I work as a teaching assistant at a preschool. It doesn’t pay much, but it’s a very fun and rewarding job. Let me tell you, I’d much rather be tying shoes, reading Dr. Seuss, and singing silly songs than flipping burgers or bagging groceries. The kids are, for the most part, very pleasant to work with. For those who are interested, here are the names of the children in my preschool class (if I know their siblings names, they shall be in parantheses):

Boys

Bobby (yes, that’s his full name!) (and Dylan)
Elijah
Jack
Brandon
Landon (and Deirdre)
Joseph
Justin
Eryk
Zachary
Michael
Daniel “Danny”

Girls

Makayla (and Samuel)
Skylar
Ashlyn (and Kasey [f])
Lizelle
Isabella
Aimee (pronounced like Amy, not the French way) (and Julianne)
Mitzie

There, I think that’s all of them! The children range in age from 3-5, but most of them are 4. Not a single John (though there is a Jack) or Mary, or a Jacob or Emily, for that matter. Interestingly, none of the kids share a name, either. The names are all fairly typical. I live in Rhode Island, a relatively conservative naming area, so there aren’t many oddballs, except for Lizelle and perhaps Mitzie. My favorite names on the list (I do have my favorite kids, even though I’m not supposed to!) are Elijah (it may be trendy, but it’s not tryndee, and I love the Biblical character), Joseph, Zachary, Michael, Daniel, and Aimee. Yeah, I only like Aimee on the girls’ list. I really, really wish Makayla’s name was spelled Michaela. In fact, I often pretend it is, but then I have to give myself a reality check when it comes time to write her name on something! She’s such a sweetheart, and doesn’t deserve a name that I consider to be misspelled. Do any of you ever find yourselves wishing you could rename people? I get that feeling way too much. It bugs me so much when a nice person has an awful name.

What do you all think?

Anyway, back to my latest crushes: Deborah and Susan. I’ve had Susanna on my long list for a while, but my 12-year-old sister has forbade me from using it, as she has her heart set on using it for her first daughter. I went through a brief -ette names craze when I was around eleven, and Suzette was one I really loved for a while (although Linnet was my favorite at the time). I also went through a Hebrew names kick around this time last year, and was absolutely smitten with Shoshana. But I’ve never really considered plain old Susan until now. It’s undeniably feminine and very pretty, at least to my ear, yet has a sort of quiet dignity that I so desire in female names. It was the #2 name for baby girls from 1957-1960, bested only by Mary. During its heyday, about 2% of all baby girls were named Susan. It remained among the top 10 until 1969, and steadily went down after that, leaving the top 100 in 1985, and the top 500 in 2006. It now stands at #643. I know plenty of adults named Susan, but most of them go by Sue. I’m not really a huge fan of Sue, especially as one who may very well end up as a lawyer. I like Susie, though–the only problem is that my grandmother has had a large amount of cats in her lifetime, and nearly all of them have been named Susie (kind of like that T Mobile commercial, in which that older couple had eleven bull dogs, all named Steve), so my father’s side of the family might snicker at it a little. Sukie is a possibility, but I’m not that crazy about it. I don’t really think Susan needs a nickname, though. It’s short, and while it is a bit mature, it doesn’t seem to beg for a nickname to soften it up for a little girl, like Margaret.

Another one that I’ve been considering is Deborah, which also reached as high as number two in the 1950s. It’s even lower than Susan now, at #780, but for whatever reason I think a Deborah born now would fit in with her classmates a little better than a Susan. It’s a comfy, happy Biblical name, and sounds like a good sister to Hannah, Sarah, and Leah, especially with its two-syllables (at least, that’s the way we pronounce it in New England) and -ah ending. Susan, however, stands much more. In the era of either ultra-feminine or ultra-masculine names for girls, names like Susan, Karen, and Ann have fallen out of favor.

Anyways, back to Deborah. She’s one of my favorite biblical characters; she was the only female judge of Israel and led the country to victory in a war. I like to use her (along with women like Priscilla and my namesake, Lydia) as a counterexample to Christians who don’t think women should be in positions of leadership (I think that Paul’s so called “misogynist rant” has been hugely misinterpreted, by the way. If interested, I could direct you to some literature that supports my argument). I think she’s a pretty cool namesake to have, much better than the biblical Sarah (whom I never liked; she always seemed cruel and overly cynical to me). I don’t like Debbie at all, but I can tolerate Deb.

Although I know quite a few Susans and one or two Deborahs, I’m not close enough to any of them for them to be worthy namesakes for a future daughter, so I’d be far more likely to use Lisa than either of these.

What do you all think? Would either of these work on a little girl born today, or should we give them a few years before reviving them?

We perceived that our cat, Mary Magdalene/Maggie, was lonely, and so, after much thought on the subject, we decided to get her a companion.

Meet Boaz, the latest addition to our family. He was a stray; animal control found him with his father and six brothers and sisters. The animal shelter originally called him Speckles, but that simply would not do for the appellation of a name nerd’s kitty (which was perfectly fine, according to the salesperson. “He doesn’t really know his name yet; he’s not exactly the brightest bulb in the box”). My family and I had tossed around names while in the process of deciding to get another cat, and had tentatively settled on Mordecai for a boy and Rhoda for a girl (keep in mind that our options were limited, as everyone in our family, aside from one hamster, has a biblical name and my father wanted to stick to that theme). But when we decided to adopt this guy, we decided that such a big name didn’t suit such a small kitty. We tossed around quite a few at home the night before we adopted him, but everything sounded too serious or had associations with another person that were too strong for one of us. Also, since Maggie is a pretty mainstream name for a pet, I wanted something a little more out of the ordinary for the other cat. I finally suggested Boaz, after Ruth’s husband and King David’s grandfather, and everyone (including my nitpicky younger brother) agreed that it was perfect.

Boaz is a wonderful cat and his name suits him. Short, sweet, but with an unexpected touch of pizzaz at the end. He usually gets called Bo or Bozo (tee-hee). He gets along quite well with Maggie, and everyone’s quite pleased all around.

So, is Boaz name nerd approved?

Lisa has been on my mind for a while. I’ve always liked the name. There’s something about it that I find quite charming. It doesn’t try to sound pretty or spunky, strong or stately, or even happy or breezy. It simply doesn’t try too hard. It is what it is, but it’s okay with that. It’s a very simple name, and one that I believe anyone can wear well. It’s pretty, though, and it doesn’t lack personality.

My love for the name may be influenced by a wonderful Lisa in my life. She’s a close family friend, and has been there for my family ever since my mother died. Some women tried to take the place of my mother after she left us, and I resented that. This woman never did. She did, however, help me with my schoolwork (especially after we started homeschooling!), take me shopping, give me much needed advice, and all sorts of practical things a mother is supposed to do with her daughter. But she did it without trying to fill her shoes, which is why I love her so. I’ve never actually called her Lisa; she’s always been a Mrs. to me, so the name doesn’t seem attatched to her. It reminds me of her, though, and it’s a very pleasant association in my mind.

Lisa was the number 1 name for baby girls from 1962 to 1969. It remained in the top 10 until 1977, and the top 20 until 1982. It took a nosedive in popularity in the 90s, and has been falling fairly steadily ever since. In 2007, it ranked at #570, and is sure to fall even further. I like that, actually. If I have a Lisa, she likely won’t meet many others with her name, and she’ll stand out from all the girls with either overly feminine or overly masculine names. Still, the name is comfortable and familiar while still being relatively rare for new babies, the way I like my girls’ names. Although it is technically a nickname for Elizabeth, it doesn’t sound nicknamey at all, only simple and no-frillsy.

I’ve been considering Eliza as a way to honor the wonderful Lisa in my life, but Eliza’s been rising in popularity for quite some time now, and that’s a bit unsettling to me. I normally don’t consider names higher than 400, and Eliza’s at 334 now (it was mostly unranked during Lisa’s heyday). Also, think of how many Elizabeths there are in the world. A great deal of them must go by Eliza, especially now that old lady is the new black. But how many go by Lisa? Surfer 60s won’t be the new black until my children have children, and we all know how awesome it is to be ahead of a trend.

So what do you all think? Eliza or Lisa? Any middle name ideas for Lisa (I’m thinking that the middle name I had picked out for Eliza, May, would be too simple with plain ol’ Lisa)? Or should I use Elizabeth and give my (hypothetical, at the moment) daughter the choice between Eliza, Lisa, and the many other attractive nicknames the name has to offer?

Also, here’s a new male name that I’ve been considering: Roger. I’d never given the name much until this season of 24. Yeah, yeah, not a very popular show with name nerds, I know. What do name nerds watch anyway? Oh no, that’s right, they read books. Hey, I read books too! I barely watch any TV, 24′s one of my few exceptions. Anyway…Roger is the name of the (female!) president’s son, who was murdered sometime in between 24: Redemption and the current season. For those who care to know, his parents are Henry and Allison, and he has one sister that we know of, Olivia. We barely see him on screen, but I hear his name so much on the show that it’s really starting to sound nice to me. Gentlemanly and intellectual, yet happy. I don’t know a thing about the name, though, and it’s a bit late for me to look it up now, but I wanted to throw that out there for all you to consider.

I’ve heard two pronunciationsfor this name: yoo-LAH-lee-uh and yoo-LAY-lee-uh. When I was ten, I preferred the former, but at the moment, I prefer the latter, as does BtN. Also worth mentioning is the French Eulalie. I don’t know one word of French, though, so it wouldn’t be wise for me to even guess how that one’s pronounced. I like it’s meaning, “to talk well”. Although, being quite the stutterer myself, this may be a bit of an ironic appellation for my daughter, especially if she inherits the trait.

Saint Eulalia of Barcelona is an interesting, if a tad morbid, namesake. I first encountered her story and her name in the book Catherine, Called Birdy. The main character (who went through a similar phase of wanting to change her name–she decided at one point that Aelgifu was a much better name for her than Catherine or Birdy, but no one would call her that) had quite the preoccupation with saints days, and made a point of writing down whose feast it was every day in her diary. Saint Eulalia’s story caught my eye. She was a thirteen-year-old virgin who was martyred under Diocletian in Barcelona. Before her death, she was subjected to thirteen tortures, the last of which was decapitation. The story goes that a dove flew out of her neck after decapitation. Maybe not the bedtime story namesake that I had growing up (I was named after both my great-grandmother and the Biblical Lydia), but still a cool person to be named after, I think.

She does seem like an odd one out amongst my girls–most of which are classics (e.g., Ann, Mary) or more conservative revivals (e.g., Mercy, Agatha). It’s my boys that I go crazy with, oddly enough (I’m looking at you, Philo). I don’t know if I’d use this one, or if it’s only to look at. Maybe I’ll try out some combos and see how I feel:

Eulalia Charis
Eulalia Damaris
Eulalia Gretchen
Eulalia Katharine
Eulalia Margaret
Eulalia Maud
Eulalia Patience

Wow, this is hard. Such a vowel heavy name isn’t easy to find a complement for.

What do you all think of Eulalia? Am I crazy, or do you think it could work?

Boys

Gideon
Jedidiah
Josiah
Seth
Isaac
Edmund
Dexter
Darius
Titus
Lester

Girls

Susanna
Joan
Phoebe
Matilda
Silvia
Eloise
Agatha
Naomi
Andrea
Jasmine
Esther
Chloe
Dinah

Her tastes resemble mine pretty closely, but I’m not entirely sure if she’s consciously imitating me or if we simply have similar tastes because we were raised in the same environment. The only one up there I can’t abide is 
Jasmine. I don’t know, something about the name screams “trashy” to me. I don’t mind Heather, though. Honestly, though, her tastes aren’t bad for a girl her age. Then again, she’s not your typical 12-year-old. She prefers Animal Planet to Hannah Montana any day and will sooner read a Nancy Drew or Royal Diaries book than Twilight (yes, her friends are all reading that now. What is this world coming to?). Not exactly a mini-me (at her age I was watching Law & Order and reading Oliver Twist and Lord of the Rings), but close enough. What do you all think? Name nerd in training?

Lindsay: This is a big one for me. It’s a family name–my father’s middle name, his uncle’s first name, and the name of several long-gone extended family members. I think it sounds so dashing on a boy, but the y ending shows a sense of fun. It has a similar feeling to Barnaby, I think. Frankly, I think it sounds quite trashy and ugly on a girl. I’ve known several wonderful female Lindsays, but I still can’t fathom why parents consider this name attractive for a girl. I may still use it as a middle name for a son, provided I can get whatever fool is crazy enough to marry me to agree. I love it too much to let it go entirely.

Ashley: I grew up knowing so many female Ashleys that I didn’t know it was originally a boys’ name/surname until I read Gone With the Wind. Ashley Wilkes wasn’t exactly my favorite character, but seeing the name on a male both surprised and delighted my little eleven-year-old mind. I love the nickname Ash for a boy, which is saying a lot, as most of my favorite male names don’t have obvious nicknames. I will admit, however, that Ashley is strictly a female name now and it would be child abuse to call my son this.

Alexis: Exotic German form of Alexander. It’s strictly a male name in Germany–it’s actually illegal to call a girl this in Deutschland–but here it’s exploded onto the girls’ scene as another way to get the nickname Lexi. Again, I’ve known some lovely girls named Alexis, but, in the words of the Teen Girl Squad: buh-arf.

MacKenzie: Now, normally, I don’t like the idea of using surnames that aren’t in one’s family tree, and MacKenzie certainly isn’t in mine. Still, this name sounds so dashing on a boy, and feels like Lindsay to me. I cannot, for the life of me, understand it’s appeal as a girls’ name.

Morgan: I’m of Welsh descent, and wish to give my children names that honor my heritage, even in a subtle way, but I have trouble finding Welsh names that I like. They sound a bit trendy and immature to my ears, even though I know many of them aren’t. I do like Morgan though–on a boy. It sounds so wholesome, yet strong. Theoretically, I should be okay with this on girls–it at least has a history as a female name (think Morgan le Fay), unlike MacKenzie and Ashley, which have only recently made the switch to the girls side–but its sound is strictly masculine to me.

What are some names that you prefer to see on boys rather than girls, or would love to use for a son of yours if they weren’t so popular with girls?

There is one association with the name that is much more dominant for me, however. One is of a family friend, Miss Judie. She was an older woman, as well as a close friend of my mother’s back when we lived in Pennsylvania. Even though my grandmothers lived relatively nearby, I saw Miss Judie a lot more than I saw her in my early childhood, and she became like a third grandmother to me. One of my first words was Judie, and as a toddler I made a habit of wandering around the house, holding the phone to my ear, repeating “Hi Judie, Hi Judie”, imitating my mother on the phone with her. Even though we moved to New England when I was five and rarely saw Miss Judie or her husband after that, she’s still my main association with the name.

I don’t like Judith. At all. I usually can’t stand names with a -th ending (the only one I can think of is Meredith), and this one is no exception. It’s even worst with the J up front — sounds so hard to me. Even if I named my daughter Judith and exclusively called her Judy, I’d still cringe every time I had to put her name on formal documents. I’m still not sure if I could live with myself if I put plain ol’ Judy on a birth certificate, though–or if my daughter could live with it. It looks a tad unprofessional, and I want to give all of my children names that they can conceivably use in a formal setting. Plus the name may be a bit flimsy, and I want my girls to have strong, no-nonsensy names that let people know that they are not to be messed with. Then again, what about Judge Judy? She redefines the phrase ”tough as nails”, and even though she goes by Judy more often than Judith, no one messes with her. I’ve considered using June, Junia, or Juno with Judy as a nickname, but perhaps that would be a bit too much of a stretch.

Here are some combos, simply off the top of my head:

Judy May
Judy Nell
Judy Calypso (love the sound, but it does seem like a bit of a mismatch)
Judy Eleanor
Judy Fern
Judy Violet
Judy Patience

June Damaris, nn Judy (maybe making the middle initial D wouldn’t make the nickname as much of a stretch?)
June Dorothea

What do you think? Could Judy stand alone, or does she need a full name? Any other ideas for full names?

Like most homeschooling weirdos, I would love to have a large family some day. At least four kids, preferably five or six, or even more (I may change my mind once I start paying for all of them, but let me have my fun for now ). However, I will never have enough kids to use up all my favorite names. I might have to get a bunch of cats or something so I can use all those charming names that I won’t be able to use after I stop spawning. And, of course, if I marry a sane person, which I plan to do as my own mental issues are more than enough for both my husband and me, my favorites may make him throw up in his mouth a little and the phrase, “you want to name our child WHAT?!?” shall be uttered by him at least twenty-seven times per pregnancy. Still, I find it very hard to narrow my lists down, and my favorites are constantly changing. But here’s one that will always be on my list in some way, shape, or form.

My first daughter shall be named some form of Ann, in honor of my mother who died when I was young. Plain old Ann itself is a lovely name. Sure, it may be a fashion no-no, but honestly, that’s part of the appeal. I could rest assured that my little Ann wouldn’t be one of 27 Anns in her homeschool co-op (most people say “class”, but, well, that doesn’t exactly apply here). It sounds very dignified, authoritative, and no-nonsensy to me, yet distinctly feminine and quietly beautiful. I love it’s look, too. I can’t stand the Anne spelling; it looks too pretentious to me and takes away from Ann’s dignity and simplicity. Ann Rosalie is currently my favorite combo. Rosalie’s frilly youthfulness balances out Ann’s simple maturity perfectly. Ann Lavinia, Ann Louise, and Ann Verena are favorites of mine, as well. Potential nicknames: Annie, Nan, and Annika (Dutch and German nickname for Anna).

However, Ann doesn’t sit well with the masses. “Too plain”, “too old-fashioned”, “not ready for a comeback yet”, they say. To be honest, I don’t give a crap about what other people think of my kid’s name, but I do care about what my kid would think of her name. Although I would like to be named Ann, the odds are against my daughter growing up to be like me, proud bearer of the rarest MBTI type in the world. I don’t want my kid to hate me for giving her a plain, unfashionable granny name. Because of this, I have using considered Annika, a Dutch and German nickname for Anna as a full name. It’s slightly more fashion forward without being too popular, and is far less dated than Ann, at least in the US. It’s pronounced something like AHN-nee-kah in German (not entirely sure about Dutch, although it’s probably the same), but I would Americanize it and pronounce it AN-ik-kuh to be closer to my mother’s name. It sounds creative, spunky, and energetic to me. Annika Maud is the combo that stuck for me, although I also like the sound and look of Annika Beth and Annika Kate. Nicknames could be Ann, Anna, Annie, Nan, Nika, and Nikki (not a fan of the last two, though). Still, I miss Ann’s authority and strength. For whatever reason, The Honorable Ann Krankenkopf (or whatever her last name ends up being) sounds much more authoritative and professional than The Honorable Annika Krankenkopf.

Another version I love, but would likely never use, is Anneliese, the lovely German combo of Anne and Lise. Anneliese Karin (KAH-rin, not Karen, you uneducated fools) sounds like the perfect little German girl: intelligent, dignified, polite, and well-mannered, at least until you piss her off. Then she throws a temper tantrum that’d make Edward Scissorhands pee his pants. And, unlike the stereotypical Irish girl, who is best known for her fits of rage, she accomplishes a great deal during these tantrums, infrequent as they may be (the Irish are just noisy; Germans, however, are incredibly destructive). There have been documented reports of a German individual singlehandedly wiping out an entire airport during one of his tantrums (what reports, you ask? um, the ones in Leviticus). Also, she holds grudges forever. Being 1/4 German, I still want to ring the neck of that kid who put gum in my hair in second grade. Oh, and she hates the French, although she has absolutely no idea why (I swear there’s a gene mutation that all Germans have that makes them hate the French, and I believe that I have inherited it. I’ve debated becoming a geneticist just so I could prove this. “See! I told you that war wasn’t Germany’s fault! It’s science, I tell you!”). Charming, isn’t she?

The thing is, I hate, HATE the English pronunciation. Sounds like anal-ease to me (the German pronunciation is more like ah-ne-LEE-zuh). I suppose I could spell it Annalisa or Annaleeza, but that takes away from the whole authentic German feel of the name and just looks tacky to me. There are also a million spellings for the anal-ease variety of the name, so not only would my perfect little German girl be constantly correcting people’s pronunciations of her name, but she’d have to spell it out constantly as well. I couldn’t do that to a kid, especially a German one. I can smell the civil lawsuits flying in now…”Your daughter set my French Poodle on fire again!” “But Mutti, that scheisskopf called me an easy butt! Vhat did you expect me to do?”

So, what do you all think? Ann or Annika? Should I reconsider Anneliese? Any more combo ideas?

Those who read my “Clinically Insane” blog could probably hazard a guess that I have a slightly bizarre obsession with names, particularly for someone of my age. Well, you’re wrong. I have an extremely bizarre obsession with names, for anyone of any age. I have the SSA popularity charts nearly committed to memory. I have several lists of names scattered randomly all over my computer and the interweb: my long list of favorites, my short list of favorites, my “if I married this or that cool dead person/fictional character these would be the names of our offspring” lists, and entire lists of fictitious families, several spanning multiple generations, and one that’s even an entire urban/hipster neighborhood (they may be snooty and have retarded political views, but they give their kids some rockin’ cool names). Often, when I go somewhere in which I know there will be several children present, I perk my ears up and take note of the names I hear, analyzing the environment I’m in by what the children are named, sometimes even jotting them down the instant I get home for future reference. In fact, I’m considering bringing a notepad with me every where I go solely for this purpose. (The other day, I went to visit a nearby preschool for a job interview. The moment our “tour guide” left me and told me to “feel free to look around”, I dragged my Fa over to the attendance chart so I could check out the kids’ names and see if this is a place I’d want to work or not. It passed with flying colors; most of the children had comfy, cozy, Biblical classics [e.g., Hannah, Benjamin[ or timeless, ageless gems [e.g., William, Katherine] for first names, with only three super trendy names in the bunch [Sydney, Ethan, and Kaylyn], only one of which I found intolerably distasteful [Kaylyn].) And I am shamelessly and obnoxiously vocal about my opinions on names, except, of course, to the bearer of the name (usually).

Well, I’ve decided that since politics is far to depressing to blog about now, I may start taking this blog in the direction of onomastics. Don’t worry, my political musings and random, witty social commentary will still show up once in a while; I’m just bored with that for the time being and desire a bit of variety. Now you can expect to see quite a bit of posts on names, whether they be names I like or dislike; names that are skyrocketing up the charts faster than Michael Phelps or names that have fallen out of favor and can’t get up; names that I’ve heard on kids or names I’d love to hear on kids, you can expect to see posts of that type of tone quite a bit from now on. Don’t like it? Too bad. It’s my blog and I do what I want.

And now, I choose to recite a list:

Names in the 2007 Top 100 That I Actually Like, In Order of Popularity

Boys

Jacob
Michael
Joshua
Daniel
Christopher (NOT Chris. Kit and Topher are fine, though.)
Andrew
Alexander
David
Joseph
John
Samuel
Benjamin
Gabriel
Elijah
Isaiah
Luke
Robert
Thomas
Lucas
Charles
Nathaniel
Henry
Timothy

Girls

Emma
Hannah
Elizabeth
Sarah
Anna
Victoria
Lillian
Katherine
Audrey
Rachel
Gabrielle
Faith
Melanie
Sara
Gianna
Mary
Caroline

In case you haven’t noticed, I LOVE seeing Biblical names on boys. They’re strong, historical, and distinctly masculine. I like to see them on girls, too, but, obviously, the choices aren’t nearly as varied and attractive for girls as they are for boys. I also like those timeless, homey names: Robert, Charles, Thomas. These may be popular, but they’re steadily popular, so they aren’t dated. If one sees the name “Harold Smith” or “Richard Smith” or “Tyler Smith” printed, one would instantly know the age of the gentleman bearing that name, in this case an elderly man, a middle aged man, and a teenaged or grade school aged boy, respectively. However, if one sees the name “Robert Smith” printed on a piece of paper, you would have no idea how old Robert Smith was simply by looking at his name. His name isn’t tied to a decade, therefore he is free to wear his name, rather than have the name wear him.

For girls, I like seeing established, distinctly feminine names. I find the boy name on girls trends to be distasteful, especially since the girls are taking away all the cool boys’ names! Fine, fine, you can take Kelly, Sidney/Sydney and Shannon, but don’t take Ashley, Robin, Taylor, and especially Alexis! But anyway…again, the timeless principle applies here too. It’s a bit harder to find such names for girls, as fashion for girls’ names tends to be much more fickle than fashion for boys’ names, but there are a few on the list that are pretty much ageless: Elizabeth, Sarah, Katherine, and to a lesser extent, Anna, Mary, and Caroline.

Of course, I’d likely never use most of these names for a child, as I’m completely opposed to having my kid be one of the masses. There are a few exceptions, though: Mary will probably be completely out of favor within a few decades or so, so it’ll be kosher for me to bestow it on my daughter by then; Elizabeth has so many nicknames to choose from that it would be relatively easy for my daughter to find a distinctive one (Eliza, Betsy, and Lisa being my favorites); and Katherine and Charles would make wonderful middle names. But I love to see these names on kids (not too many, though, as that takes away a bit of the charm), and would be quick to recommend them to those with a bun in the oven who want their child to have a “normal” name.

So, for lack of a more creative way to end this blog, what do YOU think?

(EDIT: The lists of the most popular baby names may be found here: http://www.socialsecurity.gov/OACT/babynames/ )