Baby Names Blog

GazetteLive has a charming story from the North of England about a mother who went into labour on Remembrance Sunday (November 11th).

The mother, Nicola Dunning, spent most of the 11th in labour and gave birth to her baby early on Monday morning.

Initially expecting a son, the couple’s boy names were blown out the window when their baby daughter was born.

Considering the significance of the day, they settled on the name Poppy.

“My waters broke at around 2am on the Sunday morning, so we thought she must definitely be on her way. We went to James Cook University Hospital, but they told us to come back when my contractions were stronger,” said Nicola.

Nicola returned to the hospital a few hours later and following a 14-hour labour - her 8lb 6oz baby daughter arrived.

She said: “I’d been kind of convinced that I was going to have a baby boy, so we had picked out names for a boy.

“But then in the hospital when I had to think of girl’s names I thought of the name Poppy, which I thought would be nice with it just having been Remembrance Sunday.”

A poster campaign against the discrimination of homosexuals has caused controversy today.

The poster depicts a newly born infant wearing a name tag on its wrist, but in place of a name, the word ‘homosexual’ is written.

The text accompanying the image reads “Sexual orientation is not a choice”. The photograph is part of a campaign by the Tuscany regional government in Italy.

Thousands of these posters are printed and ready for display across the region.

It’s no surprise that The poster has been condemned by conservative politicians, with Lucio Volonte, a leading parliamentarian for the Union of Christian Democrats, commenting that “exploiting newborns to suggest that homosexual tendencies are innate is a misleading and shameful act.”

Gay groups have also voiced negative opinions on the poster. Gianni Vattimo, an Italian philosopher, gay rights activist and European Parliament member described the campaign “excessive”. The slogan “is too biology-centric. Of course for a homosexual it is natural to be gay, but I’m not too sure it is determined by genetics”, Vattimo said.

What are your thoughts on this poster? Is it over the top, or simply necessary to push the message of equality? Leave your comments below!

via AAP

Here’s a classic example of a world event causing ripples in the world of baby names. A whopping 3590 Chinese citizens bear the name Aoyun, meaning Olympics in Mandarin. This should come as no surprise, considering the impending 2008 Olympic Games to be staged in Beijing.

It seems that this unique moniker is not solely being used to honour the Games themselves, but instead with hopes of injecting some Olympian spirit into Chinese youth. Not that the country lacks in that department - at Athens 2004, China were second only to the USA.

It is thought that some pregnant Chinese woman are “aiming” to give birth at 8.08pm, August 8th 2008, to coincide with the opening ceremony.

There are five Chinese characters that comprise the phrase “Beijing Olympic Games”; Bei, Jing, Ao, Yun and Hui. These are among the 4,100 surnames available for use in Chinese culture. Interestingly, only 100 of these surnames are frequently used, meaning that 84.8% of the population is named using 2.5% of the available surnames.

The survey, carried out by id5.cn and found via ChinaDaily, points out that 2008 will be a record-setting bumper year for Olympics baby names.

Long gone are Mary, Margaret, John and James – favorite baby names of New Yorkers having kids in 1898. Madison and Mia, along with Jayden and Justin, are more the style of today’s New York City parent. These names ranked among the top 10 most popular baby names of 2006, according to the list released today by the Health Department. Longtime favorites Ashley and Michael took the number-one spots among the 125,506 babies born here last year.

Top 10 boy names in New York (2006): Michael, Daniel, Matthew, Joshua, Justin, David, Christopher, Joseph, Anthony, Jayden

Top 10 girl names in New York (2006): Ashley, Emily, Isabella, Sarah, Kayla, Sophia, Mia, Madison, Brianna, Samantha

Michael reigned as king of boys’ names, as he has since 1980. Matthew bumped David out of the top five this year and newcomer Jayden claimed the 10th spot, leaving Nicholas off the list. For girls, Ashley nudged out Emily for number one, reclaiming the position she’d held from 1992-2002. Newcomers Mia and Madison entered the top 10, and Olivia and Rachel lost their slots.

Breaking it down into ethnic groups, Michael and Sarah were the top White names, Joshua and Kayla the top Black names, Ashley and Angel the top Hispanic names and Emily and Ryan the top Asia/Pacific names. The Hispanic names are interesting, as they are both unisex name (in this case, Ashley is the girl).

There were numerous geographical names that cropped up, including London, Milan, Egypt and Kenya. There were even ten girls named Trany!

The full data can be downloaded from the NYC government site (pdf).

A new bill in Venezuela looks set to ban the use of all baby names, apart from a list of 100 approved monikers.

The bill’s ambition, according to a draft submitted to municipal offices here for review, is to “preserve the equilibrium and integral development of the child” by preventing parents from giving newborns names that expose them to ridicule or are “extravagant or hard to pronounce in the official language,” Spanish.

The bill will also eliminate unisex names that leave doubts as to the holder’s gender.

The authorities may yet bend to public will. Germán Yépez, an official with the National Electoral Council, said the measure originated after children were given names like Superman and Batman. Still, he said in comments broadcast on radio, he welcomed “this type of positive reaction and suggestions.”

Not everyone denounces the bill. Temutchin del Espíritu Santo Rojas Fernández, 25, a computer programmer, explained that his first name was inspired by the birth name of Genghis Khan, often spelled Temujin in English. He said he frequently had to correct the spelling of his name on official documents.

This is a pretty shocking move, and as against ridiculous names as I am, I think that choice is of huge importance.

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