Elizabeth T.
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Elizabeth
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I have loved names since I was a small child and am so glad to have found a supportive naming community that shares my obsession!
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The Le-a story is an urban legend. Laura has posted on this before. Last night I had a friend over whose daughter's name is Lena. My friend is German and pronounces her daughter's name both Layna and Leena. I have never met anyone who pronounced her own child's name two different ways! Sometimes she even does it in the same sentence. My guess is that she likes both pronunciations and just switches back and forth. Fascinating!
Having a hard time, do you have another name that you DO like? If so, I'd recommend changing your daughter's name asap. I have a friend who was named Gretchen for about 3 months; her parents then changed it to Bridget. Another friend changed her daughter's name at about 9 months because she felt no connection to the original name. She came across the new name (Shayna) after her daughter's birth and instantly felt it was the right name. Neither family regretted the change.
Thanks for the explanation of the spelling of Stephen! This was such a fun challenge. Not sure about sibling names for Alistair, though. Hmmm...
AJ, I'm curious about your sons' names! I can't remember if you've ever mentioned them here. I know two boys named Felix, one with a brother named Sebastian and the other with a brother named Victor. Handsome names in #6 all around! Laura, I love all your posts, but this one was flat-out fabulous. So fun! #5--I chose Trinity because the names featured three different vibes: religious without being explicitly biblical (Genesis, Zion, Nevaeh, perhaps Journey); trendy "word" names (Maverick, Talon, Jett, Destiny, Serenity, Journey, Phoenix, Cadence, Harmony); names with a sci-fi vibe (from "The Matrix") (Orion, Jett, Serenity--swoon for Malcolm Reynolds!, Journey). Maximus and Tristan don't seem to fit, however. Do they have a sci-fi vibe that I'm not aware of?
EVie, I love your analysis of #4. My only addition would be that I would expect the spelling Steven rather than Stephen. Steven seems more 60s to me (to fit in with Cynthia, Andrea, and Deborah), while Stephen seems a bit more timeless. The boys' names could work with either, but with Stephen I would expect names that were popular in the 60s but that didn't show sharp peaks the way those names did. Maybe a name like Elizabeth? I say this as someone who was born in the 60s and went to school with MANY people with these names.
Of course! Atticus is definitely the answer for #3. Cassius was throwing me off, but the inclusion of another ancient name (and a surname with a literary flair) ties all of those names together. Brilliant choices, Laura!
Without looking at the previous responses or without using Nymbler or your excellent tools: 1. (girl) Madison (for the sound, trendiness, and place name) and if a boy: Logan 2. (girl) Violet, but could also be Ivy or Hazel and if a boy: August (Were you writing about hyz's family?) 3. (boy) Archer (not sure about this one) and if a girl: Willa 4. (boy) Paul or Steven, with a slight edge to Paul only because so many of my own family's names are on there and if a girl: Michelle (this group is for zoerhenne!) 5. (girl) Trinity and if a boy: Levi (not a good choice, but the best I could come up with) 6. (boy) Felix and if a girl: Gianna
New babies in my extended circle: Arlo, Anna, and Julia.
I would assume that the ' was meant to be an accent that didn't get entered correctly and pronounce the name Mikála, with the second syllable stressed. Laura's analysis of many of these additions as visual name bling seems on target. They confuse the spelling and pronunciation, but look cool on paper.
I would pronounce Json like JuhSON, not Jason. I suspect it's actually spelled J'son, and the apostrophe signals that the second syllable is emphasized (as EVie mentions above).
zoerhenne, How about Con'Trollal'tDeLeet? Hee hee. PJ, I'm with you. While I detest txtspeak (is that how it's spelled?) because I think it's lazy and dislike the way it's creeping into more formal communications, I do rather enjoy the play found in some of these names.
I have heard Corinne pronounced both Coreen and Co-rin.
zoerhenne, I'm not sure I understand the competition, as Isabella is already the number 1 name. How can it be the name of the future? But it was fun to vote.
Tirzah, I think both Josiah and Josephine go with Asher. OK, here's what I could glean from the book about Joe Darger and his three wives' children: Alina (7 kids): Joseph, Laura, Shad, Ashton (boy), Kyra (deceased), Allie, Vanessa Vicki (8 kids): Caleb, Jed, Louis (?), Logan (?) (boy), Tavish, Sabrina, Boston, Victoria Valerie (9 kids, 4 with Joe): Sam, Amanda, Grayson (?), Liesl (?), Madison, Kyley, Kadence, Angelina, Krista The ones with question marks are the ones I'm not sure about.
Blue was the name of the protagonist of the book "Special Topics in Calamity Physics". It is also the name of the author of the children's book "Chasing Vermeer" (Blue Balliett). I read those two books in the space of one month several years ago and picked Blue to crack the top 1000 that year in Laura's annual contest. Maybe it will rise now that Beyoncé has chosen it. By the way, I will eventually post the answers (as far as I can tell) to the game I proposed about the polygamous family. The book doesn't list which mother belongs to which child, so I'm going to have to do some detective work. But I'll sort it out as best I can and post back soon.
Yipee! Congratulations, knp! You chose a beautiful name.
I think Axl is indeed a respelling of Axel, which I associate with Axel Foley (protagonist of the Beverly Hills Cops movies). OK, here's a challenge for you all: Over Christmas I read "Love Times Three: Our True Story of a Polygamous Marriage" by Joe, Alina, Vicki, and Valerie Darger. The Darger family lives outside of Salt Lake and has 24 children. The three wives have seven, eight, and nine children. One of them had five children with her first (also polygamous) husband (those five are included in the total of 24 kids; she went on to have four children with Joe). Can you sort out which children go together? Ages as of 2011 are included next to the kids' names: Joseph (20) Sam, boy (20) Caleb (20) Amanda (19) Laura (18) Jed (18) Grayson (16) Liesl (16) Shad (15) Louis (14) Logan, boy (13) Ashton, boy (13) Madison (12) Tavish (11) Kyley (9) Sabrina (8) Kadence (8) Allie (7) Vanessa (5) Angelina (5) Boston, boy (3) Krista (2) Victoria (1) daughter Kyra died as an infant Alina has 7 children Vicki has 8 children Val has 9 children, 5 of whom are the product of her first marriage Can you group them correctly?
Go with Edith and Arthur! I say this sitting next to a TV on which Arthur the aardvark is playing. :), He's so lovable! Now if you were proposing Dora Winifred I might have second thoughts...
Hyz is remembering that I mentioned a female student named Hollister, and another poster mentioned that it's a tradesman name meaning something like "owner of a brothel" (no time to look it up). Wondering Dad, you don't seem sold on Hollis. That alone would make me choose another name, or relegate Hollis to the middle-name slot. I say you should keep searching.
Although Siri isn't related to the Arab Spring or Occupy movements, I do think there's a case to be made for the relationship between technology and the facilitation of those movements. Without cell phones and social media sites like Twitter, the movements would have been much more difficult to publicize and promote. I therefore think it's appropriate to choose Siri as Name of the Year.