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

A Violet Opportunity

Violet Affleck out with Mom and Dad

I was talking to one of the moms from Edward's kindy the other day who has 3 kids and is expecting again. After general chitchat about both our pregnancys I asked her about names. She said "We are looking for something quite uncommon, just like our other kids names". And what are her other kids names? Harrison, India and Summer.

I told her that Edward might have indeed been a Harrison if it had been solely up to me but that Nathan thought it was just too popular. He was in the top 50 names for the year Edward was born (I checked now and he was ranked 24th) so we opted for the unranked Edward. She didn't seem to know that Harrison was such a high flyer.

I also mentioned that Summer and Sienna are amoung our (evergrowing) favourites when she asked. Her response was "I loved Sienna for Summer but we just couldn't have an India and then a Sienna." I checked the stats for my state for the year her little daughter was born abdSummer ranked 23rd, Sienna 8th. What!?!?!?! Since when did 15 places count for all that much? Summer even outranked Sarah at 29, Sophia at 30, Elizabeth at 33, Kate at 47 and ALL the variants of Caitlin! So much for unpopular.

Even the least common of her kids names, India, bears great correlation to the very popular Indiana, who now sits at 47 for us West Aussies.

Tut, Tut, Tut. Why won't people do proper research? If your looking for an uncommon name I would very strongly suggest having a long hard look at the trends and stats. Otherwise you just might find your 'rare' choice isn't rare at all.

So I had a good look at all the names on my list. The habit we have been getting into recently will either be our making or our breaking. We write any names that take our fancy on a white board I put in the lounge, next to the TV, so we have too look at it every day when we flick on the news. Its great! It gives me something to look at during the add breaks plus, we have a big pool to pick from. But anyways, I picked my favourites and had a look at their rankings. It was the best thing I could have possibly done to educate myself. I got some pleasant and some not so pleasant suprises.

For the Boys:

• Did you know that Christopher didn't rank at all in West Aus. !? And his name-cousin Christian ranked 76. I think its safe to use him don't you?
• Oliver was ranked 4th which is sad because he was a big favourite of mine though Olivia was 11th so that might be usable with the nickname Olive.
• Not many more surprises with my boy favourites except for Alexander. He ranked 26th. Yes! I'm happy about this one - just when he cracked it into the top 10 in the States!

For the Girls:

• Madeline didn't rank (but they do only do top 50 occurances). And even if she did,most people pronounce her like mad-e-lin, whereas I prefer mad-e-lie-n (rhyming with crime).
• His favourite girl, Phoebe, ranked 49th.
• My beautiful Imogen is 24th. I shed a tear or two over this one.
• No Isabel's Isabelle's Isabell's or Isabele's appeared anywhere! Which is fantastic because I am just enamoured with scottish Isobel (with a definate 'Oh' sound) and fellow -bel ender Claribel. Though, predictably, Isabella its hot stuff at rank 8.
• One of our strongest honarary middle name possibilites, dissapointingly, was 10th on the charts, Matilda.

And one last one that really took me by surprise:

• Sweet little Violet didn't chart in the top 50 occurances in West Aus. nor in the national statistics. This was quite a shock for me. I always thought, perhaps a little biasedly, that Australia usually, was a bit ahead on the baby name trend front. I did a post a couple of weeks back detailing all the little darling names Aus. has in our top 100 that have escaped popularity in the US. Well since that post, it appears that the US had taken our lead and added a couple of those Australian Favourites to their top 1000, like Gemma and Callum for example. Well it looks like you Yanks have beaten us to this one. I think I might bump Miss. Violet up my list after this discovery.

Shows the importance of doing research, I guess. But I know all you reading this all ready know that. That's why your reading this of course.

Time

Months, birth stones and now even days of the week. Time is becoming increasingly popular for parents choice in names. All you need to say now is "Sunday" and everyones mind strays to Sunday Rose (more commonly known as Sunday Roast), Nicole Kidman and Keith Urbans first child together.


Months have been commonly used, as has foreign spelling of month names. Here are some of the most commonly used Month names.

April
March
May
June
August
Avril- French April

I haven't included this name but another month name I heard used recently was January. I guess if your using March, April, May why not add another month. I wonder if soon February, October and also December will be used as names. I guess anythings possible

Birth stones
With obvious relation to months boyfriends often use their knowledge of their girlfriends birth month to buy thoughtful gift. Thank god my birth stone is a diamond :D

Garnet/Garnet- Dark red gemstone of January
Amethyst- Purple jewel of February
Ruby - Red gem of the month December
Opal - October
Topaz- November

Seasons (even this title "season" is used) are growing popular as baby names. Celebrity Summers including O.C character played by Rachel Bilson, and Winter, recently used by Nicole Richie as Harlow Winter Kate.

Summer
Winter/Wynter
Autumn

As stated previously days of the week are also growing popular.

Sunday - Sunday, the day of rest, used by Nicole Kidman
Friday – Harry Friday- definitely individual this was used by Simon Baker for his boy

Mythological usage

Marcella- Roman God names March was named after

Maia - nymph mother of Hermes, month of May named after her

Star signs:

Leo- the lion of course which is the star sign of July 24-August 23

Aries- March 21- April 20

Sorry there mostly girls but if you have any more names to add please drop us a comment.

Peonies for Suze - The Queen of Flowers and Names

Hey Sarah and Laura, First of all I would like to thank you for giving me a little something to read every once in a while I thoroughly enjoy reading your posts. Second of all I have a little question regarding the name of my soon to be bubby. I adore peonies! They are my favourite flowers and I would love to incorporate this into the name of my child somehow. However, I am not an advocate of 'made up' names and I would hate for Peony to be categorised with names such as Apple. I would be really appreciative if you could suggest names that have some correlation to my favourite flowers! Thanks, Suze

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Suze, as per usual congrats on your pregnancy and we are glad be of help in your process prior to choosing a name for your baby. As you haven't specified the sex of your baby I will suggest names for both genders which should be a whole lot fun :D! I think this will be our best project yet!

Botan-This boys name means Peony and originated in Japan. I suspect that, due to its similarity to some of today's more popular names, you might start a trend with this one.

Carl-I have taken this name from the most famous lover of Peonies Carl Weinberg. Weinberg's Peony Garden on Ann Arbor's west side was one of the city's notable beauty spots from 1920 until 1952.

Bobby-Bobby Faust was Weinberg's own nephew who was loved so dearly that the botanist named one of his created Peonies after him. This particular peony is white in colour.

Jefferson-The name of one the the streets that bound Weinberg's Peony Garden.

Pierre- Artist Pierre Auguste Renoir was famous for painting the stunning flowers.

Henri- Associated with the artist Fantin-Latour who is also famous for his paintings of Peonies.

Joseph- Sir Joseph Banks was responsible for importing the Peony into Europe.

Flora- Paeonia lactiflora is the name of the species of peony that are most common.

Summer-The flowering season of the Peony and such a cute name! I can just see a little girl called Summer in a pretty little dress picking flowers and skipping merrily. Remind me to stick this on the list if I ever have a little girl.

Peony- I know you said that you didn't feel that this name has merit as a name but I beg to differ. Peony is a Greek name that means flower. But if you still feel that this name sounds a bit "made up" then why not use it as a middle name.

Alice-Alice Harding wrote The Book of the Peony in 1917 and its smaller companion volume, Peonies in the Little Garden, in 1923. She is also responsible for the creation of many peony hybrids. Weinberg was known to have bought a Ms. Harding Peony for $250, a highly inflated amount in those days!

Eleanora - A double white peony which was named after Weinberg's wife, Eleanora, by Weinberg himself.

Philantha- A name which means lover of flowers in Greek. It also sounds similar to Philomèle which a major variety of Peony.

Penny-Okay this name isn't directly related to Peonies but it does sound the same. Maybe you could use Penny as a nickname for Peony or Penelope.

Ann - A classic timeless name. It also happens to be part of the name in the district in which Weinberg grew his Peony Garden, Ann Arbor. Spell it this way or with an 'E' if you happen to agree with Anne Shirley and feel that the extra 'E' adds femininity.

I also would like to thank you for asking such an interesting question. It was a challenge at first but when I got started I just couldn't stop! Any of these appeal to you? (please say no - I would love get even more carried away than I already have :) )

Sarah.

PS. I too adore peonies! ( I had them in my wedding bouquet ) They were used for medicinal purposes in the early days of medicine and components of the flower make up some modern medicines. They are also said to ward off bad spirits in China- maybe if you use one of my suggested names it might do so for your child.