Category Archives: Name Your Tune

Name Your Blend

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The names that we bestow are opportunities. Opportunities to tell a story, honour our past, make a wish for the future to share aspirations, our loves and values. To be sure (depending on how seriously you take this responsibility) this is true of a parent naming a newborn child, an entrepreneur naming a new business venture or product or a well-established company naming a new product offering.

Over the years I have seen parents turning to formal, organized focus groups and Facebook polls to seek help and guidance to choose the perfect moniker for their new baby. Starbucks is one of my favourites for coffee and for names. Many of the names that they have given to their blends and products are as full of meaning – strong and rich, just like the coffee that they brew.

The Name Your Blend Contest, marks the first time in Starbucks’ history that they are turning the naming rights over to the public. In inviting their fans and consumers to name, they send a message of trust and loyalty and it is also an invitation to be part of their history. Starbucks is looking to rename the Veranda Blend, which since it’s launch one year ago, has been the most popular of all of their brewed coffees in Canada. You can enter and find out all of the contest details at www.starbucks.ca/blonde.

Part of coming up with the perfect name is knowing as much as you can about it. I’ve put together some highlights about Veranda to give you the background and details that will get you started.

• Veranda is one of the first coffees Starbucks introduced as part of their Blonde brews last year
• The Blonde Brews were crafted with Canadians in mind after a survey of Canadian coffee drinkers revealed that 60% prefer a ‘lighter’ coffee, which Starbucks did not offer
• Blonde is for the coffee drinkers that think that they don’t like Starbucks, known for it’s dark and rich brews
• While Blonde has been well received globally, in Canada, it is more popular that anywhere else
• Canadians drink more than twice as much Blonde as Americans
• Key words Starbucks uses to describe Veranda: mellow, mild, soft, subtle

The name and the story behind the name Veranda is a good one:

“Roasting this blend of specially chosen Latin American beans for a shorter time allows the delicate nuances of soft cocoa and lightly toasted nuts to blossom. Mellow and flavourful, this coffee brews a delightfully gracious cup that’s perfect for welcoming friends. With its calm and laid-back character, this coffee pays homage to the art of porch-sitting. Named for the serene terraces decorating towns and neighbourhoods throughout the regions where these beans were grown, Veranda Blend is a gentle and inviting cup best served with a sunny day, a good friend and nothing in particular to do.”

I’ve put together some of my guiding principles and tips for choosing the perfect (and hopefully) winning name:

Fill it with meaning: In handing naming over to Canadians, Starbucks is looking for a name that is distinctly Canadian. The name should resonate with Canadians in a meaningful way. Think about landscapes, landmarks, moments, people, culture, identity and values for inspiration.

Evoke a feeling: From the way it sounds to the way that it looks, it should make you feel good. Think about how you feel when you’re enjoying your coffee – whether you’re enjoying a quiet moment alone either at home or at the café, engrossed in a book or a conversation with a friend.

Make it memorable: The winning name will be said, seen and heard millions of times daily across Canada as customers order, barristas pour and cashiers ring up coffees in Starbucks locations, grocery stores and homes. It has to be a name that people remember.

Let it brew: Don’t rush. Start a list of key words that describe the coffee, the experience, the feeling, the flavour, the moment. The words will start to tell a story.

Apply the KISS Rule – Keep it Short and Simple. As a general rule, the name should be no longer than 12 letters and no more than 2 words. It should be easy to spell and say. It should not be open to multiple ways to pronounce. You would hate for someone to want to order their favourite coffee and shy away from it because they don’t want to say it wrong.

Bragging rights could be yours. The winning name in Starbucks’ search to rename Veranda will appear on menu boards, packaging, signage and featured in ads. It will be one of the most common used words by customers and baristas across Canada every day.

Go pour yourself a favourite cup of coffee and let it be your muse.

I offer one last bit of inspiration for you as your coffee and your name is brewing. In his book Pour Your Heart Into It, Howard Schultz, Starbucks CEO wrote:

“We aim for the unexpected, the offbeat, the clever. My highest aim is to have not just our advertising but the entire Starbucks experience provide human connection and personal enrichment in cherished moments, around the world, one cup at a time.”

Back to School with Name Your Tune

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From a very young age, children learn, grow and develop through and with music. As adults, we all hum the tune of the ABC song as we’re doing our filing “ABCDEFG…” (see, you’re doing it right now). Using music on a consistent basis with children can both teach and reinforce key concept and socialization. The best part is that they don’t even realize that they’re learning as they go through the motions. As you’re getting your pre-schoolers ready for school, think about how you can incorporate music into your daily routine that will excite, engage and prepare them for the day.

Each of the songs on Name Your Tune was chosen for what it would bring out in a child including learning, playing and engaging.

Songs for learning key concepts:

  • There are Seven Days ~ the days of the week
  • The Rainbow Song ~ colours
  • Mr. Sun ~ weather
  • There’s a Hole in the Garden ~ nature

Songs for playing & interacting:

  • If You’re Happy and You Know It
  • Head and Shoulders
  • Wheels on the Bus
  • Old MacDonald

One of the best things about music is that it’s always with you. Once you learn a song, you never really forget it. As a parent or care-giver, it is your greatest and most transportable tool because you always have it with you and can pull it out whenever you need an activity or a pick-me-up.

Adding Name Your Tune to your child’s music collection you get all of the above and more.  With Name Your Tune, each song is uniquely personalized to include the child’s name in every song, making them feel special and proud. What a great way to start the new school year.

Order Name Your Tune for the special pre-schooler in your life with the coupon code PRESCHOOL and receive $5 off your order. (Offer expires September 30, 2012)

Introducing Carter and Cash ~ Mom draws inspiration from The Man in Black

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Things that I love: family, music and baby names that have a great story behind them.  When I met Christella Morris, whose blog is called Crawl The Line, Mom of two boys named Carter and Cash, I knew that this was a story that I needed to hear.Christella is a fan of music and since she was a little girl, loved Johnny Cash, whose music she came to love through her grandmother who raised her from an infant. Long since before she had kids, she knew the names she was going to choose for them, regardless of their gender – Carter and Cash.

Giving these names to her boys goes deeper than paying tribute to The Man in Black and his wife, June.  “I think their story, their relationship, is a great example of overcoming every obstacle to find yourself in another person. Johnny in particular overcame so many things: hardships, addiction, his past, to become a widely known and critically acclaimed artist. He had the ultimate comeback in music. I think their life and family is a great example of sticking to what you want, no matter how hard it gets.” It’s not just about the music, it’s who they were as people and a couple that also inspired her.

It came as no surprise to her family and close friends that she chose these names and for the most part, when she introduces her boys together as “Carter and Cash”, people immediately make the connection.  Sometimes, she notes, “about ten minutes into a conversation they’ll stare blankly for a minute and then be like ‘ohhhh I get it!’”

The name of Christella’s blog, that she started while pregnant with Cash, is likewise inspired by Johnny Cash. A friend had given her some onesies that said “Crawl The Line”, a reference to the movie about Johnny and June “Walk The Line”.  She explains, “When I was coming up with names for the blog, Crawl The Line was so fitting since being a parent is teaching your children how to walk the balance of life, or “walk the line.” We also all start with crawling, so it doubles as a cute name that suits my kids perfectly and a metaphor for us growing together.”

A big question that I posed to Christella was about what would she name a third baby? While she admits that she thinks that their family of four is complete, you can “never say never.” Since all of their names start with a “C” – her husband’s name is Colin – she’ll start there.  Christella and Colin both share a love of music and so thinking about naming another baby, they go down that path with the following ideas: Crosby ( paying tribute to Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young), Chanson, pronounced Chan-Son (“Song” in French) and Cecilia (Simon & Garfunkel song.)

Other musically inspired names that we have come across at Name Your Tune include:

  1. Jagger
  2. Hendrix
  3. McCartney
  4. Lennon
  5. Jude
  6. Marley
  7. Cohen
  8. Presley
  9. Dylan
  10. Caroline

As sure as night is dark and day is light, I keep my eyes wide open all the time for your story on baby names.

Email me with YOUR story at candace@nameyourtune.com

 

About Christella:

A twenty-something blogger and marketing maven extraordinaire, Christella loves all things teal, especially when they’re from the dollar store! Christella has two boys only 18 months apart, Cash (2) and Carter (8 months) and writes daily on her blog Crawl The Line. Her family is also currently in the midst of filming a show airing January 2013 on the Oprah Winfrey Network, Million Dollar Neighbourhood. You can find Christella on Twitter @Christella_Says

Help! People are mispronouncing my baby’s name!

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TOMAYTO-TOMAHTO, POTAYTO-POTAHTO

Your children’s names are really the first thing that you give them that they will have for the rest of their lives. There are those mothers among us who have known what names they would give to their children since they were young, while others only start the selection process once they find out that that they are pregnant. It will be the one word that you will speak more than any other in your house (well, except for “no” during those toddler years). You choose the name and you love it. You love what it means to you, the story behind it, the feelings or memories it evokes. You’re confident that this is a name that your child will feel good about seeing one day on a diploma, business card, novel, marquee or album cover. You love the way it sounds when you say it out loud. You say it over and over and over again. Then you step out into the world and you introduce your baby to people and this happens:

My daughter’s name is Danya (Dan ya). She always gets called Donya—it SO annoys me!

We named our oldest Lilianna, hubs & I pronounce it Lily-onna, but most people pronounce it Lily-anna.

Kallum always gets Kaaaallum and Gracyn gets Gracey!!! drives me nutty!!!

Mine is a language issue, the Spanish way is the way we say it and spell it, Adriana like apple, not Adrianna like able.

Her dad has the same issue—people here in Canada say George, not Jorge. Bet they would say it right if he played for the Blue Jays!

Everywhere. When they call her name at the doctor’s office. When they sing her name in circle time in your playgroup. The first day of school and summer camp. Even your parents do it. A sign of things to come for you both. The name that sounded so lovely in your house makes you cringe and scream inside a little bit when you hear someone mispronounce it. Tomayto–Tomahto, Potayto- Potahto. Tam-air-ah Tam-ah-rah, Lily-anna Lily-onna.  But you can’t call the whole thing off.  You don’t have to. But you do need to know how to deal with it and so will your child.

  • If you can, spell the name as it sounds to you. Madalyn will never get mispronunced that way that Madeline does.
  • When in a new setting, use your child’s name often so that the people around you hear it. Hopefully they’re paying attention and they’ll catch on. “Maygan was up all night again. Maygan will need a good nap this afternoon.”
  • Take a breath before you respond to correct someone. An introduction is a first impression and you don’t want to start off making someone feel bad or awkward.
  • Ignore it. You saw it coming. You’re ready for it.  Help your child learn that his or her name might be said in different ways and help recognize it.
  • Be okay with a short form of the name that you know won’t be mispronounced. This might not work for everyone but it works for an Alexandria or Alexandra who also goes by Alex.
  • If you haven’t yet settled on the perfect name for your baby, here are some things to consider:
  • The sound that is obvious to you may not be obvious to everyone (Of course her name is pronounced Key-air-ah). Not so if you grew up with a neighbour called “Key-ah-rah.”
  • Letters, and combinations of letters, can have multiple pronunciations. Take the name Thea for example, it can be Thee-ah, but also Thay-ah, and also Tay-ah or Tee-ah.
  • Names, like all words, sound different in someone else’s city, country or accent. The name Lara sounds a lot different when someone from New York or Boston says it compared to someone from Toronto.
  • Names that are culturally or geographically common are not common everywhere. If you are not familiar with common Gaelic names, you won’t know that Niamh is Neeve and Ceilidh is Kayley.
  • Test-drive the name with friends, family and colleagues to hear how they say it. If it gets mispronounced more often than not either go back to your list or decide that you’re going to be ready to deal with it.

If there is one area of baby names that I am an extreme expert in, it’s pronunciation. It’s what we do at Name Your Tune. For us it’s always about how a name sounds. We have implemented as many checkpoints as we can to ensure that every child hears their name in our songs in exactly the right way to them. We require phonetic spelling on our order form, we have hints throughout our list of names like this:

Spell it your way!

Aidan and Ayden look different but sound the same.

It’s all in the way your hear it!

Annika and Aneeka and Onnika don’t sound the same

Ava and Eva start with a long A, a long E, or a short E sound

With all of these measures in place, there are still names that send out red flags.  hey are mostly names with varied and multiple pronunciations. In our experience, these are the names that most people will correct mispronunciation with the highest frequency:

  • Arielle
  • Arianna
  • Adrianna
  • Kyra
  • Kiera
  • Madeline
  • Kara
  • Kian
  • Mattias
  • Megan

Do your children’s names get mispronounced? How do you feel about it?

 

Originally published at Yummy Mummy Club

Top 10 Baby Names of 2011

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US SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION RELEASES DATA ON MOST POPULAR BABY NAMES OF LAST YEAR

May marks the release of the Top Baby Names, according to the data collected by US Social Security Administration. There is not a Canadian equivalent available of this data, but given the close relation of our culture, I’m quite confident that the results would be similar.

I see baby names every day and some days, weeks, and months, I note that some are more popular than others, and the popularity of some names grow while others fade. The Top 10 Baby Names, according to the US Social Security Administration, held few surprises for me.


So, like I said, there were few surprises, but that’s not to say that there were none. Mason broke into the Top 10 this year (last year it was at #12). There might be some weight given to the popularity of the name owed to the Kardashians. Kourtney Kardashian named her son Mason at the end of 2009 and since we hear so much about the Kardashians, the name Mason might have just squeezed its way into the subconscious of new parents. Chloe has been in Top 10 since 2008 and it might interest you to note that Chloe with a K cracked the Top 50 in 2010. Keeping Up With The Kardashians premiered in 2007.

I wanted to take a closer look at a few of the Top 10 Baby Names and found some interesting statistics:

  • Michael debuted on the Top 10 in 1943 and has not left the list since then. From 1954 through 2010, Michael has been in the Top 3. This year it fell to 6th place.
  • Jacob first appeared in the Top 10 in 1993 and has been in the Top 3 since 1996.
  • The boy names seem to have a longer staying power on these Top 10 lists than the girl names do. Sophia debuted in the Top 10 in 2006 and cracked the Top 3 in 2009. Isabella first appeared on the Top 10 in 2004 and has been in the Top 3 since 2007.

I wanted to note that there are a few names that through my business—Name Your Tune, where we make personalized CDs for children—I have seen gaining popularity. While they might not be on the Top 10 lists, some of the names that we are seeing a lot of lately include:

Boys:

Isaac, Kayden, Austin, Gabriel, Benjamin.

Girls:

Isla, Charlotte, Maya, Hannah, Evelyn, Addison.

Did you consider these lists of popular names when you were choosing your baby’s name? Did you decide to keep or toss a name from your own list of names, because they are on these lists?

 

Originally published at Yummy Mummy Club

A Name Story ~ When everything falls into place

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I met Chrystina and her son Lev at The Babytime Show last spring. We had a long talk about his name and the meaning behind it. I have held on to this special name story to share at just the right moment. With Valentine’s Day coming up, I thought the timing was perfect to share the story about how little Lev was given his name, as told by his Mom:

Here’s the story behind our son, Lev’s, name. I must admit, it’s a good one :)

A little background on my husband and I. My husband Aaron is Canadian with German and Irish blood (mixed with some Native American and Canadian Indian on both sides), although his family has been here since the 1700′s. I was born in Canada, but blood-wise, I am 100% Ukrainian. My father is from Lviv, the Western, patriotic capital of Ukraine and all my grandparents are also from Western Ukraine.

Several of Aaron’s male relatives bear the name Richard, so we knew from the start that our baby boy’s middle name would be Richard.
We wanted a Ukrainian first name for our son.  We wanted to honour my heritage and it would allow for a traditional name that—in Canada—would be unique.  We didn’t want something different just for the sake of being different. Our top four choices were: Nykolai, Roman, Theodore (pronounced TEH-OH-DOOR) and Lev.  We couldn’t decide on one name because we loved them all, so I proceeded to research each name, starting with Lev.

I speak Ukrainian, so I already knew that Lev means ‘lion’ in Ukrainian.  This is partly why Lev was on our list: our son is a Leo and my husband and I LOVE animals, especially cats.  I also knew that the city that my father’s from—Lviv—is named after the founder’s son, Lev Halytsky.  A quick online search revealed that Lev means ‘heart’ in Hebrew, an undisputedly beautiful word, which appeals to the yogi side of my character.  My spiritual and yogi friends also adore how Lev also sounds a lot like ‘love’.  My online search also revealed that Lev is short for Leviticus (as in the Book of Leviticus in the Old Testament) and the Leviticus priesthood is descended from none other than Moses’s brother, Aaron.  This fact took my breath away: ‘This is unbelievable’ I thought to myself, ‘Lev is descended from Aaron and Aaron’s my husband’s name!’

I called my husband immediately and shared with him this amazing information.  It’s at this point that we decided we’d name our son Lev.  “If we don’t”, we thought to ourselves, “surely we’d get struck down by lightening.”  It was a nice touch that naming our son Lev Richard (in other words, the ‘lion-hearted’ Richard) would also reflect my husband’s love of Medieval history.

 Fast-forward to three-and-a-half-months after my son’s birth.  I was reading Eat, Pray, Love and Elizabeth Gilbert was explaining how in the Balinese culture it is not the your birth date that’s important, rather it’s the day of the week that you are born that bears significance.  She used Thursday as an example.  This piqued my interest because Lev was born on a Thursday.  Gilbert explains a bit about Thursday’s child and she goes on to say that he has two guiding animal spirits—the lion and the tiger.  This floored me!  Not only is Lev a Leo, but—according to the Chinese calendar—he’s a tiger!  What’s more, he was born in 2010 and this was an auspicious year in that it was the year of the white tiger, which happens only ever 60 years.

So that’s my humble story of my Little Lev’s not-so-humble name. I don’t think I have to tell you that we’re stumped for names should there be a baby number two!

 

I love a good name story! Are you ready to share yours? Email me at candace@nameyourtune.com.

I would love to make a monthly feature sharing your stories here.


 

Gender Benders – When a name can go either way

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If you recieved the above-pictured birth announcement, would you call your friend to congratulated them on the birth of the son? Their daughter? Or would you remain neutral and say baby? (image provided by Lindsay Brewda of Grace Announcements).

When I was writing the lyrics for Name Your Tune I took special care that every song, every mention, was gender neutral so that little boys and little girls named Jordan could have the same set of personalized songs.  You see, we don’t have a box to check off that asks if Skylar is a boy or a girl, we knew the trends were moving in that direction and they have been for some time.   It didn’t occur to me until last month when Jessica Simpson named her daughter, that I would ever question whether to use my “boy” or “girl” giftwrap for Maxwell Drew.

I saw the Twitter stream explode with the news that this much-anticipated baby girl had been born…and then, given a boy’s name. Interesting, I thought. It’s not the usual gender-mixing of names that I see often. Then it occurred to me that my daughter’s middle name is James, to honour my grandfather, just like my brother’s son.  Following the breaking news a little further and deeper revealed the meaning behind her choice: Maxwell is her husband’s middle name and Drew is her mother’s maiden name.  So it has meaning for the new parents and their families and this little girl named Maxwell will grow up knowing that she was named after people that she loves and that love her.  I’m going to predict that Maxwell Drew will go through her life encountering looks and comments of surprise when she arrives at an appointment or a meeting and they were expecting a boy or a man.  She’ll get used to it or it will frustrate her. That will be up to her. You see, that is always the burden and the gift of our name.

Sometimes the spelling of a name will give clues to the gender of the bearer such as spelling Sidney (boy) or Sydney (girl), Cameron (boy) or Camryn (girl), Charlie (boy) and Charlee (girl). But those sneaky and once-though clever y’s, double e’s and silent h’s don’t always give it away. Sometimes they make it even more blurry.

While Maxwell Drew assuredly is the most uncommon gender-bender I’ve come across, I’ve put together a list of other names assures me that I made the right decision to go gender-neutral for Name Your Tune and that make me go to my box of giftwrap with multi-coloured polkadots instead of flowers:

  1. Jordan
  2. Quinn
  3. Ryan
  4. Taylor
  5. Riley
  6. Rowan
  7. Morgan
  8. Payton
  9. Jamie
  10. Emery
  11. Teagan
  12. Avery
  13. Logan
  14. Sydney
  15. Finley
  16. Jayden
  17. Emerson
  18. Charlie
  19. Dani
  20. Mackenzie
  21. Devon
  22. Harley
  23. Casey
  24. Spencer
  25. Corey

There are two things that always come to mind when I think about these gender benders.

My favourite gender bender story is that of the (male) Enlgish writer, Evelyn Waugh.  He married Eveyln Garnder and when she took his surname, they were both Evelyn Waugh. Their friends called them “He-velyn” and “She-velyn”.

Then there’s this, “A Boy Named Sue”, by Johnny Cash. A little known fact about this song: It was written by Shel Silverstein. Here are some of the lyrics.

My daddy left home when I was three

And he didn’t leave much to ma and me

Just this old guitar and an empty bottle of booze.

Now, I don’t blame him cause he run and hid

But the meanest thing that he ever did

Was before he left, he went and named me “Sue.”

 

Well, he must o’ thought that is quite a joke

And it got a lot of laughs from a’ lots of folk,

It seems I had to fight my whole life through.

Some gal would giggle and I’d get red

And some guy’d laugh and I’d bust his head,

I tell ya, life ain’t easy for a boy named “Sue.”

Well, I grew up quick and I grew up mean,

My fist got hard and my wits got keen,

I’d roam from town to town to hide my shame.

The story of “A Boy Named Sue” and the follow up from the father’s perspective that Shel Silverstien wrote years later, “The Father of A Boy Named Sue”, illustrates that the name was given in hopes that Sue would grow up to be strong and tough – the antithesis of the feminine name.

Did you give you child a gender-bender of a name? What was your motivation?

 

Originally published at Yummy Mummy Club

Name Dropping with The Bachelorette’s Trista Sutter

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I love names that are unique when they hold special meaning. I recently sought out Trista Sutter, of The Bachelor and  The Bachelorette, to talk names. Trista was the runner-up on the first season of The Bachelor and was the first Bachelorette the following year. Ryan was the lucky guy to win her heart on the popular reality show and the two are happily married with two children, Maxwell and Blakesley, living in Vail, Colorado.  While finding your spouse on a TV reality show is not the most conventional, you’ll find that Trista and Ryan honour tradition in building their family and life together.

Candace:  Let’s start with you…Trista is an unusual name. Tell me how your parents chose it for you and why. Did you love it or loathe it growing up? Did your feelings about it change or grow as you grew up?

Trista: They actually just saw it in a baby book and liked it…as unspecial as that sounds.  :)  I was okay with it.  Of course I got lots of nicknames, and I never got to just buy a magnet or cup or preprinted name off those silly displays at gift stores.  I was okay with it, but definitely learned to love its uniqueness more, the more I got older.

Candace:  Maxwell Alston – what a great name. When I look it at it looks cool, powerful and serious all at the same time. Can you tell what went into choosing it for him. Is there special meaning or honor behind it?

Trista: Ryan and I both loved Maxwell from the get-go of name planning.  Alston is Ryan’s father’s middle name as well as his great great (maybe another great) grandfather’s name and we both wanted to honor our families through the kids names.

Candace:  Blakesley Grace – you know I love this. Can you tell me the story and how it felt to give her your mother’s name? Does Grace come from something special too?

Trista: Ever since I was little, I wanted to include the name “Rose” in one of my children’s names.  My mother’s name is Roseanne and my grandmother’s name is Rosemary.  The only name that Ryan REALLY liked for a girl was Grace.  We didn’t think that Grace Rose or Rose Grace sounded that great together, so in the interest of letting Ryan have the name he absolutely loved, I put more thought into it.  I really wanted to honor my side of the family, since we had honored Ryan’s by naming our son, Maxwell Alston, and one day was just throwing around names and stuck on Blakesley Grace.  We both thought it sounded perfect together.  Many people love the name, especially when they learn that it was my mother’s maiden name, but many were outspoken (and actually pretty cruel) about their dislike for it.  No matter what any critics say, we think it’s beautiful and I am thrilled to be able to honor my mom.

Candace:  Did you and Ryan agree on the names? What was the process of choosing and deciding for you?

Trista: We did. We couldn’t have gone about naming our children until we both truly loved the names, and luckily we did.

Candace: I’ve been having some great conversations with people about taking your husband’s surname when you got married. A lively dialogue on Facebook earlier this week. You took Ryan’s name. Was it an easy decision or did you debate it?

Trista: Even though I was married on television, I am very traditional in terms of that sort of thing and knew from my days as a little girl that I wanted to take on the name of the man that I married.  I love the romance and honor of it and I actually like Trista Sutter better than Trista Rehn. (Sorry dad!).

 

Originally published at Yummy Mummy Club

Baby Names and Band Names

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MY CONVERSATION WITH 2012 JUNO AWARD NOMINEES, SLOAN AND F**CKED UP

It’s Juno weekend in Canada and we’re getting ready to honour and celebrate our country’s diverse and talented music community. Last week was Canadian Music Week and I had the chance to talk with two musical Dads. Chris Murphy, father of two boys, is from Toronto-based Sloan, who won Best Alternative Album in 1997 for One Chord To Another, and is nominated this year for Best Rock Album forDouble Cross. Josh Zucker, father of one little girl, is from the Toronto-based hardcore punk band, F**cked Up, whose band’s very name is problematic. They are up for the Juno for Best Alternative Album this year, for David Comes To Life. I asked them about their kids’ names and, of course, I had to talk to them about the interesting choices for the names of their bands.

What are your children’s names? What inspired their names? Did you honour a special person, place, thing, or memory?

Chris: Francisco and Santiago. My grandfather’s name was Frank, and my wife Rebeccca’s father is from Mexico City, so Francisco is the Spanish Frank. I felt we couldn’t have a kid named Frank Murphy—it would be beyond boring—”Frank Murphy…CBCNews…Glace Bay.” We were frankly relieved to have the Spanish option, as there seemed to be a reason to rule out every regular old name we could think of. Rebecca’s father campaigned hard for Arturo. By the way, his name is Arturo.

Francisco was a compromise. It felt a little goofy having such an exotic sounding name attached to Murphy. Everyone who asked his name couldn’t seem to believe it when I told them. By the time Santiago was born, I was used to Francisco’s Spanish name, so it rolled off my tongue a little easier.

Josh: My daughter’s name is Lior Isadora (paternal last name) (maternal last name).

Lior is Hebrew for “I have light.”  We thought the name had a nice ring to it and had some magnitude, while being obscure enough not to sound hippyish, like “Mountain” or “Eclipse.” My grandfather’s name was Isidore and her middle name comes from him.  He had my mother and three other daughters who were all very close with him, and we knew they would play a big role in Lior’s life, so we chose to honour him by naming her after him. Everyone remembers him as kind, humble, and generous—all values we want to instill in our kid.

Both our last names are in there too, with my partner’s name getting the ever-important final position. I’m not a fan of the hyphenation thing, because it has no future to it—like two generations down the line, those names are going to start getting a bit monstrous – but I wanted her to carry both of her parents’ names. In the end, we thought my partner’s last name following “Lior” just sounded better, but I’m also in favour of just bringing back the matriarchy for last names as a rule, because it’s simple and obviously makes way more sense.

Chris, why did you choose to name your band Sloan? Is there a story there?

Chris: Our friend worked in a factory, and his French boss called him ‘the slow one,’ and his nickname became Sloan and we stole his nickname. It’s not a great story, but I will say that I am thankful that the name is maybe not cool, but at least inoffensive. Bands who think their name is hilarious—like Toad The Wet Sprocket, or Haulin’ Oats, or JFKFC, to name but a few – might be awesome, but I will never know, because their band names are too dumb.

Josh, the obvious big question is for you, since we’re here talking about names. Fucked Up —how, why did you choose to name your band?  Did you anticipate problems getting media using your name? What has the reaction been?

Josh: The band name was chosen ten years ago, way before we ever considered this a band that could get nominated for a Juno, and way before I ever could’ve conceived that I would be answering questions about how I chose my daughter’s name, on a blog called the Yummy Mummy Club. That being said, we wanted to choose a name that millions of people a day would be inadvertently exclaiming, because back then, we believed in the power of repetition and magic and the collective consciousness. From the start, people either thought the name was pure idiocy or pure genius, or that they just heard wrong. We didn’t anticipate much media commentary of any kind, but it has been fun to see the hemming and hawing and the contortions different media have resorted to over the years—from heavy use of the asterisk to the New York Times just calling us, “The band with the unprintable name.”

***
It will be interesting to see how CTV announces them in their category. The Juno Awards, after all, is a nationally broadcast event.


Originally published at Yummy Mummy Club

Baby Name Remorse

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SOME STRATEGIES TO USE BEFORE YOU TRADE IT IN FOR A NEW ONE.

When we are faced with deciding what to eat from a restaurant menu that offers everything from all-day breakfast to chicken fingers and fries to filet mignon, some of us become virtually paralyzed. You’re at a table of 4 and your meal comes, the one that you put so much thought and consideration into and of course, you want what your friend is having instead. There is so much too choose from. I think that the same can be said for baby names, but you can’t always send it back or come back next week and try something different.

Today is one of those ‘holidays’ like “National Donut Day,” “National Bubblebath Day,” or ”National Handwriting Day.” There’s a ‘holiday’ for everything. Today’s ‘holiday’ caught my attention though. Today, March 27th, is “National Joe Day”—a day for those of you out there that don’t like your name.

When looking to choose the perfect name, the resources are endless. Baby name books and online baby-naming tools and resources are plentiful (a search for baby name books at Indigo.com yielded 478 choices and at 995 amazon.com). Then there is the desire to be different. Babies are also being given names that might have come from browsing a dictionary or map. I see names come across my desk that sometimes have me thinking “is that a person, place, or thing?” As I said, the resources, the choices are endless.

With choice, however, can also come regret.

“I love the name I chose and so did the parents of the five other Sophies or Sophias in my daughter’s class.”

“My son’s name is always mispronounced. So frustrating. I like the way it sounds when we say it.”

“In an effort to give our son a traditional name with a twist, we changed the spelling and added a (silent) H. I’m tired of spelling it for people and I think he will be too. This is the one time in my life that I’m wishing I had listened to my mother.”

Got regret? Here are some things that you can do without going on the record:

  • Use the middle name. You chose the middle name for a reason. Try it out.
  • How about initials? If I went with my initials, I’d be CJ. I kinda like that.
  • Choose a nickname that fits. Miley Cyrus was born “Destiny Hope” and was always called “Smiley” because she smiled so much. She shortened it to Miley. Voila.
  • How about a variation on the name? Alexandra, for example, could be Allie, Lexie, Alexa, Lex, Zandra. Jacob could be Coby, Jake or Jay.
  • Go with it. Remember why you chose it in the first place. Decorate your baby’s room with a few special pieces that are personalized.

Have you regretted the name that you chose for your baby? Do you regret the name that you were given by your parents? Please share your coping strategies and help out some other’s suffering from Naming Remorse.

 

Happy Birthday Theo! (AKA Dr. Seuss)

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14 FACTS ABOUT DR. SEUSS’ NAME. 14 FACTS AND NONE ARE THE SAME.

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss! Of course I’ve found some interesting facts about his name for you:

  • His name is Theodor Seuss Geisel. Theodor is his father’s name too.
  • He was known as “Ted” to his family and friends.
  • Seuss is his mother’s maiden name.
  • Seuss, as we all say it, “Seuss” is the anglicized pronunciation of the German surname that he has noted rhymes with ‘voice.’ Zoyce.
  • He, himself, switched to the anglicized pronunciation, because most people said it this way and because it rhymes with goose as in “Mother Goose.”
  • He has also written under the pen name “Theo LeSieg,” which is his last name, Geisel, spelled backwards.
  • He started using “Seuss” as a pen name in college after he was caught drinking gin in his dorm room and the Dean forced him to abandon all of his extra-curricular activities, including the college magazine that he wrote for. To get around this, he started to use “Seuss.”
  • He added the “Dr.” before he actually became one (a Doctor of Philosophy in English Literature).
  • Ted was asked why he added the title “Dr.” to his pseudonym. He replied that his father had always wanted a doctor in the family.
  • He said that he adopted the name “Dr. Seuss” because he was saving his real name for the Great American Novel that he would one day write.
  • As a cartoonist for Jack-O-Lantern, the college’s humour magazine, he began to sign his work under the mock-scholarly title of “Dr. Theophrastus Seuss.”
  • He had no children of his own although he did have an imaginary daughter that he named Chrysanthemum-Pearl. As the story goes, he made her up with a mind to silence his friends who would endlessly brag about their children. He used to include her when he signed his Christmas cards and he even dedicated his second children’s book to her “The 500 Hats of Bartholemew Cubbins (1938) “To Chrysanthemum-Pearl (aged 89 months, going on 90).
  • Ted and wife Helen made up a “code” that was a phony law firm named Grimalkin, Drouberhannus, Knalbner and Fepp, and used it for secret messages.
  • One of NASA’s deep space explorers, the Data Relay Solar Electric Utility Spacecraft (DRSEUS) is called the “Dr. Seuss.”

So…

be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray

or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O’Shea,

you’re off to Great Places!

Today is your day!

Your mountain is waiting.

So…get on your way!

 

Happy Birthday Theo!

 

Originally published at Yummy Mummy Club

How It Began

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By Candace Alper
Published Monday, October 4, 2010

In working toward today’s launch over the past year, I have found myself looking back, recalling how it all began.

I am a Mompreneur in its most classic definition. My daughter, Hannah, was born in January 2003 and, like most Canadian moms, I looked forward to a full year of maternity leave with my baby girl. I loved everything about being a new mother and took it all in. I joined Mom & Baby groups, I went to Movies for Mommies and I looked forward to my husband coming home from work to enjoy our time together as a family.

By the time summer came, I was thinking about what it would be like to go back to work. We had been looking into daycare for Hannah and the reality started to sink in that my days with my daughter at home were numbered.

It was a time when “mompreneur” was not a buzzword and there was an abundance of inspirational success stories like there are today. Conversations about what I could do to be at home with our daughter dominated everything. One evening over dinner, the idea of Name Your Tune began to take shape.

We are a musical family. Eric has always worked in the music business. It is his passion. It is in his blood. His grandfather founded and owned one of Toronto’s landmark blues nightclubs. Our first date was a concert. His first gift to me was an acoustic guitar. Our first road trip was to see my favourite band. The first Mom & Baby group I joined was a music circle. We sang to Hannah all the time and it was when we noticed how she lit up when we would slip her name into as song that our idea grew into something more.

And so it began: a crazy idea about producing a CD featuring the child’s name in every song. We are a musical family – but not in the Guthrie way. Neither one of us can play an instrument or sing (Eric playing the drums in a band in high school doesn’t count nor does signing along with the Indigo Girls when I’m alone in the car with the volume turned up so loud that I can’t hear myself and I never did learn how to play that guitar).

We began to put together our wish list of talented friends who could bring our concept to life. One by one, they came over for dinner and one by one, they all responded in the same way, “Fun! I’m in!” We chose the songs and I started to rework them to include Hannah’s name.

We successfully presented a business plan to an investor and I took a crash-course in music production. Four months in a home recording studio, 700 names, 9 songs and countless late nights at the computer later, we had our initial recordings.

November 29, 2003 was my first gift show and our big debut. I made 30 CDs that day while people shopped around at the show.

At the time, we didn’t know where we were going with Name Your Tune. All we knew was we needed it to work in order to pay the bills and replace my pre-Hannah income. I did every gift show I could – at schools, churches, synagogues, community centers…wherever. People loved it. They called to order more and then their friends called to order.

Eric is a publicist in the music business and knew that our next step was to put it “out there”. We sent a copy to a friend at Today’s Parent and received our first review.

We look back now and realize how far we’ve come. When it began, Name Your Tune didn’t have a website. We took orders by email and by telephone and our business was all through word of mouth. That first review listed our email address “nameyourtune@sympatico.ca” and our home phone number.

Next we sent Name Your Tune CDs to the hosts of Breakfast Television in Toronto. They were running segments every Wednesday morning about hot, new and innovative products. I received a phone call on a Monday they were going to feature Name Your Tune on Wednesday. Within 36 hours we had a website.

There have been many other exciting turning points for Name Your Tune since then, including media, celebrities, retailers, customer testimonials, shows, four new songs and the addition of thousands of names to the original 700 names we started with.

The turning point that stands out for me on both a personal and professional level is when my best friend and her husband joined Name Your Tune as partners. Jessica and I met on the first day of nursery school and have been best friends ever since. With 35 years of friendship behind us we are now partners in business. Jessica and Mario bring fresh energy, knowledge and passion to Name Your Tune.

Other than planning a surprise trip to Walt Disney World for my daughter, what I’m about to tell you has been the hardest secret I have ever had to keep. Today, October 5th, 2010, I am excited to open my vault and share the news!

After a year in the making, we are proud to announce the release of our second volume: Name Your Tune 2.

We are proud that our Name Your Tune performers, Paul, Lenny, Barbara and Tim who have been with us since the beginning have again shared their dynamic talents with us. For Name Your Tune 2 they are joined by new talent that includes Erica Ehm, Dana Glickman, Jennifer Valentyne and Scott Stratten.

A special note of thanks to my friend and graphic designer, Lindsay Brewda of Grace Announcements, whose creative talent you see all over our new website. Not only did she collaborate with me in designing our personalized placemats and wall art, but she helped me to make my vision for our new website a reality. I hope that you enjoy looking around and shopping here and if you think it looks good, it is in large part because of Lindsay.

We dedicate Name Your Tune 2 our daughter Hannah, my nephews Jack and James, Jessica and Mario’s daughter Beth and also to all of you who are reading this and who have shared Name Your Tune with your family and friends over the last 7 years.