Octuplets!

Any time multiples are born, I try and think of names for them.  In honor of the octuplets born in California the other day, I want you to think of what you would name them if they were yours.  Same gender ratio: 6 boys and 2 girls.

What would I do?  I could stay Biblical and go with Aaron, Asa, Jesse, Josiah, Malachi, Paul, Anna and Sarah.  But I think I would rather go Austen.  🙂  Their names would probably be:

Charles (Bingley)
Edward (Ferrars)
Frederick (Wentworth)
George (Knightley, not Wickham)
Henry (Tilney)
William (as in Fitzwilliam Darcy… I cheated a bit with this one)
Elinor (Dashwood)
Jane (Bennett; my all time favorite name)

This is, of course, all me.  Brent would never agree to those names.  🙂 So, have fun coming up with your choices!

I’m sorry for the long lag in posts.  I would like to start this back up again, slowly but surely.  And I want to know if you, my readers, have any name topics you would like for me to consider for future posts.  Celebrity baby names is something I am already working on.  Please share your ideas and interests!

Very Cool Tools

To those of you who may still be around, I am sorry again for the lack of posts, and I’m not really sure when I will be able to get back up to speed on this site. But I wanted to share something that I found with all of my fellow name lovers. The Baby Name Wizard website now has two new tools that are really neat to play around with. Check them out!

Oh, and I named my son Simon Brent. What do you think? Does it go well with my daughter’s name, Rachel Joyce? (Brent and Joyce are family names and were non-negotiable.) What impression do you have of a boy named Simon? I’ll probably write on my private blog about how we chose the name sometime soon, but I wanted to see what the name-lovers out there thought.

Parents Magazine – Best Baby Names

In the September 2008 issue of Parents magazine, there is an article entitled “Best Baby Names 2009.” After reading it and forming my own opinions on the names, I wanted to get my Namefreak readers’ opinions. 🙂 Which of the following names do you absolutely love or hate? Which would you consider using for your child? Which, if any, would you place in a different category? Would you add any names to any of the categories? I will post my opinions in a bit. Here is what they list in 11 different categories:

Jet-Setters
Boys
Denver
Troy
Brooklyn
Houston
Milan
Phoenix
Austin
Dallas
Cairo
Jordan

Girls
Aspen
Florence
Charlotte
London
Kenya
Geneva
Savannah
India
Sydney
Dakota

Royalty
Boys
Henry
William
Harry
James
Louis
Andrew
George
Edward
Albert
Charles

Girls
Diana
Victoria
Catherine
Mary
Christina
Elizabeth
Isabella
Anastasia
Cleopatra
Anne

Rock Stars
Boys
Jagger
Iggy
Sid
Kurt
Elvis
Axl
Rilo
Kanye
Lenny
Billie Joe

Girls
Janis
Stevie
Avril
Miley
Fergie
Alanis
Joss
Beyonce
Madonna
Ashlee

Superheroes
Boys
Charles Xavier
Angel
Logan
Bruce
Kalel
Peter
Clark
Anakin
Hero
Robin

Girls
Elektra
Storm
Rogue
Domino
Buffy
Mystique
Jean Grey
Phoenix
Angela
Shera

Gods and Goddesses
Boys
Jove
Jupiter
Apollo
Sol
Tempus
Shai
Kairos
Enamerion
Gleneus
Hercules

Girls
Athena
Calliope
Chloe
Dia
Gaia
Flora
Helen
Iris
Phoebe
Venus

Movie Stars
Boys
Brad
Tom
Johnny
Will
Ashton
Orlando
Clive
Jude
Ethan
Keanu

Girls
Gwyneth
Angelina
Cameron
Uma
Julia
Drew
Demi
Halle
Renee
Scarlett

Hola, Baby
Boys
Enrique
Jose
Emilio
Alejandro
Carlos
Eduardo
Miguel
Pedro
Tomas
Javier

Girls
Carmen
Antonia
Luisa
Maribel
Carlota
Valeria
Yolanda
Selena
Esmeralda
Sofia

American Idols
Boys
Clay
Ruben
Bo
Taylor
Constantine
Sanjaya
Blake
David
Justin
Chris

Girls
Kelly
Fantasia
Carrie
Jordin
Melinda
Kimberley
Jennifer
Katharine
Lakisha
Syesha

Francophiles
Boys
Francois
Jean-Paul
Gerard
Jacques
Claude
Antoine
Gilles
Marcel
Pierre
Sebastien

Girls
Genevieve
Soleil
Elise
Amelie
Brigitte
Celine
Dominique
Juliette
Madeleine
Simone

Country Clubbers
Boys
Chase
Archer
Alistair
Beaumont
Blair
Barron
Penn
Stanford
Alfie
Harrison

Girls
Avery
Brynley
Ives
Heatherly
Virginia
Grace
Poppy
Eleanor
Paige
Georgia

Nature Lovers
Boys
River
Blue
Sunny
Greene
Forest
Grove
Cliff
Rain
Stone
Winter

Girls
Ocean
Sky
Moon
Lotus
Dawn
Rose
Meadow
Daisy
Lily
Star

How Would You Describe?

I am SO SORRY for the long break in posts. I guess going over names again and again, trying to find the right one for the boy just takes a lot out of me at times. 🙂 And no, we are not close to choosing a name quite yet. 😦 Anyway, I wanted to post to keep things going, so I thought it would be fun to do a “baby name survey.”

There is a cool name book that took a survey asking people what they thought of when presented with a name. I really enjoy looking through the book and always wanted to do a little mini-survey of my own.

When I say the following names, how do you picture the child/adult?  What does he/she look like?  What are his/her abilities, temperament, and/or characteristics? Any description you can think of would be great! (The names below are just a random selection of names. And BTW, I really need the new edition of The Baby Name Wizard to come out soon… my copy of the first book is looking really shabby right now.)

Allegra
Ashlyn
Charlotte
Elodie
Gemma
Ivy
Jocelyn
Maisie
Piper
Samantha
Tatum
Willow

Alden
Dexter
Ellis
Grady
Holden
Jasper
Jedidiah
Miles
Pierce
Seth
Tyler
Walker

2007 Top 100 Analysis – Boys

Sorry it has taken so long, but here is the analysis for the boy names. First, some casual observances:

1) Just like the girls, boy names have spread out. In 2006, 1.1327% of boys were named Jacob and “only” 1.0955% were in 2007. In fact 65 of the top 100 names went down in percentage.

2) Only two names have changed over in the top 100. Those leaving the top 100: Devin (#100 to #101) and Alejandro (#96 to #103). Those entering the top 100: Brady (#105 to #93) and Cooper (#113 to #95). As has been the case for a while, boy names are a lot more steady and consistent than girl names.

3) My pet-peeve of the boy category is definitely the -aiden names. Don’t get me wrong… they wouldn’t be so popular if they weren’t great names. But there are SO MANY! Aidan, Brayden, Caden, Jayden, and Hayden. Oh, and why is Aiden a more popular spelling than Aidan? I guess people wanted to be different (which is why there are SO MANY different spellings of these -aiden names), but they end up being more alike. As you will see later on, there are 35 variants of these five names. There are a few variants that I don’t mind (although there are quite a few that irk me), but in my opinion, the original spelling (like Aidan) is the way to go. 🙂

4) The letter J is the most popular letter to begin a boy’s name in the top 1000. 11.7% of the top 1000 names begins with the letter J. The top 10 letters in order of popularity are J, A, D, C, R, M, K, B, T, and E. The least favorite letter is U. Here is the the list of the percentages of each letter.

Now, as for the highest mover of the year, you can re-read my 3rd point to see how I am not surprised. It is Jayden. It moved from #50 in 2006 to #18 in 2007, but more importantly, the number of boys who have that name in comparison to the total number of births in 2007 increased by 0.2509% from 2006. Here is the rest of the top 100 ranked according to their increase in usage.

And now for the “playground test.” Just as I did with the girls, I took the entire top 1000 list of boy names and added the percentages of total births of each name that had the same pronounciation. So, according to the sound of the name, here is the new top 100. As you can see, not surprisingly, Aiden is the new #1 and Jayden is #2 before you reach Jacob.

Any thoughts?

2007 Top 100 Analysis – Girls

Here is a link to the SSA Popular Baby Names list for 2007.  If you haven’t already taken a look at it, where have you been?  🙂

Now it’s time for my analysis.  You might call it a little “too much,” but I enjoyed doing it.  First, some casual observances:

1) The names have spread out a little. In 2006, 1.0249% of girls were named Emily and “only” 0.9167% were in 2007. In fact 63 of the top 100 names went down in percentage.

2) Four names have changed over in the top 100. Those leaving the top 100: Jayla (#99 to #132), Jenna (#88 to #103), Natalia (#94 to #109), and Rebecca (#96 to #105). Those entering the top 100: Bailey (#112 to #83), Gracie (#103 to #96), Molly (#105 to #97), and Sophie (#125 to #82).

3) I’m sorry if you like this name, but I hate the name Nevaeh.  In case you don’t know, it’s Heaven spelled backwards.  It’s one of the top movers of the year too.  What I hate even more is the fact that some people (0.0146% of total female births or #891) can’t even spell it right.  Neveah is more of a pronounciation spelling… but you can no longer say it’s Heaven backwards.  Ugh.

4) The letter A is the most popular letter to begin a girl’s name in the top 1000. 15.6% of the top 1000 names begins with the letter A. The top 10 letters in order of popularity are A, M, K, J, L, C, S, E, D, and B & R are tied at 10. The least favorite letter is U, which does not have a name in the top 1000. I have a list of the percentages of each letter… if you are as geeky as I am and are interested. Edit: since someone asked, here they are. 🙂

Now, I want to show you the highest mover of the year – Addison. Thanks to Grey’s Anatomy, this name has shot up the girls’ ranks and the former boy name is now convincingly a girl name (the boy Addison fell from #561 in 2006 to #692 in 2007). It moved from #28 in 2006 to #11 in 2007, but more importantly, the number of girls who have that name in comparison to the total number of births in 2007 increased by 0.2017% from 2006. Here is the rest of the top 100 ranked according to their increase in usage. (Since wordpress is annoying me in terms of formatting, I have linked my spreadsheets for you to view. The “Difference” column in this spreadsheet means the percentage of total females in 2007 minus the percentage of total females in 2006.)

And now for the “playground test” as my good friend Katherine put it. It is always interesting to see how many girls are named the same name, but with different spellings. So, I took the entire top 1000 and added the percentages of total births of each name that had the same pronounciation. A lot of these may be under contention (like Caroline and Carolyn) but if there is any possibility that they names are pronounced the same, I included them. I hope I got them all. So, according to the sound of the name, here is the new top 100. As you can see, Sophia/Sofia is the new #1 in front of Emily.

So, do you guys have any thoughts?

Name Madness – FINAL Results

And the winners are:

JANE (5-1) and ETHAN (4-2)

I am thrilled that Jane won.  It is my all time favorite girl name and I’m a little disappointed that I’ll never get to use it.  Ethan is a great name, but very popular, and even though it was on my list, we can’t use it because someone else in the family already has.  I am glad that Wesley made it to the finals; it is my grandfather’s name and what we were going to name Rachel if she had been a boy.  However, I don’t think we are going to use it this time.  Once I have an inkling as to what we are going to name this little boy, I will let you know. 

Thanks again for participating in my fun!  Now back to regular programming.

Name Madness – Finals

SEMI-FINALS Results

#1
Claire – 1
Jane – 5

#2
Marianne – 2
Reese – 4

#3
Andrew – 2
Ethan – 4

#4
Isaac – 3
Wesley – 3 (+1)

FINALS!!

#1
Jane
Reese

#2
Ethan
Wesley

Thanks so much for participating in my name madness game! I can tell you with a decent amount of confidence that the winner of the boy’s bracket will not be the name of our baby. I don’t even know if his name will come from the original list of 36! Argh. 🙂 Next week I will start the craziness that is my analysis of the new top 100. 🙂

Name Madness – Semi-Finals

ROUND THREE Results

#1
Anna – 3
Claire – 4

#2
Elinor – 1
Jane – 6

#3
Lucy – 3
Marianne – 4

#4
Paige – 2
Reese – 4
Tessa – 0

#5
Andrew – 5
Asher – 2

#6
Camden – 2
Ethan – 5

#7
Isaac – 5
Josiah – 2

#8
Oliver – 3
Spencer – 2
Wesley – 3 +1 (Brent broke the tie)

So, here are the semi-finals.  Just one more week and then I can try and tackle the new popular names list.  🙂

SEMI-FINALS

#1
Claire
Jane

#2
Marianne
Reese

#3
Andrew
Ethan

#4
Isaac
Wesley

Name Madness – Round 3

We lost some voters for this round, so I hope we can gain them back for Round Three! And since I started out with 36 pairs, we have an uneven number in this round (when it’s divided between girl and boy names). Therefore there are two “pairings” that actually have 3 names. Just choose your favorite of the 3. Thank you!

ROUND TWO results

#1
Anna (4-3)
Aubrey

#2
Brooke
Claire (7-1)

#3
Elinor (6-1)
Evelyn

#4
Georgia
Jane (6-1)

#5
Juliet
Lucy (6-1)

#6
Maren
Marianne (4-3)

#7
Molly
Paige (4-3)

#8
Reese (5-2)
Summer

#9
Susanna
Tessa (6-1)

#10
Aaron
Andrew (4-3)

#11
Asher (4-3)
Brooks

#12
Camden (4-3)
Cooper

#13
Ethan (6-1)
Grayson

#14
Isaac (4-3)
James

#15
Josiah (4-3)
Justus

#16
Oliver (6-1)
Sean

#17
Spencer (6-1)
Theodore

#18
Wesley (5-2)
Wilson

ROUND THREE

#1
Anna
Claire

#2
Elinor
Jane

#3
Lucy
Marianne

#4
Paige
Reese
Tessa

#5
Andrew
Asher

#6
Camden
Ethan

#7
Isaac
Josiah

#8
Oliver
Spencer
Wesley