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Posts Tagged ‘ baby names ’

NAMEBERRY SURVEY SAYS: Some Thoughts About Your Thoughts

Wednesday, November 4th, 2009

globeflagsFirst of all, we want to thank all of you who took the time to reply to our survey and for your thoughtful responses.  We were gratified by the results in many ways, not least  in demonstrating the widespread reach of nameberry—we heard not only from such primarily English-speaking countries as Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and Tasmania, but also from readers from as far afield as  Mexico, Brazil, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, Norway, Israel, Bulgaria, United Arab Emirates, and Korea.

One thing that was especially gratifying to us was the number of people who answered the question “What else would you like to see on nameberry?” with phrases like ”Nothing–just keep doing what you’re doing” and “It’s perfect as it is” and “Nameberry is by far the best baby-name site out there!”  Thanks!

Also heartwarming to us was the fact that the greatest percentage of  people checked the option ‘It’s more original and more wide-ranging than any other site” and that the feature rated number one was the blogs.  But  to those who asked for more of them–as in seven days a week–all we can say is ay-yi-yi!–we’re pedaling as fast as we can as it is!

As for the rest of the suggestions for the site, we’re parsing them carefully with an eye to their feasibility, especially those on the  tech side.  As might be expected, there were a few contradictory requests –more authors’ opinions  vs more strictly objective information, more attention to celebrity babies vs. less, etc.  We’ve already begun to add more ethnic names–with pronunciations–to the data base, as per several requests, and taken note of the fact that some felt  boys’ names weren’t getting their fair share of attention.  For the rest, we’ll continue to sift and sort and accommodate as much as we can.  You had tons of good ideas.

A couple of requests we’re afraid we can’t fulfill, however–those from the people who requested “free beer” and “virtual chocolate.”  Welll…maybe we can manage the virtual chocolate.

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Posted in Uncategorized, baby name debates, ethnic baby names, name ideas, nameberry, surveys | 22 Comments »

HEROINE NAMES: Worthy Women with Notable Names, Part 2: Cultural Icons

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009

ayn_rand_stamp

We looked at trailblazing women in Part One of this blog yesterday—bold and courageous achievers who would prove worthy namesakes for a daughter.  Now we turn to those with major accomplishments in the arts—a varied mix of writers, artists, and musicians of the far and fairly recent  past—many of whom seem to have appropriately creative names—whether they were born with them or not.

Again, remember that the name’s the thing here—so sorry, Mary Cassatt and Elizabeth Barrett Browning–not this time.

WRITERS

AGATHA Christie

ANAIS Nin

APHRA Behn (also seen on the trailblazer list)

AYN Rand

CARSON (born Lula) McCullers

CHARLOTTE Bronte

COLETTE (born Sidonie-Gabrielle Collette)

(more…)

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Posted in Uncategorized, artists's names, authors' names, creative names for girls, dancers', dancers' names, favorite names, girl names, girls' names, hero names, musician names, poets' names, unusual baby names, writers' names | 9 Comments »

HEROINE NAMES: Worthy Women with Notable Names, Part I-Trailblazers

Tuesday, October 27th, 2009

ameliaearhart1926
What could be a greater gift to bestow on your daughter than a name with a heroic namesake, someone with an inspiring story to add a layer of pride to your little girl’s  feelings about her name–and give her great material for a school report?

The following is a list of mostly American women of great courage, perseverence and accomplishment—many of whom broke barriers for women– that could fill this bill.  And of course, this being nameberry, the name’s the thing, so apologies to all the equally distinguished Marys, Elizabeths, Sarahs and Anns who haven’t been included: the following  ladies were picked (almost) as much for their interesting names as for their  achievements.

ABIGAIL Adams – The first First Lady to occupy the White House and an  ntellectually equal partner of her husband, President John Adams.

ADA LOVELACE – daughter of the poet Byron whose work in mathematics was (probably) a precursor of the modern computer.

AMELIA Earhart — the first woman to fly across the Atlantic. (more…)

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Posted in Uncategorized, famous names, girl names, girls' names, hero names, historic names, name history, name ideas, namesakes, political names, unusual baby names, vintage baby names | 20 Comments »

MIDDLE NAMES: Are two better than one?

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009

middlenames1 It’s no longer just foreign royals who are using multiple middle names for their babies.  More and more parents–both celebrity and civilian– are doubling or even tripling up, seeing it as an opportunity to widen their naming options, both in terms of honoring a namesake, or just for the sheer pleasure of choosing and bestowing an extra name or two.

One appealing possibility is that of honoring both maternal or paternal grandparents, as Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin did using all fourof their parents’ names for their children– Apple Blythe Alison and Moses Bruce Anthony. It’s also an opportunity for a Mom to use her maiden name –a venerable tradition–along with  another, hand-picked one.  This is among the positive points brought up by posters on our message boards—the fact that it allows you to use one of your favorite names along with either your maiden name or that of some other family member you might want to honor.

There are some minor downsides including possible future bureaucratic snafus down the road. Smitty wrote in a while back to say that she works in the medical field and that “When women marry and hyphenate their names or keep their maiden and middle names and add their married names, the computer system we have can freak out.” –and forms like Social Security limit you to one middle only,  in effect depriving a person of recording her full name (so you might want to consider the order of the middle names quite carefully.)    (more…)

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Posted in Uncategorized, celebrity baby names, family names, family traditions, middle names, name style, nameberry message boards | 33 Comments »

CHEERY-O NAMES

Sunday, September 20th, 2009

From the time we wrote our very first name book, we’ve both been totally charmed by the unique verve and spirit of  names ending in the letter ‘o’.  And, over time, our love for them has only increased.  We’re glad to see that more and more people seem to be agreeing with us; lately there’s been an infusion of newly popular choices–and, surprisingly, this is beginning to be true for girls as well as boys.

Here are some of the currently coolest boys’  names, many of then reflecting the ever-growing globalization of baby names:

ALDO, ARLO & ARNO

BRUNO

COSMO & COSIMO

O--teddy bear ENZO

HORATIO

HUGO

INDIO & INDIGO & INIGO

LASZLO

LEO

MATEO /MATTEO

MILO

ORLANDO

OTTO

RIO

ROCCO

ROMEO & VALENTINO — two choices previously considered uberly-romantic, now sudden celebrity faves

THEO

VIGGO

(more…)

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Posted in European baby names, Italian baby names, Spanish baby names, Uncategorized, baby names from movies, boys' names, ethnic baby names, exotic baby names, girl names, girls' names, international baby names, name ideas, name trends, popular names | 11 Comments »

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