I went to school (late 1960’s) with Paisley Boney IV.
What got me was there were three others before him. But this was a wealthy family in town, so I assume that’s why the name was passed down.
I also went to school with **Mary Christmas ** and **Penny Cash ** (who lived next door).
I went to school, also in the late '60s, with Rose Bush.
Dimple Kapadia’s daughter is Twinkle Khanna.
Several Nancys in my family were named in honor of an ancestor named Annunziata.
As timely as today’s headlines.
Do Reuters/AP reporters read the Dope? You decide…
Actually, it’s pronounced “Throatwarbler-Mangrove.” 
I think Piper is an okay name, although it has an unpleasantly trendy vibe. “Gaby” is lame - just go for Gabrielle. But it could be worse.
Timely, although it’s sorta stupidly written. The list of names at the end helps show that not everybody gives a shit what celebrities call their kids. Celebrity baby names may be getting weirder (although I don’t think I believe that), but Emily has been the most popular girls’ name in the US for ten straight years.
The Catalan J and the Spanish Y are the same? I’ve heard Argentines (and maybe other South Americans) pronounce Y like that, but I’ve never heard it in Spain. The Catalan J - at least according to my Catalan class, which taught Barcelona dialect - sounds just like the French J. That’s not all that close to Y/LL (do you actually pronounce those differently? Because I’m not sure I’ve ever met a Spanish speaker who does.)
Alive, alive, ooh
Alive, alive, ooh
Singing cockels and mussels, alive, alive ooh!
This reminds me of the Seinfeld when they are trying to figure out the woman’s name that rhymes with a body part…"Gipple? Hest? Celeste? "
Madison.
Meaning “son of soldier” (Madison… get it? 
) it has been an increasingly popular girls name since 1984, when Darryl Hannah’s character took the name from a NYC street sign (Madison Ave, of course).
In short: there are many little girls running around who’s first name was meant to be a joke in a movie.
It doesn’t matter which direction you go. Even old names will suddenly become popular and then you look like you’re trying to be trendy.
My maiden name is long and German. Not especially common.
My brother named his first daughter Olivia Marie.
Later that week, another Olivia Marie LastName was born, in the same hospital.
And now Olivia seems to crop up everywhere.
Olivia’s been on the trendy list for a few years now. It’s a very nice name, but it just seems to happen that everyone notices that at the same time . . .
Yep. Olivia is (I think) 6 now. And I think my brother said that before she was born the name was barely on people’s radar. The year after she was born it was in the top 10. Or something like that. My numbers are pulled out of the aether.
What causes that? Did a famous Olivia make news that year or something?
My sister was born in Louisiana, mere days after Hurrican Camille struck. My parents have joked ever since (and there is much truth to what they say) that Camille would have been an appropriate name.
My daughter, however, who is seven, has a different take on it. Her name is Katrina. And is she ever sick of the phrase “Katrina victims”. Every time she hears the phrase it sends her into a rant about how the people in charge of naming storms are cruel and heartless, dooming her to a lifetime of ridicule. I think she’ll get over it someday.
At least according to the authors of Freakonomics, there’s not much evidence that famous people’s names influence common baby names all that much - it’s more the case that names given by upper-class people sort of filter down to their poorer acquaintances.
My cousin Andrew had a similar problem after Hurricane Andrew. It eventually passes.
I once taught at a school where they were twin boys names Cu and Cu-Cu, just like the clock, only a different spelling.
I don’t think anything really triggers most name fads. People just decide it’s a nice name and they all decide it at the same time. Frex, my parents named me Sarah Elizabeth. I was born in 1984 and (at the time) they didn’t know of a single other baby named Sarah. There have been at least three other Sarahs on my floor every year of college so far. So goddamn many Sarahs, many of whom sport Elizabeth as a middle name. The thing is, my parents thought they were just giving me a lovely name that nothing offensive rhymed with and that would serve me well as an adult. (And it has so far.) Other than Andrew Lloyd Webber divorcing his wife Sarah and marrying another one in 1984, I’m not aware of any news event presaging the popularity of the name.
I went to kindergarten with triplet sisters named Nina, Pinta, and Maria.
That’s kind of cute, actually. But Pinta is not such a great name on its own.
At my elementary school, there was two brothers who were called Frankie and Ricky. I once got a look at the official class list and discovered that one of them was actually named Toffee. Yes, the kid was a fighter, likely as a result of teasing he had received from others who had learned the sordid truth.