The Art of Naming

Have you ever really taken a look at the names in the United State's Social Security Administration's Top 1000 most popular names chart? I mean, have you  really  looked at it?  I decided to fish a little bit and I found a ton of Arabic names swimming right at me. Had I  really  never noticed these names before? Sure, I'm not an ethnic match for any of them but not all of them stand out as foreign. Just take a look at the female names! Many of them aren't obviously Arabic and they are no doubt being used on girls of a variety of races all across the country. For example, the highest ranking name is Layla at #29 and it has so many variants that are very fashionable today such as Lyla, Laila, Lila, Leila and Lilah which all rank within the Top 1000.  Then there's the Aaliyah sisters with a similar story. Let's start with the male names. There are four spellings of Muhammad and also variants like Ahmad that rank in the Top 1000. Somehow, though, the masculine n

By request, this edition of World-Wide Wednesday will zoom in on the naming traditions used in Romania and Moldova in eastern Europe. In Romania, there are customs that revolve around man's three most essential human events: birth, marriage and death.  We're going to focus just on the birth customs and those surrounding children, their parents and their names. TravelGuideRomania.com says: "Birth related customs regard the grown-ups: besides parents, there are the midwife and the godparents. When the baby suffered from an illness or faced danger, the custom was to change the baby’s name into “The Bear” (Ursu) or “The Wolf” (Lupu), in hope of avoiding the risk of being “recognized” again by that danger in future. This custom also implies the idea of the baby’s “death and resurrection”." It is interesting that they would change the child's name to avoid dangers. This is a new concept that I had never come across before. That site also discusses the other custo

The Girl Name of the Week is an African Name keeping in tradition of the past two blog posts. The name is Zola. First of all, this name is also a Literary Surname, taken by famous French-Italian writer Emile Zola  (1840-1902). This form of Zola tends to be feminine despite being a surname originally. However, it is said that this form of Zola does not have a known meaning as it may have been invented as a surname. Emile Zola's father's surname was actually Zolla.  Either way, it has been used occasionally in English-speaking countries since the 19th century. The version of the name that I'm featuring today is typically female when it is used as a first name, but it is sometimes used on African males as well. It is of Southern African or Zulu origin and it means "quiet or tranquil" in Zulu.  The name is on record for having been used in the US since 1880. Zola's biggest year was 1924 when 184 baby girls were born. Usage declined after the 20's but

This week we will be focusing on African Names! I chose a handsome boy name that comes from Uganda. Kato  is a great example of the way African names are used. It means "second of twins" which clearly describes the circumstances at the time of the birth. Perhaps his twin brother would be named Babirye or Isingoma which both mean "first of twins."  I will be discussing African Naming traditions more thoroughly on Wednesday! Kato is a much different name than the Ancient Roman Cato which is male and means "wise." There is also a feminine Cato which is a diminutive of the Dutch Catharina and an entirely different name than the first two! This name has occasionally been used in the US since 1914. It was only used for 6 babies between 1928 and 1972. Kato gained more regular usage in 1993 but it is nowhere near the Top 1000.  Last year, there were 26 baby boys given the name which ranks it at #3926. I'd say that it is not unfamiliar but it is

The Girl Name of the Week comes to us in honor of this week's "Spanish Names For Girls" list. I have to admit that I had a very hard time choosing just one name to feature since so many of them stood out to me. I finally decided on Catalina, pronounced kah-tah-LEE-nah. It is a Spanish form of Katherine. Now, I've always seen Katherine-type names meaning "pure" but after looking deeper into possible meanings, I'm not so sure which is truly "correct."  Here are the original possibilities: From the Greek name Αικατερινη (Aikaterine)  From the earlier Greek name ‘Εκατερινη (Hekaterine) which came from (hekateros) meaning "each of two" which is similar to the goddess Hecate's name. From the Greek αικια (aikia) meaning "torture" which is obviously not ideal. From a Coptic name meaning "my consecration of your name." Eventually, these were put on the back-burner and Katherine solely became associated

Spanish names for girls are so lovely! If you are looking for a name with Latin flair, take a look at this list! Every one of these names would flow wonderfully with a Spanish last name, and some of them would even work with a non-Spanish last name. No matter what origin your surname is, you've got to admit that these names are beautiful!  Which is your favorite? Adabella Adelina Adriana Aitana Alba Alejandra Alicia Alondra Amada Ana Angel/a Aniceta Arabella Aracely Aroa Belen Belisma Benecia Bianca Blanca Calida Camila Candela Carlota Carolina Catalina Christabel Clementina Concepcion Consuela Cristina Daniela Delores Dulce Eliana Esmeralda Estela Estrella Eulalia Evalia Felicidad Fidelia Francecsa Gabriela Gloria Graciela Guadalupe Havana Ignacia Ines Irati Isabella Jacinta Jimena Juliana Karina Laia Lenora Liliana Lolita Lorena Lucia Lucinda Magdalena Maite Mariana Marisol Maritza Marta Mercedes

The Boy Name of the Week comes straight off the list of Spanish Boy Names: Javier! Javier is the Spanish form of the name Xavier. Both of these names come from the Basque place name Etxaberri which means "the new house". Over time, it became Exaberri, then dropped the beginning e and final i. The X was originally pronounced with more of a "sh" sound. With influences from English, French and Spanish, pronunciation varies. Javier is typically pronounced the Spanish way "hab-YAIR" with a sort of combined b and v sound. In Portuguese, it still has a "sh" sound in place of the X. French would say HAV-ee-ay, and in English it is most correctly said ZAV-ee-er even though famous characters like Charles Xavier from the X-Men comics have influenced the pronunciation of X-ay-vee-er. A notable Xavier was St. Francis Xavier, or San Francisco Javier in Spanish (1506-1552). Once he gained fame as a Jesuit priest and missionary, many places and people w

Spanish baby-naming traditions vary slightly from country to country, but overall, they are very similar. These customs appear in Spain, Mexico, certain islands in the Caribbean, Central America, and South America. The latter four are grouped together and called "Hispanic America." In Spain, people today tend to bear a single given name and two surnames, or perhaps a "composite first name" like Juan Pablo followed by two surnames. The first surname is the father's first surname, and the second is the mother's first surname. Occasionally, the father's and mother's surnames could be reversed, but every sibling must have the same two surnames in the same order. It is so important that if the parents cannot agree on whose surname goes first, it is taken to court for an official to decide. For example, if a man named Alberto Sanchez Hernandez and a woman named Maria Ruiz Gonzales have a son named Eduardo, the child's name would most likely be Edua

I'd like to share this wonderful list of names that generally work very handsomely with a Hispanic last name. Most of these options are rather exotic and have a unique flair to them.  Which are your favorite? Adan Adrian Alberto Alejandro Alvaro Antonio Armando Arnau Arsenio Barto Benicio Bernardo Brendano Carlos Carmelo Castel Cayo Cesar Chavez Cortez Cristobal Cristofer Cristian Cruz David Desiderio Diego Dionicio Eduardo Efren Elian Emiliano Enrique Ernesto Esteban Ezequiel Fabian Federico Fernando Francisco Gabriel Geraldo Gilberto Guillermo Hector Hernan Hugo Iago Ignacio Iker Isaias Izan Jaime Jairo Javier Joaquin Jorge Jose Josue Juan Julio Lalo Lazaro Leandro Leonardo Luis Manuel Marco Martino Maximo Miguel Montego Napier Narcisco Navarro Octavio Oswaldo Pablo Palomo Pascual Pedro Placido Quinto Rafael Ramirio Ramon Raul Reynaldo Ricardo Rodrigo Ruben Salvador Santiago San

Our "Fan of the Week" Kiira chose a super cool girl's name straight out of Norse Mythology. Love it! The name is Eir. Eir was a Norse goddess of healing and medicine. The name means "mercy" or "protection, help" in Old Norse. If you're wondering how it is pronounced, you can listen to it here .  To my ear, this Icelandic pronunciation almost sounds like "ayvf."  I've also heard it said sort of like "air" on a character in the video game "Guild Wars 2," Eir Stegalkin. No matter how you may pronounce it, this name is rare. And I mean RARE. Upon researching the number of births that Eir has had in the US, well, the results came back "No matches were found." Aha! Nobody in the States has ever used this name. Well, at least not the minimum requisite of 5 babies per year in order to be recorded. Despite these statistics, there's actually quite a bit of information on the name on Wikipedia , which