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.
Marguerite
My beloved middle name. It was the name of good friend of my mom's from the LWV. That Marguerite was French, and probably in her sixties/seventies at the time.
I had an Aunt Marguerite. And my grandmas were a Hazel and an Agnes. Grandpas were Clark and Clarence. I would have been Clark if I would have been a boy.
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.
Heh. There's another Matilda Azalea in the world. Some woman contacted me on LJ after I announced her birth. Low odds.
My grandma was Tarsilia. That one was never considered. Love my abuela, but... no.
