Many parents — more and more, it seems — wait until the baby arrives to settle on a  name.  Some want to see what it looks like and try to gauge its incipient personality (not always easy), and some want to tie it into the circumstances of the baby’s birth–a practice seen in a number of earlier cultures.  This could be the season of arrival–Summer or Autumn–or the month, as in June or January, or the day of the week, as in Sunday Rose Kidman Urban (actually born on a Monday).

Another option is commemorating the time of day or night of the baby’s arrival.  There are any number of names associated with sun and moon gods and goddesses, as well as names whose meanings refer to day and night, stars, dawn, sun and moon,  in both western and  eastern cultures. Some of them worth considering are:

DAY NAMES

ADOUR — African, meaning born at dawn
AFTERNOON
ALBA –means dawn in Italian and Spanish
ALTAN — Turkish, meaning dawn
ANATOLE — French, meaning dawn
APOLLO –Greek sun god
AROON — Thai, meaning dawn
ASA –Japanese, born at dawn (in Hebrew it means healer)
AURORA –Roman goddess of dawn
CYMBELINE — Celtic, meaning sun lord
CYRUS –Persian, meaning sun
DAG/DAGMAR/DAGNY — Scandinavian, meaning day
DANICA — Slavic, meaning morning star
DAWN
DIA/DIAZ –Italian and Spanish for day
EARLY
ELIANA/ELIANE — in Greek, daughter of the sun (in Hebrew, God has answered)
ELIO/HELIO/HELIOS–related to the Greek sun god
EOS — Greek goddess of dawn
IOLA –Greek, meaning violet-covered dawn
ISHAAN –Hindu sun god
KALINDA –Hindi, meaning the sun
LARK — the bird that sings at dawn
MATIN — morning in French
MATUTA — Spanish, goddess of the morning
MORNING
NURU — Swahili, meaning born in daylight
ORIANA — like Aurora, means sunrise
PHOEBUS — another name for the sun god Apollo
RA –Egyptian sun god
RAVI — Hindu god of the sun
ROXANNE/ROXANA — Persian, meaning dawn
SAVITA — Hindi, meaning sun (among other meanings)
SABAH/SAHAR — Arabic, meaning morning
SAMSON — Hebrew, meaning sun
SHAHAR, Hebrew, meaning morning
SIRIA/SURYA –Hindi, meaning the sun (also the name of a sun god)
SOL/SOLANA –meaning the sun
SOLEIL — sun in French
SULIEN –Welsh, meaning sun
SUNNY/SUNSHINE
TALI — Hebrew, meaning dew
TARANA — meaning born during the day in (Hausa) African (also music in Persian)
THEA — Greek goddess of light and mother of the sun
ZARIA/ZARYA — Slavic, meaning morning star
ZORA– Slavic name meaning dawn
ZORAN –Serbian, meaning light of dawn

NIGHT NAMES

AJAMBO –African, meaning born in the evening
ALTAIR –the brightest star in the constellation Aquila
ANDROMEDA — a constellation
ANNIKKI — Finnish nighttime goddess
AQUILA — a constellation
ARTEMIS –Greek moon goddess
ASTA/ASTRA — meaning star
BADAR — Arabic, meaning full moon
CASSIOPEIA–a constellation
CHANDRA — Indian moon god
CYNTHIA — Greek, related to moon goddess Artemis
DELIA — another epithet of Greek moon goddess Aretemis
DEVA — Hindu moon goddess
DIANA — Roman goddess of the moon
DIMAS — Greek, meaning sunset
ESTELLE/ESTELLA/ESTRELLA –meaning star
ESTHER — Persian, meaning star
ETOILE — French word for star
HOSHI — Japanese, meaning star
ISIS — Egyptian goddess of the sky
IZAR –means star in Basque
KAMARIA –Swahili, meaning beauty of the moon
KOKO — Native American (Blackfoot), meaning night
LAILA/LEILA//LEYA/LILA –all relate to  night in Arabic
LILITH — night monster (uh-oh) in Jewish folklore
LIVANA — Hebrew, means lunar (or white)
LUNA — Italian for moon
MOON (as in Zappa)
NEOMA — Greek, meaning new moon
NISHA — Hindi, meaning night
NOVA — A star that shines very brightly (also means new and is the name of a PBS science show)
NYX — Greek, means night; name of the Greek goddess of the night
PHOEBE — another epithet for Greek moon goddess Artemis
QAMAR –Arabic, meaning moon
RAJANI — Hindi, meaning night
RAKA — Hindi, meaning full moon
RHIANNON — Welsh goddess of the moon
SELENE/SELENA — Greek goddess of the moon
SIDRA — means of the stars in Latin
STELLA — Latin for star
VEGA — falling star in Arabic

We found Stephany Aulenback’s wonderful blog Crooked House when she wrote about nameberry, and now we’re fans.  Here, Stephany’s take on looking for a name for her baby girl, due in June, and finding that nothing, old or new, feels quite right.

It was around Christmas time when we started talking about the new baby with Luke so maybe it shouldn’t have been a surprise when he suggested we call it Baby Jesus. His second suggestion, Pooko, was in my opinion, an improvement, if only very marginally.

The other day his preschool teacher asked him what we were going to name the new baby.

He said, “I don’t know. We have to make a list.”

“Oh, you should put the name ‘Libby‘ on the list. I really like that name.”

“I can’t,” he said.

“Why not?” she asked.

“Because ‘Rosie’s’ already on my list. I like the name ‘Rosie.’”

Clearly he’s not quite clear yet on the concept of “list.” I know where he came up with Rosie –when he thinks of the name, he pictures a sweet little girl with curly brown hair who stars on a children’s travel television show. I picture Rosie O’Donnell. I like Rosie O’Donnell. I just don’t want to picture her face when I’m cuddling my newborn.

David’s mother died a month before Luke’s birth. At the time, we already knew we were having a boy. And she’d indicated, without actually coming right out and saying so, that while she liked our choice for a first name, she wasn’t thrilled about our choice of Johann for the second. We’d chosen it because the first Aulenback, a common surname in our region of Nova Scotia, to settle here was a Johann. After she died suddenly a month before his birth, we decided not to use it. (The lesson in that? If you don’t want your loved ones to do something, die.)

Now that we’re having a girl and so can do more to honor David’s mother this time, it has crossed both our minds that we should try to somehow work her name into the new baby’s. The trouble is that while her name, Linda, is pretty and has a lovely meaning, it does not yet seem quite ready for a revival. According to Nameberry it was the most popular name for girls in 1950 and we immediately picture someone, well, round about the age of David’s mother when we say it.

What about her middle name? Well… it was Bertha. While I was surprised when Ruby, a name of a similar vintage, made its comeback, Ruby has grown on me in a way that Bertha just hasn’t. (We actually tried to name our cat, Theo, Ruby until the vet informed us we’d have to go with Rudy.) I don’t see Bertha developing a cachet anytime soon. No, I see Bertha wearing orthopedic tennis shoes with a plus-size skirt. No offense to any Manolo-and-mini-skirt wearing Berthas out there — and I’m sure they exist. Although, come to think of it, I don’t like to think of my baby wearing Manolos or mini skirts either.

David and I were talking about — over, around — this dilemma late last night when all sensible people were either asleep or ordering grills from the Home Shopping Network. We really, really want to honour David’s mother. But we don’t much like the name, not for someone born in 2009. My brilliant solution? Why not give the new baby the middle name “Mom”? That way, we’d be paying homage to my own mother, too. (My own mother’s name just happens to be Ruth Alvira.)

The other problem I have with choosing a name is that I’m a bit of a misanthrope. I know people steer clear of the names of exes, say, or of children who picked on them back in elementary school, or of mean bosses, or, I don’t know, psychopathic killers. But I have trouble with any name that has actually already belonged to a human being. Even if I really like you — even if I really love you — I’m unlikely to want to burden my fresh new baby with your used kleenex of a name. And yet, however much I like to think that I’m a creative person (after all, I’m creating a whole new person here right in my midsection), I’m not really a fan of “creative” names. Here’s the kind of list I come up with when I try to get creative.

Words That Would Make Nice Names for Babies, If It Weren’t For Their Unsuitable Meanings

FOR GIRLS

Angina
Calorie
Dyslexia
Feta
Plaice
Reciprocity
Uvula

FOR BOYS

Bench
Caftan
Chyle
Raunch
Rennet
Roily
Torrid
Thwart
Fellatio

Stephany Aulenback lives in Nova Scotia with her husband David and her three-year-old son Luke, whose baby sister will be born in June. Stephany blogs at Crooked House.

If the letter ‘Q’ was a TV performer, it would get a very high Q-rating, if only for its quirky charm. Babies with names beginning with the least used letter of the alphabet can automatically claim a unique, attention-grabbing initial which they’ll have to share with very few others, and the same will probably be true of their name as well.

The original, core group of Q names stems from the Latin Quintus, which means fifth. Quintus has a considerable literary history: Quintus Ennius was one of the earliest Roman poets, Quintus was the name of Titus’s son in Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus, and Quintus Slide was a comical character in Anthony Trollope’s Palliser novels. It could fit right in with other trendy ancient Roman names, like Atticus and Augustus. Descendants and offshoots of Quintus include Quinton, Quintin, Quentin, and Quincy, Quina, Quintina and Quintana.

Quentin is, along with Quincy and Quinn, the most widely used. The name of a 5th century martyred saint (namesake of the San Francisco prison) who–this could come in handy–is the saint said to protect against coughs. The popularity of Sir Walter Scott’s 1823 novel Quentin Durward was largely responsible for spreading the name across Scotland and England. In modern literature we have William Faulkner’s Quentin Compson and the niece who is named after him in The Sound and the Fury. In addition, there are Theodore Roosevelt’s aviator son Quentin, and the somewhat outrageous Quentins Crisp and Tarentino.

Quincy has gone from prissy to cool, due in great part to the hip persona of musician Quincy Jones. It’s also historically linked to our sixth president, John Quincy Adams whose middle name came either from the Massachusetts township where he was born or was after his father’s close friend, Revolutionary patriot Josiah Quincy. The Q name with the highest Q quotient.

Here are some others:

Qamar and Qiturah are typical of the Arabic names where the Q is not followed by the letter U.
Quade is a multi-cultural name with Latin, German and Irish Gaelic ties.
Quain, a French name meaning quick and clever.
Quanah, a Native American Comanche name meaning sweet-smelling.
Quandra, Quella, Quenby, and Quintina, some distinctive Q names for girls
Quark, a sci-fi name attached to a Star Trek Deep Six 9 series.
Quarry, a modern word name, strong as stone.
Quebec, Quito and Quintana, two attractive place names. Quebec was also a minor character in Dickens’ Bleak House.
Queenie, a sassy showgirl name, recently nominated for an Oscar via Victoria during that monarch’s long reign.
Querida, a Spanish name meaning beloved.
Quest and Quince, two contemporary word names.
Quico, a Spanish nickname name for Enrique and Francisco.
Quilla, the name of the Inca mythological goddess of the moon
Quillan, Quillon, Quinton, Irish surname names
Quinn, the most user-friendly unisex name of the group, meaning intelligent.

Yesterday we looked at our list of names that peaked in 2007 and predicted general trends.  Today, we’re identifying those names we expect to be hearing a lot more of in the future.

Not included on this list are the trendy choices like Addison and Aiden that everybody expects to see at the top of the pop chart.  We’re also setting aside those 2007 favorites we expect to see heading downward – Kaylee, for instance – along with names mentioned in yesterday’s post.

More interesting are the unusual names and the unexpected classics we see peaking on the 2007 list but predict will rise yet again in 2008 and will be around for years to come.  Many of these names sound unusual enough now, but BE WARNED: Most are destined to get a lot more popular.  Those choices:

Girls

Akira
Alani
Amari
Amelia
Annabelle
Arabella
Aria
Athena
Aubrey
Azaria
Bella
Brielle
Cadence
Camila
Chloe
Claire
Dahlia
Delilah
Dulce
Eden
Elle
Emery
Hadley
Iliana
Jocelyn
Kamari
Kinsley
Lexie
Liana
Lucia
Lyric
Maeve
Malaki
Malia
Melina
Naomi
Paisley
Piper
Saniya
Sarai
Sariah
Tessa
Valentina
Willow
Zaniya
Zara
Zariah
Zoey

Boys

Andres
Ari
Aryan
Asher
Atticus
Beckett
Boston
Brady
Braxton
Brycen
Case
Cohen
Cooper
Corbin
Cruz
Davin
Daxton
Declan
Drake
Easton
Emmanuel
Enzo
Ezekiel
Fabian
Finn
Finnegan
Gideon
Grayson
Hudson
Isai
Jacoby
Jameson
Jeremiah
Johan
Josiah
Judah
Killian
Kingston
Lincoln
Luca
Madden
Marcelo
Matias
Maxim
Micah
Nash
Nikolai
Nolan
Owen
Rhys
Santiago
Sawyer
Slade
Soren
Titus
Wyatt

Either

Keagan
London
Memphis
Nery
Parker
Phoenix
Quinn
Rowan
Teagan
Zion

Twitty Milk, the reported name of the new daughter of singer Erykah Badu and rapper Jay Electronica, was thankfully just a hoax.  No one knows quite how the Twitty Milk rumor got started, except that the new mom Twittered her way through the baby’s birth.  The real crazy celebrity baby name: Mars Merkaba.

Badu, also the mother of son Seven and daughter Puma, is obviously a leader in crazy celebrity baby naming.  Here, with Mars’ birth, our new Top 10 Craziest Celebrity Baby Names:

1. MOXIE CRIMEFIGHTER — The daughter of magician Penn Jillette, whose assertive word name can be called unique in the truest sense of that term, is the bearer of what may still be the absolute craziest celebrity baby name.

2. PILOT INSPEKTOR — Jason Lee took a lot of flack for this occupational name, to the extent that he’s keeping his second child’s name secret.

3. BRONX MOWGLI — Rockers Ashlee Simpson and Pete Wentz hit a new low with this New York neighborhood-Disney moniker, giving their son the initials B.M.W.

4. KAL-EL — Nicolas Cage’s son’s name seems fit for a child from another planet.

5. MARS MERKABA –  Okay, it’s better than Twitty Milk.  But it’s still from Outer Space.

6. PEANUT — Soap star Ingo Rademacher’s son’s name might give any child an inferiority complex.

7. DIEZEL — Word names are in, but fuel names?  Sorry, Toni Braxton, but this one is full of gas.

8. ZUMA NESTA ROCK — The name of Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale’s second son is simply trying way too hard on every level.

9.HUCKLEBERRY — Bear Gryll’s newborn son and big brother Marmaduke sound like a pair of cartoon characters.  But what can you expect when Dad’s name is Bear?

10. PUMA — We have to cite Erykah Badu for being a two-time offender, as she gave her daughter this feline and sneaker name.  But Badu also has a wicked sense of humor, as anyone who’s ever heard her fabulous song “Call Tyrone” can attest.