Tag Archive for 'vintage 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

 

 

The (Unofficial) Twilight Guide to Naming Babies

Published
by
Amanda Barden
on November 19, 2009
in Baby Names in the News and Celebrity Baby Names
. 3 Comments

fdecomite

fdecomite

No matter whether you’re on Team Edward or Team Jacob, we can all agree that Stephenie Meyer knows how to name a character. Wow! The character name list from her Twilight series is full of everything from traditional and classic names to inventive names to stylish International names. There’s a little something for everyone.

 

On her website, Meyer explains how she came up with the names for her lead characters Edward and Bella. Meyer chose Edward because Edward was the name of Mr. Rochester in Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre and Mr. Ferrars in Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility. She thought the name Edward was “romantic” and, presumably, because it was no longer popular, it worked for a character who had been “dead” for many years. Meyer says that naming Bella was much harder. She ended up using the name she had picked out for a daughter if she ever had one. Risky!

 

She named other characters by looking through census records and choosing names that were popular in the years the characters were born.

 

She also revealed some Twilight Name Trivia:

 

 Rosalie was originally named Carol and Jasper was originally named Ronald. I’m so glad she made the changes! Rosalie and Jasper are so much more memorable and stylish than Carol and Ronald. Don’t you think?

 

Read what Meyer had to say about character names for yourself: http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/twilight.html

 

Here’s the list of characters from the Twilight series: Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn. I love the fans over at Wikipedia for being so helpful!

Enjoy and let me know your favorites!

 

FEMALE CHARACTER NAMES

ANGELA Weber

ATHENODORA

CARMEN

CHARLOTTE

CHELSEA

DIDYME

EMILY Young

ESME Cullen

GIANNA

HEIDI

IRINA

ISABELLA “BELLA” MARIE Swan

JANE

JESSICA Stanley

KACHIRI

KATE

KEBI

LAUREN Mallory

LEAH Clearwater

MAGGIE

MAKENNA

MARY

MARY ALICE “ALICE” Cullen

RENATA

RENÉE Dwyer 

RENESMEE “NESSIE” CARLIE Cullen

ROSALIE Hale

SENNA

SIOBHAN

SUE Clearwater

SULPICIA

TANYA

TIA

VICTORIA

ZAFRINA

 

 

MALE CHARACTER NAMES

ALEC

ALISTAIR

AMUN

ARO

BENJAMIN

BILLY Black

CAIUS

CARLISLE Cullen

CHARLES

CHARLIE Swan

COLLIN

DEMETRI

EDWARD ANTHONY Cullen

ELEAZAR

EMBRY Call

EMMETT Cullen

EPHRAIM Black

ERIC Yorkie

FELIX

HARRY Clearwater

JACOB Black

JAMES

JARED

JASON Jenks

JASPER Hale

LAURENT

LIAM

MARCUS

MIKE Newton

PAUL

PETER

QUIL Ateara

RANDALL

RILEY

SAM Uley

SETH Clearwater

STEFAN

TYLER Crowley

VLADIMIR

 

SOURCE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Twilight_characters

 

 

I especially like the name SENNA from the girl’s list. It’s very pretty and unique, without being too unusual. That’s a fine line to walk and many parents are looking for names that fall into this category. Other favorites are CARMEN, ESME, ROSALIE, CARLISLE and LIAM.

 

You can bet that some of these character names will have an impact on baby name popularity. For example, lately I’ve heard a lot of people mention ALICE and JASPER as possible baby names. Brad Paisley and Kimberly Williams also named their new son Jasper earlier this year, giving it an extra boost of star-appeal. It will be interesting to see if the names transition from being talked about to actually being used – only time will tell (they’ve seen modest bumps already). What do you think will happen? Will the Twilight frenzy translate into baby names?

 

Do you have any favorite names from this list? Post a comment and let me know.

 

Also, let me know what you think of New Moon – I can’t wait to see it!

 

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

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

ASK AMANDA: Ava is too Popular…Help!

Published
by
Amanda Barden
on June 12, 2009
in Ask Amanda
. 0 Comments

 

It’s Friday and that means it’s time for Ask Amanda! A lot of parents-to-be are wondering about name popularity and how it will affect their name choices…

 

Ask Amanda

Q:    My partner and I love the name Ava, but it’s way too popular. Any ideas for what we can do?

 

A:    Ava is a really pretty name and it’s no wonder you (and a lot of other parents) are drawn to it. If it’s gotten too popular for your taste though, here are some ideas for finding another name you like just as much, that isn’t already quite so popular.

 

First, figure out what it is you like about Ava — maybe you like the meaning (Ava’s origin is Latin and means “like a bird”), the cool “av” sound and letter combination, the “vintage” feel Ava has or maybe it’s a family name.  Once you figure out what why you’re drawn to Ava, you’ll be able to come up with alternatives.

 

For example:

 

1)      MEANING:  If you like “like a bird,” then you’ll be happy to know that there are plenty of other names with bird-meanings.

 

Here are a few: ALOUETTE, AYA, COLUMBA, DAYA, DERYN, ELSA, JEMMA, KOKO, LARK, MAVIS, MIRRA, NIGHTENGALE, PALILA, PALOMA, PENELOPE, RAVEN, ROBIN, SORA, TORI, ZIPPORAH

 

 

2)      “AV” COMBINATION: Ava isn’t the only name to start with the “av” letter combination.

 

Here are some other options: AVALON, AVASA, AVERY, AVIS, AVIVA, AVRIL

 

 

3)      VINTAGE VIBE: Earlier this month I wrote a whole post about names that have a vintage feel without feeling out-of-date. Read it here for more ideas.

 

Some of my favorite “vintage” names are: ADELAIDE, CECILY, CORA, DAISY, ELIZA, HAZEL, IVY, LILA, LUCY, NORA, SADIE, VIOLET, WILLA

 

 

4)      FAMILY NAME: If Ava is a family name, you can head back to the family tree and look for other names you like. You could also use Ava as a middle name.

 

 

Good luck finding a name for your daughter. I’m sure you’ll find a name you both love.

 

Happy naming,

 

♥  Amanda

 

Do any of you have good Ava alternatives? Post your suggestions.

 

 

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.