Thinking about Names

Do you like to name things?

Most kids do, I think. 

You probably have named a doll or a stuffy.

How did you choose the name? 

Some people name their house.

I named my property 'Hemlock Hollow'  because I have a lot of hemlock trees and my house is down in a little dip in the land.

These are my new Christmas candle holders. I love them!

They are actually about 50 years old, but they are new to me. 

It was hard to choose a name because I was undecided about naming them someone from my family tree or not. But I also wanted simple, short names.

So, say hello to Britta and Anders.

They are from Sweden, so those are Swedish names.

 

These two names are from my family tree. They are very common names in Sweden, and I actually have several  Brittas and Anders in my history. My nephew has the middle name Anders, but there were no new baby girls in the family to name Britta.

Maybe your family can think of a name for your house or property.

Make it a good one!

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property: all the land and buildings on the land that you own.

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Words often have several meanings. Can you infer what a 'hollow' is in this passage? In this passage a hollow is a thing (noun). If you call something hollow, such as a hollow log, then it is describing word (adjective).

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artist credit: these candle holders were designed by Swedish artist Lizzie Velander, made in Sri Lanka, and sold by IKEA

Name Games (activity)

I've posted before that I think names are fun to think about.
Sometimes names have interesting meanings.

So, I am reading A Whole Nother Story (very funny, by the way).
Names are a big part of this story. If you read the book, you'll see what I mean.

This book inspired me to have a little fun with names today.
Can you tell what all these names have in common?

Megan Trump
Bella Ursa Tate
Lilly Olive Long
Quinn Thompson
Opal Marie Good
Beth Fran Ford
Ben Brett Quigley
Owen Johnson
Isaac Caleb Umpire

Check out the pictures below to see the answers.





(their initials all say/ mean something :)
You can click on a picture to see it larger.
Do YOUR initials say something?
Do some artwork with your name!

What's in a name? Part Three (non-fiction, names)

Sometimes life is full of coincidences. Two things will happen together by accident, but it feels like the two things were supposed to happen together.
This morning I wrote a post here about names. This afternoon my family and I went to visit my sister and her husband. We talked about names all afternoon! We did not talk about this blog at all, though.
Can you guess why we talked about names? My sister is having a baby! I was so excited to find out! When people find out about a new baby on the way, one question they ask the parents-to-be is what names they are thinking of.
My sister wants to name the baby Annie if it is a girl. Annie was my grandmother's name. There is a good chance the baby might have curly red hair. If she has curly red hair, her name will not be Annie. Search 'Annie the Musical' online and you will see why not.
I am happy for my sister and her husband, and look forward to meeting our new family member. I'm sure the baby will have a name that is choosen carefully, and that is perfectly right for him or her.
Today was a good day for thinking about names.

What's in a name? Part Two (non-fiction, names)

If you read the post titled What's in a name? (at the top in green)then you know my name means 'beginning of a good life'. Here is another interesting thing about my name. It rhymes! My middle name is Marie. Dawn Marie Bonnevie is like a tiny poem. Dawn rhymes with the 'Bon' and Marie rhymes with the 'vie'. It might not sound like a rhyme where you live, though. That is because people in different places pronounce (say) words differently. For example, many people in New York do not think 'dog' and 'frog' rhyme.
Do you have a name that rhymes? What does your name mean? Ask you parents how they choose your name. It is fun to look in baby books to see what names mean. You could start a name collection. Look in phone books, on signs, and online for interesting names and write them in a notebook.
Some names just sound funny. Some names repeat, like William Williams, or Peter Peters. Some names are real people who have the same name as a character. There is a dentist named Charlie Brown that lives near me. Characters in books often have funny names because the author could make up whatever name they wanted! You can make up names, too!