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)

More from The Glow

With the winter solstice approaching, I thought it appropriate to focus on images filled with beautiful light. I immediately thought of The Glow and their stunning portraits of creative families in their beautiful homes. It's been a little while since I last featured the beautiful project over at The Glow, and three new families have been brought under the light, along with their fantastic names, stylish interiors and interesting interviews.

--Christiane Lemieux and her children, Isabelle and William are the most recent feature. Their place is totally open and light. Equal parts exposed pipe, natural woods and ivory linens, it's a perfect place for dreaming and climbing.

"It’s indoor/outdoor living here."

This one sentence of Christiane's perfectly sums up my dream home.

--Cynthia Rowley was featured with her girls, Kit and Gigi. I fell in love with these little ones and their gold piano!

"I’ve been told by my husband that it would probably be better for our marriage if I stop answering the question, 'How many kids do you have?' with, 'Three, if you count my husband'".

Love it.

-- Athena Calderone and her son Jivan are so sweet and tender together. This really makes me want a little boy! I love that he's riding his skateboard in the living room! Again, I'm so fond of those sparse, open spaces that lend themselves equally to lounging in simple beauty or wild playing. I love the idea of every room in  a home belonging equally to each family member, from the most artful adult to the youngest baby--toys can be pretty, and the prettiest spaces can also be designed to welcome even the grabbiest of little hands and encourage freedom and exploration. Beauty and fun for all!

From today's inspirations:

Christiane (the prettiest of smooshes, and perfect for those wanting to honor either a woman of design or journalism, or both)

Isabelle (another classic smoosh. I'm partial to it over Isabella.)

William (I love this classic name so much. I'd love to see a little William called 'Wim'.)

Whimbrel (okay, this isn't really a part of today's list, but it has a logical likeness to William for me. I really thought about this when I was writing on bird names-- 'Will' and 'Whim' are so alike on several levels, so it seems equally approachable as William. If you love the idea and feel of William, but want something less classic, I think this is a great option!)


Cynthia (such a pretty name, and she links to some of my other favorites....)

Artemis (Cynthia was one of Artemis' names.)

Hestia (another of the virgin goddesses)

Vesta (the Roman version of Hestia and a nickname of Silvestra)

Kit (a great nickname for so many lovely names-- Catherine, Katerina, or fantastic by itself!)

Gigi (most commonly, a potential nickname of Georgia, Georgiana, Virginia or Gilberte. I wonder if it's short for anything here.)


Athena (another virgin goddess)

Minerva (the Roman version)

Pallas (Pallas is to Athena as Cynthia is to Artemis. I love both 'wise' names.)

Jivan (a fantastic 'life' name. I so love it.)

Vito (another favorite 'life' name of mine for a sweet, little surfer boy!)

Such great meanings here today in this list-- we have names linking to wisdom, purity, earth, and life, itself.

Any favorites from today's list? Have you been enjoying The Glow? Are you participating in any "light" festivals this week? I think we may go to a Saint Lucia festival on Saturday, complete with all sorts of craft activities for the girls!

P.S.   Still having font troubles, so I just switched everything to a clean, simple font while I get it all figured out. I love the idea of my title being in cursive, because um, it's a play on notes in the margins, which I'm pretty sure are never typed. Alas, the only other cursive fonts available (my previous one is malfunctioning) are just too thick and stout for my liking. Any recommendations for a pretty, petite cursive font? I like em long and lean.... and tidy.  I really enjoy basic, clean fonts on other blogs, but the current set up isn't right for the mood here, I'm afraid, so I'm eager to get back to the old style. Any favorite font shops?

(images: all courtesy of The Glow, by Kelly Stuart)

Swedish Home Tours

Have you guys seen the amazing home tours on Dos Family? What a blog!  There's almost nothing I love more than a great home tour.  I'm smitten with so many of these beautiful homes.  I'm just about equally taken with the names of the people who live in them! The names on the adults would be fresh here in the states, but the kids' names...wowzer.  Beyond the home tours, the entire blog is fantastic. The blog is run by photographer, Jenny Brandt and decorator/journalist Isabelle McAllister. Jenny and Isabelle have such fantastic ideas and amazing eyes for beauty! They are also wives and mothers with very well-named kids, I must say.  Jenny and Jens have children Viola and Frank; and Isabelle and Eric are parents to Della and Beppe. They also very recently fixed up a room for siblings Kaspian and Nike; oh how I wish the shoe company didn't exist here-- millions of potential baby Nikes will never be (okay, maybe not millions, but at least a hundred or so!)


Åsa

Marianne

Freja and Märta

Henriette & Peter

Frida & Staffan

Vega (whose friend, Tiger, was there when they visited her home.)

Lisa & Dennis, and Mika

Elina & Johan, and Etta

Fia & David, and Hillevi

Sine, and Carl-Andreas & Alma

Anna & Martin, and Algot

Sophie & Partric, and Iris (I want this house. today.)

Sara & Jerker, and Lova

Jenny & Jens, and Viola

Johanna & Andreas, and Lillo

Ana & Andreas, and Nils

Cim & August, and Laban

Kristin & Jonas, and Simon & Otto

Louvisa & Peter, and Bim & Jojje

Carolina & Henrik, and Betti & Stella

Julia, and Maja, Sigrid & Elsa

Sarah & Chris, and Eliot, Miton, & Vilmer

Kicki & Måns, and Vera, Timo & Irma

For each of the featured names, there are tons more photos of their homes, and there are more additional home tours to make you drool over on Dos Family! I suggest setting aside the time for a nice long visit!

Readers, what are your favorites from this bunch (homes and names!)?

(images by: Jenny Brandt, Pernilla Hed, Isabelle McAllister--all courtesy of Dos Family)

Baby Name Mood Boards?

(images 1, 2, 3, 4)

Don't "Oh good grief!" me just yet. You can take this as literally (or not) as you like. No, this is not an art project, but it's a process that needs to be inspired, so off we go to collect and arrange our little bits of meaning!

We didn't have a mood board for naming our last baby, per se. It sort of happened by accident, but a happy accident it was! You may want to make a formal mood board by tacking up photos, nursery colors, a grandmother's hanky, a favorite poem, a photo of Aunt Mamie; or it may be as simple as just surrounding yourself with the baby's clothes, or other pleasant objects, scents, tastes and emotions when pondering names. 

People are often trying to make this decision in rather uncomfortable settings: arguing in the car about about how Maybelle is "too old-lady," or how you don't even really like Uncle Albert, so why would you use his name?  Nancy has put out some interesting posts lately about how our surroundings affect our decision making (and our partner's.)  

I think it's pretty simple: If you want to come up with something that you wish to have particular traits, surround yourself with things sharing those traits. It may be that you just need to think names while outside, or inside your favorite room. Maybe you're lucky in that you're always surrounded by traits you admire in your friends and surroundings. Whatever your set up, it can't hurt to make a lovely thinking space for brainstorming on names. 

  Here are some of the images that accidentally helped us pick a name:

(images 1, 2, 3, 4)

These are all images that I taped to the wall before Valo June's birth (I won't include the images of laboring and pregnant statues and such!)  I figured I'd spend most of my labor in my bedroom and wanted lots of pleasant images surrounding us. We'd just moved into our home and everything was still so unsettled, so I decorated the walls with my flickr favorites to give myself lots of nice focal points. 

I had a very short labor and gave birth to Valo June in my room, amidst all of these images. We spent the following weeks gazing at each other in their midst, too. They were very much a part of her name selection; the images (and smells in the room) created a mood that truly influenced how we evaluated.  Though I hadn't really thought of it in such terms at the time, these pictures on the wall were a sort of mood board for the process of selecting a name for our child. I recommend the practice to anyone wanting to be inspired by things you love, rather than swayed by your fears and name horror stories. 

You may even want to try your names on images of people you don't know. yes, name models. Here's my thinking on this:  it's a good practice to try your names out on grown people who don't have a real, personal identity for you. Maybe you want to look at images of people in various settings, like in offices, as everyone is so focused on professionalism when naming people. 

 I have to say, I don't really get the obsession with seriousness and professionalism in the naming process. Realistically, we all have to work (or someone in the family does) and we may not all choose creative endeavors or be self employed. But is this really the number one thing we should think about when naming a human being? What does this say about our culture?  


 I mean, pick your amazing virtue to consider in naming a child--there are so many great ones--but why is the question always "Will this name be taken seriously in the professional world?" Why is this the favorite measuring stick?  Why don't we ask with equal frequency, "Does this name sound like the name of a great father?" or "This name just sounds like the best friend ever, doesn't it?" or even "Doesn't this have a gentle, lovely sound?"  Do the questions we ask ourselves about how our kids' names will be received tell us about what we really value in each other and in ourselves?  Are our top aspirations for our children really that they escape teasing and fit nicely into the work force? 

  So we want them to fit in. Okay.  But are we focusing on the best commonalities amongst us, ones that speak to the best features of humanity? Or are we focusing on those commonalities that just center on our economy? Without turning this into a conversation on Marxism (yes, I can get there from baby names in like one step), let me just say that I wish the professional world to be more a reflection of us, rather than us being a reflection of it. Maybe it shouldn't be the number one consideration in naming human beings?

What's your take on this?  What virtues, if any, do you look to in selecting a name?

Today's list is a little different; this is stuff for your baby name mood/inspiration board:

Nice smells. Do you want a super feminine name? Put on some rose oil along with your thinking cap. Do you just want your partner to be calmer during negotiations? Lavender might do the trick. Because they do different things for birth and the postnatal time, we had the smells of rose, neroli, lavender, and clary sage oils circulating heavily during our process. I wonder if they had any influence?

Images: Stock yourself with images full of the traits you want in a name. Do you want an indulgent, fluffy name? A modern name? A very bold name? A vintage name? A short, simple name? A calm name? An energetic name? Consider putting up some images with the same features while you think about names.

Loved ones things:  Maybe there are loved ones who you really admire, who you wish were there to help you pick, or whose characteristics you'd love to see in your own children. Perhaps under the influence of their special treasures and photos, the names you come up with might have some of their lovely traits, if not their very own names. 

Bits of nature: Bring in the twigs and leaves, the flowers and pretty stones if you're craving a nature inspired name! Or better yet, go outside!

Memorabilia: Mementos from a favorite trip, cards, photos of old friends or pictures and objects from special days in your past might all provide inspiration. If nothing else, they create a cozy, intimate mood full of meaning and warmth, just the mood you likely want to be in when choosing a name for your new little one.

Music: Music can certainly set the tone for a certain mood. While we were driving fourteen hours to our new home, at around thirty-two weeks in my pregnancy with Valo June, we listened to a lot of Iron and Wine and old Bluegrass in the car.  I was absolutely convinced that our baby should be called Virginia Reve or Verbena Jane by the time we got out of the car, just because of the mood set by the music.  And I'm pretty darn sure Nona's name was at least partially brought to us by the mood created in our bedroom a la Isobell Campbell's Milkwhite Sheets, in the week following her birth. At the very least, music can relax you and your partner for negotiation talks!

Food and Drink: Want a super summery name? Eat berries. A rich, syrupy name? Drink or eat something sweet. If you want a warm, cozy name, drink something comforting. If you want a bold name, try eating nibbling on something spicy!

Favorite Poems and Quotes: There's a reason they're your favorites, and they'll likely put your mind in a nice spot for finding something lovely. They might even make it into the name somehow!

Pictures of people you don't know: Find someone with no real personal identity for you, and try names on him or her.  

Baby's things: Have any little gems you've picked out already for your sweet little one? Has mom knit him a sweater? Perhaps these might inspire you.  

Of course, it could be argued that a sort of high-on-beauty mental state might not be the best place to objectively evaluate something.  I don't buy it. I think being in such environments makes us more able to recognize something that shares it's traits and those things that don't.

Did you do any of these things to talk names over with your partner or to ponder them on your own? Any negotiation tips?

one last image of ours, by the talented Lina Scheynius. Happy Thursday!