Skip to main content

Christmas Baby Names Roundup

December remains rare as a baby name, but parents do sometimes use it --33 times in 2011. It probably helps that Ember, a top 1000 name, can be its nickname. The same can be said of November, but Nova would probably be the go-to nickname for that one.

Season is another word name turned rare baby name, used only 6 times in 2011, but it would make a great alternative to overused Christmas names, while still being appropriate all year long.

Angela is being heard less these days, but also consider Angelia, Ingela, Angelus and Argelia. You might want to avoid Angel for a few reasons.

Rudolpha at first seems to scream "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," but it actually seems very sweet and wholesome. It's also good for parents looking for frilly, feminine names with masculine nicknames: Rudy.

Emmanuelle could make a great alternative for Noelle this time of year, and it has a religious meaning fitting for Christmas.

Natale is much less heard than Natalie, Natalia and Natasha, which all share meanings.

Balthazar was one of the three wise men, along with Melchior and Caspar. 

Shepherd is a nice name loosely connected to Christmas, but Shepherdess is a great female spin on the occupation baby name, brought to my attention recently.

Poinsettia is the Christmas plant, and while names like Rose and Lily remain eternally popular, rare plant names never get used. 

Cardinal is the poinsettia of the bird world. The Christmas bird, since its bright red stands out dramatically in the snow.

Garland is one part Judy Garland, one part Christmas garland, and one part surname.

Carol hasn't ranked in a while, yet remains very Christmas appropriate. Caroline seems to be more in favor.

Tuquoise and Fairuza may seem like summer stones, but they're December's birth stones.

Evangeline (and Evangelia, Evangelista and Evangela) are the classy and gorgeous girls of the season.

Winter is doing very well and getting more popular than ever, but Snow is picking up attention as a middle name, and North is becoming a little more popular for boys in the first and middle spot.

Eirawen and Gwyneira are not to be missed if the meaning "snow white" is perfect for you.

Aspen is popular for girls, but not for boys. 

Bellamy could make for a nice "Christmas Bell" name, or the simple beauty Belle.

Nicolai is the rare variant of Nicholas, perfect for honoring none other than St. Nick himself.

Vesper has been in the news lately, but the "evening star/evening prayer" meaning is perfect for this time of year.

Eve, Gioia, and Felicity/Felice/Felicienne/Feliciana are other options.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sailor Moon Baby Names

As a long-time fan girl of Sailor Moon, I was thrilled to hear about a potential reboot of the series, which was supposed to be in 2013 and has now been pushed to 2014. It's been over 20 years since Sailor Moon first aired, but many still get a warm fuzzy feeling when they think of the show. What is not often mentioned is how well researched Takeuchi's name choices were. She covered gems, minerals, astrology, mythology and creative word choices. Today I'll talk about Sailor Moon names. Usagi Tsukino- Bunny - Serena - Princess Serenity - Sailor Moon Usagi means "rabbit" in Japanese, referring to the Japanese legend of the rabbit on the moon, and Tsukino means "moon." In the translation of the comics, Usagi was renamed Bunny appropriately. Keeping with the mythological aspects of the moon and both Greek and Roman moon goddesses, Usagi's character was given the concept of "serene," which gave her the name Serena in the American TV series (a...
3 comments
Read more

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

Witchy Baby Girl Names!

Circe Invidiosa by John William Waterhouse Have a little girl due in October? Looking to name a character? Here's my [seemingly endless] list of witchy-sounding baby names. Most of them also fit in the "clunky but cool" category, or "vintage." Most plants, trees, herbs, spices, flowers, gems, space and nature names fit the bill, because in stories and current practice these things are useful to witches. I've put any actual witch names from legend, myth, literature, movies, etc in bold and up front. I have not considered the names of actual, living people or their Pagan names, and I've left out any characters that only have a surname, or truly ridiculous given names. In the second half you'll see a list of names that, to my knowledge, have not been used for witch characters. Please know that this is not a complete list. Wikipedia has an almost complete list you can view  here . Tabitha, Samantha, Endora, Clara, Serena  (Bewitched) Katrina...
25 comments
Read more