Although I’ve written ten books and a hundred or more nameberry  blogs on the subject, I’m happy to say that I still learn something new about names almost every day.  And a lot of it comes from our very own nameberry boards.

Often, as my work day is winding down, I’ll spend some time meandering around different forums, and sometimes will be lucky enough to come upon an exchange that I find particularly enlightening or entertaining.  This happened the other night when I encountered this post by Christy from several months ago which I found so sharp and funny that I had a ‘wow!-wish-I-had-thought-of-that’ moment.  So, rather than have it moulder in the archives, I thought it deserved to be put out here for everyone to share.

Sure Signs You Are a Name Nerd

You may be a name nerd if . . .

• You are already planning your 2010 SSA Names Release Day party (to be celebrated with your name obsessed friends).
• While flipping through your old daytimer, you find 20 plus lists of names and combos.
• Whenever someone brings up one of your favorite names, you give them a detailed description of the history of its use.
• You dress up as Michael Shackleford for Halloween (as an homage).*
• You write a complete list of your favorite names in calligraphy, frame it, and put it in your bedroom.
• You give people who are not expecting baby name books as gifts. (Always keep a few on hand!)
• You are trying to bring back the name Etheldreda, and take every opportunity to convince people of its antique charm.
• You say the Pledge of Allegiance (U.S.): “With liberty to name your kids anything you want, and justice for all.”

*In case you’re not name-nerdy enough to know this, Michael Shackelford was responsible for creating  the Social Security baby name popularity lists.

Of course this inspired a whole bunch of other opinions on the qualifications for name nerdom, such as: (more…)

The minute I saw that the leading character in the new sitcom Life Unexpected was a young girl named Lux, a bell went off.  Does this mean that there will be a slew of baby Luxes (Luxi?)?  Will Lux be the new Lexi?  Or won’t it have any effect at all in this era of diminished network TV viewing?

We certainly know that some TV characters’ names of the past have had an impact, from Samantha on Bewitched to Alexis on Dynasty to Brandon and Dylan on the old Beverly Hill 90210 to Xander on Buffy the Vampire Slayer to Aidan on Sex and the City right up to the female Addison on Grey’s Anatomy.

So what about the current line-up?  Though some of these are not strictly speaking new names, here are the somewhat out of the mainstream character names of current (and a few about to launch) shows.  Think any of them will make an impression on baby namers?

GIRLS

ADALEEN—Big Love

ADRIANNA, nn ADE—90210

AMITA—NUMB3RS

ARIZONA—Grey’s Anatomy

BREE- Desperate Housewives

BRITTA—Community

CERIE—30 Rock

DOROTA—The Gossip Girls

FIA—Miami Medical (upcoming)

FRANKIE—The Middle

JULES—Cougar Town

JULIET—Lost

HENRIETTA/”HETTY”—NCIS: Los Angeles

KALINDA—The Good Wife

KENSI—NCIS: Los Angeles

LUX—Life Unexpected

MARGENE—Big Love

MARISOL—Miami Medical (upcoming)

MERCEDES—Glee

NAEVIA—Sparticus: Blood & Sand

NICOLETTE—Big Love

RILEY—Melrose Place

SILVER (her last name used as first) 90210

SLOAN–Entourage

SURA—Spartacus: Blood & Sand

TANCY—Big Love

WILHELMINA—Ugly Betty

ZOEY–Nurse Jackie

BOYS

ANDO—Heroes

ARI–Entourage

ARLO—24

ASHUR—Spartacus: Blood & Sand

AXL—The Middle

BAZE, nn for Nate Bazile—Life Unexpected

BOONE—Lost

CASTIEL—Supernatural

CREED—The Office (the real first name of the actor who plays him)

CROSBY—Parenthood

DANOI—Treme—upcoming

DEXTER–Dexter

DIXON–90210

FINN—Glee

FITCH—Nurse Jackie

FRITZ—The Closer

GREYSON—Cougar Town

HIRO—Heroes

HUGO/”HURLEY”—Lost

IGNACIO—Ugly Betty

KIMBALL-The Mentalist

MILES—Lost

ORSON—Desperate Housewives

PIERCE—Community

ROWDY—The Deep End

RUFUS—Gossip Girls

THATCHER—Grey’s Anatomy

THOR—Nurse Jackie

ZEEK—Parenthood

So you’ve scoured the Earth and still haven’t come up with the perfect name for your baby.  Maybe it’s time to look skyward to broaden your horizons.  There’s a whole galaxy of interesting and evocative celestial names to choose from, including those of planets and their satellites, constellations and single stars.  These range from simple human names like Faye and Helene to those carrying the romantic resonance of Greek and Roman myth.

First, some names of planets and their satellites:

AMALTHEA

ARAGO

ARIEL

ATLAS

BIANCA

CALLISTO—the second largest satellite of Jupiter, discovered by Galileo

CALYPSO

CORDELIA

CRESSIDA

DESDEMONA

DESPINA

DIONE

ELARA

GALATEA (more…)

Feeling that geographical names have become kind of ho-hum?  It’s true that many people have tired of Paris and some of the over-visited names from the American West like Cheyenne, Sierra, Dakota and Dallas.  But that’s no reason to write off the whole category—we can renew our passports and look a bit farther afield for some fresher, more interesting and exotic choices from the global atlas.

 FOR GIRLS

AILSA  –  Ailsa Craig is the name of a rocky island off Scotland, and Ailsa has long been used as a Christian name–as all of us namberryites well know

ÁLORA–  A picturesque Spanish town near Malága, overlooking citrus orchards and olive groves

ANDORRA  –  A small country located in the Pyranees—could work as an updated Andrea

CORTINA—Cortina d’Ampezzo is one of the most famous and beautiful ski resorts in Italy; a more feminine namesake for Courtney?

ELANORA –This name of an Australian suburb is used as a girls’ name in that country

ELBA—The Italian island best known as the site of Napoleon’s exile; possible update of Ella?

GENOA –Picturesque birthplace of Christopher Columbus, native version is GENOVA; a possible newer path to the Gen nickname

IBIZA  (ih-BEETH-a)—Another interesting island name, though a little bit lispy

ISCHIA (IS-key-a)—An Isla-like Italian island name

JAVA — This Indonesian island name was recently used by Lost hunk Josh Holloway for his daughter

LILLE –  (LEELE) –We’ve seen the growing popularity of double-L names, now here’s a French city with three of them

LIXA –An old Portuguese city with a modern-sounding name

LULEÅ — A city on the northern coast of Sweden; birthplace of the founder of the Nordstrom department store chain

LUCERNE –A Swiss canton and lake name, with the possibility of a Lucy nickname

LUZA – A Russian town on the Luza river—but too much like loser? (more…)

You don’t have to be a cat fancier to appreciate a name with a sleek feline feel.  These cool cat names range from cute kitten names to powerful panthers and tigers, and can be looked at from several points of view: names with cat-related meanings (starring the extended Leo family), cats in books, movies, television—real and animated–and cats named by well-known humans.

First of all, the most obvious:

CALICO

CAT, KAT

KITTY

PUMA

TIGER

Then there are:

NAMES WITH FELINE MEANINGS

ARI, ARIEL, ARIELLA

FALINE

LAVI

LEANDER, LEANDRO (more…)