LIFE STORIES HIATUS
Mark Kennedy is on vacation. His Life Stories column will resume when he returns.
CUTE KIDS PHOTO CONTEST
The Chattamom.com Cute Kids Photo contest for July is open to entries. Submissions will be accepted at the website through Friday. Online voting will be July 18-29. The winner will receive a gift certificate for a weekday party at Pump It Up.
IS A NICKNAME ENOUGH?
The trend took off first in the UK, with prams populated by baby Archies and Alfies, Edies and Ellies -- and now it has definitely crossed the ocean: the idea of going straight to the nickname and skipping the full, formal name completely.
Pamela Redmond Satran and Linda Rosenkrantz, co-authors of 10 best-selling baby name guides, say they're seeing boys and girls being christened simply Sam and Charlie.
Some nicknames have long been legitimized and accepted on their own, such as Max, Molly, Jack, Jake and Kate. Among the other nicknames making the Social Security list this year were: Gracie, Katie, Andy, Maggie, Ellie, Allie, Abby, Lexi, Josie and Angie. On the starbaby lists: Joe, Edie, Sunny, Johnnie (girl), Hal and Hank, Millie and Billie and Birdie and Bob.
Nicknames are cute and friendly and spunky, and some of them like Lottie and Letty have a definite nostalgic appeal, but is there a sense of incompleteness? Will a boy christened Will wish he could put William on his college application? Will a woman named Izzy feel that her name has never grown up and matured as she has?
Find out more at the authors' baby-naming site, nameberry.com.
-- Nameberry.com