The Art of Naming

The name Xanthe is brought to you today in honor of a previous article featuring The Very Best X Names for Boys and Girls. This name is Greek and is derived from ξανθος (xanthos) meaning "golden, yellow" or "fair hair". While this is a very beautiful name, there can be some annoying pronunciation issues that go along with it. Fortunately, the overwhelming consensus that I've found among typical English speakers is that they pronounce it ZAN-thee . ZAN-tha is another possibility. Some claim that it is pronounced more like ZAN-they or KSAN-thee. If you'd like to read a discussion about it, click here. For the purposes of this article, I will be assuming the pronunciation ZAN-thee. Xanthe is a name used twice on the planet Mars. Once for the Xanthe Montes which is a mountain range, and once for a region referred to as Xanthe Terra. Additionally, there is an asteroid called 411 Xanthe. There were also a few minor mythological characters with this nam...

Names that start with the letter U  aren't always favored very highly but Ulysses is a great exception that deserves more usage. The masculine name Ulysses is the Latin form of the excellent Greek mythological name Odysseus. Odysseus is said to be derived from the Greek οδυσσομαι ( odyssomai ) which means "to hate, wrathful". While that isn't the greatest meaning ever, both of these names are strong and interesting. In Greek legend, Odysseus was a hero of the Trojan War. Homer's The Odyssey, follows Odysseus's journey back to his kingdom and his wife Penelope. As for the name Ulysses, it was used as the title of a book written in 1920 by Irish author James Joyce. This story was loosely based on The Odyssey and was adapted into a movie in 1967. The most famous man named Ulysses in American history is Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885), the commander of the Union forces during the American Civil War. He later became the 18th President of the United States f...

Inspired by our list of The Very Best T Names for Boys and Girls is the beautiful and unique name Tallulah. Tallulah is a Native American name but there is a bit of discrepancy about its true origin and meaning. It is typically said to mean "leaping waters" in the Choctaw language but some argue that it actually means "town" in the Creek language . Perhaps both of them are accurate. This name is pronounced tə-LOO-lə. The alternative spelling Talulla is actually a different name. Talulla is Irish and comes from the Gaelic name Tailelaith . It is derived from the Irish elements tuile meaning "abundance" and flaith meaning "princess". There are two early Irish saints by the name Talulla. Neither name is popular or even common. The Irish Talulla has only been given to 10 girls total according to the SSA's records: 5 births in 2011 and 5 in 2013 in the US. As for Tallulah, the name has been on record since 1917 in the US but it was only...

There is something intriguing about feminine names that end with the "oh" sound. Many of these names have a spunky elegance to them. Since this ending sound is somewhat unusual for girls, the majority of these names are far from popular. Willow ranks the highest at #138 in 2014. Harlow ranks at #508, and Shiloh is at #608. A name to watch is Margot. It is catching on fast, ranking at #749 in the US. These are some of the best options I could find that end with "oh". If you are searching for names that are interesting and uncommon, you've found the right list! Which of these do you like most? Can you think of any names that I missed? Amiko                             Arlo Arrow Callisto Cielo Cleo Clio Coco Devereaux Dido Echo Farrow Flo Gwenno Halo Harlow Hiro Indigo Io Isabeau Jo Juneau Juno Kahlo Keiko Kimiko Lilo Lucero Margeaux Margo Margot Mariko Marlo Marlow Marlow...

As you may know, here in the US the Social Security Administration tallies up the names of all the babies born within a year and reveals which names were most popular. While there are clearly thousands of parents who are happy using popular names, there are also parents who would rather avoid them. For those parents who may secretly like the sound of the top names but hate their popularity, I've created a list of alternative options to the Top 10 names for girls. The names may be similar in sound, syllables, initial letter, meaning, origin or a combination of those. None of the alternate names below rank on the SSA's Top 1000 most popular names chart in 2014. 1, Emma ---> Amabel The rare medieval name Amabel maintains a sound similar to Emma at the start of the name but it also offers the trendy "bel" sound at the end. It does all of this while still being an unusual name and a cool alternative to the popular Emma.  I can never believe that this lovely p...

As you may know, here in the US the Social Security Administration tallies up the names of all the babies born within a year and reveals which names were most popular. While there are clearly thousands of parents who are happy using popular names, there are also parents who would rather avoid them. For those parents who may secretly like the sound of the top names but hate their popularity, I've created a list of alternative options to the Top 10 names for boys. The names may be similar in sound, syllables, initial letter, meaning, origin or a combination of those. None of the alternate names below rank on the SSA's Top 1000 most popular names chart in 2014. 1. Noah ---> Nahum Nahum is the best alternative to Noah because it is also a biblical Hebrew name and it has a similar meaning. Noah means "rest, comfort" and Nahum means "comforter". It starts with the same letter, has the same number of syllables and they're both very vowel heavy. While...

While everyone will have differing opinions about which are The Very Best J Names for Boys and Girls, I'm sure many can agree that Juno is an interesting and unique choice! The feminine name Juno is very mythological. The ancient Roman goddess was a daughter of Saturn, the wife (and sister!) of the Jupiter and the mother of Mars and Vulcan. She was the goddess of marriage and childbirth and often looked after the women of Rome. Juno was also the Queen of the Gods, known as "Regina" which means Queen. Her Greek equivalent is the goddess Hera. The meaning of the name Juno is generally thought to be unknown but some speculate that it is related to an Indo-European root word that means "youth".  Juno is a variation of the Roman name Iuno. Other related names are Iunius, Junius, Iunia, and Junia. As a name, Juno isn't very used in the US. It randomly charted way back in 1919 with 6 births and it wasn't heard from again until 1996. This name re...

The list of The Very Best I Names for Boys and Girls offered plenty of interesting choices.  This week is the boys turn for a featured name and the options were hard to choose from. In the end, Ignatius was the victor. The name Ignatius comes from the Roman family name Egnatius . Originally, Egnatius had an unknown meaning from the ancient Etruscan origin. As time went on, the spelling was altered so it would be similar to the Latin word ignis which means "fire". Because of this, the Etruscan Egnatius became the Latin Ignatius and inherited itself a meaning. There were several saints named Ignatius. The most well-known St. Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556) was the founder of the Jesuits. Interestingly, his birth name was Íñigo which is sometimes regarded as a form of Ignatius, but it is probably just because of its association with this saint.  (Inigo was also one of our featured I names that I nearly chose. It is Spanish but comes from the name Eneko which is deriv...

To complement our list of The Very Best H Names for Boys and Girls , we will further examine the feminine name Honora. It was the Normans who introduced the name Honora to England and Ireland. Honora is a variant of the name Honoria which is the feminine form of Honorius. Honorius is a Late Latin name meaning "honor". It has been worn by a few saints and popes as well as an emperor. In addition to the lovely Honora, there is also the Irish Onóra and the English Annora. Nora is an excellent nickname for all of these, and diminutives include the similar Norene, Noreen, Norah and Nóirín. While some parents like the shorter and simpler name Honor to reflect its virtuous meaning, others opt for a bit more of an elaboration with Honora or Honoria. These types of abstract virtue names were popular with the Puritans after having been introduced to Britain by the Normans. Today in modern America, Honora is very under-the-radar. It has been used quietly but consistently s...

Did you pick your favorite male A name from the previous post about The Very Best A Names for Boys and Girls? I did. And I will be featuring it right now.  Alistair is the anglicized form of the name Alasdair which is the Scottish version of Alexander . See the similarities between the three names?  There are other brother-names drawn from Alexander like the Arabic Iskandar , the Finnish Aleksanteri , the Irish Alastar , the Russian Aleksandr and the Ukrainian Oleksander among many others.  Alexander itself comes from the Greek Alexandros which means "defender of men". Of course, Alexander is a Greek mythology name (another name for the hero Paris) and a biblical name (found in the New Testament). The most famous bearer in history was Alexander the Great. It has also been used by kings of Scotland, Poland and Yugoslavia, emperors of Russia and eight popes.  However, the English Alistair doesn't have any big namesakes. There are many...

There are so many lovely 4+ syllable names for girls ; narrowing it down to one was difficult but I decided on beautiful Seraphina. Seraphina is the feminine form of the Late Latin male name Seraphinus . This name comes from the biblical, Hebrew word seraphim meaning "fiery ones" and referring to an order of angels that had six wings each. The Seraphim were described by the prophet Isaiah in the bible.  Seraphina was also the name of a 13th century saint from Italy who was known for making clothing for the poor.  As a name, Seraphina was never really favored in the past. However, it is starting to take off as an usual but pretty name. Actors Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner named their second daughter Seraphina Rose Elizabeth Affleck in 2009 which put the name on people's radars more, but yet it still remains mostly unused. The celebrity endorsement bumped Seraphina from having only 50 births in 2008 to having 88 in 2009 and 107 in 2010. How...

I chose to feature the name Casper this week because of its well-known association with "the friendly ghost" who is an animated character that's actually been around since 1939. It felt appropriate since today is Halloween and ghosts are a spooky staple of the holiday. Beyond the ghostly association, though, resides a really fabulous family of names.  Casper is the Dutch and Scandinavian form of the name Jasper which comes from the ancient Hebrew word Gizbar meaning "Treasurer". Gaspar was traditionally the name of one of the wise men who were said to have visited the newborn Jesus Christ.  Other related names include Caspar, Kasper, Jesper, Gaspard, Gaspare, and Gazsi. Casper is not an unfamiliar name to the ear in the US. However, it isn't being used all that often. It has been consistently used since records began in 1880, but it has never been popular. It was once ranking in the bottom half of the Top 1000 chart, but it fell off of it in 1933. Th...

The male Dutch name that I featured this week, Diederick, is relatively rare. The female name that I'm about to share is actually ranking pretty well in the Netherlands! Madelief is the name. It is pronounced mad-uh-LEEF and it's actually rather adorable! I think this could catch on in lieu of the more popular "Maddie" names like Madeline and Madison if more people knew about it. It would fit in well with other unusual Mad- names like Madigan and Madeleva as well as male choices like Maddox and Madden. It also goes hand in hand with botanical names that are gaining popularity today. The best part is that this adorable name comes from the Dutch word madeliefje which means "daisy". So it's actually an obscure nature name! I say that it is obscure because, well, it is. It may rank at #126 in the Netherlands, but here in the USA, Madelief is non-existent. There have never been at least 5 girls given this name in a single year. Anyone who has this nam...

The male name Diederick is the Dutch form of the Germanic name Theodoric. Both mean "ruler of the people". Theodoric is completely different than the similar sounding Greek name Theodore which means "gift of God". There was a Theodoric the Great in the 6th-century who became the ruler of Italy. He was also called Theodoricus but the original Gothic version of the name may have been Þiudreiks which is where Diederick comes from. Pronounced DEE-də-rik, this cool and unusual Dutch name has some equally cool counterparts in other languages like Theoderich, Derek, Derrick, Dirk, Thierry, Tiede, Dierk, Dietrich, Thilo, Tielo and Tudor. However, as a baby name in the USA, Diederick is unexplored territory. There are zero births on record since records were first kept in 1880. Since the Social Security Administration does not report births for a name unless there was at least 5 in one year, it's possible that there have been a few boys named Diederick born in ...

Closing out Irish Week, I present to you a very Irish girl name. The name Caoimhe is pronounced KWEE-va and sometimes just KEE-va is accepted. It has been anglicized to produce the variants Keeva and Keavy. It comes from the Gaelic caomh which means "beautiful, gentle, kind". So while it may be difficult for the non-Irish to know how to pronounce, it definitely has a lovely meaning!  It is also used in Scotland with the same spelling, meaning and pronunciations. According to the most recent stats on BehindTheName , Caoimhe ranks at #16 in Ireland and #35 in Northern Ireland. Nameberry confirms that this name has been consistently popular for quite a while, usually ranking in the Top 20 or so. In the US, Caoimhe is definitely hindered by pronunciation issues. It has only been given to girls since 1996 but it has never had more than 19 births in a single year. In 2013, there were 18 births for a ranking of #6734. Revision: As of 2016, the name only had 11 births....

Today is the start of Irish week! We'll explore Irish baby naming traditions on my World-Wide Wednesday segment and learn more about an Irish girl name on Friday. Right now, let's investigate one of my favorite Irish boy names: Cillian. Cillian is pronounced KILL-ee-an which is made more evident with the alternate spelling Killian. Both names are said to come from the Gaelic ceall meaning "church". Other sources suggest that its meaning has something to do with war or a warrior and strife based on the Irish c eallach instead. The name Kelly also comes from the ceallach family tree. Despite sometimes being considered a softer name in Ireland, Americans tend to view Cillian as a tougher name with its meaning and that harsh first syllable. As far as associations go, there was an Irish saint who was known as Cillian in the 7th-century. A modern namesake is that of actor Cillian Murphy today. There is also the association with the brand of beer known as George Kil...

Our celestial girl name of the week is the underrated Portia . This is the name of one of the moons of Uranus which was named after a Shakespearean character. The play "The Merchant of Venice" was written by William Shakespeare in 1596 and it involved a woman named Portia who disguised herself as a man so she could defend a man named Antonio in court. There was also another Portia in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar who was based on a historical character, the wife of Brutus. The name Portia is a variant of Porcia which comes from the Roman family name Porcius. I was a little surprised when I realized the meaning of the name, although it makes total sense based on the root of it. It has always been a somewhat classy and sophisticated name to me. As a member of the Porcius family, Portia does indeed mean "pig" from the Latin porcus . Can you see it now? If you know any other Latin-based languages, it's probably pretty obvious to you. Nevertheless, Port...

The last piece in this week's World-Wide Wednesday segment on Welsh names is the lovely girl name Carys. Pronounced ka-RISS or KAH-ris in Wales and sometimes CARE-iss in the US, it comes from the Welsh word caru which means "love". In the stream of time as far as names go, Carys is actually somewhat modern. It has only been in use since the middle of the 20th century in Wales. The most recent stats I can find rank the name at #239 in England/Wales. Carys has only been used in the US since 1991. It never received more than 16 births in a year until it suddenly got a boost in 2003 with 106 births. The cause of this increase is most likely because of Welsh-born actress Catherine Zeta-Jones and her husband Michael Douglas choosing the name for their daughter in 2003. Since 2003, the name has consistently continued to receive at least a hundred births per year but it hasn't had more than 200. In 2013, there were 122 girls given the name for a ranking of #169...

The awesome baby name lovers on Instagram and Tumblr have spoken! When polled about which German name I should feature for my World-Wide Wednesday segment , Alaric was the clear winner for the boys! The girl name is coming on Friday! Alaric is an Ancient Germanic name meaning "Ruler of All" or "All-Powerful Ruler".  It comes from the Gothic name Alareiks and is derived from the Germanic elements ala "all" and ric "ruler, power". In history, Alaric was the name of the king of the Visigoths who sacked Rome in the 5th century. Because of this king, the name has a very ancient and regal feel to it, but it still has the potential to be a cool, quirky and modern choice for a baby boy today. This name is still flying under the radar in terms of popularity. I've seen it discussed many times on forums but as far as actual usage goes, it is rare! It first appeared in the US in 1949 and it took another ten years to catch on regularly. A...

Since this is "car week", we'll look at the boy name Ford. The Ford Motor Company has been around since 1903 and was founded by Henry Ford. Clearly, the name comes from a surname but it was originally derived from a place name meaning "ford" in Old English. Nameberry says that it means "dweller at the ford". A ford is defined as "a shallow place in a river or stream allowing one to walk or drive across." That makes Ford a nature place name and a surname. Famous namesakes include the aforementioned Henry Ford, former U.S. President Gerald Ford, popular actor Harrison Ford, writer Ford Madox Ford, Pre-Raphaelite painter Ford Madox Brown and sportswriter Ford Frick. Actor Owen Wilson named his baby boy Robert Ford. In pop-culture, there's James "Sawyer" Ford from the TV show Lost , and Nathan Ford on the TV show Leverage . There's a character in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy named Ford Prefect.  This name s...