When Michelle Williams Met Michelle Williams

Michelle Williams the 🎤singer, former member of 🎶Destiny's Child👩🏽👩🏾👩🏿 — met the other Michelle Williams — 🎥actress and ex partner of the late 🎥actor 🤡Heath Ledger. 

It's very cool the two name twins linked up🆙— but was it bound to happen if they both have a "once superstar⭐" first name (#4📈 in the 70s and currently #465📉 in US Top 1000📊) and the third most popular family last name in the US?  

Now if they both had the same middle name as well, that would truly be kismet.💫 But Michelle the actress' is: 📛Ingrid. Michelle the singer's middle name is... Michelle!  📛Tenitra is her first name! 🤯

Names.org says on the very rare name Tenitra: "Tenitra is a modern African American given name most widely recognized through the singer Tenitra Michelle Williams (of Destiny’s Child), which helps date the name’s emergence to late-20th-century U.S. Black naming traditions. Its structure and phonetics suggest creative coinage rather than direct derivation from a single Old World source; scholars often read such names as blendings or elaborations on familiar elements. Tenitra plausibly fuses the numeronymic “Ten-” (a stylistic prefix also seen in names like Tenisha) with the feminine suffix “-itra” (common in names such as Demetra/Demetra or Lakitra), aligning it with the broader African American onomastic pattern of innovative morphology, melodic cadence, and individualized identity. The meaning is thus primarily expressive and cultural-signaling uniqueness and community style-rather than a fixed lexical meaning traceable to one language."

I like singer William's first name Tenitra (which I never knew was her name until I researched her for this piece. 🤦🏾‍♀️ And I was a Destiny's Child fan growing up! 😖) over the too common Michelle. I also like actress William's middle name Ingrid more so than Michelle. Michelle is a nice name (I like the meaning: who is like God?, French var. of Michael) but it's a neutral name too — there's nothing special about it 🤷🏾‍♀️ — but it's so familiar (I once had two bffs at the same time named Michelle. 🙋🏾‍♀️ In 🏫school they were known as 'the Michelles' and teachers would refer to them by their last names. Even in our friend group, myself and our other friends would refer to them by the initial of their last name often to differentiate the two.) you almost automatically like it. Nevertheless, I can't imagine either Williams going by anything but 📛Michelle.

☔📛IRN RATING OF 📛Michelle: 👎/👍 OR 💗💗💗💗💗/10

☔📛IRN RATING OF 📛Tenitra: 👍 OR 💗💗💗💗💗💗/10

☔📛IRN RATING OF 📛Ingrid: 👍 OR 💗💗💗💗💗💗💗/10

BOOK CHARACTER NAME OF INTEREST: Prairie

📛Prairie is the lush🌿 name of a character in the children's book📗 Ballad of Lucy Whipple by Karen Cushman — she is a younger sister 👧 of protagonist California Morning🌄 aka Lucy Whipple. 

Prairie as an English word means: "a tract of grassland; meadow. An extensive, level or slightly undulating, mostly treeless tract of land in the Mississippi valley, characterized by a highly fertile soil and originally covered with coarse grasses, and merging into drier plateaus in the west."

📛Nameberry🍒 explains further, Prairie is derived from the Old French word praierie, which ultimately came from the Latin pratum, meaning "meadow." 📛NB🍒 describes Prairie as an, "unspecific place name with a wonderfully wide-open, spacious, western feel." 

📍California and 📍South Dakota are the most Prairies (👶baby girls and women👩) are found.

I had never heard of 📛Prairie used as a first name 😮 until recently — it's so fresh and definitely different — of course I love it. 🥰 Plus it's a really pretty name — I like how it sounds used as a name. 📛Prairie is so rare, it arrived on name charts📊 in ⏪1977 and as of 2024 it is #4434 on the US Top 1000. This 🌎earthy, green name could have potential to rise 📈 in popularity... and I'm rooting for it to. 🤞🏾

⭐FAMOUS & 📝NOTEWORTHY 📛PRAIRIE:

📛Prairie Dawn 💗📺 (muppet character on tv show Sesame Street)

📛Prairie Moon 🌙 💗 (daughter of 🎥 actress Teresa Palmer)

📛Prairie Flower 🌻🎥 (character in the film The Vanishing Tribe)

📛Prairie Johnson 📺 (character on the tv show The OA)

📛Prairie Wheeler 📗 (character in the book Vineland)

📌STATS ON THE NAME 📛Prairie:

https://www.mynamestats.com/First-Names/P/PR/PRAIRIE/index.html

☔📛IRN RATING OF 📛Prairie: 👍 OR 💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚/10 

TV CHARACTER NAME OF INTEREST: Monet

📛Monet is the hip, chic name played by 🎤Mary J. Blige — as a ruthless 👑queen pin — on the 📺 tv show Power Book II: Ghost. 👻

Monet is of French origin according to Nameberry and is a "favorite of the Bohemian set." Behind the Name says Monet is: "from a French surname that was derived from either Hamon or Edmond. This was the surname of the French impressionist painter Claude Monet."

The most Monets live in 📍California and 📍District of Columbia. 

Monet reminds me of the name Monroe, being it is a last name that doubles as a first name too and 🔊sounds similar. And just like with Monroe, I like Monet more so for a girl over a boy (it is #1131 on The Bump 👶 Boy 💙 📛Names list 📃) being named. 👌🏾

I really love the name 📛Monet. It's a pretty name but also a bougie name. 👃🏾💁🏾‍♀️ It really does have an 'upper class' 💭 feel to it as pointed out on Behind the Name in the comments. With how fashionable Monet is, I'm very surprised 🤨 it's not on the most Popular Baby Names list via SSA as of recent (although it is in Nameberry's Top 1000 chart 📊). 

⭐FAMOUS & 📝NOTEWORTHY 📛MONETS:

📛Monet Mazur 🎥 (actress)

📛Monet Bell 📺 (reality tv show from Married at First Sight)

📛Monet Lerner aka 📛Monet Monico 🎤/ 📺 (singer & actress)

📛Monet Tumusiime 📺 (tv show character on American Horror Story)

📛Victoria Monet 🎤 (singer)

📛Xania Monet 💻🎤 (AI singer)

📛M aka Monet St. Croix  🗯❌ (comic book character in the X-Men)

📛Monet X  ❌ (personality from RuPaul's reality show Drag Race)

📌STATS ON THE NAME 📛Monet:

https://www.mynamestats.com/First-Names/M/MO/MONET/index.html

☔📛IRN RATING OF 📛Monet: 👍 OR 💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗/10

NAME OF THE DAY: Birgundi

Color first names are always really fun and cool. 😎 Nameberry has a lot to say on colorful names: "Color names for babies have been around for a while, with Amber, Violet, and Rose the longest-standing members of the genre. Today, though, there are a 🌈rainbow of color names for both girls and boys, many of them gender-neutral names. Color names for babies range from the obvious -- Blue and Scarlett -- to the most exotic, from Azure to Zinc. The top color names for babies are mostly for girls, with Ruby, Scarlett, Hazel, and Violet all popular in the US. Unique color names for babies that strike the right tone include Amethyst, Blue, Clover, Gray, Indigo, Lavender, Lilac and Steel."

Speaking of unique color names that can also be a first name, is the deep, wine 🍷 color: 📛Burgundy. Better yet, the name 📛Birgundi. Birgundi is a real name (Birgundi Baker is an actress, singer and dancer who wears this beautiful name) — a variation of the color/place (France ) /name 📛Burgundy. 📍Louisiana and surprisingly 📍Hawaii are the states where the most Burgundys live. 

I love the name 📛Birgundi (or the original 📛Burgundy) — the 'i's' (📛Burgundi with one 'i' is another variation) in it gives it a more playful feel. 🤗 Birgundi really is a one-of-a-kind name 👌🏾 and I'm sure Baker's 📛name story 📕 is a truly rich one.

☔📛IRN RATING OF 📛Birgundi: 👍 OR 🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎/10 

📰 📛Birgundi made it onto the ☔IRN📛 🏆The Best & Worst 👎👎 📛Names of 2025 📃list!:

https://itsrainingnames.blogspot.com/2025/12/its-raining-names-best-worst-names-of.html

NAME OF THE DAY: Paris

Today is Bastille Day 🎆 in France, so I will be discussing the very French name: Paris 

Paris is the capital city of France. Paris got its name from the Gaulish tribe known as the Parisii.   

📛Paris is usually associated with being a girl's name but 📛Paris can be used for boys (actor Pierce Brosnan has a son named Paris) too. Nameberry says in 2004 it was #157 on the most popular baby  girl's name list but now it's at #484 as of 2024.   

Surprisingly, America is the country with the most babies named Paris, not France — California has the most people named Paris. Interestingly, Paris is often used as a surname 74% of the time. 

I think the name 📛Paris is pretty cool 😎 as I really like 📍place names. I like it a little more when used for a girl's name over a boy's name however. But either or, it's a stylish name that oozes well, style, oui? Yes. 👌🏾  

⭐FAMOUS & 📝NOTEWORTHY 📛Parises:

📛Paris Jackson 🎤 (singer & 💗daughter of 👑Michael Jackson)

📛Paris Hilton 🏨 (hotel heiress)

📛Paris Londono Gomez (💗daughter of 🎤singer Maluma)

📛Paris 🐴 (mythical Greek figure, the prince of Troy)

📛Paris "Paris Shadows" Vasquez  (musician)  

📌STATS ON THE NAME 📛Paris:

https://www.mynamestats.com/First-Names/P/PA/PARIS/index.html

☔📛IRN RATING OF 📛Paris: 👍 OR 💓💓💓💓💓💙💙💙/10