Good Name, Bad Association

It's funny how many beautiful names can have such a bad meaning or bad association. To some, this is a non-issue. They choose names based on the sound, or style, or current trends, or origin, or it's a family name. However, to others, the meaning of the name means EVERYTHING, and a negative name meaning is a curse they would never bestow upon their child. Let's explore some of these names today:

BRIAR (English) A thorny patch

BRODY (Scottish) Muddy place, ditch

CAIN (Hebrew) Posessed

CALVIN (Latin) Bald, hairless

CASHLIN (English) Vain

CECILIA (Latin) Blind one

MIA (Italian) Bitter

Would these negative meanings prevent you from choosing these names?

The Ella Craze

Everywhere I turn, there are parents with little girls whose name ends in -ella. Gabriella, Isabella, Arabella, or even just plain Ella. This is a MAJOR fad right now! We've all heard the commonly used -ella names, but after some research I found that there are SO many more -ella names that are just not commonly used. These are great for a mom that wants to stay within a current trend, but doesn't want her child to share a name with her entire class.

AABRIELLA (French) Open, secure, protected

ADABELLA (German) Noble, nobility

ANABELLA (Spanish) Loving

ARABELLA (Latin) Beautiful altar

ARIELLA (Hebrew) Lion of God

BRIELLA (Spanish/Italian) God is my strength

CHRISTABELLA (Latin/French) Fair Christian

CLARABELLA (Latin) Bright and beautiful

CORABELLA (Greek) Maiden

DANIELLA (Italian/Polish/Czech) God is my judge

ELIZABELLA (Combo of Eliza & Bella; Eliza - Hebrew, Bella - Italian) Beautiful child pledged to God

GISELLA (German) Pleadge; hostage

JANELLA (English) God's gracious gift

MARBELLA (Spanish place name)

MARIABELLA (Latin) Bitter

MARIBELLA (French; Combo of Mary & Bella) Beautiful and bitter

MAYELLA (Greek) Pearl

MIRABELLA (Italian) Wonderful

Short and Sweet

One-syllable names have always been tough for me. They always sound like there needs to be something else there. They come off sounding like nicknames. Sure, there are one-syllable names I love, but when I tried pairing them with my last name (which has 2 syllables) I always felt like the name was lacking something. But one-syllable names can be great. If you're a person who doesn't like nicknames and doesn't want your child called anything except the name you gave them, this could be a great option. Also, if you have a very LONG last name, this could keep your child from having to learn a 22-letter first and last name combo in Kindergarten (that must be torture). So today I'm paying homage to the one-syllable names. Here are a few faves:

ANNE (French) Grace

ASH (English) Ash tree


CLAIRE (French) Bright

COLE (English) Swarthy, coal black

FAITH (Virtue name)

FINN (Irish) Bright, fair

JETT (Mineral name)

JOY (Word name)

LUKE (Greek) Light

LUX (Latin) Bright

MAY (Greek) Pearl

PIERCE (English) Son of Piers

REESE (Welsh) Fiery, zealous

SETH (Hebrew) Appointed, placed

TESS (English) To reap, to gather

VAUGHN (Welsh) Small

Spring

Spring is such a beautiful time of year, especially in New England. After a harsh winter with never-ending snow, fierce wind and piercing cold, the spring is much-welcomed, as it's a sign that nicer weather is on it's way. Spring is known for rebirth, renewal and regrowth. It's a time of bright flowers, green grass and trees regaining their leaves. There is an overwhelming sense of ease and hopefulness. Because of this, it's understandable (and fitting) that some people should choose names pertaining to the spring for their children. In many ways, the births of our children can feel like a new beginning, a rebirth of ourselves. Following are some of my favorite spring-themed baby names.

ALTHEA (Greek) Marsh flower

AMAYA (Japanese) Night rain

ASHLEY (English) From the ash tree field

AVA (Latin) Like a bird

AVALYN (English) Beautiful bird

AVRIL (French) The month of April

BENTLEY (English) From the bent-grass field

BRIALLEN (Welsh) Primrose

CALANDRA (Greek) Singing bird

CHLOE (Greek) Verdant and blooming

CLOVER (English) Meadow flower

DAHLIA (Latin) Flower named for botanist A. Dahl

DAYTON (English) Bright and sunny town

DECKER (English) Digger of ditches

FALCON (English) Bird in the hawk family

FARLEY (English) From the fern-covered clearing

FISHER (English) Fisherman

GARDNER (English) Gardener

HADLEY (English) From Hadda's field

HENLEY (English) High field

IVY (English) Climbing vine plant

JESSENIA (Arabic) Flower

KAMILIA (Polish) Camellia flower

KINSLEY (English) From Cyne's field

LILAH (Persian) Lilac tree

LILY (English) Lily flower

LYANNA (American) Field

MADELIEF (Dutch) Daisy

MARLEY (English) From the boundary field

SURI (Persian) Red rose
WAVERLY (English) From the brushwood field

WESLEY (English) From the west field

An Ocean of Names

Growing up within 5 minutes of one of the most beautiful beaches in the world (in my opinion, but then again I've always preferred New England beaches to their more tropical counterparts), the ocean has always been a big part of my life. There is nothing more relaxing than sitting in the sand, watching the gulls swoop through the air, feeling the salt breeze in your hair, and listening to the surf against the rocks. Because of this, it's no surprise to me the sheer amount of names that are inspired by the ocean. The ocean is powerful, it is constant but always changing; it can be wild or serene. Here are some of the more notable ocean-inspired names currently being used:

AVALON (Welsh) Apple Island
BLAKENEY (English) From the black island

CALDER (Scottish) From the wild water

DILLON (Welsh) Born from the ocean

DYLAN (Welsh) Son of the sea

FISHER (English) Fisherman

ISLA (Scottish) Island

JENELLE (American) White wave

KAI (Hawaiian) Ocean

KAILANI (Hawaiian) Sea and sky

KELSEY (English) From Ceol's Island

KENDRA (English) Water baby, magical

LINDSEY (English) From the lake settlement island

MIA (Scandinavian) Sea of bitterness

PIRATE (English) Robber of the sea

RIVIERA (Italian) River bank, coast

RONAN (Irish) Little seal

SAILOR (American) Boat man

TALLULAH (Native American) Leaping water

WAVERY (American) Combination of Wave and Avery

WHITNEY (English) From the white island

ZEALAND (Scandinavian) From the sea land

Erin Go Bragh

When I was a kid, I hated my name. It wasn't nearly as feminine as my friend Ashley's, or as pretty as my classmate Christina's, or as up-and-coming as my classmate Devin's. If only my parents had been more creative! Erin just sounded so... boring. Dull. And SO not feminine! It wasn't pretty or cute AT ALL! When I found out my parents almost named me Mandy, until my dad changed his mind at the last minute, I wanted to cry. Mandy was cute! Mandy was feminine! And I didn't know any other Mandy's! I could have been unique, instead of sharing a name with 5 other girls in my class (Erin was a VERY popular name in 1985 and 1986!). And Mandy means "much-loved"! What could be better than that? WHY did my dad convince my mom to name me Erin instead? Why, oh why???

As I grew older however, and became more proud of my Irish roots, my name started to grow on me. Erin is a Hiberno-English derivative of the Irish word Éirinn, which is a dative case of the word Ireland(source). What better way to honor my roots, than for my name to be a derivative of the word for the very country from which my ancestors came? Of course, having the name Erin was interesting in high school, where I came across numerous friends and acquaintances who assumed that since I had just about the most Irish name a person can have, it must SURELY mean I can drink them under the table at any party, right? And the phone calls and text messages from guy friends every St. Patrick's Day declaring "Erin Go Bra-less!" was pretty amusing. But once I was in high school loved my name more and more. And now that I'm out of school and have children of my own, I love my name so much, I wish it wasn't my name so I could name a future daughter Erin. (While I understand that SOME people name their daughters after themselves, it's never been a concept I was fond of, no offense to any readers who don't share my sentiment.)

Many meanings for the name Erin are listed as "from Ireland" or simply "Ireland", although I have found a few sources who state the true meaning is "peace". Completely indisputable, however, is that Erin is an Irish name, and Erin was often used as a romanticized name for Ireland by poets and 19th century Irish nationalists. The Milesians were the first to call Ireland Erin in honor of the goddess Ériu, according to Irish folklore and mythology.

Despite the popular Irish naming trend, Erin is not a super commonly-given name in recent years, though it is at number 164 on the popularity charts for 2008 (it is also currently a top 10 baby name in Scotland, so it may experience a revival here in the US). It has been overshadowed by more up-and-coming Irish names like Saorla (SAIR-la) and Maeve. There has been much debate about the name Erin in baby naming forums, and the general consensus seems to be that it is "out of vogue"(source):

"Personally, I think it's one of the most boring names out there.... It is pretty dated in the US."

"I feel it lacks personality, like a wallflower sort of name."

 Though there are those (like me) who are still a fan (which is comforting, since it IS my name, after all):

"I think it's a lovely name.... It's a solid name that a little girl can grow with."

Whether or not Erin will make a comeback remains to be seen. With trends changing as fast as they do and the popularity or Irish names ever rising, it should be interesting to see what kind of popularity record it makes for itself.

Why I Love Names

I have been obsessed with names for as long as I can remember. I used to peek through baby name books at age 8 when my Nana would take me into the bookstores downtown. Whenever I met someone with an interesting name, or a name I thought was beautiful, I stored it away to remember it for next time I needed to name a stuffed animal, or a Barbie doll, or even myself the next time my friends and I would pretend-play. I soaked names up like a sponge. Once I hit puberty I started getting some VERY odd looks any time I was caught browsing baby name books. In high school my mother got quite suspicious upon catching me looking at baby name sites on the internet. I didn't want her to freak out, so I even hid a baby name book I'd bought at a friends house. Of course, as luck would have it I became pregnant at the end of my senior year of high school, so my mom only felt validated in her suspicions, but in all those years simply absorbing all those names in my mind, being a young mother had never been my intention. Since my oldest was born, I'm afraid I scared my parents, my friends, any guys I dated, and my now-husband half to death rattling off baby names I loved, since they all felt that being in my early 20's and having one child was quite enough. And now that I have 2 sons, the mere mention of any baby names I like is enough to send my mother into panic (she only had 2 children herself, and seems to think there's no need for me or anyone else to have more than 2 children either) and I'm sure my husband begins to wonder if we should be using condoms in addition to my IUD (poor guy). But there are NO plans for another little one right now (and there never was, but after my 2 wonderful sons, I could never have any regrets, though I do have my birth control situation MUCH more under control now), so my obsession remains entirely innocent.

I never realized, until I had access to the internet, that there were other people out there who were as fascinated by names as I was. My friends always liked names. Growing up we all had our own ideas of what we'd rather have been named, or what we'd name our future hypothetical children with the guy we held hands with at the ice rink last Friday and would OBVIOUSLY marry someday. But none of my friends seemed to have the passion for names that I did. They just weren't as excited as I was when they came upon a new name. And they didn't seek out new names as aggressively as I did.  They had no more than a few moments interest in baby name books, and spending any amount of time on a baby name website seemed ridiculous to them. I chalked it up to another of my weird interests. I was also the only one of my friends who was fascinated by natural disasters, or the ruins of Pompeii, or Ancient Egypt. My friends just didn't care about those things, because they had more pressing sports/TV shows/boys to consider. I figured baby names was just another one of those things. However, during my second pregnancy, I met other women on the What to Expect message boards at who shared my passion for names, and it wasn't just because they had a baby to name in the next 9 months. I found a site called Nameberry dedicated entirely to names: lists of names, name meanings and origins, blogs about names, recent celebrity baby names. I was in my element! And there were girls on Yahoo! Answers who hours every day asking for name suggestions, name opinions, matching names, etc. And the naming world exploded before my very eyes! There were other people out there who loved names as much as I did! And there were still SO many names I hadn't yet discovered!

So why am I obsessed with names? I've never been entirely sure. I think I love that all names are so very different. I love how they all come from different places or languages. I love all the interesting meanings. And I love how some names can fit a person not at all, but fit someone else just right. There have been several names I've LOATHED from the start, but all it took was one person who bore that name perfectly, and I was in love with that name from then on. I just find it all so fascinating. And names are just so powerful. They set a tone for who a person is from the first moment you hear the name.

So there is my big explanation and introduction. I hope to reach many readers who share my passion for names. Check back tomorrow for my next posting, and thanks for reading!