Name The Baby Contest Winners

Remember that "Name The Baby" contest that we held last year? Well, now that Anders is about ready to go off to college, we figured that it was about time to announce the winners.

Here's an interesting fact: the initial contest for a girl's name lasted about 3 weeks and generated 51 submissions; the followup lightening round for a boy's name lasted only a few days but generated 116 submissions. I guess short deadlines really do work (but don't you dare tell my boss.)

MOST LIKELY TO BE USED
The winners of this category ended up being a bit of a gimme, since two people suggested the name that we actually used. (Though for the record, we were fond of the name Anders even before the contest.)

Winner:	Anders by Tara Wike and Simon Hales
Honorable Mention:	Ilvedson Daly by Jeff Kette We love the sound of this name, but as someone wisely said, "Why would you name him something no one can pronounce?" Then, of course, we named him On-ders.
Honorable Mention:	Ildved Daly by Joie Nordstrom Ilvedson used to have an extra "d" that was dropped. (But see previous entry.)
Honorable Mention:	Rowan Kendric by Drew Daly Means "Royal Ruler of the Tree with Red Berries"

MOST CREATIVE - FIRST NAME
This was a tough category to judge; many of the submissions that we got were pretty creative. In the end we managed to find a winner, but make sure to check out some of the more notable suggestions under "Other Names Of Note" below.

Winner:	Ansel Reuben by Michael Allen. Ansel is from the Freakonomics1 list of 20 boy names that best signify high-education parents. (People with the names on this list tend to be successful because they had successful parents.) Reuben means "See, a Son" which is certainly appropriate.
Honorable Mention:	Forest River Daly by Tara Stewart, certainly a Trout Lake appropriate name.

MOST CREATIVE - LAST NAME
All of the last names submitted were either Daly, Ilvedson, or some combination of the two. These were our favorites.

Winner:	Ilvedalyson by Marnier Harker and Jaime Mack
Honorable Mention:	Devilson by Beverly Sommer

OTHER NAMES OF NOTE

Parker Isaac Ilvedson (PII as in 3.14159) by Kelly Kays

Ian Peter Daly (the old I.P. Daly joke) by Simon Hales

Peter Ian Daly by Simon Hales who said, "I hear he has good control." (As in PID Controller.)

Huckleberry aka "Huck" by Damon McMillan, Trout Lake appropriate.

Iontas by Taryn Nordstrom, means surprise in Gaelic.

Isaac by George Krevsky, means "to laugh" as in "man plans, and God laughs". (Isaac was also suggested by Lilly who must be preparing to have a boy herself; she submitted 27 different boys names!)

Leif Ilvedson by Lina Smith who didn't realize that Corinne already has a brother by that name.

Soren by Anna Stewart and Tara Wike. Soren is a perfectly good Scandinavian name ruined by Corinne's high school guidance counselor. When Corinne told her that she was applying to MIT, her only comment was "Well, Erik Sorenson didn't get in."

Veronica Ilvedson-Daly by Anthony Coulter. This name (from the girl list) itself is fairly straightforward, but you can't really appreciate it until you've read Anthony's five paragraph treatise.

Thanks to everyone who participated! It was fun to read all of the crazy name combinations that people came up with along with their meaning or creator's intent.

- Corinne, Mike, and Anders Isaac Huckleberry Reuben Soren Ildved Veronica Rocket Ilvedson Daly

¹ Freakonomics is a fascinating read. We highly recommend it.