Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Awesome blog
Check Out: http://nameoftheyear.blogspot.com/-- a blog devoted to strange names. An awesome read!
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Meet 'Flicity & Conna', the new baby names from the texting generation
The nice thing about baby names is that even older articles are usually still relevant.
By LUKE SALKED
Last updated at 08:06 31 March 2008
Read more:
ore parents are giving their children names derived from texting language
Given the unstoppable rise of text language, it was only a matter of time before children's names went the way of traditional English.
Sure enough, text-style versions have begun to appear on birth certificates.
Anne has been changed to An, Connor to Conna and Laura to Lora.
Six boys were named Cam'ron instead of Cameron. According to the online parenting club Bounty, one girl born last month was named Flicity. And there are numerous young chaps named Samiul.
Last year, a couple were told they would not be allowed to register their son's name as 4Real.
Officials in New Zealand ruled that the use of a number made it inappropriate, so Pat and Sheena Wheaton had to opt for their second choice - Superman.
In this country, other bizarre choices officially registered have included Ikea for a girl as well as Moet for a boy whose parents might have a soft spot for the champagne label.
The trend is thought to be inspired by the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow, who named her daughter Apple, and Jamie Oliver, who has daughters Daisy Boo and Poppy Honey.
Bounty spokesman Pauline Kent said: "Some of these new and different names are a way for parents to give their children a unique identity.
"It is similar to the thinking that goes in to naming a new brand of product for example - something to make them stand out from the crowd."
Others in recent registers have followed the example of the Beckhams, who named their eldest son after the place where he was conceived.
But while David and Victoria chose Brooklyn, children in Britain have been named after places such as Finchley in North London and the cathedral city of Ely in Cambridgeshire.
Both are male names. Other examples of unusually-titled boys registered in the past 12 months include Rocky, Rivers and Red.
As well as Ikea, recent girls' names have included Paprica, Caramel, Bambi, Fire-Lily, Skylark and Tame - which apparently stands for The Apple of My Eye.
On the text-style names, John Dunford, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said it was possible that new mothers and fathers had lost the ability to spell.
He added: "Some of it is genuine misspelling; some is parents looking for a unique way to spell a name and some is just carelessness.
"It makes life very difficult for teachers taking the register and completing forms."
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-550688/Meet-Flicity--Conna-new-baby-names-texting-generation.html#ixzz0neTws8O3
Report: Lord Jesus Christ Hit by Mass. Car
Updated: Friday, 07 May 2010, 1:18 PM EDT
Published : Friday, 07 May 2010, 1:18 PM EDT
(NewsCore) - Cops in Northampton, Mass., issued a traffic citation this week to a driver whose car hit Lord Jesus Christ, WWLP reported Friday.
The crash happened Tuesday on Main Street in front of Fitzwilly's, Northampton.
Lt. Michael Patenaude told 22News a 50-year-old man, Lord Jesus Christ of Belchertown, was struck as he crossed Main Street a little after 3:30pm Eastern Time.
Twenty-year-old Brittany Cantarella of Pittsfield was cited for failure to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk.
Lord Jesus Christ was treated for facial injuries at Cooley Dickinson Hospital.
Lt. Patenaude said the man had a Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles identification card. Officers checked his ID and discovered that, indeed, his legal name was Lord Jesus Christ.
I suppose it's better than naming your kid Satan.
Monday, May 10, 2010
The Twilight Effect: Why Do So Many Parents Choose The Same Baby Names?
From Time Magazine:
By Claire Suddath Monday, May. 10, 2010
People are naming their children after vampires. The Social Security Administration has released its list of 2009's most popular baby names, and the leading choices were Isabella and Jacob. Both names just happen to belong to main characters in the Twilight book series. True, Isabella has been trending steadily upwards since the 1990s and Jacob has been in the top spot for 10 years in a row (thus predating 2005's Twilight). But one of the rising names is almost certainly the result of Stephanie Meyers' blood-sucking romance: Cullen. The last name of Meyer's sexy main vampire jumped 297 spots in one year and is now the 485th most popular first name for a baby boy. (Read TIME's Q&A with Kristen Stewart.)
Cullen is also part of a larger trend: two-syllable male names that end in the sound "-en." Aiden is another example (12th most popular name). So is Jayden (#8), Logan (#17), Nathan (#24), Kevin (#44), Justin (#46) and a name I've never heard of before — Brayden. At #47, it means I'll probably start meeting a number of Braydens in about 20 years. Likewise, nearly half of the 50 most popular girl names end in "-a," just like Isabella. Why does this happen? Why do parents so often choose the same names for their newborns?
The short answer is because people copy each other, and no one likes to be that unique. Just as fashion and music trends wax and wane, so do baby names. Girls born in the 1980s were given perky, peppy monikers that ended in "-y" or "-ie" — Tiffany, Ashley, Katie, Brittany. These days it's all about the soft, feminine ending: Isabella, Emma, Kayla and Ella. Sociologists and journalists often propose their own theories about child names, though they usually end up being nothing more than unfounded speculation. CBS News once asserted that Emma became popular in 2002 because Jennifer Aniston's character named her child that on Friends. But Emma had been on the rise since the 1980s and it broke into the top 20 a full three years before Rachel and Ross had their fictional night of passion. Friends probably had very little to do with it.
Dig a little deeper, and baby name trends become much more complicated. According to Harvard University's Roland Fryer and the University of Chicago's Steven Levitt, blacks and whites chose similar names for their babies until the 1970s, when hospitals began seeing a rise in so-called "black" names such as Ebony, Shanice or Darnell. The racial name divide is now so strong that Fryer and Levitt claim that 40% of all African-American babies born in California are given a name that doesn't appear on even a single white birth certificate. (They limited their study to California for simplicity's sake). (Comment on this story.)
Geography can also play a part. In 2009, Hebrew University researchers Jacob Goldenberg and Moshe Levy looked at names' varying popularity among different U.S. states, and found that people are likely to give their kids names that are popular in their town, city, or state. Judging from the Social Security's name database, they seem to be right. Isabella broke the top 5 most popular list first in Colorado and Rhode Island. From Colorado, it spread to California, Nevada and Arizona. From Rhode Island it hit Massachusetts, New York and New Jersey. Now it's all over the country.
But why did it start in Colorado and Rhode Island? And what happened in 1991 to suddenly shoot the name up 210 spots, from 698 to a still fairly uncommon 488, in just one year? Unfortunately, no one really knows. Ultimately, baby names remain subject to the whims of the people who bestow them. Parents are responsible for all the Isabellas, Emmas and Madisons in the world, not to mention the creative misspellings (Keighty instead of Katie, Danyale instead of Danielle) certain to drive their children mad for the rest of their lives.
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1988092,00.html#ixzz0nY3BIg2W
By Claire Suddath Monday, May. 10, 2010
People are naming their children after vampires. The Social Security Administration has released its list of 2009's most popular baby names, and the leading choices were Isabella and Jacob. Both names just happen to belong to main characters in the Twilight book series. True, Isabella has been trending steadily upwards since the 1990s and Jacob has been in the top spot for 10 years in a row (thus predating 2005's Twilight). But one of the rising names is almost certainly the result of Stephanie Meyers' blood-sucking romance: Cullen. The last name of Meyer's sexy main vampire jumped 297 spots in one year and is now the 485th most popular first name for a baby boy. (Read TIME's Q&A with Kristen Stewart.)
Cullen is also part of a larger trend: two-syllable male names that end in the sound "-en." Aiden is another example (12th most popular name). So is Jayden (#8), Logan (#17), Nathan (#24), Kevin (#44), Justin (#46) and a name I've never heard of before — Brayden. At #47, it means I'll probably start meeting a number of Braydens in about 20 years. Likewise, nearly half of the 50 most popular girl names end in "-a," just like Isabella. Why does this happen? Why do parents so often choose the same names for their newborns?
The short answer is because people copy each other, and no one likes to be that unique. Just as fashion and music trends wax and wane, so do baby names. Girls born in the 1980s were given perky, peppy monikers that ended in "-y" or "-ie" — Tiffany, Ashley, Katie, Brittany. These days it's all about the soft, feminine ending: Isabella, Emma, Kayla and Ella. Sociologists and journalists often propose their own theories about child names, though they usually end up being nothing more than unfounded speculation. CBS News once asserted that Emma became popular in 2002 because Jennifer Aniston's character named her child that on Friends. But Emma had been on the rise since the 1980s and it broke into the top 20 a full three years before Rachel and Ross had their fictional night of passion. Friends probably had very little to do with it.
Dig a little deeper, and baby name trends become much more complicated. According to Harvard University's Roland Fryer and the University of Chicago's Steven Levitt, blacks and whites chose similar names for their babies until the 1970s, when hospitals began seeing a rise in so-called "black" names such as Ebony, Shanice or Darnell. The racial name divide is now so strong that Fryer and Levitt claim that 40% of all African-American babies born in California are given a name that doesn't appear on even a single white birth certificate. (They limited their study to California for simplicity's sake). (Comment on this story.)
Geography can also play a part. In 2009, Hebrew University researchers Jacob Goldenberg and Moshe Levy looked at names' varying popularity among different U.S. states, and found that people are likely to give their kids names that are popular in their town, city, or state. Judging from the Social Security's name database, they seem to be right. Isabella broke the top 5 most popular list first in Colorado and Rhode Island. From Colorado, it spread to California, Nevada and Arizona. From Rhode Island it hit Massachusetts, New York and New Jersey. Now it's all over the country.
But why did it start in Colorado and Rhode Island? And what happened in 1991 to suddenly shoot the name up 210 spots, from 698 to a still fairly uncommon 488, in just one year? Unfortunately, no one really knows. Ultimately, baby names remain subject to the whims of the people who bestow them. Parents are responsible for all the Isabellas, Emmas and Madisons in the world, not to mention the creative misspellings (Keighty instead of Katie, Danyale instead of Danielle) certain to drive their children mad for the rest of their lives.
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1988092,00.html#ixzz0nY3BIg2W
Sunday, May 09, 2010
top names of 2009!
The Social Security Administration finally published their top 1000 names of 2009! I've re-organized them based on spelling in order to get a better idea of what names are popular.
Some highlights:
Politics seems to have influenced names last year:
Two of the biggest moving names are Malia and Sasha (President Obama's daughters' names) as well as Willow and Piper (presidential candidate Sarah Palin's daughters' names). Bristol, the name of Palin's oldest daughter, appeared in the top 1000 for the first time ever last year as well. Hillary, which has been slowly increasing in popularity since the end of the Clinton administration, fell out of the top 1000 last year.
The Twilight books/movies seem to have had a big influence as well, with Isabella being the new #1 name for girls. Bella is one of the biggest upward moving names for girls as well. For boys, Cullen appeared in the top 1000 for the first time. However, Edward, which peaked in popularity in 1909 and has been on a steady decline ever since, is still not showing a comeback.
Celebrities' babies also seemed to have an influence on naming last year: Vivienne, the name of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's daughter entered the top 1000 for the first time since 1930 and Knox (Vivienne's twin brother) showed up for the first time ever. Maddox, Jolie & Pitt's oldest son's name added another spelling to the top 1000 (Maddux) and is also on the rise. Harlow, another name showing up in the top 1000 for the first time has most recently come to prominence as the name of Nicole Richie and Joel Madden's daughter, although actress Patricia Arquette also has a daughter named Harlow. Kalel, the real name of Superman as well as the name of both Nicolas Cage's and actor Terry J. Vaughn's sons also debuted in the top 1000 last year.
For boys, the -aiden names still reign supreme. Aiden is still #1, with Jayden at #2. Relative newcomers Zayden and Raiden are two of the year's biggest movers, while Caden is #7, Brayden #25 and Hayden at #94.
Some highlights:
Politics seems to have influenced names last year:
Two of the biggest moving names are Malia and Sasha (President Obama's daughters' names) as well as Willow and Piper (presidential candidate Sarah Palin's daughters' names). Bristol, the name of Palin's oldest daughter, appeared in the top 1000 for the first time ever last year as well. Hillary, which has been slowly increasing in popularity since the end of the Clinton administration, fell out of the top 1000 last year.
The Twilight books/movies seem to have had a big influence as well, with Isabella being the new #1 name for girls. Bella is one of the biggest upward moving names for girls as well. For boys, Cullen appeared in the top 1000 for the first time. However, Edward, which peaked in popularity in 1909 and has been on a steady decline ever since, is still not showing a comeback.
Celebrities' babies also seemed to have an influence on naming last year: Vivienne, the name of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's daughter entered the top 1000 for the first time since 1930 and Knox (Vivienne's twin brother) showed up for the first time ever. Maddox, Jolie & Pitt's oldest son's name added another spelling to the top 1000 (Maddux) and is also on the rise. Harlow, another name showing up in the top 1000 for the first time has most recently come to prominence as the name of Nicole Richie and Joel Madden's daughter, although actress Patricia Arquette also has a daughter named Harlow. Kalel, the real name of Superman as well as the name of both Nicolas Cage's and actor Terry J. Vaughn's sons also debuted in the top 1000 last year.
For boys, the -aiden names still reign supreme. Aiden is still #1, with Jayden at #2. Relative newcomers Zayden and Raiden are two of the year's biggest movers, while Caden is #7, Brayden #25 and Hayden at #94.
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