Interesting Facts on Storm Names

Hurricane Irene

Recently I was chatting with a friend about Hurricane Irene which touched the east coast of the USA last weekend. She was wondering why all east coast hurricanes seem to be named using girls names. So I had some fun doing a bit of research about the naming of hurricanes here in the USA.

First of all, I knew that not only girls names are used for storms and hurricanes. Storms are named through the alphabet, alternating between girls and boys names. For example Hurricane Irene was followed by Hurricane Joel and then Katia. It does seem recently that more of the hurricanes with feminine names have touched land and therefore they get more publicity.

After this I had to do some research and found some interesting facts about the naming of storms. In 1979 the World Meteorologist Organization are the ones who originally made up six alphabetical lists of names to be used for storms. The lists are rotated through so that the same names are used over and over again. In 2011 the same names used in 1999 and 2005 are being used.

The name lists and the years used look like this:

Click Image to View names larger
(list came from http://www.oceanrowing.com/hurricanes.htm) 

The only exception to this list is with storms that are particularly destructive (like hurricane Katrina in 2005), then the name can be replaced with a different name starting with the same letter (like this year Katrina was retired and Katia has been added to the list in it's place). I found a list of Retired Hurricane Names with what years they were retired (this list doesn't include info for 2011).
A few names I'm glad they took off the storm naming list are: Andrew, Eloise, David, Elena, Fabian, Hugo, Keith and Opal.

My parents still mention Hurricane Andrew of 1992 from time to time. How glad they must be that my brother, Colin Andrew "Andy", was born the year before this storm. I remember in 2005 when Hurricane Katrina went through it created so much damage and I thought at the time how awful it was that such a beautiful name had been given to such a horrible storm. I'm sure the name Katrina has suffered a downfall in popularity since that time.

Would you still used a name you liked even if it was associated with a natural disaster (hurricane, storm, volcano)?
Are storms in your area given names?

Your Resident Name Enthusiast,
Miss Laurie :)

Exotic Pronunciations

Recently I've encountered some interesting names while watching a few interior design and cooking shows.  Most of these are girls names and a lot of these just have interesting pronunciations. Enjoy!

Girls:

• Aarti - a Hindi name pronounced ARH-tee (a bit like Artie, to rhyme with party). I probably wouldn't have liked it but the name was on a lovely young chef who infuses her Indian upbringing and warm caring nature into every dish! And her accent has a slight British clearness to it which makes her name almost sound like she's saying the letters R T together.
• Adela - on an older BBC TV show I watched a while ago there was a lady with this name but they pronounced it uh-DAY-luh. I was very surprised but like the name a bit more now because this pronunciation reminds me of Helena (heh-LAY-nuh) and Elena (eh-LAY-nuh) which I love!
• Alicia - alot of people where I'm from pronounce this name uh-LEESH-uh (or uh-LEESH-er depending on their costal Maine accent) even if they spell it with a variant like Alisha or Alecia. Recently on a TV show there was a model turned chef who's name was pronounced uh-LISH-uh. I still think I like the British uh-LEESH-ee-uh best of all these pronunciations. How do you pronounce Alicia?
• Aria - this name has always had such music to my ear (hee hee :D) but when I recently heard it used on a beautiful young chef it added a bit of sparkle to the name as well.
• Celie - I encountered this name while playing name games at Behind the Name and kind of fell in like with it! I've always like Celia, Cecilia and Cecily so to find Celie and it's cute pronunciation of SEE-lee I just loved it!
• Dzintra - this was the name of another chef (and in fact her last name was Dzenis - zehn-is!) and being the name enthusiast that I am my interest at how this name is pronounce was piqued! Dzintra is pronounced ZIHN-truh. It sounds so exotic, but all the information I got pointed to it being a Polish name.
• Ellis - as the name of a young teenager. I love it for a boy but had never heard it used for a girl!
• Orchid - the name of a Philippine chef, she was petite and sweet and I thought her name was gorgeous on her! I don't think it would work as well on an American girl.
• Peach - the name of a 50-year-old fashion designer who looked very distinguished. I thought the name was a bit funny of her at first but it turns out she's just a southern Georgia Peach!  
• Serena - I really like this name and knew that it was popular in Italy and some Spanish speaking countries as well. The young lady this name was on was a petite, spunky, beautiful Italian chef who talked too fast when she got excited. Her name was pronounced seh-RAY-nuh with the rolled Rrrr sound. So beautiful! She was anything but serene though! :)
• Tamsin - Although I don't like a lot of T names for girls, I've been liking this name a lot more lately, I just think it's so cute and sweet! Actress Tamzin Merchant is definitely all of those things. And I've also heard the name Thomasine (or Thomasyn) pronounced like Tamsin.

Boys:

• Juba - one African-American chef with a boyish look. His name is pronounced ju-BAH which reminds me of the Biblical names Judah and Jubal which I love!

What do you think of these names and especially their pronunciations?

Have you seen or heard these names used before reading my post?
What interesting names have you encountered lately?

An Interesting Name & Some Questions

Today at a graduation party I met the cutest little girl!

She was about two years old, with pale blue eyes, and her curly blond hair was tied in a pompom like pony tail on the top of her head.

She has the cutest smile and within a very little time this social butterfly had everyone in the room wrapped around her little finger!

I had a delightful time playing cards with her (using Skip-bo or UNO cards) and getting her to learn colors, numbers and to count with me. Her mommy must be teaching her because she already knows how to count to 8 and can name the colors "geen" (green) and "boo" (blue). I taught her the color purple and she knows the color "lellow" (yellow) but we didn't have any yellow cards.

And this little girl's name was the most interesting, unique and suited her rather well. 

Her name is: 

Rain Amethyst

I've never met anyone named Rain before and I've never really liked the name but it fit her perfectly.

I do like Amethyst as a name and have liked it since I first read The Ordinary Princess by M.M. Kaye. In that fairy tale book all seven of the king and queen's daughters are golden haired beauties with gemstone names, except the last daughter Princess Amethyst who is ordinary looking with mouse brown hair and so they call her just plain "Amy". One of my favorite quotes comes from this book as well.

I've loved the name Amy for a long time, not only because of this book and this quote but also it's a family name that I'd really like to use one day for my daughter. 

I think I would have liked her name more if it had been switched around, Amethyst Rain instead. But almost any name would have been made adorable just by being associated with this sweet little girl! 

I've found that over the years my opinions of names have often changed (sometimes drastically) based on people I meet who have a certain name. For example, I wasn't too keen on the name Margaux until I met a cute little girl with that name and now I really like it. I might have to do a post about some of those names...that's an idea! 

Questions for you:

1. What do you think of the name Rain Amethyst? 
2. Do you think Amethyst Rain would have been better? Do you like the names?
3. Have you ever started liking a name after meeting someone you really like who had that name? 
4. Have you ever stopped liking a name because you met someone you didn't like who had that name?

"I" Love Names!

"I scream, you scream, we all scream for ICE CREAM!"

I've been hearing a several names starting with the letter I recently. I'm in general not too wild about I names as I gravitate more towards A, E and the constanants (especially C, S, L and J).
But as I hear these names used, weather on people I've met, on TV, or online, I've been thinking of all the names I do like that begin with I. Here's just a sampling:

Boys:

• Ira - I've heard this name on two different men recently and rather like it. We don't see it used much anymore and I think it could gain as much popularity as Isaac or Isaiah have.
• Ike - I met an quirky, off the wall teen boy by this name at camp this summer. His bright eyes and lively personality were totally different than the image I've always had of Ike being a stodgy old farmer or old time politician. I don't think Ike was his real name (probably something like Richard), but it actually suited him and the short spunk of the name came across to me. I now like it as a nickname for Isaac / Isaak and hope to see more of it.
• Irving - a friend's husband is named Clarence Irving, isn't that awful but so totally old-fashioned and charming at the same time? For some reason that even his wife doesn't know, he's always been called Mike. Mikey when he was young and the name just stuck so he's Mike now which really suits him much better! I'm not a big fan of this name but it certainly had a strong sound.
  
• Ian - I've always loved this name and was very pleased to hear it being used more in my social circle, once as a middle name, once as a first name. My friends who I worked with this summer named their first son Ian William last year and he had just turned a year old when I saw them in June. Their last name is Walker and the mother told me that she had seriously considered naming her son Luke Skye! I think it actually would have been cute never mind the Star Wars connection. I really like Ian William and I think they might possibly have chosen a W for his middle name because his paternal grandfather's first name begins with W. Little Ian changed the image of the name a bit for me, from bold handsome Scotsman with unruly dark hair, to a blond haired boy with big ears, bright blue eyes, a big smile and a personality all his own. :)
  

Girls:

• Ivy - I've seen Ivy a couple times this summer. My mom's friends have a little granddaughter named Ivy Dawn who I saw recently, she just turned four. I also admire her cousin's names Peter Ian and Joy Abigail, they're so...normal! :) Ivy is sweet but I always think poisin ivy and an exotic dancer when I hear this name so I tend to prefer Evie to Ivy.
• Isabelle - I know it is popular but it is pretty. A friend just named her 8th child Chloe Isabelle. She had mentioned to me that she liked Isabella because it came from Jane Austen's novels. But when she mentioned the name to her 10-year-old daughter she said "Not Isabella mommy. In books Isabella is always the bad lady!" But she must have liked the name enough to have used Isabelle anyway. I think it's pretty and as a middle name it's nice. By the by I'm liking Chloe more and more now, scary!
  
• India - I heard this name on a Jepordy contestant. In general I dislike this name and Indiana because they are place names. India to me would seem to belong to a forein woman with dark hair, bright eyes and a sense of adventure or to a trendy designer so on this lady the name had an odd appearance as she was 40ish with plain brown hair and nothing very interesting about her, kind of a quiet sort. Funny what people name their kids even if it's unpopular, not at all befitting their lifestyle or especially doesn't suit their child at all!
• Ireleigh - a little girl at church has this name. She's so cute at four with her blond hair and wide blue eyes and ever charming smile and speech inpediment. Her mother said a friend named Leigh had said it was her favorite that she didn't get to use only she spelled it Ireley. So the mother changed the spelling to Ireleigh to honor her friend who suggested it. I think it's cute though it is made up, it sounds pettier than it looks.
  
  
  "So?...what?...no ice cream then?"
  
  

So, some of my favorite I names, most of which I probably won't ever use:

Boys:
Iain
Ioan
Israel
Ignatius
Ichabod (crazy, I know)
Ishmael
Innis

Girls:
Irene (which I might use)
Isolde
Irina
Imogen "Immy"
Imelda "Immy"
Iris
Isabella
Isobel
Iliana
Isla
Ireland (yes, a place name but it's the place I like)

What are your favorite name that begin with the letter I? Have you met or do you know someone with and of these names? How do they like their names? What other I names have you heard recently?