The Art of Naming

Hello Moms and Name-Enthusiasts! Here is another baby-naming dilemma that could use a bit more input!  The mom-to-be is looking for the following: Girl name beginning with either W, P or Q.  Feminine but does NOT begin or end with a vowel. Avoid the Top 100 names. Longer first name with a one syllable middle name. Middle name cannot start with an A. The last name is also one syllable. Right now, the priority is to find a name that ends with a consonant sound that mom and dad can agree on. Their naming styles seems to differ. He likes common and classic whereas she is a bit more adventurous.  They have two children with somewhat classic names, but she is not concerned at all about finding a name to "match". Liked names: Quinn Gwen Willow (despite vowel ending) Pippa  (despite vowel ending) Whitney What other names would you suggest? I've sent plenty of options and am waiting for another reply once she has a chance to talk with her husband but I th...

Our first "Fan of the Week" contest winner was a woman named Kiira who chose two interesting European names! I will feature the girl's name next Thursday. The boy's name is Kinnon. It is a Scottish name that originated as a Gaelic surname. It comes from the name Mac Fhionghuin which means "son of the descendant of the well born".  The source was a bit confusing, but I believe it was first recorded in 728 a.d. as Mac Fhionghuin. Over time, the name has had many different spellings. One of the first recorded spellings of this family name was on a man named Lachlann Makfingane in 1409. After that came Fingonivs, and it evolved to M'Fynwyn around 1490, Makfingoun in 1560, and then Kynnane in 1587. The spelling McKynnoun was around in 1621, McKinin came in 1680, and by 1781 it was typically spelled MacKinnon. Other variations include McKinnon, MacKinning, MacInnon, MacKinnen and MacFingon. As a baby name, it is said to mean "fair born". In...

In honor of Monday's post about names that are considered unisex, I thought I'd choose my favorite of the bunch. I'm not personally a fan of unisex names, I prefer to keep things gender-specific and obvious, however, I do like Rowan and cannot decide which gender I like it better for. What do you think? The name Rowan comes from an Irish surname. It is an Anglicized form of Ó Ruadháin which means"descendent of Ruadhán".  Sometimes this name is associated with the rowan tree which has red berries. It is also said to mean "little redhead".  This name is said to have been used for both genders since the middle ages, most commonly in Scotland and Ireland. In 2012, this name ranked #301 for boys with 1,138 births. On the girl side, there were 678 births which ranks the name at #455 in 2012. It isn't quite a 50-50 split, but it is more evenly distributed than some of the other names that are considered unisex.  Additionally, there were 234 baby boys...

Inochi (Life) Once a month, I will venture into international waters and find "exotic" and "foreign" names that are common in that particular native land.  For this first installment of "World-Wide Wednesday" where I find interesting name choices from around the world, I thought I'd focus on Japanese names. Authentic Japanese names can be so wonderful! Its a shame that some Japanese immigrants to the US feel the need to "Americanize" their name, or choose a boring, English name like Jerry or Lee.  However, there are many that keep the name their parents gave them. I read that it is traditional to have a big celebratory feast for the infant on its "Oshichiya" or its seventh day of life. They hang on the wall a very special "Shodo," or name plaque, that has the child's name inscribed in Japanese characters on very special paper. Clearly, they take baby-naming very seriously! How many of us even had a celebrato...

Here is a list of names that are considered unisex today. I am only including those that have a good amount of births for both genders.  There are some names that have a couple hundred births for a boy and several thousand births for a girl (or vice versa). That's pretty much a landslide so I'm not including them. To be included, the names have to have at least a 90/10 split. Name:  Percentage of use per gender (Boy/Girl) in 2012. (Example: 77% of all babies named Alexis in 2012 are female.) Alexis (23/77) Angel  (83/16) Avery (19/81) Casey  (61/39) Charlie (59/41) Dakota (48/52) Devon (89/11) Drew (84/16) Elliott (84/16) Ellis (65/35) Emerson (39/61) Emery (20/80) Finley (34/66) Harley (33/67) Haven (18/82) Hayden (69/31) Jordan (85/15) Jules (49/51) Justice (46/54) Kai  (87/13) Kendall (12/88) London (87/13) Marlowe  (12/88) Morgan (89/11) Parker (84/16) Payton (17/83) Peyton (32/68) Phoenix (61/39) Quinn (32/68) Reese ...

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...

In honor of yesterday's post about "place names," I've chosen to feature Vienna for the Girl Name of the Week. Of course, Vienna is the capital of Austria, and it is also its largest city with 2.4 million people within the metropolitan area.  The city is known as "The City of Music" because there have been more famous composers living there than anywhere else. It has also been called "The City of Dreams" because it was the home of Sigmund Freud, a famous psycho-analyst. The Italian name Vienna comes from the German name "Wien" which is thought to be derived from the Roman "vindobona" which comes from the Celtic word "windo-" meaning "white or fair." Some claim that it comes from "Vedunia" which means "forest stream." As you can see, the exact origin and meaning is a bit hazy. Every source I looked at seemed to have its own meaning and origin for Vienna, for instance, one site say...