I’m not leaving, but posts will be sparse.

Hey everyone!

Lately my other blog has grown a lot and it’s taking up a lot of my time, and then there’s school and extra curricular and all that jazz. Plus I’m not really feeling inspired in the name department right now. Maybe you’ve noticed my posts are few and far between lately. They’ll probably be like that for a while. My goal is maybe a post every week or two, and we’ll see how that goes. But I will still be reading all your blogs and I hope to feel inspired again soon!

Happy naming!

-Chloe

Meryl Streep’s Lookalike Daughters

Original Article at Yahoo: http://ca.omg.yahoo.com/photos/meryl-streep-s-lookalike-daughters-1324046356-slideshow/

I found this interesting article on Yahoo about Meryl Streep’s daughters and how they look so alike. The famous American actress’ daughters do have very similar appearances, as shown above. But, I think what is perhaps most striking about this trio, are their names – Mamie, Grace, and Louisa.

It’s worth noting, before we begin, that Meryl’s full name is Mary Louise “Meryl”, and they also have a son named Henry Wolfe “Hank”.

Mary Willa “Mamie” - Love this combo. Mary honours mom, and the middle name is quirky and sweet. Mamie is such a fun, vintage nickname worthy of a revival.

Grace Jane – This one is so simple, yet very sweet, and will never become outdated. With last name (Gummer) it is kind of G heavy (Grace Gummer), but nevertheless it is cute – perhaps the alliteration adds to the name.

Louisa Jacobson - Love Louisa. It’s a new addition to my list. But Jacobson? I still can’t figure out where that one comes from. Possibly a family name?

Hank, Mamie, Grace, and Louisa? It could easily be a sibset from the 1700s, but it still fits so well today. Love it!

 

Greek -ia Names

Sophia Loren

Since doing my last post on Isabelle/Isabella alternatives, I’ve been feeling in the mood for some more US top 10 alternative ideas. Sophia, Olivia, and Mia all rank on the top ten (#2, #4, and #10, respectively). Clearly the -ia names hold some appeal. Of course, there are tons of other reasons for these three names to be popular, but the fact that they all end in -ia means that many other -ia ending names could have a shot at mega popularity, too. Other -ia names we find on the US top 100 are Amelia (#41), Julia (#55), Maria (#86), Valeria (#94), and Natalia (#98). And that’s not counting the -ya names, of which there are a few more on the top 100. And then, as it turns out, there are a lot of lovely Greek -ia names (including Sophia). So, here are three Greek -ia names that are much less popular but still have a ton of charm!

 Acacia – Acacia is not found on the US top 1000. She’s the Greek name of a flowering shrub, symbolizing immortality and resurrection. Looking way back, Acacia derives from the Greek ake, meaning “thorn” or “point”. I’ve seen Acacia pronounced both uh-KAY-sha and uh-KAY-see-uh.

Olympia – Another Greek name also not in the top 1000, Olympia means “from Mount Olympus”, and is derived from the masculine name Olympos or Olympus. Mount Olympus was the name of the mountain where the Greek gods lived. Olympia has famous connections to the nude painting by Edouard Manet, done in 1865, as well as Olympia Snowe (Republican senator in Maine), and Olympia Dukakis, actress. Olympia is a clear and creative alternative to Olivia.

Eulalia – Our final Greek -ia name, Eulalia means “sweet-speaking” or “well spoken”. She originally derives from “to talk well”. What’s interesting about Eulalia is that she appears in a variety of other languages, such as Spanish and Italian. Eulalia is the patron saint of Barcelona, and a 4th century saint and martyr from Spain. It has been said that when Eulalia died, a dove flew out of her neck – connecting the meaning of speach. Eulalia was chosen by Marcia Gay Harden for her daughter.

Oh So Belle

Has this post not been done 1000 times before? With the Isabella craze off the charts, alternative Bel(le) names seem overdone. But, perhaps there is still room for a couple more suggestions?

Sable - I found this name in a baby name book under Alternatives to Isabella (surprise, surprise) a couple years ago, and it’s stuck with me since. While it does sound like “stable” and “able” (and why not through in “table”), I still think it is a lovely name and a wonderful Isabella alternative.  Sable is from the English word meaning “black” and shares her name with the black-furred mammal. The name is originally thought to be Slavic. While you could still stretch it and use the nickname Bel(le), it is less likely to come naturally from Sable than a Bel ending name.

Mirabel - This Latin name meaning “wonderful” was very commonly seen in the later Middle Ages. Mirabelle is the name of a French plum, and Mirabella is the Italian version. While Isabel and Annabel are very pretty alternatives, Mirabel is perhaps the lesser known of the Bel names. She doesn’t even make top 1000 in America. Then of course there is the slight variation: Maribel, however I’ve been told that Mirabel is more recognizable therefore Maribel would most likely be seen as Mirabel.

Dulcibella - I found this one at Nancy’s Baby Names and decided I had to mention it! It was seen mostly in the Middle Ages, but spelled then as Dowsabel. Dulcibella is from the latin dulcis (sweet) and bella (pretty). Nancy also mentioned that in The World Book Dictionary, dowsabel/dousabel is defined as “a common name for a rustic sweetheart in old pastoral poems.”!

Name of the Day: Birdie

Name: Birdie

Gender: Female

Meaning/Origin: Birdie is English, and means “bird” or “bright, famous”. It is said to be a variant of Bertha, Bird, and Birdena.

Popularity of Birdie (2010, US): Does not rank in top 1000, with 18 births

Birdie is one of those old lady nicknames, commonly seen used as a pet name for Bridget. She’d fit very well next to a little Hattie (Harriet), Tilly/Millie (Matilda), or perhaps Evie (Evelyn, Evangeline, etc). She’s been chosen by numerous celebrities and has lots of appeal for parents seeking something vintage and quirky.

But is she sophisticated enough to be worn by a grown woman? If you would rather have Birdie as a nickname, some full name options include Bridget, Birdena, Bernadette, or even a bird name like Wren, Lark, or Robin.

As for popularity in the UK and such, Birdie does not make the top 100 in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, or Scotland. However, with the popularity in the UK of names like Daisy and Maisie, I do see Birdie getting popular over there before it does in North America.

Great Names Under the Radar #2

I saw this lovely blog post on Nameberry about girls’ names under the radar… Which inspired me to start a new series of posts – each post I will feature one boy name and one girl name that are relatively unheard of  but perfectly usable in society – great names under the radar!

Girls’ Name

Wren – This lovely name of a little songbird could make an appealing choice for a girl. In America she does not rank in the top 1000. Wren derives originally from the Old English Wrenna, but is now almosy always known as a bird baby name. Wren has a fresh, crisp sound and for the most part does not have a nickname. There are lots of bird names to choose from, but Wren just has that perky sound. Plus, I love the silent W. And bonus – she’s undiscovered in North America!

Hale -  I had searched for a boy name to use in this post for the longest time, and then I stumbled across Hale… In America Hale is not in the top 1000 (in fact, only 9 little Hales were born in 2010! Hale is said to be derived from a surname meaning “nook, retreat”, and a commonly seen meaning is “someone who lives in a hollow”. Hale has that one syllable snappy sound like Gage, Nate, and Jude, but with a more sophisticated, older sound.

For some reason both of these posts have had themes – last time it was L names and this time it’s one syllable names.

A Comparison: Boys and Girls of 2011

This is going to be short, because frankly the data I have to work with is not very much. So, here it is.

For the past 2 days I’ve posted about the babies born where I live. To recap: biggest city in Canada and most multicultural city in the world. On the first day I focused on the boys’ names, and on the second day the girls’. I categorized them by their rank on the US popularity list for 2010.

The categories were (in brackets is the number of boys’ names and girls’ names in each category):

Top 10 aka #1-10 (boys: 7,  girls: 4)

Top 50 aka #11-50 (boys: 19, girls: 8)

Top 100 aka #51-100 (boys: 2, girls: 3)

Top 500 aka #101-500 (boys: 5, girls: 5)

Top 1000 aka 501-1000 (boys: 7, girls: 5)

Beyond the Top 1000 (boys: 5, girls: 9)

So, looking at this we can tell that for boys the most common popularity range was 11-50, and for girls it was beyond the top 1000. Of course there are 11 more boys than girls, as well this is a very small sampling, so the results are fairly skewed. However, beyond the popularity, I just wanted to mention some notable names found on the list:

Boys

James Constantine

Evan Reginald James

Colin Matti

Callum Dune William

Finnegan Keith

Kolbe Raymond

 

Girls

Sophia Lorenza

Anna Hazel

Brooklyn Enid

Leila Ixchel

Kinza Rashid

Gioia Annette

Mataya Lewcie Skye

Naia Sidney

Myfanwy Lorraine Nordri

Lale Saskia

Tiombe Veronica

Zyana Rose

I think from both full lists my faves are Callum Dune William and Georgia