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!

Olive

We have mentioned Olive a number of times on our blog. I quite like her. Shes sensible but still cute and feminine. And she has spunk!

All these times we have mentioned Olive in our post we inevitably mentioned Olive Cohen, the daughter of Isla Fisher and Sacha Baron Cohen. But we forgot to mention one famous Olive!

Olive Oyl - Popeye's girlfriend!

She certainly got the best name in her family (her brother name is Castor Oyl).

Do you think that a little Olive or Olivia would go nicely with Edward. Perhaps an Oliver?

Name Crush

I love the name Edward. I really do. Which may seem obvious, I did choose it for my son. However, when I chose it I didn't realise that I was setting up a pattern of names for all future children.

You see, I have found the perfect name for a girl but I can't use it - its far too wild.

September

She is so free spirited. I would so LOVE to use her. But I can't! Edward cannot be the boring brother of September and I simply cannot imgaine him as anything but an Edward!

Oh well, I can suggest her to all you readers and hope she gets her due.

Gone with the Wind!

I was going to do a post on my favourite literary names until I realised that pretty much all the names I liked came from Gone with the Wind. Not your typical literary names. No Edward's or Catherine's for a start. I do like Catherine though and I obviously love Edward enough to use it for my own son.


So here they are. All the best Gone with the Wind names and a little background into the characters and their names. My favourite is Ashley on a boy - On the list.


Scarlett O'Hara - The strong willed protagonist is known for her beauty and is the daughter of the Tara Plantation owners Gerald and Ellen. This name has become rather popular of late, Mel C from the spice girls recently used this name for her baby girl.


Melanie Hamilton Wilkes - Ashley's good-hearted wife. Meaning black and originating is Greece this little name doesn't rank in the top 100 in America. She is a sweet obscure little choice with just enough familiarity.

Prissy - The short form of Priscilla. Such a cute name! In Gone with the Wind Prissy is the lie-prone slave at the Tara Plantation. This girl little name matches the style of some of the most popular names of today.

Bonnie Blue Butler - Her real name is Eugenie Victoria and she is the beautiful and pampered daughter of Scarlett and Rhett. An appealing choice. It literally means 'Pretty Girl' and too me this just adds to the appeal.

India Wilkes - I love this name! Right at the top of my list. Whist India Wilkes isn't a favourable character in the book you must agree she had a gorgeous name. India is Ashley's sister who bitterly hates Scarlett for sabotaging her relationship with Stuart.

Honey Wilkes - Honey is Jamie Oliver's youngest daughters middle name and is sister to Ashley and India in Gone with the Wind.

Rhett Butler - Scartlett's third husband and a little bit of a rebel. He is at times, a loving father and husband but pride prevents him from showing his affection. To me this has a bit of a hippy vibe whist maintaining a classical feel.

Ashley Wilkes - Yes, that is on a boy. Believe it or not Ashley is a BOYS names. This one is definitely on my list. Ashley is the handsome and chivalrous love interest of Scarlett's. Please Oh Please don't feminise this name!

Wade Hampton Hamilton - Scarlett and Charles Hamilton’s shy, timid son. Wade has English origins and means Traveller. I think Wade would be a nice choice for Chase's brother.

Jonas Wilkerson - This Hebrew name means dove. He was the father of Emmie Slattery's illegitimate baby. This name was recently used for one of the octuplets.

Beau Wilkes – Melanie's and Ashley's lovable son, delivered by Scarlett. I love the meaning of this name; Handsome or Beautiful. Could be used as the short form of Beauregard or Beauchamp.

Other Gone with the wind names:
- Gerald
- Ella
- Will
- Belle
- Emmie
- Careen
- Suellen

Festive Names! - Part II Boys

I am so deeply sorry it has taken so long to finish the rest of the Christmas names but I have been so busy cooking Turkeys and Fruit Mince Pies while trying to pick the perfect presents for everybody, and have them wrapped by Christmas Day.

So here they are, even if I didn't manage to get them done in time for Christmas (or new year), the most gorgeous set of Christmas boys names hitherto.

Nicholas - You have to admit that he is every body's favourite saint. And why wouldn't he be. Saint Nicholas (aka Santa Claus, Father Christmas, Pere Noel and Papa Noel among others) has invoked the much embraced tradition of gift giving at Christmas. And his name means Victory Of The People which I think is entirely appropriate given the way Saint Nicholas wore it.

Noel - Okay this is obviously my favourite of the boys Christmas names. It's sort of my son's middle name. Just spelt differently from my Edward Nole. This name, which is pronounced like Joel, means born on Christmas day but can also be used as a nickname for Nolan.

Klaus - Klaus is a gorgeous little german name which was originally a diminutive form of Niklaus. It also represents one half of the name of our dearest Santa Claus. Sort of.

Casper - This name was once donned by one of the three kings who visited the Christ child in the bible. No need to be religious to use this name either. It also makes me think of Casper the Ghost which I think makes Casper an even more likeable name.

The Question We Have Been Waiting For

What are the names of your children? I don't think we have heard the story yet!
Carrie

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I'm glad someone asked. And Carrie, I would love to share with you how I decided on the perfect name for my son and I'm sure Laura will share too.

I surprisingly wasn't very formal in my name-picking manner. In fact there wasn't much debate or suggestion until the last 2 months of my pregnancy. However, I don't think that even with formality I could have found a name that I love more than the one we chose.

I Love It!
I can't think of a name more fitting or perfect than Edward Nole. (but back to how we chose it!)

I always liked N names on boys. Nathaniel and Noah would have been on the list if I hadn't married a Nathan or had a close friend with a baby Noah.

I had almost moved on from N names when Nathan mentioned that he had always loved the name Nolan. Nolan, to me, was a good name with character and meant something along the lines of "champion".

However, Nolan did remind me of some more contemporary names such as Kaden, Jaden and relatives and I did usually go with more classical sounding names. I was looking for some variants of Nolan when we both fell in love with Nole. Short and sweet and happy sounding. Similar to Cole, which at the time was ranked the 35th most popular boys name.

I wanted to spell it like Noel but I wasn't allowed (!) because people would think it was pronounced No-elle as in Christmas. So we went with Nole.

Now all I had to do was find a middle name for Nole.

Edward seemed to be a re-occurring name for me at the time and I have always loved this name (okay, only since fight club with Edward Norton). To me, it was classy and strong. I liked it as a middle name because I could still use my favourite name without the possibility of the nickname Eddie which I associated with one of my not so favourite uncles :P.

So I had it, my perfect name - Nole Edward.

It wasn't until Edward was born that Nathan picked up Edward didn't sound the best after Nole. I wanted them to fit so bad! I couldn't change his name now and I had grown so attached to it since it was chosen.

The same day Edward was born that a close friend came to visit me and bubby for the first time. When I told her my problem she said something along the lines of "Yer, I like Edward Nole better that Nole Edward."

So we gave our baby the gorgeous name of Edward Nole. What cha Think?!?!?!?

Renesmee Tracey & Raylene - The Key to Finding Truly Unique Names

So sorry to all the closet 'Twilight Moms' who will hurriedly read this post after seeing the name Renesmee but this post isn't about twilight names. Its just that as far as names go the name Renesmee has struck a chord with me lately. It's just so unique. A word that is becoming more and more relevant as baby naming evolves.

So after doing a little "market research" I have been hearing the word a lot. Apparently it is what all expectant parents are looking for in a name. But if all expectant parents are looking for are unique names then unique names can't possibly be unique after after all because everyone will have them. This begs the question; by searching for uniqueness do we commit ourselves to be ordinary?

I remember chatting to my Nan about this when I was 6 months pregnant. She told me that when choosing a name for my mother, her and my grandfather fell into the pattern of basing their decision on the unique qualities of names. Eventually when they settled on Tracey they were satisfied that it would be unique to their baby. It turns out that Tracey would be one of the most popular names for that year.

So to prevent your unique name from becoming popular it would be a good idea to just invent a name-ish sounding name right? I would have thought so too - until recently.

I have met many Raylene's of Baby Boomer age and never once considered them to have a unique or unusual name. However, unbeknown to me, Raylene is an invented Australian name and I would bet the parents of Raylene # 1 settled on such a name because they wanted little Raylene to be unique. Little did they know that she would be unique regardless of the popularity of her name.

Which brings me back to Renesmee. I know it's a bit dorky for me to know this but the name Renesmee is a combination of Renee and Esme and was chosen by her parents Bella and Edward because it was a unique name for their unique half vampire, half human baby - which to me feels appropriate. Now whilst the author of Twilight might be experiencing a bit of fan backlash for choosing such a 'weird' name at the moment, eventually parents will continue to search for something even more unique and will invent a name even 'weirder'. By that time Renesmee will be another Raylene or Tracey and look like plain old Tom next to Bono's Elijah Bob Patricius Guggi Q. Then in time, if the human race survives that long, according to all those who advocate the slippery slope argument, Elijah Bob Patricius Guggi Q might make it into the top 100 names!

So I advise you, don't pick a name simply because nobody else's kids will have it. Pick a name because you love it. Then, if it turns out your name isn't as unique as you thought it was, you will love it anyway. It may have sucked being 1 of 9 Sarah's in high school but I would rather that than don a name like Glorcy or Nancia (Nancy + Gloria)to the playground if my parents had opted to do what Bella and Edward did. So maybe then, if we are not trying to be unique, we are being truly unique! It doesn't matter anyway because every body is UNIQUE!!!! :D

Love and Happy Naming!,
Sarah

PS. I know their are some of you rolling your eye's in disgust at the mention of twilight. And it is for you I would like to clarify that the name Renesmee is pronounced (Ruh-Nez-May) and was a name created to honour Bella mother Renee and Edwards mother Esme.

Royal names part 2- Boys

Want a noble name for your little knight? Here are our top choices:

William: A classic name which we can safely say has not gone out of fashion. William the Conqueror invaded England bringing about Norman culture and political change and reform in 1035 AD. A name with this much history has to be a winner, also the name of the charming 2nd in line of England.

Alexander: Alexander the Great was an Ancient Greek king. He was one of the most successful military commanders of all time. This noble name can be shortened to Alex, Xan or Xander. We hope your noble son won’t bring about as much war in your family.

Harry: King Henry VIII nicknames “Harry” by his close companions is not renowned for his “women skills” but how can you not love this name? He was a tough leader, passionate always about his religion. Your child’s name will have history oozing out of it.

Edward: This name is classy, elegant and totally royal. Edward the Confessor is regarded as the patron saint of kings, difficult marriages, and separated spouses and for some time Saint of England. This name not so frequent currently can allow your babe to be the new trendsetter.

Napoleon: French military and political leader Napoleon had and has a significant impact on the history of Europe. He was a general during the French Revolution, the ruler of France within the new French Republic and Emperor of the First French Empire. This name shouts style and is perfect for first or middle names.