New baby names

KILKENNY -- As defenders of St Luke's Hospital rally around the parking lot to prevent the closure of its maternity ward, astute observers point out how the most popular names for babies varies, based on the year and the closeness of the mom to the Internet. "Sean" and "Emma" were the most popular names for newborns in Ireland in 2003. And according to Macworld journalist Linotype Univers Condensed Semibold Italic Haslam, "Arial" is the top font to use as a child's name.

The information is corrobated by a senior business analyst in a Philadelphia-area academic hospital who happens to come from my home county. She points to research that asked, "Which font would you name a child after?" Top choices: Arial (24%), Geneva (18%), and Zapf Dingbats (12%). More disturbing was the choice of Linotype Univers Condensed Semibold Italic (9%). Other readers opted for Helvetica (8%), Bembo and Cooper Black (both 7%). Fluted Serif and Hoefler Text Ornamnets were the least popular, receiving just 2% of the vote.

Back at St Luke's Hospital in Kilkeny, "Sean" replaced "Jack" as the most popular boy's name for babies born in Ireland, while "Emma" comes up from 3rd place to replace "Sarah" in the girls' list, according to the latest figures published by the Central Statistics Office.

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Macworld -- "Poll: Arial the font runner"
Becky S -- "Font babies"
Rollercoaster -- "Most popular Irish names"
"Lititz" is not a popular name. It's having problems staying on the Internet. Maybe it should connect to Typepad--and cut its running costs by nearly $400 annually.
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