Skip to main content

Cardinal

Today's name: Cardinal
You know, the red bird most visible in winter against the white backdrop of snow. And although I see no reason why this name should be limited to males, know that the male bird is the brightly colored red, and females are a brown. However, you could also be talking about cardinal north or the senior ecclesiastical official in Catholicism or cardinal numbers, among a few other possibilities.


Pronunciation: CAR-din-al

Potential nicknames: Card, Cardy

Origin: The word cardinal comes from the Latin cardinalis, meaning "chief, principal, pivotal." The bird was named for its resemblance to the cardinal's robes.

Popularity: Although there were 21 baby boys named Cardin (a variant of Carden, meaning "wood carder") in 2010, and 17 in 2011, there were none or less than five named Cardinal both years. I'm surprised there aren't any babies named for the St. Louis Cardinals.
Labels:

Comments

  1. eponymiaDecember 19, 2011 at 7:34 PM

    I think Cardinal's a great name -- works nice in the middle name spot.

    ReplyDelete
  2. SebastianeDecember 20, 2011 at 10:58 AM

    You know, this would actually make a cool male name.

    ReplyDelete
  3. CristinaDecember 20, 2011 at 12:13 PM

    I think Cardinal and Coriander could make cute twin names.

    ReplyDelete
  4. UnknownSeptember 12, 2016 at 11:32 AM

    Cardinal is a great name for a baby boy! My husband went to Stanford- Stanford Cardinals! It also sounds very important... a person with great significance/importance and has a powerful authority by the way it sounds and looks. I want to name or son Cardinal!!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Galician Baby Names

I grew up on a street that was named an Italian variant of Roger. When I got married and we bought our first house, it turned out to be on Roger Street. Once noting that coincidence, I started searching for other variants of the name. However, female variants turned out to be pretty nonexistent. Save for Roxeria, which I later discovered was the Galician female form, possibly pronounced rohz-AIR-ee-uh. That led me to a few lists of female Galician names, ranging from common to rare. Here is a sampling of names not often heard here in the states... Albina Alda Alma Alodia Aloia Amada Amadora Amalia Amparo Anisia Antia Araceli Aranzazu Artemisa Avelina Azucena Baia Balbina Baltasara Beatriz Benvida Berenice Bieita Branca Braulia Caetana Carola Casilda Casimira Ceferina Celsa Cipriana Cira Clorinda Coralia Cornelia Cosima Davinia Delfina Desideria Dionisia Dominga Dorinda Dorotea Dositea Edelmira Edenia Elba Elvira Emiliana Etelvina ...
2 comments
Read more

Elowen

Elowen is a recent Cornish baby name meaning "elm." It may not take off in America like the last Cornish hit, Jennifer, but it's certainly pretty. She's part of a "linguistic revival," as Appellation Mountain puts it  here . Her nickname could be Ellie, Elle or Ella, or a more unusual choice, Wendy. The pronunciation of Elowen is "ell-LOH-en," though most Americans will probably stick with "ELL-oh-wen." Please note that it is not spelled Elowyn. There is a similar name, Eowyn, but if you spell it Elowyn it will no longer be the Cornish name meaning elm tree, just some creative name. Other great Cornish names include Penrose, Chesten (the Cornish form of Christine), Demelza, Denzel, Hammitt, Kerensa/Kerenza, Meraud (very similar to French gem name Emeraude, both meaning emerald, but Meraud is pronounced "meh-row"), Merryn, Morwenna, Tremain, Emblyn, Jory, Massen, Treeve and Cotton. Here's 's a link to a post on Cornish n...
2 comments
Read more

Massimo

Today's name: Massimo (male) Pronunciation: MAH-see-moh Potential nicknames: Masi, Simo, Max Origin: Along with Massimiliano, Massimo is the Italian variant of the Latin name Maximilian (which was the name of three Roman emperors and a few saints), meaning "greatest." Popularity: Massimo did not rank on the top 1000 baby names in 2010, but there were 148 baby boys born named Massimo and 5 named Massimiliano. In 2011 there were 107 named Massimo. Fun fact: (1) The name Maksim is also a variant of Maximilian. (2) Massimo has been the surname of many powerful Roman families. (3) Saint Massimo, a 5th century bishop. (4) Massimo D'Alema, Italian Prime Minister. (5) Massimo Capra, Canadian celebrity chef. .
Post a Comment
Read more