NAME OF THE DAY: Adonis

My ⬅previous piece was on the name 📛Drake and Aubrey🎙Drake Graham — so what better time to present the next 📛Name Of The Day📅 as: 📛Adonis — the adorable name of his 👨‍👦son!

Adorable, however may not be the right word 🤔... to describe the name of a literal Greek god, Adonis, the god of beauty and desire in Greek 📖mythology. Greek Gods & Goddesses says on Adonis, "When most people hear the name Adonis, they imagine masculine beauty and the desire of women. Even today, the name is synonymous with physical perfection in men." 

PerfectName.us discloses, "Adonis has been popular throughout history, appearing in various forms across different cultures. In the Middle East, for example, it is used as both a given name and a surname. It has also gained popularity in other parts of the world, particularly in Europe and North America, where it is often associated with its Greek origins."

Behind The Name goes into depth on Adonis' backstory: "From Phoenician 𐤀𐤃𐤍 (ʾadon) meaning "lord, master". In Greek myth Adonis was a handsome young shepherd killed while hunting a wild boar. The anemone flower is said to have sprung from his blood. Because he was loved by Aphrodite, Zeus allowed him to be restored to life for part of each year. The Greeks borrowed this character from Semitic traditions, originally Sumerian (see Dumuzi)."

📛Nameberry🍒 describes 📛Adonis as a "high-pressure name often synonymous with masculine beauty." 📛NB🍒 goes on to say, "Nonetheless, many mythological names that would have previously been deemed off limits have made their way up the popularity charts—for instance, Penelope currently ranks highly for girls. And indeed, Adonis was one of the fastest-rising boys' names of 2016, moving up 307 spots on the U.S. popularity chart in just one year." Adonis is currently 📈high at #241 on US Top 1000.📊

📍California and 📍District of Columbia are where the most boys and men named Adonis live. 

I know of one 📛Adonis 🤗 in my own life —  through a childhood acquaintance from my 🗽NYC neighborhood  growing up. In ⏪2023 I ran into her after finding out from her father a year earlier she had a 👶son named Adonis. When we were catching up, I 🎉congratulated her and I remarked I loved her son's name 👍🏾👍🏾 and made sure to mention how it was 🎙Drake's son's name too. 😎 She thanked me with a smile 🙂 but didn't share if she named her son Adonis because she was a Drake fan. I think it's really something I know an Adonis only because it was one of my favorite names in either middle or high 🏫school (the myth of Adonis stuck out to me when learning about the god in class... I think...🤔 because that's the only way I would have come across the name) 💯%. I had it stored for the name of my future son (as an adult❗😅). I remember telling my old best friend how much I liked the name as a future baby name and she laughed asking incredulously, "Adonis?!" She thought it was "too much" basically. 🙄 As an adult I eventually outgrew that name as a choice for a hypothetical son's name of mine 😭 but I still liked the name... only in secret kind of. 🤐 I still really love 🥰 the name 📛Adonis today. 🤷🏾‍♀️ 

Is 📛Adonis an arrogant 😏 name to give or have? ✋🏾Yes. No.⛔ 😔Maybe so... It definitely takes a parent guts 👌🏾 to give a name loaded with the pressure to be flawless, to a little 💙boy (it's like naming a 💗girl 📛Pretty) and to wear the name with confidence (yet humbly hopefully too), as a man. 😰 As for Drake choosing 📛Adonis — it's the perfect name (📛Romeo💘 I'd go with as a 🥈runner up, followed by 📛Beau🪞) for the son of Drake.

⭐FAMOUS & 📝NOTEWORTHY 📛ADONISES:

📛Adonis Georgiadis  (Greek politician)

📛Adonis Bosso 👨🏿(model)

📛Adonis Stevenson 🥊 (pro. boxer)

📛Adonis Garcia ⚾ (former pro. baseball player)

📛William H. "Adonis " Terry ⚾ (former pro. baseball player)

📛Adonis Jordan 🏀 (former pro. basketball player)

📛Adonis Black ▶ (YouTube content creator)

📛Adonis Patrick Rose 🎶 / 🥁 (musician & drummer) 

📛Adonis Creed 🎥 (character "son of Apollo Creed" in the 🥊Rocky movies)

📛Adonis Jackson 📺(character in tv show Miami Vice)

📛Adonis (aka Danburite) 🖊🗯 (character in anime Sailor V)

📌STATS ON THE NAME 📛Adonis: 

https://www.mynamestats.com/First-Names/A/AD/ADONIS/index.html

☔📛IRN RATING OF 📛Adonis: 👍 OR 💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙/10 

NAME OF THE DAY: Ebony

To end ✊🏾Black History Month, I wanted to discuss the divisive name: 📛🖤Ebony —  and how despite how bold the name is and how controversial (being called "an ebony" because of one's skin tone 🤦🏾‍♀️ not because it's your name 😬)  it can be — it still has been a popular first name choice for Black 👶🏿 baby girls 💗 since the 1970s. ⏪

Ebony is a color 🖤 name and is described by 🌈Color Psychology🧠 as: "a dark, rich color that represents depth, elegance, and sophistication. It’s a shade that is often associated with luxury, power, and mystery. The hex code for Ebony is #555D50, and its RGB values are (85, 93, 80), symbolizing a hue that is deep and grounding."

Ebony as a word via Dictionary.com:

Ebony is also a nature name, being it is a tree 🌳: "The black ebony tree (Diospyros ebenum), native to Southeast Asia and parts of Africa, is one of the rarest and most valuable hardwood species in the world. Black ebony wood is prized for its deep, jet-black color, fine texture, and exceptional density —this wood is ideal for musical 🎹 instruments, luxury furniture, and fine carvings." 

Ebony the word is from the Egyptian word hbnj.

Nameberry🍒 points out that Ebony has "historically been particularly popular in the African-American community" and compliments Ebony as an "attractive and now underused" name. "Ebony joined the most popular girl names list in the US in the early 1970s, peaked 📈 in 1982 at #132, and dropped back below 📉 the Top 1000 in 2006. The name Ebony 📈peaked for boys 💙 at #1658 in 1982." As of current, Ebony is #960 on US ⬆Top 📊1000.  

The 📍District of Columbia and 📍New Jersey are the states where the most women named Ebony live. I knew a girl named Ebony (who was as popular as her name) in middle 🏫school [📍NYC], right around the time when 📛Ebony was regaining traction on the name charts 📈 in the 1980s. 

I like the name 📛Ebony. 👌🏾 I really love color names and 📛Ebony can be a 🖤 beautiful, powerful 💪🏿 name to have if you're an African American woman (btw, there can be / are non-Black women named Ebony 🙃 click here & click here 😮). I don't like 📛Ebony for a 💙 boy's name 😕 however (I'd recommend these cool 😎 names that are the equivalence of "black": 📛Jet, 📛Obsidian, 📛Onyx, 📛Midnight, 📛Noir or 📛Raven even). 

Variants for 📛Ebony include: 📛Eboni 📛Ebonie and 📛Ebonee. I find all of these more playful  and cuter 🥰 than the more ✔strong, ✔sleek and ✔original 📛Ebony.

⭐FAMOUS & 📝NOTEWORTHY 📛🖤EBONYS:

📛Venus 🖤Ebony Starr Williams 🎾(tennis player)

📛🖤Ebony Williams 🏀 (former WNBA basketball player) 

📛🖤Ebony Haith 👠 (former contestant on reality show America's Next Top Model) 

📛🖤Ebony Jones-Avery 📺 (former reality star on VH1's Real Chance of Love)

📛🖤Ebony Obsidian 📺 (actress)

📛🖤Ebony P. Jones 📺 (t.v. producer)

📛🖤Ebony Bones [born 🖤Ebony Thomas] 🎤 (singer)

📛🖤Ebony Riley 🎤 (singer) 

📛🖤Ebony Wilder 📺 (character on tv show Nemesis)

📌STATS ON THE NAME 📛🖤Ebony:

https://www.mynamestats.com/First-Names/E/EB/EBONY/index.html

☔📛IRN RATING OF 📛🖤Ebony: 👍 OR 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤/10

Daughter changes her controversial name: Dixie – due to bullying at school

Danielle Remp, the mother of 16 year old 📛Dixie says on her daughter's divisive name that has seemed to divide the internet, “She gets made fun of for it." In a TODAY interview with Danielle and her daughter, she shares she had been the target of taunting: “They call me things like ‘Dixie Dust,’ or ‘Dixie Normous.’” From Tennessee, Danielle said some of her daughter’s classmates have accused her of racism because of the term’s association with the Civil War-era South. 

Nameberry's extensive commentary on Dixie: "The name Dixie is of Latin origin meaning "I have spoken; tenth". A sassy, spunky, punchy kind of name, Dixie can also be considered a place name, one that has become problematic because of its association with the antebellum South. The Dixie Chicks recently dropped Dixie from their band name because of its association with slavery and white privilege. The name originated from the ten-dollar bills used in French-speaking New Orleans, which came to be called dixies, or else from the Mason-Dixon line. Dixie, which had been as high as Number 167 in the late 1930s, jumped back onto the popularity list in 2007 and has been on and off the bottom of the Top 1000, though we expect the negative associations to take it out of consideration as a baby name."

A shift manager at Burger King, Danielle is saving up the $200 to cover the legal name change for her daughter. “I said yes no questions asked,” she explains when her daughter asked to change her name. “She’s a good kid. She’s doing great in school, she doesn’t give me trouble. So if changing her name makes her feel better about herself, why would I say no?”

Danielle's message to her daughter's online haters of her original name or the name change greenlight:

The new name former Dixie goes by now is: 📛Skye. Skye says contently on her name change, “My mom was going to name me Skye when I was born, but my dad chose Dixie instead. Skye feels like me. It’s who I am, and it makes me feel happy to go by that name.”

Of course the internet has a lot to say about a parent giving a child the word Dixie as a name to begin with to allowing them to then change their name:

• “What no. Teach your child resilience . If you let her change her name what else will she want to change about herself?”
• “I’m Dixie! I got bullied but now I love my name. It’s different and you don’t hear it often. More importantly I’m named after my grandma who helped raise me.”
• "My name is Dixie and I think it’s great that you’ll support her in changing her name! growing up with the name Dixie was really embarrassing for me as a kid for 2 reasons. 1. it’s an extremely common dog name and 2, there’s lots of inappropriate jokes that can be made about the name.”

• "Everyone should get one free name change. Not just at marriage."

☝🏾 I agree 100% with the comment how everyone should be able to change their name once, without question or hiccups because: what if you hate your name or your name gets hate? Like in the above case of the girl formerly known as Dixie.

I think 🤔 Dixie would actually be a cute name (a la 📛Pixie) if not for the unpleasant history behind the name. I love her new name — Skye — it's pretty popular (#480 on the Most Popular Baby Names of 2024 for girls) and plain ol' pretty. The name 📛Skye is not the limit  —  it's really great former Dixie will soon, legally have the first name she wants, as well as the name her mother originally wanted to name her. 

☔📛IRN RATING OF 📛Dixie: 👎 OR 💗/ 10 

📰📛Dixie 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

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

TV CHARACTER NAME OF INTEREST: Pandora

"Have you ever entertained in front of a view like this?"

"Have you?"

"Sometimes I come out here and entertain myself."

"That's very naughty of you Pandora."

"Pandora's my colleague. I stole you from her. My name's Cherry." 

⬆ Flirty conversation in the tv miniseries The Girlfriend, between characters 🍒Cherry (played by Olivia Cooke) who poses as her co-worker 🎁Pandora (played by Marina Bye) and a property client. With how provocative 🍒Cherry's character is, her name should be 🎁Pandora instead! 🤦🏾‍♀️

📛🎁Pandora is a very controversial name to name a woman.🎁Pandora means: "all gifts", derived from a combination of Greek πᾶν (pan) meaning "all" and δῶρον (doron) meaning "gift". In Greek mythology Pandora was the first mortal woman. Zeus gave her a jar containing all of the troubles and ills that mankind now knows, and told her not to open it. Unfortunately her curiosity got the best of her and she opened it, unleashing the evil spirits into the world." 🎁Pandora's alternate name is: 📛Anesidora meaning, "she who sends up gifts."

Nameberry says on 🎁Pandora being used in modern times for baby girls: "🎁Pandora is riding the wave of mythological names used for babies after centuries of being confined to legend." 34 baby girls were named 🎁Pandora last year.  

I'm surprised 😮 there's even women today named 🎁Pandora with the not-so-great mythology behind her name. I genuinely wonder 🤔 how parents made the bold decision to name their daughter after a woman who brought evil into the world, according to Greek mythology... 😖

Now beyond the history of 🎁Pandora's name, it's a really nice name I admit. 🤷🏾‍♀️ 📛🎁Pandora is a name like the Bible's 📛Eve 📛Delilah or 📛Jezebel – pretty but problematic because of the unladylike history behind the names unfortunately. 

I personally wouldn't want to have the name 🎁Pandora or would I ever think of naming a daughter it but I can see why some parents would give their daughter such a debatable name – perhaps in hopes their daughter is different, better than the whispers behind the name... I would hope. 

⭐FAMOUS & 📝NOTEWORTHY 📛🎁PANDORAS:

📛🎁Pandora Vanderpump 📺 (reality star)

📛🎁Pandora Skyes 📰 (journalist)

📛🎁Pandora Lennard 🧵 (fashion designer)

📛🎁Pandora Boxx 🎁 👑📺(personality from RuPaul's reality show Drag Race)

📛🎁Pandora 🧛‍♀️(main character in Anne Rice's book Pandora)

📛🎁Pandora Braithwaite 📕 (character in the Adrian Mole book series by Sue Townsend)

📛🎁Pandora Moon 🌙📺 (character on tv show Skins)

📛🎁Pandora 🎥 (character in the movie Baby Boy)

📌STATS ON THE NAME 📛🎁Pandora:

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

☔📛IRN RATING OF 📛🎁Pandora: 👍/👎 OR /10

📰📛Pandora 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: JESUS

Happy Easter! What better name to talk about today? The name: 📛Jesus of course!      

Jesus is synonymous with the meaning of ✝ savior for those of Christian faith. Jesus is the Greek form of 📛Joshua meaning, 'the Lord saves.' In Hebrew, Jesus' name is 📛Yeshua meaning 'the Lord is salvation.' 

I don't remember if I met anyone named Jesus. I think I would have with that name. I do remember my elementary school principal's last name was 📛De Jesus. 

I am not a big fan of naming babies the name Jesus. It's such a special name and to know over 250k baby boys are named Jesus in the United States alone is shocking. It makes me go hmmm... at the intentions behind naming a son that, how pure were they? Plus, there are too many expectations to uphold bearing such a truly great name. 

The unvirtuous name 👿Lucifer on the flip side of things, is banned (not worldwide however 🤔). I think the name Jesus should have went that route as well. 

📑What to know about US name bans: Can you name your baby Jesus Christ? 

📌An intriguing read: Why (almost) nobody is called Jesus - except in Spanish speaking countries

📌An informative video: How We Got The Spelling and Pronunciation of Jesus In English 

📌For more Biblical knowledge on the name Jesus click here  

⭐FAMOUS & 📝NOTEWORTHY 📛JESUSES:

📛Jesus Christ ✝️🎵⭐ (main character in musical Jesus Christ Superstar) 

📛Jesus Luz 👨‍🦱 (model who once dated 🎤singer Madonna)

📛Jesus del Pozo 🍶💨👃 (perfumer)

📛Jesus E. Martinez 🗣 (voice actor)

📛Jesus Enrique Rosas 🙍🙎🤷🕵👀 (body language expert)

📛Jesus Malverde 😇💰🫂 (Mexican folk hero aka "Angel of the Poor")

📛Chrisean Jesus Malone Jr. 💙 (son of 📺reality ⭐star & 🥊boxer Chrisean 'Rock' Malone) 

♀️Female Version of 📛JESUS:

📛JESUSA 

💭I've just become aware a feminine version of Jesus' name exists. I don't dislike it but I prefer the masculine version. 🤷🏾‍♀️

📌STATS ON THE NAME 📛JESUS:

https://www.mynamestats.com/First-Names/J/JE/JESUS/index.html

☔📛IRN RATING OF 📛JESUS: 👍 OR 💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙/10