Flower names for girls never go out of style, and for good reason!  　　Flower names have a fresh femininity which has appealed to parents throughout the ages, but they can also make a meaningful choice.  　　Choosing a seasonal flower name can be a sweet way to connect your baby girl...

　　Guest blogger Deb Levy, who writes with her husband about life in these recessionary times at And For Poorer, had three wonderful girls’ names all picked out. The only thing she was missing was the daughters to give them to. 　　“It’s a girl!” the doctor cried after the gazillionth push....

　　What could be a greater gift to bestow on your daughter than a name with a heroic namesake, someone with an inspiring story to add a layer of pride to your little girl’s  feelings about her name–and give her great material for a school report? 　　The following is a list of...

　　We looked at trailblazing women in Part One of this blog yesterday—bold and courageous achievers who would prove worthy namesakes for a daughter.  Now we turn to those with major accomplishments in the arts—a varied mix of writers, artists, and musicians of the far and fairly recent  past—many of whom seem to...

　　Today’s guest blogger, Ilya Welfeld, describes her journey towards the perfect–and inevitable –name for her daughter. 　　Is it wrong to admit that I sometimes want another child just to name it?  That at times, that desire is so powerful as to supersede memories of chafed breasts, sleepless nausea and the...

　　For several years now, word names have been singled out as being at the extreme edge of cool—we may have been guilty of pushing that edge ourselves at times.  But I’m starting to wonder if it’s time to pull back a little, and put the brakes on.  Celebrities have tried to outdo...

　　I was combing through the Top 1000 Names of 1880 the other day for another project (ah, the glamorous life of the baby name expert) and I was blown away by how many names on the list had been totally forgotten.  I don’t mean just marginalized, like Ethel or Beulah,...

　　Within the pages of books from all periods of literary history—from classical, metaphysical and Elizabethan poetry and plays to the Romantics and the Realists, right up to modern novels—can be found gems of names that have been lost to time, either because they’ve been identified with a singular character or simply...

　　This blog is adapted from our most recent book, Beyond Ava & Aiden: The Enlightened Guide to Naming Your Baby 　　When people look for baby names online, they often put in a search for unique names. Some of them are trying to find names that are unusual and distinctive, but...

　　One of the staples of the holiday season is The Nutcracker ballet, making this the perfect moment  for balletomane Heather Stevenson‘s guest blog on the enchanted world of exotic ballerina names. 　　Many little girls proclaim that they want to be ballerinas when they grow up—most are drawn to the sequined tutus, the rhinestone...

　　Guest blogge__r GRETA GOSS went through life as Peggy, a name she hated.  And then one day she ran out of business cards.  This blog originally appeared on More magazine’s site. 　　I’d always hated my name.  When I was fourteen, I found a book in the library called “The History...

　　Feeling that geographical names have become kind of ho-hum?  It’s true that many people have tired of Paris and some of the over-visited names from the American West like Cheyenne, Sierra, Dakota and Dallas.  But that’s no reason to write off the whole category—we can renew our passports and look...

　　What are the most popular girls’ names in the U.S.?  If you consult the official Social Security list, or most of the state lists, you’ll get one version.  With each name counted individually by spelling — Sophia and Sofia are counted separately, in other words — the national list of...