Even vampire babies need names, and some name-thirsty nameberryans are only too ready to conjure up some Gothic choices.  Over on our message boards under Name Games, check out the Halloween-appropriate game: Name that Vampire Family.

The game and the names are hilarious….yet also strangely appealing. (Hmmmm, my teeth have been looking a little sharp lately, and I find myself feeling bizarrely most awake around midnight.)

Check the boards for our visitors’ vampire name ideas.  Some Halloween-themed additions of our own, to bestow upon a child at your own peril:

Girls

AMETHYST

ISOLDE

JINX

LENORE

LILITH

LUCRETIA

MERCY

MORDEA

OPHELIA

PERDITA

PHAEDRA

RAVEN

SCARLETT

Boys

ASH

BORIS

BRAM

DAMIAN

LAZARUS

LEOPOLD

MARIUS

NIGHT

PAGAN

SEVERUS

TALON

THORNE

For some parents, a name’s literal meaning is one of the most significant factors in making their choice, specifically seeking out a name that denotes a quality like strength or calm or beauty or intelligence.  But the fact of the matter is that these desirable attributes are attached to only one segment of the name bank.  A large proportion of names are based on biblical character references or the arcane workings of the medieval feudal system or geographical features of an early bearer’s locale.  And so you find Avery meaning ‘ruler of the elves,’ Carson meaning ’son of the marsh dwellers,’ Benjamin ’son of the right hand’ and Brandon ‘broom-covered hill’–none of which has much relevence to a 21st century baby.

And then there are those with out-and-out derogatory meanings, such as Cameron (crooked nose), Campbell (crooked mouth), Portia (pig), Kennedy (misshapen head), Gulliver (glutton), Calvin (bald), Mallory (unlucky), and Miriam (bitter).  These extreme examples are the real litmus test as to feelings about whether names are destiny or self-fulfilling prophesies, and also whether you think a child might feel resentful about such a choice (”Did your really think I was gonna have a crooked mouth?”).  But judging by the widespread popularity of some of these names, these considerations have been by and large disregarded.

We have always thought  that, in making a choice,  the contemporary image of a name far outweighs its literal meaning, so that supposedly ‘unlucky’ Mallory trumps ‘gentle strength’ Mildred.  In fact, for a long time Pam and I  skirted the issue entirely.  In our ‘Beyond Jennifer & Jason‘ and ‘Cool Names’ books, which deal with style and trends and naming issues, there were no textbook meanings of names at all.  We finally surrendered to the requests of some of our readers when we compiled ‘The Baby Name Bible,’ with its 50,000+ names and their meanings–a gargantuan task, by the way.

So, how important is a name’s literal meaning to you?  We’d love to hear your comments on the subject below, or on the message boards.

I just spent an extended weekend in New Orleans and, name fiend that I am, spent far too much of my time there, apart from my friend’s wedding activities, in the search for names.  Whenever I travel to a new place, I head to a bookstore to research local names (in Bilbao, Spain, for example, I scored a great two-volume compendium of Spanish/Basque names), the same way I implore friends going to, say, Amsterdam, to bring back a book on Dutch names.  So I thought it would be a snap to find a book or two on Cajun or Creole names, but no such luck–after forays around the French Quarter and the Garden District, I came up empty.

But since I couldn’t come back nameless, I thought about another potential source of interesting old names–the cemetery–recalling how Pam has unearthed some really great Colonial treasures in New England graveyards.  And so I spent an hour or so in the famous and fascinating Saint Louis cemetery #1 in the middle of the city, a huge, crowded, rambling 18th century repository of crumbling above-ground tombs (luckily spared by Katrina), trying to decipher the often faded and chipped inscriptions–a rich mix of French, Spanish and English names.  Here are a few that I unearthed (sorry about that):

ARMANTINE

AZEMAR

BARTHELMY

CARTY

DIVINE

ELIZADIE

ELZIRE

JUELIET

LAFAYETTE

LOIE

LOUISIANA

LUCINE

MARIGO

OCTAVE

OMER

PELAGIE

WOODROY

ZEOLIDE

There’s a lively debate going on over on our bulletin boards about whether boys’ names really work for girls.  An item of particular contention: If a “geezer name” like Seymour or Murray isn’t good enough for a boy, why should it be good enough for a girl?

Good point, kind of.  We’ve definitely moved beyond girls settling for less than boys get in all ways including their names, whether the inferior choice is a fusty old name like Milton or a fluffy-headed one like Fifi.

And why should a girl be more like a boy?  There are thousands upon thousands of wonderful names for girls — check out the Flower Names and the Stylish Girly-Girl Names and even the Old Lady Cool names just for a start — that it’s hard to find a reason to stray into the male territory.

Yet many parents today are searching for something really different, and using a boy’s name for a girl is one way to make a bold choice without totally sacrificing tradition.  Plus, we would (and do) argue that names such as Murray and Seymour simply sound different when applied to a girl.  You’re forced to hear the syllables, the sounds anew, to break free of their association to a pilly old cardigan smelling of cigar smoke and appreciate their intrinsic beauty.

Would you name your little girl Seymour?  Check in at the bulletin boards and tell us what you think.

Okay, we admit it, we’re huge fans of the JFK-era television show Mad Men, which had its amazing Season 2 finale last night.  One of the show’s many delights is that it gets so many period details pitch-perfect, not least of all the names.

The lead character, on whom we (okay, I, Pam) have an enormous crush, is named Don: How perfect is that?  But it gets better.  Don’s real name isn’t Don, it’s Dick, a name as redolent of that period as a Buick with fins.

My husband’s name is Dick, and I can testify that it’s a difficult name to bear, especially these days.  In the early sixties, though, it was fairly common, as was my mother-in-law’s name Betty — the name on Mad Men of Don’s icy, complicated wife.

Other Mad Men names from the show include Peggy, Roger, Joan, and Pete.  It stands to reason that these are choices popular in the thirties and forties, when the characters on Mad Men were theoretically born.  Don and Betty were both Top 10 names from the early 1920s through the early 1940s.

Last year, there were fewer than 1000 babies named Donald (most doubtless named for their fathers and/or grandfathers) and Betty is no longer even in the Top 1000.  But these names will sound more appealing to our own children and may be revived by the next generation.  Instead of Grandma Betty, then, we’ll have granddaughter Betty.  Though we have our doubts about grandson Dick.