My daughter, Scarlett, is one of two Scarletts in her 3-year old ballet class. While the color scarlet is spelled differently, her name does evoke a deep red image for me, and I hope that as she grows older, she develops an affinity for red as her signature color.
As I’ve met an increasing number of little girls named Ruby over the past few years, I’ve wondered if they will be choosing the same red accessories or wishing for a red VW beetle when they turn 16. If my name was Ruby, that’s what I’d want to drive.
I mentioned a couple of years ago that in our postpartum yoga class, there were two other babies with colorful names: Hazel and Sage.
And now, a close friend has named her first daughter Olive.
While these are all lovely names, I can’t help but poke fun at the trend. What other names could be pulled from a J.Crew catalog?
Blossom? Or is that part of the flower trend in girl names which includes Rose, Lily, and Dahlia. And of course, my best friend Heather, whose name is probably on every page of the J.Crew catalog.
Seriously, I’m actually a fan of the nature-inspired name. I know they’re not intended to make us think of long-sleeve crewnecks. We’ve known a darling girl named Aspen, a boy named Hawk, and an old high school friend of mine has a son named Ocean. (And my Scarlett’s middle name is Lake, although that’s a family name.)
What are your favorite names that come from the natural world… or the J.Crew catalog?





















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I never thought there’s that much names in a J.Crew catalog!
Ha! I love the color names too… I have 6 kids, 2 of my daughter’s names are probably found somewhere in J. Crew… Rose and Lily. I love all of the names that you mentioned. Thanks Whitney… I love Rookie Moms thanks for all of your fun posts!
Ivy, Iris, and Violet are some of my faves, but we named our daughter Brooklyn…I guess that’s still a little ” natural”.
I really like the name Zinnea for a little girl. My name is Emily and when I was young I always wanted some zaney letter in my name like an ‘X’ or a ‘Z’ or a ‘Q’ like Ramona Quimby, who made her Q’s look like little mice.
Fun post! I did some digging and found a heap of original baby names. Expect these colors to take off in the two-thousand-teens, ok?
For girls: Shell, Shale, Orchid, Buttercup, Maritime
For boys: Shadow, Navy, Blue, Smoky, Chalkboard
I have a friend names montana. It’a a state name (of which I also like Virginia and Georgia) but it makes me think of the mountains so it’s naturey in that sense.
I also like Sage as a name, I hadn’t heard that before.
@Heather, I call dibs on “Chalkboard” for my next child.
Names associated with the landscape, such as River and Heath, are popular right now. Also Rain, Brook, Prairie, (which I love!), Juniper, Lark, Meadow etc. I do love these natural names. They seem to bestow a special quality.
Ha! Fun post! A quick perusal of the JCrew catalog (the non-crumpled-by-my-toddler pages) leads me to believe that Oralie (for a girl) and Slate (for a boy) will be hot JCrew inspired names.
Our daughter is named Magnolia. I doubt it’s in the JCrew catalog, but it’s the state flower and tree of Mississippi where she was born.
I do like Orchid though. I don’t know why Oralie makes me think of Orajel.
As for state/city names, I’m from Texas, so have met plenty of little boys named Austin and Houston. Magnolia is actually also a city in Texas. From that line, I like Odessa.
My friend just named her little girl Clover – have never heard it before but I think it’s cute!