@Jillc - I feel the same way about Beatrix! It seems like a name nerd favourite. I know that Elisabeth over at youcantcallitit.com has a daughter Beatrix but for most people it doesn't make the final cut. :)

@Patricia - Where do you get these English stats, please? I'm hopeless and would love to look through them.

I'm bad enough with the American names - I can only see the tiop 1000. :(

I knew Mungo from Mungo Jerry but with the pronunciation guide above I now want to pronounce it more like mango the fruit though I'm thinking it has more of an Ahh sound like how Anna vs. Ahn-na is said. Anyway, all the associations turn me completely off. It just doesn't "sound" like a name to me Saint or not.

I so have a personal Sophie/Sophia pocket around me though as I have 3 in close relations (friends/cousins) ages Sophie=3, Sophia=5 and 10.

mahn-go (a as in father) is better than mun-go (u as in fun) to me. i guess i can the appeal a bit more there, particularly if you have a connection to scotland and/or like saint's names. the mun-go pronunciation (which is what i thought was right) reminded me a bit of dung. not the best.

RE: Sophie/Sophia/Britsh names
I always find it really interesting people find Sophie a nickname or doesn't age as well -- not based on anything said here, just things I've heard around, because to me, Sophia & Sophie are two different names. I think it's because SA's names fall more under the UK as opposed to the US. I've been told by people who live in the UK, that Sophie's been extremely popular for a very long time.

I think it's also a culture difference with the style of names.Names that are popular in England, Wales, Scotland & Ireland aren't necessarily popular in the US, for example. I know a lot of my favorites are in the top 100 from those countries, but not in the US.
Something that I noticed that could be utterly wrong, is that the UK prefer 'ie/ee' sounds for girls, whereas there seems to be more 'ah' names in the US

Here is the list for the top names in Ireland for 2007
http://www.behindthename.com/top/lists/100ir2007.php

RE: the newspaper names
I think some are slightly over the top, but they do strike me as very British, even thought they're not necessarily the norm . Maybe some of them are aristocratic families! I don't think it's necessarily the names themselves that are over the top, so much as they're quite dramatic pairings. I do love the list & appreciate the moxie of it, though

RE: the mango names :)
I read an article awhile ago , where apparently they are trying to recover the Gaelic, Cornish & Welsh languages etc, and in some of the regions, a lot of the locals are starting to use traditional names from those regions ( I know of a woman who really considered using the Welsh name Mfwany for her daughter, for example), so maybe some of the names are related to that ?

RE: Sloane
I sincerely like Sloane. It has a a sleek, smooth feel that's contemporary. I think it'd also age well. It's very similar to Blair(e) in feel. It's dynamic without being pretentious. I know of a woman who has changed her name to Holly Sloane (fn & mn) & I know of two teenage brothers in SA who are Cyrus & Sloane

I hope I don't repeat any suggestions, but here we go:
For a girl ( I much prefer it for a girl)
Blair
Nola
Emery
Carys said KAH-riss
Cerys said KEH-riss
Arden
Moira said MWA-ra
Sinnain said SHI-nawn
Sinead said shi-nayd
Farrow
Kerrigan
Morrigan
Rowena
Larke
Harlow
Iseult
Greer
Bliss
Fife
Lane
Indigo
Indie
Channing
Tatum
Fae

BOYS
Blake
Rogan
Roan
Ronan
Rowan
Larkin
Cian/Kian
Keane
Hoyt
Madigan
Lorcan
Lachlan
Hawke
Wolfe
Indianna

I tried to focus on mainly Celtic/UK names. Hope it helps

The British stats:

http://www.behindthename.com/top/

Love the hipster discussion. Can I ask what everyone's 'fantasy hipster sibset' would be? Either names you love or your strongest idea of what 5 or so hipster babies would/should likely be called.

Points to RobynT for pointing out the first rule of hipsterdom. Also, I know it got buried under all the name data posts, but I liked the opinions on hyphens and spellings of Asian names from a few posts ago.

Larksong - I can see Minnie as a nn for Melanie. Also Annie, Mennie, Mela? For Melody, Melo, Odie (ha!) or Mela too.

Re: English announcement names. Kilroy-Silk! Some of those lists make me want to go out trolling for a husband so I can get started shaking down the family tree.

BubbleBee - I think Briar, Blythe, or Grainne have the same feel as Sloane. I'm from the same town as the band Sloan, so that's my primary association, although I don't know how widely they're known outside Canada.

Some others that could have a similar feel or some similar sounds in them: Maude, Sybil, Thora, Iona, Seonag, Kennocha, Fjola, Salome, Idony, Bede, Romy, Yarrow, Auden, Orla, Joan, Shea. For a boy I think Sholto.

Re: Mungo, I get that the correct pronunciation of the first syllable is mahn rather than mun, but is the second syllable meant to be pronounced gow (rhymes with cow) or go? It really changes it for me if it's the gow pronunciation.

Fun ! If I was a hipster, I'd name my kids:

Hipster sibset girls

Harriet Persephone Belle -- Hattie
Ida Clemenstrya Rose -- Idey
Winifred Isadora Frances -- Winnie
Dorothy Maude Ruby -- Dottie
Imogen Olivia Rosalind --Mogie

Hipster sibset boys

Walter Abram Bennet --- Wally
Ulysses Theodore Roman --- Yoyo
Barnaby Harold Winthrop --- Barney
Carby Mathers Thorsten --- Carbie
Archibald Percival James ---- Archie

I wouldn't actually use those, I was just trying to be hipster lol

Thanks Guest B for the nickname suggestions !

Sophie/Sophia:

Sophie was a moderately popular name 100 years ago and back then also more common than Sophia. The popularity of both names fell to below the top 500 in the 40'es-60'es. Then, and I think I read it here actually, the Italian actress Sophia Loren entered the scene. The prevailing pronunciation of Sophia, pre-Loren, was So-FEYE-ah (compare Maria vs Mariah) but Sophia Loren pronounced her name the Italian way, Soh-FEE-ah, and this new, exotic pronunciation caught on and gave the name a big boost.

I consider both Sophie and Sophia as 'real' names, i.e. I wouldn't assume Sophie was a pet form of Sophia. I suppose this is because both forms are widely established in Europe. Sofie and Sofia (SO-FEE-eh and SO-FEE-ah) are both common in Scandinavia. And interestingly, the popularity of Sofie/Sofia in Scandinavia over the past 100 years is very similar the popularity in the US.

Larksong, wonderful list! I'd be more inclined to peg it as leaning "whimsical traditional" rather than hipnik. Gosh, I do hope they don't glom onto my all-time favorite, Barnaby. (By the way, "Yoyo" for "Ulysses" is adorable, surprising and fabulous. I nominate you for nicknamers' hall of fame on the strength of that one alone!)

I still have the old school view that none of these "moderns" can claim a "hipster" mantle. That belongs to ground-breakers in the 40's and 50's who actually generated art, music, poetry, etc. (Of course, a good number of those were "wannabes" or poseurs or whatever, but that's why the term "Beatnik" is so colorful and apt!)

So I coined "hipnik" for the moderns who covertly or openly aspire to "hipness". Such an aspiration seems rather unworthy, which is why few people want to admit to it, I suppose!

Interesting group of children's names for the new British Prime Minister, David Cameron. "Nancy", "Elwen", and the little boy they tragically lost, "Ivan".

Nancy is charmingly retro, especially when nicknamed "Nan", then Elwen has an elfin, Celtic flavor for me, and Ivan, the Russian version of John, is the one that could be considered the most trendy in Britain right now, correct? I'd love to hear one of our Brits (or anyone here) analyze that group of names...

Eo

Hehheh. Glad you like it. It was a lot of fun coming up with them, though that's pretty much the complete opposite of what I personally go for. I guess that's what is so great about names, there's so many variations & views of them.

Larksong, I analysed the England/Wales all-births list from 2008 for two-letter combinations the same way I did with the US top 2500 decade (post 130). Names ending in -ie are indeed twice as common in the UK as in the US.

GIRLS (topUK) -- Begins with
ma 4.88%
el 4.31%
li 3.29%
am 3.16%
ch 3.14%
is 3.03%
em 2.66%
Total = 24.47%
(US most common: ma, ka, al, ja, sa, an, em)

BOYS (topUK.txt) -- Begins with
ja 8.24%
ha 4.59%
jo 4.27%
al 3.85%
ma 3.72%
le 2.61%
da 2.5%
Total = 29.78%
(US most common: ja, jo, ma, br, da, an ca)

GIRLS (topUK) -- Ends with
ie 10.6%
ia 8.9%
ly 5.51%
la 5.32%
na 4.67%
ah 3.93%
ra 3.38%
Total = 42.31%
(US most common: na, ia, la, ey, ie, ah, yn)

BOYS (topUK) -- Ends with
an 10.9%
ie 6.13%
er 5.48%
on 5.01%
el 4.6%
ey 3.94%
en 3.91%
Total = 39.97%
(US most common: an, on, er, el, en, in, ah)

GIRLS (topUK) -- Contains (anywhere)
li 14.2%
el 12.3%
ie 12.1%
ia 10.6%
an 10.4%
ll 9.48%
ma 8.39%

BOYS (topUK.txt) -- Contains (anywhere)
an 16.3%
ha 13.1%
am 11.7%
ar 11.5%
ja 9.59%
le 9.46%
ie 8.9%

My boy has had several unofficial hipster names at different stages of his life.

As a fetus, he was Cletus.
As an infant with GER, he was Ralph Hurley.
As a big toddler who likes to be carried, he is Hugh Mungo.

@Anna S

Wow ! Thank you ! That was utterly fabulous of you to do. It's incredible interesting to see the comparison!

I hereby nominate you Queen Name Statistician ;]

I think because SA is a lot more similar to the UK (mainly) & other countries like Australia & NZ, in terms of names, it's why I'm one of the people who doesn't have a problem with how some names age. Poppy,Bailey,Phoebe,Julie,Carly ,Piper etc At least, that's my theory !

And here are the numbers for a/ah vs ie/ey/ee etc:

Girls - ends with - topUK
a 36.8%
ah 3.93%
i 2.43%
e 24.8% (NB some may be silent e's)
y 15.2%
ie 10.6%
ey 2.14%
ee 0.544%

Girls - ends with - US top2500
a 38.3%
ah 4.39%
i 2%
e 17.8% (NB some may be silent e's)
y 13.2%
ie 5.23%
ey 5.43%
ee 1.67%

So, overall there's not a huge difference between final /a/ and /ee/ sounds between the US and the UK, it just seems that the Brits prefer the -ie spelling.

I agree that Sophie + Sophia are each distinct names unto themselves.

Hipster sibset: Wow this is tough for me but I will give it a try.
Augustine Winthrop
Frederick Barnaby
Randall Heathcliff
Silas Leland Beckham
Howard Fletcher Weston

Opal Sylvia Ruth (who wanted the 6 syl names)?
Verity Francesca (again)
Vivienne Evangeline Althea (hyz??)
Daphne Edith Paloma
Ruby Eloise Magdalena

RE: Ross

I definitely don't think that Ross is ruined because of Friends. The show ran from 94 to '04, so it's not like it's current anymore. Even if they do make a Friends movie, I don't think it'd be a problem. Ross isn't a very distinctive name, so it could be anyone.Plus, if you consider most kids on the school ground in 5 years time, won't really be as aware of it as current high school kids & adults.I couldn't give you the names of the people in Cheers if I tried to -- I just know the name of the show.
Hope that helps !

EDIT

Nice job zoerhenne!

larksong,
re sophie/sophia:
oh, yes, i would never judge someone named sophie or think that they couldn't make it as an adult or something. i would just always choose sophia and call her sophie if i wanted to. it's definitely just a personal feeling, maybe partially because i'm not in or near europe...? i just only know it as a shortened version of sophia, so that's the only way i would ever use it. but i totally get that it's not like that for many people in many places.

Daffy-That was hilarious!
Larksong-Thank you!

Emilyrae
I know what you mean. You actually come across as a very nice person.Don't worry :) A person's geography makes their opinions on names so much more interesting ..... I'm re-reading that & thinking that looks a little pompous. Oh well, it's what I meant to say lol

Daffy
That was brilliant !

Quick comment on Sloane-- I love this name, and think the Nymbler lists did a good job of putting names on there that I think are similar. I see Sloane as a girls name very modern (probably b/c it is traditionally a ln?) that is >< this close to being a boys names. A lot of the lists nymbler and posters came up with had many right on the line names that could swing towards girl or boy.

Larksong, you're welcome ;-) And I agree with you theory - many names have different "time stamps" in different places. Charlotte - so 80'es around here, Finn - eeek! 55 year old man, Alfred - young son of a hipster mom!

By the way, how are we defining hipster names? Is it anything long, posh and British or should there be a silly element in it also?

@ Anna S

LOL ! I've known two Alfred's and they both weren't pleasant & of an older generation. Does that mean it's a 'double eek'?

EDIT

I think you have to do names according to what you define as hipster names or a hipster

emilyrae, "re: london times birth announcements

well, i think regardless of how common these names are in the uk or whether they're pretentious, it's just that they're so fun to read through. for me personally, it's sort of like...as an NE, i'm sort of like an expert on gemstones. maybe i am not the sort of person who would ever wear a diamond the size of a baseball around my neck, but i'm still rather thrilled that there is a diamond the size of a baseball."

Exactly! As a card-carrying NE, I adore these lists. I don't often order really exotic foods on the menu, but appreciate that they're there. They make life more interesting. I don't think that I'd like going through life with an extremely unusual name that would be constantly misspelled and mispronounced, but I'm happy to call some of those folks friends and like the variety that their names bring to the naming palette.

Sophie/Sophia reminds me a little of Lucy/Lucia. Where some people see Lucy as a nn others see it as a completely independent name.

another laura,
ah, hmm. now i *do* see lucy as an independent name. i guess i'm kind of a hypocrite. :]

elizabeth t,
thanks! that's exactly it. i say, bring on the pretentious names!

larksong,
thank you; i try to be a nice person! :]

Emilyrae

Well, keep it up because it's working !

Another question for you all (sorry for all of them. ),when do you draw the line at how traumatic a name can be in terms of teasing?

Pretty much all names can have a taunt or be ridiculed - even some of the most popular in the world i.e Isabella Is A Witch anything else you can think of. Luke is a fluke because he couldn't become a duke & puked, Lucas Mucas . etc By the way, I LIKE these names, so I'm sincerely not running them down or trying to stop people from using them, as I do sincerely like them- they're just examples . Some of my fav names also have taunts along those lines i.e. Piper's a Viper,Piper's Hyper, Piper the Pied Piper,Piper's Stinky Like A Diaper,Piper's A Striker, etc and that's my 3rd most fav name of all time & I still would love to use it.

Someone once told me a child would be teased if they were called Blaire --- the kids would always be going 'Bleh bleh ' like a sheep; yet, I could come up with more negative taunts for his very traditional name - and they said they'd never experienced it.

A lot of times people bring up teasing when it comes to names , so at which level do you personally draw the line & decide you're willing to deal with it & let your child deal with it?

If you have to think about a way to tease a name than there is no problem using it. If kids want to tease they will find a way. If the teasing would be obvious to everyone the kids meets than I would reconsider. This seems especially to come into play with first name last name combos or initials. I see nothing wrong at all with Blaire. Maybe it's b/c for me sheep say "baa, baa"

My maiden name was Couch which would seem taylor made for teasing and my uncle was teased as a "slouch couch" but I was never teased because of it. Now if my parents had named me Sophie than there might have been more opportunities for teasing.

@ Another Laura

Your story reminds me of a guy my mom went to school with. His name was Fanny ( and a 'fanny' isn't a butt in SA -- it's the front if you get what I mean) and he was never teased in school.

Amy3 - re: the pronunciation of Mungo - the Scots pronounce "cow" as "coo," so maybe it's actually mahn-goo? (like "mongoose" without the "s" at the end?) That makes more sense to me than a true "cow" pronunciation - that just doesn't seem right. I lived in Scotland for a year and I don't see how anyone would pronounce "go" as "gow." "Gow" as "go," on the other hand, makes perfect sense (like how we pronounce Glasgow - which the Scots themselves actually pronounce as Glahs-goo). Or maybe I'm just overthinking it.

Larksong - eh, that's a pretty tough question! I was never teased with my name (or anything else for that matter) so I can't relate to it on a personal level. I'm sure there have been many attempts but I just wasn't very susceptible to teasing. (Thanks to my dear brothers I'd heard it all by the age of 5 and I could only laugh at what some intelligence-challenged 3rd grader could come up with... ).

I don't really worry about teasers like Anna-Banana (silly rhyme), One-Tonne-Tina (appearance), Erik-the-Red (namesake) etc. because you can always come up with something. I'm more wary of names that contain something silly/goofy/icky in a very obvious way - Janus for instance. But then it also depends on how common a name it is. If Janus rather than Jacob was the top 1 name in the US I don't think there'd be an issue with it. I suppose Madison with the /mad/ part is such an example much like Analia in Spanish-speaking countries?

Re: Mungo. My friend in the UK teaches a little boy named Mungo, and it's pronounced MUN(as in fun)-go (as in go). Nothing mysterious! I've also heard of other Mungos in the UK, and they've all been pronounced that way.

Eo: Re David and Samantha Cameron's children. I was just thinking about their names this morning! They are an interesting sibset. I've only heard them as Ivan, Nancy and Arthur. Their full names are:

Ivan Reginald Ian (sadly passed away at the age of 6)
Nancy Gwen
Arthur Elwen

I see the Camerons as very traditional namers, yet with definite flair. They choose family names often. Reginald was Samantha's father. Ian was David's father. Arthur was David's g-grandfather. Gwendoline is Samantha's middle name.

All three children's first names are traditionally British, but fairly rare. Nancy, in particular, is rarely used in Britain. I've only ever met one in the UK, whereas in the States I know many. Arthur is making a minor comeback in a so-out-it's-in way, like Alfie, Freddie, etc. I could even see all three names labeled as hipster!
And of course, Samantha is pregnant (due in Sept.), so I definitely think we NEs ought to have a go at guessing what they will choose this time! Gender unknown.

So glad you all enjoyed the Times' names. I wouldn't use most of them (although I have a secret fondness for Clover, as I loved the book "What Katy Did"), but I'm very intrigued that other people are.

Interesting "hipster lists," guys. Here's a kind of real life one from a woman whose blog I enjoy--I say "kind of real life" because I don't know that she'd agree that she's a hipster, but the names are so spot on "hipster" for me that I have to share them:

R@lph W@llace
M@ude (mn??)
Olive Je@n
Osc@r St@nley
Betty (no mn)
Flor@ June

These are totally solid in the "hipster" category for me because they appear to be uniformly rather musty and anachronistic--as though there's *no* concern with modern styles, although I'm sure that there must be. These sound more like a group of blue haired diner denizens or, doesn't Laura call them "porch sitters" and "solid citizens"? That sounds about right to me. I also think Pearl, Opal, and Ruby make a solid set. I might also add Agatha, Ursula (sorry!), Doris, Phyllis, Agnes, Warren, Ward, Glenn, Leonard, Gene, and George. I particularly agree with Ida, Dorothy, Harold, and Walter from Larksong's set, and Howard, Leland, Sylvia (maybe, reluctantly!), Althea, and Edith from zoerhenne's set. Otherwise, I tend to agree with Eo that the lists lean a little more whimisical traditional than strongly hipster. Not that hipsters might not regularly use ALL of those names, just that I think many of them tend to have a broader appeal and so I wouldn't necessarily hear them and think "oh, hipster name." Actually, I read a lot of those combinations and my first impression would be "rich white person--maybe young, maybe old, maybe British--but definitely old money (or an old money poseur)"--not hipster.

As one of Larksong's sites said (pretty aptly, I think), hipsters "fetishize the authentic." For hipsters and naming, I think this means that the names should be a little gritty, a little prole, and very accessible IF you happened to be born in 1920--so Frederick and Francis and Henry are good, but Fred and Frank and Hank are better. I think this is why Betty works so well in the real life set above--it clearly sets the name out as belonging to a certain generation, whereas if they had used Elizabeth for the full name it would be more timeless, and ambigous. Anyway, I'll stop rambling, but this is more fun to think about than what I'm supposed to be doing right now, lol.

Valerie, I also have a real fondness for Clover! I guess that's not too surprising, but here, at least, I feel like it has too much of a hippie vibe for me to actually use.

And I'm surprised you say that Ivan is a traditional British name--is it pretty common there? And you pronounce it EYE-vən like we do, not the more correct eastern European "ee-VAHN", right? I don't think I've ever met one here, certainly not one that was American born, anyway. I like it, but of course it's right out for me (Ivy and Ivan? I think not.).

I ADORE Clover ! I think the shared nickname Clo with Chloe helps a lot ! There's a whole dairy range called Clover, so that's why I won't use it as a first :( In addition, Nola is a mayonnaise here, also. Oh well, I supposed well named food is better than bad-named food

I actually have an Ivan in my family tree

Hyz

Feel free to ramble ! I LOVE seeing all of the ramblings :) Truthfully, I do

Since we're on the topic,
I thought I look up Clegg & Brown's kids' names

Gordon Brown is actually James Gordon Brown
He has John Macaulay (his wife was Sarah Macauley ) and James Fraser who goes by his middle. They also had a daughter named Jennifer Jane.

It's so sad how they both had children who died

Clegg's sons are: Antonio,Alberto & Miguel

I see both Clegg and Cameron have 2 middles
Nicholas William Peter Clegg
and
David William Donald Cameron

and Blair's kids are Euan Anthony, Nicholas John, Kathryn Hazel, and Leo George

Nancy seems more American than British.It's interesting how close Gwen & Elwen are

It seems like Brown & Blair have the more stereotypical names

Thank you, Valerie, for posting their full names.

Is anyone else also curious about what politician's named their children ? lol

Anna S
You have a good point

Off topic, but is anyone else wondering if Becky's been AWOL b/c she has had her baby?

hyz- yes, Ivan does seem out of place as a British name. All I can say is that I've known several Ivans, who were extremely British! And yes, it's EYE-van.
BTW, the Camerons are archetypically Telegraph people, being Conservative, and I see their children's names as fitting right in with Lettice and Orson. Someone asked whether the Telegraph readers are aristocratic. Yes, some of them are. Samantha Cameron is the daughter of a Baronet, and David is a direct descendant of King William IV.

Nick Clegg's children all have Spanish names as their mother is Spanish, and apparently insisted that if they were going to have an English last name, they have Spanish first names. I can see her point, but I do think the resulting combo is somewhat amusing.

@Larksong, I really didn't worry overmuch about the teasing potential inherent in names I was considering. I mean, I agree that I wouldn't give a name that just out-and-out means something teasable (perhaps your example of Fanny's meaning in SA, although you say the person you knew with the name wasn't teased so ...). However, kids will tease other kids about a range of things, the name being only one of them. And we all spend so much more of our time as adults when teasing, we hope, will have died away that it feels like a non-issue for the most part to me.

@hyz, you got me started reading that other blog you mention, too, and did you happen to notice that one of the birth stories posted recently was from someone who posted here (Lilliputian)? I loved the circularity of finding out about that blog from you on this blog only to have Gabrielle post Lilliputian's birth story on her blog when Lilliputian had posted here for input on her names! :)

hyz-- ooh! i love her blog. and i think the kids names are a great set.

Skyy? Really? People are naming their kids after trendy vodka now? I swear it's a sign of the apocalypse...

Amy3, I didn't notice that! And I felt like I'd read most of the birth stories she's been posting (with the pregnancy hormones I end up crying through about 90% of them, lol), but maybe I missed hers, or just missed that it WAS hers? Anyway, that IS neat! I went back and searched for it quickly now, but couldn't find it. :\

saree, yes, ditto!

Larksong, I also don't think I worry too much about teasing, as long as it isn't anything obvious (Ben Dover, etc.) and maybe as long as it didn't lend itself to any awful rhymes or some such thing (I'm thinking of something like the "Bea la fea" comment mentioned here recently). We've actually already gotten a couple "like 'poison ivy'?" comments (from loudmouth relatives and a jokey neighbor), and it's no big deal--with stuff like that you can either shrug it off or make a wisecrack comment in return. I'm trying to think if I EVER knew a person who was made fun of because of their name, or by using their name, and the only one I can think of offhand was a Daphne who was called Daffy behind her back (implying that she was an airhead and not too smart). It's something to watch out for and consider, but I really don't think name teasing is as prevalent as most people worry it will be, so I don't think it needs to be a huge factor in naming.

Larksong-I agree with what has been said so far about the teasing potential of names. The more obvious it is the more I would worry.

Re the "hipster" names: I was analyzing the boys list a bit today after I had posted here and thought about many of the names fitting into the hipster category. So it seems that the names themselves are not so "hipster" but rather it's the combination of them that makes them sound so "stuffy" to me. So if we wanted to make a "hipster name generator" just for fun you would need to pull a name from the following categories to make a complete given name.
1) up and coming with a British feel
2) a surnamey feel
3) a vintage or nature feel
So Preston Howard Royce fits. The girls have less of category #2 and can be pulled all from the same category as in Beatrice Frances Ruby or Matilda Esther Pearl. If only I knew how to create a website for this kind of thing-I love creating combos!

@hyz, it was the one from Midori on May 11. I only found it was Lilliputian by tracking back to her blog and finding the birth announcement. How many Maud Ailsa's are there, after all?

zoerhenne,
hmm, that would be pretty awesome, though preston howard royce doesn't feel hipstery to me (though i confess, i still don't really have a grasp on the term).

Amy3, you're good! I definitely read that one the other day, but since the name wasn't in the post, I didn't catch it. It was a neat story!

zoerhenne, it's funny, but I really don't equate "hipster" and "stuffy". I put "stuffy" with "old money" (Preston Howard Royce makes me think of Thurston Howell III, ha ha) or "literati". The multiple middle names you're using add to that effect for me. I think of hipster more as "so far out it's in" as Valerie mentioned above, or even better, "so far out that it's... still out!!" I can't think of many (any?) surnames that I would call particularly hipster (they're just too broadly popular now as a genre), and only some nature names work, I think--Hazel, Fern, Ruby, Pearl, Opal etc. yes, but I'd say definitely no to Paloma, which strikes me as much more California yoga hippie than hipster. I do think you get into a grey area with nature-y names that are not traditional names, like Blue, or Night, or Lark. Because these are somewhat jarring in their brevity and sharpness, I could definitely see them as hipster, while other, smoother, nature nouns, like River, Meadow, Willow, etc. take me back to the modern hippie vibe.

But of course, all of this does come back to the definition of "hipster", which seems to vary here based on the person doing the defining.

@hyz, I confess, I track back to the original blog posts when the kid's name wasn't mentioned or when there are other kids' whose names weren't mentioned. I'm crazy to know the *names* and I *love* the names of Gabrielle's kids too. Maude ... I just swoon!

Amy3, I don't blame you--I'd do the same if I didn't already feel guilty for spending time reading the posts themselves! I agree, her kids' names make me happy, especially the girls (Betty Bl@ir is the most fun for me!), and I did get a little thrill when I saw they used June! Perfection!

Thanks Valerie and Larksong for the elaboration on the Cameron and other pols' children's names.

That's funny that wherever I read about them they had Arthur going by his middle name Elwen-- but news outlets often get names wrong, and pass them along erroneously. It makes more sense to me in a British context that he would be called "Arthur" rather than Elwen, as Arthur has long had appeal in "posh" circles....

Blair's "Euan" I've always liked-- the more tongue-twisty the better! And best said with a Scottish or north country accent!

It's fascinating to me how many current and recent British pols have Scottish names and/or Scottish influences in their naming choices...