Country music continues to infiltrate the mainstream day by day...or has it become the mainstream? Today, I bring you all proof via an unexpected avenue.
If you are expecting a baby (or have gone through all that in the past five years), you're most likely familiar with the extremely popular baby-name guide Nameberry, a site that offers hundreds of lists of names for parents to peruse when coming up with the perfect moniker for Junior. Old-fashioned names, trendy names, historic names, celebrity names, names for people who like "Aiden" but think it's gotten too popular--you name it, they provide options.
Anyway, Nameberry even has a "Weekly Report" in which guest blogger Abby Sandel (who herself runs a blog about...you guessed it, names) fills everyone in about what's happenin' in the name-game world. This week? Well, you guessed it. It's all about country music as the new baby-naming source. Yup, if you are a pregnant country music fan--or even if you aren't--you need not look any further than your iPod for inspiration.
Sandel notes that classics such as Loretta, Dolly, Merle, and Hank are fine and popular choices by trendy parents these days. I haven't heard too many people using them myself, but I freely admit they have that hipster-parent va-va-va voom potential. However, she also comes up with a few that would have escaped me (I admit it).
Expecting a baby boy? Sandel draws up a list of clever country choices, including: Blake, Zac, Darius, Trace, and Rory. I'll let you figure out where she got those names from.
Meanwhile, future parents of daughters can choose from the following recommendations: Ashton, Carrie, Miranda, Reba, and Sunny. Not bad.
Sandel is also big on country surnames as interesting choices for infant naming. "Bentley" (as in Dierks), "Corbin" (as in Easton--his first name is given a thumbs-up too), "Jackson" (I prefer "Alan" myself), and Perry (as in that brothers-and-sister trio you may have heard of) are presented as options for baby boys; whereas "Gentry" (although not "Montgomery") and "Paisley" (as in--oh come on, you know where it comes from) are picks for little gals.
Finally, although the "country name" blog features a cute pic of Brad Paisley and family--"Huck" and "Jasper" are nowhere among the names endorsed. Aw, shucks!
Do you like the idea of using country music as a launching pad for baby names? Hey, I myself named my daughter "Audrey" (after Audrey Mae Sheppard, aka the first Mrs. Hank Williams). I will draw the line at naming any future sons Bo (as in "Cephus"), however. Be sure to let me know what you think!
As always, be sure to: