The Art of Naming

Loading... Thank you for voting! If you'd like to submit your own favorite name combinations to be used in future Names of the Month polls,  go to this page and enter them!    Check  Facebook ,  Twitter  or  Instagram  on May 1st to see which names won.

Two polls were recently posted on our Facebook page and we've received quite a few votes, but we could always use more for the sake of the data!  If you have a moment, vote for your favorite names within the US Top 100 chart. The polls are embedded below and your answers are completely anonymous! Loading... It will take a bit of scrolling to view them all but don't give up! Loading... Thanks for voting! Don't forget to share this with your poll-loving friends!

In the naming world, sometimes you will find names that all begin with the same few letters. This can sometimes make it difficult to choose between them. For example, I asked which of these Jul- names you would sooner use and the results are in! The options include two boys names: the popular Julian and the strong, Roman Julius. For girls, I limited it to sweet Julia, romantic Juliet and exotic Juliana. Every single one of these names comes from the same root. They come from the Roman family name ioulos which is from the Greek ιουλος meaning "downy-bearded" which implies youthfulness. The patriarch name is Iulius from which Julius was born. Following Julius's lead came Iulia and Iulianus. The Ancient Roman Iulia inspired many of the feminine names including Julia, Julitta, Yuliya, Jools, Juliet, Juliette, Julie, Juliska, Giulia, Giulietta, Julinha, and Yulia. Names like  Juliana, Julijana, Liana, Leanna, Gillian, Jill, and Uliana came from the Ancient Roman Iulia

I asked another popularity question recently. "Which Max name is your favorite?"  Then I listed them from the most-popular to the least. 74 votes were cast and there were three top names. Maxwell    24 Votes (32%) Max       17 Votes (22%) Maximus    15 Votes (20%) Maxim      8 Votes (10%) Maximilian   5 Votes (6%) Maxton      4 Votes (5%) Maximo      1 Vote  (1%) 32 percent of you name-artists prefer the name Maxwell and 22 percent would rather go with just plain ol' Max. 20 percent, myself included, voted for the cool Latin Maximus, and 10 percent chose to drop the -us and go with Maxim. The very-long Maximilian only received 6 percent of the vote while the made-up-sounding Maxton had 5%. Bring up the rear was the Spanish Maximo with a single vote. Let's learn more about these names. Do they all have the same root or do they differ? Maxwell is actually related to the Scandinavian name Magnus. It comes from a Scottish surname that means &q

This poll from the sidebar of The Art of Naming blog closed quite a while ago! You voted! Now it is time to find out which of the five options won the poll!  Here are the contenders and the results: Emmeline  17 votes (32%) Ariadne  14 votes (26%) Calliope  8 votes  (15%) Bryony  7 votes (13%) Lavinia  6 votes  (11%) Let's learn more about each of these names!  Which is your favorite? Emmeline is a name that I fear is rising fast! With the popularity of Emma and Emily, as well as -line names like Caroline and Madeline, Emmeline seems like a shoo-in!  It is a French name that comes from German elements that mean "work."  It ranked just outside of the US Top 1000 in 2012 at #1078.  click here to read even more about this lovely choice.  Ariadne is an Ancient Greek name that means "most holy." I first heard it in the move Inception (Ellen Page's character) and I liked it right away for being different but full of history. It is pronounced

Once again, a poll on the sidebar of the blog has come to a close. A whopping 84 votes were cast for these lovely names that start with Ev-.  Because I couldn't help myself, I ended up choosing 7 names for the poll which made the votes spread a little thin, but there was definitely a clear favorite. Here are the results: Known: Evangeline  19 votes (22%) Common:   Eve       14 votes (16%) Unusual:   Everly         14 votes (16%) Popular:   Evelyn         12 votes (14%) Popular:   Eva        9 votes (10%) Rare:   Evadne          9 votes (10%) Rare:   Eveline          7 votes (8%) 22% of you Name-Artists out there favor the name Evangeline the most!  It is toward the middle of the pack as far as popularity is concerned. Here is how each of the names ranked on the US Top 1000 chart in 2012: Evelyn #27 Eva #86 Evangeline #292 Eve #558 Everly #907 Eveline #7189 Evadne Unranked (#14129 in 1994, zero births since then.) Let's find out more about t

I love questions about popularity. I am always wondering if parents choose names because of how popular (or unpopular) they are. And with that, do they also avoid certain names because they're popular or unheard of? The above poll focused on names that start with Isa-.  It is no secret that Isabella was the #1 name in 2009 and 2010 after seeming to come out of nowhere suddenly in the early 2000s. In fact, Isabella was rather obscure, not even on the top 1000 chart, between 1949 and 1990. I didn't think to include Isabelle on the poll, but she's not nearly as popular as Isabella. That -a ending makes all the difference.  Isabelle ranked at #126 in 2012, while Isabella is #3.  Alternatively, Isabel ranked right behind Isabelle at #134. I wonder how many of you would have voted for Isabelle or Isabel. What about other options that don't have a bell chained to it? The lovely Isadora is my personal favorite. I would use this over Isabella any day! And the rare and

See that poll above? I asked you what I thought was a very difficult question, but surprisingly, the answer was a very easy choice to make. The clear-cut favorite Em- name on The Art of Naming is Emmeline. In fact, just turn the poll upside-down to put the names in the correct order! Here are the official results: Emmeline: 19 votes  (45%) Emerald: 7 votes (16%) Emilia:  6 votes (14%) Emily:  5 votes (11%) Emma:  5 votes (11%) This was a Popularity Question. I wanted to know how many people would prefer sticking to something popular like Emma or Emily, and how many people would opt for the bolder, rarer choices like Emerald and Emmeline, with Emilia tucked safely in the middle. Emmeline is destined to be popular in the coming years and its because of the popularity of Emma and Emily, as well as the popular -line names like Caroline and Madeline. Parents love the Em- but want to be unique, so Emmeline is a great choice!  It is a French name that comes from German

Once again, a couple of the polls on the side of the blog have ended and the results are in! Apollo 17 votes (34%) Calix 15 votes (30%) Isidore 7 votes (14%) Achilles 6 votes (12% Erasmus 4 votes (8%) You voted! The winner of the poll was Apollo! Apollo is a Greek mythology name. He was the son of Zeus and the god of medicine, music and poetry. Modern associations include NASA's Apollo program that landed humans on the moon; the historic Apollo Theatre in New York that launched the careers of many famous musicians.  Apollo ranked within the Top 1000 for the very first time at #993 in 2012! This name has only ranked in the US since 1965. Calix is a handsome and rare choice. Some think of it as the male form of Calixta/Calista. It is a Greek name meaning "Very Handsome" but some associate it with a Chalice in Latin. It has only been used in the US since 2002. There were 46 boys given the name in 2012, but it only ranks at #2619. Isidore w

If you've seen the polls on the right side of my blog, you may have noticed that two of them have closed. I'd like to report the results of one of the polls now! This poll asked the question: "What is your favorite classic girls name?"  I provided the following options: Elizabeth - 14 votes (34%) Alexandra -  8 votes (19%) Anna      -  8 votes (19%) Katherine -  6 votes (14%) Victoria -   5 votes (12%) Elizabeth was the clear winner of the poll! I wrote a blog article about the name Elizabeth asking why it has been a perpetually popular name since 1880. It appears to still have the winning-edge over its contemporaries!  Elizabeth has a rich history, a timeless style and a multitude of nickname options! It is a Hebrew name meaning "pledged to God," and is ranked at #10 on the US Top 1000 names chart. Alexandra and Anna tied for 2nd place.  Alexandra is my favorite of the bunch. It is a strong but elegant Greek name meaning "Defender of

If you've noticed the polls that are located on the right side of this blog, you'll see that the two on the bottom have closed. I have the results of the boy poll here!  I will feature the girl's poll on Thursday. I asked the question: "Which of these classic boy names do you prefer?" These were the options: Alexander - 14 votes (35%) William - 8 votes (20%) James -  8 votes (20%) John -  5 votes (12%) Charles - 4 votes (10%) Looking back on this, I would have probably preferred to remove one of them and include Arthur or Frederick. Nonetheless, you guys voted and the clear winner was Alexander. Alexander is a Greek name meaning "Defender of the People," and it is also my favorite on this list. It is the name I chose for my son's middle name. It ranked at #9 on the 2012 US Top 1000 Names chart! It is a noble name with many nicknames and variations such as Alex, Lex, Xander/Zander and even the exotic Sasha. There was a two-way tie f