• Billie – Eric Dane and Rebecca Gayheart

The couple just named their newborn daughter Billie. There are a couple other famous Billies like like Billie Holiday (whose real name was Elinore Harris), Billie Jean King and of course the Billie Jean of Michael Jackson song fame. Another famous parent Carrie Fisher named her girl Billie as well.

• Lou – Heidi Klum and Seal

The power couple named their youngest  with the very boyish title Lou. Heidi said of the name that, “We had four or five names that we really liked. We wanted to wait until she came out and then we liked Lou. I liked Ellie, but she looked more like a Lou. Lou was the winner.”

• Charlie – Rebecca Rojimn and Jerry O’Connell

Charlie’s twin sister was named the utlra girly name Dolly so it’s interesting that there is such a contrast between the two names. Rebecca is apparently a really big Dolly Parton fan (hence the Dolly). As for Charlie, Jerry’s brother just happens to share that name. Good thing his name was Chuck.

• Emerson - Teri Hatcher

The name Emerson literally means Son Of Emery. But in this case it’s Daughter of Teri. But Teridaughter doesn’t really have the same ring.

• Teddy Jo – John Cougar Mellencamp

When I think of the name Teddy I think Teddy Roosevelt or Teddy Kennedy. So basically I think of robust male politicians not little girls, but it looks like John Cougar doesn’t see it that way. And the Jo really does soften it.

• Brody – Gabrielle Reece

Gaining popularity with the girl set, the name Brody still reminds me of the prep school boy who stole daddy’s keys to the Porsche.  Basically Brody Jenner of the infamous Hollywood social set.

• Scout – Bruce Willis / Demi Moore

There was a day when the name Scout was the nickname for a cute littleboy, the kid who delivered the newspaper, who cleaned up at the barber shop, or who was aiming for that next merit badge. But now, thanks to Demi and Bruce,  it’s a modern gals name that sounds totally Hollywood.

• Spencer – Kelsey Grammer

Spencer Tracy is who I immediatly think of when I think of the name Spencer. Basically a vision of someone’s white haired grandpa. But actually, it’s a pretty darn cute name for a little girl.

• Bobbi – Whitney Houston/Bobby Brown

Since Bobbi turned out to be a girl, she couldn’t very well be Bobby Jr.. So they opted for girlying it up with an ‘i’ at the end.

• Dexter – Diane Keaton

Many of the above names have become commonplace for girls such as Charlie, Bobbi and Billie. But Dexter? Not many gals walking around with that name! Diane Keaton’s daughter is named Dexter and hopefully doesn’t find any common traits with Dexter of HBO fame.

• Satchel – Spike Lee

Knowing that Spike Lee is a big sports fan, you could only assume that Satchel was named for the legendary ball player Satchel Paige. Legendary male ballplayer that is.

All in all, there is nothing at all wrong with claiming these traditionally male sounding names for the female population. It’s cool, it’s hip and non-gender specific which really is a good thing. But please stop before it gets to Lester, Ralph or Harry.

— Mother of Anon

Dear Mother of Anon,

People fantasise about what to name their babies for years before they get pregnant, but the reality can be somewhat less fantastic. You want to choose a name you feel really good about — a name that fits the kind of boy you imagine you might have. That’s no small amount of pressure. As pregnancy progresses, you’re bombarded with options and statistics: names that are so in they’re over, names about to be so in they will be over, names that were never in for good reason, and so on. Not to mention scads of people chiming in with their opinions and muddying up your instincts.

Pregnancy is chock-full of decisions, and expecting couples will often find that they’ve latched on to one of these decisions with disproportionate energy and angst. Stroller selection can eat up weeks of billable hours. Swatches for the nursery walls can lead to tears. Partly this is due to the information-overloaded culture we live in. When there are 900,000 strollers to choose from, how do you decide? (The answer, of course, is to let our experts do the work for you).

But mostly the over-thinking comes from just wanting to do right by your yet-to-be-born kid. You’re not nuts, you just care — A LOT. If you see the root of the anxiety as something sweet and loving, it can lift the burden a little and help you calm down, which, in turn, might help you decide.

There are millions of names out there, not to mention the increasingly common option of inventing your own. Some practical advice: Narrow the possibilities. Give yourself some parameters: first initials, ending sounds, unique spellings, names that connect to experiences you’ve shared, to one of your families or pasts, etc. Prioritising will bring the list to a manageable length. You can always widen your net if you’re not finding anything that fits.

Context is important. Think about the last name — the arrangement of sounds and syllables and how to complement them. Always remember to say the full name aloud as well as look at it written down. You may also have to let go of some of the context you’ve been carrying around, namely, name baggage. Your man loves Trevor, but that’s the name of the kid who gave you a wedgie at swim team practice in 1985. Ray is simply lovely, but will you always think of Romano when you say it? And the family names? You might not remember your Grandpa Henry fondly, but it’s a pretty great name! The fact is, when you name your son Trevor or Ray or Henry those other associations will soon fade. The power of your child to take over complete ownership of a name is significant. This goes for you and the others in his life. If you have a strong, truly horrible association — was Trevor’s wedgie the worst moment of your childhood? — maybe forget it. But it might be worth letting a middling connection go and trusting your yet-to-be-born child will inhabit his name in his own time and way.

Another thing you can do is stop talking to people about the name choice. This is YOUR boy, not your neighbor’s. Who cares if you neighbor’s idiot ex-husband was named Dashiell? You like it, you can use it. Though if you do want more concrete information about names — pronunciation, origin, root meaning, popularity and popular associations, check out Baby Name Wizard.

Time pressure is a common feeling at the end of pregnancy no matter what. Sometimes the deadline is just what an indecisive couple needs; you make your life easier if you fill out the birth certificate form in the hospital, so make a decision already! That said, you can actually file for the birth certificate later, and you can change a name on a birth certificate — we know people who’ve done it. There may have been a few titters at the time, but now they’ve got a kid with the name they love, and who cares about what you called Junior in the first month? Not to encourage any more vacillation, but the real deadline is a little more flexible than you might think.

Clearly, though, the decision has taken on some deep meaning for you, so it’s quite possible that your feelings about “getting the right name” might not lift as soon as the certificate is signed. It is completely normal for a name to feel “weird” or “wrong” for a while after the baby is born. He has yet to own his name. You have yet to say it a million times, to hear other people say it, to hear him say it himself. But once you do, there’s a pretty good chance that whatever name you pick is going to feel very right.

Have a question? Email parentaladvisory@babble.com.au

Short names, retro names, names with L and Felix are apparently the next “It” thing when it comes to labelling tots.

But is it always so good to be on the cutting edge?

One commenter, an employer who frequently hires young people, opened a Pandora’s Box of name debate by arguing that kids with weird or oddly spelled names might be cutesy on the playground or in kindergarten, but how about later in life, when they attempt to become professionals?

“And like it or not, names are part of first impressions. If I see two resumés and one job applicant has a respectable, solid name (say, Anna or Jacob) while the other has an “original” or alternately spelled name (say, Brylee or Dacoda) I am going to assume, rightly or not, that the latter was brought up in a household where the parents didn’t care about education (i.e., spelling) and had low aspirations for their children. Conversely, I will assume (again, rightly or wrongly) that the person with the more traditional or “normal” name was brought up with traditional or normal values. Of course this shouldn’t reflect on the kids, but really–who would you want doing your emergency C-section–a Thomas or a Crayten? An Elizabeth or a MaKayli?”

We had a similar debate in our household when trying to come up with a name for our daughter, settling on what we thought was an old fashioned name with cute kid potential but also something she could put on a business card: Star Galaxy Unicorn Bliss.

Kidding.

I have yet to encounter a wave of professionals with cutesy or too-cool-for-school names, but I’ve heard plenty around the playground. And thinking about that comment above and some of the names I’ve heard at school — Cougar, Jaguar, Treasure and Coyote (what is up with this cat trend anyway?) — it now occurs to me that I just might have second thoughts about letting someone perform a serious operation on me or a loved one if they handed me a card with my all time favourite overheard kid name: Soup. Yeah, second opinion please.

(I’m writing this on the couch while my wife sits next to me with her own laptop, and she isn’t so down on these names, arguing that by the time this hipster trend hits the professional world, cutesy names will be the norm and we won’t even notice a Treasure or a Coyote.)

Thoughts?

– Mike @ Cry It Out!

The Top five baby name trends for girls and boys after the jump:

Boys

1. The -aydens: Jayden, Aiden/Ayden and Brayden.

2. Old Testament names: Elijah, Gabriel, Nathan, Isaac, Aaron, Josiah.

3. Irish names: Brody, Liam, Aiden (Conner, surprisingly, is dropping off).

4. Western “C” names: Cooper, Carter, Colton and Chase (attorney’s at law?)

Girls

1. Sound-alike names: Chloe/Zoe, Rylee/Kylee, Aubrey/Audrey, Makayla/Layla, Peyton/Payton.

2. Faith-based names: Genesis and Leah. (Nevaeh, heaven spelled backwards, is no longer the clever shout-out to Christ it had been for the previous few years.)

3. Place names. Or, more specifically, The Place name — Brooklyn. She moves up while Sydney slides down. (Question: When is Dubuque going to get on the girl’s name hit parade that it so deserves?)

4. Madeline/Madelyn. This is the naming trend that needs to die. I don’t like to share.

So, expectant mums, spill. What are you naming your 2010 babies?

Photo: www.Adbusters.com

They opted to name their little boy Benjamin Brady. Gisele posted this message on her website: “I want to thank you all with all my heart for the immense love I have received here on the website. I am living a very special moment in my life. Benjamin is a blessing and I could not be happier.”

But Benjamin wasn’t their first choice. They apparently had a totally different name selected a couple of days before the baby’s birth. Tom Brady said in an interview that Gisele changed her mind, “She said, ‘I don’t like that name anymore.’”

Will he end up being a Ben, Benji, or will go for the three syllable Benjamin?

Source

It’s not clear whether the parents named the boy after the gadget master of the James Bond universe or the omnipotent but annoying character from the Star Trek world, or even if they just really like the seventeenth letter of the alphabet.

In any case, the Swedish Supreme Administrative Court (The Regeringsrätten) has spoken, overruling two lower courts to give the parents what they want — a boy named Q.

Personally, I don’t see a problem with unusual names. If my kids had gotten their way, my youngest son would be named either Sweetie Pie Butterfly or Firebaby. Or possibly William Shakespeare Sinasohn. Alas, our highest court (my wife and mother-in-law) overruled the kids and went with Ezra. So what’s the most unusual name you’ve encountered? Did you consider any ultra-cool names for your kids?

…Gabriel—maybe. That is apparently the name that Gisele is leaning towards.

A pal said, “One of Gisele’s five sisters is named Gabriela, and she’s always thought it was a beautiful name. Gisele was brought up a Roman Catholic, and Gabriel is an archangel, a messenger from God, in the New Testament.”

The source added, “She’s also friends with Brazilian singer-songwriter Gabriel Guerra. They met in Rio de Janerio last year, and he worte the song, “Tribute to Gisele” for her. She liked it so much she put it on her Web site.

“Tom is also having a large input on the baby’s name, and we’re joking that he’s already set aside a locker for him with his team, the New England Patriots.”

Tom and Gisele didn’t care if they were having a boy or a girl, they just want a healthy baby, but are thrilled to be having a son.  Tom is dad to John Edward Thomas, 2, with ex-girlfriend, actress Bridget Moynahan.

Source

That’s exactly what happened to Lena Corner.  Though she waited until her second son was six weeks old before settling on the name Ralph, it just never stuck. So when Ralph was six months old, she and her partner changed his name to Huxley.

In the Guardian she writes:

It’s remarkably easy to change a baby’s name before the age of one. You just fill in a form from the register office and the birth certificate gets amended. It’s a little more complicated if they have already been christened, or are over the age of one, but not much. The Name Change Company, for example, the UK’s leading deed-poll facilitators, will take care of the whole process for just £33 (around AU$64).

It’s much less easy, however, to break the news to other people.

Although my mum just laughed and my sisters encouraged me, there were mutterings about me and the future identity crisis I was creating. Ronnie [Corner's older son], who was three at the time, was a bit cross about it and insisted on using Ralph, until one day, a few weeks later, he forgot and switched seamlessly to Huxley.

I never hesitated with either of my girl’s names, but I can see Corner’s point.  You and your child will have to live with your choice for life.  If it’s not a good fit, better to fix your mistake now.  Would you or have you ever considered changing your baby’s name?

Photo: @cdharrison, Flickr

Pamela Redmond Satran runs a baby naming website and is the co-author of The Baby Name Bible. Here’s what she said about Joel and Nicole’s newly-named baby boy:

“Bird names are definitely getting hotter… Of all the animal names, bird names are the hottest.”

According to Satran, bird names have a “spiritual symbolism: they’re seen as light, one with the sky and nature and in a more uplifting, positive way than other animals, like a fox, which is more macho.”

Fox is macho? That’s news to me. Anyway, she goes on to talk about how Sparrow is usually a girl’s name, and that how it’s a trend that parents are choosing more gender neutral names. “James,” she says, is obviously a boring, conventional name in case the kid doesn’t want to be a hippie.

Here’s what she says about Sparrows second middle name “Midnight”:

“Some of the earliest African names in the US were Afternoon, Easter, Christmas and Friday,” she says. “You have to think there’s some pattern [with Harlow and Midnight].”

Source/Photo

Sparrow James Midnight Madden just doesn’t do it for Lansky, who thinks “Sparrow” just isn’t masculine enough for a boy who will some day be a man. Here’s what he had to say in a press release issued shortly after the couple’s publicist released the name:

In short, Sparrow is not a name that conveys either a distinctive, attractive image or a clear masculine identity.

In the gospel hymn “His eye is on the Sparrow,” the sparrow symbolizes one of God’s lesser creations: “His [Jesus’] eye is on the sparrow/ And I know he watches me.” Plus, if Richie and Madden had wanted to project a more masculine image—Captain Jack Sparrow, perhaps—they could have named their boy James Sparrow Midnight. Leading with Sparrow, however, it’s possible the boy may endure teasing on the playground and trouble in the dating field.

The Guru’s got a thing for clarifying gender. Lansky, author of the baby name book 5-Star Baby Name Advisor, didn’t like that Soleil Moon-Frye calls her second daughter “Jagger Blue”, both hinting at boyish-ness. In fact, he had to switch an up thumb to two down thumbs when he found out Frye was not naming a son, rather, a daughter.

Along those same lines, Lansky loves Sparrow’s older sister’s name, Harlow Kate Winter, because of the femininity, glamour and “attractiveness” it evokes.

Lansky praises Richie and Madden for adhering to another of the Guru’s naming conventions: sibling names that go together. Lansky disapproved, for example, of the unequal number of names bestowed on Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick’s twins—one got an extra, extra middle name! But he details the symmetry in the Madden kids’ quirky names:

-Three names: Sparrow James Midnight & Harlow Winter Kate.

-One uncommon two-syllable first name: Sparrow & Harlow.

-One name that describes the time/season of birth: Midnight & Winter.

-One sensible 5-star middle name the child can fall back on if the other two names bomb: James & Kate.

Another expert, weighing in over at Us magazine, digs deeper into the unexpected choice.

“It’s an interesting choice for a son because you really can’t tell if it’s a boy or a girl,” [Pamela Redmond Satran] says. “Something we’ve started to see is parents being much more open to giving their sons names that have a feminine feel or are unisex.”

… Midnight, like Harlow’s second name Winter, denotes a time or season, which is often found in African culture, Satran says. “Some of the earliest African names in the U.S. were Afternoon, Easter, Christmas and Friday,” she says. “You have to think there’s some pattern [with Harlow and Midnight].”

What do you think about the name Sparrow?

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Photo: Usmagazine.com