Lilah and Alice

Lilah


-meaning: you are mine
-origin: Hebrew (also considered Persian on some sites)
-potential nicknames: Lil, Lily

This name is short and sweet without being too plain. It was most popular around the 1920s and is around 400 on the popularity lists today. It's just above the 200s spelled as Lila.  Lilah is a great name for an older woman, but has Lily as a great nickname for a little girl.
 
Alice


-meaning: noble one
-origin: English
-potential nicknames: Aly, Lissy

I love, love, love the name Alice. I immediately think of an adorable, curious little girl. The inspiration comes from the novel The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor, in which Alice is really Alyss. It is a retelling of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. This name is classic, but remains fairly low on the popularity lists. It would be a beautiful name for a girl or a woman.

Jude and Noah

Jude


-meaning: praise
-origin: Hebrew
-potential nicknames: none

Jude is a biblical name that has a new, artistic feel to it. Hey, Jude even has his own song!  Its gained popularity in the past decade or so, but is still below 200 on the US popularity lists. Great name for a Beatles fan.
 
Noah


-meaning: peace
-origin: Hebrew
-potential nicknames: none

Noah is a very biblical name. Perhaps, the ark might come to mind? Its a super cute choice, but is wildly popular (number 15 in 2008). If that doesn’t bother you, its an awesome name. I would probably choose this for a middle name, as it compliments many other boys names.

Request!: Let’s go to Paris….’s house

Yes, place names. They are fairly popular and there are lots of great ones out there. But the question is, what makes a good city name to human name transfer. For me, I think that the name should be reminiscent of other names (popular or not). It should also be a name that the individual giving it loves (who cares what other people think, save maybe a few family members). And it should be a name that sounds like a name. I wouldn’t name a child Frankfurt (Germany), but I might name the child Frank. I’m sure there’s other criteria to consider, but those where the points that came to mind.

For girls, Paris, London, and Brooklyn are all cute choices (although they could be used for boys too). And let’s not forget, probably the most popular place name out there, Madison. Madison comes in at number 7 for popular baby names of 2009. It has been popular for a while now. I may not know a Paris, London, or Brooklyn, but I sure do know a Madison (soon 2 possibly, congrats Ashley!).

For boys, Austin, Jackson, and Lincoln all come to mind for boys names. I know two Jackson’s on TV and it is a super cute name. Kinda has a country feel if you ask me. Austin was a character on Days a while back. And I know a Lincoln who was born merely months ago! He’s super cute! AND you get a bonus nickname with Lincoln: Linc! Similar to Link, and if you’re a Zelda fan, that’s an awesome name!

There are TONS of place names that apply to the world of baby names, so I just mentioned a very few of my favorites. I also didn’t really mention state names, and there are loads of those as well. Let me know if you care to hear about some! In the meantime, here’s the link for some of the inspiration for the article (and some of the comments mention some cool, but crazy cities for baby names! Check it out!

http://www.namecandy.com/celebrity-baby-names/blog/2010/05/18/city-names-the-place-to-person-transfer

Request!: Is your name old?

Chances are, probably not. My name is a tried and true name of the 1970s (despite my being born in the 80s).  My mom's name is a tried and true name of the 1940s.  Neither has been very popular since.  But that is simply because names trend. However, there has been a recent increase in old school names making a come back. I suppose I prefer the term vintage. I am a fan of vintage names or names that have a vintage feel. Something to keep in mind is that biblical names are often going to be vintage and names that were popular a decade ago are totally vintage. For instance, John and Mary topped the charts back in the 1880s. Even though they are both somewhat popular now, they are definitely vintage.

In the top 100, some of my favorite vintage names are Amelia, Elijah, Ella, Ethan, Henry, Josiah, Lillian, Lucas, and Sebastian. Of course, they all are current names, but they have that old time feel to them. Some others that are oh so wonderful are Alice, Arthur, Clara, Oliver, Phineas, and Theo. Most of those names are starting to climb the charts. Almost all of the names that are on my “I would love to use” list would be considered vintage. Arabella sounds pretty vintage as well. Here are a few lists of vintage names for you to check out. Also, the site that these lists are on has a name search option where you can choose vintage as one of your criteria when looking for names!
Nameberry Vintage Boys Names
Nameberry Vintage Girls Names

And another fun couple of links to check out: http://www.babynamewizard.com/archives/2010/2/the-view-from-abroad-a-look-back-at-the-future
Social Security Popular Names 1880s
Enjoy!

Double Wammy! Adeline and Nolan

Adeline


-meaning: noble
-origin: English
-potential nicknames: Addy

Adeline has a lot of charm. It has a sophisticated sound to it that will grow with the child into adulthood and a nickname that can fit a cute little girl. It is in the mid-range of the top 1000 names in the US right now. It was most popular in the beginning of the 20th century.
 
 
Nolan


-meaning: descendant of the famous one
-origin: Irish
-potential nicknames: Nole

Nolan is a great name for a baseball fan. Although it has that sports feel to it due to Nolan Ryan, it also has a bit of sophistication to it. To me, its also reminiscent of Noah, which I love. It is not too popular, sitting around 130 on the top 1000 list.

Luna

Luna

-meaning: moon
-origin: Latin
-potential nicknames: none

Luna is another cool Harry Potter choice. Perhaps it is a bit more accessible than Hermione, seeing as it is actually on the top 1000 list in the US, but it is still only around number 400. Another cool fact about Luna is that it is the name of the Roman goddess of the moon.

Arthur

Arthur


-meaning: bear
-origin: Welsh
-potential nicknames: Artie, Art

Arthur can only make me think of one thing: King Arthur. How cool would that be to say you were named after a king? It is a bit of an old choice, but perhaps it will get a bit of a revival soon. Now, it sits in the mid 300s on the popularity charts in the US, with it being far more popular in the early 1900s.

Do you like Vampires?

The Names of Twilight

I’ve devoted the past 3 post to good girl and good boy names. We’ve talked some Bible names. We’ve talked about virtues and a lot of the names they have given us. Joy and Abigail. Honor and Joshua. Well, I think its time for a change!

What’s something that’s quite the opposite of biblical? Oooo, Vampires! I’m pretty sure they are considered demonic, after all. Recently, we’ve seen a big surge in popularity for Vampire names. What can we thank for this explosion of vampirey goodness? The Stephanie Meyer novel, Twilight. Even I have inadvertently fallen into this vampire trap while choosing a name for my child. Arabella may not be Isabella, but the nickname’s the same no matter how you cut it.

Of course, with this surge of interest in the novels and the movies, there have been blogs and articles about the Twilight names as well. Because, honestly, many of them are pretty darn clever! If you’ve read or heard any interviews with Stephanie Meyer, she has said many times that she chose the names of the characters based on their year of birth. She did some research and found out names that were popular at the time and those were the names she chose from for each character.

For instance, all of the regular high school students have typical names like Mike and Jessica. Well, Michael has always been pretty popular for boys, but Jessica is totally a popular 80s staple. Then there are the parents, Renee and Charlie. Guess what!? Renee peaked in the 1960s, which is when I’m guessing Bella’s mother was born. Anyway, one of the highlights of the series is the vampire’s names. So here goes, some of the names that have seen a popularity surge are:

Alice - This name is already a classic! We can thank Alice in Wonderland for that. This is an adorable name for a curious little girl.

Cullen - The last name of the vampire clan has actually been used as a first name for a decade or two now. It’s a regal name that perhaps might sound a little too refined for a little boy for my tastes.

Emmett - Well, I honestly think of Emmett Smith…BUT Emmett has been fairly popular in the past (say the around the 1900s) and it is making a strong comeback. I do like the name Emmett, its strong and is sure to grow with the boy to becoming a man.

Jasper - Oh how I love this name. I think its totally hipster. Jasper has always been around, but has never been very high popularity-wise. That makes it a cool name for those of us who don’t like going with obvious/popular names!

All three of the male names were in the top 10 “jumpers” for 2009, all gaining at least 100 spots. And since the series began to be popular, Alice has risen almost 200 spots over 4 years. There’s no doubt that Twilight has had an influence on our culture and naming was definitely not left out of the craze!

Biblical inspiration follow up

I wanted to do a little follow up on biblical names quickly, because I found some gems for girls in one of my many baby name books!  The list is of patron saints.  Here are some that would go onto my short list:

Adelaide
Anastasia
Colette
Diana
Emma
Genevieve
Helena
Madeline
Sophia
and
Zoe

So, there!  More female biblical names and many of them are names that I wouldn't have thought of to be biblical at all!  Shoot, Helena to me is Greek.  Anastasia is Russian.  Emma screams British.  But keep in mind, patron saints have been popping up since well beyond the years of the Bible.  So, they aren't all biblical in a sense, but they're close!

What's your favorite virtue?

Warning: Only girls names in this post.

I decided to expound upon yesterdays post with some girls names!
Virtue names! What are they? Well that’s easy, they are names that are traditional virtues of humans. For instance, Prudence. Perhaps that isn’t your cup of tea, but it is a virtue that is now being used as a name.

Now, there is a gem that is quite popular, unlike its fellow name Prudence, as seen in this post: http://www.namecandy.com/celebrity-baby-names/blog/2009/07/09/names-to-live-by-honor-grace-other-virtuous-names. That name is Grace. Grace is top 20 popular, and as it should be! Grace is a very pretty name. A couple of other nice virtue names are Faith and Joy. Both pretty names that I can see used for any little girl.

Then there are some others that are cute, but I don’t know how well received they have been. One of these names is Honor. The first time I ever heard Honor used as a name was when Jessica Alba bestowed it to her daughter. I wouldn’t be too surprised if Honor had a good boost on the popularity charts in the coming years, but I don’t know if it will even be noticed. So far, it still isn’t on the top 1000 chart.

Then there are other virtue names, Justice, Patience, Purity, and Silence for instance, that are a little too out there for me. I mean really, Silence. That’s an awful name for a little girl! “Hey Silence, can you pass me the butter?” It’s like you’re telling your kid to shut up every time you call to them.

So, to me, some virtue names work and some do not. I have a feeling we won’t be seeing Prudence or Silence on the popularity charts in the near future (or ever….). I also can’t see Grace or Faith going anywhere off the charts anytime soon either.

Biblical inspiration

My brother in law has a nickname. That nickname is “Thomas the doubter”. Why is this his nickname? All you have to do to find out is look to the Bible. There is a story about Saint Thomas in which he doubts the return of Jesus. Anyway, TJ was given a biblical name, which led to the nickname, and that’s what I want to talk about! Biblical names!


Biblical names are everywhere because there are so many names in the Bible. In the top 10 names, six boys names are biblical. They are classics and so many biblical names sound pleasant. A lot of parents choose a biblical name without even knowing its biblical. However, only one girls name is biblical, Abigail. Which brings me to ask why that might be.

One thought comes to mind. Because girls are less likely to be made fun of for a lacy, unique, or elaborate name, parents take that opportunity to find a name that is different. Many of those names have been created long since the biblical era. But with boys, choosing a standard name is more appealing because it seems ridiculous to give a male a name that won’t quite fit in with the rest of his peers. In a sea of Ethan’s, Andrew’s, and Jacob’s, you don’t quite think of a name like Blaise or Eden (yup, its on the top 1000 list of boys names) fitting in with that group.

Which leads me to see that parents default to biblical names for boys because they are widely recognized, many of them are masculine, and they aren’t fussy names. Another advantage to most of those names is that they are easy to grow up with. Andrew becomes Andy until he feels like its time to go back to using Andrew to feel a bit more mature. The same could be said for other names like Thomas, Nathaniel, and Joshua.

But I want to hear about some good female biblical names. Some of my favorites are Abigail, Beth, and Hannah. Only one of which is extraordinarily popular. So, what are some of your favorite biblical girls names. Anything that’s unique or rare? Or do you like a lot of the classics that have become mainstays in our society?