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Waltzing More Than Matilda

~ Names with an Australian Bias of Democratic Temper

Waltzing More Than Matilda

Tag Archives: Swistle

Take Five For Waltzing More Than Matilda’s Fifth Birthday!

14 Sunday Feb 2016

Posted by A.O. in Blog News

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Appellation Mountain, Baby Name Pondering, Bewitching Names, British Baby Names, celebrity baby names, celebrity sibsets, Facebook, For Real Baby Names, Nameberry, Swistle, Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian, The Herald Sun, Twitter, Upswing Baby Names, Wikipedia, You Can't Call It "It"!

Screen-shot-2015-12-01-at-1.56.11-PM

Yesterday marked five years since I started Waltzing More Than Matilda. Time seems to have flown while I had fun, because it feels as if I have only just started, and still have lots to learn. For my fifth blogging anniversary, here are the top five results in various categories from Waltzing More Than Matilda.

Waltzing With … Names
Waltzing With … Taiga
Waltzing With … Archibald
Waltzing With … Lawson
Waltzing With … Mary
Waltzing With … Sunniva

Famous and Requested Names
Famous Name: Barack
Famous Name: Adelaide
Famous Name: Molly
Requested Famous Name: Banjo
Requested Name: Dimity

Names from Name Lists
Girls Names of Australian Aboriginal Origin
Girls Names From Stars and Constellations
Boys Names From Stars and Constellations
Boys Names of Australian Aboriginal Origin
Names of Convicts on the First Fleet

Articles
Upper Class Baby Names
Finding Baby Names to Match Your Surname
You Can’t Call it That: What the Law Says About Naming Baby
What Happens if You Don’t Register Your Baby’s Name?
Choosing Between Two Baby Names

Celebrity Babies
Virginia Trioli and Russell Skelton
Miranda Kerr and Orlando Bloom
Mick and Angie Molloy
Leigh Sales and Phil Willis
Livinia Nixon and Alistair Jack

Celebrity Sibsets
Brody Dalle and Josh Homme
Dave Hughes
Richard Roxburgh and Silvia Colloca
Kate Langbroek
The Daddo Brothers

Name Help
A Girl’s Name From an Aboriginal Language Meaning “Star”
Can You Suggest an Old-Fashioned Sibling Name That’s Nickname-Proof?
Can You Suggest Any Vintage Names for This Couple?
Is Margot the Next Big Thing?
Can You Suggest an Australian-Themed Name for the Third Triplet?

Interviews
Bewitching Names
Swistle
You Can’t Call It “It”!
Appellation Mountain
For Real Baby Names

Most Commented Articles
What Do You Think of These Names for Twin Girls?
Girls Names Which Rose in Popularity in 2012
Is Cressida a Girl Name or a Car Name?
Why Your Child Will Hate Their Name
Underused Names for Girls

Favourite Pictures (most often clicked on)
The Turnbull Family Wedding
The Newton Family Christening
Kangaroo at Lucky Bay
Japanese Tiger
Miranda Kerr and Orlando Bloom

Top Referrers (you most likely came here from ….)
Search engines
Facebook
Appellation Mountain
Nameberry
Wikipedia

Top Clicks (you most likely leave my site to go to ….)
The Herald Sun
The Australian
Nameberry
Twitter
The Sydney Morning Herald

Favourite Blogs on Blog Roll (most often clicked on)
Appellation Mountain
Baby Name Pondering
Upswing Baby Names
For Real Baby Names
British Baby Names

Top Countries (you are most likely in …)
Australia
United States
United Kingdom
Canada
New Zealand

Top Search Terms
waltzing more than matilda
flynn christopher bloom
virginia trioli baby
lynette bolton
sydney

Top Names Searched For
Hazel
Ruby
Ella
Olivia
Rose

Top Commenters
Prue
Clare
Ebony
Madelyn
Nana Patricia

Thank you to all my readers, subscribers, followers, and commenters for five years of enjoyable blogging! And have a happy Valentine’s Day!

Review of The Baby Name Wizard

08 Sunday Dec 2013

Posted by A.O. in Blog Reviews

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

baby name blogs, baby name books, Biblical names, celebrity baby names, celebrity names, Hispanic names, Laura Wattenberg, name trends, Nameberry, rare names, Swistle, The Baby Name Wizard, UK name trends, US name trends

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.

A Quick Guide to Swistle: Baby Names

21 Sunday Jul 2013

Posted by A.O. in Blog Reviews

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

baby name books, BlogHer, Blogspot, choosing baby names, Disney Baby, Facebook, food names, honouring, Laura Wattenberg, middle names, Milk and Cookies, name popularity, Nameberry, naming issues, nature names, nicknames, pen names, plant names, popular names, Pregnancy and Newborn Magazine, sibsets, Swistle, Swistle: Baby Names, The Baby Name Wizard, Twitter, US name popularity

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)

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