Showing posts with label baby names. Show all posts
Showing posts with label baby names. Show all posts
20 July 2016
30 January 2013
BABY NAME BOOKS : GET A CLUE!
I just love baby name books, because of the meanings attributed to the names, and all the different spellings offered. I wonder, "What would someone named Ursula be like?" (Having never met an Ursula in real life!)
Though there are many baby name books out there, as well as many baby name sites on the web, there simply cannot be a totally comprehensive index of names.
One of the pleasures of genealogy is coming across names you've never heard of before, names from history, names that have gone out of fashion, names waiting to be resurrected by the naming of a new baby, or perhaps the renaming a poet does for themselves!
Genealogy research - doing those charts - sometimes makes us aware of how a name has been used and repeated in a family for generations.
One research quest I worked on featured the name Dicey for women. I don't think I ever made it to the Original Dicey, but I did get back to the family just arrived from Scotland in the 1700's.
Watching the feminine forms of masculine names such as Julianna, the great grandmother of Julius, may or may not give us a clue about the relationship. In this case, no one in America had ever heard of the great grandmother in Hungary, but I was able to confirm that in childhood it was this woman, not Julius' mother, who provided him care as an infant. The family must have known it was going to be that way before he was born.
These days there are many creative names. I find this particularly true in the Black community. Using baby books and other references I found that one of the most popular Black names in America, Lakeisha, is a made up name. In other words, not one book I looked at said that it's a name that came from Africa, or some other ethnic group and one book said it was an invention. (I even have a friend who named her dog Lakeisha!)
Next month, February, I'll be looking into African American research and history once again remembering how interesting using the Freedman Bank Records database is, and the mystery of African-American / Black given and surnames can be.
Though there are many baby name books out there, as well as many baby name sites on the web, there simply cannot be a totally comprehensive index of names.
One of the pleasures of genealogy is coming across names you've never heard of before, names from history, names that have gone out of fashion, names waiting to be resurrected by the naming of a new baby, or perhaps the renaming a poet does for themselves!
Genealogy research - doing those charts - sometimes makes us aware of how a name has been used and repeated in a family for generations.
One research quest I worked on featured the name Dicey for women. I don't think I ever made it to the Original Dicey, but I did get back to the family just arrived from Scotland in the 1700's.
Watching the feminine forms of masculine names such as Julianna, the great grandmother of Julius, may or may not give us a clue about the relationship. In this case, no one in America had ever heard of the great grandmother in Hungary, but I was able to confirm that in childhood it was this woman, not Julius' mother, who provided him care as an infant. The family must have known it was going to be that way before he was born.
These days there are many creative names. I find this particularly true in the Black community. Using baby books and other references I found that one of the most popular Black names in America, Lakeisha, is a made up name. In other words, not one book I looked at said that it's a name that came from Africa, or some other ethnic group and one book said it was an invention. (I even have a friend who named her dog Lakeisha!)
Next month, February, I'll be looking into African American research and history once again remembering how interesting using the Freedman Bank Records database is, and the mystery of African-American / Black given and surnames can be.
16 January 2013
WILL THE ROYAL BABY BE A VICTORIA OR A PHILLIP?
NAMING A ROYAL BABY : article from DIGITAL JOURNAL OP ED by Martin Kujawa link to full article.
I enjoyed reading Kujawa's article and speculated that the Royal Couple will probably follow tradition, and maybe have a whole lot of people butting in about what to name their baby, which, reading other articles, was announced to be due in July and most likely not a twin! Meanwhile in Great Britain there is word that there will be some changes. First that the child will be titled Princess or Prince right away, second that if it be a female, she will still be first in line to the thone, and third that the Royal personage destined to be King or Queen may marry a Catholic, and finally, that Prince Charles is wondering about what this all means because the King or Queen of England is also head of the church.
OK, so I am not expecting this Royal Baby to be named Tiffany or Roger!
I enjoyed reading Kujawa's article and speculated that the Royal Couple will probably follow tradition, and maybe have a whole lot of people butting in about what to name their baby, which, reading other articles, was announced to be due in July and most likely not a twin! Meanwhile in Great Britain there is word that there will be some changes. First that the child will be titled Princess or Prince right away, second that if it be a female, she will still be first in line to the thone, and third that the Royal personage destined to be King or Queen may marry a Catholic, and finally, that Prince Charles is wondering about what this all means because the King or Queen of England is also head of the church.
OK, so I am not expecting this Royal Baby to be named Tiffany or Roger!
11 September 2012
BABY NAMES WILLIAM and ELIZABETH STANDS THE TEST OF TIME
Yahoo news link to this article!
'But one name has resolutely stood the test of time: William. One hundred years later, "William" has fallen only one slot, from No. 2 to No. 3, in the list of popular male names. "James" has also managed to stick around, dropping from No. 3 in 1911 to No. 17 in 2011.
For girls, only "Elizabeth" has stayed on the list, dropping just four spots over the past century, from No. 7 to No. 11."
Looking at the 2011 chart I see that many of the names for girls are not clearly feminine names.
'But one name has resolutely stood the test of time: William. One hundred years later, "William" has fallen only one slot, from No. 2 to No. 3, in the list of popular male names. "James" has also managed to stick around, dropping from No. 3 in 1911 to No. 17 in 2011.
For girls, only "Elizabeth" has stayed on the list, dropping just four spots over the past century, from No. 7 to No. 11."
Looking at the 2011 chart I see that many of the names for girls are not clearly feminine names.
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