Category Archives: Baby Names from Music

Musical Baby Name – Hally from “Listen to the Mocking Bird”

“Listen to the Mocking Bird” (1855) was one of Septimus Winner’s most popular songs. Between 1855 and 1905, about 20 million copies of the song were sold. Time’s 1937 Homage to Winner mentions: Many an ante-bellum baby was named after Hally, the fictitious girl over whom the song moons: I’m dreaming now of Hally, sweet Hally, sweet [...]
Also posted in Baby Name Trends, Baby Names, Girl Names | Tagged , , , , ,

Names in Song, a.k.a. My New YouTube Channel

Your responses to last week’s Names I’ve Heard in Song Recently inspired me to finally start a Names in Song YouTube channel. See, I’ve been collecting songs-with-names for years. I now have a list of over 4,500 songs and nothing to do with that list. (Beyond compulsively add to it.) So I’m going to use [...]
Also posted in Baby Names, Boy Names, Girl Names | Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

Names I’ve Heard in Song Recently

Names I’ve heard in song in the last few weeks: Alejandro, Fernando and Roberto in “Alejandro” (audio) by Lady Gaga. Isaiah, Charlotte, Dawn and Myfanwy in “The Rake’s Song” (video) by The Decemberists. Lavinia in “Lavinia” (video) by The Veils. Silvia in “Silvia” (video) by Miike Snow. “The Rake’s Song” is notable because all of those names actually refer to [...]
Also posted in Baby Names, Boy Names, Girl Names | Tagged , , , , , , , ,

Can You Think of Any Baby Name Prompts?

I’ve added a Baby Name Prompts widget to the top of my right sidebar. (The widget was originally intended to display quotations, but I’ve repurposed it.) I’m hoping visitors will be able to use it as a handy brainstorming tool–once I’ve got enough questions in the database, anyway. So far, I’ve only got a handful. [...]
Also posted in Baby Name Inspiration, Baby Names, Baby Names from Family, Baby Names from Sports, Meaningful Baby Names

Unusual Real Names – Feramorz, Goyn, Trevanion, Whitehead

Here’s another batch of uncommon names. All of the men below have been mayors of U.S. cities. Abdiel Daily Crossman (1804-1859) – mayor of New Orleans, Louisiana from 1846 to 1854. Alcaeus Hooper (1859-1938) – mayor of Baltimore, Maryland from 1895 to 1897. deLesseps Story Morrison (1912-1964) – mayor of New Orleans, Louisiana from 1946 to 1961. Feramorz Little [...]
Also posted in Baby Names, Baby Names from Politics, Boy Names | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Unusual Baby Names from Quebec – Awesome, Dung, Jde, Luzer

Over the weekend, I read through the giant database of Quebec baby names for 2008. Most of the names there were familiar English or French names, and a few were (very long!) Native American names, but a handful of others really stood out. Some examples: Anakin & Anakyn (male) – Five of the former, two of [...]
Also posted in Baby Names, Baby Names from Politics, Boy Names, Girl Names, Unique Baby Names

Unusual Real Names – Beveridge, Craphonso, Rivers, Scientific

Here’s another batch of unusual-but-real names. This time, all were made in the U.S.A. Beveridge Webster (born in 1908) – pianist. Chloethiel Woodard Smith (born in 1910) – architect and urban planner. Craphonso Thorpe (born in 1983) – football player. (Craphonso = Craig + Alphonso.) Fitzedward Hall (born in 1825) – Sanskrit scholar and OED contributor. Mahonri Macintosh Young (born [...]
Also posted in Baby Names, Baby Names from Sports, Boy Names, Girl Names, Unique Baby Names | Tagged , , , , , , , ,