The poor Simpson-Wentzes caught a lot of flak last week for their baby name choices–not only for first name Bronx, but for Disneyesque middle name Mowgli as well, to the point where Pete Wentz felt called upon to defend the choice on the people.com website.  In a story headlined PETE WENTZ: WHY WE NAMED OUR SON MOWGLI, his explanation was “The Jungle Book was something me and Ashlee bonded over.  It’s a cool name.”  Well, whether or not we agree, we shouldn’t dismiss the whole genre of Disney names–there are a few treasures buried in that vault.

In the beginning, the Disney folks were big on silly, often alliterative names for their cartoon creatures–Horace Horsefeather, Clarabelle Cow, and of course Mickey and Minnie Mouse and Donald and Daisy Duck.  When they moved on to feature films in the 1930s, they began to draw on already created and named characters from fairy tales and children’s books, from Snow White to Peter Pan.  Curiously enough, the one early character name that caught on with parents was Bambi–a male deer in the movie that became a popular namesake for girl babies.

The real winners, though, have been the Princess names from more recent Disney films–The Little Mermaid’s Ariel reached #66 two years after its release date and Jasmine from Aladdin has been as high as #23.  Other Disney heroine names like Belle (Beauty and the Beast) and Violet (The Incredibles) have also been boosted by their Disney connection.  Here are some other good Disneyfied options:

GIRLS

ANASTASIA Cinderella

AURORA Sleeping Beauty

BIANCA The Rescuers

BRIAR ROSE Sleeping Beauty

CELIA Monsters, Inc

COLETTE Ratatouille

ESMERALDA The Hunchback of Notre Dame

EVE Wall-E

FIONA Shrek

LILO Lilo & Stitch

NALA The Lion King

THALIA Hercules

BOYS

CLAUDE The Hunchback of Notre Dame

DEMETRIUS Hercules

DJANGO Ratatouille

GIDEON Pinocchio

GUS Cinderella

JULIEN Madagascar

NEMO Finding Nemo

PHOEBUS The Hunchback of Notre Dame

REMY Ratatouille

REX Monsters, Inc

RICO Madagascar

ZEUS Hercules

What better time than Thanksgiving to look back at the first names to arrive on our shores?

As you may remember from your third-grade history book, the first English-speaking settlement, called the Raleigh Colony, was established on the Atlantic coast in 1587, and although it didn’t survive for very long, some of its name records did.  Not surprisingly, of the 99 men who settled there, 23 were named John, fifteen were Thomas, and ten were William, with a small sprinkling of Old Testament names in the mix as well.

The passenger list of the Mayflower, which set off on its transatlantic journey in 1620, had a different element, in that about half of its passengers were members of the fundamentalist Protestant sect known as Pilgrims.  And although many Pilgrims were content to use Bible-sanctioned names, the more extreme of them considered such names blasphemous and so invented their own ‘virtue’ or ’slogan’  names consisting of ordinary vocabulary  words, ranging from Abstinence and Ashes to Zeal-for-the-Lord. 

So while most of the 102 men, women, and children aboard the Mayflower–the future settlers of  the Plymouth Colony–were named John, Mary, James, Edward, Thomas, William, Elizabeth, Susannah or Sarah, there were also among them those with such distinctive, attention-worthy names as:

GIRLS

DAMARIS

DESIRE

HUMILITY

PRISCILLA

REMEMBER

BOYS

BARTHOLOMEW

DEGORY

GILES

JASPER

LOVE

MYLES (yes, Standish)

OCEANUS (born during the voyage)

RESOLVED

WRESTLING

We made waves recently by writing a piece for The Daily Beast about Hipster Names.  Almost universally, the cry went up: Oh no! I’ve given my baby a hipster name!  “I have a one-year-old named Matilda,” one mom wrote.  “I hate you.”

Ooops, sorry.  We love the name Matilda.  Really!  We’re just a little confused about why hipster has become such a dirty word.

Or not.  I mean, we do get it, in a way.  There’s something sneering, something dismissive about branding someone or something “hipster.”  It connotes the feeling that someone (or something) is trying too hard to be cool, which of course is the definition of uncool.

On the other hand, what are you supposed to do: be deliberately uncool?  Call your kid Jennifer, or Jean, or something that thumbs its nose at the entire planet of style?

Would not caring about style lead you to a transcendentally cool name?  Or a thoroughly uncool one?

Insert deep sigh here.

The real question on many parents’ minds: How do you choose a name that’s genuinely stylish and interesting but that’s neither too hipsterish or too uncool?

Let’s play (and for you Message Board fans, this would make a great Name Game):

Hipster: OSCAR

Uncool: ORIN

Sweet: OZIAS, O’BRIEN, OMAR?

——————————————

Too cool: EVA

Uncool: EILEEN

Sweet: ESTELLE, EMER, EUDORA?

—————————————–

Hipster: ATTICUS

Uncool: JULIUS

Sweet: CAIUS, HORATIO, TARQUIN?

—————————————–

Hipster: JUNE, AUGUST

Uncool: APRIL

Sweet: MAY, MONDAY, EASTER?

—————————————–

Too cool: LENNON

Uncool: STARR

Sweet: GEORGE, PAUL, ROCK?

—————————————–

When it comes to calling the sweet spot, we’re not always that sure of ourselves either — or in agreement.  (After I posted this, Linda emailed me, Estelle?  Really???) We’d love to hear your ideas on which names hit the sweet spot, and why.

It’s always interesting–and fun–to compare the popularity lists of different states because there are inevitably  a few unexpected surprises.  Some name will pop up at #3 in one state when it’s 30 or 40 across the country.  And often a sort of state personality profile will emerge–be it trendy, traditional, or stuck in the past–and regional similarities as well.  In the current roster, one thing that’s noteworthy is that most of the names to step out from the crowd are in the boys’ column–with the girls there is a remarkable uniformity of choices across the country.

Regionally, the Northeast presents the most conservative picture, with Michael–long displaced in most other areas–still tops in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland.  But move north to New England and the picture changes, with names like Logan and Ethan making their way to the top.  In the South–and nowhere else–William rules, at the head of the list in seven states, with Anthony in first place in Florida.

The Midwest is split between Jacob and Ethan, but shares one oddity: the name Gavin is in the Top 20 in just about every state–as high as #3 in Wyoming–whereas it’s #32 nationally.  So why Gavin in the heartland?  I wish I knew.  The West is more idiosyncratic, with a large spattering of Hispanic names (3 of the Top 10 in California and Arizona), and a state like Wyoming that presents a laid-back, cowboyish image via  top-ranked  Ethan, Logan, Wyatt, Brayden, and Hunter.

But what I find especially intriguing are the names that pop in one particular place.  Here are some examples of such male and female names,  with their national ratings in parenthesis:

BRAYDEN (34)          #8 in Wyoming

BRODY (105)           #10 in North Dakota

BROOKLYN-f(57)     #7 in Utah

CARTER (80)            #9 in South Dakota

EVAN (40)               #9 in Maine

GIANNA (90)           #10 in Rhode Island

ISAAC (41)              #4 in Idaho

JOCELYN (50)          #10 in California

LANDON (49)          #7 in Louisiana

NEVAEH (31)           #4 in New Mexico

OWEN (56)              #6 in Wisconsin

WYATT (69)             #7 in Wyoming

Rockers Ashlee Simpson and Pete Wentz had a baby boy late last night and named him Bronx Mowgli.

Bronx is, of course, the name of a down-at-the-heels New York borough, nowhere near as fashionable — as a baby name or a place — as Brooklyn.  Usually called “The Bronx,” it’s named after early Dutch settler Jonas Bronck.

Qualifications as a celebrity baby name: It’s unusual, unexpected, New York-oriented, and it ends with the hipster brand X.  And it’s sure to get talked about — a lot.

Brooklyn and now Bronx aren’t the only New York place names turned baby names either: We’ve got a whole list of New York baby names to choose from.  Astoria, Gramercy, Tribeca, anyone?

Baby Bronx’s middle name is Mowgli, after the boy raised by wolves in Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book stories.  Kipling invented the name, which does not, he informed everyone who believed otherwise, mean “frog.”

Little Bronx Wentz (say that ten times fast) is sure to have plenty of compatible celebrity baby friends.  Brooklyn Beckham, definitely, son of Posh Spice and David.  Alabama Jennings, daughter of Shooter and Drea deMatteo, and Kingston Rossdale, son of Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale.  And the two Hudsons, son of James Barbour and daughter of Gena Lee Nolin.