Frances

Frances is the feminine form of Francis. Up until the 17th century, Francis was a unisex name, like Terry or Chris. Why "they" suddenly decided that a girl ought to have an "e" in her Frances is just one of life's little mysteries. The name has been in steady use since the 17th century, but is currently in a popularity slump. It was a top 100 name for baby girls in the U.S. until the 1960's. One notable Frances was Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, the first American saint. Another was author Frances Hodgson Burnett, who wrote A Little Princess and The Secret Garden. Yet another was Frances Farmer.

Deana

Deana is considered to be a variant of Diana, but is more likely a feminine version of Dean. It could also be a variant spelling of Deanna, but it's recommended that if you want the name to be pronounced like Deanna (dee-anna), then you should spell it Deanna. Most people are going to pronounce Deana as if it were Dean with an a on the end, and you wouldn't want your daughter to spend half her life correcting the pronunciation efforts of strangers. Deana was used some between the 1940's and the 1990's, but was never really popular, and has now disappeared from the U.S. top 1000. There is some renewed interest in the name however, so it might be worth keeping an eye on.

Donald

Donald is a Scottish name that comes from the Gaelic name Domhnall. Since I'm working from several sources here that almost but don't quite agree on things, it appears to mean something like "almighty ruler of the world." This makes it an awesome name for a cat. The folks at Disney apparently thought it was also an excellent name for animated water fowl, and Donald Duck is probably one of the first mental associations people make with this name. Donald Trump also comes to mind--a good example of someone at least attempting to live up to his name. Donald is not as common as it was in the first half of the 20th century, but is still widely used. One reason for its continued popularity is that it is a versatile name. A child named Donald can also be called Don or Donnie.

Darlene

Darlene is an adaption of the word "darling," that uses the fairly common name suffix lene that also appears in Arlene and Marlene. It was a popular name between the 1930's and the 1960's, but went out of fashion with the other lene names and isn't used much today.

Kandi

Kandi is one of several variant spellings of Candy that appeared around the 1950's. This particular was used a little--unsurprisingly--in the 1960's and 1970's. Most parents today hopefully have more sense. Fiction writers might have uses for this name, and it probably wouldn't damage a cat or dog to be named Kandi, but your daughter probably wouldn't thank you for it.

Lacy, Lacey

Personally, I think this is a really interesting name, that is really two names with two different reasons for being used as a given name. Lacy is a surname that made the transition to use as a given name. It was mainly used for boys, and was reasonably common in the 19th century, and continued to be used for boys until the 1940's. In this capacity it was usually spelled Lacy. In the 1970's it began to be used more often as a girl's name--usually spelled Lacey but sometimes spelled Lacy as well. In some cases this was probably related to other surnames that were drafted into use as given names for girls, such as Ashley, Morgan, and Bailey. This brings us to the other reason for the use of Lacey as a given name. The word lace makes Lac(e)y a fairly obvious feminine name, since lace is associated with femininity. This meaning probably actually works agains the name's popularity with the same parents who choose names like Morgan and Ashley for their daughters--names that aren't traditionally considered too "girly."

Jane

Jane is ultimately considered a feminine form of John, and is related to Jean and Joan. The main problem with Jane as a name is the fact that it rhymes with "plain," which has caused "plain jane" to be a phrase many people think of automatically when they hear the name. In reality, Jane is no more "plain" than any other one-syllable name. Jane has been a regularly used name since at least the 16th century, and was extremely popular in Britain thoughout the 18th and 19th centuries, and enjoyed a peak in popularity in the U.S. in the early 1900's as well. Jane has been somewhat less popular in more recent decades, for various reasons. There seems to be a trend recently of parents looking to traditional names for their children. Jane has that traditional quality, and it has simplicty, and at least a small amount of versatility (nickname Janie) going for it. I would expect to see at least a small rise in popularity for the name in the next decade, either for Jane as a first given name, or a resurgence in the use of it as the second name in combination names like Sarah Jane.

Emma

Emma is derived from the Germanic ermen meaning "all-embracing," "whole," "entire,"...you get the picture. Originally, we are told, it wasn't a name on its own at all, it was used as the first element for Old French names such as Ermengarde. How they made the leap from Ermen to Emma is just one of those little mysteries. The name was introduced to England by the Normans, but before the Norman Conquest: Emma of Normandy was twice the Queen of England, first marrying Ethelred the Unready, and after his death, marrying Canute, who was also king of Norway and Denmark. She was then mother of two kings of England, one of whom was Edward the Confessor, and William the Conqueror was her grandnephew. Possibly because of her, Emma was quite popular in the Middle Ages. One fascinating Emma was Lady Emma Hamilton, who was actually originally named Emily, but "became" an Emma. Her story is definitely worth reading. In addition to its historic and royal connections, Emma is a name with literary and popular entertainment connections as well: The book Emma by Jane Austen is a classic, which was made into a wonderful movie starring Gwyneth Paltrow in 1996. It would seem that a baby girl named Emma would have some pretty large--though ladylike--shoes to fill. One can only hope there are enough shoes to go around, since Emma has continued to be popular through the ages, and is currently enjoying a peak of popularity in many countries including the U.S, Scotland, Sweden, Ireland, Canada, and others. This is one of those names that seems old-fashioned in the good way, and always benefits from trend towards traditional names. Because of Emma's extreme popularity at the moment, I'd actually recommend against giving it to a baby girl right now--it certainly would not be unique. Emma is always a wonderful name for a fictional character, and it's also always a great name for a cat, particularly a tabby with the classic "M" on her forehead.

Neal

Neal is in some cases simply a variant spelling of Neil, and is also a surname that is sometimes used as a given name. This version of the name was used fairly often through the beginning of the last century, but began to be used less after the 1960's, and in the past few years has fallen out of the top 1000 names for boys in the U.S.

Robert

Robert is considered to be one of the names brought to England with the Norman Conquest. The English were, however, already using the name Hreodbeorht, and I have also seen one source report that the name the Normans brought was not Robert, but another similar name, in which case perhaps Robert represents a melding of the two names. In any case, whether the name comes from the Old English Hreodbeorht or the Germanic hrod 'fame' + berht 'bright,' the meaning is the same and comes down to "famous." And regardless of where they got it, the English of the Middle Ages loved the name Robert, and gave it to their children often, leading to the necessity for plenty of nicknames to differentiate between all those Roberts: Rob, Robbie, Bob, Bobby, Robin, and even nicknames such as Nob, Dob, Hob, and Dobbin. Of course, most of those nicknames have fallen out of use today, and few people would automatically associate "Dobbin" with "Robert," but the use of those nicknames gave us surnames such as Hopkins, Hobbs, and Dobson. Robert remains now as popular as it was in the Middle Ages, and has never really been out of use in the years in between. Famous Roberts are simply too many to name, but include three kings of Scotland, Scottish poet Robert Burns, U.S. Civil War General Robert E. Lee, one of my favorite actors of all time-- Robert Mitchum, and Robert F. Kennedy. Robert is one of the true classic names of all time, and is always an excellent choice for a baby boy.

Dale

Dale is a surname that means "dweller in the valley, or dale." It began to be used as a given name in the 19th century, probably often in honor of the maiden name of the child's mother. Dale has mainly been a masculine name, but was fairly common as a girl's name from the 1930's through the 1960's, probably heavily influenced by the popularity of Dale Evans. Since the 1960's Dale has almost exclusively a masculine name, used often enough to not be considered "odd," but not overused, either. Famous Dales include Dale Carnegie, and two NASCAR giants, the late Dale Earnhardt, and his son Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Carol, Carole

Carol began to be used as a name for baby girls in the late 19th century. It was apparently originally just a pet or short form of Caroline, or Carolina, and as such is considered a feminine version of the name Charles. Carole is the French spelling, and this spelling gained much popularity due to actress Carole Lombard (1908-42.) In the 1930's, 40's, and 50's, Carol was a top 20 name in the United States, but has been in decline ever since. Carol will probably make a comeback and regain some popularity at some point, but that may not be in the immediate future; it still seems a bit old-fashioned at the moment--there are still plenty of Carols from the name's peak around. Carol has also been used as a name for baby boys, but more often the male form is Carroll, which will be dealt with in a seperate entry eventually.

Lionel

The name Lionel comes from Latin leonellus, meaning "little lion." Lionel was used as a given name in the Middle Ages and is one possible source of surnames such as Lyall, or Lyell. It has remained in use ever since the Middle Ages; never being used more than infrequently but never falling completely out of use either. Its use has declined even more in the past few decades though, and of late, Lionel has fallen out of the top 1000 names in the U.S. Famous Lionels include actor Lionel Barrymore (1878-1954) and singer Lionel Richie. Many may also remember Lionel as George and Louise Jefferson's son on the tv series The Jeffersons. Why has Lionel fallen so completely out of fashion of late? There may be bad associations with the name that I'm not aware of, but since I'm not aware of any, I'd have to guess that it's some combination of the following reasons: Lionel sounds a bit old-fashioned at the moment, it doesn't have much versatility when it comes to nicknames, and so many "new" names have crowded into the name arena in the past decades as parents (in the U.S. at least) have become more daring, that there simply isn't room for it. Because of the meaning, Lionel makes a great name for a male cat, but if you choose to give the name to your new baby, I'd recommend choosing a strong versatile second name to accompany it, just to give your child some options in the event he hates the name.