Tag Archives: Candace Alper

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

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.”

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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

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.