Blythe
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Anne
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It's been a slow week at work, so these posts were quite the livesaver :) I'm canadian and work at an academic publisher in England, and most of my immediate colleagues are 20-40 and goodly number have had children in the last year. One of the guys in my group is dad to a 10-month-old Alfie, and he rejects absolultely that it's a "childish" or "child-like" name- in his words, it's "friendly" name, the sort of name that works in any context with out being ridiculous (the implication being that Alfred is ridiculous, I think). One of the other guys on the team has a son a couple of months younger whose name is Albie, which they chose because it was Irish (his girlfriend is Irish, with a distinctly Irish name) and not too popular but not too weird. Albie's ranked 287 in 2010, about the same as Flynn, Niall, Chase and Zane. I think it's the anglicisation of Ailbhe. Despite my hopes for an Algie, the third baby boy born to someone in our department this year was called Findlay. I wonder whether it's the celtic linguistic influence in the UK that keeps the -ie names sounding masculine?
Hello- I haven't posted for a very long time, but I wanted to come out of the woodwork to say congratulations to Elizabeth T- how exciting! How about Lewis, Martin, Thomas or Roger? Fish- I also know a Jasper and Felix, and a Jasper with a younger brother who is Noah Felix. Definitely a bit of a pattern happening! I don't quite gravitate to the wild west side of those names, instead they seem more jazzy to me. I like Chet/Chester in that group of names, but that obviously doesn't work here. Theodore comes to mind, as do Arthur (Art?), Louie, Milo/Miles and Lionel (Leo as his nn?) or even Barnaby. Pip- both are lovely, and I wouldn't worry about the matching syllables- only namenerds would notice, and even then in a good way :P I say Sylvie and Vivi quite differently, so that wouldn't stop me, if I loved the name. However- Pearl Josephine YourLN is kind of awesome, I think, and I *really* like Sylvie and Pearl for sisters. *REALLY* like.
Bringing the topic back to books, there seems to be a class of plain, classic English women's names that have steadily (or even sharply) increased in use in literature even as the names sharply decline in "real" usage- Jane is the strongest example, but Ellen, Rose and Alice all follow the same pattern. Others seem to jump in literary use a full decade or more before baby-name prevalence- see Lucy, Sophie and check out the sudden jump in the use of Eve in literature in the 1990s. Anybody have any theories about this? It doesn't work for all names like that- Charlotte, for example, doesn't jump significantly before its return in the baby name charts. And why has Peggy experienced a steady increase in literary use since the 1980s?! This is fascinating, Laura- thank you so much for posting this!
Just thought of a fairly horrific feminisation for Chase- Chaste (and Chastity).
Going to try this before reading through the others, apologies for repetitiveness! Adam- Adama, Ada, Adamaris? Austin- Austin/Austen, Augustine, Augusta Brandon- Brandy, Branna Chase- Chaselyn seems inevitable Colton- Colby? Coltanne? (Coltynn probably already happens) Connor- Connie, Conna Cooper- Coco might work for all three of these Ethan- Ethna, Etta, Ethel Gavin- Grania? Gavina? Ian- Ina, Ianna, Jane, Sian, etc. Isaac- Isa, Izzy, Zakki Jackson- Jackie, Jacqueline, Jacklyn (and the inevitable Jaxxyn) Joshua- Josha, Joshia? Kevin- Keeva, Caoimhe, Keevey, Keva Landon- Lana, Landy Lucas- Lucasta, Lucy, Lucia Owen- Olwen, Ona, Rowen Wyatt- Wyla?
Jane Mo6- congratulations! Are you calling him Joshua or Edmund? I seem to remember that you call your daughter Juliet rather than Anne, is that right? Rhodolady- I have also noticed that more people are giving their kids two (or even three) middle names in the Toronto area- one of my friends, a mid-twenties ECE teacher and her mechanic husband have given each of their two children two middle names, reasoning that they wanted to honour "everyone" but are only planning to have the two children. I suspect that's the reasoning for a number of the triple-named children. And, no matter what your political views, I thought it was a wee bit unfair to name one of their sons Brian Mulroney- with any luck, he'll go by one of his middle names! Come to think of it, I think Sacha Trudeau named his son Pierre. Poor lads. I say Blythe with a voiced th, though I think I would automatically pronounce Blyth with the unvoiced version.
One other thing- I think there was a comment earlier about UK names being more standardised in their spellings. I think the variation is just present, just not in the same names- Conor/Connor Ewan/Euan Abby/Abi Freddy/Freddie Aoife/Ava/Eva/Evie etc, etc
I'm really surprised that Conor/Connor didn't fit the criteria. I know a lot of them, and evenly split between the two spellings. The irritation with the catcher-mockingbird set is really interesting. Is the frustration as much with the reading list mentality (ie, having the "good" in the world proscribed) as the actual names? If that's the case, then I think there's a longer list of "literary-creative-yet-suburb-sanctioned" names- Henry and Violet come to mind. It's not that their "bad" names, just that they fit into a broader trend that most of us frankly wish to avoid? Of course, if it's just that they are ostentatious in their literariness, we're all in trouble :) Discussing pet peeves, I'm awfully bloody sick of Lily. It's sweet and all, but with so many of them (in my community at any rate), it seems seriously insubstantial and, well, twee. There, I said it. It's like OD-ing on bonbons.
I haven't kept up with this thread, but I think there are 53 spellings of Aidan. I know Adan is a spanish name, but some of them are Aidans, so I put it in. Aadan,M,23 Aaden,M,1259 Aadin,M,25 Aadon,M,23 Aadyn,M,76 Aaidan,M,8 Aaiden,M,76 Aayden,M,98 Adyen,M,7 Adyn,M,104 Aedan,M,255 Aeden,M,96 Aedin,M,15 Aedon,M,10 Aedyn,M,45 Adain,M,34 Adan,M,1117 Aden,M,1353 Adian,M,62 Adien,M,41 Adon,M,27 Aidan,M,5749 Aidden,M,21 Aiden,M,15846 Aidenn,M,15 Aideyn,M,7 Aidian,M,14 Aidin,M,56 Aidon,M,32 Aidyen,M,5 Aidyn,M,321 Aidynn,M,6 Aiedan,M,5 Aieden,M,5 Aiiden,M,5 Aiydan,M,8 Aiyden,M,37 Adin,M,157 Aodhan,M,14 Aydan,M,396 Aydden,M,12 Ayden,M,4959 Aydenn,M,19 Aydian,M,8 Aydien,M,16 Aydin,M,380 Aydn,M,10 Aydon,M,45 Aydyn,M,40 Ayeden,M,11 Ayedin,M,6 Eidan,M,10 Eiden,M,26
emilyrae- I'm with you and the others who find some of the sibsets in BNW2 a bit off. I find it more with the boy names, but Felicity's a good example on the girls' side. It seems very home counties upper-crusty British to me. Lilian, Briony, Rupert and Alistair seem more likely sibs. Becky and Steve- congrats! And what lovely names! One other thing- someone upthread mentioned a preschool acceptance? That sort of boggles my mind...I'm assuming that "acceptance" means there's a selection process and that some kids are declined based on a poor performance in that process. please somebody tell me I'm mistaken.
Kaydence is very much the name of the decade! Nice call. In the "beyond the top 1000" data, it's really interesting to see that it's fairly androgynous, too- there are a heck of a lot more female Kadences, for sure, but the variations like Jaydence and Zadence seem to skew male. Along those line are the (male) Adrian, Tavian and -avious/arius names, which seems to be similarly built-out: Shaydrian, Zadrian, Quadrian, Jatavion, Quindarius, Cortavious. I sort of like the symmetry between the male Adrian/Avian/Arious suffixes, the female Anna/Ella/Alia, and the more neutral Aiden/Aydence endings. It's like a slightly more elaborate version of the "bell tones" thing. And I definitely have a soft spot for the -avian and -avius names.
patricia- oww, you hurt my punny bone :)
Marabella 6 Marbella 52 Mariabella 5 Maribell 12 Maribella 24 Maribelle 39 Marisabel 16 Marybella 8 Marybelle 7 Maybelle 10 Maybelline 15 Miabella 82 Mirabel 39 Mirabella 48 Mirabelle 56 Rebel 5 :) Rosabel 7 Rosabella 29 Rosabelle 8 Rosibel 5 Sarabella 8 Sabella 52 Sibella 5 Sybella 11 Zabella 17 Zabelle 5 Zoribel 9 Aw shucks, no Dulcibella. There are a few Dulcineas, though...maybe it's just a matter of time.
aha- well, this seems to be beating it! thanks Laura! Giabella 20 Isobel 94 Isobella 22 Isobelle 6 (I know what i said, i just *like* these ones!) Itzabella 5 Itzabelle 5 (Itzel meets Isabelle, I think?) Jessabella 5 Jetzabel 6 Jezabel 25 Jezabel l8 Jezabella 5 Jezabelle 11 Jezebel 24 Jezebelle 11 Kabella 9 Kambelle 5 Karabella 5 Lilybelle 5 Mabel 145 Maebel 5 Maebelle 7 and there's more...
Hmm. Looks like the long list copied from Excel was the culprit. I'll type out the highlights, for those interested. Adabella (13) Adabelle (7) Aerabella (12) Airabella (16) Arabel (5) Arabela (7) Arabelle (45) Aribella (30) Aribelle (6) Arrabella (10) Ayrabella (8) Erabella (10) Amabel (5) Anaisabel (5) Annebelle (7) Annibelle (8) Arisbel (5) Avabella 9 Avabelle 6 Belanna 6 Belladonna 31 Bellamarie 12 Bellamia 11 Bellamie 7 Bellamy 16 Bellarose 32 Bellatrix 12 Belle 132 Cambelle 11 Carabella 7 Christabel 17 Christabella 8 Christabelle 15 Crystabel 5 Clarabelle 16 Claribel 23 Corabelle 6 Elisabel 5 Elisabella 6 Elizabel 5 Elizabella 20 Elizabelle 6 Ellabelle 5 I'm going to split this up and see how it goes. And also edit out all the million spellings of Isabella.
Weird. I just tried to post the -bel(le)s and -bellas not in the top 1000, but I guess something funky happened (comment queued for moderation?!). Suffice it to say that there are Miabellas, Avabelles, Elizabellas, Adabelles, Corabellas...but only 5 Amabels!
that is, poring. good grief.
oh my goodness oh my goodness oh my goodness. my little NE heart is going to be pouring over this for the next...several years hyz: open the data in wordpad, then cut and paste into excel. and...17 poor little girls were named Renesmee in 2009.
Isabella's jump is HUGE- an extra 4000 births! And the most popular girl's name is more common than the most popular boy's name. wow.
Amy3- I look up my name too :) @Larksong: usually I look at the newcomers and out-goings for the top 10, 25, 100 and 1000. This year I plan to look up all the twilight names, too, just to measure the impact of that franchise! I think Bella might do an Addison, and jump from outside the top 100 into the top 50 or better. .