DUTCH BABY NAMES

When you think of Holland, what springs to mind? Windmills, wooden shoes, Delftware pottery? Me too, and also flowers; The Netherlands is a country of philosophers and painters, and a nation abloom with farms of lilies, Gerbera daisies, irises, and of course, tulips. It’s no surprise then, that the Dutch carry their love for flowers to baby names; the 2008 Dutch Top 20 features three flower names: Jasmijn (14), Fleur (15), and Iris (17). Can Tulip be far behind? Actually, that’s not so far fetched. Recently, actress Rebecca Romijn, the daughter of Dutch immigrants, gave birth to twins Dolly Rebecca Rose and Charlie Tamara Tulip.

Leave it to a Dutch person to till new soil in baby naming land. (I might add that Romijn didn’t just tiptoe through the well tread fields of Lilies and Violets, but she plucked an altogether new flower name for our consideration.)

Creativity, color, and chic abound in The Netherlands. Even their centuries-old baby welcoming traditions boast color and flair. In the 17th century, the “Muisjes” (Little Mice) tradition was born. When a baby was born, the new mother would receive sweets and food from the neighbors and family members who took care of her. As a thank-you to them, she and her husband would give the maternity visitors cookies iced with a buttery icing and sugar sprinkles, pink for a girl and white for a boy (today the boy sprinkles are blue). The sugary aniseed sprinkles are called Muisjes, as mice connote fertility.

Along with Romijn’s Tulip, other stars have gone Dutch with their children’s appellations. Matt Lauer and his Dutch wife, Annette Roque, named their third child Thijs (“Tice”), a variation of Matthew and a Top Ten baby name in The Netherlands. Marcia Gay Harden appointed her third child Julitta, a pretty, unusual Dutch spin on Julia. And Neve Campbell got her mother’s Dutch maiden name as a first name, and indeed the sleek sound makes it a winner.

One really nifty attribute of Dutch baby names is how you can makeover a common North American name—Christian, Luke, William—into a fresh ethnic tribute—Christiaan, Luuk, Willem—without a lot of fuss. Sure, the spellings are different, but not drastically so.

And for parents-to-be who want to go a bit more exotic, many Dutch names sound stylish and new to our ears but remain in that sweet spot of cool-and-novel without being out there. Some of my favorites in this category are Kees, Jander (a form of Alexander), and Hanson for boys, and Eliane, Sabine, and Schuyler for girls. Els (a form of Elizabeth), and Nel (a form of Helen) could hit two birds—ethnic and family tributes—with one stone, and also make wonderful short but sweet middle names.

Even some quintessential Dutch names are reasonably accessible, such as Sanne (“San-ah”), Saskia, and Tryne for girls, and Bastiaan, Klaas, and Bram.

More Dutch Baby Names:


Boys: Espen, Pim, Ruben, Milan, Marnix, Levin, Maxiaan, Ximon

Girls: Anneke, Amelie, Anouk, Mietta, Jonna (Jane), Sybella, Eveline, Madelief.

E is for Ezra

GIRLS

Best Lit Name: Esme is one of my favorite names, a French miniature of Esmerelda. Esme is literary (from the adorable Salinger short story, “For Esme with Love and Squalor”), exotic, cute, and elegant (it’s pretty hard to be cute and elegant at the same time!). Runners Up: Eliza (Doolittle), Emerson (Ralph Waldo), Evangeline (from the Longfellow poem of the same name).

Best Bible Name: Eden: This lovely biblical place name takes us back to the garden where our story as humans started. Runner Up: Eve. Can someone please tell me why Adam is so popular, and Eve is ten times (literally) less so? According to www.babynamewizard.com/voyager, Adam was in the Top 65 last year, and Eve was in the top…600! Anyway, I don’t get it, because Eve to me is sleek and pretty. So she got Adam to eat the apple—he ate it of his own free will, didn’t he? Well, all that to say, Eve has a great meaning—“life-life giving”—and deserves more usage.

Best Celeb E: Emery: Angie Harmon and her mister, football commentator Jason Sehorn, have contributed a nifty E name to the pantheon: Emery. Their third daughter, Emery Hope, recently joined big sisters Finley Faith and Avery Grace—a trifecta of virtue for the Harmon-Sehorns!

Best International E: Ellitta, pronounced El-EE-ta, a delicate and beautiful Dutch name I came across recently in my community: Runners Up: Elara (Greek), Electra (Greek), and Emiliana (The Italian form of Emily, also Shakespearean).

Best E Name with No Category: Ella: Welcome to the world Ella Christina Mary Finlayson!

Boys

Best Lit Name: Emerson: Cool, funky, laid back Emerson has sturdy literary underpinnings due to Ralph Waldo, of course.

Best Bible Name: Ezra: Any name with a Z in it is zesty, and Ezra, with the hipster nickname Ez, is full of energy and creativity. The biblical namesake, the scribe Ezra, is worthy, and there are a bookshelf full of lit namesakes, too (think Ezra Pound, Ezra Jack Keats, Ezra Baxter from “The Yearling.” Our Ezra is eight now, and we think his quirky, handsome, old-fashioned name suits him perfectly. Runner Up: Eli

Best International Name: Enzo: Romantic, Italian Enzo packs a punch with a roll-off-the tongue sound that can’t be beat. Elias is another favorite of mine, and I’m hearing it a bit more often now among creative types. It’s the Greek form of Elijah; so handsome!

What are your favorite E names? What do you think of Ellitta, my latest “discovery”? Tell!