Month names
April, May, June and August. Are other month names in use anywhere? Specifically December: it seems so obvious in a historically Christian community, but perhaps other names like Noel and Holly are more user-friendly?
In South Africa a lot of month names appear as surnames in the 'Coloured' community: mixed-race people often with slave ancestry, and the slaves came from elsewhere in Africa and also the Pacific islands so the month names were presumably the month in which they arrived here and were sold. The ones I see most often are February and September, but there are others.
In South Africa a lot of month names appear as surnames in the 'Coloured' community: mixed-race people often with slave ancestry, and the slaves came from elsewhere in Africa and also the Pacific islands so the month names were presumably the month in which they arrived here and were sold. The ones I see most often are February and September, but there are others.
Replies
January Jones played Betty Draper in Mad Men.
I suppose if people were going to name their kids after time of the year, maybe not months, but themes could work.
Here are some that came to mind:
Valentine, Valentin, Valentina and other variations for babies born close the Valentine's day.
I suppose floral or botanical names could work for spring. Daisy, Violet, Florian, Lily, etc.
Pascal and Pascale also works for spring, since it refers to the latin form for Easter.
There are also season names themselves: Summer and Autum.
Just my two cents. :)
Here are some that came to mind:
Valentine, Valentin, Valentina and other variations for babies born close the Valentine's day.
I suppose floral or botanical names could work for spring. Daisy, Violet, Florian, Lily, etc.
Pascal and Pascale also works for spring, since it refers to the latin form for Easter.
There are also season names themselves: Summer and Autum.
Just my two cents. :)
While going through the list of names that end in -Rina one day, I stumbled upon two "month names" that are rarely used and come from Russia: Oktyabrina (October) and Noyabrina (November).
They are phonetically pleasing!
They are phonetically pleasing!
In French Janvier (January) is used as a name with feminine form Janvière. It is not a case of the month being used as a name. It is the French form of the Latin Januarius.
In my native Poland January (yah-nuh-AH-rih) is a masculine name but is not associated with the month as we call the month styczeń. Feminine form is Januaria which is also used in other languages.
In my native Poland January (yah-nuh-AH-rih) is a masculine name but is not associated with the month as we call the month styczeń. Feminine form is Januaria which is also used in other languages.
Well yes, I have seen all twelve of the month names used as given names in the USA, usually for girls except of course for August, though August is also sometimes given to girls now.
In the total Social Security list in the USA for 2021 which gives all names used more than four times for a gender, all of the month names except February and March occur. The totals are were:
January, 15 girls
April, 588 girls
May, 121 girls
June, 1669 girls, 38 boys
July, 17 girls, 13 boys
August, 329 girls, 3133 boys
September, 25 girls
October, 52 girls, 8 boys
November, 44 girls
December, 36 girls
A Chinese-American woman named March Fong Eu was the secretary of state for the state of California for many years:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_Fong_Eu
February is the rarest month name, befitting its status as the shortest month, but I know I have seen it given at least once in Nebraska, where I can get lists that include all names given in a year, even only once.
In terms of literary references, there was a character named January Wayne as the heroine of the 1973 bestselling novel "Once is Not Enough" by Jacqueline Susann. In 1975 a film of this was made starring Deborah Raffin as January, and there were definitely some girls named January in the late 1970s in the USA because of that.
The fantasy author Catherynne Valente named the heroine of her 2009 adult fantasy "Palimpsest" November. Then she went on to write a series of children's books with long titles, the first being "The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making" (2011), where the young heroine is named September. That book is mentioned in "Palimpsest" as being a book November read when she was a child, and then Valente wrote it afterwards.
In the total Social Security list in the USA for 2021 which gives all names used more than four times for a gender, all of the month names except February and March occur. The totals are were:
January, 15 girls
April, 588 girls
May, 121 girls
June, 1669 girls, 38 boys
July, 17 girls, 13 boys
August, 329 girls, 3133 boys
September, 25 girls
October, 52 girls, 8 boys
November, 44 girls
December, 36 girls
A Chinese-American woman named March Fong Eu was the secretary of state for the state of California for many years:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_Fong_Eu
February is the rarest month name, befitting its status as the shortest month, but I know I have seen it given at least once in Nebraska, where I can get lists that include all names given in a year, even only once.
In terms of literary references, there was a character named January Wayne as the heroine of the 1973 bestselling novel "Once is Not Enough" by Jacqueline Susann. In 1975 a film of this was made starring Deborah Raffin as January, and there were definitely some girls named January in the late 1970s in the USA because of that.
The fantasy author Catherynne Valente named the heroine of her 2009 adult fantasy "Palimpsest" November. Then she went on to write a series of children's books with long titles, the first being "The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making" (2011), where the young heroine is named September. That book is mentioned in "Palimpsest" as being a book November read when she was a child, and then Valente wrote it afterwards.
This message was edited 5/8/2023, 9:50 AM