In 2014 I featured a series of blog posts introducing you to 2,014 names. For the most part they were names that were brand new to me as well. Some names may be more familiar but I found the meaning or origin or some other aspect of the name made it worthy of inclusion here. You may love some of the names, you may hate some, but hopefully you enjoy learning about all of them.

Thursday, July 21, 2016

Saturday's Sampling of Names

GIRLS



BOYS

Bayliss
-French, meaning "bailiff".
Below are 25 names that were among those most frequently used for babies last year in the U.S.

116 Damian3,474 Delilah 2,706
117 Carlos3,400 Andrea 2,699
118 Max3,398 Natalia 2,686
119 Harrison3,316 Lauren 2,677
120 Weston3,305 Morgan 2,670
121 Brantley3,282 Rylee 2,668
122 Braxton3,278 Sydney 2,647
123 Axel3,229 Adalynn 2,612
124 Diego3,218 Mary 2,602
125 Abel3,216 Ximena 2,591
126 Wesley3,213 Jade 2,549
127 Santiago3,202 Liliana 2,545
128 Jesus3,166 Brielle 2,519
129 Silas3,153 Ivy 2,489
130 Giovanni3,118 Trinity 2,485
131 Bryce3,114 Josephine 2,477
132 Jayce3,105 Adalyn 2,450
133 Bryson3,088 Jocelyn 2,441
134 Alex3,085 Emery 2,409
135 Everett3,032 Adeline 2,391
136 George3,032 Jordyn 2,362
137 Eric3,028 Ariel 2,332
138 Ivan3,028 Everly 2,315
139 Emmett3,026 Lilly 2,294
140 Kaiden3,006 Paige 2,278

Trends here that I like:

X appropriateness

--- not everyone minds their ps and qs these days when it comes to spelling or how to overdo something in a stylish way versus in a 'gauche' way. Max, Alex, and Ximena are examples of doing things appropriately.

One syllable wellness

--- sometimes people make very poor choices of which one syllable name to use. One syllables can draw a lot of attention or be demure, depending, and either is a fine reason for using a one syllable name for your child. If you do it well. Paige and Max are great examples. I've come to appreciate Bryce, also (spell it wrong and now you've done the name and your child a disservice. Yes, Brice is fine. It's the odd stuff to stay away from). Please remember to pair the one syllable name well also. Paige Simone, very cool. Max Tex --- oh God NO!!

Handsome to the end

--- the surname trend is still going quite strong. I like typical use of surnames as first names, such as Harrison, but also names you might not have thought to use (Ellington comes to mind). But do steer clear of surnames that are unattractive as first names, or as first names on the wrong gender. Bryson on a boy is fantastic, but on a girl, horrible. Braxton as a first name is just a bad idea. I can't guess where this trend got started. It would do well to stop.

Sunday Best

--- The Bible is a great resource for baby names and I'm glad to see some of the better ones this high on the SSA list. Mary, Abel, Ariel, and Delilah.




Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Some want a place in the sun, and some prefer the shade

I thought it would be good to look at the 15 names that hang just below the top 100 baby names from 2015.

They are:

101 Tristan
Alexandra
102 Roman
Hadley
103 Leonardo
Eliana
104 Camden
Sophie
105 Brody
London
106 Luis
Elena
107 Miles
Kimberly
108 Micah
Bailey
109 Vincent
Maria
110 Justin
Luna
111 Greyson
Willow
112 Declan
Jasmine
113 Maxwell
Kinsley
114 Juan
Valentina
115 Cole
Kayla


I rhink these are mostly good names. I would match them up in combos like this:

Tristan Cole
Justin Miles
Vincent Micah
Maxwell Brody

Sophie Valentina
Maria Kimberly
Jasmine Luna
Elena London
Willow Alexandra

Making Use of the SSA Top 100 Baby Names of 2015

The 10 best combos I could come up with (boys and girls) using the bottom 50 names of the top 100 names from last year:

Thomas Blake
Robert Aaron
Jeremiah Adam
Brayden Josiah
Ian Theodore
Zachary Easton
Nathaniel Ezra
Hudson Leo
Adrian Sawyer
Jordan Elias



Katherine Julia
Lucy Autumn
Annabelle Cora
Clara Isabelle
Sarah Naomi
Madeline Aurora
Alice Eleanor
Sadie Alyssa
Faith Vivian
Hazel Caroline




NTMN - 6

GIRLS

Abelona

Anina

Aninta

Athy

Cleary 

Eleason

Rhodey

Williamtina




BOYS

Armwell

Bartle

Gerkin

Godardus

Hastings

Hynaman

Langhorn

Lynford

Merchant

Mifflin

Nace

Pekah

Theobald