Do you love Jane Austen, Mad Men, and The Hunger Games? This baby name is for you!

If you enjoy Jane Austen, but you wish the characters could wear fashions more appropriate to the Mad Men era, you would love Honey for Tea by Elizabeth Cadell. And if you're pregnant with a baby girl (I know I'm significantly narrowing the field here), you might find a charming baby name within the pages of this book. And if, by fateful chance, you also like The Hunger Games, well, brace yourself for the baby name of a lifetime:

Jendiss

You read that right: Jendiss. Sort of like Katniss but with a more genteel, less violent flavor. Jendiss Marsh is a well-bred British girl who has been in love with Allen as long as she can remember. But Allen has been in love with Jendy's (notice the cute nickname) older, gorgeous sister Nancy for the same amount of time.

Four weeks before the wedding, Nancy calls off the wedding. Jendy is shocked and disappointed in her sister, but really, does this sound like a bad development? No, of course not.

But before I get carried away by this story, which I'm very much enjoying if you can't tell, let's talk about the possibilities of this baby name.

It sounds like a made-up name, which I am firmly against, as you know. So I googled "Jendiss" and came up with one person in the United States named "Jendiss Frizzell," which sounds like a Dickens character. In Elizabeth Cadell's novel, Jendiss is a family name traced back to 1583. That's pretty presumptuous of her, to take a name like "Jendiss" and give it a long and illustrious pedigree. I love presumption in novelists, don't you?

Anyway, I think Jendiss is a great baby girl name. It has a youthful nickname, a feminine sound, a literary bent, and a place all its own on the kindergarten roll.

Baby Names from the 2013 Oscars

If you're looking for a glamorous baby name, the 85th Academy Awards have some great ones to choose from. Remember, though, that celebrity-inspired baby names tend to trend, meaning there might be three kids your child's kindergarten class with her very same name. But maybe not, especially if you name her Quvenzhane'.

Boy Names
Grant (Heslov)
Ben (Affleck)
George (Clooney)
Bradley (Cooper)
Daniel (Day-Lewis)
Hugh (Jackman)
Joaquin (Phoenix)
Denzel (Washington)
Christoph (Waltz)
Alan (Arkin)
Robert (De Niro)
Philip (Seymour Hoffman)

Girl Names
Anne (Hathaway)
Amy (Adams)
Sally (Field)
Helen (Hunt)
Jacki (Weaver)
Jennifer (Lawrence)
Jessica (Chastain)
Emmanuelle (Riva)
Quvenzhane' (Wallis)
Naomi (Watts)
Lucy (Alibar)
Adele (Adkins)

Also, check out this article full of iconic Hollywood baby names for more ideas.

Baby Names from Downton Abbey

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You love their clothes, but do you love any of their names enough to bestow one on your newborn? Between the characters' names and the actors who play them, there are plenty of baby name possibilities coming from everyone's favorite Masterpiece Theater. Here are a few:

Boys

• Hugh (as in Hugh Bonneville who plays Earl of Grantham)
• Charles (Carson, that is)
• Thomas (I know, he's a bad guy--sometimes, but Thomas is a good, solid name. It's also the actor's name who plays William, if that makes you feel any better)
• Matthew (Crawley, of course)
• Brendan (as in Brendan Coyle who plays Bates)

Girls

• Anna (such a likeable character)
• Mary (played by Michelle Dockery)
• Phyllis (the actress who plays Mrs. Hughes. This name is set for a comeback, I'm telling you)
• Maggie (the beloved Maggie Smith)
• Sophie (as in the adorable Sophie McShera who plays Daisy)

Who did I miss?

Gisele Bundchen's Baby Girl

Gisele Bundchen and Tom Brady finally showed off their beautiful baby girl, Vivian Lake. She's a pretty little thing, isn't she? She may just be as pretty as her mom.

As a baby name, Vivian has had a healthy revival, and there are plenty of different spellings for everyone's taste: Vivienne, Vivien, Vivian.

Here'a a picture of a Vivien you probably recognize: Vivien Leigh of Gone With the Wind fame.

Romantic Baby Girl Names for Valentine's Day

Sometimes it's meaningful to give a baby a name that hints at her birthday. For instance, my December-born sister's middle name is Noel. What are some lovely seasonal names for little girls born in February?

Here are a few to think about:

Names That Mean "Love"
Carys (Welsh)
Mina (German)
Mindy (German)
Prema (Sanskrit)
Tivona (Hebrew)
Cheryl (Welsh)
Grace (Irish)

Flower Names
Rose
Calla
Holly
Fern
Danica
Ivy
Jasmine
Lily
Leilani
Violet
Zahra

Feminine-sounding Names
Angelina
Magdelena
Genevieve
Serena
Adelaide
Valentina
Anastasia
Evangeline
Juliette
Annabelle

7 Baby Names for Spring

If the weather has been as gray and dreary in your neck of the woods as it has been here, you're probably craving spring. That's what inspired these baby names for spring. Whether it feels like it or not, spring is right around the corner, and if your baby is set to arrive in the next few months, consider one of these spring-inspired names.

Girls
Mae: French name meaning "goddess of spring growth"
Rose
Ivy
Primrose (newly famous, thanks to The Hunger Games)

Boys
Kelby: Gaelic name meaning "place by the fountain or spring"
Maxwell: Scottish name meaning "Magnus' spring"
Denver: English name meaning "green valley"

Baby Name of the Day: Beatrix

When you think of the name Beatrix, you probably first think of Beatrix Potter, the Victorian author of the much-loved Peter Rabbit stories. Not only did she write those charming stories, but she also drew the illustrations. In fact, as a fourteen-year-old, she was awarded an Art Student's Certificate for model drawing and freehand. She employed her art skills to drawing scientific nature drawings and presented a scientific paper to the Linnean Society. A recent Hollywood film starring Renee Zellweger and Ewan McGregor focuses on Beatrix Potter's relationship with Norman Warne.

But Miss Potter isn't the only well-known Beatrix out there. Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands (pictured above) has been in the news lately because she has announced that she will be abdicating the throne in favor of her son Prince Willem-Alexander. She's approaching her 75th birthday, and I imagine she would like to slow down and take up a hobby or two. After all, she's been the queen for 33 years.

One of the wonderful things about this baby name is that it has such charming potential nicknames: Bea and Trixie. It's old-fashioned and lovely, but it has a kick with that "x" at the end.

Baby Name of the Day: Sylvie

Here's an up-and-coming name that has elements of current trends (retro and the letter "V") and a uniqueness all its own. It's a variant of Sylvia, which means "woods" or "forest."

One of the best things about this baby name is that it's very uncommon and yet it's easy to spell. It didn't show up in the top 1000 baby names in the 2010 census, but it's easily recognizable because of its similarity to Sylvia.

Cultural References

• Sylvie is the name of a Canadian indie rock music group that was nominated at the Western Canadian Music Awards in 2003.
• Silvie is a novella by French Romanticist Gerard de Nerval. It was first published in 1853; Harold Bloom included it in The Western Canon in 1994.
• Silvie van der Vaart is a Dutch television personality and model. She recently split from husband Rafael van der Vaart, German football star.
• The Sylvie Bridal Collection is an extension of Spectrum Diamonds, a South African jewelry company. The bridal jewelry can be customized and is available at fine jewelers nationwide.
• Sylvie and Bruno is the last novel Lewis Carroll published in his lifetime. Similar to his Alice in Wonderland, the story crosses between Victorian England and a fantasy world.

Would you use this charming name for your own baby girl?

5 Teacher-Inspired Baby Girl Names

Grace Abbott

If you're looking for baby name inspiration, why not look to famous teachers? Teachers have certainly shaped you and helped you become the competent, creative, talented woman you are today. Pass along a little of that teacher-inspired wisdom by considering one of these baby names:

Maya: Maya Angelou became voluntarily at age 8 when she was raped by her mother's boyfriend. She didn't speak again until she was 13 years old after a dedicated teacher introduced her to classic authors like Poe, Dickens, and Shakespeare. She repaid her gratitude by becoming a teacher herself. Today, she teaches at Wake Forest University in North Carolina.

Madeleine: Better known for her role a the first female Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright teaches international relations at Georgetown University.

Grace: Grace Abbott was a social worker, public administrator, educator, and reformer. Born in the 1870s, she was concerned that children spent too much time working for a living and not enough time at school. She became very influential in the field of child-labor legislation.

Nadia: Fortunate Nadia Boulanger grew up among the musicians of the Paris Conservatory where her father taught voice lessons. In 1937, she was the first woman to conduct the Royal Philharmonic. She also taught an entire generation of composers, including American Aaron Copland.

Lucy: The daughter of former slaves, Lucy Craft Laney opened her own school in 1883. By the end of the second year, she had more than 200 African American students enrolled. She also opened a training center that taught nursing skills to black women.

Baby Girl Names, Brought to You by the Letter V

The "V" sound has been very popular for about a decade now. My little girl has friends named Eva, Ava, Vivian, Olivia, and Avae. The letter "V" still has staying power, but it would be wise for expectant parents to shake things up just a bit because elementary school roll call has become a veritable, vicious "V" tongue twister.

Here are some female V-names that don't sound quite so much like the above-mentioned V-names:

Valerie
Valley
Valora
Vanna
Valencia
Valkyrie
Valene
Evelyn
Savannah
Geneva
Ivy
Yvette
Devon
Maeve
Minverva
Olive
Yvonne

Baby girl names containing the letter "V" are still hot. Try jumping on the bandwagon but not standing right in the middle of that wagon. See if you can just hang onto the edge.

Baby Girl Name: Jetta

If you're looking for an unusual name that will suit many different personalities, I've got one for you. But first, here's what I mean about the different personalities. When you're naming a baby, you don't know if she'll be shy or outgoing, feminine or tomboyish, feisty or agreeable. Some names seem to lend themselves to one kind of person, but this name takes care of lots of bases.

Jetta Goudal was a Dutch-born American actress from the silent film era. Her parents actually named her Juliette Henriette Goudeket. I would have advised them against the "ette" ending for both the first and middle names, but they couldn't consult me because my great-grandmother wasn't even born at the time. Anyway, Jetta was born in Amsterdam to Orthodox Jewish parents. She left war-torn Europe during World War I and described herself as "Parisienne" when she got to New York City.

By 1921 she appeared in a Broadway show, using the stage name Jetta Goudal. In 1922 she moved to the west coast and began starring in motion pictures. After appearing in several box office smashes, Cecil B. Demille fired her and cancelled their contract because he claimed she was so difficult to work with. So she sued him. She won the lawsuit and went on to star in several more successful films before switching careers to interior design.

"Juliette" is feminine; "Jetta" is feisty. It seems that she embodied both.

If I were expecting a girl right now, I'd add it to my list.

A Bit Overused, But Still Fab: Lillian

A decade ago, the name Lillian was still cutting edge, like Ivy is today. Now, it's fairly common, but that doesn't make it dull. Lillian exudes class and femininity, just like Lillian Gish did back in the golden age of silent movies.

She worked with DW Griffith from 1912 to 1921, and many agree that she was the greatest film actress of all time. Her long successful career spanned 75 years. Unbelievably, she appeared in her last movie opposite Bette Davis in 1987!

The name Lillian works well as a middle name as well as a first name. It's got some great nicknames: Lilly, Lily, Little Lil.

Do you know any little ones named Lillian? Any thoughts on the name?

Baby Names to Live By

This isn't an ordinary baby name book. You won't find hundreds of thousands of arbitrary names listed by meanings or syllables--because you don't want to give your baby just a name. You have higher hopes for your child than just a melodious sounding name. You want to give your little one a namesake, someone to look up to and be inspired by. From Audrey Hepburn to Isaac Newton, you'll learn about the fascinating people behind the names.

Naming a baby is a big deal. It will consume much of your thinking time while you’re pregnant because you want the name to be just right. You want it to fit the child you haven’t even met yet, and yet it’s also a reflection of you as parents. In modern Western culture, parents often choose names based on how they sound.

This book is full of alternatives: people who are admirable in many ways and also have names that are timely, interesting, and full of potential.

Baby Names to Live By is the perfect book to read while you're pregnant. The mini biographies are short enough for reading in the waiting room while you wait for your appointments and interesting enough to keep you from speculating on whether or not that woman over there is carrying twins.

Get it from Amazon today. It's only $2.99 for the Kindle version.