We are only 27 days away from the start of kidding and lambing. Can you believe it? It seems like it was only a few weeks ago that we put the Buck Fifty and Lincoln in with the nanny goats and the ewes. Seems like it to me anyway; some of these nanny goats look like they are fixin’ to explode any minute now! You will definitely want to click these to enlarge them.
Before the blessed event begins we need to come up with a naming convention for the kids and the lambs born on the farm this year. Not long ago I asked ya’ll to nominate your ideas and boy did you! We had more than 90 comments, all of them with really great suggestions.
Here’s how we narrowed the field: I read through the suggestions with the staff (i.e. Patrick, Erin and Harry.) Anyone could nix an idea for any reason, no questions asked.
Now we need your vote. Everyone gets one vote for kid names and one vote for lamb names. Feel free to mix and match. I’ll leave the voting open until Sunday and then I’ll tally the votes and announce the winners.
And the nominees are:
Names of states Texas, Virginia, Maryland, etc. I LOVE this one and this might be the last year we can use it because it might be the last year we have 50 or less babies.
Names of Cities of the World: Paris, Lisbon, Seattle, Athens, etc. Another great suggestion.
Towns in Massachusetts for the kids and towns in New York for the lambs. Or vice versa.
Font names: LOVE THIS ONE!
Names of musical instruments: This one is probably Erin, Harry and my favorite because there are so many cool names. Piccolo, Trumpet, Timpani, etc.
Actors: Old movie actors for the lambs, current actors for the kids. (Bogart, Bacall, etc.)
Artists: Picasso, Van Gogh, Pollock, etc.
Composers: I like this one but I’m a tad concerned that I don’t know enough of them. (Margaret and Edwina, you’ll have to help out if this one wins!)
Characters from Annie: Okay, I know this one sounds goofy, but after reading Jenny’s nomination, we all loved it! Of course, we all love Jenny so that may have diminished our objectivity. But take a moment to look at all these great names:
Daddy Warbucks
Miss Hannigan
Mr. Bundles
Grace
Rooster
Lily St Regis (named after the hotel)
Annie
Punjab
Asp
Molly
Pepper
Tessie
Kate
Duffy
July
FDR
Eleanor Roosevelt
Bert Healy
Boylan Sisters
Drake
Mrs. Pugh
Mrs. Greer
Saunders
Frick
Frack
Crayola Crayon Colors: another great suggestion from Kate, who we also love. Kate also suggested Red Sox players, but Patrick is a Yankees fan and would rather set himself on fire.
Okay, those are your candidates. I would love to see everybody vote, even you lurkers! (I’m talking to you Dad. And Carrie. And Jordan. And Matt.) Seriously, this is democracy in action. Don’t sit on your hands and then spend the next four years hating whatever wins.
The polls are officially…open.
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There’s so many good ideas – almost too many! I guess I really like the idea of musical instruments – ‘piccolo’ is just too great a name to pass up! I also like the idea of using character names from “Annie”.
While it’s not my favorite idea, I would use the state’s names while you can. I really like the font names idea!
mmmmm .. States first, since it may be the last time you can use them, would you do east and west of the Mississippi?? Second …..really hard but leaning toward composers, – classical for the lambs – Bach, Elgar, etc, musicals/modern for the goats?? Rodgers, Hammerstein????
I think the younger generation needs font names – it’s all about computers these days, and they need to keep up! How about that for the goats. For the sheep, I like names of instruments.
I like the old Actors! That one would be awesome!
i liked the font names!!
Characters from Annie and Crayola colors!
Seems like you should use states while you can.
but i do like the mass and ny town ideas.
I think Fonts would be my first choice (have you seen the movie about Helvetica? Who knew fonts could be so interesting?), but I could also get behind musical instruments.
Fonts – that would be excellent
I and throwing my hat in for Font names. Just not Cosmic Sands.
I vote for the Annie names.
Font names!
I vote state names for lambs and Annie names for kids. (use the state names now while the number still works & keep the font names in reserve for next year b/c it is a great idea)
States!
Font names. The idea of blending a technological convention with cute-as-can-be sheep is just too charming to resist. I have to admit, however, that the Annie characters is a close second – what an unusual suggestion!! I like the Crayola crayons too, but might that get kinda confusing when describing dye lots – “We are so proud of the magenta we got from Turquoise” or even worse “Enjoy our sienna from Sienna”!
I really liked states, but then I saw fonts and changed my mind. There are so many lovely font names!
State names appeal to me, so that’s my vote. Good luck to all the mamas to be.
Fonts — because I think Palatino would make such a great name for a goat — and Annie names — so I could one day pet a sheep named Daddy Warbucks!
I lOVE the names Punjab and Daddy Warbucks from Annie. Close second would have to be fonts. THose could be for either, I think!
Crayola Crayons. Since the fleeces will be spun into thread, and thread then gets dyed into colors.
I love the font names, first, and second, artists. Better pick quickly, judging from the photos.
I really liked the suggestion of musical instruments for lambs and composers for kids (or the other way around.) But font names were a tempting, close second choice!
Those are really tough choices, but I’m going to say:
Lambs: US states (cause it may be your last chance)
Kids: World cities (to kind of match the states)
I would definitely keep font names, musical instruments, and old movie stars as choices for the next few years!
I love the Annie characters (my daughter played July in a production by our community players last Fall), but I also love the names of Massachusetts/New York towns. Naming babies is so much fun!!!
Those are some really great ideas! I love the cities of the world or old movie actors.
Those are all really good! I think you should use the names of states while you still can!
I am all for Font names too!
I like the towns in MA and NY idea.
My vote goes to musical instruments.
instruments and artists!
Love the idea of font names!
Place names in any form are a close second for me, though. The cities of the world would probably have won out if there weren’t so many cool options among font names!
I like the idea of state names. Of course, being a native of Virginia, I think that lamb needs a non-state-name companion — Santa Claus (as in, yes, Virginia, there is a…) The alternative would be to give Virginia a middle name, Creeper.
Of course, Georgia would need a middle name as well, Peach. You get the idea.
Have fun.
Names of States.
Classic film actors and actresses for my first choice, and fonts for my second. Cities of the world for my third, in case you need a tie breaker.
I’m voting for font names! Garamond for the win!
Fonts. Because it’s so unexpected, and some of the font names are really fun!
I like fonts a lot!
But since music is my business, I see lots of possibilities for the musicians and artist names too. I actually like their first OR last names for the sheep. You mentioned you wanted some ideas along these lines:
Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn (bother and sister)
Clara and Robert Schumann (husband and wife)
Johann Sebastian Bach (I think any one of these names would be so great. You could use all three for triplets!)
Anna Magdalena Bach (Bach’s second wife, a great singer)
Some Renaissance names:
Josquin (wrote lots of great vocal motets and masses)
Luca (Marenzio)
Carlo (Gesualdo)
Claudio Montiverdi
Orlando di Lasso
Giovanni Palestrina
William Byrd, English
John Dowland, English
Madrigal, Motet, Frottola, Lauda, Kyrie, Gloria, Domine, Canon, some Renassiance vocal forms I thought would be cool names too.
Some Baroque Names:
Francois Couperin
Corelli
Vivaldi
Torelli
Marini
Frescobaldi
Caccini
Carissimi
Geminiani
Rameau
Lully
Henry Purcell
George Fredrick Handel
Pachelbel
Biber
Buxtehude
Telemann
LeClair
Baroque instrumental forms: Chaconne, Sonata, Lachrymae, Pavane, Suite, Pastorale, Concerto, Allemande, Gigue, Ricecare, Fantasia, Canzona, Cantata, Magnificat, Oratorio, Passion
Classical:
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Nannerl, Mozart’s nickname for his sister Maria Anna
Leopold
Sammartini
Scarlatti
Franz Joseph Haydn
Beethoven
Maria Magdalena (Beethoven’s mom)
Antonie Brentano (Beethoven’s “immortal beloved”)
Josephine (another Beethoven love)
Giulietta (Beethoven dedicated the Moonlight Sonata to her)
Classical forms: Sinfonia, Aria, Opera, Comique, Ballade, Buffo, Oratorio
Opera Names:
Orfeo, Euridice, Poppea, Fairy Queen, Tempest, Jephtha, Lucia, Tito, Giovanni, Zauberflote, Figaro, Leporello, Donna, Elvira, Susanna, Marcellina, Sarastro, Tamino, Pamina, Queen of the Night
THIS IS WAY TOO MUCH, can you tell I am avoiding work?
But if you would like some Romantic and 20th century lists, there is more where this came from. Dunno if that is good or bad, but there is more.
Best
How to choose? I would go with the states(lambs) and cities(kids) this year and save the others for following years.
Crayola colors is my vote… the large box, of course!
Happy wishes to all…
Hands down … FONT NAMES
I would like to see old actors and font names. I would suggest that whichever will be the most character-like of the two, lambs or kids, ought to have the old actor names. You might even name them based on observed traits! Font names like Bookman and Chancery sound neat and regal/stoic/victorian, which is my reasoning for using these for the more stoic of the two (lambs or kids).
Definitely old movie stars…
Font names! Or cities of the world, I’d say.
SUSIE! I have an idea…. you did all the presidents, lets do presidential first ladies, first names and presidents first names for the males… Jackie and John, George and Barbara, Barak and Michelle, Lyndon and Ladybird… George and Martha…
State Capital Names… Albany, Sacramento,
anyway, I get a little carried away with my ideas…
I’m voting for the musical instruments! I love the sound of Piccolo! Maybe string instruments for the kids and reed instruments for the sheep?
I like the State names. would pictures be posted so I can keep track of Kentucky?
Fonts! Especially since this was around the time you got a techno-update and set up the lamb-cam. You can commemorate it with computerish names.
But then the argument of using the states names before you have more than 50 babies to name deserves consideration . . . .
I am a graphic designer so my vote goes to the font names!
FONTS! I personally can’t wait to see who gets to be name Helvetica.
#1 Musical instruments – there are a lot of great ones – strings, brass, woodwinds
second choice – cities of the world. Florence Nightingale was named after a city. I once knew a Milan, too. Cool names.
Fonts would make me think of work too much.
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