Keeping Up With the Joneses: Boys

Here are some of the interesting names I found among babies born in California in 1995 with the last name Jones...

Boys' names are more conservative than girls' names usually. Boys tend to be named after their fathers or grandfathers, thus keeping the pool of boys names around longer. Thus said...

Different Spellings:
Alax, Aren; Ahrin, Bobie, Bow, Mycheal; Mykell, Briyn, Camrin, Cyle; Kiel, Shon, Alawishes, Coraey, Dametreous, Daunne, Dezmin, Kirt, Graigoree, Heith, Joshuwa, Jahshua Izayah, Jeremiha, Eligah, Jessi, Emmanule, Donavaughn, Juelian, Ugene, Jhon, Lundyn, Nyegel; Nijal, Banjamin, Myals, Phoenyx, Phyllip, Sederick, Stephvon, Toney, Trentyne, Aleq, Tyylr, Cindney, Wolter, Nickalous

New words/places as names:
Summet, Brae, Bishop, Quest, Britton, Brue, Cairo, Rucksac, Coy, Cutter, Pleas, Dreamius, Dynamite, Glendale, Travel, Blue, Iron, Ivy (boy), Jewell (boy), Kohl, Magic, Major, Moon, Nail, Reyn, Roche, Talon, Chicago, Mericle, Wren

Interesting combos:
Avie Hugh
Avondre Davalillo
Belafanti Desean
Bijon Christen
Bodhi Sage
Breeze Loyd
Grath Junior
Kelly Junior
Bronden Trinidad
Jehonathan Jesiah
Burk Tryon
Caesar Adolph
Malcolm Sadat
Carr Esquire
Charunn Chadonye
Cheapell Leesy
Dolan Obanion
Edker Ree
August Mandela
Jack Strongheart
Jaz E
Johnnie Danny
Kenneth Leviathan
Kerry Rhyanwy Stjohn Lars
Joseph Alexander Eaglebear
Justin Tyme
Kheywan Darnyeh
Kreol Deluch
Leif Lynn
Lucky Larrise
Love Ray
Master K
Royal Gene
Ruff Sidney
Sam Lucky
Sky Blue
StJoseph Love
Theopolis Q
Tito Tomito
Toussaint Louverture
Trinity Saint
Trinydad Azwad
Withfield Edison
Zonkiss Ailliot

interesting names:
Dwyan, Dimmak, Mecail, Quista, Gekill, Cacess, Ireno, Wyld, Benczesh, Boliver, Caitland, Aramis, Carzie, Cass, Celtin, Jonluc, Cisco, Claudie, Claster, Miro, Alaric, Cotrino, Jehoiakim, Dracy, Elza, Vlee, Ivyrage, MacAi, Dixo, Ney, Sil, Sio, Lonzie, Marquezze, Nethario, Phylester, Quayd, Shonga, Tavish, Tennyson, Yonex

Famous People:
Carlos Ponce Jones
Christian Dior Jones
Ralph Waldo Jones
Franklin Dwayne Roosevelt Jones
Zachary Taylor Jones
Frederick Douglas Jones
Germaine Quincy Jones
James Quincy Jones
Hans Christian Jones
Rickie Lee Jones (boy)
Indiana Jacob Harrison Jones
Milan Indiana Jones
Rusty Allen Jones
Jaime Lee Curtis Jones (boy)
James Earl Jones
James Taylor Jones
Jesse James Jones
Lynard Jodeci Jones
Aron Elvis Jones
Ptolemy Lee Jones
Ramses, Marsalis, Nero, Shaquille, Imhotep, Olajuwon

Super Welsh boys:
Dylan Emlyn, Bryn Gareth, Gareth Owen, Llewellyn, Scott Taliesin, Trevor Dylan

Say what?
Cheaquis, Cjance, Msonrerome, Jahkesce, Kamj, Ldewaynelee

Keeping Up With The Joneses: Girls

I found a list of all the babies born in california in 1995 with the last name Jones. I don't know if it's having such a common name that inspires people to come up with interesting first and middle names, or whether people in California are just creative in general... here are some of the best ones. I've divided them up into categories:

Different spellings:
Aeriane, Moniq, Aijha, Airrika, Aarika, Jazzmn, Alehxa, Elizabith, Rynae; Ranae; Reanee; Ranai, Leea, Nikcole, Joszalynn, Channel, Justean, Jurnee, Athyna, Joiece, Bryttnie, Kayluh; K'la, Keilii, K'lin; K'Lynn , Cameil; Kimille , Celest, Maigen; Magen, Cymone; Cmone, Ileah, Destynee, Kireston, Dihaana; Dhyonna, Leaanna; Leeuana, Emylie, Errieyona, Launa, Elease, Dilynn, Jacci, Kurstie, Kyanha, Kyndahl, Lacrezha; Lecricia, Onnamerie, Lizzett, Llyandra, MacAela, Anet, Mechell, Khrystyne, Melonye, Natacheau, Aprol, Paje, Ulexis, Preshess, Raechel, Leesza, Veola, Sarha, Kelle, Daziree, Shylo, Taelar, Shunnice


Interesting changes to "standard" names:
Adriani, Chelony, Cheyennenicole, Cloverise, Dajonnaise, Dyniele, Erinique, Aerolyn, Amenda, Jaddie, Jasmanique, Jastine, Jesslin, Karci, Chasidi, Chastitty (oh lord, like Chastity needs "titty" in it!), Brigzette, Marymarie, Chellle (3 LL's?), Naycole, Deslie, Centhia, Kathaleen, Kathleena, Kimberlina, Kirtrina, Lawreca, Annettia, Michelae, Ashlina, Emmia, Kymber, Lynnta, Sharlie, Sienne, Skaylin, Taylia, Tellyn, Tessandra, Theesha, Titiyana, Winnerfrid, Anntionette

New words and places as names:
Arrabia, Capri, Caprice, Chariot, Arteria, Clariyon, Cleopatra, Cypress, Milan, Artesia Tierra, Divine, Diva, Evian, Fashionee, Lovella, Neon, Porsche, Queen, Radiance, Atlanta, Holland, Honesty, Kamio, Kamry, Avylon, Ikeia, Brazille, Minyon, Britania, Queenesther, Myangel, Reign, Sahara, Yugonda, Mafia, Magenta, Ontaria, Milaysia, Mohogany, Mystique, Nigeria, Normandie, Paradise, Passion, Parish, Peris, Persia, Espree, Saucie, Samoan, Infinity, Scoutt, September, Shalamaur, Shardinae, Shasta, Provincetta, Sheraton, Silken, Silver, Special, Suede, Sylk, Tanganyika, Tawnie, Teale, Tequila, Terrany, Tommorrow, Tribecca, Tuzday, Wednesday, Zyaire, Divenity, Coy

These combinations are just unusual and really cool/interesting sounding:
Valexia Xariah
Akita (like the dog?)
Alexandria Indiana Jones
Amekco Darsha
Angelon Bridjae
Typanga Leamber
Avion Gznell
Breeanna Brene
Clarencia Doll
Crysheena Precious
Venus Shalon Judy
Curtiss Lovejanice
Elmallah Ai
Taylor Dane
Taylor Omega
Gessie Orrie
Heavenly Day
Ironnisha Zanneka
Jazzreeal Letease
Yonta Cheramia
Shimerea Breez
Jetaime Noir (Je t'aime noir - I love black in French?)
Kashshay Benzanae
Zena Petrice
Krystalline Dawn
Laolen Bee
London Summer
Nevada Skye
Sommer Porche
Moonlight Redcloud
Stormi Sunshine
Precious Uniquejewels
Reverdia Shellique
Tranea Rhontich
Trasalia Rhunette
Sable Diamond
Stormiweather Lee
Whisper Nikowah

More interesting names: Lajodeci, Kotey, Laporscha, Tudie, Jazzy, McCall, Mauthee, Michivan, Lark, Remington, Mookie, Scharnell, Starsetta, Sabri, Tazz, T'pring (yes, like on star Trek), Zuzu, Zebora

There are no "standard" ways to spell a few names that have become popular: one that's like /day-zhaun-ay/ (kind of like the French déjuner) and just /zha NAY/

Here are a bunch of ways it's been spelled:

Daishenae, Daijonae, Daijanee, Daeshonaye, Dashanae, Daejione, Dajohnia, Dashanae, Dazhane, Deozjane, Deajuane, Deshanai, Deshaunay, Deshonna(?), Dezjona, Dezohnaye, Dezsanee, Dijone (?), Deshanee, Dejanae, Dashanay, Daeshaney

J'nae, Janay, Janae, Jinae, Janee, Jenee, Jenae, Jenay, Genee, Jonnay, Zanae (?), Janaay, Zhane, Jene, Chanae, Jhanay, Johnnai, Johnnae, Jonae, Jonay, Jynae, Shanae, Jaunae, Jenea, Jeanae, Shanay, Shanaye, Shanea, Shenaye, Jonaye, Shaneye, Shenai, Jahnae, Jeneh, Chaney, Zchonae

Feminine forms of masculine names (or just usually masculine names on girls):
Calvinisha, Alvinisha, Willisha, Clarencia, Dylana (x2), Edwanesha, Haroldnesha Glennae, Paulnisha, Tommielee, Anthoniece, Jeffrie, Jimmia, Jimmie, Johnna, Johnnia, Johnetta, Joshlyn, Justann, Johnniece, Ericee, Leroyia, Pierra, Marcel, Dimitri, Richandra, Rickia, Israela

I've been studying names for decades, and I am stumped as to how to pronounce these:
Mlyn, Kginia, Myqui, Ksa, Cynkerenee, Neae, Ahynee, Macyk, Niekiha, Ryclynn, Qawiyelaine, Dijieshon, Synyahnadell, Victishalynd, Xjhunneh, Tychaniquean Latayzatelen

The Welsh Names Saga

I've been working on a site for Welsh names. In my research, I decided to look through newspapers and such to find names of *real* Welsh people, since all my books do is list names and meanings. I know many of these names are from mythology and aren't really used for people these days. Thus my search began.

I found this site of Female Mathematicians from the University of Wales and, always on the lookout for new and interesting names, found these listed among them:

Arvonia Decima Jones (graduated 1911)
Sylvie Tryphena Chapple (1924)
Dilys Eluned Francis (1925) - her parents weren't kidding around with Welsh names! Everyone else with Welsh names had the middle name of Mary, Margaret or Elizabeth.

From the rest of the site:
Lesbia Laurence Merron Boyd (Edinburgh University, 1929)
Beatrice Mabel Cave-Browne-Cave
Frances Evelyn Cave-Browne-Cave - both grads of Cambridge University (Girton College) in 1898)--- Three last names? Yikes!
Zona Cone (London University, 1933)
Gladys Diaper (London University, 1923)(this just made my inner 10-year-old giggle)
Alphonsine Josephine Elizabeth Deckers (Cambridge University, 1890)
Hettie Hardy (Cambridge University, 1930)-- that name's just fun to say!
Myma Kay Heathcote (Oxford, 1939) At first I thought it was "myrna", but it's MYMA.
Ismay Caer Levy (Cambridge, 1939)
Rosamond Moncrieff Leitch (Cambridge, 1902) -- this is a serious, serious name.
Blodwen Myfanwy Leeson (Reading, 1939)-- there goes my Welsh middle name theory!
Jemima Arulman Manuel (London University, 1940)
Ethelberta Mary Morris (Cambridge, 1928) - I'm glad my name isn't Ethelberta.
Gwneth Nesta Lilian Ruthven Murray (Cambridge, 1903) - interesting spelling
Ione Dorothy Vivienne Naish (Sheffield, 1924)
Shakuntala Paranjpye (Cambridge, 1929)-- this is the only non-British name I've come upon so far!
Dulcie Vivien Reynolds (London University, 1940)-- I love the names Dulcie & Vivien
Magdalen Harriet Ricardo (Cambridge, 1898)
Mary Shakespeare Richards (Cambridge, 1887)-- it's kind of awesome that someone with the middle name Shakespeare went on to study mathematics.
Nannie Savage (Belfast, 1933) --this sounds like a Horror Movie title.
Ottilie Shaw (Cambridge 1903)
Cecil Stokes (Cambridge, 1914) -- Cecil for a girl?
Vendla Harriett Matilda Thane (Cambridge, 1909)
Ethelberga Margaret Terry (Cambridge, 1938)
Olive Malvina Toogood (London Univ., 1924)-- that name is just 'too good' to pass over.
Eunice Oenone Wolstenholme (Cambridge, 1933)


Back to Welsh Names:
In skimming through newspapers, it looks like about 25% Welsh people have Welsh first names, with guys twice as likely to have one as girls. This is interesting, because when I lived in Ireland, my non-scientific survey told me that more girls than boys tend to have Irish names.

Why is this? Someone give me a grant to study it!

Harry Pitts?

From MSNBC

The worst, most humiliating baby namesAncestry.com shares the silliest, craziest and downright cruelest names of all time

What would compel a parent to bestow a newborn with a name like “Tiny Hooker” or “Fanny Large”? Or an amusing choice like “Wanna Towell"? It’s not just Hollywood’s elite opting for unique, embarrassing names—throughout history, normal people separated their offspring from the masses with truly terrible names.

In “Bad Baby Names,” Michael Sherrod and Matthew Rayback, of the genealogy Web site Ancestry.com, share thousands of shocking names given to real people, as recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau. Discover the funny names based around common themes, like diseases (Fever Bender, Cholera Peace), food (Bread White, Pomegranate Purple), pets (Good Dog), and if you thought Wednesday Addams was unfortunate—wait till you meet Monday Monday.

Diseases
You'd have to be really sick to infect your offspring with virulent names like these:

Fever Bender (born 1856)
Leper Priest (born 1929)
Cholera Priest (born 1830 during the second cholera pandemic)
Rubella Graves (born 1814)
Typhus Black (born 1897)
Hysteria Johnson (born 1881)
Emma Royd (born 1850)
Kathryn E. Coli (born 1894)
Mumps Sykes (born 1891)

Professions
With names like "Mayor Bland," it seems like some parents had high, ambitious hopes for their children's future. Cook Cook
Governor Bush
Lawyer Low
Doctor Love
Teacher Blackbear
Judge Savage
Editor Honeycutt
Mayor Bland
Sales O. Justice
Gamble Moore

Sins
The authors found 149 records for people named Lust, 70 for Greed, 12 for Sloth, and 830 for Pride. Which of the 7 deadlly sins was missing? Only gluttony.

Lust Garten
Greed Sister Mancini
Avarice Sullivan
Sloth Washton
Wrath Gordon
Envy Burger
Pride Saint
Greed McGrew
Pride Saint
Lust T. Castle

Irish luck
Plenty of parents must have thought that naming their child Lucky would translate into a bright future. In 1930 alone, there are 463 Luckys.

Some lucky favorites:
Lucky Green
Lucky Jewell
Lucky O’Brien
Lucky Pleasant
Luck Fortune
Shamrock Hardeman of Illinois
Shamrock Dates of Mississippi
Shamrock Holland of Texas

The religious types:
Saint Patrick Blan
Saint Patrick Forrest
Saint Patrick

The patriotic:
Ireland England
Ireland Green
Irish Sea
Ireland Brew

Whimsical:
Rainbow Green
Emerald Jewel
Clover Field
Clover B. Green

A St. Patrick’s Day feast:
Beef Cooper
Guinness Dack
Cabbage Haywood

Foods
Some parents loved eating so much, they named their kids after favorite meals, snacks—and even condiments:Lunch Magee
Dinner Ware
Bread White
Hero Brat
Mayo Head
Mustard M. Mustard
Pickle Parker
Plum Sellers
Banana Bowdy
Cherry Grant

Celebrities
Forget Suri or Shiloh – celebrities have given their children far stranger names! Discover the stars' oddest, most bizarre baby names:

Apple (Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow)
Moxie CrimeFighter (Magician Penn Jillette)
Hopper (Sean Penn and Robin Wright)
Pilot Inspektor (Jason Lee and Beth Riesgraf)
Sosie (Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick)
Destry (Steven Spielberg and Kate Capshaw)
Aurelius Cy (Elle Macpherson)
Kal-El Coppola (Nicolas Cage)
Bluebell Madonna (Spice Girl Geri Halliwell)
Audio Science (Actress Shannyn Sossamon)
Sage Moonblood (Sylvester Stallone)
Tallulah (Bruce Willis and Demi Moore)
Kyd (David Duchovny and Tea Leoni)

Bart Simpson pranks
Bart Simpson's prank calls to Moe's Tavern are nearly legendary, but the sad fact is that some people actually go through life with those goofy names. The following Bart creations all exist within the Ancestry.com databases:Al Caholic
Oliver Clothesoff
I.P. Freely
Seymour Butz
Mike Rotch
Hugh Jass
Amanda Hugginkiss
Ivana Tinkle
Anita Bath
Maya Buttreeks

TODAY hosts
Just how popular are the TODAY hosts' last names? Discover the funny names found on historical documents at Ancestry.com:

Matt Lauer
Lauer Froelick
Lauer Mann
Lauer Witt
Lauer Bucktels
Lauer Guiliani
Lauer Klump
Lauer Funk

Meredith Veira
Vieira Jack
Vieira Wesley
Vieira Boyd

Ann Curry
Curry Bee Massey
Curry Curry
Curry Duck
Curry Mayo
Curry McCain
Curry Murray
Curry Rice
Curry Worthy

Al Roker
Roker Duane
Roker Ono
Roker Richards
Prince Roker

Athol, MA tired of being the butt of jokes

March 6, 2008 - 11:40pm

By STEPHANIE REITZ
Associated Press Writer

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) - A cable sports network says it no longer will make Athol the butt of its jokes.

Comcast SportsNet said Thursday it would pull a newspaper ad that leaders of the small central Massachusetts town called insulting and offensive.

The ad featured two side-by-side signs that together read: "We can pronounce Worcester ... without sounding like an Athol."

A network spokesman said it apologized Thursday to the town and Selectman Wayne Miller, who raised the issue this week after residents complained that the ad ridiculed Athol by linking its name to a similarly sounding vulgarity.

Town selectmen voted Tuesday to have the town attorney write a letter of protest to the company, and Miller also urged residents to boycott papers if they ran the ads.

It was even more offensive, they said, because the advertisement required mispronouncing Athol to make its point. The correct pronunciation is "ATH'-awl."

"There's always been this, shall we say, 'humorous' pronunciation," Miller said Thursday. "If one person is doing it, that's nothing to worry about. But you have to draw the line when a major company uses it to make money."

Comcast SportsNet spokesman Skip Perham said Thursday the ad was intended as a humorous play on words, but that they respect Miller's concerns. Its reference to the odd pronunciations of some Massachusetts town names was meant to underscore the ad campaign's tag line: "If you live here, you get it."

The network will immediately stop publishing the ad, which last appeared in Thursday's editions of the Boston Herald. Perham said it ran periodically to promote one of Comcast SportsNet's regular sports analysis and interview programs.

Athol, a town of about 11,500 in north-central Massachusetts, is believed to have been named for the Scottish second Duke of Atholl, who died two years after the town was incorporated in 1762.

That's the legacy modern-day Athol residents and leaders promote, though Miller said they recognize they have to accept a certain amount of lowbrow humor.

"Obviously we've heard it before," he said.

Selectman Susannah Whipps was the lone selectmen of the five to vote against sending the letter to the network. She told the Telegram and Gazette newspaper of Worcester that she was not offended by the ad, and predicted the publicity would help Comcast.

She was more concerned, she said, about vandals who add an "r" and an "e" to town signs to change the name to "rathole."

English Words as African Names

From the NY Times October 1, 2007

In a Land of Homemade Names, Tiffany Doesn’t Cut It

BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe — Thirty-two years ago in western Zimbabwe, a baby boy named Tlapi was born so sick that his parents feared he would die. They took him to sangomas, or traditional healers, and to Western-style doctors, but nothing worked. It seemed that God, not man, would decide his fate

Smile, a truck driver in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, shows a facial expression fitting of his name.

So when he was 1 year old, Tlapi’s parents changed his name to reflect that. “Some people think I’m lying when I tell them my name,” said Godknows Nare, who survived to become a freelance photographer. “They think I am teasing them. But I’m not.”

Not at all. In Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital, another Godknows was a waiter at a popular outdoor cafe. So was a man named Enough, about whom more will be said later. Across southern Africa, in fact, one can find any number of Lovemores, Tellmores, Trymores and Learnmores, along with lots of people named Justice, Honour, Trust, Gift, Energy, Knowledge and even a Zambian athlete named Jupiter.

Some Westerners chuckle. Perhaps they are oblivious — Oblivious is another Zimbabwean name, actually — to the fact that they once idolized a cowboy star named Hopalong or that many baby girls are given the name of a jewelry store to carry through life.

Indeed, Godknows, Enough and company are a continuation of an African tradition arguably more logical than the one that churns out Justins and Tiffanys in America. In southern Africa, a child’s name is chosen to convey a specific meaning, and not, as is common in the West, the latest fashion.

Increasingly, however, those traditional names are bestowed not in Ndebele, Sotho or some other local language, but in English, the world’s lingua franca. English names arrived with colonial rule, were further imposed by missionaries and, for some, became fashionable with the spread of Western culture.

But for Godknows, Enough and others, the result can be confusion — and sometimes, hilarity — even among fellow Africans.

“Quite a few people tell me I am cursed,” said Hatred Zenenga, an editor at Zimbabwe’s government-controlled newspaper, The Herald. “They say my name is un-Christian. They tell me that I should change it to Lovewell, or some other Christian name. And others are just surprised — ‘How did you get that name?’”

Hatred got his name the way millions of other children here have — as a means of recording an event, a circumstance or even the weather conditions that accompanied their births.

“For instance, if it was windy, the name may be Wind. If it was rainy, it may be Rain,” said Matole Motshekga, the founder of the Kara Heritage Institute, based in Pretoria. “If there are problems in the family, they will use the appropriate name. So you cannot just name someone out of the blue. It has to relate to something.”

Thus a Zimbabwean baby born to parents who had spent years trying to start a family might be named Tendai, which expresses thankfulness, and a child born in a time of troubles may be named Tambudzai, which literally means no rest.

Or, just as likely these days, a baby will be named Givethanks or Norest. If a Sotho-speaking girl becomes pregnant before marriage, her unhappy parents may name the baby Question or Answer — an answer to the question of why their daughter was behaving so strangely before the pregnancy became known.

Hatred has its own story. Mr. Zenenga is one of seven children born to hard-working parents who were determined to educate their brood. The family’s rising status made the father’s illiterate brothers jealous. So except for the first child, who died as an infant, all the children were named to address the jealousy and other emotions that raged among the adults: Norest, Hatred, Praise, Confess, Raised-on and Abide.

For Mr. Zenenga’s parents, the names were an inside joke, a fillip in the continuing family feud. “My father’s relatives didn’t speak English,” he said. “So he said, ‘We’re going to name our children in English so they won’t understand what we are saying to them.’”

Some scholars, including Dr. Motshekga, frown on the trend toward Anglicized names. “It’s an entrenchment of a loss of identity,” he said, “a joke. You say ‘I’m Wind,’ and they really make fun of the person.”

The Financial Gazette in Harare loosed an assault on the trend toward English names in a 2004 essay. “Oh, please! Why burden our children so unnecessarily just for the sake of feeding our misguided ego?” a columnist complained. “Quite frankly, these names amount to a form of child abuse.”

In some cases, maybe. Have-a-Look Dube is a well-known Zimbabwean soccer player. There are Zimbabwean children named Wedding, Funeral, Everloving, Passion and Anywhere, among others. A spirit medium who recently duped Zimbabwean officials into believing he had found diesel fuel flowing from a rock has the unfortunate name of Nomatter Tagarira. A Bulawayo truck driver is named Smile, and true to form, he is never without a broad smile on his face.

That said, none of the monikers were plucked from “1,001 Baby Names” or chosen to imitate a pop star. Consider Enough, the Harare cafe waiter. Asked how he got his name, he said simply: “My mother had 13 children. And I was the last one.”

Then there is the fellow from Dopotha, a village west of Bulawayo, who was born while his father was in Congo, fighting in that nation’s civil wars. When the father returned, the father concluded that the newborn almost certainly was not his, and he decided to make that clear.

The son’s name? Never Trust a Woman.

Baby-name remorse -- what do you do?

By Anna Jane Grossman

from CNN.com

(LifeWire) -- Pauline and Jeffrey Eadie, of Cleveland, had gathered the family together to watch home movies of their two older children as babies. In one movie, Jack, now 5, was looking skeptically at his then-newborn sister, now 3. "In the video, I was saying, 'Jack, go to the baby, go hug her,'" says Pauline. "And then at some point I said, 'Go kiss Emma.'"

Unaware that her name had been changed when she was a newborn, Pauline Eadie's daughter, Caroline, looked at her and asked 'Who's Emma?'"

The Eadies are among a surprising number of parents who, following the birth of their child, suffer namer's remorse. In a recent poll of 1,219 mothers conducted by BabyCenter.com, 10 percent considered changing their baby's name. The reasons they gave ranged from being inspired by another name to having a relative disagree with the choice.

Regret is common after any big decision, and few prenatal decisions these days are as open to debate as picking a child's name. Rare are the parents who haven't invested in a small library of baby-name books or trolled the Internet for a name unique enough to be usefully Googled, but not so weird as to cause ridicule.

"Today, there's this perception that naming a child is almost like naming a product -- there's this huge national drive now to not be like anyone else," says Laura Wattenberg, author of "The Baby Name Wizard" and founder of the blog BabyNameWizard.com.

That may be one reason some parents have second thoughts when they realize they've picked the present-day equivalent of Jennifer or Justin.

In her first few years, 6-year-old Sophie Sauber's parents, Rob Sauber and Suzanne Ramljak, of Connecticut, were overwhelmed by the number of Sophies they encountered daily. Four out of 13 kids in their daughter's preschool class were named Sophie, and other parents were constantly yelling it at the mall. When Sophie was almost 4, they asked how she'd feel about being called Isadora, a name they'd considered before she was born.

"She understood our reasoning and liked the name. We weren't going to force her," says Ramljak. One day, after a trial period of a couple of months, she introduced herself as Isadora. "It was like, 'That's her name now!'"

Noting that by 12 months children already recognize the sound of their names, Dr. Karla Umpierre, a Miami psychologist and family counselor, encourages parents to get the child's input and approval if they decide to change the name after age 2. "It's best to change the name before then, because by 2 or 3 they have a sense of identity, and it could send mixed messages. The child might ask himself, 'Do you want to change me?'"

"Stability is very important for children," says Dr. Umpierre. "And changing a name could create a lot of insecurity."

For most parents, the urge comes long before the baby can say his or her own name. Wavering is not uncommon for those who figure they'll pick a name once they see the baby. "But that's a tall order to put on a newborn," says Wattenberg. "It's hard to look at this 7-pound thing and say, 'Oh! She's an Abigail!'" So they choose something quickly and then spend weeks second-guessing themselves.

That was the case for the Eadies. When their daughter was born, the nursery was full and the nurses were rushing them to sign the birth certificate and leave the hospital. "Emma seemed pretty," Pauline Eadie says. They sent out birth announcements, "but it just felt strange coming out of my mouth." They decided they preferred a family name, Caroline.

Adrienne and Matt Grayson, of Charleston, South Carolina, settled on the name Luke early in her pregnancy. "I also loved the name Beckett, but it felt a little weird, like Apple," says Adrienne Grayson, referring to the name actress Gwyneth Paltrow gave her daughter. When the baby was born, they named him Luke Beckett Grayson. What followed was a sea of engraved picture frames, monogrammed pillows, "Welcome Luke" signs drawn by the Grayson's older children -- and a wave of regret.

"I couldn't shut up about how we should call him Beckett instead of Luke, and I also started mourning my maiden name, Shaw," Adrienne Grayson says. "I thought I should've made that his middle name because we weren't going to have more kids."

The more she reflected, the more she wanted to change Luke's name to Beckett Shaw Grayson. The process involved hours on the phone with the Social Security office and the county clerk. She found that although it's legal to change a minor's name (as long as both parents consent), states don't always have a well-oiled system in place for regretful parents.

When her son's new Social Security card arrived, it read, erroneously, "Shaw Luke Grayson."

The Eadies, too, were bounced from one government agency to another. Eventually they filed the paperwork with a probate-court judge to change "Emma" to "Caroline."

Since learning of the name she had for the first eight weeks of her life, Caroline has taken to renaming her dolls.

She also has announced that she prefers the name Emma.

Stop killing my names!

Every name I've really loved has gotten popular by some way or another lately. Violet-- thanks, Ben Affleck & Jennifer Garner and Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters for naming your kids that. Now it's probably going to skyrocket in popularity. In fact, it's already started-- it went from #362 to #271 between 2005 and 2006. OK, forget Violet-- it sounds kind of like "Violent" and even though it's my favorite flower, it still leads to the awful nickname of "Vi."

Today I was reading a bunch of movie reviews in Rolling Stone, and every single movie had a character name that's on my Special Reserve Names list: Cecilia, Bryony, and JUNO. Yes, Juno. What's going on? Why has the movie industry tapped into my brain? I mean Juno. It's not like my favorite name on earth is Katelyn or Mary or something. I thought Juno was pretty way out in left-field.

I understand that Victorian names are entering a cycle of popularity, so forget favorites like Ruby and Daisy. I can't say that I thought of Ella and Lola first-- they're just cycling back into favor. Poppy and Phoebe are all the rage in England now, so it won't be long before they hit U.S. shores. But Juno?!? Let's hope people don't see the movie and automatically go out and name their kids that!

More on African American names...

from ABC news

Can a 'Black' Name Affect Job Prospects?

Can a Black-Sounding Name Hurt Your Career Prospects?

So 20/20 asked the six to participate in an experiment.

20/20 put 22 pairs of names to the test — the six skeptics included.

Each person posted two résumés on popular job-search Web sites — one under his or her real name, and the same identical résumé under a made-up, "white-sounding" names like Peter, Melissa and Kathleen.

You'd think the identical résumés would get the same attention. Instead, the résumés with the white-sounding names on them were actually downloaded 17 percent more often by job recruiters looking for candidates.

"You really never know why you don't get called back for that interview. I thought it was because of my job skills, or my résumé wasn't appropriate, but I never thought it was because of my name," Carita said.

She was shocked by the calls from potential employers — not to her, but to her fictitious white counterpart. "I was just blown away that Kathleen got phone calls for three of the four weeks of the study, and I didn't get any. And Kathleen does not exist," she said.

Arsenetta also was envious of her fictitious white alter ego, Kimberly.

"They were calling her morning, noon and night," she said. "I was standing there looking at my phone going, 'God, I want to answer that phone call and tell the man I'm interested in this job!' "

Ebony felt frustrated that companies were quick to stereotype her by name. "Once they get to know me, they say, 'Oh, you know, she is Ebony but she's not that militant one or she's not that rowdy little girl or she's not the ignorant one. She's very smart and very capable of doing this job,' " she said.

What kind of companies were responsible? Our independent research found biased responses from employment agencies, law firms and even large financial corporations.

But capable doesn't always matter. A job recruiter for Fortune 500 companies in northern California revealed an ugly secret.

"There is rampant racism everywhere. And people who deny that are being naïve," said the recruiter, who spoke on the condition her name would not be used.

The recruiter said if she were given two résumés, all else being equal, except one says Shaniqua, and the other says Jennifer, she would call Jennifer first.

It's a choice she says she was trained to make: When representing certain companies, do not send black candidates. And on a résumé, a name may be the only cue of the applicant's race.

"I think that the way that I had been taught and what has helped me to succeed in the industry is unfair," she said.

It's also racist, and, quite possibly, illegal.

That's why author Shelby Steele feels African-Americans must think long and hard before giving their children unusual or "black-sounding" names.

"It's a naïveté on the part of black parents," Steele said, "to name their children names that are so conspicuously different than American mainstream names. … It suggests to people outside that community who hear those names a certain alienation. Certain hostility."

Steele, a researcher specializing in race relations and author of A Dream Deferred: The Second Betrayal of Black Freedom in America, is essentially telling black folks, don't name your child Deshawn or Loquesha.

"Yes. … I'm saying don't name your son Latrelle. Don't do that. … He's going to live 50, 60 years in the future. Give him a break. You know, call him Edward."

Challenge the Bias, Not the Names

But sociologist Bertice Berry says there are prominent African-Americans who've overcome the stigma of a black-sounding name, including top presidential adviser Condoleezza Rice.

"We've learned to say Condoleezza. And you just can't get more ghetto than Condoleezza," Berry said.

Opera diva Leontine Pryce also overcame any stigma attached to her name.

"We hear Leontine and you think opera," Berry said, "… When they're associated with power and wealth we learn them." Berry says what needs to change is society, not black names.

But the bias against those names, it seems, starts very early. University of Pittsburgh Vice Provost Jack Daniel studied 4- and 5-year-old children and found racist perceptions were deeply ingrained at an early age.

White children had a tendency to associate negative traits with black names, according to Daniel. "Your name can hurt you," Daniel said, "but you've got to change the people who hurt you because of your name.'

So, Daniel and his wife, Jeri, rejected white-sounding names for their own children. They chose African names — Omari and Marijata. "We thought that it was really important that the assimilation process not dissolve who we were as a people," Jeri Daniel said.

The Daniels' children carried on the tradition, naming their children Amani, Akili, Deven and Javon. They see the names as a source of pride.

But some of today's black-sounding names are more about conspicuous consumption than tradition. There is a trend to name children after luxury goods, like Moet, Lexus, even Toyota.

Steele said that trend "suggests real cultural deprivation. And it's heartbreaking to hear it."

Berry feels that "There's a responsibility, when anybody names a child, to name them something that means something." But she added, "I don't think we need to tell people, 'Don't name them that, because I don't like the way it sounds.' "

Unhappy with her own name and her experience in the job market, Tiqua Gator named her son Derek to help him get by in white America. "If I was to have any more children, it wouldn't be any Tiquas or it wouldn't be any Tamikas or Aishas. It would be something common," she said. "I wouldn't want my child to go through the same thing that I've went through."

There's Something About a Name...

A new psychological study probed why some names seem to fit certain facial types.

Psychologists Probe Why Some Names Seem to Fit Certain Facial Types

By NED POTTER
May 24, 2007

Robin Thomas said she had two young women in a psychology course she taught. One was named Kristen, the other Heather.

"And I had that hardest time remembering which was which," she said. "I mentioned it to them at the end of the term, and they said, 'All our friends have the same problem.'"

Thomas, a psychology professor at Miami University in Ohio, began to wonder. One woman was a tall blonde; the other was a shorter brunette. Perhaps somewhere in her mind, something determined what someone named Kristen or Heather ought to look like -- and these two students broke the mental mold.

A Rose by Any Other Name

So Thomas and three colleagues -- Melissa Lea, Nathan Lamkin and Aaron Bell -- devised a series of experiments to test people's preconceived notions of names.

In one, they gave volunteers a series of common male names (Bob, Bill, Tom, etc.) and asked people to create pictures of what someone with one of those names ought to look like.

In another test, they showed their volunteers pictures of two men -- one with a round face, the other with a thinner, longer face -- and asked them to decide which was "Bob" and which was "Tim."

You can try the quiz HERE.

The results they report were remarkably consistent. A "Bill" had a certain look to people, and it was different from a "Mark."

And Thomas said she found the stereotypes useful. If a guy was named Joe -- and somehow looked the part -- then it was easier to remember him.

"The better the fit," she said, "the faster you were at learning the names."

Thomas and her colleagues have written an academic paper on their findings, which has been accepted for publication in the journal Psychonomic Bulletin & Review. To rule out factors such as gender and ethnic origins, they restricted their experiments to names common among white males in Ohio, where they recruited the volunteers for the study.

In their paper, the researchers wrote, "Few worry about whether the name will provoke a facial stereotype in the minds of others (hmmm … he doesn't look like a 'Bob'), but, as the present research suggests, this may be yet another potential worry to have when one selects a name for one's progeny."

But why should any of this be? For now, that remains a mystery, but psychologists have several theories.

It may be, for instance, that people make associations between names and the faces of famous people who have those names. If you hear the name "Tom," you may automatically think of Tom Cruise.

But that doesn't hold up when one considers how many different-looking people have names Thomas' team tested. When you hear "George," what face comes to mind first? George Washington? George W. Bush? George Clooney? They don't exactly look alike.

Thomas' favorite theory, one that she hopes to test in future experiments, is that deep inside the brain, certain sounds automatically bring certain visual connotations to mind.

"We suspect that the sound of a name carries over into the visual," she said.

She points us back to the Bob-vs.-Tim experiment in which people overwhelmingly decided that someone named "Bob" had to have a round face.

"Listen to yourself as you make the sounds, and the way you shape your mouth," she said. "Perhaps 'Bob' is a round-sounding name and 'Tim' is a thin-sounding name."

It may well be that certain names really do have a connection to certain types of faces; after all, some names do carry in families. But Thomas said she doesn't explain the stereotyping we automatically make.

"I'd be really spooked if all the Bobs in the world really were round-faced."

Is this decision 4Real?

From ABC News:

June 23, 2007

Actress Gwyneth Paltrow named her baby after a fruit, Apple. Comedian Penn Jillette chose Moxie Crimefighter for his spunky daughter.

And while unusual names may be a Hollywood staple, some believe it may cross the line in the real world.

One New Zealand judge even blocked one family from using the name it chose. The judge said the name was unfair to the child.

"Initially, the reaction is, 'Are you for real?'" said Pat Wheaton, the New Zealand father who was blocked from naming his son 4Real.

Wheaton said the idea for the name came when the couple saw the first scan of the child.

"We started thinking 'Jeez, he is for real?'" Wheaton said.

The couple's idea came naturally, but many parents are feeling the pressure to be different.

Baby naming is big business today. Some parents are turning to professional consultants, computer programs, polls and even numerologists to achieve the perfect moniker for their bundle of joy.

"Parents think that if they give their child a unique and special name, the child will become unique and special," said Bruce Lansky, author of "100,000 Baby Names."

Nevaeh, which heaven spelled backwards, has become one of the world's most popular names. But others don't always pass the societal test.

Two boys, one in Michigan and the other in Texas, bear the name ESPN. They were named after the sports network.

In some countries, names are illegal -- like Adolf Hitler and Osama Bin Laden in Germany.

And French parents must choose from an approved list. The laws are designed to prevent teasing.

In America, almost anything goes.

"You can't use a four letter word that I wouldn't use in this interview anyway, and other than that you're free to do what you want," said New York University Sociology Department Chairman Dalton Conley. "That's part of the first amendment right to free speech here in America."

Only as the children grow up will people learn if these interesting names will be the source of ridicule.

Alas, no baby "@" for Chinese couple!

From Yahoo News:

BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese couple tried to name their baby "@", claiming the character used in e-mail addresses echoed their love for the child, an official trying to whip the national language into line said on Thursday.

The unusual name stands out especially in Chinese, which has no alphabet and instead uses tens of thousands of multi-stroke characters to represent words.

"The whole world uses it to write e-mail, and translated into Chinese it means 'love him'," the father explained, according to the deputy chief of the State Language Commission Li Yuming.

While the "@" simple is familiar to Chinese e-mail users, they often use the English word "at" to sound it out -- which with a drawn out "T" sounds something like "ai ta", or "love him", to Mandarin speakers.

Li told a news conference on the state of the language that the name was an extreme example of people's increasingly adventurous approach to Chinese, as commercialisation and the Internet break down conventions.

Another couple tried to give their child a name that rendered into English sounds like "King Osrina."

Li did not say if officials accepted the "@" name. But earlier this year the government announced a ban on names using Arabic numerals, foreign languages and symbols that do not belong to Chinese minority languages.

Sixty million Chinese faced the problem that their names use ancient characters so obscure that computers cannot recognise them and even fluent speakers were left scratching their heads, said Li, according to a transcript of the briefing on the government Web site (www.gov.cn).

One of them was the former Premier Zhu Rongji, whose name had a rare "rong" character that gave newspaper editors headaches.

17 kids whose names start with J...

And only on #17 did they use Jennifer. That's what impresses me the most!

Arkansas couple welcomes 17th child

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - It's a girl — again — for the Duggars. Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar welcomed their 17th child, and seventh daughter, into the world Thursday.

Jennifer Danielle was born at 10:01 a.m. at Saint Mary's Hospital in Rogers, Ark., the Duggars said in an interview. Jennifer weighed 8 pounds, 8 ounces and arrived five days after Michelle's due date.

Less than 30 minutes after giving birth, the Duggars already were talking of having more.

"We'd love to have more," Michelle said, adding that the girls are outnumbered seven to 10 in the family. "We love the ruffles and lace."

Jennifer joins the fast-growing Duggar brood, who live in Tontitown in a 7,000-square-foot home. All the children — whose names start with the letter J — are home-schooled.

The oldest is 19 and the youngest, before Jennifer, is almost 2 years old.

"We are just so grateful to God for another gift from him," said Jim Bob Duggar, 42, a former state representative. "We are just so thankful to him that everything went just very well."

Jennifer joins siblings Joshua, 19; John David, 17; Janna, 17; Jill, 16; Jessa, 14; Jinger, 13; Joseph, 12; Josiah, 11; Joy-Anna, 9; Jedidiah, 8; Jeremiah, 8; Jason 7; James 6; Justin, 4; Jackson, 3; Johannah, almost 2.

The family includes two sets of twins.

Michelle Duggar said that Joshua, Janna, Jill and Jessa were at the hospital, but that the rest of the family planned to visit their new sister later Thursday.

Michelle Duggar said she started feeling contractions Wednesday night and went to the hospital at about 5 a.m. Thursday.

"It actually went fast," she said. "I guess once I started progressing, it went within 30 minutes."

Jennifer was born via a VBAC — or vaginal birth after Caesarean, Jim Bob Duggar said.

The Duggars have been featured on several programs on cable's Discovery Health Network. The next special, the Duggar Family Album, is scheduled to air next month, Jim Bob Duggar said.

Among the "fun facts" listed on Discovery Health's Web page devoted to the Duggars: A baby has been born in every month except June; the Duggars have gone through an estimated 90,000 diapers, and Michelle, 40, has been pregnant for 126 months — or 10.5 years — of her life.

Italian Surnames

Some Italian surnames can mean strange and/or funny things. Check it out:

http://www.beginningwithi.com/italy/living/surnames.htm

Who's a good boy? DAVE! Yes you are!

Here's an article about the correlation between the most popular dog names and baby names in NYC and Britain.

While we're on the subject, why *do* some names just work well for dogs, and others don't? I remember when my sister was pregnant with her first kid, she wanted to name him "Zeke," but everyone said that was a "dog name."

Then I met a dude with a large, smelly bulldog named Sarah. That was just weird. I mean, Sarah. I know about 50,000 girls named Sarah. Would you name a dog Dave? Maybe a cat. My stepfather had 12 cats and 5 dogs when my mom met him--he had named them all after his (now ex-) in-laws. Thus I would let Emily, Judy, and... i can't remember the rest of the dogs' names out at night when I house-sat, and made sure that Dave and Tim didn't scratch the couch, while Bob and Nancy sat on my lap... We actually inherited Bob and Dave. I couldn't call them Bob and Dave; they weren't Cat-like enough for me. I tried Robert, Roberto, and finally Robert pronounced the French way. Dave was Monsieur David... I don't know why French names seem better on cats to me... Anyway, I find it really strange to call animals by the same names as people that I know.

What was the point of all this? Oh yeah, pets and people names. Maybe we should start naming children Fluffy, Whiskers and Patches to even the score. Or, since most babies aren't fluffy and don't have whiskers, Baldy, Ears and Screamer?

Aiden is #1!

I just re-did the SSA's top baby names by spelling. This year Aiden (the most common spelling) supplants Jacob (although it means "the supplanter")! Aiden has 9 different spellings, which, taken separately, didn't even crack the SSA's Top 20 Names for 2006. Jacob has been in the top spot since 1999, so de-throning this name was no easy task!

Here's what the SSA got vs. what I got for dudes, spellings grouped separately:

Rank	SSA top 25	my top 25
1	Jacob (24418)	Aiden (11430), Aidan (9888), Ayden (3551), Aden (1382), Adan (1087), Aydan (424), , Aydin (288), Aedan (272), Aidyn (206)
2	Michael (22220)	Jacob (24418), Jakob (1143)
3	Joshua (21875)	Michael (22220), Micheal (674), Mikel (184)
4	Ethan (20254)	Joshua (21875)
5	Matthew (19991)	Matthew (19991), Mathew (1001)
6	Daniel (19652)	Ethan (20254), Ethen (192)
7	Christopher (19439)	Christopher (19439), Cristopher (511), Cristofer (249)
8	Andrew (19425)	Nicholas (15414), Nicolas (2888), Nickolas (918), Nikolas (772)
9	Anthony (19101)	Daniel (19652)
10	William (18645)	Andrew (19425)
11	Joseph (18037)	Anthony (19101), Antony (245)
12	Alexander (17940)	William (18645)
13	David (17248)	Alexander (17940), Alexzander (380)
14	Ryan (16219)	Jayden (9469), Jaden (4863), Jaiden (1711), Jadon (744), Jaydon (680), Jaeden (336), Jadyn (274), Jaydin (187)
15	Noah (16088)	Joseph (18037)
16	James (15945)	Jonathan (14110), Johnathan (2262), Jonathon (786), Johnathon (460)
17	Nicholas (15414)	David (17248)
18	Tyler (15285)	Christian (14210), Cristian (2989)
19	Logan (14974)	Ryan (16219), Rayan (182)
20	John (14924)	Noah (16088)
21	Christian (14210)	James (15945)
22	Jonathan (14110)	Caden (4708), Kaden (4681),Cayden (1738), Kayden (1546), Kaiden (1391),Caiden (1021), Kadin (361), Kaeden (280), Kadyn (202)
23	Nathan (14031)	Tyler (15285)
24	Benjamin (13524)	Logan (14974)
25	Samuel (13372)	John (14924)

Without the help of the variant spellings, notice that the -aden brothers (Aidan, Jayden and Caden) don't make the top 25 at all!

Here's the comparison for chix:

rank	SSA top 25	NameNerds Top 25
	Emily (21118)	Emily (21118), Emilee (850), Emilie (622), Emmalee (406), Emely (1052)
2	Emma (18838)	Madison (18395), Maddison (782), Madisyn (760), Madyson (769)
3	Madison (18395)	Isabella (17954), Isabela (664), Izabella (1112)
4	Isabella (17954)	Emma (18838)
5	Ava (16741)	Sophia (13313), Sofia (5008)
6	Abigail (15429)	Hailey (8330), Haley (4230), Haylee (1362), Hailee (683), Haleigh (479), Hailie (356), Halie (275)
7	Olivia (15244)	Caitlyn (1738), Caitlin (1636), Kaitlyn (5991), Kaitlin (940), Kaitlynn (566), Katelyn (4830) Katelynn (1201 ), Katlyn (343)
8	Hannah (14294)	Abigail (15429), Abbigail (623), Abigayle (348), Abigale (295), Abagail (293)
9	Sophia (13313)	Ava (16741)
10	Samantha (12316)	Olivia (15244), Alivia (1304)
11	Elizabeth (12193)	Hannah (14294), Hanna (1202), Hana (390)
12	Ashley (12172)	Brianna (9224), Briana (2750), Breanna (2724), Breana (314), Bryanna (733)
13	Mia (11851)	Sarah (10910), Sara (4314)
14	Alexis (11078)	Ashley (12172), Ashlee (958), Ashleigh (405), Ashly (346)
15	Sarah (10910)	Jasmine (7391), Jasmin (1915), Jasmyn (280), Jazmin (2204), Jazmine (1507), Jazmyn (462)
16	Natalie (10791)	Natalie (10791), Natalee (601), Nataly (795), Nathalie (546), Nathaly (346)
17	Grace (10780)	Mia (11851), Miah (352), Miya (266)
18	Chloe (10249)	Kaylee (5924), Kailey (1264), Kayleigh (1214), Kaylie (1,181), Kaleigh (628), Kali (537), Kailee (494), Kaley (420), Kayley (379), Kayli (296)
19	Alyssa (10039)	Samantha (12316)
20	Brianna (9224)	Elizabeth (12193)
21	Ella (9080)	Alyssa (10039), Alissa (844), Alisa (295), Elisa (536)
22	Taylor (8480)	Alexis (11078), Alexus (533)
23	Anna (8442)	Katherine (6197), Katharine (288), Kathryn (2364), Catherine (2749)
24	Lauren (8387)	Anna (8442), Ana (2377)
25	Hailey (8330)	Madeline (4426), Madelyn (2916), Madelynn (527), Madeleine (962), Madalyn (906), Madalynn (339) Madilyn (719 )

Katherine has long been divided between the C and K spellings. When you count them all, it makes the top 25, along with Caitlin et. al. Basically, there will be a lot more little Katies out there than you would think! Also, Madeline, Jasmine and Kayley break into the top 25 when you list all spellings.

* I know most people would pronounce Alyssa and Elisa differently, however, I know an Alisa who is pronounced like /a LISS a/ and an Alyssa who is pronounced like "Lisa" with an "a" on the front, so that's why I group them together.

Anyway, CONGRATULATIONS, AIDEN!

Name Popularity

This article from the Chicago Tribune:

Sorry, Gert, not your year again

Will Vivian go va-va-voom? Is Olivia over? Had enough Jacobs? Parents-to-be look to 'namerologists' for the next hot monikers

By Bonnie Miller Rubin
Tribune staff reporter
Published May 19, 2007

When the Social Security Administration announces its ranking of the top 1,000 names for baby boys and girls just before Mother's Day, Laura Wattenberg rolls up her sleeves and goes to work.

A mother of two from suburban Boston, Wattenberg is a self-confessed name geek who wants to know more than just whether Emily and Jacob are No. 1 for the umpteenth time.

Will Olivia go the way of Tiffany, which sank without a bubble after a brief period of glory in the mid-'80s? Has the Aiden/Kaden/Jaden cycle peaked, destined to be the naming equivalent of shag carpeting?

Are old-sounding names like Isabella, Ava and Sophia -- all in this year's top 10 -- running out of steam, poised to be replaced by "new" old names, such as Ethel, Lois and Blanche?

"It's an exercise in fashion, values and fortune-telling," said Wattenberg, 37, who spends weeks entering the new name information into her master database. "Eighty years from now, the names we choose will be the sound of a generation, the stamp of an era."

The annual list was the brainchild of a Social Security actuary who hoped to bring more citizens to the agency's Web site. It has fueled a mini-industry that some dub "namerology," though the academic term is onomatology or onomastics.

Like analysts studying the market in search of the next sizzling stock, "namies" scrutinize the rankings and thrive on the thrill of discovering the next big thing or stumbling upon an amusing oddity. (This year, No. 152 for girls is Lucy; for boys, it's Ricardo.)

The interest goes far beyond expectant parents. The "Today" show even arranged for a live unveiling of this year's list by the Social Security commissioner, a first since the list debuted in 1997.

What particularly intrigues people like Wattenberg is what causes some names to heat up and then just as inexplicably to cool off. Why should a relic like Grace, all the rage in the early 1900s, suddenly be dusted off for the 21st Century?


Generation gap

Cleveland Evans, a psychology professor at Bellevue University, said girls' names often go through a 100-year cycle. (Boys' names, while also subject to fads, tend to be more stable over time.) Parents tend to avoid the names from the generation of their grandparents or great-grandparents because they bring "gray hair and wrinkles" to mind, Evans said.

But when that generation is no longer around, suddenly the names sound dewy fresh to parents -- sometimes puzzling their older relatives who find the names more suited to a nursing home. The cycling may explain the current fondness for Sophia and Emma, which last had a heyday in the 19th Century. It also may be why Sadie (now at 157) and Vivian (223) may be ready for stardom.

It's still too soon for a chestnut like Betty, however. The name, which crested in the 1930s, still conjures up an apron-wearing, cookie-baking image. But in another 20 years, pre-schools could be filled with a whole new batch of Bettys -- and the Debbies, Barbaras and Nancys will be right behind them.

Many of today's parents find that as hard as they try to choose a unique name, they fail.

Jennifer Thanos of Roselle was born smack in the middle of a Jennifer explosion in 1973, which included two of her close friends. "We just called each other by our last names -- and still do, even though we're all married," said Thanos, a hospital development director.

Her stepmother, now in her mid-50s, endured the same problem. With five Lindas in her 5th-grade class, circa 1961, the teacher arbitrarily chose one girl to retain her Linda-ness and forced the others to go by their middle names. For an entire year, she glumly answered to Patti.

Thanos was determined it would be different with her daughter. Torn between Ava and Mia, she obsessively checked Web sites to make sure the names weren't overexposed. When a maternity nurse said she had witnessed a recent Mia mania, that sealed the deal.

Now Ava is 2 years old -- and her name is No. 5 on the popularity list.

"Ava has had this meteoric rise, which really makes me cringe," Thanos lamented.

Stanley Lieberson, a Harvard University sociologist and author of "A Matter of Taste: How Names, Fashions and Culture Change," said the recycling of names is accelerating. Reasons include the migration from rural areas to cities, because a feeling of anonymity can drive a desire for uniqueness.

Ethnic influence

The increasingly diverse American society plays a role also, as race and ethnicity strongly affect naming patterns. (The top 100 boys' names include Diego, Juan, Angel, Jesus, Miguel and Alejandro.)

Although names are often influenced by pop culture, Stephanie Thompson insists the Maddox bandwagon currently rolling through her Park Slope neighborhood in Brooklyn has nothing to do with Angela Jolie's little boy. (The name has surged by 1,000 percent in the last three years).

"Most people I know just like the way it sounds," said the marketing writer. "You hear it -- and then it just lodges in your brain and stays there."

When her own son was born in 2004, she chose Oscar, a name that has risen to No. 118. While friends immediately embraced it, her parents laughed. One of her mother's friends even asked: "How could you do that to a small child?"

Thompson, 36, knew Oscar was old-fashioned, but because the playgrounds weren't teeming with them, she came to the name with no perceptions, positive or negative. "It just seemed new."

Of course, just because a name is antique doesn't mean it will stage a comeback. Gertrude, for example, is old but has remained on the shelf.

"Too many consonants packed together," Evans said, noting today's preferences for the lilting final "ah" sound found in seven of the top 10 girls' names.

Because of a confluence of trends, Wattenberg thinks Vivian is on a fast track. There's no clash of consonants, and it ends with the hugely popular "N." (Hayden, Ethan, Morgan.)

But what really gives it an edge? "The 'V' -- which is soaring" along with all the other exotic, end-of-the-alphabet letters, she said.

The Social Security list (ssa.gov/OACT/babynames) isn't perfect.

It ranks different spellings such as Hailey, Haley and Hayley separately, diluting a name's true strength.


More names, business

Even allowing for multiple versions, parents are choosing from more names than ever. In the 1980s, a typical book might be "5,000 Names for Baby"; now, titles tout 100,000 names.

Wattenberg has parlayed her hobby into a business, writing a book titled "The Baby Name Wizard" and developing an addictive Internet tool showing how names rise and fall in popularity (babynamewizard.com/namevoyager).

With all the options, making a choice is creating unprecedented anxiety for parents, who want to be original but not overly so. ("The trick is to choose a name that is unusual -- but not to the point of ridicule," said Thanos, citing Gwyneth Paltrow's daughter Apple.)

"The most remarkable thing is what they're not choosing," Wattenberg said. "The classic English name stock that has stood for centuries is suddenly disappearing. Nevaeh [heaven spelled backward] is now more common than Mary.

"Doesn't that say it all?"

- - -

Name influences, from TV to Old Testament

Some observations, gleaned from experts.

Addison is at an all-time high (No. 27) as a girl's name, which some attribute to the popularity of the TV show "Grey's Anatomy." But nobody was giving babies that name when the fictional physician, age 39, would have been born.

Jack is big in blue states; Jackson in red.

There is no correlation between biblical names and the parents' level of religious observance. Old Testament names abound for boys, but feminine options are rare. So when a girl's name gets a foot in the door, it zooms to prominence. First it was Ruth, then Deborah and now Hannah. Sarah has remained in the top 100 for most of the last century.

Of all boys born in England between 1550 and about 1800, about half were given one of three names: William, John and Thomas. Half the girls were Elizabeth, Mary or Anne.

In their book "Freakonomics," Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner noted that 40 percent of African-American girls born in California in the 1990s received a name that not 1 in 1,000 white girls received. They also noted that the parents of a Tennyson tended to have more education (15.6 years) than parents of a Chastity (10.6).

The only two names experts say are officially dead: Bertha (it has come to symbolize size) and Adolph (for obvious reasons).

-- Bonnie Miller Rubin

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brubin@tribune.com

And, while we're at it, the Social Security Administration has unveiled its top baby names for 2006.

Need a bellydancing name?

Here's a guide to choosing the right name for your bellydancing persona.

There's also a link to another article about dancer names: Names for Dancers and Other Graceful Souls.

This site also has lists of names suitable for Bellydancers (mostly Arabic names and words).

Metallica! Time for dinner!!!

from the Associated Press:

Couple Fights to Name Baby 'Metallica'

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) - Metallica may be a cool name for a heavy metal band, but a Swedish couple is struggling to convince officials it is also suitable for a baby girl.

Michael and Karolina Tomaro are locked in a court battle with Swedish authorities, which rejected their application to name their six-month-old child after the legendary rock band.

``It suits her,'' Karolina Tomaro, 27, said Tuesday of the name. ``She's decisive and she knows what she wants.''

Although little Metallica has already been baptized, the Swedish National Tax Board refused to register the name, saying it was associated with both the rock group and the word ``metal.''

Tomaro said the official handling the case also called the name ``ugly.''

The couple was backed by the County Administrative Court in Goteborg, which ruled on March 13 that there was no reason to block the name. It also noted that there already is a woman in Sweden with Metallica as a middle name.

The tax agency appealed to a higher court, frustrating the family's foreign travel plans.

``We've had to cancel trips and can't get anywhere because we can't get her a passport without an approved name,'' Tomaro said.

They should have moved to the USA, where names like Tesla (probably after the band and not after the inventor?), Jamiroquai, Rush and Slade (To name a few) have been found on birth certificates.

Author Pen names

Lately I've been into authors' pen names. Here are a couple of sites where you can find lists of them:

Author Pen Names

a.k.a

and finally, How To Choose a Pen Name.

Dear uh... Mr. or Mrs. Balasubramanian...

If you're not familiar with Hindu names, this is a cool toy-- it tells the gender of names. I used to work in a university, and professors were always emailing me asking if the student they were meeting with was male or female. I should have directed them here!

Hindu Name Guesser

I think it works by analyzing the last letter or so of a name, and then using naming conventions to guess the gender. Of course, the first name I entered was "Aditya," which is the name of a dude I know. I always thought it would be beautiful on a girl... and the name guesser told me it was a female name. Were Aditya's parents hoping he was a girl, or is this the exception to the rule? Just for kicks, I typed in "Susan" and it told me it was a male name. I guess most Sanskrit-based names ending in N are for guys (like Narayan, Naveen etc.)

If you're not into Hindu names, check out the Baby Name Guesser. This tool searches the web and delivers results based on the findings. This site also has sone fun toys, like the Alter Ego Finder, which gives you a name of an "alter ego" by finding names with similar popularity and gender. The one it came up with for me was Cecilia Hillman, which is super creepy, because I was once engaged to a dude with the last name Hillman, and I always planned on naming my first daughter Cecilia. Cecilia Hillman was the name of our fictional kid.

Name of the Year

The Name Of the Year blog collects interesting, unusual names. you can even vote for their Name Of the Year!

A Brief overview of Chinese naming practices

Here's a short article on how Chinese parents can come up with their children's names.

Chinese Baby Names

Ritzy Urban moms: definitely using creative names

Here's an article about the naming choices of the well-to-do in Manhattan:
Baby Names Get Weird... Milo, Shiloh... Thijs?

Jerry Seinfeld would have been right at home in ancient Rome.

Wasn't Seinfeld the one who thought Seven was the perfect name for a kid? Maybe I'm getting the joke wrong; I think I've seen that show maybe twice. However, everyone I know is constantly quoting it at me, so I know there's something about naming a kid Seven. Incidentally, there is a little boy named Seven in Ithaca (his brother's name is Tenor).

Anyway, here is a list of Numerical Names from Wikipedia.

Finally, a decent baby name site!

Check it! These guys strive to have accurate information and not just gimmicky pink and blue name charts!

Baby Name Addicts

While your at it, take the baby name survey at this site-- apparently the survey owner wants to write a baby name book based on this research!

History of African-American names

Continuing my fascination with African-American naming trends, I found this site about a brief history of African American names:

Finding Our History: African American Names.

Creating new names out of old names has been a long-standing tradition in African American culture. Long before there were LaTanyas, Donnelles and Andraes, there were Samanthas (Sam + -antha bet you didn't know this was a 200-year-old African American creation!), Authorine (the first African American student at a white university in Alabama), Araminta (Harriet Tubman's first name at birth), & Cabell (Cab Calloway's birth name).

Another site about the importance of names in both African American and African culture:

Slavery in America: African American Names