Category: baby name Harper
Unisex Baby Names: The Nameberry 9–Blue, Brook and Sky
In this week’s Nameberry 9, Appellation Mountain ‘s Abby Sandel focuses on several interesting unisex baby names in the news.
Few subjects are as divisive as gender neutral baby names, and yet I can’t stop talking about them. Some of us deny their very existence. Others are willing to call a daughter James, but hesitate to name a son Avery or Madison. Many of us are discovering nature names or other novel appellations, ones that don’t easily declare themselves pink or blue.
Not every culture splits names into such neat categories, and names certainly shift over time. Plenty of ends-in-a options, like Noah and Joshua have become favorites for boys, even though they’re very different from the once-dominant Bob, Tom, and Bill – proof that we can reconsider names every generation, if not more often.
Trendy Baby Names: And why not?
For her round-up of the Nameberry 9 newsiest names this week, Appellation Mountain‘s Abby Sandel asks us to think about why we sometimes shy away from trendy baby names.
I’ve heard parents fret that they can’t use Harper now that the Beckhams have bestowed it on a daughter. Suggest that you might name a son Jayden and you’ll be warned that the name will be considered trendy, dated, damaging to your child’s future career. What’s worse, we scan message boards, wondering if our favorite name will be the next rising star.
But why all the worry? Generations of parents have sought out stylish names, even if they haven’t talked about them in quite those terms. My dear grandmother nearly named a daughter Loretta after Hollywood-star-turned-television-host Loretta Young.
We can trace the rise of many appellations to television, celebrities, literature, and other pop culture influences. Even so-called classics often owe their revivals to pop culture. Would Charlotte be the favorite she is today without Sex and the City? Statistics link the character with the name’s resurgence.
Let’s embrace the influences that bring great new names to our attention, even if they’re promoted by the most unlikely of sources.
The Nameberry 9: Newsy names from Maple to Rembrandt to Cadet
This week, Abby Sandel, of Appellation Mountain, outdoes herself in seeking and finding some truly novel names for The Nameberry Nine..
This week in baby name news, an actor named his second daughter after a tree. One movie brought an invented name to the English-speaking world by way of Japan. Another film started out in the imagination of a New Jersey-born novelist, took the audience to Paris, circa 1931, boosting a name that is popular throughout modern-day Europe. And an English pop star debuted a high-fashion handbag named in honor of a daughter named after a rather high-minded novel.
For every name that is clearly tied to a culture of origin – Maeve or Svetlana or Hiroshi – there is a growing pool that feels like fair game for parents from any background. This week’s names fit that mold, mostly because it is almost impossible to make them fit any one specific category. They’re global, eclectic, and stylish – just like the names that many of us are seeking for our children today.
Many of them are also shape-shifters. Is Sylvie a nature-name, a next-wave vintage appellation, or a nod to French heritage? How about Jed – is he a Biblical boy or a little wrangler? The answer is frequently yes, yes, and yes for these nine baby names in the news:
12 Wonderful Women Writers’ Names
ANAÏS
The best known bearer of this name, French-Cuban writer Anais Nin, was born Angela Anaïs Juana Antolina Rosa Edelmira and is most famous for her diaries, which spanned sixty years. In addition to being the name of a popular perfume, this lovely French Provencal version of Anne was used by rocker Noel Gallagher for his daughter.
Happy 3rd Birthday to Nameberry!
You know you’ve been around a while when you forget your birthday. The third anniversary of Nameberry’s launch, earlier in October, came and went without any of us realizing it. But now that we have, we want to pause and take stock of how far we’ve come with the help of all you wonderful berries over the past three years:
Number of visitors: Nearly 12 million
Number of page views: Almost 90 million
Number of countries populated by berries: All of them. Even you, Chad!
Most-read blog: Baby Names 2011: The Hottest Trends, with nearly a million readers.
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