Category Archives: Place Names

Baby Named Elora After Gorge in Ontario

I was reminded of this story when I saw the name Elora on yesterday’s list of baby girl names outside the top 1,000: Several years ago, Elaine Yuen named her daughter Elora after the Elora Gorge in Ontario, Canada. She was mainly paying tribute to fond memories of hiking in the area, but also liked [...]
Also posted in Baby Name Stories, Baby Names, Girl Names, Unique Names | Tagged , ,

Baby Named After Highway Exit in Pennsylvania

I know of dozens of babies that were named after cars. (And jeeps!) But this is the only one I know of that was named for a highway exit: Susie and Dan McLaughlin of Meadville, Pennsylvania, were expecting a baby boy in the summer of 1998. When Susie went into labor, they got into Susie’s [...]
Also posted in Baby Name Stories, Baby Names, Boy Names, Unique Names | Tagged , ,

Boxer Floyd Patterson Named Baby After Street Sign

On 30 November 1956, Floyd Patterson won the world heavyweight boxing championship by defeating Archie Moore in Chicago. That same night, Patterson’s wife Sandra gave birth to a baby girl in New York. Two days later, both fighters appeared on the Sunday night Steve Allen Show. Patterson told Allen that his baby girl had been [...]
Also posted in Baby Name Stories, Baby Names, Girl Names, Unique Names | Tagged , , ,

First Airplane Baby, Born in 1929, Named Airlene

On 26 October 1929, a baby girl was born in an airplane flying above Miami, Florida. It was no accident. Dr. Thomas W. Evans and his wife Margaret D. Evans had chartered a Fokker trimotor for the very purpose of having the first air-born baby. They took off from the 1-year-old Pan American Field (now [...]
Also posted in Baby Name Stories, Baby Names, Girl Names, Unique Names | Tagged , ,

Baby Name Story – Karina, After the Kara Sea

In early August, 1933, Soviet steamship Chelyuskin set out on the 4,500-mile journey from Murmansk (a Russian port near Finland) to Vladivostok (a Russian port near China). Over 100 sailors and scientists were aboard. They aimed to prove that a non-icebreaker could traverse the Northern Sea Route in a single season. Weeks later, a baby [...]
Also posted in Baby Name Stories, Baby Names, Girl Names | Tagged

Baby Name Story – Gala

In 2007, a UK woman named Shelley Smith went into labor at Gala Bingo, a bingo hall in West Yorkshire. She gave birth 20 minutes later at a hospital, but didn’t forget the bingo hall when she named her daughter Mika Jade Gala. The only other gambling-related baby names I can think of are GoldenPalace.com [...]
Also posted in Baby Name Stories, Baby Names, Girl Names | Tagged , , , ,

Baby Name Story – Cleveland

Back in 1910, Mr. and Mrs. Stanislaus Kottarsky were traveling by ship from Austria to the United States. They were ultimately bound for Cleveland, Ohio. What was the name of the ship? The SS Cleveland, coincidentally. So when Mrs. Kottarsky gave birth to a son during the journey, the couple decided to stick with the [...]
Also posted in Baby Name Stories, Baby Names, Boy Names, Unique Names | Tagged ,

Baby Names in the News

Headline-grabbing baby names are a weakness of mine. I’ve blogged about dozens over the years, but I’ve never really kept track of all the posts…until now! Here’s a timeline of all those newsworthy baby names, sorted by the year in which each baby was born: 1892: Numidian 1903: Sarto 1909: Theodore 1910: Cleveland, Sufficient 1919: [...]
Also posted in Baby Name Stories, Baby Names, Boy Names, Girl Names, Unique Names | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Baby Name Story – Taylor, Named for Chip Shop

Clare Ricci visited Taylor’s Fish and Chip Shop every day for chips and curry while she was pregnant. When her daughter arrived in late 2005, Clare’s “family and friends weren’t surprised” to learn that she’d named the baby Taylor after the chip shop. (To be fair, the name Taylor was already under consideration. But the [...]
Also posted in Baby Name Stories, Baby Names, Girl Names, Popular Names | Tagged ,

Popular and Unique Baby Names in Quebec in 2009

The most popular baby names in the province of Quebec in 2009 were: Boys Girls William Olivier Thomas Nathan Alexis Felix Gabriel Samuel Antoine Xavier Léa Florence Emma Rosalie Jade Juliette Camille Gabrielle Maika Mia Now that that’s out of the way, it’s time for the fun stuff. Here are some of the baby names [...]
Also posted in Baby Names, Boy Names, Girl Names, Popular Names, Religious Names, Unique Names | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,