Posted on 11/22/2011 12:29:09 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
I’ve always been fascinated by name trends. It’s interesting to see how certain names ebb and flow in popularity.
The name game is tough to win. If you hop on a trend, it could be cool for the first few years but, chances are, that name is going to feel dated when your child is reaching adulthood. That’s why I’ve always passed over fads for classic names. However, when naming my son a classic name I inadvertently hopped aboard a Hollywood trend. A twofer! Rare!
If you’re looking ahead to 2012 wondering what names are going to be all the rage, look no further. The creator of nameberry.com, Pamela Redmond Satran tells Huffington Post what the hottest trends for 2012 will be.
1. Combining Favorite Names. Most parents try to avoid super popular names. That can be tough when the great names surge up the list and your left between picking a name you love and having your daughter be one of four Avas in her class. The new trend, altering popular names slightly. As Satran says “Number 1 girls’ name Isabella gives rise to stylistically-related choices Arabella and Annabelle; Olivia, the top name in Britain, spawns spelling variation Alivia; Emma and Emily promote brother name Emmett.”
2. A slew of parents are looking to the animal kingdom to give their kids fearsome names. “Bear, Fox, Wolf, Lynx and a range of names from Leo to Lionel that mean lion, and then there are the perhaps-even-fiercer names like Breaker, Ranger, and Wilder.”
3. Sweet vintage names make a comeback. Especially names ending in ie. For example: Lottie and Hattie, Addie, Nettie and Nellie.
4. Modern hero surnames. Satran says Mariah Carey nailed it when she named her daughter Monroe, to honor her heroine, Marilyn Monroe. Other examples of surnames or heros in movies, life and literature used as first names: “Landry (as in football coach Tom), Gatsby (as in fictional hero The Great), and Palin (yes, as in her).”
5. 2012 will be the year of M names, Satran predicts. Examples: “Maeve, Magdalena, Maisie, Marguerite, Marlo/Marlowe, May, Mila, Millie, and Minnie, and for boys, Magnus, Micah, Miller, Milo, Montgomery, Moses and MONICA!
Hey, it beats Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz ("The spoil speeds, the prey hastes") from Isaiah 8:3 or Arphaxad from Genesis 11.
...or Noah, who was one of the daughters of Zelophehad who complained about land inheritance in Numbers 27...
Cheers!
Yes, for names picked at random from the Bible, she could have done a lot worse. But maybe the family just liked the Book of Esther. She had a younger sister named Poratha, who is another son of Haman (mentioned in verse 8), and a brother named Darius. Maybe they just liked Persian names. This was a Scots-Irish family in Virginia so not likely to have any Persian blood.
That’s a great story...I am telling it to people...getting good laughs!
Crusty old Chiefs! I knew an old Chief Aviation Ordinanceman who was as grumpy in the morning as the day is long, and he hated people saying cheerily “Good morning, Chief!”
He said: “WHEN I RETIRE, I AM GOING TO GET ME A DOG, AND I AM GOING TO NAME IT CHIEF. EVERY MORNING, WHEN I SEE THAT DOG, I AM GOING TO KICK IT AND SAY “GOOD MORNING, CHIEF!””
Glad you enjoyed it. I shared your story with the wife of a USMC Colonel (Ret) and she said it sounds just like her husband in the morning - no one speaks to him before Noon since he has retired - maybe in their genes.
Your last name isn't Reno, is it?
Hey, it’s better than hypotenuse...
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