Once Upon a Time Baby Names

Emerald is May's birthstone. There were 124 baby girls named Emerald in 2011, which jumped up to 193 girls given the name in 2015, now ranking just below the top 1000 at #1357. Esmeralda, which means "emerald," has been much more popular, with 942 births in 2011, while Emeraude, the French version, has seen no love. Jade, another green gemstone, is also very popular, with 2,655 births in 2011. Both Esmeralda and Jade ranked in the top 1000, along with Ruby, Pearl and Diamond. An obvious nickname for Emerald is Emmy. Emerald is the green variant of Beryl, which was a popular name decades ago and is now considered vintage. Emerald was considered the stone of the goddess Venus, which just so happens to be the ruling planet of May's astrological sign: Taurus, the bull. It was also thought to be the fourth foundation in the Kingdom of Heaven in Revelations. (FYI, another great May name is Tauria.)

Last year I posted a list of names that either had less than five uses during the year or were not used at all. This year (for last year) I am checking to see if that changed. I think I was wrong about one or two of them, so I left those out. Also, there were a lot more names that were not used in 2010 and 2011, but I didn't get to them. Here's the list, and how many times the name was used in 2011. Araminta, 0 Amaranta, 5 Amarantha , 0 Anatolia, 0 Arianwen, 0 Atalanta, 0 (the goddess, not the city) Beria, 0 Branwen, 5 Capucine, 0 Celandine, 0 Celesta, 0 (Celestia, Celestine 7, Celestina 19) Ceridwen, 0 Chrysanthe , 0 Coriander , 0 Crisanta , 0 Cymbeline  & Cymbelina, 0 Cypriana & Cyprienne, 0 (Cipriana 7) Delphina, 0 Desdemona, 0 Diantha, 0 Dove, 8 Doveva, 0 Elowen, 10 Endrina, 0 Eulalie , 0 (Eulalia 25) Fairuza ,0 (Faiza 23) Fenella, 0 (Fiorella 36) Fifer , 0 Fiorentina, 0 (Florentina 5, Florence 73) Fiorenza, 0 (Florencia 14) Fortuna, 0 Fortunata, 0 Freesia, 0 Galad...

I am done with my  Rare 2011 Girls Names  list, and have found quite a few interesting names I thought I'd talk about. I don't exactly remember what it was like compiling the 2010 list I made, but I do remember it being shorter, although I can't say if it really was. But overall I was very impressed with some of the names I saw. Gregoria - didn't make the 2010 list, but there were 6 births in 2011. I find this an excellent alternative to Greer/Grier for those who still want to honor a Gregory. Grey would make for a nickname, or Oria. Aradia - this is the name of a Tuscan pagan witch goddess, supposedly the daughter of Diana and Apollo. She was the subject of Aradia: Gospel of the Witches by Charles Leland, which Bewitching Names covered  here . She is also the subject of another book:  Tales of Aradia, The Last Witch , by L.A. Jones. By the way, if for some reason I was trying to name the baby of Apollo and Diana, Aradia seems utterly perfect. Quirky/eccentric names...

Here are some names I think are either worth watching or worth mentioning. First I'd like to point out that Destiny happens to be the number one girls name starting with the letter D, although if Daniela, Danielle and Daniella were combined, that would have won. Here are D names that made the top 1000 in 2011 and how many girls were given the name. I always find names starting with A, D and L the most interesting when reading the lists. You can decide for yourself if by "interesting" I mean "aggravating." Destiny 3222 Daisy 1883 Daniela 1860 Delilah 1817 Diana 1535 Danielle 1482 Delaney 1330 Daniella 1135 Dakota 1056 Danna 873 Dulce 758 Dayana 689 Daphne 671 Danica 638 Dylan 595 Dahlia 536 Desiree 477 Denise 471 Danika 469 Dana 468 Destinee 381 Diamond 357 Deborah 331 Deanna 323 Demi 321 Dixie 309 Diya 287 Dorothy 273 Dalia 266 Damaris 250 I find some of the choices outdated (Deborah, Denise) and think there are some D names I would rather have seen on the list,...

Before I get back to posting on individual names, as I do, I'd like to revel in the happiness that is the Social Security Administration's extended list, which means beyond the top 1000 most popular names. If you've read any of my previous posts you know how much I love rare (legitimate) names that are sorely underused, and that I believe there are so, so many great names out there that it's not exactly necessary to use one in the top 10, 100 or 1000. Not bad , but not necessary, not unique. I have an old friend right now expecting a baby girl she intends to name Isabella, despite the fact that she'll live her life as one of several (if not myriad) other Isabella's. It's a perfectly fine name, just not as attractive once you know there were over 21,000 babies born with that name just last year, and a few thousand more than that in 2010. I have my top 1000 favorites (Claudia, Raina, Luciana, Elena and Sophie) but I don't think I could bring myself to ever...

Well, I mentioned how there were quite a few newcomers on the girls side of the top 1000, or second-timers, but I hadn't gotten around to the boys yesterday. To be honest, I spend 90% of my time with girls names, because I don't really like boys names. I have my list of boys names that I like, let's say about 40, and the rest I don't really care for. I won't list them all, but here's an example: I like Gregory, Arthur, Orion, Forest, Archer, Auberon, Oberon, Remy, August, and Dean. I wouldn't say they all fit together, but I do think they're all sturdy names. I actually even like Gavin, Anthony and Mason, which are quite popular. But when I hear/see names like Brayden, Jayden, Bentlee, Jagger, and Sincere...I cringe. My list of boy names I like is much shorter than girls, and I have a very low tolerance for creatively spelled, trendy names in general. Anyways, enough of that. I'll get on to the lowest part of the 2011 SSA list on the boys side. We ha...

I was thinking just before the new list came out that 2010 trends had a lot of surname, masculine names, including unisex and male names on girls, as well as names with history or those that just appeared to have history. I noticed that not a whole lots of parents really research a name's meaning and history. A lot just go with what sounds good. But thankfully there has been interest in some rare gems as well, such as Cordelia, Thalia and Juniper. When the extended list comes out (the one that shows names beyond the top 1000) I will be very excited to see it. One of the names I've been watching, Audriana, ranked for the first time in 2010 at #944 and rose to #773 in 2011. Aubriana did not rank. As I go through the 2011 list I think I'll see a lot of rarities. #1000 happens to be Damaris, and some of the other gems I saw so far were Galilea, Gwyneth, Blair, Azaria, Lilia, Chana, Ingrid, Lina, Mara, Jemma, Paloma, Araceli, Pearl, Mina, Hadassah, Taraji, Myra, Mira, Giovanna, ...

Well, it finally came out, and the rankings did not change as much as I thought they would. 1. Sophia 2. Isabella 3. Emma 4. Olivia 5. Ava 6. Emily 7. Abigail 8. Madison 9. Mia 10. Chloe I am disappointed that Abigail and Chloe are in the top ten. I really don't like these names. But I am happy that Emma and Olivia are in the top ten, because although they're really popular, I think they're pretty. I really thought Addison would make it into the top ten. Addison represents a lot of naming trends at the moment - starts with an A, ends in -son, has the nickname Addy, sounds like Allison. Oh well. I also should have stuck with my first guess that Emma and Isabella would rank higher than what I predicted. 1. Jacob 2. Mason 3. William 4. Jayden 5. Noah 6. Michael 7. Ethan 8. Alexander 9. Aiden 10. Daniel I was only right about the ranks of Michael, Alexander and Daniel. I think a lot of us are fed up with Jayden, and a lot of us are probably frustrated that Twilight has made suc...

I'm back from my Google Chrome and Blogger break. First Blogger changed things, then it said I had to use Google Chrome, and if you know me, you know how stubborn I am when I'm comfortable. Anyway, apologies. The Social Security Administration will release the 2011 top baby names tomorrow. Here are my predictions as to what the new list will look like. This is the first time I've made any predictions, so tomorrow we'll see how wrong I am. Also, this is just a wild guess. I have no clue. 1.       Sophia 2.       Olivia 3.       Isabella 4.       Emma 5.       Addison 6.       Ava 7.       Lily 8.       Grace 9.       Emily 10.   Madison Also, Charlotte, Harper, Lila, Scarlett and Ruby will go up on the list. 1.       Jayden 2.  ...

The Rafferty Coat of Arms Raffterty is an Irish Gaelic surname meaning "prosperity wielder." What a unique meaning! It was originally O'Raighbheartaigh and Rabhartach. There's also a wide range of potential nicknames, from Raff to Rafe to Teddy. There were only 10 baby boys named Rafferty in 2010, 12 in 2011, and 6 in 2013, which means not a whole lot of parents have discovered Rafferty's "raffish charm." This is also the name of Jude Law's son, but you're likely to find many more people with Rafferty as a surname than a given name. Other than that, I can't find much more on this potential baby name.

This is the first year I've heard about the Gap Casting Call, and I'm always looking for unique name sightings. I finally got around to checking it out and decided to post some of the girls names that stood out among all the repeats of Emily, Ava, Makayla, Elle, Reagan, Chloe, Paisley, Carly, Kaylee, Madison, Madeleine, Brooklyn, Sydney, Olivia, Abigail, Paige, Sierra, Nevaeh, Hannah, Trinity, Isabelle, etc, which are all names that seem boring to me. I crave rare names! It was obvious at least half of all the names total were creatively spelled. Some of the ones I'm about to list appeared more than once, they just seem refreshing or elegant. I feel sorry for whoever has to go through all of these submissions to pick a winner. Wow. Over 1,400 pages of girls. I only got to page 120. I'm thinking about going back to look at popularity, because I'm assuming the ones I listed above rank higher than the ones listed below. Guinevere Athena Claudia Helena Sela Aoife Penelo...

Belle, as we're all aware thanks to Beauty and the Beast , is French for "beautiful." It's an underused, simple-yet-elegant name that is easily pronounced in our culture and abroad. It can be a good alternative to Isabelle, which is seeing extreme popularity, and can be a nickname for any number of names starting or ending in -belle, such as Rosabelle, Claribel, Bluebell, Bellerose, Amabel, Belphoebe or Arabella. She can be a Southern Belle or "Belle of the Ball." She is close to Bella, yet miles away. The name ages well and gets rave reviews. One real-life namesake was Confederate spy Belle Boyd, but there was also a World War II bomber plane called the Memphis Belle, and a character from Gone with the Wind . And here's a fun tidbit: Belle was Mr. Scrooge's fiance in Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol . Belle had not ranked in the past decade, but because of the new Disney live-action, it ranked #933 in 2016. Back in 2010 there were only ...