Baby Name News!

It's like Christmas has come early!! My favorite baby name experts Pamela Redmond Satran and Linda Rosenkrantz have a new website!!!

It's AWESOME. Check it out!! Go now!! It's called NAMEBERRY!

http://nameberry.com/

Check out the great blog, and search your favorite names to hear some great commentary. My favorite feature of their books has always been the brilliant lists. Rather than just offering an alphabetical listing of names with their meanings, Savran and Rosenkrantz group names by their style, tone, popularity, or reputation.

One of the most fun new lists is the Coolator. It gives Uncool, Cool, and Cooler versions of a variety of common names. For example: Avis, Ava, Avery. The Exoticizer works similarly: as in Andrew, Andre, Andreas. The Dada Drummer generally disapproves of the "cooler" and "exotic-er" names (ie Stephanie, Stella, Story AND Sarah, Zara, Zahara) but enjoys the lists nonetheless!

Use these tools, reade! There is no excuse for rotten baby name choices now!

Name that Alumni!

The alumni magazine for a Green and Gold university in my neighborhood came to my mailbox today. The Dada Drummer is interested in only one section of such publications: baby announcements. Sometimes there are acceptable names in the list. Usually they offend. Here are some choice selections from the recent issue...

Good:
Audrey
Gracie
Elijah

Bad:
Corbin
Brendon
Makaylee
Harper Reese

I'd love to get reports of bad names from the alumni magazines on your coffee table!

New Millenium Virtue Names--RESULTS

Based on the results of our Dada Drummer polls, the next great New Millenium is


FIERCE PHELPS


It works for a boy or a girl. It sounds good with "Jones." It's completely stupid. Perfect! Spread the word. Let's get someone to name a baby this quickly so that I can be in People Magazine.

Jay and Emm

The Social Security Administration posts lists of the most popular baby names according to registered births in the US. If you look at the top names for baby boys and girls every year for the last 100 years, you will see that there are a paltry seven initial letters TOTAL.

The winning letters are J, E, M, R, L, A, and D.

And I have to tell you that "A" and "D" barely made it on this list! The name Ashley was a first place girls name two of the last 100 years (1991 and 1992) while David was tops only ONCE (1960). That means we in the last 100 years of naming kids in this country, we as a people have overwhelming opted for the same FIVE starting sounds.

You're not really surprised though, are you? Think of all the J and M names you know, for example. The ubiquitous nature of J and M names have come to make them sound naturally friendly and somehow American. Not ust John and Mary, but also Jimmy and Margaret, Josh and Maddie. Current super-popular school age names include the dominant Jared and Madison. While Jaden and Michaela are on trendy preschool rosters around the country.

I even have a super friend with quadruplets who gave the two girls both M names and the two boys both J names (well, until one opted out and went with his other name!!).

My favorite J and M names? Let's see...

Jasper
&
Josie

Micah
&
Mabel

What about you?


If you're interested, here's the real list: M (ary and Michael), L (inda), J (essica and Jennifer and James and Jacob and John), A (shley), E (mily), R (obert), D (avid)

#18

Michelle Duggar is pregnant again. This makes baby #18.

Of course its none of my business, but I have to say I worry about this woman's health. How can this be OK? She's will have been pregnant 162 months by the time #18 is done. This family's dedication to enlarging their family makes me ask, "just because you CAN do something does that mean you SHOULD??" I really hope she is OK during this pregnancy and birth.

Again, it's really none of my business.

But here's what IS my business. Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar have made some drastic naming mistakes!

To me the most exciting thing about having so many kids would be the opportunity to think of names for them all!! So what did Jim Bob and Michelle do with this awesome opportunity? They decided early on to limit the naming palate to just "J" names. What!?!?!?! The results? Entirely too many "--iah" names for the boys (JOSIAH, JEDIDIAH, and JEREMIAH), both a JOY-ANNA and JOHANNAH (that's not confusing) , and the unfortunate spelling choice JINGER. Sigh. The Discovery channel has now made an online poll to help name baby #18 but there's only so much we can do with the options available.

Do you think the would consider letting me start over and rename the whole group? We could make a reality show out of the experience. Someone call TLC!!

If I were able to name 18 babies in one family, here's my brood:
Charlie, Graham, Theo, Miles, Owen, Henry, Leo, Malcolm, Peter
June, Charlotte, Ruby, Rosemary, Amelia, Zoe, Mary-Grace, Beatrice, Vivian

Now if I had to give my 18 precious darlings names that all start with same first letter--here's the roll call:
Samuel, Simon, Savion, Stewart, Salvatore, Stephen, Sullivan, Silas, Schuyler
Sophia, Seraphina, Shannon, Sadie, Susannah, Selah, , Stella, Silvia, & Sunday Rose (hee hee)

Whew! That was hard. Why did I pick "S"? Can you do better? Let's hear YOUR lists!!!

New Notes on Baby Names, Episode 2

Today's Topic: Good Sibling Names

Instead of kvetching about really heinous baby name choices for siblings, I'm going to give examples of good, acceptable, and sometimes downright GENIUS sibling sets. Please note that all of these are taken from real life friends and acquaintances of the Drummer. If you see your sibling names here, you're welcome. If you don't, well, I'm sorry...again.

Drew and Clay (m,m)*

Grace and Clare (f,f)

Simon and Julia (m, f)

Henry and Gracie (m, f)

Elijah and Isaac (m, m)

Carter and Max (m, m)

Hope and Kate (f, f)


* I shouldn't have to indicate gender with this little parenthetical---but sadly I do.

If YOU have an example of good sibling set names from your real world, let's hear them. If you just can't RESIST sharing news of appalling sib set names...well...far be it from me to stop you from posting those as well!!

TV Names: An Afterschool Special

You may notice that the FABULOUS new New York City themed baby name poll to my right is missing four names that were suggested on an earlier blog posting. Those names were the totally awesome Carrie,Samantha, Miranda, and Charlotte.

I left them off the poll because 1) the were not nearly ridiculous enough for a poll and 2) I wanted to initiate a conversation with you about TV names.

Some TV shows have given us awful names: Opie, Wally, Beaver, Marcia, Jan, Screech, Chrissy Snow. These are scars we may not recover from as a culture. I worry.

Any writer who names a character over twenty "Madison" or "Brayden" needs to be fired. Immediately.

Happily, some TV shows demonstrate taste and knowledge of appropriate naming trends for the character ages. The four urbane divas on "Sex and the City" are well-named and fashionable without sporting monikers that would NEVER be worn by women of their ages.

A few good shows have walked the fine line of using popular CLASSIC names for adult characters, thus achieving both plausibility and a trendy sound. Best example of this is probably "Will and Grace."

It goes without saying that soap opera names are a root cause of advancing evil in the world. Brick, Nash, Dante, Ridge, Thorn. 'Nuff said.

But I am going to go ahead and declare that the WORST name EVER to come out of a TV show and into reality is Chandler. On a quirky adult male character it had panache. On your baby (male or female) its an atrocity.

Other TV names you love or hate? Let's hear 'em.

New York State of Mind

As you know, I have recently issued yet one more ruling against the stupid baby name Brooklyn (in all its permutations). Well, a reader calling himself "Shallow End of the Gene Pool Guy" is protesting against the edict because he longs for some way to honor his beloved homeland of New York City in baby name form.

Though I am highly suspicious of all place names for babies, the Dada Drummer is nothing if not a gracious dictator. So I send a plea to you: please suggest some New York themed names that our fellow traveler might find useful as non-Brooklyn alternatives.

For example: Lincoln (as in Center!)

P.S. Before you even suggest them, these are totally off the table:
Tribeca
Soho
MOMA

Just FYI....

Having a baby girl? Congrats. But here are some basic rules you need to keep in mind...

Acceptable: Georgia
Unacceptable: Jorjah

Acceptable: Emily
Unacceptable: Imalee

Acceptable: Cassandra
Unacceptable: Kassidee

COMPLETELY OUT OF THE QUESTION:
Brenleigh
Brooklyn
Karmah
Rylee
Nevaeh

You're welcome.

Best Baby Name Site Ever. Period.

Go visit the totally brilliant Baby Name Bible site maintained by my naming heroes Pamela Redmond Satran and Linda Rosenkrantz. The "advice" section is awesome. Check out these great articles:

How Not to Name the Baby
Are We Ready for Aoife?
The Perrils of Neu Spellings

And play around with the cool "alternator" feature that gives you insight into names you might like based on what you think you already like!

Also, go ahead and report any baby names you have given (to real babies, people, not facebook fictional babies). The authors are always collecting new names and tracking trends. Why don't I have this job???

GUILTY PLEASURES

I would like to report that the Dada Drummer has no guilty pleasures, really I would. Unfotunately, I already outed myself a couple of weeks ago with the posting about that post-Dancing With The Stars conversation with Special K. Sigh.

So there is nothing keeping me now from confessing that I keep one or two guilty pleasure names in my back pocket. These are names that I would never saddle a kid with but nevertheless secretly love.

I will confess a couple of my GP names in the comments section to this post. In return for my candor, I expect you to admit yours as well. I highly recommend that you post anonymously!

Let's keep the mocking down to a minimum people.

Beyond Beyond

This may come as no surprise, but the Dada Drummer loves smart opinionated people. Yes, that includes you there. If you interact with the Drummer in real life and feel a warm sense of being loved in that relationship, then you can rest assured that you have been found non-stupid. Congrats.

I bring this up not to make you feel good (though that is an acceptable by-product) but because I want to talk about the non-stupid baby name book authors Linda Rosenkrantz and Pamela Redmond Satran. I love their many books. I sometimes don't share their opinions--and I get impatient with their tolerance of some tryndeeness!--but I always find them to be interesting. And sassy. The Drummer loves sass.

My favorite of their baby name books is Baby Names Now which has pithy essays on dozens of great (and not so great) names.

But the book that got me hooked was Beyond Jennifer and Jason. Now in newer edition, the book carries the title Beyond Jennifer and Jason, Madison and Montana.

I have gotten a kick over the years at Rosenkrantz and Satran's spin off "Beyond" books which include Beyond Shannon and Sean: An Enlightened Guide to Irish Baby Names, Beyond Sarah and Sam: An Enlightened Guide to Jewish Baby Names, and Beyond Charles and Diana: An Anglophile's Guide to Baby Names (that one's for you Leila!).

So I thought we could have a little fun inventing our own baby name guide book titles in the style of the "Beyond" books. What books do you think ought to be out there? What books do you think some idiots might be consulting for their stupid choices? What books do you fear actually exist! For example:

Beyond Braden and Jaden, Caden and Haden: New Rhymes for the New Age!

Beyond Austin and Dallas: An Enlightened Guide to Naming your Texan

Beyond Ebony and Violet: Color Names Now!

Let's hear yours!

Tryndee Nayme Game: Webster's Edition

Greetings, Drummer Nation!

There has been a hiatus from Dada Drummer briefly whilst I frolicked in golden fields and ate figs fed to me by elfin handmaids. This is what happens when you get tenure—who knew?

But I’m back. And I’m ticked off about names I’ve seen on the back of local car windows. You know, the ones over icons of soccer balls, soft ball, limber gymnast silhouettes, and/or pom-poms. The thing that’s really pissing me off is the spelling choices. When did we decide as a nation that it was OK to insert irrelevant H’s, Y’s, and any manner of vowels in perfectly well-spelled given names?

Khaytlynn

Brahndyn

Emmaleighanna

We don’t do this to other nouns. Imagine…

bhayguls and kreyme xees

paypher and pynsyls

But if this is where America is headed, I think you and I need to lead the way. Goodness knows you’re smarter than the cre8tiv namers out there fouling up kindergarten rosters with there inventions. So your Tryndee Nayme Game for the week is to generate the most inventive spelling for a standard English first name.

Sic ‘Em Drummers.

Tryndee Nayme Gayme-NEVAEH edition

If you are not already aware of this fad, let the Dada Drummer be the first to alert you to the popularity of novelty name NEVAEH for baby girls in the United States. The name has moved from non-existence to obscurity to trendiness in a matter of about 36 months.

But why is it a novelty name? Because it's HEAVEN spelled backwards. Sigh.

Like any fad--or plague--this is sure to spread. So let's ride the front of the wave, drummers!!

Your challenge this week is to backwards spell any word in order to invent an original tryndee nayme. The winning names will be those that most please the expectant Mom and Dad.

Let me introduce you! Nora and Aron Setates are from central Ohio. Their interests include television, John Grisham novels, Appelbees, and outlet malls. Aron is a regional manager in the copier industry. Nora left her job as a bank teller to stay at home with their first born who is named, you guessed it, Nevaeh.

FOODIES Favorites!

You rocked the house on last week's name game! The Foodie Mom and Dad have reported to me their front runners(boy and girl):

Bleu Fromage-Hommage

Picón Cabrales

Petitepois Cornichon Escoffier

Bain-Marie

When the little yummy darling arrives, you call expect to receive FABULOUS muffin baskets!

On Domino's, BROOKLYN, and other evils.....

And the number one sign that we've given up as a culture....



FYI: The Dada Drummer will buy you some nice chinese take out NOT to name your baby Brooklyn!

Canadians have bad taste, too!

Just so you don’t think that I only want to pick on U.S. Parents with terrible baby naming skills, here’s some evidence of moniker madness North of the border.

6,440 girl names and 5,134 boy names were bestowed in Alberta in 2007. Here are a few of the more unusual ones:

Girl Names
Aruba, Aunesty
Butterfly
Chaos, Charlemagne, Coltanna
DaKayDa
Eckoe, Ellexis, Emma-Star-Ulaniq
God’s
Halo
Jedhi, Jurnee
Kalifornia
Legacy, Lexxannah
Manning, Million, Morningstar
Nigma
Poet
Raynebow-Roze, RocRock
Saturday
Thistle, Tutu
Wes-Leigh, Whisper
Xyrhl
Zamber, Zamzam

Boy Names
Ambiious, Atlas
Bienvenito, Blue-Quill, Bluesky
Chancellor, Courage, Cowboy
Elilei, Ewuak
Felony, Frandon, Furious
Gix
Hush, Husky
Izic, Jackpine
Keeper
Little, Loyal
Manchester, Midnite, Milwaukee
Obsidian-Angel
Preetinder
Rainbow, Ripkin, Ryott
Slim, SyliceVirgil
Utah
Wrigley
Xnox
Zedric, Zero

The Dada Drummer feels a bit dizzy from this list. But I do have a few questions....

Do you think Jedhi and Ewauk are siblings? What about Manning and Ripkin?
How will babies Aunesty and Ambiious every learn to spell?
Can God's give self-esteem guidance to little Zero?
I guess I know how you decorate a nursery for baby Tutu, but what does baby Felony's room look like?

And this just in for the parents of Emma-Star-Ulaniq and Obsidian-Angel! The hypen called and it's PISSED!

Tryndee Nayme Gayme---GOURMAND EDITION

The Dada Drummer is both fascinated and horrified by California Goddess Laurie's suggestion of Bologna and Dijon as place names. In my dreamy brain these names blended with California Goddess Shannon's name origins at an A&W drive-in to create a VISION for this week's game.

Mom and Dada are sophisticated American foodies expecting their first (and probably only) child. Mom's hobbies include collecting signed celebrity cookbooks and attending specialty cheese-tasting shows (she's grumpy about being off blue and soft-ripened cheeses during the pregnancy!). Dad is an artisan jam maker whose clients include Giada, Rachel, Martha, and Ida. They are in need of the most deliciously original food themed name you can invent!

Bon Appetite!

Place Names as First Names

I have been thinking a lot lately about place names given as baby names. The choice is old. After all, Florence and Virginia are not new additions to the naming circuit. But in recent weeks I have heard of the arrival of both a baby "Canada" and a baby "Kansas". Trendeeeee baby naming sites abound with inventive--and increasingly popular--place names. Consider the 90s trends of Dakota, Sierra, and Montana. The last couple of years have seen a spike in off-beat choices like Brooklyn, Boston, and Indiana. And of course entertainment abounds with examples of this style: Paris, London, Ireland, China, India.

I am trying hard here people (see below for more on the Drummer's Lenten promise to tell people they're stupid a little less often) but I can't like these. Not a one. Not at all.

Are there any place names out there that you loyal drummers can think of which are NOT stupid? Send them in! And I don't mean "technically" place names. Sophia may also be a place, but it is not in the category of "place name" and you know it.

While I await your feedback, I'll go for the "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" approach and start picking a really awful place name to circulate on the baby name discussion boards. Use the poll here at Dada Drummer Headquarters to help me out!

Tryndee Nayme Gayme--PUPPY Edition

Have you heard?? UNO the Beagle won Best in Show at Westminster Kennel Club! He beat out the winningnest dog in the US, a poodle named VIKKI. It was quite a shocker!

But what if, after the show, Uno and Vikki met up to share a water bowl and bury the hatchet? And what if that tete-a-tete blossomed into something more...like a litter of seven bouncing pups!!

And what if the Dada Drummer let you NAME A PUPPY!

Mom is the Toy Poodle VIKKI (Smash JP Win a Victory) and Dad is the champion Beagle UNO (K-Run's Park Me In First).

THIS WEEK'S RULES: Use the letters of each parent's fancy registered name (in parenthesis) to give the puppy a new fancy registered name and a new CALL NAME.

And since it's a big litter, feel free to name a few of the pups!! Have fun!