The Art of Naming

Here are some interesting girl names that originate from Norman French or Old French origins. These have a variety of popularity and usage levels in the US. Amarante - Taken from the Amaranth flower, this is the French form of the name. It comes from the Greek amarantos  meaning "unfading".  This is a very rare name. It has been used a total of 23 times on record for boys, and none for girls, but the most recent year it was used was 1933. This means it is ripe for the picking! It deserved to be renewed as a fresh floral name for girls. Avril - This is the French form of April which possibly comes from the Latin aperire  meaning "to open" referring to the opening of flowers in the springtime month. Avril first gained recorded usage in the US in 1919. It has never been common but began gaining more births per year around 2003, presumably in line with the popularity of singer Avril Lavigne who hit the scene in 2002. Blanche - From a Medieval French nickname me

Here are some interesting boy names that originate from Norman French or Old French origins. These have a variety of popularity and usage levels in the US. Amis/Amias/Amyas - medieval names taken from Amice and the Latin amicus meaning "friend". It was popular in the middle ages. There is also a medieval French poem titled "Amis and Amiles".  While Amis only landed on the US popuarity charts once with 5 births in 1928, Amias is skyrocketing. It first appeared in 2000, but since then has climbed its way up to the Top 1400 with 116 births in 2016. It should continue to gain popularity and break into the Top 1000 soon. Amyas is also starting to appear. Courtney - An aristocratic English surname taken from the French place name Courtenay , which came from currents from the Latin curtus meaning "short".  Courtney has always been unisex. Up until the 1960s, it was mostly given to boys, but after that the majority of usage went to the girls, especially i

Today we will take a look at one of the interesting boy names from our list of " Baby Names Ending With The Letters -ry ".   Destry is the English form of Destrier, a French surname derived from the Anglo-Norman word destrer meaning "warhorse".  The destrier is the best-known war horse of the medieval era. It carried knights in battles, tournaments, and jousts. Sources of its time called it the "Great Horse" due to its significance. In 1930, "Destry Rides Again" was published by Max Brand. This western novel introduced the name Destry to America, and brought forth films in 1939 and 1954, and a short-lived TV series in 1964.  Interestingly, according to Social Security records in the US, the name Destry was not in use until 1955, the year after that second movie was released. This name's most popular year coincided with that brief TV series in 1964 when 149 boys (and 5 girls) were named Destry. You could label this year as D

Today's featured boy name is pulled from the list of names ending with the letters -cy. Percy is is male given name that comes from an English surname. There is a commune in Normandy in Northwestern France called Percy-en-Auge from which the surname was derived.  The House of Percy (or Perci in Old French) was one of the most powerful noble families in northern England. There are still members of the Percy family to this day who are Dukes of Northumberland. Their surname comes from the manor of Percy-en-Auge in Normandy which was their home during the Norman Conquest. The name Percy started out being used as a given name in their honor. The Greek Perseus is similar in sound and could be assigned the nickname Percy. It means "to destroy" in Greek and was the name of a mythological hero who killed Medusa and founded the ancient city of Mycenae. Percy can also be considered a short form of the name Percival. The name Perceval, with this spelling, was created by a

Our final boy name of the A-Z series is Yannick. It comes straight from the list of The Very Best Y Names for boys and girls. Yannick  is a diminutive of the name Yann which is the Breton form of the name John. Yann is well-used by the French, recently ranking at #113. Yannick is a bit more unusual but it did rank at #288 in The Netherlands recently. Nameberry says that Yannick is "not likely to appeal to many American ears," but I disagree. It may never be popular but it isn't strange either. It could even be unusually refreshing to meet a little Yannick. There have been many names ending with -ick over the years. In the 1960s in particular, names like Derrick, Erick, Dominick, Frederick and Patrick ranked well. They all declined in usage after that but they are all ticking upward again today. Add to that list Maverick and Kendrick too for more modern options. Perhaps, though, they are referring to the "yann" part rather than the "ick". Y N

Quincy was hand-chosen from our article that featured The Very Best Q Names for Boys and Girls. We'll take a closer look at it now. Quincy is a surname that came from the place name Cuinchy which is a village in France. Cuinchy was originally derived from the Ancient Roman praenomen, or given name, Quintus which means "fifth" in Latin. Typically, Quintus was only given to the fifth born son but this isn't a necessary requirement for a modern boy named Quincy. Perhaps the most famous bearer of this name is the sixth president of the United States, John Quincy Adams, who happened to be born in the town Quincy, Massachusetts which was named after his mother's grandfather Colonel John Quincy. This interesting, quirky name has been in regular usage since name records were first kept in 1880 in the US. It was never all that popular until the mid 1970s. At its peak, Quincy ranked at #273 in 1977 with a total of 717 male births. Usage has now fallen to a steady 4

To round out our week of examining French baby names and customs, here is one of my favorite choices for a girl! You voted for Colette on the poll that I had on the sidebar of the blog and she won with 40% of the vote! Colette is the short form of Nicolette which comes from Nicole, the French feminine form of the masculine name Nicholas. All of these related names (and believe me, it is a huge family tree ) come from the Ancient Greek name Nikolaos . They all mean "victory of the people" from the Greek words nike meaning "victory" and laos which refers to "people".  There are many names that come from this tree but let's focus on our lovely French name of the week, Colette. Famous namesakes include Saint Colette from 15th century France. She was a nun who was known for giving her money to the poor. There was also a French author known as Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (1873-1954). There are several more that are listed on Nameberry if you'd l

Featured French Names: Olivier  & Colette This month's edition of World-Wide Wednesday will focus on French baby names.  The French were originally very limited in what names they could use for a child because France was very strict as far as which names were and were not allowed. Traditionally, babies were only allowed to be named after Roman Catholic saints . Sometimes a child acquired the name of the saint who's National Saint Day fell on the day they were born. Today, that practice is not commonly used anymore, however most French people are still given the name of a saint or a version of a name of a saint. The Saint's Day associated with their name is then celebrated throughout their life as a second birthday. The most common saint names that were used include Jacques (James), Jean (John), Michel (Michael), Pierre (Peter), or Jean-Baptiste (John the Baptist) for males; and Marie (Mary), Jeanne (Jane), Marguerite (Margaret), Françoise (Frances), or Élisabeth

I selected four French boy names and threw them in a poll on the blog. You voted and Olivier was barely the winner with 14 votes, sneaking past front-runner Laurent in the 11th hour. So let's take a look at the French name Olivier as we kick off French-Week! Stay tuned for our World-Wide Wednesday post about French naming customs too, and a girl name on Friday! Parents are in love with Oliver today. Nameberry describes it as "energetic and good-natured, stylish but not nearly as trendy as twin-sister Olivia, with a meaning symbolizing peace and fruitfulness." The French Olivier may have pronunciation problems in the US along with sister Olivie, however there are also other similar options such as the Spanish Olivero and the Italian Oliviero. Olive is also becoming a favorite for girls. With the following pronunciations, o-lee-VYAY (French), O-lee-veer (Dutch), Olivier isn't exactly rolling off American tongues the same way Oliver is. Both of these names may co

Fletcher is originally a surname that refers to a person who fletches arrows as their occupation. It is a Middle English name meaning "arrow maker" which comes from the Old French flechier . It is a surname but it has a tough, masculine feel to it with a bit of unique quirkiness added in. Following this week's post about names inspired by poetry, there was a poet named Thomas Fletcher (1666-1713) who was also a priest of the Church of England.   John Fletcher was a Jacobean playwright (1579-1625) who took over Shakespeare's role as the house playwright for the King's Men. Click here to view many more famous namesakes including several fictional characters named Fletcher. This name has been in regular use since 1880 in the US. It had a boost in popularity in 1914 that lasted through the early 1950s before it declined again. However it was in the top 1000 names from 1880-1971, and 1985-1986. The year 1998 saw another boost, catapulting the name back into t

The four-letter name of the week is one that is being revived for both boys and girls. It has a modern feel to it and is certainly attractive on both genders, however I prefer it for a boy. Rémy is a French name that comes from the Latin name Remigius which was derived from the Latin remigis meaning "oarsman".  It was also the name of a fifth century saint. This name, when said in its French form, is pronounced ray-MEE . However you can get by with just REM-ee in the US, especially without the accent mark over the e. Another variant is Rémi or Remi. The Italians, Portuguese and Spanish prefer the name Remigio. The name appears on French alcoholic beverages: Rémy Cointreau is the company and they have a brandy called Rémy Martin. In pop culture, there is a band called Remy Zero ; and the main character in the film Ratatouille is named Remy. There are also a few geographical locations with this name. As for famous namesakes who have Remy as a first name or a surna

This week's name theme is food-inspired . I have previously featured two of the names that are on the list: Basil and Clementine. I thought I would choose one that is less obviously food-related and more wearable as a name: Amandine. Did you know that Amandine is a culinary term that refers to almonds that are used as garnish? It is sometimes misspelled as almondine in cookbooks in the US.  Did you also know that Amandine is the French form of the feminine name Amanda? Makes sense, right? This lovely French diminutive means "much-loved" and is a wonderfully unique twist on the previously-popular and somewhat-dated name Amanda. On that note, it would also do well to honor a relative named Amanda but still give the child a modern and unique choice. The French word for almond is amande . If you pronounce Amandine the way the French do, it would be a-mawn-DEEN. This name recently ranked at #87 in France and is occasionally used in Belgium. However, it is exceedingl

It is always fun to take a look at what kind of names are popular in other parts of the world. Sometimes, us American bloggers get so caught up writing about the Top US names that we forget to look around. In 2012, there were 82,164 live births in Switzerland. 39,729 were girls and 42,435 were boys. Below are the top names for the babies born to parents who speak French, German and Italian but live within Switzerland. It is so interesting that these names can come from one country and yet differ so greatly between the three languages. One thing is certain, they all tend to favor the "L" sound in many of these favorite names!  Take a look at the top 16 names for each language! French-Speaking Switzerland: Boys: 1. Gabriel 2. Luca 3. Thomas 4. Noah 5. Nathan 6. Lucas 7. Samuel 8. Theo Girls: 1. Emma 2. Léa 3. Chloé 4. Zoé 5. Lara 6. Eva 7. Charlotte 8. Clara German-Speaking Switzerland: Boys: 1. Noah 2. Luca 3. David 4. Leon 5. Leandro 6. N

The Boy Name of the Week is one of my favorite occupational names and I chose it in honor of yesterday's name list. It is derived from an Old French name that took form as a Middle English occupational name meaning "candlestick maker" or "candle seller."  Have you guessed? Yes, its Chandler. A chandler was the head of the chandlery in medieval households, responsible for wax, candles, and soap. There are some parents who will give this name to their daughter but it is more popular for boys. The most popular example in recent memory is funny-man Chandler Bing on the TV show Friends which aired from 1994-2004. However, despite fitting right in with the "-er" trend and the occupational name trend, Chandler has lost its popularity since 2004. In fact, the most usage this name has seen was indeed during the airing of that show. It more than doubled between 1994 and 1995, (from 704 births to 1,856). Its highest peak occurred in 1999 with 2,394 births

Today, you get a 2-for-1 special for the Name(s) of the Day. I've recently had a new-found fascination with the name Millicent but it just feels a bit too old-fashioned and stiff for me to personally consider using. I decided to look at variations of it and fell in love with the French Melisande, which I would use in a heartbeat if I could get hubby on-board since he speaks French and I'm learning it. When I went to look up the popularity stats on these names that I hear quite frequently on naming forums, I was surprised to see how little-used and extremely rare Melisande is in the US. Check this out! The data pool that I use doesn't record a name for the year if there were not at least 5 births. So perhaps there have been 1-4 births here and there all along, but according to this data, there were 5 girls named Melisande in 2005 (ranked #18226), 6 in 1972, 5 in 1960, 5 in 1947 and that is all! A total of 21 little girls named Melisande in the US EVER! How much more

Today's featured name is Clementine. It originates as the French feminine form of the male name Clement, which is derived from the Late Latin name Clemens or Clementius , meaning "merciful," "gentle" or "mild." If the "Oh my Darlin'" association is too strong for you, try pronouncing it as Cle-mahn-teen instead as the French do. Alternatively, try Clementina. This spelling originates with Italian, Late Roman, Portuguese and Spanish.  The Polish Klementyna is neat too if you have Polish roots! Personally, I think Clementine would make a lovely middle name. (i.e.  Amelia Clementine or Ivy Clementine). It has the beautiful, French flair and is still rather unique! Clementine was a darling on the charts in the 1920s-1950s. 1921 was Clementine's best year for number of births. There were 160 girls born which ranked the name at #567 at the time. It went up and down on the charts for a while and actually had a few years in the 70s

Today's Name of the Day is my new favorite girl's name: Emmeline. As a big fan of Emma (but not of her popularity), Emmeline appeals to me in a big way! Unfortunately, I think many other baby-namers who feel the same way will help to make this name popular soon. It fits in with mega-popular Emma and Emily, as well as all the Madelines, Adelines and Carolines.  It's a wonder this name hasn't caught on already! In the real world, actor Christian Bale has a daughter named Emmeline; a famous English suffragette was named Emmeline Pankhurst; and there is an American journalist known as Emmeline Wells. In the fictional world, Emmeline Vance was a character in Harry Potter.  There are a couple other examples, such as Brooke Shields' character in "The Blue Lagoon" (1980). Emmeline is currently sitting just outside of the Top 1000 chart at #1078 in 2012. She has never broken onto the chart, but I think her time is coming soon!  She is ranked just slightly h