Monday, November 30, 2009

Hester

Hess-ter

It's a new name I've started to think about and quite like, if not love.

Recently, name wise, I've been in a bit of a rut. All my old names I used to love, I'm now close to deleting from my name list. In the hours in between, when my kids are sleeping, or my husband has taken them out to wear down their energy levels, I discovered (or rather re-discovered) Hester. I really took notice of it for once. At first I simply loved the name Hettie.

I'm a big nickname person currently. Loving names like Minnie, Lottie and Artie, but I'm a firm believer that a nickname cannot possibly be the first name. By all means, call them Minnie at home, but allow them to have some sort of choice of their name in, for example, their professional lives. They may prefer for their boss to call them Minerva and to friends and family to call them Minnie. Its always hard however, to love the name the nickname comes from isn't it? You see Minerva, makes my face scrunch up. Hester however is a breath of fresh air. I think teemed with a jazzy middle name Hester could be just right!

Hester "Hettie" Violet, Hester Louise May, Hester Lucille, Hester Tallulah Rose? I'm not sure about the middle names, I'm still mulling them over!

What is also important is the meaning! I love the meaning of names, I've always found my own name's meaning rather boring "Laurel Wreath" while people, like Sarah's name (especially special when a child) means "Princess". When I was smaller I was very angry at this boring meaning. Hester's meaning is "Star", it is of Greek Origins and a variant of the name Esther.

Another variant is Hestia. If my hubby didn't like Hester, I think I would then move on to convincing him to like Hestia, the Greek Goddess of the Hearth. Now, it's funny when I looked up Hetty it had a different meaning again, this time 'Myrtle Leaf', 'Star' (as was Hester) and 'God Rejoices'.

There have been many famous Hester's over time. Hester Prynne is the heroine of Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel "The Scarlett Letter". I haven't read it but I'm hoping shes a good, gracious and strong willed Heroine.
Hester Thrale was a British diarist, author, and patron of the arts. Her diaries and correspondence are an important source of information about Samuel Johnson and eighteenth-century life.
Lady Hester Lucy Stanhope is remembered by history as an intrepid traveller in an age when women were discouraged from being adventurous.

Hester is also a place in Western Australia, named after a settler, Edward Godfrey Hester. There is Hester Street in Manhattan. It is a symbol of Immigrant history, used in the 1975 film 'Hester Street'

I'm going to continue thinking about Hester and Hettie. Its close to the top of names I like. But then again on my list there are hundreds of names, especially for girls. I had better keep mulling it over and get back to the children, bed night stories, perhaps I'll get some inspirations from them for middle names, or other names to add to the never ending maybe list!

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Austen Names

Elinor
Marianne
Margaret
John
Fanny
Edward
John Willoughby
Charlotte
Robert
Lucy


Elizabeth
Fitzwilliam Darcy
Jane
Mary
Katherine "Kitty"
Lydia
Charles
Caroline
George

Emma
George
Frank
Jane
Harriet
Phillip
Augusta
Anne
Henry

Catherine
Henry
John
Isabella
Frederik

My favourites are Harriet, Edmund and Henry. I love Kitty as nickname for Katherine. It's so much cuter than Kate or Katie! Lucy and Marianne are also lovely!

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Austin and Olivia's Brother

I found you through the baby name snob's website. Maybe you can help us!
We're expecting our 3rd child, the second boy, in as few as 5 weeks. We've been looking at names for months, and this child does not have a name. Our other children's names are Olivia and Austin and our last name starts with an A.

We prefer names that are "normal", but not super trendy. We tend to like the status of Austin's name on the charts. Not too popular, but not unheard of.

More than likely, the baby's middle name will be Daniel, after my little brother. But, we're stuck on the first name. Some we like, but aren't sold on are:

Simon
Isaac
Mac
Weston (didn't know if this was too close to Austin)
Max

Any advice or thoughts on our name list?
Thanks! Tracy

--------------------------------------------------------

Hi Tracy

I'm loving your brainstorming. My favourite from your list would be Max, but what about the long version Maxwell or Maximilian.

From your brainstorming I think that Isaac, Olivia and Austin go great. The names really flow and Isaac Daniel sounds great.

I don't think that Weston is to close to Austin, but it doesn't seem to blend as well with Olivia as the other names do.

Some of these names I love and thought you might too. I'm going to list a few though just in case they are too popular I have included their current ranking

James (17)
Lewis (640)
Zachary (47)
Jordan (48)
Nathan (29)
Sean (83)
Cameron (53)
Dominic (93)
Evan (38)
Richard (181)
Aidan (59)
Colin (201)
Murdoch
Braden (293)
Mason (35)
Timothy (183)
Jonathan (26)
Andrew (12)
Paul (155)
Adam (72)
Nicholas (29)
Victor (111)
Ian (80)
Jackson (32)
Sawyer (424)
Merrick
Garrison (890)
Pierce (507)
Owen (58)
Lawrence (427)
Anton (832)
Angus (980)
Beckett (480)
Benson (995)
Conrad (758)
Fergus
Russel (888)

My favourite combinations:
James Daniel (Austin,Olivia, James)
Timothy Daniel (Austin, Olivia and Timothy)
Jonathon Daniel (Austin, Olivia, Jonathon)
Pierce Daniel (Austin, Olivia, Pierce)

Make sure you get back to us, with any other name ideas, or names your thinking of.

Good Luck!

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Paper Names


Here are some of the births this week from Perth.

The Girls:
  • Saskia Gina
  • Catalina Isabella
  • Summer Mazkenzie
  • Eleanor Christina
  • Indyana (Siblings Moses and Samson)
  • Lexie Alice
  • Layla Matilda
  • Lilly Benita
  • Phoebe Ann
  • Eliana
  • Elspeth Lucy
  • Ruby Peggy May
  • Charlotte Valentine

The Boys

  • Luca Antonio
  • Theo George
  • Jed Tiger
  • Blake Kevin
  • Darcy Ryder
  • Jarvin Francesco
  • Oliver John
  • Lachlan Martin
  • Jacob Harry
  • Stirling Reuben
  • Romeo Giovanni
  • Eli Peter
  • Cruz William

Friday, November 6, 2009

Melbourne Cup


In Australia we had the Melbourne Cup on Tuesday 2nd of November. It's a big day of racing and on!

Well any child (Gunner, Apple, Story) should glad they didn't get any horse for a parent. Who knows what there names could have been. They are defiantly very crazy. I thought it would be fun to see, if you had to choose one of these names for your child which would it be?


  • Shocking

  • Crime Scene

  • Mourilyan

  • Master O'Reilly

  • Harris Tweed

  • Alcopop

  • Viewed

  • C'Est la Guerre

  • Kibbutz

  • Newport

  • Daffodil

  • Munsef

  • Gallions Reach

  • Leica Ding

  • Ista Kareem

  • Allez Wonder

  • Capecove

  • Basaltico

  • Zavite

  • Spin around

  • Roman Emperor

  • Fiumicino

  • Warringah

I'm thinking "Roman Emperor"? Maybe Daffodil for normality's sake. Daffofil could be acceptable within botanical themed names.