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.

Is Esme pronounced S-may or Ez-may, or both? Either way, I like it.

I always wanted to use Isabella for a girl. My mother had a friend named Isabelle, and her nick was Diz, which I just loved. She also had a friend named Polly, and I asked her once if I could call her Polly instead of Mrs. B, because I loved her name so much. Sadly, my mother nixed that idea.

One of the other parent sets in our childbirth class for Casper had a Ginger - a black-haired, blue-eyed one, which I found funny for some reason.

My friend is dating a Kip.

My name was utterly outre in the late 70's in my part of the country, and to this day, I meet people who can't wrap their mind around the Erin/Aaron difference. I was put into boys gym classes and things like that, based on my name, until the 7th grade.

I didn't like my name as a child, but then it started to get more popular and I became very proprietary.

Also? There are at least 2 more Erin Elizabeth LAstNAmes in the US. One was Miss New Mexico, and the other is a chemist. It cracks me up.

Is Esme pronounced S-may or Ez-may, or both? Either way, I like it.

I tend to say Ez-may, though I think it was supposed to be Ez-mee.