Is Your Baby’s Name On the List?
With the announcement of Beyonce’s baby’s birth this week and the debate over her daughter’s name, Blue Ivy, all over the Internet, I have been thinking a lot about baby names. Personally, I like names from nature, so Ivy is a great choice in my book. You can bet she will get plenty of baby shower gifts with her name in blue and little ivy designs everywhere.
I remember a few friends from school who I thought had cool sounding names. An uncommon name can add a certain mystery or intrigue to a person. (At least until you meet them.) One girl in my elementary school was named Tinsley, and I thought it was so exotic. Of course, in a sea of Jennifer’s, Kristy’s and Amanda’s (all popular in the mid 1970′s), a lot of things sounded new and different. Another classmate named Shelby had the bonus of a first name that was also a last name. I still like names, like Anderson or Brady or Madison, that could be first or last names. Careful, though, or your baby’s name could end up sounding like a law firm.
I also tend to favor names that are spelled slightly different than the norm, though I know this can cause frustration if your name is constantly misspelled. My last name, Marko, is spelled with a “c” rather than a “k” all the time, so I can relate. I end up spelling it out loud for people several times every day. A friend named her daughter Wanita several years ago. That’s Juanita, but with a “Wa” because she wanted to be sure that the stress was on the first syllable. Poor thing. She will be spelling her name out loud forever, just like me.
In my research for my baby’s name before we knew the sex, I was determined to name him after an element of nature, a la Raine, Storm, River or Lief or, if it was a girl, Ruby, June or maybe Autumn. My husband was having none of that, and we settled on the well-used Max Benjamin, after our grandfathers. Maybe one day I can have a pet named Rocky and leave it at that.
The popular baby website Baby Center posted the most popular baby names of 2011. Compared to some of the latest Hollywood baby names and my nods to elements of nature, these are pretty tame. http://www.babycenter.com/popularBabyNames.htm?year=2011 What do you think? Did your baby’s name make the cut this year? If you have a Mason or an Emma, you may need some creative labels when they starts school so they can tell which is their lunch box in preschool. As long as you spell it correctly, though, I’m sure they won’t mind.


