My mother is Meredith, named for her grandmothers Mary and Edith. I always thought that was a nice nod.

I love Lillian, but I have a bias since the maternal side of the family has always called me Lilibeth, or Lili (but none of them call me Beth, interestingly enough, which is what the rest of the family uses, unless you're talking about my sisters and parents, who call me Henry). My BiL once complained that when he first met the large family group he had trouble keeping track of all the different name variations.

Speaking of baby names, I wonder what Ben Affleck and Jen Garner are naming their new baby? I love Violet.

We have a bunch of Margarets in my family--my grandmother, mother, and 27-year old cousin to name a few. They go (or went in the case of my grandmom) by Peg, Penny, and Meg respectively. Penny, my mom, was going to be Peggy but she couldn't say it when she was little.

I also love Meredith, but DW does not. Are you sensing a trend here?

ETA: I also LOVE Violet!

Marguerite

I love that name.

M and I have decided that, should we reproduce, the sprog will be named Alexander/Alexandra, after his grandfather. You just know I'll be calling the kid Xander, though.

I wonder what Ben Affleck and Jen Garner are naming their new baby?

I'm betting Affleck is pushing "Career Jumpstart Affleck".

I was always the only Hillary or Hilary in my school. There was a Hilary from another school who did Academic Decathlon, and we'd always kind of notice each other at meets and practices with, "Oh, you're the other Hil(l)ary."

Are things really going to be this bad? Safety Law Will Effectively Ban Handmade Toys, Children Clothes

The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Add this to long things of things that prove the adage: a new law taking effect February 10th requires all children’s clothing and toys to be tested for lead and phthalates. Any product not tested by that day will be considered hazardious waste, regardless whether they contain lead.

Because testing costs thousands of dollars, many small manufacturers and even stores will be forced to close:

Barring a reprieve, regulations set to take effect next month could force thousands of clothing retailers and thrift stores to throw away trunkloads of children’s clothing.

The law, aimed at keeping lead-filled merchandise away from children, mandates that all products sold for those age 12 and younger — including clothing — be tested for lead and phthalates, which are chemicals used to make plastics more pliable. Those that haven’t been tested will be considered hazardous, regardless of whether they actually contain lead.

"They’ll all have to go to the landfill," said Adele Meyer, executive director of the National Assn. of Resale and Thrift Shops.

Back in the late '50s/early '60s, there was a sportswriter for the Chicago Sun-Times whose first name was Kip, which is where my mom saw it and liked it enough to use it. There were issues (I think with my grandma, though I'm not sure about that) with the name being so short and seemingly informal, so Mom made his official name Kipley, shortened to Kip for everyday.

Hee. The one I know is a Kipling.

I think he's from the Chicago area, actually.

If we'd gone with Edith (unlikely, but it was mentioned), we'd have called her Edie, as that's what Granny was called.

Gram's name (Aileen), just didn't work for me.

According to the logic test, I'm an idiot. I'm okay with that.

The baby names lists are awesome-- I always bookmark them for story use, although Voyager is my favorite because I can check by year. As far as my own kids go, I saw Nathan, but not Nathaniel and sadly, Abigail was thirteenth on the list, although when we named her that, there was no one with that name.

Both of the kids have family names for middles-- Abby is Abigail Delaine and Nate is Nathaniel William. I desperately wanted to use the name Patrick, as it's one of my favorites in the world, but I couldn't do that to the kid. That's just mean. Patrick Pollak. Seriously, that's grounds for ass whuppin on the playground.

I'd lay odds against Virginia.

Wanna make a bet? Abby was thisclose to being named Virginia Magdalene. I mean, it literally came down to seeing her after she was born and deciding if she looked more like an Abby or a Ginger.

I still don't know that many Barbaras either in my own age group or amongst the kids of friends. I remember a lot of Heathers and Jennifers and Lauras growing up. The one family name I drew a line at using was Maria, which is a shame because I love it, but craploads of females in my family (including my mother, my sister, and my first cousin) has some variant on the name, so I just couldn't do it.