Category: Nature, Place and Word Names
By Linda Rosenkrantz
In 2008, shortly after Pam and I moved our shared baby name expertise from the book world into the virtual universe, we inaugurated a tradition of collaborating towards the end of every year on a blog of our predictions for the following year’s baby name trends, based on the cultural shifts we observed, what was happening in society, politics, the arts, and Hollywood.
We pinpointed certain categories, such as an overall big-picture trend, greatest pop culture influence, most surprising comeback name, new trends inspired by a celebrity name, most fashionable vowel and consonant, ethnic name group most likely to rise, newest old people names, and—one of our favorites– a trend ready to jump the shark.
Here are ten trends we predicted that may have seemed outrageous at the time and how they played out.
We’ll soon be celebrating US Dictionary Day. This unofficial holiday falls on the October 16th birthday of the Founding Father of American English, Noah Webster – this year he’d be celebrating his 260th.
In honor of the occasion, here are ten baby names inspired by dictionaries and the people who shaped them – arranged alphabetically, of course.
By Mélissa Delahaye of Jolis Prénoms
Flower names for babies are very popular all over the world. Naming your baby after one of the most beautiful things in nature is a lovely thing. Here are some French names inspired by flowers. Some of them may surprise you, especially in the boy’s section!
Fleur. Let’s start with the most obvious name on this list. The French word for flower has been commonly used as a name since the 70s. This feminine, free-spirited name sounds both pretty and elegant; its meaning and sweet simplicity are what makes it so appealing.
Anémone is a floral name that relates to the ancient Greek myth of the love story of Aphrodite and Adonis, in which the goddess transforms her wounded lover’s blood into a flower, the crimson anemone, whose delicate blooms are blown open by the wind, accounting for its other name, windflower. With their watercolor-like petals, anemones are one of the daintiest spring flowers and would make a charming name for a baby girl.
by Linda Rosenkrantz
Fall is in the air, and one of its most vivid visual symbols is that of the blazing colors of autumn leaves as they turn—the vivid reds and yellows and oranges. If you’d like to use the season of your baby’s birth as name inspiration, one focus for autumn baby names is the color orange —the fruit, as well as flowers, gems and people.
By Linda Rosenkrantz
It’s become a Nameberry tradition, almost since the beginning to celebrate occupational names on Labor Day. This year we’re not only featuring those whose original occupations might no longer exist in the modern world, though they’re all good, wearable, sometimes trendy names, but also some of the more current occupational word-names which seem to be popping up with increasing frequency.
Right now, the usual, perhaps overworked, suspects populate the upper reaches of the popularity list, with Mason at #7. Followed by the er-ending faves Carter, Hunter, Cooper, Ryder, Tucker, Archer, Sawyer, Gunner, and Tanner, all of which are in the Top 300.
But how about some of the more unusual ones that haven’t been heard quite so often? Consider these:
