  • Charlotte
  • Ella
  • Emily
  • Eva
  • Grace
  • Hope
  • Isabella
  • Lily
  • Lucy
  • Sophia
  • Stella
  • Alexander
  • Angus
  • Darcy
  • Harry
  • Jack
  • Lachlan
  • Leo
  • Lewis
  • Marcus
  • Max
  • Oliver
  • Samuel
  • William

Up and Coming Classics

These classics are currently rising in popularity. It’s hard for a classic name to seem surprising or original, but these mostly manage to feel quite fresh. I think these classic names would make stylish choices – they’re names that we’re subconsciously primed to want more of.

  • Adele
  • Alice
  • Amelia
  • Angela
  • Audrey
  • Daisy
  • Elaine
  • Eva
  • Evelyn
  • Gloria
  • Irene
  • Josephine
  • Leah
  • Lillian
  • Rosalie
  • Rose
  • Sophia
  • Stella
  • Victoria
  • Vivienne
  • Arthur
  • Frank
  • John
  • Lawrence
  • Leo
  • Leon
  • Lewis and Louis
  • Patrick
  • Theodore
  • Vincent

Ready Steady Classics

Name nerds often talk about “timeless classics”, and these classic names are truly timeless. Their position has remained relatively stable, and over the course of the last century, they haven’t risen or fallen more than 250 places. I call them the Ready Steady Classics because they are maintaining a steady course, and ready to be used at any time. You can’t go wrong with a Ready Steady – they’re a very safe choice.

  • Angela
  • Annie
  • Catherine and Katherine
  • Christina
  • Claire
  • Elizabeth
  • Esther
  • Georgina
  • Josephine
  • Julia
  • Katie
  • Laura
  • Maria
  • Mary
  • Naomi
  • Rachel
  • Rebecca
  • Rose
  • Sarah
  • Adrian
  • Alexander
  • Andrew
  • Angus
  • Anthony
  • Charles
  • Christopher
  • Daniel
  • David
  • Edward
  • Eric
  • Harry
  • Hugh
  • George
  • Kevin
  • James
  • John
  • Joseph
  • Leon
  • Louis
  • Marcus
  • Mark
  • Martin
  • Matthew
  • Michael
  • Nicholas
  • Patrick
  • Paul
  • Peter
  • Raymond
  • Richard
  • Robert
  • Samuel
  • Stephen
  • Thomas
  • Timothy
  • Vincent
  • William

Underused Classics

These classic names have remained in use, yet haven’t become popular during the past century (the highest any has been is the very bottom of the Top 100). Choose one of these and you get a name which seems “normal”, but also slightly “unusual”. It’s a very attractive quality.

  • Adele
  • Beth
  • Bridget
  • Christina
  • Cecilia
  • Erica
  • Estelle
  • Faith
  • Georgina
  • Greta
  • Helena
  • Hope
  • Leila
  • Louisa
  • Lydia
  • Martha
  • Miriam
  • Rosa
  • Rosalie
  • Teresa and Theresa
  • Vivian and Vivienne
  • Carl
  • Duncan
  • Ivan
  • Leon
  • Lewis and Louis
  • Theodore
  • Wesley

Faded Classics

The Faded Classics have fallen more than 250 places since they peaked in popularity, and are currently at their lowest ebb. Is that any reason to reject these names? Definitely not! A classic never goes out of style, and as many of these names have hit the bottom of their cycle, they may be about to turn things around, and begin climbing in popularity in a decade or two. Some of these classics manage to have a funky vintage feel.

  • Clare
  • Linda
  • Louise
  • Marie
  • Mona
  • Nancy
  • Patricia
  • Ruth
  • Veronica
  • Shirley
  • Susan
  • Albert
  • Brian
  • Dennis
  • Edwin
  • Geoffrey and Jeffrey
  • Keith
  • Laurence
  • Leonard
  • Malcolm
  • Murray
  • Philip and Phillip
  • Roger

Under the Radar Classics

These classic names are not peaking, or rising, or fading, or maintaining a steady course. As a result, they may have escaped your attention. You may even be surprised to find some of these are classics. Don’t overlook them – these are all good names, and one of them may be perfect for you.

  • Alison
  • Amanda
  • Anna
  • Anne
  • Beatrice
  • Caroline
  • Eleanor
  • Ellen
  • Emma
  • Frances
  • Hannah
  • Helen
  • Iris
  • Isabel
  • Jacqueline
  • Jane
  • Joy
  • Joyce
  • Madeline
  • Margaret
  • Monica
  • Natalie
  • Sylvia
  • Valerie
  • Alan and Allan
  • Alfred
  • Bruce
  • Douglas
  • Francis
  • Frederick
  • Henry
  • Ian
  • Kenneth
  • Maxwell
  • Neil
  • Rex
  • Roy
  • Stanley
  • Victor

TRIVIA

  • The most contemporary of the Contemporary Classics are Sophia and Lachlan, who have the largest gap between their current position and their position in the 1910s. Sophia is 315 places higher, while Lachlan has gained 188 places.
  • The most up and coming of the Up and Coming Classics are Rosalie and Frank, who have risen highest in the last few years. Rosalie has risen 638 places since the mid-2000s, while Frank has risen 170 places.
  • The steadiest of the Ready Steady Classics are Elizabeth and James. Elizabeth has remained within 32 places throughout the past century, while James has remained within just 15 places.
  • The most underused of the Underused Classics are Estelle and Wesley. The highest Estelle has ever been is #222, and the highest Wesley has ever been is #165 – both in the 1920s.
  • The most faded of the Faded Classics are Susan and Keith, who have fallen the most from their peak. Susan went from #1 in the 1950s to its current position of 0, while Keith went from #8 in the 1920s to its present position of 0.

NOTE: I can’t guarantee I have included every classic name. If you believe one is missing, let me know.

POLL RESULTS

Question: What type of classic name do you like best?
Underused classic – 31%
Up and coming classic – 18%
Under the radar classic – 13%
Contemporary classic – 5%
Ready steady classic – 5%
Faded classics – 3%
None (classics are boring) – 3%
I can’t decide (I love so many) – 22%

(Painting shown is Springtime by the Australian artist Charles Conder – 1888)

The Nameberry Guide to the Best Baby Names for Boys

07 Monday Oct 2013

Posted by in Name Resources

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Look on parenting sites and name forums, and one of the most common complaints is, We can’t come up with any good names for boys. People even Google, Help – I have no boys names!, to reach this blog.

Enter this handy little e-book. There are nearly 20 000 boys names on the Nameberry database, and Linda Rosenkrantz and Pamela Redmond Satran have selected 600 that they consider the most appealing and usable – the best of boys names.

There are classic names like Henry and Thomas, modern classics like Liam and Benjamin, fashionable names like Cade and Jagger, hip names like Rufus and Barnaby, traditional names like Edmund and Solomon, and less common names, like Abraxas and Poe – not to mention plenty of names from non-Anglophone countries, like Stellan and Alonzo, and vocabulary names like Justice and Wolf.

That’s a pretty wide of selection of names – this isn’t one of those books which says there’s only one kind of name that’s good to choose for your son. I would say the majority of names are ones which are not popular, but not unusual either; but if you want popular or unusual, there’s plenty to choose from.

Entries give the meaning of the name, and note famous people with the name, as well as fictional namesakes. They also describes the style of the name, and how it fits in with current trends.

The book does mention how popular each name is internationally, but the trends are from a US perspective, and sometimes they don’t gel with what is fashionable or interesting here. However, most of the information would be helpful to Australian parents.

Each name is hyperlinked to the Nameberry database, and by clicking on the heading for that name, you will be taken to the Nameberry website, to receive more information about the name, and see if the name has been covered in blog entries or forum posts.

This e-book is available from the Nameberry store in several different formats, and if you would like a print version, it can be obtained from Amazon.

Names Spotted at Home and Abroad: Winter Edition

02 Wednesday Oct 2013

Posted by in Names Spotted at Home and Abroad

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084532-baby-couture

A new trend at the moment is for a baby’s christening gown to be modelled on its mother’s wedding dress (hands up anyone who thinks it’s weird for a baby to wear a wedding dress). Mum Annie [pictured] loved her pink tulle and silk wedding dress so much that it seemed the obvious choice for a mini-me christening gown for her seven-month old daughter – and at $1200 a pop, dress designers are happy to replicate their creations in teeny-tiny mode. I know people are interested in what names the wealthy and fashionable choose for their children, and Annie’s daughter is named Pierra – which looks like a feminine form of Pierre, although it also looks like Sierra with a P.

I featured Sassafras on the blog as a girls name last year, but admit to feeling a bit doubtful at the time because I’d only ever seen the name used once – in a birth notice four or five years ago. Was it too out there to suggest as a baby name? Then after seeing a Sass Winnie in a birth announcement in August, regular commenter Sophia said that she knew a little girl named Sassafras, nn Sass. I idly asked an interstate friend over the phone if she knew a Sassafras (not thinking she would) – answer: yes, there’s a Sassafras at her son’s primary school. Now I see a toddler named Sassafras in the local paper from Bellingen on the mid-north coast of New South Wales. If nothing else, my mind has been eased about including Sassafras. It’s clearly less daring, and a lot less rare, than I thought.

A baby boy from Queensland was born very unexpectedly while his mother was taking a nap. He was born in July, on the night of the NRL State of Origin decider between Queensland and New South Wales, just as his father had left for the game. He was named Benji, after his dad’s favourite NRL player, Benji Marshall, from the Wests Tigers, who has recently changed codes and countries and gone to rugby union in New Zealand. I have noticed a lot of baby boys named Benji in the past year or so, and wonder how many of them were named after Benji Marshall – and if the numbers will dry up now that he has gone.

This website has photos of twins from around the world. WARNING: MAJOR CUTENESS ALERT! Name nerd theory states that twin names must not be “matchy”, but here’s proof tons of parents think the matchier the better. Here we have Zoe and Chloe, Jaqi and Jaqari, Xander and Xavier, Evan and Ivan, Jake and Jimi, Ruby and Rose, Jack and Daniel. I did like Reef and Eden, and Gwendoline and Jasper.

This mother of a gorgeous baby boy has the name Oriana, a medieval literary name which may mean “sunrise” or “gold”, or possibly something else. The name might remind you of the famous cruise liners, or more recently, the Bratz doll. It’s certainly a stunning name which seems very usable, with Ariana and Aurelia so fashionable at present. Oriana has a heartbreaking struggle ahead of her, so we wish a speedy recovery to her son Luca.

A story on postnatal depression, and how worryingly few people take it seriously enough, interviewed a mum, now recovered from her PND, named Cybele. Cybele is a Phrygian mother goddess whose ancient Near Eastern name possibly means “mountain”, to suggest “born from stone, born from the earth”. It is said SIB-uh-lee. I think that’s a gorgeous name, and with Sybilla so trendy, seems like a great choice for parents who want something a bit different.

Lavington Fisher of South Australia recently passed his 100th birthday, and looks absolutely amazing for his age. Lavington is a surname from place names in England meaning “Lafa’s people”; the Anglo-Saxon name Lafa may be understood as “survivor, treasure, heirloom, remnant”. Lavington is a good name for someone who has lived for more than a century! There is a place in New South Wales called Lavington, named after the English towns. It reminds me of both lavender, and lamington cakes.

The Great Australian Bake Off on Channel Nine included a contestant in her twenties named Bliss. I’ve noticed quite a few people on name forums who love the idea of Bliss, but worry that it won’t seem “name-like” enough. Having seen Bliss on a real person, I can assure them it doesn’t seem much different to Joy as a name. The trouble is that to me Bliss always seemed like a very flakey name, and the real life Bliss was actually quite ditzy and flakey, so it was rather annoying to have my name prejudice confirmed so readily.

The winner of the show was named Nancy, and I was delighted to see this name on an intelligent, attractive engineering student. I featured this name on the blog, and was pleased how well Nancy works as a young person’s name (apart from on girl detective Nancy Drew, who must be getting on a bit by now). It’s such a smart, spunky name.

Abby from Appellation Mountain did a Nameberry post about some interesting names from her family history. Most of the names from my family tree aren’t too exciting. However, when I looked way, way, way, way back, I did find a Hercules in the 17th century, a great-uncle many times over. Now I wouldn’t name a son Hercules, but it could be usable as a middle name. The thing is, is a connection from the 17th century, not even a direct ancestor, too much of a stretch as a “family name”? At what point does a name from your family tree cease to become a family name (considering that all people are related to each other at some point)?

I was chatting to some friends about the surge in popularity for retro names from the 1900s to the 1930s, such as Olive, Hazel and Florence. The general consensus was that they were over it – it’s been done to death, and so, so boring. They thought to have an interesting retro name now, you had to turn to the 1940s and ’50s – something like Linda or Valerie would seem much more hip. What staggered me is that Olive has only has just started to become popular, while Hazel and Florence aren’t even in the Top 100 yet! Yet they are already “boring”. At this rate, we will have revisited all the name trends of the 20th century by the next decade.

Interview with Ebony from Babynameobsessed

29 Sunday Sep 2013

Posted by in Blog Reviews

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downloadToday we are looking at another Australian blogger; Ebony is still in high school, and has been working on Babynameobsessed for over a year. She covers names from popular culture, names from literature, has birth notices from Western Australia (her home state), puts a spotlight on featured names, recalls names from her childhood, and considers coming name trends.

She also makes baby name predictions that sometimes turn out to be spookily accurate: she wondered back in June if Buttercup would make a great middle name, and Friday’s Birth Announcements did indeed feature a baby girl named Eve Buttercup. So for a glimpse into the future of baby names, visit Babynameobsessed (and be honest, you’re feeling a bit jealous now that you didn’t have a name blog when you were thirteen, aren’t you?)

What is your name?

Ebony Anne Smith.

Have you ever wished you had a different name?

When I found out the meaning [black], aged five, I wanted to become the exotic Yasmine or Zoe-Yasmine. For years I imagined myself with another name, though now I can’t see myself as a Yasmine or a Zoe. I do love my name, just not the racist and stripper tones my name has in America. I actually prefer my nickname that I have been called since I was little –  Ebs – to my actual name, but otherwise I am very happy as an Ebony.

How old were you when you first got interested in names?

I was around six or seven. I found a name book that had one page of boys names and one page of girls names, and I made lists of names in a notebook, which sadly I have lost. I remember liking the name Murdoch (!!!) and of course Yasmine. I think it could have been inspired by my hatred of my name as a little girl, and I’ve just stayed in love with names.

What inspired you to begin a name blog?

I was bored one day and decided I might as well make a name blog. I never expected to keep it up for a year, and for it to get as many views as it has.  Not a very interesting story but I would be lying if I said something else.

Do your family and friends know that you are interested in names, and that you have a blog?

My mum and dad and my siblings know, as do my friends. I annoy them so much with my name obsessions.

Do you have a web presence in the baby name world? 

I’m on Nameberry as ebenezer.scrouge and am thinking of starting a Facebook page, but I’m not too sure yet.

Do you have a favourite blog post on babynameobsessed?

I love the “names from my childhood” posts, and the “baby name rant” posts.

Where do you get ideas for your blog posts from?

Life and daydreams pretty much. I tend to get distracted easily and sometimes names get into my daydreams. As for life, I mean pop culture and name sightings.

What differences, if any, do you see between your naming style and older name nerds? Do you think “teenberries” have their own style/s of naming?

Teenagers seem to be more in touch with name trends, and realise that it is a lot rarer than adults seem to think to share your name with someone in a class – and most the time, if they do, name trends have nothing to do with it. With style, I don’t think so; the names that are popular today seem to be accessible to everyone.

What do you think will be the name trends of the future?

Nicknames as full names, especially in Australia, and I can see hyphenated names crossing over [from the UK] as well.

Do you have any pet naming peeves?

Old lady names (Agnes and Agatha and Beatrice), over the top names (Rosamund and Persephone), and creative spellings, especially those of Georgia.

What are some of your favourite names? 

Girls: Isobel, Matilda, Eloise, Alice, Eleanor, and Amelia

Boys: Eamon, Tiago, Cooper, Jack, Jago, Flynn, Archer, Lincoln, and Asher

What names do you dislike?

Lachlan: Overused and it just annoys me.

Jayden: It’s not a very nice name.

Jessica and Sarah: Overused for my generation.

Renesmee: It isn’t a name – its a half-human, half-vampire baby MADE UP for the book [Stephenie Meyer’s Breaking Dawn].

Are there any names you love, but could never use? 

Alice: My mum finds it an old lady name.

Ottilie: My family will think of it as a trying-too-hard Matilda.

Wilhelmina and Eulalia: Too old lady, and my family hates them.

Guilty pleasures are Artemis for either gender, Jamesina, Illyria nn Lily, and Eilidh.

What are your favourite names in the Australian Top 100?

Girls: Matilda (#21) and Eloise (#86) Boys: Jack (#1) and Cooper (#7)

What are your favourite names that have never charted in Australia?

Eulalia and Tiago.

Do you have names picked out for your future children?

Isobel Jamesie Rose and Eamon James Harold. I also have decided that Anne and Grace need to be in a future child’s name.

What is something we don’t know about you?

I am highly clumsy and manage to fall up stairs, and in Coles [supermarket]. And a random fact is my family is of Scottish and English ancestry, and the Smith side is actually Scottish. I often wish I had a more Scottish last name.

What advice would you give to someone who was choosing a name for their baby?

Imagine the name on a baby and an adult. Sure, Honey or Pixie might be cute now, but I’m fourteen and would hate to be named Pixie.

(Photo of Ebony from her blog; used with permission)

An Interview with Linda Rosenkrantz from Nameberry

25 Sunday Aug 2013

Posted by in Blog Reviews

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The baby name world changed forever when Pamela Redmond Satran and Linda Rosenkrantz penned their seminal work, Beyond Jennifer & Jason, back in the 1980s. Many more books were to follow, and along the way they educated a generation of parents on naming babies, and made it possible to admit to being interested in names – even obsessed with them. Now they have the Nameberry website, which provides a massive amount of information and opinion on names, creates a space for name nerds everywhere to meet up with other devotees, and inspires many a name blogger. Pam and Linda are the fairy godmothers of the baby name community, and you can link with them on Facebook and Twitter too.

Linda has been kind enough to take some time from her busy schedule to be interviewed on names, writing Jennifer & Jason, creating Nameberry, and how their love of names changed all our lives.

What is your name? 

Linda Rosenkrantz aka Linda Ruth Rosenkrantz Finch.

Have you ever changed your name?

This is a story that I’ve told in a Nameberry blog. It’s about how I was give a name at birth, but never called by that name. I was so traumatised when I began kindergarten and was called by that unfamiliar name that my wise mother allowed me to pick a new one for myself at the age of 5 or 6.

When did you first become interested in baby names?

I would say names in general rather than just baby names have always been a passion of mine from a very early age – a shrink might say it dates back to that kindergarten experience. And being a compulsive list-maker, I was constantly making lists of names, including names for fictional characters, names of prospective husbands, and of course, future children.

How did you and Pam meet?

A mutual friend brought her over for dinner to where I was then living, in Greenwich Village [in New York City], and we hit it off immediately – bonding, in part, over our mutual love for and attitudes towards names. Strangely enough, that was one of the few times we lived in the same city – she later moved to England, then the Bay area [of San Francisco], and then New Jersey. I settled in Los Angeles.

What made you decide to write Beyond Jennifer & Jason together, and how did the process of writing and publishing go?

Pam had been frustrated at the fact that there were no good name books around when she was naming her first child, Rory, and I had the idea of writing an article about the subject for Glamour magazine where Pam was an editor. We both realized that this had the makings of a book that would be a perfect project for a collaboration.

We wrote a very short outline of Beyond Jennifer & Jason and brought it to an agent, who thought it was so original – no one had ever looked at names this way, taking in their contemporary social context and categorising them – that he was sure he could sell it. It was bought by St. Martin’s Press, who published all ten of our name books, all edited by the excellent Hope Dellon.

Over the years, we have gone from communicating via thermal faxes to the internet – I’d say we email an average of 25 times a day, plus phone confabs and New York meeting several times a year. Responsibilities have been divided along the lines of our various strengths. But when it comes to working on some large project, we might split the boys and girls, then switch and edit each others’ efforts. It’s been a remarkably congenial, long-term marriage.

How did the success of your first book change your lives? Did you wake up one morning and discover you were now international baby name gurus?

First of all, here’s Pam’s answer to this question:

The first book changed my life in that it allowed me to quit my full-time job as an editor at “Glamour”, work at home as a writer full-time, and spend more time with my children – at that time, my oldest was only three years old. Although “Beyond Jennifer & Jason” was a big hit, we didn’t feel like international baby name gurus. Just writing books, you have so much less relationship with your readers, and it was difficult for us to tell how much influence our work really had. Our books were not published outside the US until the early 2000s, so we certainly didn’t feel like we were having an international impact overnight … or for a really long time.

Yes, it was a gradual process – and, although our books were successful in the UK, it wasn’t until the internet hit that we expanded into international “gurus”. Cumulatively, it has changed my life completely – widening my world in all sorts of ways, providing immense gratification. And it’s also been VERY HARD WORK.

When did you and Pam start the Nameberry website?

We started off with a smaller site, based on our book The Baby Name Bible. (We were fortunate enough to retain the digital rights to all our books – which is a very unusual situation). Nameberry began in 2008; we were excited to expand the word to a larger audience. We had no idea at the time that such a huge community of name lovers would form around the forums and blogs – an incredible group of informed, helpful people – now reaching two million people a month!

Do you have a favourite blog post that you have written for Nameberry?

Hard to come up with one post, but I especially enjoy those that require a lot of research, and feel good when I can come up with a topic that hasn’t been touched on before. (Which gets harder and harder with all the input we’re now getting from our great Berry Juice bloggers.)

There’s been some new developments on the site recently – what else is in the pipeline?

We are working on some new features, but we’re most excited about two new e-books – best girls’ names and best boys’ names.

What are some of your favourite names?

Pam and I did a slideshow of our faves on Nameberry, which includes several names I never tire of – Barnaby, Mirabella, Dinah, Duncan, and Araminta.

What names do you dislike?

Herman and Sherman.

Are there any names you love that don’t seem practical in real life?

That area is definitely narrowing. Some of the multi-syllabic and exotic names that once seemed too heavy for a baby to carry now seem perfectly wearable – like Persephone, Peregrine, Zinnia, Amaryllis and Peridot. The baby-naming climate is so much more “anything goes” than it was when Pam and I started.

What are your favourite names in the US Top 100?

Girls: Amelia, Lydia and Violet. Boys: Josiah, Julian and Lucas.

What are your favourite names in the rest of the US Top 1000?

Girls: Ivy, Maeve, Paloma and Arabella. Boys: Declan, Edison, Finnegan and Jedidiah.

What are your favourite names that have never been in the US 1000?

Verity, Boaz and Barnaby.

What is your child’s name?

Chloe Samantha (the Samantha was for my father, Samuel, who had recently died).

Did you and your husband agree easily on a baby name together?

Since my husband is British, we had some varying perceptions of names, especially boys names – and in fact never did find a boy’s name we both really loved. But when we hit on Chloe, there was instant agreement.

What is something that we may not know about you?

That I’ve written books on subjects ranging from Old Hollywood to collectibles to the history of telegrams to animation art to memoir to fiction. And Pam is a New York Times best-selling writer of fiction and humorous books.

(Photo of Linda and Pam from Nameberry; Linda is on the left)

A Quick Guide to Swistle: Baby Names

21 Sunday Jul 2013

Posted by in Blog Reviews

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ntfield2

Swistle’s Name

Kristen is the insightful blogger behind Swistle: Baby Names, but she writes under the whimsical name Swistle, with her avatar labelled as Swistle, of Thistleville. I’m not sure what she intended by the pen name, but it reminds me of a wind whistling through a field of thistles – someone with a mind which is cool, sharp and practical.

Who is Swistle?

Swistle is the doyenne of personalised baby name advice columnists. From reading her blogs, the impression I get of Swistle is that she is a person with exacting standards, but realistic expectations. Which I think is the perfect mindset for a baby name advice blogger.

The Premise of the Blog

People write in with their baby name dilemmas, and Swistle answers them. Along the way, interesting naming issues come up for discussion, such as whether babies choose their own names, or what happens when all the names you like are really popular, or how to stop someone from using a nickname for your baby that you hate, or why isn’t Parsley a name. But plenty of people just want to know the correct pronunciation of a name they are considering, wonder which spelling of a name would be best, or seek to make their sibset sound harmonious, or at least not terrible.

Getting Involved

You are free to weigh in with your own opinions by leaving a comment, and if you don’t feel you have anything new to add, you can often participate in public polls.

Updates

When the parents eventually have their baby, they write back and tell us all what name they chose, and sometimes include a photo of their new bub so we can see how well the name suits them. (At this point, you may find that the parents have ignored every piece of advice given to them, and gone with the name they wanted to use all along, even though nobody liked it, and tried to persuade them not to use it).

Getting Help From Swistle

You need to email her with your problem – Swistle provides information on how best to get your letter selected, because not every letter can be published. She says she only answers questions from US parents, but if you aren’t from the USA, you may be able to get your letter published on general naming topics. I have seen one Australian get their letter published.

Swistle’s Favourite Baby Name Book

The Baby Name Wizard by Laura Wattenberg. She also keeps a close eye on the US popularity charts.

How Long Has Swistle Been Blogging?

She began Swistle: Baby Names in February 2008, but she had been blogging since 2006 on a personal level. She was on Blogspot until earlier this year, when she moved onto her own website (a process which involved much wailing and gnashing of teeth, apparently).

Swistle’s Other Blogs

Swistle, which is a personal/parenting blog, and Milk and Cookies, which is a shopping blog.

Swistle on Social Media

You can connect with her through the Facebook page for the baby names blog, and through Twitter, but this is a personal account and not primarily for baby names.

Other Places That Swistle Has Written About Names

Nameberry, BlogHer and Pregnancy & Newborn magazine. She has also been recommended on Disney Baby’s Best Blogs for Baby Name Inspiration.

Swistle’s Children

She has five children, including a pair of twins. On her blog, she uses as their aliases Robert, William, twins Elizabeth and Edward, and Henry. However, she explains on BlogHer that their names are actually closer in style to Ian, Keegan, Clarissa, James, and Caleb.

Baby Name Advice from Swistle

She has prepared a “cheat sheet” for expectant parents, to help them start their baby name quest the right way. Here’s the low down:

  • Make a list
  • Consider people, places and fictional characters you may want to honour
  • Check the popularity rankings
  • Even on your first baby, think ahead to future sibling names
  • See the middle name as a place to have fun and seek compromise
  • Be reassured that everything will work out

The best advice I think that Swistle has ever offered on her blog is that there are NO RULES when it comes to choosing baby names. So many people limit their choice of baby name according to what they think they “should” pick, that they end up eliminating all their favourite names, or find that there are no names left that they like.

(Picture shows a field of Nodding Thistles)

Names in the News

17 Wednesday Jul 2013

Posted by in Names in the News

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We’re all getting royal baby name fever, and Nameberry are currently running a “Guess the Royal Baby Name” Competition. You have to pick the full name, with all middle names in their correct order, for ONE GENDER ONLY and you can only guess ONCE. More than 200 people have already entered, so don’t forget to check that someone hasn’t already made your suggestion. The first correct entry wins a $100 gift voucher from the Nameberry store – what a fantastic prize! Be in it to win it.

The Maitland Mercury is also running a royal baby name contest, and you only have to get the first two names right. So if you guess Victoria Alice Mary Rose, and the baby is named Victoria Alice Elizabeth Diana – that’s good enough. To give you some ideas, the most common names in both family trees are Elizabeth and John, but more unusual names from the baby’s ancestry include Boniface, Lancelot, Cyrian, Marmaduke, Sylvanus, Garin, Theophilus, Elie, Eusebia, Honor, Thomasin, Ursula, Permelia, Albina, Grissel, and Hyacinth. To enter, get your hands on a copy of the July 8 edition of the Mercury, and fill in the enclosed coupon. The prize will be a piece of royal memorabilia.

The Gold Coast Bulletin ran a royal baby name contest of their own, and some of the suggestions were Hashtag, Betty, Frank and Cody. Favourite names chosen for the future prince or princess by Gold Coasters included Jack or Juliette, Nicholas or Sally, Cyril or Charlotte, Jacinta and Isabel. The most commonly suggested names were Elizabeth or Diana for a girl, and George for a boy. A local royal watcher is hoping for a Victoria or an Edward.

Meanwhile, an Australian relative of Kate Middleton’s mother from Gilgandra predicts that the royal baby will be a girl named Elizabeth. She will be born between 2 pm and midnight, and weigh less than 2.26 kg (5 lb). She also predicted the baby would be born “within a few days” on July 5, so I think that one at least has got away from her.

Is your son named Jack, Joshua or Thomas? If so, you’ve gone with a safe bet, as these are the only names to have appeared on every Top 10 names list in New South Wales since 1995, with powerhouse Joshua the number one name from 1995 to 2003. No girls names have managed to withstand the test of time like this.

Perhaps you went with something less popular – if so, you don’t need to worry. Journalist Fallon Hudson admits that she hated her unusual name growing up, and thought about changing it to Sarah or Jessica. Her name was confused with Falcon and Felon, and sometimes it just plain confused people. But she’s learned to appreciate her name, even embraced it. So if your children aren’t too enthusiastic about their names, just wait a while. They might come around.

Have you ever bought a dining table named Ashton or a flower arrangement called Ava, and wondered how businesses pick out human names for their products? Hat designer Brenda Lui, who has headwear named Gretel, Celeste, Jacinta and Kiama, explains that she picks her feminine hat names out of a baby name book in alphabetical order. I would love to know how she selects a name from within each letter of the alphabet. Brenda, if you ever read this, please get in contact!

The rugby league columnist for the Sydney Morning Herald wonders when the birth of a footballer’s baby became news. I don’t know, but I feel I’m not helping the matter … On June 10, the columnist fretted as to why Jonathan Thurston’s baby hadn’t been announced in a press release (I feel his pain), and said sarcastically that if anyone could publish the baby’s name it would be as big as Watergate. If you check my blog, June 10 was when I announced Frankie Louise Thurston’s name, which the Cowboys had announced through their Twitter account. Now I feel like Woodward and Bernstein … which makes Twitter Deep Throat.