Category: International Baby Names
Gypsy Baby Names: Real Romani Names
by Isadora Vega of Bewitching Baby Names
I have found a catalogue of old birth certificates of Romani (Gypsy) children with their parent’s names. My understanding is that all of these records are from England with births throughout the 1800′s and early 1900′s. So many of the names are what I would expect from that place and time: Kate, Henry, Oliver, Matthew, Eliza, Sarah, James, Benjamin, Annie, Mary, Charlotte, Robert, Thomas…you get the idea. But here, I’m paying special attention to the glittery bits. There are some here that I can genuinely say that you’ve probably never seen before.
Keep in mind that these are from England only. There are many more unusual names from Gypsies in Spain, Turkey, Italy, Hungary, Germany, etc.
A Spring Flowering of Greek Names
Angel Thomas, best-known to the Nameberry community as Dantea, is an expert on Greek names. Today she brings us an authoritative look at Greek names that relate to the spring season.
Spring is the time of year for gentle rains and soft winds, the greening of leaves and the growing of flowers. The animals are all awakening and the season of rebirth starts. It’s probably the most romanticized season. Historically, Spring has been known as the time for having babies, for birth and fertility and in recent studies, Spring and mid-Summer have statistically had more births. If you’re looking for a name that represents the springtime and all its lovely flowers and greenery, I have a list of generally underused Greek names just for you.
Goddesses of the Spring
Persephone – Persephone is pronounced per-SEF-oh nee and she’s the queen of the underworld, wife of Hades and goddess of spring growth. While Persephone generally has a bad rep, it’s really a very lovely name. She’s the reason we have flowers and green things during the Spring and Summer. Though her name has been attributed to having a negative meaning, it’s really an unknown as the words for ‘dark blue’ and the word for ‘sound’ both appear in her name.
Wide-Ranging Baby Names: Fisher, Fletcher & Amalia
In this week’s Nameberry 9, Appellation Mountain‘s Abby Sandel’s choices run from the royal Amalia to the unique Catchen, showing the anything-goes spirit of baby naming today.
The only rule of baby naming in 2013?
Anything goes.
From reliable classics to nouveau inventions to family heirlooms, the range of possibilities is truly infinite.
So it is no surprise that the baby name news ran the gamut this week. On the one side are Dutch royals and a supermodel’s three sons with regal names. On the other? We have a few nouveau inventions and discoveries that could work nicely for a twenty-first century child.
All of this leads to my favorite piece of baby naming advice from the blogosphere this week: don’t whittle down your short list, discarding names for one reason or another. Narrow your list UP, until you find the one that you truly adore.
Baby Names Trend: I-Ending Girl Names To Keep An Eye On
Angela Mastrodonato, creator of the trend-watching blog Upswing Baby Names, will be a regular contributor to our Bonus Blog. Today she looks at girls’ names with a new twist at the end.
There’s one vowel that’s found at the end of seemingly every girl name. That vowel, of course, is the A. Today the focus is on girl names ending in a different vowel– the incredible I.
The most popular ends-in-i name for the moment is Naomi, an Old Testament name long popular in the Jewish community, which is at an all-time popularity peak. Naomi broke the top 100 for the first time in 2010, and has gradually reached #93 for 2011 (the most recent year Social Security name data is available).
Another ends-in-i name that has seen recent success is Maci, which has dramatically ascended the charts. After spending a decade in the bottom top 1000, Maci achieved Top 200 status within a short two-year span, probably thanks to being the name of a teen mom featured on MTV reality shows.
Girls’ Names 2013: Our 10 newest choices
We’re always adding new names to Nameberry, and the ten newest on the site all just happen to be for girls.
Half of these names existed on Nameberry before as variations of other names, but without commentary of their own, and the other half are new entries. All have ancient roots though are unusual — yet usable — in modern times.
Our newest girls’ names for 2013:
Adelina is back in the Top 1000 after an absence of nearly a century, thanks to the meteoric rise of her sister name Adeline — along with Adelaide, Adele, and Ada. Some parents choose Adelina because they want to get to cute vintage nickname Addie, but others favor it as a slightly more unusual form of this sweet vintage girls’ name.
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