baby names

[flea]

My coworker had her baby today - Catherine Eloise, to be called Eloise. Big brother is John Emerson (Jack).

I met siblings recently named Rowan (f) and Braden (f). I have now met 3 Rowans, all female; Casper has a Roan (male) in her class but it's pronounced a little differently. I gather Rowan used to be a male name, but apparently no longer. (I've never met any Bradens before.)

Another interesting sibset: Katie Sue and Grier (m). One hears of celebrity Greers, always female, but I've never known of a Grier.

Comments

[jesseh.livejournal.com]

Maybe they thought Rosey was too girly! For Grier, I mean.

[dxmachina.livejournal.com]

Hah! X-post!

[jesseh.livejournal.com]

GMTA.

[dxmachina.livejournal.com]

If she is to be called Eloise, why not just name her Eloise Catherine?

There is Rosey Grier, also male, but I guess it's not the same.

[casperflea.livejournal.com]

In the South this name pattern isn't uncommon for girls. I've seen it most often when the daughter has the mother's name but goes by her middle name - thus I know a mother-daughter pair named Carol and Carol Faulkner, known ad Faulkner, and another pair Catherine and Catherine Adelaide, known as Addy. My guess is Catherine is the baby's grandmother's or aunt's name in this case (her mother's name is Emily).

[casperflea.livejournal.com]

Yes, confirmed this morning - Catherine is the baby's grandmother's name.

[casperflea.livejournal.com]

Oh, I had heard of Rosey Grier, of course, but I didn't realize he subdued Sirhan Sirhan AND did macrame! Whoa.

[dxmachina.livejournal.com]

It is a little known fact that the police found Sirhan trussed up like a Spider-Man villain in an oversized macrame plant hanger.

[hecubot.livejournal.com]

Rowan is still a boy name out here in NorCal.

Some notable names from this year's 12 y.o. Little League tryouts:

Oscar
Dixon
Chet
Gianni
Walter
Coulson
Orion
Dixon

[casperflea.livejournal.com]

TWO Dixons? Or did you accidentally put him twice?

[hecubot.livejournal.com]

Just one! Sorry. He was actually on my team last year. An excellent young man, easy going, polite and a good ball player.

[forodwaith.livejournal.com]

I've known 2 or 3 young Bradens personally - one was a good friend of Sean's last year (moved away) - and I've certainly heard the name quite widely used. It seems to be part of the same male name trend as Clay(ton), Colt(on), etc.

[casperflea.livejournal.com]

I've heard OF Bra(y)den for a boy, but never met one. And this is a girl!

[holli.livejournal.com]

Yes, we have a boy Brayden at work. My favorites, though, are the family with three children name Carter, Hunter, and Troy. Guess which two are girls!

[casperflea.livejournal.com]

Oh, gee. That is hard. Carter has to be a girl. I'ma go with Hunter as the boy.

[holli.livejournal.com]

Actually, that's correct! Good job. Most people guess Troy is the boy, but in fact she is not.

(This year, among new students, we have a Lula, a Lulu, and a Lola. Apparently this the the new name-that-end-in-Bella.)

[dxmachina.livejournal.com]

Hi, I'm Troy McClure. You May remember me from such naming abominations as "A Boy Named Sue" and "A Girl Named Zippy"...

[holli.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I forgot my absolute favorite work family: brothers named Griffin and Phoenix. We have speculated that, if they ever had a sister, she would be named Unicorn.

[veejane.livejournal.com]

I am under the vague impression that all botanical names are moving toward the female: or anyway, can you think of any extant male ones? (I did see an Italian movie with a protagonist named Elm -- Olmo -- but the movie was made in the 70s.) Ash -- short for something -- has become neuter; Hyacinth is no more; Holly is female; if you want to name your boy-child after nature, it seems, you have to go with geological and geographical names (Clive, Ridge, Bay, and I am sure there is a generation named Ravine just waiting to be born).

[casperflea.livejournal.com]

I knew a guy named Oak in high school. But, as you say, 70s.

[katie-m.livejournal.com]

I knew a boy named Berry in grad school! Granted, it was environmental grad school, so it attracted a certain type of person.

[katie-m.livejournal.com]

I actually have a wee baby cousin (male) named Rowan, so it's not exclusively female yet. Parents are from MA, spent the last four years or so in TX, and now live in NC.

[(Anonymous)]

I went to school with 2 brothers named Lark and Sage. And to make matters worse, their last name was Marie. And to make them even worse, they were French Canadian (and so spoke with accents). It was a brutal, brutal trifecta in my WASPY hometown.

A sibling set I encountered in NH: Riley, Dillon, Caden, and darn if I can remember the other 2 similar-style names. Dillon ("Dilly") was the only girl, though.

Clare