What to Name Your… Uh… First Lady Geeklet
I started to call this list “What to Name Your Female Presidential Geeklet,” but the accuracy-and-feminism geek in me protested. I’ll head off to research actual female rulers and world leaders here in a few minutes, and instead present to you a list of names held by our nation’s First Ladies.
Most of them are given names, although I threw in a few surnames that have been commonly accepted into the “baby girl name lists” out there. (The surnames are italicized.) I’ve focused this list at girls, as it’s a bit harder for a “girl’s name” to break into the boy’s list. That being said, if you want to name your son Martha, who am I to judge?
I rather like several of these – good, respectable, traditional names, with that added historical glitter. What do you think?
Abigail
Anna
Barbara
Bess
Betty
Caroline
Carter
Claudia*
Dolley
Edith
Eleanor
Eliza
Elizabeth
Ellen
Florence
Frances
Grace
Hannah
Helen
Hillary
Ida
Jacqueline
Jane
Julia
Laura
Letitia
Lou
Louisa
Lucretia
Lucy
Madison
Margaret
Marnie
Martha
Mary
McKinley
Michelle
Nancy
Pat
Rachel
Reagan
Rosalynn
Sarah
Taylor
Thelma
Tyler
*also known as Lady Bird
What to Name Your Political Loser Geeklet :)
Have you seen that commercial where the young man bemoans the fact that his dad is convinced that he’ll always be second-best?
Much like him, some people are doomed to go down in history as “also-rans.” If you’re in the market for a baby name that says “My kid will almost reach the stars, but will get passed by by some smooth-talking schmuck at the last minute,” check out these names courtesy of men who were beaten in their attempts to win the White House. I’ve eliminated common first names, like Thomas and John. Names in italics might be suitable for girls. Several are surefire ways to make sure your kid ends up hating you. 
Adlai
Alf
Alton
Barry
Blaine
Breckinridge
Burr
Clay
Davis
Dewey
DeWitt
Dole
Fremont
Hancock
Hendricks
Horatio
Kerry
Landon
Lewis
McCain
Mondale
Parker
Rufus
Seymour
Stevenson
Wendell
Willkie
Winfield
Failure: March Edition
Nothing rounds out a lousy week like notification from Mother Nature’s 100% Reliable Negative Pregnancy Indicator.
Even knowing that we haven’t been trying that long… even knowing that we didn’t try very hard this month… sigh. I just feel like such a miserable failure.
Oh well. No Christmas baby for me. Just as well – last thing we need is another midwinter birthday (mine’s early December, his is mid-January).
This morning in the shower I was doing the math, thinking I might be a day late and trying not to get excited about what that might mean. Then, on the way to work, I realized that my math was wrong, and that I wouldn’t be a day late until tomorrow. As it turns out, I’m nothing if not punctual.
Phooey.
The worst of it, I think, is that to me this always feels somewhat devastating. And it’s such a lonely devastation.
Well, I’m exhausted, depressed, disgusted with myself, in severe pain, and sporting a nose full of broken-out skin. I think I’m going to go curl up with a bottle of kahlua and die. Turn out the light on your way out, ‘kay?
What to Name Your Vice-Presidential Geeklet
One might argue, as did Will Rogers, that the vice presidency is the best job in the country. “All he has to do,” Rogers said, “is get up every morning and say, ‘How is the president?’” Not bad as careers go, eh? And yet, the VP often gets overlooked unless he really makes a doofus (or nightmare) of himself. We don’t really commemorate the second-in-command very often. For every baby named after a VP, there must be hundreds or thousands named after a President. Maybe it’s time to change that.
We haven’t yet managed to have a female vice president in the US, either, so what I’ve done is compiled a list of Vice Presidents and Second Ladies – but only those VPs and SLs who did not eventually ascend to the best seats in the house. That is to say, if the VP became President, he isn’t on this list. I’ve included a handful of middle names on the girls’ side, and peeled another handful of names off of the boys’ side to build a slightly questionable unisex list. You’ll have to let me know what you think.
| Boys | Girls |
| Aaron | Angelica |
| Albert | Ann |
| Breckinridge | Anna |
| Charles | Caro |
| Colfax | Carrie |
| Curtis | Cornelia |
| Daniel | Cyrene |
| Elbridge | Dana |
| Garner | Elinor |
| Garret | Ellen |
| Hamlin | Floride |
| Hannibal | Hannah |
| Hendricks | Ilo |
| Hobart | Irene |
| Levi | Jennie |
| Marshall | Jill |
| Mondale | Joan |
| Morton | Julia |
| Nelson | Lois |
| Quayle | Lynne |
| Rockefeller | Margaretta |
| Sherman | Mariette |
| Spiro | Marilyn |
| Wallace | Mary |
| Walter | Sophia |
Slightly Potentially Unisex: Adlai, Alben, Barkley, Cheney, Dallas, Gerry, Schuyler, Wheeler
I dare you to name your kids Hannibal and Floride.
Happy Easter!
The Waiting Game
Breaking news: The worst part about “trying” is the waiting.
I know that there are pregnancy tests out there that can detect pregnancy hormones pretty darn early, but in all honesty, I’ve never bought a test and don’t plan to do so yet. (There was this one time when my system went all wonky, and I missed several periods. I was terrified that we were pregnant, but even more terrified to find out for sure. Looking back, I can’t believe how dumb I was. Why didn’t I test? Why didn’t I see a doctor? Why was I so scared? Good grief, we’d been married over a year at the time. What I wouldn’t give to miss my period now!)
What I’m trying to say is, I’m not going to spend money on a test, and risk getting seen by someone I know at the store, and risk jinxing it, when I could just wait another week or so for the Female Human Body’s Natural Negative Pregnancy Indicator.
In the meantime, though… we wait. And I’m one of those people (aren’t we all?) whose imaginations have a lot of sway over our bodies. In other words: I’m wishing I was pregnant, so every little thing my body does seems like a big flashing YOU MIGHT BE PREGNANT light.
The first two times that this happened, after we stopped trying not to try, I was really convinced. My whole body felt off, especially all of the down-there systems. I felt hormonal. My appetite spiked. My digestive system changed. Turns out, of course, that these were all of the little signs adding up to DUDE, YOU’VE GOT A RAGING URINARY TRACT INFECTION. Because, hey, that’s my life. Other people have sex and get a baby; I have sex and I get a colony of bladder bacteria from hell.
Anyway, I’m about a week from the start of my next cycle. My appetite is all wonky and I’m craving sweets, which I rarely do. And my breastages are sore. Clearly, just your typical run-of-the-mill premenstrual symptoms. But is there a dumbly optimistic voice inside me yelling MAYBE YOU’RE PREGNANT? To quote everyone’s favorite inexplicable dominatrix, you betcha.
My Favorite Geek Parent Vlogger
and his adorable son:
If You Conceived in March…
If the Rebel Alliance was successful this past month, you would be on schedule to have a baby between November 22 and December 22.
Birth Colors
Leading off with the geekiest trivia about a late 2010 baby… the Pantone color for babies born in the month of November is 17-1740 Claret Red. This color is allegedly associated with the traits of being intense and passionate. For December babies, the Pantone color is 17-4724 Pagoda Blue, which represents wisdom, truth, and vision.
Birth Flowers
The flower for the month of November, should that baby be an early arrival, is the chrysanthemum. The flower for the month of December is either the narcissus or the holly. Not that you would, but don’t let your baby eat holly berries; they do nasty things to people.
Birthstones
November’s modern birthstone is the topaz; the traditional birthstone is the citrine, which looks very much the same. December’s modern birthstone is tanzanite or zircon; the traditional birthstone is turquoise. Apparently there is such a thing as a “mystical birthstone”; November’s is the pearl, and December’s is onyx.
Tropical Zodiac
Your baby would be a Sagittarius, which is the Centaur or the Archer. The Sagittarius’s Sanskrit name is Dhanus, and the Sumerians/Babylonians called Sagittarius the Soldier. Sagittarius is a mutable Fire sign, domiciled in Jupiter. The brightest star in the Sagittarius constellation is Kaus Australis.
(Interestingly, if the baby were to be born on November 30 through December 18, s/he would also be a Serpentarius or Ophiuchus, a “lost” zodiac sign called the Serpent-holder. This zodiac sign is associated with the medical arts.)
Sagittarius also has a planetary stone and a stone that is considered a lucky amulet for that zodiac sign. This sign’s planetary stone is the topaz, and the lucky stone is either the topaz or the pearl.
Chinese Zodiac
According to the Chinese zodiac, a baby born in November is a boar (zhu) and one born in December is a rat (shu).
Celtic Tree Astrology
November 22 – December 1: Ash
December 2 – December 11: Hornbeam
December 12 – December 21: Fig
December 22: Beech
People born on December 22 are the only people with the beech tree as their Celtic symbol.
Famous Babies
Among many others, you may have heard of these twelve people who were born during this time of the year: Abigail Adams, Arthur C. Clarke, Emily Dickinson, Walt Disney, C.S. Lewis, Lucy Liu, Margaret Mead, Charles M. Schulz, Steven Spielberg, Ben Stein, Jon Stewart, and Frank Zappa.
Disclaimer: I’m not an expert in gestation, astrology, gemology, or anything else. I think my math is accurate, but don’t take my word for it – you and your medical caregiver knows best. Also, I am sharing this information for entertainment purposes only; I don’t necessarily believe or endorse any of this stuff. Most of the information in this post came from Wikipedia, with help from Babies Online, Celtic Birth Trees, Colorstrology, Galleries.com, Jewelry Mall, Paranormality, Said What? and Squidoo.
What to Name your Colorful Geeklet
You’ve probably known people named Amber or Kelly. But can you picture naming a child Cerise, Ash, or Russet? Relatively few people will think to name their kids Orange or Purple, but there are plenty of color names out there that wouldn’t look too out-of-line on a birth certificate. If you’re an artist, a designer, or just a colorphile, you might find inspiration from some of these color names:
|
Probably Female |
Hex |
Unisex |
Hex |
Probably Male |
Hex |
| Amber | #FF7E00 | Arylide | #E9D66B | Alizarin | #E32636 |
| Cerise | #DE3163 | Ash | #B2BEB5 | Ceil | #92A1CF |
| Citrine | #E4D00A | Auburn | #6D351A | Cobalt | #0047AB |
| Fuchsia | #FF00FF | Blaze | #FF6700 | Copper | #B87333 |
| Isabelline | #F4F0EC | Carmine | #960018 | Dodger | #1E90FF |
| Mauve | #E0B0FF | Celadon | #ACE1AF | Fuligin * | click |
| Persimmon | #EC5800 | Kelly | #4CBB17 | Mikado | #FFC40C |
| Scarlet | #FF2000 | Navy | #000080 | Rufous | #A81C07 |
| Sepia | #704214 | Tan | #D2B48C | Russet | #80461B |
| Sienna | #882D17 | Teal | #008080 | Slate | #6A5ACD |
| Tenné | #CD5700 | Tyrian | #66023C | Tangelo | #F94D00 |
| Tiffany | #0ABAB5 | Ube | #8878C3 | Thulian | #D36FA1 |
I am continually amazed that I am posting half of the stuff on here that I’m posting. The joys of more-or-less anonymous blogging, I guess? I mean, seriously, that’s the raunchiest unintentionally-raunchy post title I have ever used – and I’ve been blogging a looooooong time.
[Post title courtesy of A New Hope.]
