Why We Still Love "Traveling Lite" Names 🧳
Baby name news from around the globe
Travelling lite names
Have you heard of “traveling lite” baby names? We’ve been using this phrase for a few years now to describe short, simple names that cross easily between cultures, and they’re still relevant. Because parents keep choosing them (with good reason!), and there are always new ones to discover.
Like Beni. It’s a simplified spelling of Bennie — which is an adorable grandpa name for a girl — but it also nods to Spanish names like Benita, and is a Japanese name too. Country singer Lauren Alaina just named her daughter Beni Doll. (And was there ever a more country middle name?!)
Saga counts as a traveling lite name, too. It’s popular in all the Scandinavian countries, but was only given to 19 girls in the US last year. That might be about that change, with the news that Megan Fox and musician Machine Gun Kelly have named their baby girl Saga Blade. Some of her older siblings are Bodhi and Journey, and Saga feels like it fits into the same spiritual development bracket. And that middle name —which is edgy in every sense of the word — came from Megan guessing what MGK’s ideal middle name would be, years before. He clearly liked it so much he gave it to his daughter instead.
Popular names around the world
We’ve just passed the summer solstice here in the northern hemisphere, which means that in New Zealand/Aotearoa it’s Matariki, the Māori new year. For name lovers, this means that the Top 10 Māori names of the last twelve months have been released!
Many of them are exemplary traveling lite names, because of the way Polynesian languages space out their vowels and consonants. Koa and Kiwa, Maia and Aroha…
New to the Top 10 are Rangi (meaning sky) for both boys and girls; Rangimarie (peace) for girls; and Kahurangi (precious) for boys.
I promise I’ll stop going on about traveling lite names after this, but have you seen the most popular names in Croatia? Mia, Rita, Luka, Niko… if this is your style, Croatia could be your spiritual home.
What’s a French name anyway?
Whizzing across to France, I got het up about one of the Reddit name controversies doing the rounds this week. (Not a great habit, I know!)
The poster, a French man living in Canada, has a friend who plans to give her son a “French” name in honour of him. Except… the chosen name is Italian. (Sounds from the comments like it’s Giovanni.) Was he right to break the news to her?
When I first read this, I thought the baby was already born and registered — in which case, the only correct response is, “What a lovely name.”
But since baby G hasn’t arrived yet, I think there’s wiggle room for tactfully pointing out the his name isn’t as French as mom may think. Whilst bearing in mind, as Abby Sandel says, that relationships matter more than names. Or being right.
But also, have you seen the Top 100 baby names in France? Nearly a tenth of the boy names could be called Italian: Léo, Elio, Nino, Timéo, Enzo, Alessio, Livio, Roméo, Ezio. Along with other names from Arabic, Spanish, Breton, Irish, and more, they are given to thousands of French children, showing that the boundaries of what counts as a “French” name are very fuzzy.
Meanwhile back in Canada, the top baby names in Quebec 2024 have landed! The list is led by Emma (which replaces Alice), and Noah (again), and goes all the way down to names given to just five girls or boys. I’ve updated it in our guide to Canadian baby names.
Quebec has also published the most popular names of people retiring next year, which is interesting. Names like Linda and Diane, Richard and Denis, will come as no surprise to English speakers. But did you know that up-and-coming Sylvie is a grandma name in Quebec? (And how gorgeous is her male counterpart, Sylvain?)
Do meanings matter?
While we’re thinking about what’s important when it comes to name opinions, here’s another take: personal meaning matters more than literal etymology
As a recovering pedant, I know it’s so hard to swallow when someone tells you their child’s name means “beautiful princess” and you know if doesn’t, in any sense in the world. But who benefits if you tell the new parent that? No one. (You can always vent to us in the Nameberry forums, though!)
An example from recent news: Leodis, the name of actress Keke Palmer’s son. You could say it’s a historic name for the British town of Leeds, and you wouldn’t be wrong. But for Keke and her son’s father, NFL player Darius Jackson, it was a mash-up of their names — Lauren and Darius — with a twist to make it into an existing name. It also has meanings of Black Pride: Keke has said that it sounds like the name of someone who might have marched with Martin Luther King Jr. So Leeds? Great city, but only a tiny part in the meaning of this name.
On Nameberry this week…
Black American baby name trends to celebrate Juneteenth 💪🏿
Family names: yea or nay? ⬇️
