Have you tried the Nymbler “baby-namer” on Babble.com? I’m quite obsessed with this interactive name-suggestion generator. While it’s not quite as visually trippy as the NameVoyager (with its rippling pink-and-blue infographics so reminiscent of a Pucci print), the Nymbler is far more eccentric. While spitting out a predictable array of Brandons, Wyatts, and Emmas, it […]

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One of the more popular parts of the The Perfect Baby Handbook, it seems, are the tips on finding unexpected sources for unique baby names on p. 6. Those readers who’ve been pleading for more, equally sound advice on this topic are in luck: When writing the book, I researched several extra lists that didn’t […]

» Continue reading "Insider baby-naming secrets, part I"

So, Charlie Sheen and his non-Denise-Richards wife just named their new twins Bob Sheen and Max Sheen. Max Sheen is a decent enough name, but Bob Sheen? Really? Don’t you think that sounds more like a product designed to keep precise hairdos gleaming (see Vogue editrix Anna Wintour, right)? Not to Charlie, who says the […]

» Continue reading "Charlie Sheen, palindrome-lovin’ dad"

Free-spirited recording artist M.I.A., who raised eyebrows recently by performing at the Grammys while nine-months pregnant—and on her due date, has issued a statement of clarification regarding her sanity via her Myspace page: My baby is not called Ickitt, Pickit, or Lickit, thank you very much to all the Hollywood Press. He’s a baby. He […]

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As a follower of childrearing dos and dont’s, I was appalled by a recent study documenting some of the most egregious baby names ever—apparently the result of parental attempts at “humor.” Among the names mentioned in the study: Stan Still, Paige Turner, Hazel Nutt, and the involuntarily festive “Mary Christmas.” While Mr. and Mrs. Still […]

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