Green Day
March 17, 2009
The going thing might be to focus on hot Irish names for St. Patrick’s Day, right? Hopefully by now you’ve had your Celtic fill– no Irish monikers here today. Instead let’s do GREEN names. This is for my daughter, who when surrounded by a room full of colorful toys, always opts for the brightest of greens. Whether it’s the only green egg shaker, somebody else’s green stick, or a green cardboard brick, my little Hoolie will find it and hold on tight. So this is for you my lucky charm. Just don’t name my grandchild Pthalo, please?
Happy St. Paddy’s day everyone!
Apple- They come in reds, greens, golds, and Paltrows
Basil- Are we ready in the States?
Beryl- Green semiprecious stone
Chartreuse- A little bartender trivia for ya: the only color named after a liquor, this drink is made by Benedictine monks, only three of whom know the recipe, and each exactly one third at that.
Chloris- Greek, “green.” No wonder it sounds like chlorine. At the moment associated almost exclusively with Ms. Leachman.
Clover- Three leaf or four, it’s always green! A pretty darling, fashion forward botanical choice.
Emerald- Green stone, perhaps best left as a stage name
Esmeralda- The Spanish form of Emerald, with even more dramatic flair, plus the user-friendly Esme as a nickname
Fern- A lovely cascading green plant
Grass- Maybe too much association with weed to use as a first name
Hunter- Adopted now for girls and boys alike, Hunter will always be an aggressive name for a newborn
Ireland- Just please don’t change the ending to -lyn?
Ivy- Darling choice with the hot letters “I” and “V” packing a punch in the shortest of names.
Jade- Another one I’m not particularly wishing on a grandchild, but Jade IS known in China to bring good fortune
Kelly- A bit outmoded perhaps, this is one that could stand to be taken back by the boys
Leaf, Leif- So the first is the green thing, the second just sounds like one. Leif is Old Norse for “descendant.”
Primavera- Italian for spring
Pthalo- A vivid synthetic blue-green, this could follow on the coattails of Philo and Phoenix?
Rosemary- It’s easy to forget this compound name is also a favorite in the kitchen
Sage- A wise choice
Shamrock- Perhaps over the top on the birth certificate, but with tastes getting wilder every day, why not?
Sorrel- A lovely cooking herb and sinuous name
Spring- Word names like Ever, Story, and True help Spring spring to the fore
Teal- A surname that might work nicely in the middle for either a girl or a boy
Verde- Spanish for “green”
Verna, Vernon- From the Latin vernus for “spring”
Viridian, Viridiana- From the Latin root for “green”
Yara- Brazilian goddess with green hair
Oh green is such a peaceful color, I can see why little Hoolie prefers it!
I know a Viridia, she was in several of my art classes in college. Nasty girl but pretty name!
From the rest of the list, Beryl’s sweet, Esmeralda was a great aunt of mine (and I’d kill to use it, but Esmeralda MacK-? too clashy!) and Kelly is one I’d LOVE on a boy!
I’d name a blueish cat Verde, for the Opera more than the color but still…
And Pthalo? Awesome sound.
A Spring in my house would get “Boing” sounds following her around all the time!) Sad, but true.
Neat post, Elisabeth, I’m already tired of ‘All things Irish’ (I’m Scottish!) So colors were just what my battered soul needed today, Thanks!
Leif “sounds just like one”? Really?? Cause every Leif I know pronounces it like LAY-if. (ages 8, 12 and 35-ish)
Jessica, it could easily be that the ones I’ve known are incorrectly Americanizing Leif, and so too now am I. Thanks for that.
I think that Leif, while properly pronounced LAY not LEE, is easily Americanized and recognizably accepted as such. One of my favorites…
Fern, of course, is a dear love. And I admit that Clover has been growing on me (blush)
Perhaps I should see if the husband would be inspired by his favorite color (though he wears orange for St. Paddy’s Day)
Oh, and Ivy gets a big thumbs up too. Love Ivy.
How refreshing! I love it. Green is my second favorite color, after purple.
I’m intrigued by Apple (I don’t see what all the fuss is about…), Fern, Kelly for a boy, Pthalo, Spring, and Yara.
I also think Clover may just be going on my list somewhere (you’re not alone, Bek)!
Forgot Ivy! I adore Ivy, too.
I love Ivy, and I think Clover has potential to be a fascinating middle name. (It’s a little too hippie up front, at least for my tastes, but I might not mind it as a first name on someone else’s child.)
Yara is neat — I’d never heard that one before.
And I’m trying to like Basil. It’s a name I respect, but I can’t yet bring myself to really like it.
I’m definitely warming up to the idea of a little Clover with a nickname of Cleo!