Names In Spotlight: The Phoenix Family

Out of inspiration? Well hopefully this will cheer you up and make you feel inspired by these quirky choices.

It all started when John-Lee Bottom and his wife Arlyn married in 1969. They changed their last names to Phoenix to symbolise a new beginning, rising from the ashes, after being disillusioned with a religious cult they were part of.

With their newly inspired last name Phoenix, they would give birth to five children, two of them who eventually get a lot of recognition in the acting world. They are:

son River
daughter Rain
son Joaquin (Leaf)
daughter Summer
daughter Liberty

River Phoenix and his brother Joaquin would be the ones getting attention from Hollywood, becoming the first brother duo to be nominated for an oscar.

Name In Coffin: Courtney

Courtney is a name of English origin meaning "domain of Curtis". However, it first came to England from France (Normandy), and was spelt Courtenay, back in the Middle Ages.

Courtney was of male origin, but has since several decade ago become unisex. Right now, with so many female celebrities named after it, like Courtney Thorne-Smith, Courteney Cox, Courtney Love and Kourtney Kardashian, it probably won't be turning blue anytime soon. The most popular male sponsor of the name might be artist Courtney Taylor-Taylor.


Here is how Courtney has performed for boys:

Name In Spotlight: Flynn

If there was ever a name that had an opportunity to make a big splash in the popularity charts, this would be in. The name has yet to crack the boys top1000, but after Disney using this name in their next movie, and celebrity superstars Orlando Bloom and Miranda Kerr naming their boy Flynn, I can see this name becoming the next big thing. Plus, it's always nice to have an alternative to the currently everywhere Finn.

Celebrity Baby Names of 2010 - Review

2010 was a great year for celebrity names, with a good balance of old fashioned and trendy modern names. Let's hope 2011 keeps us interested for another year of gossiping.

I'll post my opinion on several boy and girl names, and then give you my opinion on the best and worst of the year.


BOYS:

Theodore Hayes - I think Theodore is one old fashioned name that actually retains a natural spunk in it. It also helps that the nickname Theo is really adorable and fits right in with the -o ending names trend.

Crawford Marion - I have mixed feelings on this. Crawford I think sounds especially harsh, even on a boy, reminds me of crawling too. Marion is a name most people associate with old ladies, but it actually originated as a boys name first (quelle surprise!), and is one I can easily picture on a boy. Overall, decent choices.

Buddy Bear Maurice - Nah! Let's be serious, there are plenty of cute and soft boy names around, but Buddy is something I'd call a friend of mine, not my son. Bear, again, is an animal, not a name. Disappointed in the choices, but it could be a lot worse had they gone the "butch" way and tried to make it too masculine.

Name In Spotlight: Egypt

There are many country/state/city names that have become popular over time: Israel, Zaire, Jordan, Dakota, Montana, Paris, London, Milan... however never has the country Egypt become a popular choice for baby boys.

This might be about to change: the newest celebrity baby out there has been named Egypt Daoud, the son of superstar singer Alicia Keys and her husband Swizz Beatz, a well known music producer. Now a first look at the name Egypt is bound to make question it. It looks funny, it's very uncommon, doesn't really remind you of a kid. However the more I looked at it, the more I liked it, and I began to imagine it on a boy. There's always the advantage that everyone knows how to pronounce it, and spell it (hopefully!).

Egypt has never dented the top1000 before, but there have been testimonials by other people that have met other kids named Egypt over the years. If there was any moment it could finally break through: this is it! I give Egypt my blessing! Plus it's one of my favourite countries, I'd say Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz have good taste in their travelling preferences.

So You Think You Can Dance in Canada - Boys' names

The 3rd installment of So You Think You Can Dance - Canada started a few weeks ago, and one thing that captivated were some of the guy's names on there. The girls names weren't particularly interesting for the most part, so I chose to talk about the boys instead.

So these are the names of the male contestants:

Jonathan
Jesse
Jeff
Jera
Shavar
Edgar
Denys
Sebastian
Mackenzie
Yonni
Hani

Now I know Jonathan, Jesse, Jeff, Sebastian and Edgar aren't particularly interesting names for boys, I'm thinking most of you have heard of them, and they're even spelled correctly.

Name In Trend: Rhys

Rhys is a name that has been very popular in the last few years, especially in name blogs, and is currently a very trendy name. It is pronounced just like Reece and Reese, but not as popular as those two names. It is of Welsh origin, and means "enthusiasm".

Both Reese and Reece have been around since the 19th century, with Reese being in the top1000 since its debut, whilst Reece has been in and out, but is currently the most popular spelling for boys.

However, whilst Rhys is the least common spelling of the same name in the top1000, it is the only one that has been climbing steadily the past few years, and it won't be long until it dethrones the other 2 spellings.

Here is how Rhys has performed so far:

Autumn Names for Boys

Well it's September 21st, and Autumn is now with us. There are many names one can associate with Summer, but it seems there are fewer names tied with the fall season - wrong!

First of all, the name Autumn is the most popular season name, albeit for girls only, even though for me it sounds boy-ish. However, there are alternatives for boys if you don't wanna risk it.

You could start by looking up the name Autumn in other languages: Automne, Outono, Ruduo, Syksy, Haust, Podzim, Autunno. All of these sound exotic and fresh, and perfectly usable on a boy.
And if months like May and August can be used as names, why not go with September, October or November? All three are pretty usable as names, especially the latter names, with cute nicknames such as Toby, Tober, Ember, Nove, Novie, Octo, Octie, Sep. None of these month names are popular at all, so they haven't been given a gender yet - go grab them for your boys while the girls haven't put their hands on them.

Name In Spotlight: Azure

The name Azure is actually a color, a type of "blue". It has yet to enter the boys popularity chart, but it is a name that I've heard more and more often recently. With the name Blue rising in popularity, albeit not commonly used, I don't see why names associated with this color can't increase in popularity too.

Azure is the perfect alternative if you don't want your son's name to be directly associated with a color, since it is rarely mentioned or heard anywhere. It's actually not my favorite shade of "blue", but it has a pleasant sound, pronounced "ay-zhoor", and it just sticks in your head like a breeze of the sea that stimulates your senses. Hopefully soon, there'll be a baby boy named Azure by a big celebrity, and it'll explode in popularity. I'm definitely on board with it.

Month Names

Month names have been around since the dawn of time. Some are more popular than others, some are rising in popularity, whilst others are falling. But what I don't understand is the reason why August is the only month name considered to be masculine?

Names like May and June have charted for boys in the past century, they just got smuthered by the popularity of those names on girls. Personally, I think month names are gender neutral, there's nothing wrong with a boy named February, it doesn't scream girl to me. In fact, some month names actually seem to lean on the manly side to me.