Confessions of a name nerd

I spent my childhood bossing around the neighbor kids and reading any book I discovered. Any book at all.Fiction or non-fiction. One day, visiting my newborn cousin, I stumbled across a baby names book. Intrigued, I started flipping through the pages and discovered that names had meanings and origins. Did you know Cameron means “crooked nose”? Or that the name Amelia’s origin is German? After getting my aunt’s permission, I took the book home and delved into the unique hobby of being a name nerd.

Discovering naming websites, I found a world of fellow name nerds. Like me, they enjoyed this calming hobby of discussing all things appellation. Curated lists separating names by popularity, origin, and theme appear throughout the sites. There are opportunities to chime in and assist expecting parents with their nerdy knowledge. If you like games, they have name games in the forums, or if reading is your jam, daily blog posts will keep you returning.

After years of reading, naming books, and browsing websites, I can now remember what many names mean. How does this come in handy? Many Latin names share their roots with Latin words, so I can often translate Latin based on my naming knowledge. If a name ends with the lee sound, it is most likely to have the word meadow in the meaning. For example, Ashley means dweller near the ash tree meadow. It can be a good conversation starter or icebreaker to let someone know their name’s meaning. Names can give insight into a person’s culture or religion, and if I share knowledge of that connection, fascinating conversations can flow.

May is the most exciting month for the naming community because it’s the Superbowl of baby names. The SSA releases its yearly data as the top 1,000. After checking on my children’s monikers, I search for big falls or rises and even debut names. Then I hop over to the sites to read their blog posts and appreciate all the blogger’s research. The SSA provides tools to see popularity based on years, decades, and state. Name data dates back to 1880. There is also space to type in a name, and you can see its rise or fall throughout the years.

As a mom of four, I enjoyed naming my children. For my firstborn, a piece of my Italian heritage. My eldest son shares a middle name with my husband, while my younger son has a name we chose early in the pregnancy because we liked it. As for my youngest daughter, her name draws inspiration from a princess, storybook character, author, and woman’s rights activist.

The best part of being a name nerd connects with my passion: writing. My favorite part of the planning process is naming my new characters. I dig deep and try to find names that reflect what happens to them in the story without being too obvious. For example, in Death by Chocolate, my characters are Bianca and Cole. When a character holds a tiny piece of me, I choose Italian names, and Bianca’s meaning is white. White represents purity, and before this, Bianca thought of bad guys as only men in movies. I wanted a name that meant black to represent a dark soul, and I selected Cole for its familiarity and a reminder that anyone can commit a crime.

I find it calming and nifty to be a name nerd. It helps me start conversations, and I’ve learned some Latin. It brings excitement to my writing process as I research the perfect character moniker. I’ve created friendships and fascinated people with nuggets of insight. I fell in love with baby names the first time I flipped through the book, and years later, the love remains.

Links:

Nameberry

SSA