The Art of Naming

Sometimes I come up with fun "exercises" in naming to strengthen my skills. I thought it would be fun to find boy names ending with -ian for each letter of the alphabet. It was going well until I got to a few more troublesome letters.  Take a look at my list and tell me which are your favorites! Adrian Brian Christian Damian Elian Fabian Gian Hadrian Ian Julian Killian Lucian Maximilian Nerian Octavian Paulian Quillian Rhydian Sebastian Tavian Urian Vian Xadrian Yulian Zavian I may or may not have created a few of these. Specifically Paulian, Quillian, and Urian. Those were the only letters of which I could not find names ending with -ian, However, they sound like the could work just fine along with the others.  Can you find any established names starting with P, Q and U that could take their place?

March 27th is considered National Joe Day! From a "cup of Joe", to Sloppy Joes to the Average Joe; from Joe DiMaggio, to Joe Jonas, to Joe Biden, there are a ton of Joes to celebrate! So today we will take a closer look at Joseph, Josephine, Joe and other similar names. According to Behind the Name , Joseph comes from From Ioseph , the Latin form of the Greek Ιωσηφ ( Ioseph ), which was from the Hebrew name יוֹסֵף ( Yosef ) meaning "he will add". Since it his Hebrew in origin, of course it is a biblical name. In the Old Testament, Joseph was the son of Jacob and Rachel. Joseph is one of those names that translate well across a variety of languages and cultures around the world: Yousef, Youssef, Yusef, Yusuf (Arabic) Youcef (Arabic (Maghrebi)) Hovsep (Armenian) Yusif (Azerbaijani) Joseba (Basque) Ioseph, Ioses (Biblical Greek) Yosef (Biblical Hebrew) Ioseph (Biblical Latin) Jusuf (Bosnian) Yosif (Bulgarian) Josep (Catalan) Ghjaseppu (Co...

Welcome to Part Two of our series that is focused on Baby Names Inspired by the Animal Kingdom! If you had a chance to view part one, you would remember that we mostly explored names related to bears, eagles, foxes, lions and wolves. Now we will look at names whose meanings relate to birds, insects, sheep, deer, and a handful of others. Take a look at the list below and if you spot any favorites, share your thoughts in the comments! Birds: Bertram "bright raven" from Germanic elements Bran "raven" in Irish/Welsh Branwen "beautiful raven" from Welsh Corbin "raven" from French Cormac "raven, son" from Irish Gaelic Fechín "little raven" in Irish Guntram "war raven" from Germanic elements Korbin "raven" from Latin corvus Raban "raven" from German Rambert "bright raven" from Germanic elements Ronne "raven" in Frisian Lonán "little blackbird" from I...

Previously, I have made lists of bird names and nature names , but it just occurred to me that I did not have a list specifically for "animal" names. Now, there are two different directions we can go when considering this category. The first direction explores broad animal names like wolf, fox, bear and more.  The second direction looks deeper into meanings and various translations or associations. Here's the first: Bear Birdie Cat Fox Kitty Lion Tiger Wolf Here are some of the most-used bird names: Falcon Finch Hawk Jay Lark Lory Peregrine (falcon) Phoenix Raven Robin Sparrow Starling Wren Then there are names that aren't as obviously associated with animals. Some of them have meanings or elements within them that refer to a specific animal, and when you break down their etymology, it makes sense. I categorized them below: Bear: Adalbern "noble bear" from Germanic elements. Alfbern "elf bear" ...

From our previous article listing names ending with the letters "-sy" , we find a diamond in the rough. The most popular name on the list is Daisy.   This pretty name is directly related to the flower. However, it also derives from the Old English word  dægeseage meaning "day eye".  Daisies  belong to one of the largest families of plants in the world. Often they have a yellow center and come in a variety of colors, with white being perhaps the most common. . By böhringer friedrich - Own work, CC BY-SA 2.5 Sometimes Daisy is used as a nickname for Margaret. It happened in a round-about way due to the French name Marguerite becoming associated with the daisy in French. Margaret means "pearl" in Greek, and daisies were considered "pearls of the field" or "marguerites".  So Marguerite, and the Spanish Margarita, gained association with Daisy and Daisy became a nickname for Margaret. In pop-culture, there is the animated Daisy...

This series is nearing the end of the alphabet. With the letters -sy, we find several interesting names. Some of these are more on the nickname side, but usable nonetheless.  Are there any names below that you would considered? The most popular options are undoubtedly Daisy, Maisy and Tansy. Notice how there are many more options for females than males. Can you think of any others that could be added to the list? Girls: Bethsy Betsy Blessy Cassy Cessy Chrissy Cissy Crissy Daisy Deisy Dessy Elsy Gypsy Isy Jassy Jesy Jinsy Joisy Kassy Keisy Kelsy Krissy Lindsy Lissy Lynsy Maisy Mimsy Missy Pansy Patsy Posy Rosy Shannessy Sissy Susy Tansy Zissy Boys: Hennessy Jessy Massy Patsy Shaughnessy Sy Do you like any of these? Share your thoughts in the comments!  And view the other articles in this series focused on "name endings".

Being the "Name Nerd" that I am, I have been keeping a list of my favorite names per letter on a yearly basis. I recently compiled these lists and sorted them out alphabetically and chronologically. I started making the list back in 2010, the year I got married and we started pondering names for potential future children. We had a son in 2012 and a daughter in 2014 whose names made the list. I have continued to keep track of my favorite names since then, and will continue to do so, but after 8 years of this, I decided it would be fun to share my choices. I wanted to see how time has drastically changed my style for some letters, and yet has been untouchable for other letters. I have just finished posting these weekly on my Instagram if you would like to browse there and see my thoughts and explanations per letter. Here we go: 2010:  Bailey, Braden 2011: Brynna, Bennett 2012: Blythe, Brennan 2013: Bridget, Benedict 2014: Bryony, Benedict 2015: Bellamy, Bertram 2016...