Tag Archive for 'girls’ names'

ARBOR DAY — A CELEBRATION OF BABY NAMES!

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Amanda Barden
on April 23, 2009
in Baby Name Suggestions & Lists
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Arbor Day is the day we celebrate babies named after trees. Not officially, of course, but unofficially here on my blog.

There are some celebrities out there named after trees:

Ashton Kutcher
Sylvester Stallone
Estée Lauder
Björk
Burl Ives
Lorenzo Lamas
Lorne Green
Axel Rose
Lief Garrett
Yves Saint Laurent

 

There’s also a few celebrity babies whose names have tree-meanings:

Hazel, daughter of Julia Roberts & Danny Moder

Evalyne, daughter of Cassidy Black & Dierks Bentley

Oliver, son of Jennifer Lynn Stone & Fred Savage

Oliver, son of Allison & Taylor Hawkins

Olivia, daughter of Joely Fisher & Christopher Duddy

Willow, daughter of Michelle Monaghan & Peter White

 

If you like the idea of nature names, there are some really great tree names to consider on this Arbor Day. Here is a list of some names whose meanings are related to trees:

 

GIRL NAMES

Alani, Aspen, Ayla, Chan, Elana, Estée, Geneva, Hazel, Holly, Idra, Kaya, Laurel, Lina, Matsuko, Olivia, Samara, Verena, Willow

 

BOY NAMES

Ashton, Axel, Barker, Cormac, Derry, Elan, Ellery, Ewan, Hollis, Lennox, Lorenzo, Oakley, Oleander, Oliver, Palmer, Rowan, Silas, Vernon, York

 

All of these names (and many more!) can be found in the Flowers, Trees & Living Things chapter in my book. Check it out!

Post a comment and let me know about your favorite Arbor Day name! Also, if you can, plant a tree and celebrate Arbor Day the way it was truly intended. Click here for the official Arbor Day website.

 

♥  Amanda

 

 

LONG LIVE THE QUEEN! AND LONG LIVE THE NAME “ELIZABETH,” TOO!

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Amanda Barden
on April 21, 2009
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Today is Queen Elizabeth II’s birthday, so I say — Long Live the Queen!

I also say Long Live “Elizabeth.” And I’m not just saying that because it’s my middle name. Few names have had as long and popular a life as Elizabeth. Over the last 120 years, it has consistently ranked in the Top 25 Most Popular Girls’ Names (except for 1945 where it ranked 26th, which is pretty darn close).

Here’s the breakdown of Elizabeth’s popularity according to Social Security:

1888: 3rd
1898: 7th
1908: 7th
1918: 9th
1928: 14th
1938: 17th
1948: 25th
1958: 22nd
1968: 17th
1978: 14th
1988: 10th
1998: 10th
2007: 10th

Those are pretty impressive numbers when you think about it. Most names come in and out of vogue over time, especially girls’ names. Florence, Ethel and Bertha were all in the Top 10 with Elizabeth in the 1890s, but there probably aren’t too many expectant parents out there with any of those names on their short list. So, for one name to still sound attractive to our modern ears is pretty impressive.

Now, that’s all really interesting, but there’s something even more interesting about the name Elizabeth than its enduring popularity. I think what really sets Elizabeth apart from most other names is the staggering number of variations and nicknames it’s generated. Few other names even come close to the number of nicknames Elizabeths have to choose from. Many of these derivatives have even managed to escape pet name territory to become full-fledged names in their own right.

First, you have the obvious nicknames — Eliza, Liz, Beth, Liza — simple shortenings of the full name. Then you have a few slightly more creative shortenings that leave out a letter or so in between — Lizbet and Lizbeth. If you spell Elizabeth with an “s” (Elisabeth) you get Elisa, Lisa, Lisbet and Lisbeth.

Then you have my favorite category of Elizabeth nicknames. The ones you don’t see coming at all — Babette, Bess, Betsy, Bette, Buffy, Tetsie and Tibby. Tetsie’s a personal favorite of mine, but you would probably have needed to be a friend of mine in college to appreciate it yourself. (Hi Tetsie!)

Elizabeth has some really great International variations, too.  Here are some of my favorite ones:

FRENCH: Elise
GERMAN: Bettina
ITALIAN: Elisabetta
LATVIAN: Lizina
RUSSIAN: Elsavetta
SCOTTISH: Elsbeth
SPANISH: Isabel, Isabella, Liseta

I’m the sort of person who really likes options in a name — a name that works for an adult or child and has great nickname possibilities. Elizabeth fits that to a tee. I suspect that’s why it’s remained so popular over the years.

Why do you think Elizabeth has been such a favorite for parents? Post a comment and let me know what you think of the name Elizabeth.

 

♥  Amanda

 

 

Baby Names of the Day & Golden Gate Park

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Amanda Barden
on April 19, 2009
in My Life
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 Today was one of those rare days in San Francisco where temperatures soared all the way up into the 80s!

San Francisco isn’t known for its warm weather, so I took full advantage and walked over to Golden Gate Park. It seemed like nearly half of the city was gathered there to soak up the sun, play Frisbee and people watch.

I’m never one for soaking up the sun, so I found myself a nice place in the shade and plopped down with my iced caramel macchiato (delicious!) and spread out all my blog writing supplies (notebook, cute pink pen, Social Security printouts, Baby Names Made Easy, cute blue pen). I was determined to get some good work done…

Turns out it was kind of hard to concentrate though because the people watching was just too good. Hands down the best conversation snippet I overheard went like this:

GIRL #1: …so he goes and has a baby and then decides to totally desire me.

GIRL #2: I don’t get him at all.

GIRL #1: Me neither!

(Girl #1, if you’re reading this, don’t waste your time trying to figure him out. He’s definitely not worth it!)

There was also a pretty talented group of Frisbee players who managed to hold drinks in one hand and play Frisbee with the other. Never having been good at Frisbee myself, it was sort of riveting to watch.

Anyhow, the beautiful weather did get me thinking about springtime names and I made some picks for Baby Name of the Day:

 

GIRL NAME OF THE DAY:

ABRIELLE — a French version of the name April

 

BOY NAME OF THE DAY:

KELL — Scandinavian for “spring”

 

I think these are both cool name picks. They each strike that balance a lot of parents are looking for these days — not too popular, but not too weird. You can find out more about each of these names in the Seasons & Time chapter of my book.

How do you like the Names of the Day? Love them or think the sun’s gone to my head? Post a comment and let me know (I also accept Frisbee tips)!

  

♥  Amanda

   

 

 

Baby Names Made Easy now on TWITTER!

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Amanda Barden
on April 18, 2009
in Website Announcements
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I decided it was time to join the Twitter world. I’m in the process of figuring out how it works. I think it’s going to be fun. You can find me by searching my name or my ID, babynameauthor. Follow me on Twitter!

More to come soon…just waiting to hear what Brad Paisley and Kimberly Williams named their new son!

Post a comment and let me know what kind of info I should cover on Twitter.

 

♥  Amanda

 

 

Celebrity Baby Name Alert: Java Kumala (Yessica Kumala & Josh Holloway)

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Amanda Barden
on April 14, 2009
in Celebrity Baby Names
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Josh Holloway (Lost) & Yessica Kumala are the proud parents of baby girl Java Kumala Holloway! Congratulations! Java was born on April 9, 2009 in Hawaii. Her name has a very island-y feel to it.

Java as a name is definitely slightly beyond the mainstream, but I think it works because it’s a name everyone will recognize. Java has a celebrity-cool feel to it without straying into celebrity-crazy territory. What you do think?

Post a comment and let me know how you like the name Java!

 

♥  Amanda

Celebrity Baby Name Alert: BLAKESLEY GRACE (Trista & Ryan Sutter)

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Amanda Barden
on April 6, 2009
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Congratulations to Trista and Ryan Sutter (from the “Bachelorette”)! They welcomed daughter Blakesley Grace on Friday, April 3rd. Blakesley has a big brother, Maxwell Alston! You can read more over at MSNBC.

 

Blakesley is a really interesting name for a little girl — I think we can all agree on that. It’s also a good example of two popular naming trends right now:

  1. Using surnames as first names AND
  2. Using traditionally male names (or male sounding names) for girls

 

Surnames as First Names

Using surnames as first names is pretty popular these days. I bet we all know at least one baby out there with a surname-name. Here are some examples of surname-names from the Top 100 names in the US, according to Social Security:

 

GIRLS

Madison, Addison, Taylor, Morgan, Avery, Riley, Mackenzie, Haley, Bailey, Jordan

 

BOYS

Tyler, Dylan, Jackson, Mason, Austin, Landon, Cameron, Connor, Hunter, Hayden, Chase, Carter, Blake, Cole, Carson, Brady, Cooper

 

 

I think Madison is the best example of the surname-name trend — it has been in the Top 10 list of girl’s names every year since 1997 after first reaching the Top 100 in 1993. And not only is Madison popular, but so is Maddison, Madisyn and Madyson. Alternative spellings for names is a different topic altogether that I’ll save for another day!

 

Male Names for Girls

I don’t think Blakesley has ever been on the top of any naming charts, but it does have a distinctly “male” feel to it. Blake is similar to Blakesley and it has been a steady favorite in the Top 100 list of boy’s names for two decades now — very impressive! Anyhow, using boy’s names for girls is quite a popular trend, according to the Social Security database. Here are some examples of popular girl’s names that were once reserved for boys:

Addison, Taylor, Morgan, Riley, Bailey, Jordan, Reese, Cameron, Rowan, Logan, Ryan, Harley

 

What do you think about these trends? Love them? Hate them? I’d love to hear from some readers out there who have strong feelings one way or the other. Don’t be shy!

 

♥  Amanda

 

Celebrity Baby Name Alert: Petal Blossom Rainbow (Jamie Oliver)

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Amanda Barden
on April 3, 2009
in Celebrity Baby Names
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Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver and wife Jools continued their floral naming tradition with third daughter PETAL BLOSSOM RAINBOW. Petal was born very early this morning at 2:46 am. She has two big sisters, Poppy Honey (7) and Daisy Boo (5). You can read more at The Sun website.
 
I’ve read criticism in the past over the Oliver’s naming choices. I think it’s due more to the middle names than first names alone — there’s nothing too unusual about Poppy, Daisy and Petal, but when you throw in Honey, Boo and Blossom Rainbow the result is a little more off-beat. I’m OK with that though. I think it’s fun to be a little more creative with middle names. Plus, flower names are very trendy now and, personally, I’m a big fan. I’ve always found flower names sweet and ultra-feminine. What do you think? I’ve put together a list of some other celebrities who used flower names for their newborns.
 


CELEBRITY BABY FLOWER NAMES:

 

Bluebell Madonna (Geri Halliwell)

 

Charlie Tamara Tulip (Rebecca Romijn & Jerry O’Connell)

 

Daisy True (Meg Ryan)

 

Iris Sura (Renee O’Connor)

 

Jasmine Innes (Cristen Chin & Nigel Barker)

 

Kadence Clover (Lhotse Merriam & Tony Hawk)

 

Lily Aerin (Jennifer Stone & Fred Savage)

 

Lily Aster (Dara Kravitz & Gilbert Gottfried)

 

Lotus Marie (Rain Pryor & Yale Partlow)

 

Violet Maye (Jordyn Blum & Dave Grohl)

 

Violet Anne (Jennifer Garner & Ben Affleck)

 

Lily-Rose Melody (Vanessa Paradis & Johnny Depp)
 
 


AND THEN THERE ARE THE ROSES, WHO DESERVE A LIST ALL THEIR OWN (note all these Roses — and one Rosie – are middle names):

 

Alabama Gypsy Rose (Drea de Matteo & Shooter Jennings)

 

Matilda Rose (Michelle Williams & Heath Ledger)

 

Brighton Rose (Joya Tillem & Jon Favreau)

 

Dolly Rebecca Rose (Rebecca Romijn & Jerry O’Connell)

 

Harper Rosie (Martie & Gareth Maguire)

 

Johnnie Rose (Melissa Etheridge & Tammy Lynn Michaels)

 

Leal Rose (Tamia & Grand Hill)

 

Maggie Rose (Tracey & Jon Stewart)

 

Seraphina Rose Elizabeth (Jennifer Garner & Ben AfflecK)

Emerson Rose (Teri Hatcher & Jon Tenney)

 

What I really want to know is what Jamie and Jools would have named the baby if it was a boy! Do you have any suggestions for them? If so, let me know!
 
♥  Amanda

 

 

Mountain-y Baby Names

Published
by
Amanda Barden
on March 29, 2009
in Baby Name Suggestions & Lists and My Life
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I escaped city life for the weekend and headed to the mountains for a little R&R. What I’ve learned so far is that you can take the girl out of the city, but you can’t take the city out of the girl. I wasn’t here 30 minutes before checking my email…and now here I am updating my blog! But all this mountain air got me thinking about “mountain-y” baby names — names that have “mountain” in the meaning. There are a few obvious picks, but quite a few that you wouldn’t suspect at all.

All these names can be found with their meaning and origins in my Geography, Topography & Locations and On The Map chapters. Drop me a note and let me know your favorites, least favorites, best tips for mountain living, anything you want to share…Here’s the list I came up with:

GIRLS

 Aspen, Glenna, Mineko, Olympia, Parvati, Zaltana

 

 BOYS

Beaumont, Berg, Everest, Glen, Huntley, Huxley, Kip, Kiri, Knox, Lamont, Landon, Orestes

 

 GIRL OR BOY

Fuji, Himalaya, Kenya, Montana, Nevada, Vail

 

I think I’ll take a walk down to the lake now and enjoy the rest of my vacation.

♥  Amanda