Whenever I speak to one of my most trusted name correspondents from her loft in a hip bastion of lower NYC, I can usually depend on her to give me some unexpected name news.  A while back, Emily was the one who first told me that Oscar was over before most of the country even knew it was in.  Several months ago she gave me the news flash that Sylvia was hot.  Sylvia?  I’m still waiting on that one.  But yesterday she informed me that she knew two Djangos under the age of two, and several Anaises.  Now that was news I could work with.

　　Django and Anais are part of a new group of musical and literary namesake names that seem to take on a life of their own once they start to catch on.  Sure, parents who name their child Tennyson (as Russell Crowe did) are obviously thinking of the poet, and the same is true of Mingus (Helena Christensen) and Lennon (Liam Gallagher) and Hendrix (Zakk Wylde), but are all those who are calling their kids Django (silent ‘d’) passionate fans of the jazzy rhythms of the seminal French jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt or do they just like the jazzy rhythm of the name?  Are the little Anaises being named for the writer Anais Nin, known as much for her erotica as for her diaries, or are the parents just attracted to  the name’s lovely sound?  And all those little Becketts in the playground–how many degrees of separation between them and the author of “Krapp’s Last Tape”?–not to mention all the boy and now girl baby Jaggers: are their parents really thinking of aging rocker Mick, or do they just like the swagger of Jagger?

　　That said, here are some more musician and writer names that you might like whether or not you’re aficionados of their work:

　　MUSICIANS

　　ABBA

　　AMADEUS

　　ARLO

　　BIX

　　BOWIE

　　CALLOWAY

　　CROSBY

　　GUTHRIE

　　JOSS

　　MORRISON

　　PLACIDO

　　RAMONE

　　ZEVON

　　WRITERS

　　ANGELOU

　　BLY

　　BRONTE

　　CARVER

　　DASHIELL

　　DIDION

　　DJUNA (a cousin of Django)

　　FLANNERY

　　FROST

　　JUNOT

　　LORCA

　　MILLAY

　　SVEVO

　　THURBER

　　ZADIE