This summer, I met a five-year-old named Dorothea, called Dorrie. I thought that was cute as a kids name and would be kind of neat as an adult if she wanted to use Dorothea, but didn't really leave an in-between option, between cute and formal. (Dora, maybe.)

sj, social security tracks baby names here.

I had thought Olivia might be topping out in popularity, but I just really like it. I also like Sophia and Isobel but Olivia flows well with Owen.

I'm thinking of how well they go together when you're yelling, "OWEN CHRISTOPHER AND OLIVIA ROSE STOP THAT RIGHT NOW!"

Huh, I never realized that Isabella was a variant of Elizabeth, but according to one of the baby name sites it is.

The "J" names have banded together, and assimilated under Jack. Once it takes over TV entirely, can the US be far behind?

We were this close to naming Mallory Jack or Jackson, but a) thought it sounded weird with James and b) suddenly realized that every other male baby was getting named Jack.

Except for one Linus.

Names I talked Robert out of include Alastair (Alice is not a boy's name, Cooper nonwithstanding) and Atticus. Names he talked me out of include Callum and Thaddeus.

I'm thinking of how well they go together when you're yelling, "OWEN CHRISTOPHER AND OLIVIA ROSE STOP THAT RIGHT NOW!"

Hee! So very cute.

The woman on my television keeps messing up the pronunciation of trattoria. It's annoying me enough that I might need to change the station.

My grandmothers are Dorothea and René. Grandma usually goes by Dot or Dottie, though. I would use Dorothea as a middle name for any putative girlsprog. It's a good family tradition.

You Mick.

Heh. You think? Actually my mom's mom was Lithuanian. But both sides were as Catholic as they come.

I like the name Dorothea, mainly for my Middlemarch love.

Rats. The baby name wizard won't work for me on the home computer. Have to check it at work. I like all my grand and great-grandmothers' names (at least the ones that I know; I don't know the names of the great-grands on my dad's side): Memorie, Angelica, Adele, Julia. The men's names weren't bad either: James (or Dimitri), Jack, Herman.

it looks like the "boy names must start with J" thing is ebbing

My mom has already issued an edict among her sprog that no potential grandsprog may be named with anything starting with a "J" sound, as our family already has Jack, Jack, Judy, Jacqueline, Gene, George and George, and when people get flustered at large family gatherings there's a lot of yelling of "Ge- Ja- Jo- Dammit, YOU! THERE! YOU!"

The woman on my television keeps messing up the pronunciation of trattoria.

Is it that chick on the Food Network with the really big head and teeny body who is related to Dino DiLaurentis the movie producer?