Here is another excerpt from our latest book, Beyond Ava & Aiden: The Enlightened Guide to Naming Your Baby

In Colonial times, as many as twenty percent of the slaves in the Carolinas bore African names, most notably day names, which relate to the day of the week on which the person was born. The West African day names, often translated to English cognates such as Judy for Juba or Joe for Cudjoe, are:

SUNDAY – QUASHEBA (female); QUASHEE (male)
MONDAY — JUBA; CUDJOE
TUESDAY –BENEBA; CUBBENAH
WEDNESDAY — CUBA; QUACO
THURSDAY – ABBA; QUAO
FRIDAY — PHEBE/PHIBBI; CUFF/CUFFEE
SATURDAY — MIMBA; QUAME/KWAME

Names were also chosen that signified months of the year, seasons and holidays. Some of these that have survived on the roles include: MONDAY, FRIDAY, CHRISTMAS, EASTER, MARCH and JULY.

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In what is fast becoming a nameberry tradition, we turn our attention to names of the new season.  If you’re expecting a fall baby, these choices might inspire you.

AUTUMN — Autumn is ironically the hottest season name, the only one in the Top 100 where it’s maintained its status for over a decade now.  The name Autumn first entered the U.S. Top 1000 in 1969, inspired by the hippie nature names and word names.  While it’s still attractive, however, it’s hardly fresh.

Names from other cultures that provide a newer route to Autumn include the Japanese girls’ names Aki and Akiko, the Turkish girls’ name Hazan, the Vietnamese Thu, and, in Chinese, Qiu for either girls or boys.

Fall month names are not quite as usable as those of the other seasons.

SEPTEMBER – Why are March, May, August and even January hot while September (along with October, November, and December) is not?  Maybe there’s something chilly about that “ber” ending.  Still, this has an attractive sound and is certainly unusual.  The Latin Septimus, which means “seventh son,” sounds a bit Harry Potter and is perhaps too redolent of things septic.  But Seven (lets forget that September is the ninth month, since we still have November to deal with) has potential.

OCTOBER – An equally unusual month name that gets an extra helping of cool from hipster writers Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida, who chose it for their daughter.  Perhaps more attractive are the Latin pair Octavius and especially Octavia, both of which mean (as does October) “eighth.”  Other Octavius and Octavia variations you might consider: Octavian, Octaviana, Octavienne, the Italian Ottavio or Ottavia, or the nicknames Tavy or Tavia.

NOVEMBER – Certainly as usable as September and October, which is to say, not very unless you’re extremely adventurous.

Nature names that summon up an image of fall include tree names, particularly:

ASH (any of the Ash names – Asher, Ashley – relate)

BIRCH

BRANCH

CEDAR

FORREST

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Summer is one of the nicest times of year to have a baby, the warm weather and slow pace making it that much easier to relax into new motherhood (and, from your baby’s point of view, into life!)  Here, some names that summon the season:

SUMMER — As a seasonal name, Summer may not be your top choice.  It’s feeling a tad shopworn after coming close to cracking the Top 100 in 1977; it’s been above number 200 for the past fifteen years.  Autumn is more popular but Winter is cooler.

Summer also has three excellent months names that include several usable variations.  These are:

JUNE – JUNE, the hip middle name du jour, was out of favor for many years but now is back in a big way.  The name, and the month, are derived from JUNO, the Roman

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If poets and songwriters can draw inspiration from springtime, why not baby namers?  The fresh, green, uplifting season offers plenty of ideas.  There are the names of the season itself and its months, for starters:

SPRING – The mid-century actress Spring Byington, who played the grandma on a television show of my youth, was one of my early influences in the world of baby naming.  I’d never heard of anybody named Spring, but the whole idea was intriguing.  If you could name a baby Spring, why not….well, just about anything else?  Still an unusual, sprightly choice, and a lot more acceptable now than it was in the 1960s.

MARCH, APRIL, and MAY – May (or Mae, or Mai for that matter) is definitely the most fashionable of these choices, lovely as a first name or a middle.  March is the only one of the three that might work for boys, and makes an adventurous first for girls.  April (or Avril or Abril) feels a bit tired.

Original names from around the world that mean spring:

BAHAAR – Hindi, for girls
CAROUN – Armenian, for girls
CERELIA – of Latin origin, for girls
GEN – Japanese girls’ choice
HARUKI – Japanese for boys; Haruki Murakami is a wonderful novelist
JAREK – Slavic boys name that can stand alone or be a diminutive for any name that starts with Jar-
KELDA – Girls’ name with Norse origins
PRIMAVERA – Italian, for girls
RABIAH – Arabic girls’ name
VASANT – Sanskrit boys’ name
VERNA — another Latin girls’ choice.

Another possibility for a spring baby is names that mean new:

NAVIN – A Hindi name for boy
NEO – The name of Keanu Reeves’ Matrix character is used for boys and girl
NEVILLE – Stuffy French boys’ name jazzed up by Neville Brothers
NEWLAND or NEWLYN – Boys’ name Newland is most famous as the protagonist of Edith Wharton’s Age of Innocence; Newlyn is a forward-looking girls’ version
NOUVEL – Shiloh Pitt’s middle name, for a French architect, can work for girls or boys
SIGNE or SIGNY – This Scandinavian girls’ name means “new victory”
XAVIER et al – This newly-hip Basque name meaning “new house” is Javier in Spanish and, for girls, Xaviera or Javiera.
ZELENKA – Czech girls’ name that means fresh and innocent

Green is another inspiration for spring baby names.  Among the names that mean or connote green, most for girls:

BERYL – Old-fashioned pale green gemstone name that’s beginning to enjoy some fresh life itself.  Berilo is the attractive Spanish male version.
CHLOE – Name meaning “young green shoot” that’s tops throughout the UK and Europe and is rising in the US as well.
EMERALD – Ultimate green gem name
JADE – Stylish and edgy choice that hasn’t really lost its gleam
MIDORI – The name of both a Japanese violinist and a green liqueur
PERIDOT – Another green gem name, for the adventurous
PHYLLIDA or PHYLLIS – Names that mean “green bough,” with Phyllida way out in front in the style race.
VERDE or VERDI – Could work for either boys or girls

Since we’ve done a lot on flower and spring nature names recently, we won’t walk the garden path again, beyond saying that names such as DAFFODIL and TULIP certainly connote spring.

Easter is a wonderful time of year to have a baby, and an inspirational holiday for names. If you’re due right about now, here are some name directions you might consider:

NAMES OF THE HOLIDAY

EASTER – Less common than Christmas but definitely a holiday name that works in its plain English version.

PARASHA – A Russian girls’ name that means “born on Good Friday.”

PASCAL etc. – There are many attractive versions of this name. The French Pascal, for boys, and Pascale for girls is especially appealing. The Spanish versions are Pascual and Pascuala; Italian is Pasquale.

PASCOE – English twist (Cornish, technically) on the Easter name popular in medieval times.  PASCO is another spelling.

SUNDAY – This day name somehow seems best related to the Easter holiday and season.

NAMES OF EASTER PERSONAGES

JAMES, JOHN and PETER – Prayed in the garden with Jesus (but fell asleep)

JOANNA – Lesser known Biblical personage who was one of the women at Jesus’ tomb.

JOSEPH of Arimathea – According to the Bible, wrapped the body of Jesus in a clean shroud and placed it in his own tomb.

Mary MAGDALENE – The prime female figure in the Easter story, she witnessed the crucifixion, accompanied his body to the tomb, and later with the other women discovered the Resurrection. A saint, she is a symbol of penitence. Her name means “from Magdala.”

MARY – Mother of James the Younger and Joseph, accompanied Mary Magdalene in her vigil at the crucifixion and with Jesus’ body.

NICODEMUS – Secret follower of Jesus who placed myrrh and aloes in Jesus’ shroud so he could be buried according to Jewish custom.

SALOME – One of the women at the tomb.

SIMON of Cyrene – Helped Jesus carry the cross.

Of course, the Easter story has its villains, too, whose names have not been used over the ages: PONTIUS PILATE, King HEROD, BARRABAS, and Christ’s betrayer JUDAS ISCARIOT.

EASTER-RELATED BOTANICAL NAMES

ACACIA – Greek nature name for a flowering shrub that symbolizes immortality, one of the main Easter themes.

BIRCH – In Scandinavia, people attach brightly-colored feathers to birch branches in vases.

LILY – We’ve said a lot about Lily and her sisters recently, but this is the flower name most closely associated with Easter. Its many lovely variations include LILIANA and LILIA. DAFFODIL, TULIP and HYACINTH are also in bloom during the Easter season.

PALMA , PALMER , and PALMIRA – All relate to the palm branches symbolic of Easter carried on Palm Sunday.

TAMAR , TAMARA , and TAMIR – Relate to the date palm tree.

WILLOW – Scandinavian children go from door-to-door at Easter dressed as witches, exchanging willow branches for candy.

EASTER ANIMAL NAMES

BUNNY NAMES – ARLEY and ARLEDGE are English surname names that relate to rabbits. BUNNY is a cute but overly fluffy name for a girl, and RABBIT was the hero of John Updike novels.

BUTTERFLY NAMES – The butterfly is a symbol of rebirth and Easter, and gives flight to many attractive names. KIMANA is a Native American name meaning butterfly, and MARIPOSA is a Romantic Spanish butterfly name. VANESSA was invented by author Jonathan Swift but is also a species of butterfly. And of course BUTTERFLY itself is also a name, perhaps more appealing in its internations versions: PAPILLON in French, BABOCHKA in Russian, or FARASHA in Arabic.

CHICKEN and EGG NAMES – CHICK is of course a nickname dating from the “Grease” era, but not one we recommend. BEZAI is a Hebrew name meaning “eggs” that has more possibilities.

LAMB NAMES – For boys, names that mean lamb are HAMAL in Arabic, and OAN, Breton. For girls, UNA means lamb as well as “one” and RACHEL means “ewe.”

NAMES THAT MEAN REBIRTH

ANASTASIA and ANASTASIOS – Appealing and underused names that mean “resurrection.”

LISSA – Name of the supreme mother goddess in African mythology and an Arabic symbol of rebirth.

OSIRIS – Egyptian god-king who died and was reborn every year.

RENATA and RENATO – Attractive Italian versions of a name that means “reborn.”

RENE and RENEE – Long the most popular names meaning rebirth among English-speakers, but dated now, plus the male Rene never sounded very masculine outside France.

Happy Easter!