The Anchor Rule

There are names that are so out-there that people find thier status as a real name questionable. There are names so well-known that thier use is sometimes a dissapointment to others the name it is uttered. Put them together and you just might have the perfect name.I call this The Anchor Rule in naming:

If one name is normal, it gains improvement from an abnormal name and vice versa.

Why don't we take this rule to practice. Let's use some names that are fairly unique:

Snow
Keziah
Zea
Amity
Twila
Pepper

and pair them with very normal* names:
Elizabeth
Mary
Lauren
Catherine
Isabella
Mia


now let's put them together:

Elizabeth Snow
Keziah Mary
Zea Lauren
Amity Isabella
Mia Pepper
Twila Catherine

I am pulling these names out of my butt, and I'm already kind of liking these combinations.I challenge you to give this a shot by making a list of strange and normal names. You'll be surprised what will come out of it.

A Word About Blue Ivy

I am going to put this out there and let it rest: I would have preferred the Bey-Z child to be named Ivy Blue. I have a soft spot for Ivy since it is one of my cousin's names. Since she was the closest I had to an older sister, I have always looked at Ivy as a very grown-up name.
As it stands, however, the child's first name is Blue.
Blue is, in my narrow opinion, nowhere near as adult as Ivy. I'd have the same opinion if the child was called Barbie Ivy or Bitsy Ivy.Luckily, however, in case of seriousness, the child has a serious name to work with. Thus is the magic of middle names.It's sort of like a backup if the first name fails.
But whatever my opinion on Blue Ivy, I wish her the best in life, and for her all the love a child needs when growing up.

Manic Pixie Dream Names

There is this trope for the Manic Pixie Dream Girl. She is a creative and free spirit whose use is to help the (usually male) protagonist learn to express themselves.While I find stories that utilize the trope tired and renders a woman as a tool, I have nothing against the person themselves. In fact, I wish there would be more stories from the perspective of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl's perspective. A  film I watched that did a bit of deconstructing of this trope was a film called Happy Go Lucky, and it was about your typical type for a Manic Pixie Dream Girl: "quirky", lighthearted, and a free spirit.The film, however, was shot from her everyday perspective and showed her motivations and trials with having such a personality.You rarely have that when the story is from the perspective of the man who needs that kind of woman to fix them. I'm not going to give away more about the story because I recommend you see it yourselves.
Where was I getting at? Oh yes: names. The name of the main character in the film Happy Go Lucky is Poppy. On reflection, I realized that of course her name would be Poppy. Poppy is upbeat, brings to mind the color red, and is a name better carried by bohemians than accountants.That is the essence of a Manic Pixie Dream Girl or MPDG: they live outside the corporate world and have no need to have a professional air about themselves.Their names can be cutesy or weird or plain and nobody within their artistic circle would care.

 Another "Manic Pixie Dream Girl" who isn't quite a "Manic Pixie Dream Girl is Clementine from the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. She has all the trappings of a MPDG: cool style (and awesome hair!), eccentric, and her name is Clementine. Her character "archeotype", like in Happy Go Lucky, is also deconstructed. Clementine bites back. But I am still hung up on her name.It's a true darling.

However, while the two films were deconstructions of the MPDG, the film that pretty much brought this trope to it's full definition is the film Garden State. The MPDG in this film who does what all MPDG's do is named Sam. From my name-fancying perspective, the name Sam is a bit of a letdown.I can imagine the person writing this film trying to find an oh-so-quirky name and finding it oh-so-original that  girl would go by Sam. Never mind the popularity of Samantha and how Sam is the obvious nickname for every little Samantha once she shows a whiff of tomboyishness.That is my main problem with the traditional use of the MPDG: she has so much potential to be cool (and have names like Clementine and Poppy), but the director just turns her into something traditional (Sam) in the end, thinking it's oh-so-original.

In honor of Sam, Here are some names that truly suit a Manic Pixie Dream Girl.They are special and lighthearted and suit a free spirit.

Araceli
Callisto
Denni
Dulce
Delphine
Eppie
Ember
Emmaline
Fern
Faustine
Georgette
Imogene
Iris
Josephine
Juno
Katinka
Kali
Lulu
Lola
Louella
Manon
Misty
Magnolia
Nona
Nerissa
Opaline
Pommeline
Polina
Rio
Sia
Theodora
Ursula
Vesta
Winnifred
Willa
Yulli
Zelda
Zinnia

Unique Flower Names

 There is Rose, Lilly, and Daisy, now there is Violet, Azalea, and Marigold. I love flower names like any other person, and I also love the more unusual names for flowers. They sound more like names for faeries and hippies, which I kind of like. Here are a list of strange flower names that, while many would be afraid to use as a first, could be very fanciful as a middle name.

Snapdragon
Foxglove
Snowdrop
Sweetpea
Bluebell
Buttercup
Dandelion
Catkin
Phlox

I'm sorry this post is so small, but I'm personally just happy to be posting something.

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A Quick Update

I'm so sorry for not posting as often, or at all lately. I want to make up for it by posting a whole mess of names and thoughts I've had about them.

Faline: I didn't think the character on Bambi warrants the name to go off the name market. Faline means catlike, which I can respect in a meaning since cats are cool creatures. I think it'll take a character named Faline to bring it back.

Clarice: I find this name very feminine and sophisticated. A lot like the name Ursula. The character in Silence of The Lambs was pretty cool, so I don't see what's wrong with the association.

Walter: I just like this name, and wish it was more popular. A Walter I know is a British mathmetician, and he wears the name very well.

Fae: Another reason I like Faline is that the natura nickname is Fae. I've been fascinated by fairies since I was a little kid, and find it a surprisingly solid name for such delicate creatures.

Linda: I watched the Japanese film Linda Linda Linda, a story of girls in a band who have to quickly learn to play a song with a Korean exchange student who barely speaks Japanese as their vocalist.I've heard the name Linda so many times after hearing the main song the band sings that I'm kind of liking the name Linda. I'm sure if the movie was more popular in the states, people would see Linda in a fresher light.

Alma: I have an iphone, and one neat feature is this voice recorder. I've been playing around with it. You know, it's strange how one's voice sounds completely different when heard instead of said. Anyway, one name I toyed with was Alma, and it surprisingly sounded very nice. It kind of reminds me of Emma, but hardly as popular.

Joya:The sister of my aunt's husband recently had a baby girl. One of the first things I asked is what she was named. They chose Joya, which is a variation of Joy.I think it's a lovely name choice, and I wish the child as much joy as in her name.

Mori: One of my favorite Japanese fashion movements, represented in the picture, is Mori Girl . It focuses more on evoking a woodsy feeling and relies on a natural look. Mori, in Japanese kanji, is written with three symbols of the kanji for tree like this 森 and means forest. In an english-speaking world, Mori sounds like the old-man name Maury.I think that thanks to the style, I see a bit of femininity in that name that would be charming on a girl (especially if she loves the outdoors).

An that's all I can come up with. I've got to go to work, but I felt it's only right to post something while I have something written.

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What Sparked A Fanciers' Obsession

"I will bear three girls all with strawberry curls, little Ella and
Nelly and Faye."
That is what started this interest. I heard this line while listening to the song Far Away by Ingrid Michaelson. I was touched by that line. The whole song is about imagening the perfect life, and these were the names of her children in this "far away" existence. My imagination then started to wander, and I wondered what my three children would be. It's wonderfully romantic to imagine, I'll tell you.
I want to end this awfully short post with the song that started everything. I hope you enjoy.

I am new to posting videos, so please let me know if there are any glitches!

My Character's Name

The fact that I am single does not necessarily mean that I never get to use my interest of names productively.I might not have children in the traditional terms, but I have characters in the multitude of stories that I write.Anyone who has written stories know that having a character can create the same emotional attachment as having a child in your life. You think about them constantly, give in to their needs, and love them unconditionally.
I have came up with many story ideas.These stories cover many subjects from high fantasy to realistic romance. A fun thing about naming characters, as opposed to real people, is that there is not guess work. You do not have to worry if a character with a feminine name will like it or not unless you want them to. Otherwise, a character is guaranteed to have a name that fits. You already know the personality of a character, which can't be said for a newborn baby. Here are the names of a few of my characters with thoughts on the name and it's relation to the story. They are all characters from different stories, and I wouldn't tell what stories they are in case I actually finish one

Gizelle: She is an etymologist who enjoys large, romantic, castles and ballet. My back story for her name is that her mother was a ballerina, and gave her the name of her first role.
Michael: He is an expert classical pianist but prefers playing jazz.  He is Chinese-American and his last name is Dong. His parents, realizing the unfortunate implications of their last name, wanted to soften the blow by giving him as average a name as possible.
Argos: He is your typical Fantasy Peasant Boy.He is given the power to cast magic by a powerful sorcerer, but the spell backfires. It's a strong name, but it's simple enough even for being a peasant. It suits him more once he gains his abilities, however.
Terra: She is a young girl born with green eyes. The people of her village believe she is a type of fairy and treat her like an outsider.The story is how she goes off into the forest to find her "true" people.She was named Terra because she is the exact color of the dirt.

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