Tag Archive for 'old fashioned baby names'

ASK AMANDA: A Vintage Name with a Good Meaning

Published
by
Amanda Barden
on November 30, 2009
in Ask Amanda, Baby Name Suggestions & Lists and Baby Naming Tips
. 0 Comments

 

 

Beverly & Pack

Beverly & Pack

Welcome to another edition of ASK AMANDA. Today I’m helping parents with a very common question — and one of my favorites.  

 

 

 

Ask Amanda

Q:    We are having our third child in February, a baby girl.  My husband and I love vintage names with great meanings. This time, we are struggling a bit. The baby’s middle name will be Constance.  We do not want to pick a name that is too popular.

 

Any ideas? DANA, Austin, Texas

 

A:    So, you’re looking for a vintage name that’s not too popular, has a good meaning and goes with the middle name Constance. I’m so glad you wrote to me!

 

Here are some suggestions:

 

ALTHEA: “healthy, healing power”

AUDREY: “noble strength”

CORDELIA: “heart”

DAPHNE: “laurel”

ELIZA: “God is my oath”

FELICITY: “happy, fortunate”

MARGOT: “pearl”

NORA: “honor”

ORLA: “golden lady, princess”

 

In case it factors into your decision, the name CONSTANCE is Latin for “loyal.” Sometimes people like to coordinate meanings.

 

I hope you find something you like on this list. If not, there are thousands of options in my book!

 

For everyone out there looking for names with specific meanings, you should pick up a copy of BABY NAMES MADE EASY. It’s the only baby name book that’s organized by the meaning of the names. That makes it really easy for you to find names with meanings you like. J

 

 

Good luck and let me know what you pick!

 

Happy naming,

♥  Amanda

 

Follow me on TWITTER to get up-to-the-minute celebrity baby name news, interesting names I come across and so much more! I’m @babynameauthor!

 

If you have baby name questions for me, email me at amanda@amandabarden.com.

Your question might appear in a future edition of Ask Amanda.

 

 

 

For more information on baby names and their meanings check out

BABY NAMES MADE EASY: THE COMPLETE REVERSE-DICTIONARY OF BABY NAMES

 

 

Bram Stoker’s Guide to Baby Naming (just in time for Halloween!)

Published
by
Amanda Barden
on October 31, 2009
in Baby Name Suggestions & Lists and Holiday Baby Names
. 0 Comments

 

I remember being in high school and not being able to put Dracula down. I took it everywhere I went and stayed up late until I’d finished it…and was very sad when I came to the end. You know that feeling when a book is so good that you just don’t want it to be over? That’s how Dracula was for me.

 

Halloween seems like a good time to dust off this classic vampire tale and get some name inspiration.

 

Dracula debuted in 1897. So those of you interested in turn-of-the-century names should enjoy this list. It should also appeal to people interested in Irish names because Bram Stoker was born and raised in Dublin.

 

Here you go:

 

FEMALE CHARACTER NAMES

LUCY Westenra

WILHELMINA “MINA” (Murray) Harker

 

 

MALE CHARACTER NAMES

ABRAHAM Van Helsing

ARTHUR Holmwood

JOHN Seward

JONATHAN Harker

PETER Hawkins

QUINCEY Morris

 

 

LUCY and MINA would be quite stylish names today. Even WILHELMINA has an antique charm to it. It makes sense that these names sound interesting to our ears right now because names take a few generations to sound fresh again after a period of popularity. You can see a pretty steady cycle for the name LUCY here in the US. In 1897 it was the 61st most popular name for girls. It dropped in popularity a little bit each year until the 1970s where it hit a low of 588. Then LUCY started climbing again. In 2008, it was at 112. I suspect it will continue growing in popularity over the next few years and then start to decline again.

 

WILHELMINA was most popular in the US in the 1880s — peaking at 215 in 1884. It actually hasn’t been in the Top 1000 since 1954. Talk about a name ready for a comeback! I remember a Days of Our Lives storyline in the 1990s with a character named WILHELMINA played by Lisa Rinna. The character went by the name Billie. There was also a storyline about a cosmetics company called Princess Wilhelmina. WILHELMINA is a bit of a mouthful, but there are a lot of cute nickname potential here — Billie, Mina, Minnie, Willa, Willie.

 

MINA was popular in the 1880s and stayed on the charts until 1944. Then it dropped off entirely until 2002. I can see MINA continuing to increase in popularity because it is short and sweet, has a very feminine ring to it and has that nickname quality that is popular with some parents.

 

The boys’ names are fairly traditional. None of them would sound especially out of place on a playground today. Nor would they have sounded out of place 50 or 100 years ago. QUINCEY is the most unusual of the names (more commonly spelled “Quincy” here in the US). It has never been a “popular” name, but it has also never been so uncommon that it would surprise someone to hear it.

 

What do you think of these names? Any fellow Dracula fans out there? Write and let me know.

 

Subscribe to the RSS feed so you don’t miss any future baby name posts.

 

You can also follow me on TWITTER to get up-to-the-minute celebrity baby name news, interesting names I come across and so much more! I’m @babynameauthor!

 

♥  Amanda

 

If you have baby name questions for me, email me at amanda@amandabarden.com.

Your question might appear in a future edition of Ask Amanda.

 

 

 

For more information on baby names and their meanings check out

BABY NAMES MADE EASY: THE COMPLETE REVERSE-DICTIONARY OF BABY NAMES

 

 

 

Baby Name Sampler, Summer 2009

Published
by
Amanda Barden
on September 29, 2009
in Baby Name Suggestions & Lists, Celebrity Baby Names and Celebrity Names
. 3 Comments

 

Ever sit around wondering what people are naming their babies right now? Me too.

 

I’ve gathered a list of baby names used this summer so that we could look at the trends, see what names are out there and also just because it’s fun. The names came from a variety of hospital web nurseries.

 

I’ve put the names into categories based on the first names. The middle names don’t necessarily follow the same trend or style. A few names could fit into more than one category.

 

On to the names…Comment and let me know what you think!

 

 

CLASSIC BABY NAMES

ALEXANDRA ROSE

ELISABETH JUNE

EMILY ELIZABETH

EMMA ELIZABETH

GABRIELLA PAIGE

LILY ISABELLA

MADELINE KAY

NATALIE ROSE

OLIVIA GRACE

REBECCA KATHERINE

SAMANTHA CLARE

 

JACOB DANIEL JAMES

JOSEPH NICHOLAS

MATTHEW BRIAN

MICHAEL TRENT

NATHANIEL LUKE

NICHOLAS DOBY

WILLIAM ANTHONY

 

 

UNISEX BABY NAMES

CAMERON SCOTT

CASEY LANE

JESSE LYNN

KEAGAN JON

KINSLEY DALLAS

LANE THOMAS JAMES

QUINN VIRGINIA

REECE ANDREW

SAWYER AMELIE GRACE

SIDNEY NATALIE

SKYLER KADE

TAYLOR MICHELLE

TEAGAN RAE

 

 

ONE-OF-A-KIND BABY NAMES

AMBREE

ARAYA SUNSHINE

ATHENA NAOMI

AYLA JUBILEE

BELLASOFIA FRANKIE

BELLICIA MICHELLE DANIELLE

BRYNJA ISABELLE

CHANLIE RAYE

DENALI JOY

DUSTIE DAWN

ENVEE ELIZABETH

ISIS LEE’ANN

JAZANYA TELESIA

KAIA NELLORA

NIYARI MOJICA

OZLYNDA VICTORIA-KAY

SAILER AURORA

SAVONA JALEACE

SKYLEE

SOMAYA MONIQUE

TASHALA JIZZELLE

 

BLAYDEN RYAN

BOSTON MARLEY

BRIDGER

BRIGSTON

BROOKS VALEN

CHAMP DAVIN

COBRA SCOTT

DIESEL LEMAN

DREXEL LAUREN

FAYDEN WHITESAGE

GERMAN

KELEE LION

LARVEL JEAN-KEATH

O’MALLEY RECHELLUL

PORTER BRADLEY

SHOOTER LEE

TAYTON

TRUSTIN JAMES

WHITAKER ROME

ZION DAMARIS

ZYLUS WALTER

 

 

POPULAR BABY NAMES

ADDISON RENEE

AVA GRACE

BELLA ROSE

CHLOE ELIZABETH

HANNAH MARIE

KAYLEE BELLE

LUCY OLIVIA

MADISON GRACE

RILEY ANN

 

AIDEN LEOPOLD

BRAYDEN GEORGE

CADEN CHRISTIAN

CARSON DANIEL

COLE CHRISTOPHER

COOPER DAVID

DAWSON GRAHAM

ETHAN ZACHARY

JAXSON ALLEN

JAYDEN FOXX

JORDAN JAMES

KYLE ALEXANDER

LIAM SHANE

LOGAN MATTHEW

OWEN AXEL

 

 

UP & COMING BABY NAMES

BRIA ROSE

BRIELLE REINA

CARMEN ARLEN

MCKENNA ANN

MIA  RAE

PAIGE NICOLE

PAISLEY ROSE

TABITHA VANESSA

 

BENTLEY JAMES

BRAXTON BENTLEY

CALLAHAN ROY

FINLEY LOUIS

FINN SULLIVAN

HAYDEN RILEY

HUDSON GRANT

JAMESON BRANT

MILLER DYLAN

ROGAN ROBERT

TUCKER COTY

 

 

COOL BABY NAMES

ANNELISE MORGAN

BIANCA NOELIA

GIANNA MARIE

KORIANA ELIZABETH JEWELL

LIA RENAE

PENNY ANN

SAVANNAH MARIE

SCARLETT IRENE

ZARA MARY JAYNE

ZOEY LYNN

 

BODIE CASH

CHASE MADDEN

COLT ANDERSON

CONNOR MCKINLEY

CYRUS ZANE

EASTON THOMAS DEAN

GRIFFIN LANE

GUNNAR AARON

HUNTER BRADLEY

JACKSON ROCKY LEVI

MAC LOUIS

MATTEO OWEN CHARLES

MAX ELLIOT

MILES WILLIAM

TANNER BLAKE

WESTON ALLEN

WYATT DOC

 

 

UNIQUE SPELLINGS

AIDDEN WHIATT

AYDEN KREDE

BENTLI GRACE

BRAELYNN MICHELLE

BRODIE TATE

BRYNLI

CAMRYN KRISTA

CHAELI SHIRLYANNE

DYLILAH JOLIE

EMMALEE IRIS

HAYZEL ANNABELL

KAYDENCE MARIE

KENNEDI CLAIRE

KHAMRYN BOUNMY

MADALYNN

MAKINNLEY JO

MAYCE SHAH

MEIRRA MAUREEN KASSIDY

PAYTYN

PRESLEE ANN

PRESLIE NICOLE

RYLEE DEE

RYLEY DARTAGNAN

TAITIEM HOWARD

TRYSTEN LEE

 

 

BABY NAMES FOR TWINS

AMELIA CELESTE & JOSEPH CHRISTIAN

ANNA GRACE & AVA LYNN

DANI KAY & CAMERON MICHEAL

PEYTON JUNE & PARKER ELIZABETH

 

 

HOLLYWOOD-INSPIRED BABY NAMES

AUDRINA SHELVY

BROOKLYN KIERA

EVANGELINE BRIGID

GISELLE

KIERA ANALISE

LOLA SHAE

SERAFINNA SUZANNE

 

ASHTON SCOTT

CASH JAMES LEE

CRUZ ALEXANDER

DEACON EDWARD

GAVIN KEITH

JONAS MARK

JOPLIN CODA

KOEN BROOKS

LEVI ANDREW

SEAN PRESTON

ZANDER JAMES

 

 

OLD-FASHIONED BABY NAMES (but not unfashionable)

ALICE MAUREEN

ANNETTE MCKAY

AUDREY FRANCIS

CAROLINE MARIE

EMMALINE HAZEL EVA

ESTHER MARIE

LILLIAN GRACE

MILLICENT LYNN

 

ALBERT KENNEDY

CALEB JOHANNES

CLARK MICHAEL

EZRA MADDOX

JOSIAH ANTHONY

LAMONT LEROY

LINCOLN

LINUS PHILLIP RAY

NOAH EARL

OLIE PAXTON

SOLOMON CODY

TROY DON

ZACHARIAH THOMAS

 

 

NATURE BABY NAMES

AURORA LORALAI

AUTUMN HALLE-SERENITY

GOLDEN AURA

GOLDIE DAWN

JASMINE JULIANNA

SIENA JAZLYN

SIERRA AILEEN

SUMMER BLUE STAR

 

BLAZE DARREN

ORION FRANK

 

 

It’s safe to say that the name BENTLY, in a variety of spellings, is increasing in popularity. I came across that name several times during my search and it was used for both boys and girls —a new addition to the unisex name options.

 

That’s it for today. See you again soon!

 

♥  Amanda

 

If you have baby name questions for me, email me at amanda@amandabarden.com.

Your question might appear in a future edition of Ask Amanda.

 

 

 

For more information on baby names and their meanings check out

BABY NAMES MADE EASY: THE COMPLETE REVERSE-DICTIONARY OF BABY NAMES

 

 

 

CELEBRITY BABY NAME ALERT: Sarah Jessica Parker & Matthew Broderick

Published
by
Amanda Barden
on June 23, 2009
in Baby Names in the News and Celebrity Baby Names
. 0 Comments

 

Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick welcomed twin girls MARION LORETTA ELWELL and TABITHA HODGE. Congratulations! The twins have an older brother, JAMES WILKIE.
 
Curious about what the names mean? Here you go:

 

 

MARION is an English and French version of Maria meaning “bitter”
 
TABITHA is an Aramaic name that means “gazelle”
 

These are both cute names. Both names have an older, traditional feel to them. I especially like TABITHA — it has always been one of my favorite names. I bet it sees a rise in popularity now. That makes me a little happy and sad at the same time.
 
According to their publicist, Elwell and Hodge are family names.

 

What do you think about the twin’s names? Post your comments!

 

 

♥  Amanda

 

If you have baby name questions for me, email me at amanda@amandabarden.com. Your question might appear in a future edition of Ask Amanda.

 

 

 

For more information on baby names and their meanings check out

BABY NAMES MADE EASY: THE COMPLETE REVERSE-DICTIONARY OF BABY NAMES

 

 

 

 

Vintage-Cool Baby Names

Published
by
Amanda Barden
on June 2, 2009
in Baby Name Suggestions & Lists
. 3 Comments

 

 

Here is a list of baby names I put together that have an antique, vintage feel, but are still very useable today, and dare I say, cool:

Powerhouse Museum Collection

Powerhouse Museum Collection

There’s a magical kind of name that feels vintage and classic without sounding old-fashioned or dated. Parents search far and wide for names like these and with good reason. The names in this group are charming and stylish…at least that’s my opinion. What do you think?

 

 

 

 BABY GIRL NAMES

 ADELAIDE

AMELIA

ANNABELLE

AUDREY

CARMELA

CECILY

CHARLOTTE

CORA

CORDELIA

DAISY

ELIZA

ELLA

GENEVA

GOLDIE

HAZEL

IVY

LUCY

LYDIA

MADELINE

MILLIE

MINNIE

NAOMI

NORA

OCTAVIA

OLIVE

OPAL

RAMONA

SADIE

VIOLET

VIVIAN

WILLA

 

 

 

BABY BOY NAMES

 

AMOS

ARCHIBALD

ASA

BRUNO

CALEB

CALVIN

CONRAD

COSMO

DAVIS

EDGAR

ELIAS

ELIJAH

ELLIOT

EMMETT

EVERETT

FELIX

HENRY

HUGO

ISIAH

JASPER

JONAS

LEVI

MACK

MAXWELL

MILO

OTTO

REX

SAMSON

SILAS

SIMON

THEODORE

TOBIAS

 

 

 

What sounds “old-fashioned” is probably a matter of taste. What names would you add to or take off this list? Post a comment and let us know.

 

♥  Amanda

 

If you have baby name questions for me, email me at amanda@amandabarden.com.

Your question might appear in a future edition of Ask Amanda.