For the Nameberry 9 this week, Appellation Mountain‘s Abby Sandel walks us  through the flower-name garden and shares some celebrity news.

Earlier this week, Nameberry explored the unexpected middle names of some very famous figures.  Who knew that Hugh Grant wore the middle name Mungo, or that Charlie Sheen had Irwin in the middle spot?

Here in Washington DC, I’m convinced that while we’re quite daring with our children’s given names, every single girl is sharing the same middle: Rose.  I’d rather see Rose in the first spot, like Charlotte’s younger daughter in the Sex in the City series.  But Rose came in at a frosty #337 in the 2010 rankings.  You’re more likely to meet a girl called Esmeralda, Fatima, or Leilani.

What explains the rise of a suddenly-everywhere middle name?  Yes, many of us have grandmothers named Rose.  But we also have grandmothers named Jean, Joan, and Ruth, and those names aren’t nearly as popular.  At a recent baby shower, the guest-of-honor had chosen Rose for a daughter’s middle name.  So had the other expectant mom in the room, and one of the brand new parents had already named her daughter Amelie Rose.

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As we warm to the pleasant days of Spring, we take our annual stroll down the garden path and offer our current  thoughts on flower names for girls.

Still leading in popularity are Lilyand Daisy, with  Rose  remaining a  middle name of choice, though its bloom may be fading a bit due to over exposure.  In general,  flower names for girls,  a craze first seen in the early 1900s, is still one the most fashionable groups around in the early 21^st century.

Nameberry includes a wide range of flower names for girls, from garden variety to hothouse blooms. Here, a rundown of the choicest:

THE TRENDIEST

DAISY — Charming and simple, Daisy started off as a nickname for Margaret, now more popular than the original.

IRIS — Former dowdy old lady name revived when Jude Law and Sadie Frost chose it for their daughter.

JASMINE — The most exotic of the popular flower names, with many spelling variations: Jazmin, Jazzmyn et al.  Related: Yasmine and cousins, along with the lovely British favorite Jessamine or Jessamyn, actually French for jasmine.

LILY — Also stylish as Liliana, Lilia, and in France, Lilou, with Lillian starting to be revived.

ROSE — Still an epidemically popular middle name, with many variations — from Rosa to Rosalie to Rosemary — that would make lovely first names.

VIOLET — The daughter of celebrities Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck brought this lush flower choice before the public eye, and it’s rapidly becoming a favorite.  In France, Violette is chic, while in Italian it’s Violetta.

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When The Golden Girls hit the small screen in 1985, the names of its leading ladies—Rose, Dorothy and Blanche—were late middle aged, and Mama Sophia was old enough to have already been in and out of  the Shady Pines Nursing Home.  That was 25 years ago, a period of major change in the name world.  Sophia is now the seventh most popular baby name (and #1 in some places), Rose is America‘s favorite middle name, and Dorothy is one of the belles of the nameberry name boards.

Not only that: other Golden Girl names, names that were virtually written off just a couple of years ago, are back in play.  Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick, for example, named one of their twin daughters Marion, Julia Roberts chose Hazel for hers and Molly Ringwald picked Adele.  And nameberryites are cool with similar period names like Clara and Cora, Vivian and Vera.

Here are some other alternative names that might have been used for the Golden Girls ladies—are any of them ready to join Rose and Sophia?

ALMA

BETTY

CEIL

DELLA

DORIS

EDITH

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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:

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