It used to be the rule that children would take on their paternal surname – but no more. A range of options are on the rise, whether that be for children of heterosexual or same-sex couples.

Lorelei Vashti, author of How to Choose Your Baby’s Last Name: A Handbook for New Parents, says there is no one-size-fits-all approach for what she calls “the baby surname dilemma”, because people are motivated by different values. For some, family unity and identity are most important, but for others gender equity and fairness are the priority.

Vashti said there are six options when it comes to naming your child:

• Father’s surname
• Mother’s surname
• Hyphenation, or a double-barrelled surname (without a hyphen)
• Alternating the two parents’ surnames between siblings
• Combining the two surnames into a portmanteau or blended surname
• Making up a completely new surname

To find out more about these options, and how they’re viewed by society, click through to this article at ABC News.

The UK is known for having a rich and diverse history attracting Roman, Celtic and Anglo-Saxon settlers. And with them, the settles brought unique meanings to Britain’s beloved counties, cities and towns. Click through to these maps at QuickQuid and learn the meanings of names like these:

Greater Manchester: Town on the Breast-like hill
Hertfordshire: Ford frequented by stags
Cheshire: Roman county
Leicestershire: Roman town of the people called Ligore

Fewer Americans are naming their babies Alexa since the first release of the Amazon Echo in 2015, according to Social Security data. The government keeps track of the popularity of all baby names in the U.S., and their data shows that the girls’ name Alexa peaked in popularity in 2015, right before the introduction of Amazon’s now famous AI personal assistant, which is most commonly activated by the wake word, “Alexa.” Check out this article at Business Insider to see what other names rose or declined in the wake of Alexa.

By now you’ve heard that the winner of the 2018 Kentucky Derby was Justify. But did you catch the names of the other competitors? What were the odds for Audible? Vino Rosso? Free Drop Billy?

This fun article at The Week offers Kentucky Derby odds, determined solely based on the quality of each horse’s name. You’ll find out where each name came from as well as the great names of the horses’ sires and dams.

Here’s what author Jeva Lange has to say about Justify:

Justify
Odds based on name alone: 5/1
Actual odds: 3/1
Analysis: If Justify is to win the Kentucky Derby, he will have to overcome Apollo’s Curse, although bookies obviously believe that won’t be a problem. For our purposes — which involve completely disregarding any real world facts or supernatural destinies — Justify would finish just out of the money thanks to his name, which is a little more Microsoft Word than it is chivalrous and knightly. WinStar Farm president Elliott Walden told the Louisville Courier Journal: “We think [the name’s] important. We look at it like, ‘If this horse wins the Kentucky Derby, would this be a cool name? I don’t want ‘Jim Bob’s Corvette.'” First of all, Jim Bob’s Corvette is a great name for a horse. Secondly, can we pause to appreciate the name of Justify’s damsire, Ghostzapper?

The Church of Scientology owns thousands of domain names, including over 1,000 registered to protect its leader David Miscavige’s name. DomainTools records 3,781 domain names registered to Church of Scientology International and 790 domains to Scientology’s Religious Technology Center. While many of the domains seem to serve as proactive protection from critics, Scientology has also grabbed some names in new top level domains. Here are a few examples:

welcometotheageofanswers.church
scientology.cool
welcometotheanswersage.exposed

To find out more, click through to this article at Domain Name Wire.

Interested in reading about the meanings of some of today’s popular names for baby boys and baby girls?  The writers at CheekyTummy have put together a listing of 100 popular personal names and some of their meanings. 

In this article at the Chronicle of Higher Education, linguist Geoffrey Pullum looks at how the names of political scandals are constructed. Some, like Watergate (the scandal arising out of a Nixon-era break-in at the Watergate hotel), are tied to the scene of the crime, with the name now broadened to include “an array of clandestine and often illegal activities undertaken by members of the Nixon administration,” some having little to do with the break-in. But what about Weinergate, and Windrush? Read on to find out more!

Last month, King Mswati III of Swaziland, one of the world’s few remaining absolute monarchs, announced the news: The country will henceforth be known as eSwatini, the kingdom’s name in the local language. (It means “land of the Swazis” in the Swazi — or siSwati — tongue.) Many African countries upon independence “reverted to their ancient, native names,” The Associated Press quoted the king as saying. “We no longer shall be called Swaziland from today forward.” According to Reuters, Mswati argued that the kingdom’s name had long caused confusion. “Whenever we go abroad, people refer to us as Switzerland,” the king said, according to Reuters.

Whether the name change will stick is another question. In 2016, Czech officials put forward Czechia as the preferred short version of the name of their country. The United Nations, the United States government and — crucially, in the digital age — Google Maps and Apple have complied, but the name Czech Republic remains in widespread use in English. To find out more, click through to this article at the New York Times.

Here is a quiz for you. What is the name of the country with these four official languages (no, it’s not Switzerland…): Albanian, Turkish, Romani, and Serbian?  Its capital city is called Skopje.  It achieved independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in September of 1991. Its international calling code number is “389” and it is located in the Balkan peninsula of southeastern Europe. If you guessed Macedonia, you could be right. But then again, maybe not. Confused? Irritated? Asking yourself what is going on? So are the inhabitants of the country who call themselves Macedonians. That is, the Macedonians who live in Macedonia and not in Greece – and that is precisely the point of contention. Read more about this complex political situation at Foreign Policy.