Six

Jenna Von Oy, who played teenager Six in 90's show 'Blossom'

Six would be an inspired if not extremely quirky Halloween name. From the paranormal "sixth sense" to being buried "six feet under", this is one number with a lot of sway in the world of all things scary.

Perhaps most significantly, the number 666 is popularly recognised as being "The Number of the Beast", and therefore a symbol of the Devil. It features prominently in many apocalyptic theories and is often used as a reference in pop culture to convey a sense of ominousity and sinister happenings. One such TV show is ABC's new '666 Park Avenue'. The show stars Australian actress Rachel Taylor and Terry O'Quinn (famous for his role as the obsessive Locke in 'Lost'), and is basically about people selling their souls to the devil to make their dreams come true, a notion popularly associated with this symbol. To be honest though, I'm not sure that you would even be allowed by most governments to name your child 666, even if you would want to go with such an extreme moniker.

The much simpler Six however is not totally outrageous, or for that matter out of the question. Back in the early 90's, Jenna Von Oy played the fast talking teenager Six LeMeure on the hit show 'Blossom'. Almost everyone knew who Six was. The show made Joey Lawrence a star, but was based around teen girl Blossom (played by Mayim Bialik, now starring in the hugely successful 'Big Bang Theory') and her best friend Six. Both were lovable if not slightly daggy, and often misguided. The character of Six reportedly got her name because she was - funnily enough - the sixth child in the family. Between the two names of Blossom and Six, this was one of the first shows that made young girls start to dream of one day using different and unusual names for their future children. Or maybe that was just me.

Six has a lot going for it other than its Halloween connections. It is also a pretty special number in mathematics, music (for example, a guitar has six strings), Judaism, Islam, science, sports, and astronomy. The Chinese consider it to be a very lucky number. In fact, it's hard to find an area where 6 does not have some significance. This could make it a great middle name to remember or signify something special in your lives, such as a shared memory or something your hold dear. It even has that cool "x" sound.

Having said all that though, I'm not sure that I'd highly recommend using Six as a first name. Especially in you live in New Zealand, where the accent makes it sound like a different word entirely to the rest of us. And please don't give it to your sixth child, the way poor Six's parent did on 'Blossom'. It just shows you don't care enough to think of something more inspired.

Inspiring Names - "Switched At Birth"

One of my favourite "new" names in the past year is Bay, the name of one of the main characters in the ABC Family show, "Switched At Birth". For those not familiar with the show (I am aware that I often have the TV viewing choices of a teenage girl), "Switched At Birth" tells the story of Bay Kennish (played by Vanessa Marano) and Daphne Vasquez (played by Katie Leclerc). Bay has always felt a little different from the rest of her family, and manages to persuade her parents to have a genetic test to prove she is not actually adopted. It is discovered that Bay is not actually the genetic daughter of either of her parents, which leads her on a search for her real parents. However when she finds her birth mother, she also discovers Daphne, a girl with the same birthday as her who happens to look a lot more like Bay's mother than Bay does. Yes, these two girls were switched at birth, and the show follows how the two families now cope with the news, and the girls build new relationships with their birth families while maintaining those with the family that raised them.

Obviously Bay is not new name, it is just that this is the first time I had seen it. And this character is largely responsible for why I like it so much - sweet but spunky, caring, clever, cute and artsy. Plus I've liked Vanessa Marano since seeing her play Luke's daughter April in "The Gilmore Girls". Bay has been used as both a boys and a girls name and actually has a few different origins and meanings:


Vanessa Marano as Bay Kennish

Old English - reddish brown (used to describe horses with brown coats and black manes and tails)
French - born on Saturday
Geographical - an indentation of land in a coastline
Nature - name of several different types of trees (such as Bay Laurel) whose leaves are used as herb and flavouring agent
Nature - Berry
Vietnamese - seventh child, born in July

This makes Bay - such a little name - rich with meaning and appealing on many levels.




The other star name in this show is Bay's counterpart, Daphne. Daphne is such a sweet, beautiful and charming name, one that has been regularly in use for a long time without ever being uber-popular. Daphne is often thought to be a French or English name, but it actually a Greek name meaning Laurel. It has roots in Greek Mythology, as a nymph who was changed into a laurel tree to protect her from the unwelcome amorous advances of the God Apollo. This also makes it somewhat of a virtuous name. 


Katie Leclerc as Daphne Vasquez

And don't let the fact that most people think of Daphne from Scooby Doo when they hear Daphne put you off this name- Appellation Mountain has predicted that one of the big naming trends in 2012 is likely to be the rise of girls names ending in "E", which could see Daphne as a trendier name to have in the next few years (http://appellationmountain.net/2011/12/30/12-baby-name-predictions-for-2012/).

Both are lovely names, and I can't hep but think that the shows writers chose the names Bay and Daphne because they both have a connection to Laurel (another nature name I'm loving at the moment), just as the two characters will forever be connected to each other. I suggest you check out the show to see how well these names work on "actual" people. Maybe you'll fall in love with them the way I have, too.