Isabel, Isobel, Isabelle: Identifying a name species
Site visitors often suggest that I combine names in the NameVoyager. The rationale is straightforward: a parent who types in "Katelynn" should also be aware of the popularity of Katelyn, Katelin, Kaitlyn, Caitlin, et al. Combining variants of a name would give them a better overview.
All it takes is determining where one "species" of name ends and another begins. But that, as biologists can tell you, is no small matter.
A few weeks ago there was a news story that the fabled Preble's Meadow jumping mouse, which can jump a foot and a half into the air, was losing its "endangered species" status. Why? It turns out it wasn't a species. After a careful review, scientists concluded they couldn't really tell it apart from other garden-variety jumping mice. The decision, though, was not unanimous -- and they have DNA to work with.
I sympathize. Back when I was building my research tools for The Baby Name Wizard, I tried to assign a core name species to each name variant in my database. After one frustrating week, I abandoned the idea. Try it yourself: how many different names are in this list?
Emily Emilie Emilee Emely Emmalee Amelie Emilia Amelia Aemilia Amalia
Hmm...let's say we just combine variants that sound identical. So that's 4 core names: Emily, Amelie, Amelia, Amalia. Or maybe 5, with Emilia. 6 at the outside (Emma-Lee?)
But if we're going by sound, are Devin and Devon the same? Some Devons are DEV-in, yet some are de-VON. And how about Caitlin and Katelynn? One is an old Irish Gaelic form of Katherine, the other a modern American compound name...how can they be called the same species? Plus they may be pronounced the same in the U.S., but in Ireland they sound quite different.
Let's try nicknames instead. Lump all the Bills in with the Williams, who are probably called Bill anyway. Unless they're called Billy or Will. So add those in too...but wait a second. Try typing Will into the NameVoyager, then hitting return. Now try Billy. The curves are completely different. Billy is a lot more like Jimmy and Tommy than it is like Will. If you lump them together, you miss the whole trend.
And that, in the end, is the real problem with dividing up species of names. The variations matter. Just ask any parent who named her daughter Michaela whether Makayla is the same name. Or try calling one of today's little Williams "Billy." It's often the variation rather than the root which ties a name to its time and place. From the nickname explosion of the mid-century to today's kreative spellings, the trends are in the details. So for the NameVoyager, I'm taking them one by one.
Comments
I've read your book and it's superb! And yes, I believe the details are important too -- Just ask my daughter if Katelyn and Caitlin are the same! No way!
I just found your blog yesterday, and I've been trumpeting it on my blog for the last 2 days. I've been a populist onomasticologist since the 1970's, but I haven't really followed the scholarship in the intervening years. Your site REALLY interested me, and, as I've said, I've written about it twice already. Thank you for that wizard thing. It's wonderful, as are your comments about names. My site is www.xanga.com/IronKnee. Check it out, why don't you? On a very personal note, one of my daughters is pregnant with our first grandchild, so my wife and I are very interested in baby names. My daughter's name is Catherine Elizabeth, and my son-in-law's name is Michael (I don't know his middle name), so they both come from very traditional naming families. Let's hope they have that kind of sense. But if they name it "Morgan," girl or boy, who really cares.Thanks for your hard work.Ed Deluzain
This site is wonderful. I am pregnant with my first baby and am having a hard time even thinking of names. I'm definitely going to get your book. I picked up some baby name books at a second hand store and did not find them useful at all. Some of the names were ridiculous with little to no context to guide you.
Having one of a "specie" of names (my name is Alan) has made me a bit sensitive to correspondence I receive that's addressed to Allan or Allen, especially when the writer has my name in writing before them and disregards it. With very little effort and a modicum or courtesy you could get it right.
I agree Alan. I sent an email to a bank with a question. They replied "Dear Jennifer" instead of my name, Jennika. Needless to say I don't bank with them! If they can't handle my name they can't handle my money!!
Jennika,I agree with you whole-heartedly. My brother's first name is Roberts (yes, Robert with an "s" -- family name), and he has had to fight with his bank repeatedly to get his checks printed with his first name correct. I think I will pass on your stance about not being able to handle your name. Susan
I am curious as to how the different "families" of names are ranked in popularity. Ashley, Ashton, and Ashlyn may not be the same name, but they're obviously members of the same "family." Although Emily is the #1 girl's name, I wonder if the Emily family (Emily, Emma, Amelie, etc.) is more popular than the Caitlin family (Katelyn, Kaytlin, etc.) or the Alex family (Alexandra, Alexis, Alessandra, etc.). I'm sure the Kaylee family (Kayla, Bailey, Haley, Jaylee, etc.) is in the top ten, as is the Sierra family (Sierra, Kiara, Sienna, etc.). That kind of ranking list would give parents a more general idea of what people are naming their kids better than any SSN list could do.
It really just boils down to the fact that regardless of "popularity" of names, people like to be paid attention to. I HATEHATEHATE when people spell my name with one L. My name is Michelle. My name is NOT Michele.And it works for others. My dad's name is Stephen, and he hates being written as Steven, and my mom has one of the most obvious names, Bonnie, and still gets Bonny... ?? sigh...
my name is isabelle....bu the way i was christined was isabel.which luks prettier??exactly,the first which is why i changed my name to that when i was 7.im only 16 now and in all forms including my passport my name is spelt isabelle.the only reminder of the shorter is my birth cert which i dont like to show off!!
my name is isabelle....bu the way i was christined was isabel.which luks prettier??exactly,the first which is why i changed my name to that when i was 7.im only 16 now and in all forms including my passport my name is spelt isabelle.the only reminder of the shorter is my birth cert which i dont like to show off!!
Madelyn or Madeline? I am thinking of the name Madelyn not wanting it to be pronounced mad-e-line (like the little girl in the book). if its spelled Madeline is it still Madelyn?
With a name spelled "Madyson", I'm no stranger to misspellings. As I strongly prefer my spelling it does sometimes get a little old. I even have a yearbook from elementary school lableled "Madiso".It's rather odd how a spelling can so affect a name... for instance... I really like the name Dhali, but hate the name Dolly....
It's only Americans who pronounce Madeline 'mad-e-line'. The rest of the world pronounce it 'mad-e-laine'.The wonderful picturebook called Madeline was turned into a film set in America so no wonder the name is mispronounced.If you call your daughter Madelyn, you leave her open to her name being pronounced 'mad-e-linn', better than 'mad-e-line' but not much.
Why should Isabelle be prettier than Isabel? It is just a question of taste. Isabelle is French but Isabel is Spanish. And Isabella is Italian.To some, Isabelle may look too frilly and they prefer Isabel. It prefer Isabel b/c it is the original spelling. Others may prefer Isabelle, b/c it contains "belle", which means beautiful.I love the original French spelling Madeleine best. But however you spell it, people manage to mispronounce and misspell the name.
We named our daughter Keziah,from the book of Job. I love the name, but we waited until after it was on the birth certificate to tell people. Some people have very strong opinions about non-traditonal names. My good friend wanted a unique name for her coming son and was thinking of Aidan. I'll have to tell her it's VERY common and refer her here. Thanks for the interesting info.
My daughter's name is Madeleine pronounced mad-e-line. We love the way it's spelled and pronounced. IMHO it's sounds better than mad-e-lin. I loved the Madeline storybook when I was a child, but had no idea it was being mispronounced here.
I want to name my daughter Amelie and would like to know the correct pronounciation. Is it Ah-mel-ee (soft "a") or A-melly (hard "a" like Apple)? In the movie, it's more of a hard sounding "A".
I don't know what my parents were thinking when they decided to spell my name "Yhzabel" like this, insted of "Isabelle"
your web site sucks. it didn't give me the graphs that i needed for school. it was an inadequite waste of my time to come to your web site!
LOL, that last comment, whatever. Anyways as far as Isabel goes, I like it that way becuase I find it more unique, more traditional, but thats just preference. Now I am glade some have brough up the delema with Madeline, as we thought we were all set, and now 3 months away we became more away with the difficulties associated with that name. We are first generation american from eurpopean backgrounds. We picked Madeline (Mad-da-lynn), but over looked the french spelling Madeleine. We are a sucker for tradition. And we are unsure what to do. Risk correcting pronouncation or risk correcting spelling?
Additioanl note... the french Madeleine has it own unique pronounciation, becuase of the french accent/pronounciation. However for those of us that can not reproduce the french sound, Madeleine is still pronouced, at least very similar to, (Mad-da-lynn). Here is a horrible wav sound of the french pronouncation... http://french.about.com/library/media/wavs/Madeleine.wav WARNING you can not directly click on it, you have to somehow right click to save and download then play it. FInding this makes me feel better, just stick to our spelling Madeline and pronounce it (Mad-da-lynn). There are alot of people in this predicament (looking around the net). You want to know a name that really is difficult... KATH-er-in I know its difficult with out bias seeing the K, but how would you spell if you only HEARD the name. I immediately default to Catherine/Cathy.
All the variations one wants to read up on... http://www.thinkbabynames.com/ (sorry for the linking, just trying to jive others reasources, not like it is hard to find, but this one give in depth detail along with the pronounciations, now only if a site had all of these things plus respective sound files, I know a big endevore).
whippee
my name is samantha and i really like it
my name means princess
i have my daughter's middle name as yhzabel. i spelled that way so it would be unique, coz our last name is too common. i thought it would at least set her apart. some people find it hard to pronounce it though :)
(Lol, I'm posting 2 years and 3 months late...oh, well, just discovered this thread now.)And what about Alicia? That's my cousin's half-sister's name, and she says it A-lish-a, but I've heard A-leesh-a, A-lee-see-a, and A-liss-ee-a. No way to separate those--all 1 spelling.
HEY HOW CAN I COMBINE ARELIS AND RAFAEL
Don't.
Or, if you must, try something like...uhh...maybe ARELIS RAPHAEL aor RAPHAEL ARELIS?????
(Sorry, guess I'm being harsh. Oh well. I'm a fervent antineonomist.)
HOW TO COMBINE OPHELIA AND BROOKLYN??
I love the name Amelie written down. And I like it pronounced with a soft "A". But I'm not positive if that is the correct way to say it or not.
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