It’s a given

Some baby names are ever popular, and some are one of a kind

ADG illustration by Ron Wolfe for Style 05.29.2013
Baby Names
ADG illustration by Ron Wolfe for Style 05.29.2013 Baby Names

Celebrities shine at coming up with unique baby names, such as Nicolas Cage’s son, Kal-El (Superman’s name on planet Krypton), and Uma Thurman’s daughter, Rosalind Arusha Arkadina Altalune Florence Thurman-Busson, or “Luna” for short.

But most people stick with names that most people can speak and spell with some degree of confidence, especially in Arkansas.

William is the most popular name for a boy born in Arkansas in 2012, according the latest report from the Social Security Administration. Emma is the favorite girl’s name. The state burped 215 new Williams and 185 Emmas last year.

The other top-10 girls’ names are Sophia, Ava, Isabella, Olivia, Addison, Harper, Abigail, Madison and Zoey. Boys’ front-runners are Mason, James, Jacob, Elijah, Ethan, Hunter, Aiden, Jayden and Gabriel.

Mason is the state’s and the nation’s second most popular name for a boy. In fact, Mason has been moving up the state chart since 2008. Arkansans were naming babies Mason even before TV reality star Kim Kardashian dubbed her baby Mason.

The numbers don’t tell how many Williams might have been named after Arkansas’ homegrown President William Jefferson Clinton. Assuming at least a couple, he is ahead of the rest of the Clinton family.

Neither Hillary nor Chelsea (nor Socks, after the cat) is among the 100 most popular names for girls.

William has fit the bill in Arkansas at least since 1960, the earliest year in the report. William and Patricia took seventh place that year. James and Mary topped the lists.

Ten years ago, it was William and Emma in fourth place. Jacob and Madison spanked the competition.

NAMES CHANGE LIKE DIAPERS

Baby names change with the times.

The current movie version of The Great Gatsby recalls the bloom in flower names for girls in early 1900s. The story’s character of Daisy Buchanan shared the garden with other Daisies, Roses, Irises, Violets, Petunias and Myrtles.

Rose was the 56th-place name in Arkansas in 1960. Lily sprouts up the chart to 18th place in the latest count.

Biblical names - Abraham, Caleb, Ahab, Eve, Esther - were even more common in the 19th century than now. But no list of popular baby names is complete without a selection from the Scriptures.

In fact, Jacob is the top name nationally:Jacob and his ladder to heaven. And Jacob is 2012’s most popular name for a baby boy in trend-setting California, home of some of the nation’s most unlikely-sounding baby names.

Genesis is the 17th-place name for a girl in California. More than 1,000 California parents looked at that nameless bundle in the cradle and said, “Audrey? Melanie? Victoria? Nah - Genesis!”

If Arkansas picks up some of the other top-100 names out of California, then babies to come in the Natural State will be named Brayden, Giovanni, Dominic, Khole and Ximena.

The idea of baby-naming as a time for creative thinking is fairly new, according to a story in Mothering magazine. Old ways called for strict adherence to order.

In Scotland, for example, the rule was: “First son is named for the father’s father,” and down the line. Sons number seven-to-10 were to be named after their father’s great-grandfathers, and a similar set of orders applied to girls’ names.

American tradition once favored naming a boy after the current president, such as Franklin after Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Barack is not a winner in the top 100 list for Arkansas, nor is Michelle, but the first family’s younger daughter, Natasha (Sasha), comes close. Natasha is not on the list of Arkansas’ most popular designations, but start-the-same Natalie is 23rd.

Some people wait for inspiration when it comes to choosing a baby name. Hawaiian tradition relies on the gods of the natives’ ancestors to make the call.

When tradition falters, when inspiration fizzles out, baby-naming books and websites offer enough ideas for baby names to fill a maternity ward.

BY THE BOOK

Books of baby names citethousands of choices for the parent who is stumped for a moniker, along with advice on how to winnow though the possibilities:

In The Baby Name Wizard, author Laura Wattenberg suggests choosing “the name you would like yourself.” But watch out for rhymes and puns.

Had David Bowie heeded this advice, he might not have named his son Zowie. And Mr. and Mrs. Case should think twice about naming their boy Justin.

In 100,000-Plus Baby Names, Bruce Lansky shows that babies can be named after not only people, but also rocks (Clay, Opal), animals (Buck, Bunny) and even places (Cuba, Paris).

In Baby Names Made Easy, Amanda Barden cautions that many names have old meanings that might or might not be happy discoveries.

William, for example, refers to a guardian, and Emma means universal or complete, according to various sources. But Portia, according to Barden, means pig.

Portia is quite a pigeon, too. “Portia” is the name of the heroine in William Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice, and of perky actress Portia di Rossi in Arrested Development.

“A rose by any other name would smell as sweet,” as Shakespeare assured, having named his children Susanna, Hamnet and Judith.

LUCKY AS CHANCE, SWEET AS HONEY

Other names carry meaning just in the way they sound. Could Nick be anything but sharp? Who wouldn’t want to dance with Grace?

Parents usually name just a few children, but authors name many. Charles Dickens made up some of the most descriptive names for his characters: poverty-stricken Nicholas Nickleby, greedy Jonas Chuzzlewit, prim-andproper schoolteacher Cornelia Blimber.

He was outdone only by some of the names that oldtime movie comedian W.C. Fields (born William Claude Dunkenfield) called himself: Augustus Winterbottom, Egbert Souse, Prof. Eustace McGargle.

But they both might take a lesson from the baby-naming talents of Gwyneth Paltrow (Apple), January Jones (Xander), Andre Benjamin (Seven Sirius) and the Jim Bob and Michell Duggar family of Arkansas.

The Duggars’ 19 children have names starting with the letter J, including Jedidiah, Jordyn and Jinger.

None of those names turns up in Social Security’s lists of the top boys’ and girls’ names in Arkansas, although “Jordan” is the 45th most popular boy’s name.

Spellings matter. Arkansans who name their daughters Isabella have picked the fourth most popular girl’s name, but Izabella iz 95th. Gabriella is 61st, but Gabrielle is 94th.

Jackson is the 11 th-placeboys’ name in Arkansas, Jaxon is 26th, and Jaxson is 80th.

Girls’ names include some choices that might stun the stork in his flight over Arkansas: Paisley and Serenity (tied at 28th place with 58 babies each), Kaydence (96th place) and Destiny (100th).

Newcomers to the boys’ list of names include Wyatt (30th place), Braxton (42nd) and Austin (63rd).

Whatever the name choice, parents still trust to the spirit of 17th-century name-brand poet William Blake’s “Infant Joy.”

“I have no name:

“I am but two days old.”

What shall I call thee?

“I happy am,

“Joy is my name.”

Sweet Joy befall thee!

The government’s stateby-state numbering of the most popular baby names is available at

socialsecurity.gov/cgibin/namesbystate.cgi.

Family, Pages 32 on 05/29/2013

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