Okay, I’m going to come right out and say it: There are now officially enough little girls with the middle name Rose.

I can hear the screams of protest and wails of anguish already.  But Rose is my grandmother’s name! Rose goes perfectly with my favorite first name!  I’ve been planning to use the middle name Rose forever!

Well, go ahead, then.  It’s a perfectly lovely name, warm and feminine yet not overly assertive, making the ideal bridge between first name and last.

But so many thousands of parents have used it over the past decade that it’s become the Ann, the Marie, the Sue of the new millennium.  Consider the celebrity babies alone with the middle name Rose:

AIDAN ROSE – Faith Daniels

ALABAMA GYPSY ROSE – Drea de Matteo & Shooter Jennings

BRIGHTON ROSE – Jon Favreau

CATHERINE ROSE – Cheryl Hines

DOLLY REBECCA ROSE — Rebecca Romijn & Jerry O’Connell

EMERSON ROSE – Teri Hatcher

ESTHER ROSE – Ewan McGregor

JOHNNIE ROSE – Melissa Etheridge

LAEL ROSE – Tamia & Grant Hill

LUCKY ROSE – Cedric the Entertainer

MAGGIE ROSE – Jon Stewart

SERAPHINA ROSE – Jennifer Garner & Ben Affleck

Sylvester Stallone gave all THREE of his young daughters Rose as a middle name.

What we’re saying: Enough Roses already, at least in the middle.  In fact, Rose and Rosa and Rosamund and Rosemary and Rosalia are far from over-exposed as first names, so a fresher move might be to use one of them in first place and choose something with more individual character as a middle name.

Do you agree?  Tell us what you think:

Even though Australian baby names are a lot like British names, they do also have their own distinctive flavor.  The blend of cultures Down Under and the strong presence of several enduring indigenous languages and groups have a powerful influence on Australian baby names (the complex Aboriginal naming traditions definitely deserve a future blog of their own).  Last year, for example, though Australia’s most popular list included Jack and Ella, Joshua, Ethan, Emily, Chloe and Mia, also high up on their list were Matilda, Isla, Lachlan (the name of Oz newspaper mogol Rupert Murdoch’s high-profile son), the Scottish-influenced Angus, and the nickname-name Archie.

Aussie heroes–from outlaws like Ned Kelly to poets like Banjo Paterson to politicians such as Prime Minister Geogh Whitlam–provide some interesting and adoptable namesakes.

Here are some from the world of sports:

EVONNE Goolagong
KARRIE Webb
KEL Nagle
KIEREN Perkins
LIESEL Jones
LIONEL Rose
LLEYTON Hewitt
LUC Longley

And nameworthy names from the show biz arena:

ANGUS Young
BON Scott
BAZ Luhrmann
CATE Blanchett
ELLE Macpherson
GUY Pearce
HEATH Ledger
HUGH Jackman
ISLA Fisher
JACINDA Barrett
KAHAHL
KYLIE Minogue
LOUISA Brammall
NAOMI Watts
NATALIE Imbroglia
NELLIE Melba
NICOLE Kidman
OLIVIA Newton-John
PORTIA De Rossi
ROLF Harris
RUSSELL Crowe
TONI Collette

And what names do these Aussie celebs choose for their own their kids? Austarbabies include:

ADELAIDE — Rachel Griffiths
ALEXANDER — Naomi Watts
ANGELICA — Geoffrey Rush
AVA — Hugh Jackman
BANJO — Rachel Griffiths
BINDI — Steve Irwin
CHARLOTTE — Judy Davis
CHLOE — Olivia Newton-John
CHRISTIAN — Mel Gibson
DASHIELL — Cate Blanchett
FLYNN — Elle Macpherson
IGNATIUS — Cate Blanchett
KLAUS — Eric Bana
LILLIAN — Baz Luhrmann
LOUIS — Mel Gibson
MATILDA — Bryan Brown, Heath Ledger
MILO — Mel Gibson
OLIVE — Isla Fisher
OSCAR — Hugh Jackman
ROMAN — Cate Blanchett
ROSIE — Bryan Brown
SAGE — Toni Collette
SAMUEL — Naomi Watts
SATINE — Jacinda Barrett
SOPHIA — Eric Bana
SUNDAY — Nicole Kidman
TENNYSON — Russell Crowe

And there’s a whole lot more to Australian place names than South Australia capital city Adelaide. Here’s a selection:

ALBANY
ALLORA
ARARAT
AUGUSTA
BENALLA
BENDIGO
BOTANY
BURNIE
DARWIN
ELANORA
ESPERANCE
GALLAH
GRAFTON
GRIFFITH
HOBART
ISA
JANNALI
KALLI
KARRATHA
KILLARA
LINCOLN
LOGAN
MACKAY
MACQUARIE
MAITLAND
MILDURA
ORANGE
PERTH
RYDE
VICTORIA

We’d like to thank and acknowledge the imput of our Australian correspondent Alicia Polman, who alerted us to some interesting names and their backstories, and to the fact that “there’s more to Australian-esque baby names than Matilda and Jack.”

At last! Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck have finally announced the name of their newborn daughter: Seraphina Rose Elizabeth.

Seraphina’s name, which means fiery or ardent in Hebrew, comes from the Seraphim, the high order of six-winged angels. Spelled Serafina in Spanish and Italian, this elaborately feminine name is in step with the Isabellas and Gabriellas so popular today, yet is far more distinctive.

Jen and Ben have proven their baby naming know-how with this gorgeous choice, a great match for Violet, and it’s sure to rise up the popularity list along with that of her big sister.  Much more unusual than Violet, Seraphina hasn’t ever appeared in the Top 1000 of the Social Security list in the past century.

Rose is the middle name du jour, a flower name match for Violet.  And, like many young Americans following the British tradition, the couple has chosen two middle names (although some people have already expressed the objection that it wasn’t fair for this baby to get one more than her big sister).

Seraphina hasn’t appeared much in popular culture references, though a couple of its variations have.  With the Latin  Serafina spelling, it was the name of the passionate heroine of Tennessee Williams The Rose Tattoo, and just last year it was a  character played by Eva Green in The Golden Compass.  It’s also reminiscent of Sarafina, the South African hit musical that played on Broadway in the 90s.

What do we think of Seraphina?  Let’s just say that we picked it as one of the Authors’ Favorites recommendations in The Baby Name Bible.

But do we have a winner in the Guess the Jennifer Garner Baby Name contest? Not a single one of the hundreds of entries picked Seraphina, though a lot of people did guess the middle name Rose.

You’ve probably noticed that Aiden is now way more popular than the original Irish Aidan.  And also that Zoey is catching up with Zoe, while other names like Isiah, Kaleb, Camryn and Sienna are either ahead of or breathing down the necks of their conventionally spelled cousins.  Sometimes the reasons for these changes are clear-cut, sometimes it’s just something in the ether.

Not that this is a new thing.  I remember the first time that someone asked me to spell my first name.  “Huh?”  “Well, is it Linda with an ‘i’ or Lynda with a ‘y’?  Without my really noticing, Lynda had become a spelling alternative in the wake of  the popularity of Lynn.  Something similar has happened with Aidan/Aiden.  When the epidemic of rhyming ‘en’-ending names erupted–Jaden, Braden, Caden et al–it was a logical development to make Aiden a legitimate member of that family.  And when ‘K’-beginning boys’ names became a rage, Kaleb began pursuing Caleb up the list.

The case of Zoe/Zooey is a little different, as the spike of the latter version can be pretty much traced to a single phenomenon–’Zoey101′–the Emmy-nominated teen sitcom starring (now teen mom) Jamie Lynn Spears, which appeared on Nickelodeon in 2005.  And the publicity surrounding Jamie Lynn’s big sister Britney’s second son helped spread that spelling of Brayden.  The rise of the British actress Sienna Miller spurred the spelling change of the Italian town of Siena, actress Jorja Fox legitimized the phonetic spelling of Georgia, and Gossip Girl hottie Chace (originally his middle name) Crawford has the spelling of his name chasing Chase.

In terms of image, rather than spelling, Scarlett Johansson challenged the long-term connection of her name to Gone With the Wind spitfire Scarlett O’Hara, just as the charms of Jude Law have managed to erase the age-old associations of his name to Judas.

More recently we’ve seen a couple of starbabies who might have some influence on the future spellings of names: Brooke Shield’s Grier (rather than Greer) and Angie Harmon’s Emery (rather than Emory).

Can you think of any others?

First for the good news.  Here are the starbaby names which we consider to have found the right combination of originality, charm and substance this year:

CLEMENTINE —Ethan Hawke & Ryan Shawhughes

Full name Clementine Jane Hawke projects the image of a sweet but strong, prim but pretty heroine of a Victorian novel, and brings to mind the song lyric ‘Oh my darlin’ (never mind that her shoes were #9).  It was previously the starbaby selection of Cybill Shepherd and Claudia Schiffer.

HONOR — Jessica Alba & Cash Warren

We applaud this choice that moves beyond the more common Puritan Virtue names like Grace, Hope, and Faith to one that projects an even more righteous image, but has rarely been heard in this country.  An honorable decision.

KNOX  & VIVIENNE —Angelina Jolie & Brad Pitt

The award for best twin names of the year goes to the always inventive but never quite over-the-top serial baby namers, the Jolie-Pitts.  Knox continued their tradition of boys’ names ending in ‘X’ (as in Maddox and Pax), and also has family connections to Brad’s grandfather, as does Vivienne’s middle name, Marcheline, that of Angelina’s mother.  Runner-up twin names: Coldplay drummer Will Champion’s lively Juno & Rex.

LOTUS —Rain Pryor

In the name garden overgrown with Roses and Lillies, Violets and Daisies, it seems fitting that the granddaughter of the late iconoclastic comedian Richard Pryor would have a more exotic flower name.  With its languorous feel, the lotus holds intriguing significance in several cultures.

SUNDAY—Nicole Kidman & Keith Urban

An unusual but sunny day-of-the-week name, inspired by an Australian artist’s patron named Sunday Reed, it’s in tune with other current calendar names like January, May, June and August, as well as the seasonal Winter and Summer.  Some people did think it strange that Sunday was born on a Monday.

And now for what we judge to be this year’s losers:

BRONX MOWGLI —Ashlee Simpson & Pete Wentz

Poor little Bronx got nothing but Bronx cheers when his name was released, especially as paired with the name of the Disneyfied Jungle Book boy.  If his parents thought this New York borough name would catch on the way Brooklyn has, they’re in for a big disappointment.

BUSTER —Michele Hicks & Jonny Lee Miller

Is he a bulldog?  Is he a prizefighter?  No, he’s a baby, whose rambunctuous name will not do much to encourage his sensitive side.  An example of the alarming trend towards giving doggy names (Lucky, Princess) to babies.

KADENCE CLOVER —Tony Hawk

It could just as well be Cadence Klover, within the paradigm of using the initial letters C and K interchangeably, leading to regrettable innovations like Kasey, Kassidy, Karolyn and Kaleb.  Fortunately, the trend seems to be waning.

MAXX —Scott Hamilton

Taking Max–which already means “the greatest”–to the max.  INXS, we’d say.

PEANUT—Ingo Rademacher

The General Hospital star explained that this had been the nickname they used “when he was in mommy.”  OK, good luck explaining that to him when he’s six feet tall and applying to Princeton.

We’d love to hear your nominations for the best and worst celebrity choices of the year, and won’t be surprised if you have very different opinions.  Let’s hear from you lovers of Harlow and defenders of Kadence!