Author Georgia Clark and Lindsay Ratowsky, founder of Brightside and co-founder of Esther Perel Global Media, live in Brooklyn. They welcomed their daughter Rozella Jayne Ratowsky-Clark on February 27, 2022.
We spoke with Georgia, whose sixth novel, Island Time, was released on June 14. Below, she shares Rozella's name story with us.
The origin of the name is Lithuanian — Ryzella and her brother Fred were born in the US, but their parents emigrated from Lithuania. We changed the Y to an O also because it’s sonically resonant to rosella, which is an Australian reference.
I’m Australian, and rosellas are a common, colorful parrot. It’s also the name of a fruit that my mother Jayne makes jam from every year. Rozella’s middle name is to honor my lovely mum.
One thing we really like about Rozella is the nicknames. If you go to Australia, Australians will give you a nickname no matter what your name is. Rozella has a lot of nickname potential — we’re still deciding between Rozie (rhymes with cozy) and Zella. And depending on what kind of person she is, there are a lot of different ways you can go with the name, like Ro or Roze.
We feel like Rozella is feminine. It’s a little bit edgy. It’s flexible! We did want to give our child a unique name but not so unique. We pranked my brother, whose greatest fear in this world was that I would give my child a “weird celebrity name.” We told him the baby’s name was Parsley Jazz.
I never put temporary names in, because temp tags will become the character names. You never want to say, “Let’s just call him Adam for now and I’ll think of the name later,” because instantly that character will just become an Adam. You won’t be able to see it any other way. If I’m writing and I don’t have a name, I’ll put an X or something that you just can’t use.
I remember asking my mother about the origin of my name, wanting to have a cool story. Kind of like what I’m giving my daughter. But the story was simply, “There was a girl in my class at school called Georgia and I liked her.”
I like my full name, Georgia Clark. Georgia is sort of unusual and Clark is strong. Especially with an author name, you want to have a good last name.
We’re double barreling Rozella’s last name. Rozella Jayne Ratowsky-Clark. We didn’t want to go down the path of choosing either of our names — we want to have an equal relationship with her.
Of course, there’s the other option of changing your last name. I have friends who have done that. But I’m an older mom and later into my career. We never really went down that path.
Childhood really affects your thinking on things. My next-door neighbors growing up were the Holiday-Smiths. I never thought of that as being an unusual name or hard to say. Ratowsky-Clark feels the same to me. I don’t think it’s so much of a mouthful!
I’ve been here thirteen years now, and I still have very strong ties to Australia. At first, I didn’t really identify as strongly with my Australian heritage. I moved here in my late twenties. I think I was looking for an adventure and didn’t really care about where I came from. As the years went on, the pull to home was stronger and stronger.
I wanted a name that was able to bridge the gap and would be something that Australians would enjoy. I’m curious to see the reaction, because rosella is such a common word, as the bird and the fruit. It’s not a name that Australians would give to their children.
I wanted to invite the possibility of an interesting life for our daughter. We’re a non-traditional family, so I liked the idea of giving a name that was not so off-the-wall that only Grimes would use it, but still inviting good luck and the possibility of being a little bit different.
And if I think about it, if I was to meet someone whose name is Rozella Ratowsky-Clark, I think I would be expecting an interesting person. I remember reading psychology studies on how we assume interesting names mean interesting people, and we’ll make different choices when interacting with that person. I think it’s a really positive thing, because then you’re assuming someone is creative.
I write romantic comedies and one of the things that I’m wanting to create in a lead is someone that you’d like to sit next to at a dinner party. That’s how to create an appealing character, because you read a book to go along on their journey.
That part of the thinking went into naming our daughter. Someone that you’d want to sit next to at a dinner party. Someone who’s going to have an interesting life, and you want to find out what they’re doing next.
It’s Liss — a nickname of Melissa. At one point, her lover reflects on the name. She loves the name — it’s only one consonant off from “kiss.” But then it’s also one letter off from “loss.” It’s a beautiful, mysterious, sad, funny, interesting name, and a little queer as well. And it’s such a great fit. I could really feel my character with the name Liss.
The south end of the park is baby central in the morning. It becomes a hipster hangout later in the day, with picnics and booze and people hanging out. In the summertime there are beach volleyball courts. But before that happens, it’s baby time. That’s where we’ll be setting up camp basically every day.
My mother knitted us two mobiles. One is crochet jellyfish, hanging above the changing room table. That was really meaningful. The other one is pieces of sea glass — my wife’s family really likes collecting sea glass, so I feel like that’s a nice nod to them.
I’ve managed to hang on to my teddy bear all these years as well. He’s sitting right above the bed, ready for his moment.
I have a lot of feminist ideals around parenting, but my personal style is quite feminine. Parenting is an interesting juxtaposition of not wanting to gender an essentially genderless human at this stage in her life with my own personal love of cute pink things. My wife is slightly more of a tomboy than I am. We’re making it work!
That’s how I would name a character in a story. I’m in the name process right now for a character in my new book who is funny and relatable. I’m thinking of names that give you a good feeling and make you want to smile.
Pay attention and be open for the universe to whisper something in your ear and be receptive to it. You’ll be surprised what happens when you’re wide-open.
Thank you so much, Georgia!
Read more about Georgia's novel Island Time and view ordering options on her website.
See the entire How I Named My Baby Collection here, and for the chance to participate yourself, fill out our interest form.
Sophie Kihm has been writing for Nameberry since 2015. She has contributed stories on the top 2020s names, Gen Z names, and cottagecore baby names. Sophie is Nameberry’s resident Name Guru to the Stars, where she suggests names for celebrity babies. She also manages the Nameberry Instagram and Pinterest.
Sophie Kihm's articles on names have run on People, Today, The Huffington Post, and more. She has been quoted as a name expert by The Washington Post, People, The Huffington Post, and more. You can follow her personally on Instagram or Pinterest, or contact her at [email protected]. Sophie lives in Chicago.
View all of Sophie Kihm's articlesChevron - Right