The Art of Naming

The Boy's Name of the Week is the bold and playful Felix.  Beyond "Felix the Cat," this is a Latin name that means "happy and fortunate". Felix has been the name of four popes and a whopping 67 saints! A biblical Felix was the governor of Judea who imprisoned Saint Paul.  In Ancient Roman times, General Sulla adopted the name Felix because he felt as though the gods blessed him with luck and fortune. Felix has been all over various literature and films, too many to list. There are also many modern day examples and a couple celebrity babies. If you zoom out and look internationally, the name Felix is very diverse! It works well in Spanish, German, Austrian, Russian and Polish. It is also quite popular in England/Wales, Denmark, France, The Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. Here in the U.S., it is definitely picking up steam! It ranked at #316 in 2012 when 1,025 boys were born. There were even 15 female births, but Felix comes across as an all-boy name to...

If you are in need of a baby name and you don't really know how to narrow down your style and choose something, perhaps what you need is to find a "cool name" that would impress your friends and give your child that unique edge. You're in luck! This is a list of "cool names for boys."  Of course, everyone's opinion differs, but you may just find what you're looking for here: He's definitely an Ace or Cruz Ace August Ash Axel Bay Beau Beckett Blaze Booker Boone Breccan Calix Calloway Cashel Chance Chase Cliff Colt Cormac Crispin Cruz Damian Dash Dashiell Decimus Denim Diesel Donovan Draven Felix Fergus Finn Gunner Gus Guthrie Harley Homer Hudson Humphrey Hunter Inigo Ivo Jackson Jagger Jax Jett Justice King Knute Leonidas Lorcan Maddox Matteo Maximus Neo Nico Orion Ozias Pierce Pilot Ranger Ransom Rowan Ryder Ryker Sargent Sayer Steele Stone Storm Taj Talon West ...

They say that it takes 100 years for names to come back into fashion. They aren't wrong. When you think about all of the names that are currently at the top of the charts (or rising quickly) how many of them were previously considered "Grandma" names? Perhaps these names are now being used to honor those grandparents. Or maybe those names now belong to the great-grandparents of current baby-namers and aren't well-known or thought of as old. Just like fashion trends, names have a way of coming back around and seeming fresh again. The 100 year rule is real! To prove that, here are some names that saw popularity spikes in the 1915-1925 range. These same names have begun gaining popularity since 2010 (and sometimes earlier because of those parents ahead of the trend.) We can only assume that these names will continue to climb our modern day charts and hit their peaks around the 100-years-later mark and then decline again. Name: (Year with most births) #ranki...

The Girl's Name of the Week is a beautiful choice that often gets overlooked: Antonia. Antonia is the feminine form of the Roman family name "Antonius" from which the male names Antony, Anthony, Antonio, etc also come. All of these names unfortunately do not have a known meaning . In the 17th century, names like this were confused for having origins from the Greek word "Anthos" which means "flower" and resulted in the letter "h" being adding to names like Anthony. Some websites will claim meanings for these names, but none have been proven to be true. I have seen meanings listed for Antonia such as "priceless," "beautiful," or "praiseworthy." If you wish to use one of these meanings for your daughter, that is fine with me, just remember they haven't been proven as the true meaning based on the root name Antonius, which has an unknown meaning. Antonia and its variant forms such as Antoinette and An...

Like the Ancient Boy Name post, here are some lovely and unique ancient name options for girls! Many of them are Latin but there is a mixture of origins and eras in this list. Which of these do you think deserve to be used for a modern girl? Abelia                         Aeliana Albia Aliana Amabel Amica Annia Antonia Aphra Aquilia Aries Argentia Arria Atarah Athalia Aurelia Avita Basilia Beata Bellatrix Caesarea Calvina Campana Candida Cassia Cecilia Claudia Clemencia Columba Constantina Cornelia Crispina Cyra Dahlia Damaris Damiane Decima Delicia Dominica Donata Drusilla Dulcina Elizabella Elysia Fabia Fannia Fausta Faustina Felicia Fidella Flavia Florentina Fortunata Francesca Gaia Galla Gaynor Gwenore Hilaria Honoria Horatia Imogene Isolde Jennet Jonet Jovia Julia Junia Juno Justina Laelia Laurentia Lavinia Ligeia Livia Lucia Lucilla...

The name of the Prince of Cambridge, the third in line to the throne of England, has finally been announced! What do you think of this Royal Baby Name? Is it fitting for a future King?  I think it is extremely strong and handsome. Perfect for this little Prince.  George was pretty much a sure thing and everyone was betting on it. Alexander is my own son's middle name and one of my very favorites. It wasn't on anyone's radar as an option. Louis is one of Prince William's middle names! Here's the breakdown of what each of the names mean and who else has worn these names in the Royal Family: George is a Greek name meaning "Farmer." The fact that they chose it is probably meant to reflect the humbleness of a farmer so that the Prince can always be down-to-earth and a more compassionate ruler. It is a strong name that is both royal and saintly. It was worn by the King of Britain for 116 years straight!  Most notably, George directly honors the most r...

The Boy Name of the Week is the strong and bold Benedict. I prefer this choice over the more-common Benjamin and Bennett. Benedict is a Latin name meaning "blessed." It is also the name of Saint Benedict, an Italian Monk who formed the Benedictine Order in the 6th century. Additionally, a whopping sixteen popes have worn the name. Benedict hit England in the 12th century and became insanely popular. The alternate spelling, Benedick, probably won't fly for a modern baby but it was used for a character in the Shakespeare piece Much Ado About Nothing. Of course there will always be that link to the infamous traitor Benedict Arnold, but he died in 1801 so I'm willing to look past that now, are you? To switch gears, a modern day Benedict is a new rising star. The British stage, film and TV actor named Benedict Cumberbatch is gaining popularity in the States now. Let's look at the popularity stats of Benedict. It recently ranked at #420 in England/Wales, bu...