All was fine and dandy until I read an article about violence in the Bible. It vaguely mentioned Phineas as a name from the Bible used as a talisman by white supremacists. What!?!

That was a shock to me too. According to the Anti-Defamation League, the Phineas Priesthood is “a violent credo of vengeance that has gained some popularity among white supremacists and other extremists in recent years.” I’d never heard of the Phineas Priesthood before–not even when Julia Roberts named her son Phinnaeus a few years ago.

Virginia doesn’t want to give up her favorite name, but she also “can’t live with such an association,” so she was hoping for some name suggestions. Other names she’s considering include Joel and Samuel (for boys) and Sigrid, Phoebe, Elisabeth, and Anne (for girls). All are family names.

First, a few thoughts:

• I doubt many people are aware that white supremacists use Phineas as a code word. It’s an odious association, but maybe it’s also obscure enough that it’s not worth worrying about…?
• I really like Sigrid and Phoebe–they’re both significant and unusual. Especially Sigrid. (Phoebe is being used more and more every year, so it might not be unusual for long.)

And now, name suggestions. Here are some unusual-but-not-bizarre boy names that I think Virginia might like:

And some girl names:

What other names would you suggest to Virginia? (And, what’s your take on the Phineas dilemma?)

Update: The baby has arrived! Click here to learn the baby’s name.

I’m 35 weeks pregnant and my DH and I still can’t find a name. Maybe it’s because we would like to incorporate too much into the name or maybe we’re just unsure if we want a trendy name/classic name. I think we are trying to find both in one name, yet can’t.

Our DD is named Lilia Josephine. We both love that it takes a name that is recognizable such as “Lily” and puts a spin on it, so that she will indeed be the only “Lilia” in her class even if their are other girls named “Lily”.

[...]

The name must contain Anne/a in either the fn or mn. Also, she will be born and living in Hawaii the first 2 years of her life. We would love to incorporate that into the mix somehow (hence, Isla).

On their list right now is:

I really like Norah, Annelise, Isla and Gabrielle/a. I think any of them would sound good with Lilia. I especially like the first three because they bring something more than style to the table. Annelise has the Anne connection, Isla has the Hawaii connection, and Norah has a distinct set of letters/sounds.

I’m not too keen on the other five names, though. Sierra, Abriana and Abrielle don’t seem right to me in terms of style. They remind me of modern-trendy names like Alexis and Brianna, whereas Lilia reminds of old fashioned-trendy names like Isabella and Olivia. Layla and Leora worry me because they’re so similar to Lilia–same first letter, same last letter, same length. I think it would be wiser to choose a name with at least a different first initial.

Suggestions (inspired by Hawaii)

I love the idea of Isla symbolizing Hawaii. Other names that might work are the names of historical Hawaiian royals. Here are some that I like with Lilia:

• Analea – The good news is that it could satisfy the Anne/a requirement. The bad news is that it could be mispronounced “anally.” Probably best as a middle name.
• Emalani/Emmalani – I don’t think Hawaiian words typically contain double consonants, so the second spelling may have been influenced by Emma.
• Eva
• Miriam
• Theresa
• Victoria, Victoria, Victoria, Victoria

I didn’t include Lydia because, as with Layla and Leora, I think it’s uncomfortably close to Lilia.

Suggestions (based on style)

I tried to come up with names that remind me of Lilia (old fashioned with a twist), that aren’t too laden with L- and I-sounds, and that have some sort of connection to Anne/a.

• Anastasia – not related to Anna, but looks & sounds like it could be.
• Annetta – Italian diminutive of Anna, though it also sounds like an altered form of Annette.
• Bryony – a little like Abriana.
• Dorothea, Dorothy
• Georgia, Georgina
• Hannah – early form of Anna.
• Iona – refers to an island in Scotland. (And might be derived from the Old Norse word for island.)
• Irena
• Junia – could be seen as a spin on June, though it’s a legit name in its own right.
• Lisanne – same elements as Annelise, but reordered.
• Nanette – French diminutive of Anne.
• Rosa, Rosalia
• Sophia, Sophie, maybe Sophronia
• Vivian, Viviana

Combinations

Considering only names on the shortlist, I like the pairings Isla Annelise and Norah Annelise. (Though I wish the A-sounds at the end of Isla and Norah didn’t blend with the A of Annalise.)

Of all the names above, let’s see…I might go for Hannah Victoria, Annetta Theresa and Junia Analea.

Now it’s your turn: Of the names above, which are your favorites for the sister of Lilia Josephine? What other names would you add to the mix? What first/middle combinations would you suggest to Shana?

An intriguing mix, isn’t it?

Even before reading the list, though, my very first thought was: L-names should probably be avoided. I like the four L-names on the shortlist–Laurence especially–but I would hate for Zach to feel like the odd one out.

Another thought I had was: How about an A-name or a B-name? The current first letters come from the middle, end, and middle of the alphabet, respectively, so why not swing back to the beginning? A pendular name pattern. It might be a silly idea, but there it is. Along these lines I like Anastasia, Alfred and Arthur (all great names) and maybe also: Abraham (Abe), Ada, Alice, Amelia, Antonia, Archibald (Archie), Barney, Benjamin, Bernadette and Bernard.

Now, getting past this talk of patterns…

I really like Marlena, Caitlin, Winefred and Freddie. But I prefer the spelling Winifred, and I think Freddie would be even better as a nickname for something like Frederick or Alfred (which is already on the list). I’m so-so on Joshua in this case.

I was caught off guard by Willa-May, Eva-May, Catya and Myro. The first two stood out because of the hyphens, but as soon as I got over the punctuation I realized they’re both very cute. Catya and Myro, though, I’m not as excited about. Catya sounds rather exotic as the sister of, say, Lorna. (I’m also not used to seeing it spelled with a C.) And Myro is just exotic in general. I could see Myron or Milo working with this group, but I don’t think Myro fits as well.

Here are a few other ideas:

Which of the above names do you like best with Lorna, Zach and Louis? What other advice or suggestions would you offer to Maisie?

Update: The baby is here! Scroll down to see what name Maisie chose.

I think it’s unfortunate that unusual celebrity baby names receive so much attention. Segments on Entertainment Tonight, pages in People Magazine, entire VH1 specials…not to mention all the blog buzz. (Yup, I’m guilty.) It’s a ridiculous amount of positive reinforcement for a practice that probably shouldn’t be encouraged.

So I thought I’d put together a list of celebrities who have given their children normal names, like Samuel and Christina–names you’ve heard before, names that would never make the headlines for being peculiar. So far, the list stretches back nearly 80 years and features more than 80 celebrities:

• Mark Wahlberg named his children Ella, Michael, Brendan and Margaret.
• Maya Rudolph and Paul Thomas Anderson named their daughters Pearl and Lucille.
• Colin Farrell named his sons James and Henry.
• Julie Delpy named her son Leo.
• Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick named their children James, Marion and Tabitha.
• Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber named their sons Alexander and Samuel.
• Salma Hayek named her daughter Valentina.
• Amanda Peet named her daughter Frances.
• Steve Zahn named his children Henry and Audrey.
• Ricky Martin named his twin sons Matteo and Valentino.
• Jack Black named his sons Samuel and Thomas.
• Ewan McGregor named his biological daughters Clara and Esther.
• Kate Winslet named her children Mia and Joe.
• Julia Ormond named her daughter Sophie.
• Natalie Merchant named her daughter Lucia.
• Celine Dion named her son René-Charles.
• Rachel Weisz named her son Henry.
• Kellie Martin named her daughter Margaret.
• Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard named their daughter Ramona.
• Christian Bale named his daughter Emmeline.
• Tina Fey named her daughter Alice.
• Bill Paxton named his children James and Lydia.
• Felicity Huffman and William H. Macy named their daughters Sofia and Georgia.
• Chris O’Donnell named his children Lily, Christopher, Charles, Finley and Maeve.
• Jodie Foster named her sons Charles and Christopher.
• Dennis Quaid named his children Jack, Thomas and Zoe.
• Warren Beatty and Annette Bening named their children Kathlyn, Benjamin, Isabel and Ella.
• Heather Locklear and Richie Sambora named their daughter Ava.
• Ed Harris named his daughter Lily.
• Kenny G named his sons Max and Noah.
• Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins named their sons Jack and Miles.
• Phil Collins named his children Simon, Lily, Nicholas and Matthew.
• Meryl Streep named her children Henry, Mary, Grace and Louisa.
• Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love named their daughter Frances.
• Liam Neeson and Natasha Richardson named their sons Micheál and Daniel.
• Kiefer Sutherland named his daughter Sarah.
• Mel Gibson named his children Hannah, Edward, Christian, William, Louis, Milo, Thomas and Lucia.
• Kevin Kline and Phoebe Cates named their children Owen and Greta.
• Michelle Pfeiffer named her biological son John.
• Diane Lane named her daughter Eleanor.
• Denzel Washington named his children John, Katia, Olivia and Malcolm.
• Bette Midler named her daughter Sophie.
• Michael Keaton named his son Sean.
• Sigourney Weaver named her daughter Charlotte.
• Tim Allen named his daughters Katherine and Elizabeth.
• Harrison Ford named his children Benjamin, Willard, Malcolm and Georgia.
• Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver named their children Katherine, Christina, Patrick and Christopher.
• Robert DeNiro named his sons Raphael, Elliott, Julian and Aaron.
• Sophia Loren named her sons Carlo and Edoardo.
• John Lennon named his sons John and Sean.
• Bruce Lee named his children Brandon and Shannon.
• Telly Savalas named his children Christina, Penelope, Candace, Nicholas, Christian and Ariana.
• Paul McCartney named his children Mary, Stella, James and Beatrice.
• Bing Crosby named his children Gary, Dennis, Phillip, Lindsay, Harry, Mary and Nathaniel.
• Joan Rivers named her daughter Melissa.
• Sean Connery named his son Jason.
• Jack Lemmon named his children Christopher and Courtney.
• Robert Redford named his children Scott, James, Shauna and Amy.
• Bob Dylan named his biological children Jesse, Anna, Samuel, Jakob and Desiree.
• Paul Newman named his children Scott, Susan, Stephanie, Elinor, Melissa and Claire.
• John F. and Jacqueline Kennedy named their children Arabella, Caroline, John and Patrick.
• Grace Kelly named her children Caroline, Albert and Stephanie.
• William Holden named his sons Peter and Scott.
• Robert Mitchum named his children James, Christopher and Petrina.
• Kirk Douglas named his sons Michael, Joel, Peter and Eric.
• Judy Garland named her children Liza, Lorna and Joseph.
• James Stewart named his twin daughters Judy and Kelly.
• James Cagney named his children James and Cathleen.
• Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall named their children Stephen and Leslie.
• Gregory Peck named his children Jonathan, Stephen, Carey, Anthony and Cecilia.
• Elizabeth Taylor named her biological children Michael, Christopher and Elizabeth.
• Alec Guinness named his son Matthew.
• Deborah Kerr named her daughters Melanie and Francesca.
• Betty Grable named her daughters Victoria and Jessica.
• Henry Fonda named his biological children Jane and Peter.
• Pablo Picasso named his children Paul, Maria, Claude and Paloma.
• Vivien Leigh named her daughter Suzanne.
• Marlene Dietrich named her daughter Maria.
• Gary Cooper named his daughter Maria.

I know I’ve missed dozens of other famous people with well-named children. Who else can you come up with?

This may not be the answer you want to hear, but: nope. There’s simply no way to guarantee that a boy name won’t suddenly become trendy for girls. (A movie mermaid was all it took for the name Madison — a name with the word “son” right in there — to become a girl name.)

No boy names are girl-proof, but some are certainly girl-resistant. Which ones? Here are five types I’ve come up with:

1. Boy names with unstylish elements, such as “bert” and “stan.” If a boy name isn’t fashionable enough to be popular for boys, it shouldn’t be too tempting to use for girls either.

2. Boy names with few vowels. They tend to sound more masculine than other names.

3. Boy names with length. Most of today’s popular unisex names stop at two syllables.

4. Boy names with hard endings, such as D, K and T. Many of the boy names being used by girls end with softer consonants like L, N and R.

5. Boy names with well-known feminine forms. If there’s a readily available girl-version, doesn’t it seem silly to use the masculine form for a female?

As I mentioned, there’s never a guarantee. (A female Scrubs character is named Elliot — will that be the next to go? How about Blake, thanks to Blake Lively?) But I think boy names that fit into the above categories are relatively safe bets.

Are there any other types of names you’d add to the list?

I tried to come up with suggestions that (like Lucinda) are old-fashioned and/or Latin-based. Also, because Lucinda and the surname share several consonants, I aimed for names that add some new sounds to the mix. Here’s the result:

My preliminary list included a bunch of long names. I cut most of them…but the ones below I liked too much not to mention:

Which of the above do you like best with Lucinda? What other names would you suggest?

She and her husband like different types of names, so let’s tackle one gender at a time.

For a girl, I like (stodgy?) old fashioned names like Matilda, Agatha, and Wilhelmina, and he likes more common names like Kate and Anna.

I looked for girl names that have an old-fashioned feel, but a contemporary look/sound (i.e. shorter, simpler, more melodic than Matilda, Agatha, Wilhelmina). Here’s what I came up with:

Now boys:

For a boy, I love the more classical / romantic Oliver and Frederick, but my husband likes the more (stalwart? masculine? mainstream?) Connor and Owen.

Finding middle-ground male names was a bit trickier, but I think most of the names below fit the bill. (I also sprinkled in a few random others that I happen to like with Harvey.)

Which of the names above do you like best? What other names would you suggest to Kim and her husband?

Update – The baby has arrived! Scroll down to see what name Kim chose.

I’ve loved the names Sophia and Olivia for about 10 years, but now as I am about to have my own baby girl, these names are very popular. I’m looking for girl names that are old fashioned, a tad unusual, and don’t clash with our names, Nathan and Debra. So far Silvia/Silvie is my front runner but my husband is not in love with it. I’d love suggestions.

Many expectant parents seem to be in the same boat regarding names like Sophia and Olivia (…and Isabella, and Hannah, and so on).

Luckily, there are plenty of other old-fashioned names out there. For instance, none of the following are super-popular on a national level right now (though a few, like Valeria and Lydia, do have the potential to become popular in the next few years):

I’d intended to exclude all D- and N-names (for a distinct first initial)…but Dorothy I kept. I like how it both begins with a D (as Debra does) and includes a Th (as Nathan does). A cute way to pay tribute to Mom and Dad, maybe?

Let me know what other names you would suggest!

Update: The baby is here! Scroll down to the last comment to find out which name Debra chose.

I’ve always been called by my middle name, Beth. My father’s mother lived with me & my parents until her death, and I was named for her, so having two Georgias in the house would have been a little confusing. I also picked up the nickname Maddy about eleven years ago. (I adopted one of my character’s names as a chatroom handle and it stuck, then got picked up in the “real” world when everyone at work needed to differentiate me from the “other” Beth in the same area.)

Beth’s actual first name, Georgia, has been moderately popular in the U.S. for well over a century. It ranked 381st in the nation the year she was born, and 273rd in 2006.

The name Beth has not been so evenly popular: it was within the top-100 the year she was born, but had fallen to 856th place by 2006.

What does Beth like about her name?

I’ve come to like the full version for the same reason I used to hate it – it sounds like it’s straight out of Dogpatch, Arkansas.

(Beth lives in New York, but her entire family is from Arkansas.)

What does Beth not like about her name?

I never really felt like “Beth” fit me, although people always tell me it’s pretty. It also gets butchered a LOT, especially over the phone. I get called Bess, Bessie, Betty, Becky, even Liz/Lizzy because everyone assumes it’s short for Elizabeth. (Ironically, it’s not Elizabeth because my mother despises the nickname “Liz.”)

Thank you, Georgia Beth!

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1. Savannah (#30), Savanna (#230), Savanah (#625), Savana (#931)
2. Sydney (#34), Sidney (#423), Sydnee (#769)
3. Brooklyn (#67), Brooklynn (#237)
4. Jordan (#97), Jordyn (#178)
5. Alexandria (#147)
6. Cheyenne (#171), Cheyanne (#657), Shyanne (#726), Shyann (#975)
7. Dakota (#191)
8. Chelsea (#192), Chelsey (#790)
9. Paris (#260)
10. Carolina (#281)
11. Georgia (#273)
12. Brittany (#318), Britney (#474), Brittney (#626)
13. Asia (#332)
14. London (#353)
15. America (#458)
16. Kenya (#523), Kenia (#874)
17. India (#568)
18. Haven (#610)
19. Monserrat (#702) (based on Montserrat)
20. Meadow (#804)
21. Phoenix (#816)
22. Montana (#868)
23. Adelaide (#921)

Ireland, which were ranked in 2005, has fallen off the list.

Here’s the list for boys.