dfm names

Over the last several weeks I've featured seven blogs on Design for Mankind. This week I want to talk about the names associated with them (in order of appearance). 

Blog Oeuvre (pronounced You-ver, Uh-vruh, Ew-vra, or simply Erve. such debate on this!) certainly has a beautiful meaning and sound, if you can get beyond it's role in Hors D'oeuvre.  It's pure genius as a blog title. 

Leslie Williamson's new blog for The New York Times, People Watching, focused first on Charles Bello. I'm fond of both his names right up front for little boys.  And yes, I have a post in the works to talk about all the delightful names throughout Leslie's beautiful book, Handcrafted Modern. 

 Krickelin is a lifestyle blog, which as we learn on Dos Family, documents lots of beautiful moments for one very well-named bunch: Kristin, Jonas, Simon, and Otto.

Tigers to Lilies (found via Jaime) is run by Lili (a florist named Lili!) and is another genius blog title. Of course, it brings names Tiger, Lili and Tigerlily, but reminds me of even more smooshes and double names. You all know how I feel about a Lily smoosh, but here are some yet to be featured here (along with a few that have): Panther-Lily, Daylily, Snowlily, Riverlily, Meadow-Lily, Woodlily, Fire-lily, Starlily, Low-Lily, Morninglily, and Easter-Lily.  (smooshing or hyphenation is up to user, right?)

Floret, run by Erin (found via Amy) is of course so apt for Erin's organic family flower farm and design studio, but might be nice on the human variety, too. It calls Flora to mind, as well.

After Tokyo DIY Gardening fills me with dreams of growing a garden on my roof and walls, it renders my mind completely captive to Japanese plant names. Some of my favorites for today: Niwa (garden), Misaki (beautiful bloom), Yuri (lily), Reika (lovely petal), Ruka (blue flower), and of course, the very straight forward and English Garden.

Fox Fodder Farm. Oh Brooklyn, you're at it again with awesomeness. Fox is an increasingly popular name for people, and this is just such a fantastic name for a floral design business! (photo by Rory Gunderson)

Oeuvre

Charles

Bello

Kristin

Jonas 

Simon

Otto


Tiger


Lili 


Tigerlily


Panther-Lily


 Daylily


Snowlily


Riverlily


Meadow-Lily


Woodlily


Fire-lily


Starlily


Low-Lily


Morninglily 


 Easter-Lily


Floret


Flora


Niwa


Misaki


Yuri


Reika


Ruka


Garden


Fox

(images: one by Oeuvre, two by Leslie Williamson, three by Krickelin, four courtesy Lili, five courtesy Erin of Floret, six courtesy Tokyo DIY Gardening, seven by Rory Gunderson - courtesy Fox Fodder Farm and Wilder Quarterly Journal. Each image is property and © of each cited owner. all linked to above.)

finnish names - part two, the folkloric

 

 

During the late nineteenth century in Finland the social/political Fennoman movement was in full swing, inspiring Finns to embrace their unique heritage, neither Swedish nor Russian. This stimulated a great language revival that affected, amongst other things, Finnish names (which we'll cover in the next post) and Finnish literature.

Perhaps the largest literary gift of the Fennoman movement was Finland's most celebrated national folk epic, the Kalevala, written by Elias Lönnrot. The work wove together, into one tale, folk ballads that had been preserved orally over many years.  While his method has been criticized for taking too many liberties in his story telling, the work really opened the door for modern Finnish literature and has done much to preserve an oral tradition, language and national identity which all might be lost without it. The Kalevala not only inspired Finnish literature; J.R.R Tolkien's books are reported be heftily inspired by (or even more directly based upon it, deepening on whom you ask), as well.

All of the images above, from textiles to water color paintings, are illustrations of some portion of the Kalevala. The first and then the sixth & seventh images are textiles done several years ago by Sanna Annukka Smithin for Marimekko. The second row, featuring Louhi & Joukahainen,and then the very last bear image are illustrations by Anna Emilia Laitinen-- they are to accompany a coming Kalevala app for the iPhone by Oliver Blank and Kalle Karjalainen. The third row image is called Kalevala of Love by Tamara Yufa, from the 1960's. The fourth row image is an illustration of the Sampo (a magical machine/artifact) by Joseph Alanen from the 1920's, and the fifth row image (the boy playing music to the animals) is a 1979 illustration on a plate by Arabia of Finland.   

In addition to being completely captivating to read and having inspired such beautiful art, Finnish folklore boasts quite a list of melodic and beautifully simple names. So here they are, a list of names from the Kalevala and other sources of Finnish folklore and mythology:

Ahava (the west wind and father of swift dogs and horses)

Ahti (god of the depths)


Ahto (king of all the waters)


Aino (promised in marriage to Väinämöinen, dies in the water and turns into a fish)

Akka (old lady spirit, partner to Ukko)

Äkräs (god of fertility)


Allotar (goddess of waves)

Antero (protector of magic, a giant)

Annikki  (lady of the forest)


Eteletar (daughter of the south wind)

Henki (the presence of life or spirit in a human body)

Ilmatar (female creative spirit, and spirit of the air, crucial to the creation story--she floats on water for hundreds of years, contentedly, until casting a bird and eggs from her leg, shattering the eggs and creating the earth and heavens.)

Illmarian (the eternal hammerer,spirit of the air, maker of heaven)


Ilpotar (hostess of the northland, may be another name for Louhi, or may be the daughter of the snowflake)

Joulu (the winter solstice)


Joukahainen

Jumi (ancient god)


Jumala (thunder home, sky god, god of all)


Kalervo

Kalevala 


Katejatar (daughter of a pine tree)


Kimmo (patron of rocks)

Kuu (goddess of the moon)

Kullervo (beautiful name, but not such a desirable character to honor.)

Lempo (goddess of wilderness and archery)

Louhi (shamanic lady of the north, powerful witch, hostess of the underworld)

Marjatta


Melatar (goddess of the helm) 

Mielikki (mother of the woodland, hostess of the glen & forests)


Mimerkki (another  name for Mielikki)


Monjatar (another name of the daughter of the pine tree)


Nyrikki (forest deity, builds bridges to help herds migrate)


Otava (great bear of the heavens)

Otso (spirit of the bear)


Paivatar (goddess of summer)


Pilajatar (daughter of the Aspen tree)

Pekko (god of the crops)

Rahko (god of time)


Remmen (or Remu -- father of the hop vine)

Sampo (a luck bringing artifact, a holy grail of sorts, which plays a large part in the Kalevala. Seen by some as a metaphor for creativity and innovation.)


Sampsa (a gnome, helped plant and sow the earth after creation)


Satka (goddess of the sea)


Sima-Suu (means "honey mouth" -- a tiny woodland deity, plays the honey flute to guide hunters.)


Sinetar (goddess of the blue sky)


Sukkamieli (goddess of love)


Suvetar (goddess of the south wind)

Tapio (god of the forrest)


Tellervo (Tapio's daughter)


Terhenetar (daughter of the fog)


Tuametar (daughter of the Alder tree)


Tuletar (goddess of the wind)


Turi (god of the honey land)


Tursas (sea gnome, helped nature an acorn that became first oak tree)

Tuulikki (goddess of animals) 

Ukko (old man. god of sky and thunder)


Uni (god of sleep...oh how I'd like to meet him soon!)


Untamala (daughter of Kalervo)


Untar (goddess of mist and fog)

Väinämöinen (son born to Illmatar, who brings trees and life to the world. he is more of  a shaman in the Kalevala, though)

Wellamo (hostess of the waters)


Vipunen (song giant and shaman)

What do you think of these names, readers? What would you pair with them? I think the creation story is one of the most poetic I've ever heard and I just love that the folklore includes children of various trees. If you could imagine yourself the daughter of a tree, which one would you pick? I think I'd like to fancy myself the daughter of a giant sequoia and a 'Ipe' (can't decide between the pink or yellow, though).

Up next in this series: Finnish nature names and another lovely interview!

(images: Sanna Annukka for Marimekko bearheads, Louhi & Joukahainen by Anna Emilia Laitinen, Kalevala of love by Tamara Yufa, Sampo by Joseph Alanen,1979 Arabia of Finland boy with wolves plate,Sanna Annukka for Marimekko textiles seven/eight, bear-Tuonen Karhu by Anna Emilia Laitinen )

finnish names - part one

From the traditional red cottages (many of which come equipped with saunas) to the more modern interiors with which we've become increasingly familiar, from the widely recognized architectural and industrial designers to more modern illustrators and bloggers, from the northern lights to the sweeping pine forests, Finland (Suomi) is rich with beauty and design. 

It's no secret that I have a bit of a penchant for Finnish names. We chose a Finnish word for the name of our second daughter, and this blog features the Finnish translations of pretty words on virtually every post I write.   So today I bring you the first in a series of posts on Finnish beauty and names. I'm not quite sure yet what pattern I'll follow in presenting the posts. I may interrupt them with other subjects and interviews, but any way we slice it, there will be weeks of Finnish names, nature, and design to come!

--Alvar Aalto (whose wife, Aino-- also an architect-- wore a very popular Finnish name for women), might be the most well known Finnish designer (along with Eero Saarien, designer of our St. Louis arch and the popular tulip, bubble and ball chairs). Alvar's designs (images 4-7 are his) are probably familiar to you. I love his simple stools and wheeled teacart. And the loose arrangement of  apples in his somewhat iconic sculpted vase strikes a really lovely balance--this photo was taken in his home, by the way, and you can see the full tour over at Apartment Therapy. His story is an interesting one, and his name has me thinking on the names of other famous designers from Finland, as well as some classically Finnish names.

--Also somewhat iconic is the black teapot pictured above by Arabia of Finland, a popular Finnish ceramics company. This particular piece was designed by Ulla Procope in 1953.   And the 1960 iron casserole dish with wooden handle by Timo Sarpaneva might be one of the most beautiful things ever invented for the kitchen. 

--The more modern interiors featured above, along with other beautiful Finnish home tours may be found here. I'm completely smitten with the deck of the lake house from the third image with it's cozy fire overlooking the water. Lakes are a big part of the Finnish experience because there are so, so many of them in Finland. 

--The final image is of a really special garden shed by Ville Hara and Linda Bergroth of Hel Yes! design firm, which should really be explored more here-- the remaining four walls are glass, so that some lucky dweller may lie on the large white bed inside the sweet, little garden lodge and gaze upon the forest and lake surrounding it. Can you imagine?  

Here is a list of names of popular Finnish designers, from architects to textile designers. Some of them may be revisited in another post as I give their works a closer look.  Interestingly, many of the architects are married couples, and they collaborated with their spouses a lot in their work!

Finnish designer names:

Female:

Aino Marsio Aalto (wife of Alvar)

Esteri Tomula (designer for Arabia of Finland.)

Kaija Sirin (wife of Heikki)

Käpy Paavilainen (wife of Simo)

Martta Ypyä (wife of Ragnar)

Maja Isola (textile designer for the popular Marimekko)

Raili Pietilä (wife of Reima)

Salme Setälä

Signe Hornburg (first professionally trained female architect in Finland)

Ulla Procope (designer for ceramics company Arabia Finland) 

Vuokko Nurmesniemi (textile designer for Marimekko)

Wivi Lönn (born Olivia Mathilda)

Male:

Alvar Aalto (husband of Aino)

Eero Saarinen

Eliel Saarinen 

Heikki Sirin (husband of Kaija)

Juha Leiviska

Kaj Frank (ceramic artist, designed for Arabia of Finland)

Mikko Heikkinen

Ragnar Ypyä (husband of Martta)

Reima Pietilä (husband of Raili)

Simo Paavilainen (husband of Käpy) 

Tapio Wirkkala

Timo Sarpaneva

Viljo Revell

 Ville Hara (Vee-lay modern designer with Hel Yes!)

Waldemar Wilenius

More traditional Finnish names that really catch my eye: 

Girl:

Aino

Aamu

Aune

Esteri

Helmi ('pearl')

Henni

Hilma

Inari

Inka

Ilona

Irja

Liris

Maiju

Minttu

Mirja

Mirjam

Mirju

Nea

Nomi

Pirkko

Rikka

Runo

Satu

Suoma 

Suvi

Talvikki

Tilde

Venla (Ven is such a sweet nickname)

Vilma

Boys:

Aapo

Aleski

Aku

Arttu 

Arrturi

Eero

Eetu

Hannu

Ismo

IImari 

Joona

Jorma

Juhani

Miro

Nilo

Olavi

Onni

Oskari

Paavo

Reku

Saku

Santeri

Seppo

Silvo

Taavi

Teppo 

Tolek

Tulley

Veeti 

Viljo

Any favorite names? Any designers you admire? Would you consider naming your child after a designer? Is there anything you would like to see covered in this series? 

In the coming posts, I'll focus on Finnish naming practices, Finnish nature names and word names; and of course, much more design, nature and Finnish beauty--stay tuned! 

(images: first red house here;  white room, deck/fire/lake house, and black house in the snow here; aalto tea cart here; aalto white house here; aalto stools and infamous vase here; black arabia finland teapot here, black garden shed here)

you're my fave - part two

The photos above are all images featured on this blog in 2011; they're either some favorite images of mine or pictures of some of my favorite things.

Yep, more favorites from 2011 today!  I hope it's not too masturbatory to compile favorites from my own posts and lists. The thing is that since I'm often writing on names as they relate to other subjects, I don't always get the chance to talk about which names I simply love the most. 

For today's second and final installation of favorites, I want to talk about my number one names for each sex, your favorite list, and a whopping list of my favorites from all the names and name combinations covered on this blog. (exhale) Heavy!

-- So, what are my number one name crushes right now for each sex?  I never divulge the number one or two names I'm actually considering for my future children (not pregnant right now), but that works out, because my current favorites are actually ones I can't use because they are too close to my own children's names  or don't match in style (and one of them was vetoed by my  husband.)

Girl:

Jane-Reve  (Reve, the french word for 'dream', sounds like rev, as in "rev your engines".) -- This was my number one pick for our second daughter, but my husband refused it based on it's hyphenation. Non-hyphenation was a deal breaker for me (with this particular name), so away it went. Double names are a staple of Southern (American) culture, and a staple that's peppered *all* over my family tree; my adult sister still goes by her double name at all times. I like taking old traditions (double names, smooshing, maternal surnames as middles, etc) and breathing new life into them. The hyphenation honors the frenchness of  Reve and, to me, makes a double name more indivisible. I would also not usually suggest pairing two one-syllable names together, but when it works, it works.  Both Jane and Reve are in my top ten names of all time, and together, they're unstoppable. But they're completely off the table for us now, even if my husband had a change of heart, due their closeness to both June and Reverie, which we've used. This double name will be revisited in a post dedicated to a new generation of double names! 

Boy:

Junius Nightingale 'Jules' or 'Jin'-- While I may very well still use Nightingale, Junius is off the table for this family, considering we often refer to our second as simply 'June'. My love of  the middle name Nightingale on a little boy was completely solidified when I came across the name David Nightingale Hicks, on the father of India Hicks (mother to little girl Domino). I love it because it honors my mother's middle name, Gail, albeit in a very roundabout way.  'Jules' works here, in my opinion, if middle name contains an 'l', and even without-- 'Sally' from Sarah comes to mind, along with tons more examples of nicknames that aren't super straight forward. 

Salvador Bluejay 'Sully'-- I love Sully. If we'd not established a different style, Salvador 'Sully' would likely be a first pick for me.  Bluejay honors my father.

--Your favorite list? O girl! has definitely been your favorite list.   You can see my most popular posts to the right, but not all of them are categorical name lists. And while the Japanese names list has had more page hits, many of those visits are coming from various google searches which have little to do with names. When I subtract those searches, O Girl! absolutely becomes my most popular list.  And let me say, while O girl! goes *beyond* Harlow, Marlo, Willow, and Shiloh, I am in no way dismissing these four beautiful names! While it's not really my style to publicly trash any name--they're all attached to real people to be sure-- the aforementioned names we're moving "beyond" in this post are names I do actually like; I'm simply using them as a take-off point for more -o ending names, since these four have been such hot topics of discussion already.  Provided you aren't just tacking an 'o' onto the end of a name/word, you will almost never hear me dismiss an -o ending name. period. My favorites, other than the one we used for our own daughter? At the moment I'm really liking Billow, Farrow and Yarrow. 

-- Now, for my favorites from all the names featured here in 2011-- how many favorites are too many, such that the word sort of looses it's meaning?  Yes, this list is long -- be prepared-- but it's really only a small fraction of the total names I've featured so far on this blog. So here it is, my favorite names featured so far.

Girls:
Artemis

Ardith


Agnes


Anjou


Anouk 


Anais 

Albertine ('Birdie')

Azalea ('Zizi')

Berenice


Beryl


Betti (b/c I haven't featured Betty yet.)


Bim

Betsy (many ways to get here, but I love none of them as much as this nickname)

Billow (Billie)

Bloom


Blythe 


Bijou


Calypso


Cassiopeia

Cim


Cosette 


Concordia 


Claudine


Clove


Cypress

Daisy (by way of Margaret, Marguerite, Theodosia, or on it's own, I love Daisy forever)

Dovi


Eglantine

Edith

Elka

Elsa 

Emerald

Eple

Endellion 

Ernestine 

Este (so many ways to get this nickname, mostly love them all)

Eudora

Eugenie 

Farrow

Flo (by way of Florence or Fallow)

Frances

Francoise

Frida (Frie)

Garden

Gardenia (this might be my favorite flower name right now)

Georgine

Gita


Gladys (with Alice so fetching these days, a similar sounding name with 'glad' in it sounds increasingly lovely to my ears)


Greta

Henriette

Hesper

Hestia

India

Ilta

Jane (top ten favorites)

June 


Juhl 


Koemi


Leonie 


Lillo

Liv

Lova


Loxia

Lula (by way of Louise or Tallulah)


Mabel


Maple


Maja


Malgosia 


Marlene


Marjoram (though really I like the french version Marjolaine or Marjoline better, I haven't technically featured them)

Marigold


Maude


Mathilde

May (as a first name, it still isn't used so frequently. I love it paired with Margaret)

Maxine (my own aunt goes by 'Mackie')

Meadow

Maybelle

Midori

Mim (by way of Miriam or a MM alliterative combination like Mary Matilde)

Muriel

Nell

Neige

Neoma

Nettle

Nitsa 

November

Oona

Ondine

Odette

Omena

Ommel 

Opal

Pilvi

Rosamond

Rosalie 

Reve

Ree

Rita

Rue

Saffron

Sable

Sauma

Sigrid

Sine

Suzu

Sumi

Sachi

Suki

Suvi

Tuli 

Umi


Uni


Veda


Verabel


Violette 


Viola

Virgina (top ten favorite names of all time)

Willet 


Xanthe


Yarrow


Yuki


Zenith


Zinnia


Zelda


Ziv

Zuzu (by way of Susannah, Suzume, or Zulema)



Boys:

Albertus


Abraham 


Aloysius

Arthur


Atlas


Aubrey


Augustine


Barnaby


Beaumont


Benny 


Bello


Beppe 


Booker


Casper


Cedar


Claude


Clement


Clovis


Dorian 


Dov

Ernest (or Earnest)

Eno


Etienne

Fritz

Franco

George


Gilbert 

Hachi

Herve

Hector


Hank


Hickory


Hoke

Hubert (Hugh)

Hugo


Humphrey

Ignatious (Iggy, of course)

Ivo


Judah 


Junius

Leopold (Leo)


Louie


Nao


Ormand


Oscar


Ovid


Philo

Pomeroy ('Roy')

Ptolemy

Rupert (Ru)

Remy

Raphael (Ralph)

Ringo


Robin


Rowe

Roald (Ro)

Salvador

Sigmund (Siggy)

Simon


Sol (has to be in my top ten for it's simple beauty)

Sully (by way of Sullivan, Salvador, or on it's own. Sully is my favorite boy's name these days, I think.)

Teak


Timo


Thurman


Tobias

Tulliver (Tully)

Wiloughby


William


Wilfred

Whimbrel ('Whim')

Virgil


Vito


Xylo


Yesper

Unisex:
Arrow 


Balu


Clemence


Domino


Frost


Garnet 


Golden


Helmi 


Indigo


Kit


March


Myrrh

Ren or Rin

Rumi

Rune

Sunny


Vetiver


Weaver


Wren (I know several male Wrens and I think it's lovely)



Names I love in the middle (or right upfront for the more daring) and I know I'm leaving some out:
Baywren


Bellbird 


Bluejay 


Cedarmoss 

Dahlia (she seems the perfect balance to so, so many names)

Fieldfare 


Fleet


Goldfinch


Illiad


July

Margaret (to balance a more adventuresome first name, especially if it's slightly hippie leaning)

Meadowlark


Moonlily 


Nightingale


Pear

Philomeno / Philomela

Woodrose


Rosegold


Rustylark


Spring


Snowdrop


Tigerlily (thank you to Nook of Names for turning me onto this one!)


Web


Wilde 


Favorite combos (some of these are from real people and some are my own or guest's creations):

Ada Margot


Artemis Liv

Autumn Apple Windseed (while I might not use it myself, it makes me so happy to see it!)

Carole Calliope (Coco)


Daisy Marlene


Doris Kite


Enid Cleona 


Esther Swan


Ina May


Gita Pomeline

Henrietta Dove


Joan Riverlily


Maple Calliope


Mary Zest

Marigold March (I listed it last time, I know, but dang-- alliteration, nature, word name, wow.)

Olimpia Olive


Philomena Marylove

Reve Concordia Wilde

Sally Kate

Sequoia Cas (Suki)

Sun Margaret 

Suzu Argene

Thisbe Dove

Umi Vrai

Viola Fair

Clovis Rin

Ernest Snow 'Ernie' 

Fritz Edward

John Henry


Johnny Garnet


Junius Lively 


Oriole George

Otis Francisco (from Ina May's Guide to Childbirth)

Raymond Dov


Vito Thespis


Whimbrel Frank



Of course, not all of my favorites are here, because I've yet to write about them all!

What are your absolute most favorite names? What would you name a child if you were giving birth soon? Any that you love in pairings, if not so much on their own?




(Images: 1 is mine, 2 by Zoe of Le Dans La, 3 by Jeana Sohn , 4 from The Farm in Summertown TN found here, 5 by Natsuko Hagiwara of Me & Arrow, 6 is mine, 7 by Ariana)