We talk a lot about first names around here, but this week the Washington Post published an article that puts baby’s last name in the spotlight. The piece discusses an expectant couple’s decision to give their baby the mother’s last name. As you’d expect, the story is mostly about the complications with working against a patriarchal (and heteronormative) convention where most people assume that the family will share the father’s last name. What will other family members think? Will it be confusing? These questions are rarely an issue when a child is given the dad’s last name.
What we found especially interesting is that, in deciding to give the baby the mother’s last name, they considered the same criteria we’d use for first names: They chose the surname because it was more unusual, held more meaning, and they “simply liked it better” than the father’s. While many of us think of a baby’s last name as something that is already chosen, a foregone conclusion, this article reminds us that we can (should?) approach baby’s last name as a choice.
Readers, how did you decide what your child’s last name would be? What factors came into play?
We always recommend avoiding “joke names,” and this guy proved our point this week. When Kenny Kennard changed his name to Kenny Fu-Kennard, he thought he’d get some laughs. Instead, his passport application was denied on the grounds that his name “may cause offence.” Despite multiple attempts to appeal, Kenny will be staying put for a while.
In other news, Jenna Bush Hager and husband continue to be a trend factory. They gave birth to their third child, Henry Harold Hager, who will go by “Hal.” The boldly alliterative moniker is getting overwhelmingly positive comments. Fitting in with the “nickname name” trend, Hal is sure to rise in popularity after this birth announcement. Their other children are named Margaret Laura “Mila” Hager and Poppy Louise Hager. Mila now sits at #14 in popularity in the US! Poppy is much less popular, at #592 on the US rankings, but was not even ranked in the top 1000 just three years ago.
We think Mila, Poppy, and Hal make a solid sibling set. You? And what do you think of Hal?
By now we all know that Jade Roper Tolbert gave birth this week . . . in a closet.
Days after her and husband Tanner Tolbert’s dramatic birth announcement, the question of whether they’d chosen their son’s name from an Instagram poll was the real news story. After Tanner shared the name announcement on his Instagram, Bachelor alum Dan Cox commented, “So the Instagram name vote won?” referring to a poll from Jade’s Instagram stories. Tanner replied, “It did. Haha.” The baby’s name is Brooks Easton Tolbert, and photo “evidence” from BachelorNation.com seems to confirm that both Brooks and Easton were leaders in the poll:
Actress Krysten Ritter is a now a mom! Her new baby’s name was revealed yesterday: Bruce Julian Knight Granofsky. The name Bruce is a little unusual for a 2019 baby, but it has tons of famous namesakes, making it likely he was named after someone. “Julian Knight” could have negative connotations depending on where you’re from, but we like the Bruce-Julian-Knight combo because the names’ styles are so different. We look forward to learning what, or who, inspired their name choice. Congrats to Krysten Ritter and rockstar boyfriend (of the band, The War on Drugs) Adam Granduciel!
And some sad news for us this week: novelist Toni Morrison passed away on Monday. While I spent years of my life reading and studying Morrison, I didn’t remember how astonishingly beautiful her real name was: Chloe Ardelia Wofford. But she also left us with some of the most memorable character names in all of literature. Here are some of the very best:
- Acton (Jazz)
- Arnette (Paradise)
- Booker (God Help the Child)
- Delia (Paradise)
- Denver (Beloved)
- Felice (Jazz)
- Halle (Beloved)
- Macon (Song of Solomon)
- Malvonne (Jazz)
- Mavis (Paradise)
- Nel (Sula)
- Pecola (The Bluest Eye)
- Sethe (Beloved)
- Soane (Paradise)
- Sula (Sula)
- Vashti (Beloved)
- Zechariah (Paradise)
There are so many inspiring character names in her books, we couldn’t include them all. What are your favorites? What’d we miss?
Happy Friday to you!