The baby name business has gotten a bit out of hand. While we love unique names, sometimes names like Toaster or Tree just don’t have the same ring as, say, Leila or Patrick. But we totally get the desire to have a name that differs from the mainstream. After all, our names are Olivia Taylor and Jasmine Williams…which are very popular.
People are literally paying Baby Name Consultants, like TikToker Colleen, to generate a list of top names for their little bundle of joy.
This concept isn’t all that new, but the idea of paying thousands of dollars for a list of names certainly is. The Wall Street Journal reported on the rise of baby name consultants and “the art of ‘branding’ your newborn” in 2007. With the boom in baby naming books circa early 2000s and the rise in funky celeb baby names like Apple Martin and Shiloh Jolie-Pitt (and today’s celeb baby names like Moxie CrimeFighter Jillette, Pilot Inspektor and Exa Dark Sideræl), baby-naming has become a source of stress and incredible importance. So stressful, in fact, that a few thousand dollars doesn’t look so bad.
Don't worry though – we definitely won’t charge you $10k for your baby’s unique name. Instead, here are 16 baby names that are cute and unique, and might be the perfect fit for your little one.
Photo by Daniel Thomas / Unsplash
Image via kaushal mishra/Unsplash
Photo by luis arias / Unsplash
We know this process can be stressful, but don’t worry. As a new parent, you have so many other things taking up space in your mind, and this shouldn’t be one of them. Whatever baby name you go with, we’re sure it will be amazing.
Got any other unique baby name ideas? Share them with us in the comments!
We've got all your baby needs at Brit + Co.
This post has been updated.
Lead image via Kelly Sikkema / Unsplash
Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie created reality TV gold when The Simple Life debuted in 2003. Their antics were outlandish, but we couldn't help repeating their iconic phrases like "That's hot" or "Sanasa" during random moments in our own lives.
It's no secret the two didn't really act that way, but their 'characters' left a huge mark on a generation of millennials. "I knew what I was doing but the whole world didn’t, so it was kind of frustrating to me to be perceived in that way because it’s not who I am at all," Paris told People.
Even though she may have felt judged, it seems that Paris Hilton realizes how many people actually loved The Simple Life because she and Nicole Richie are teaming up to film a reunion special that'll debut on Peacock as we speak! Here's everything we know so far!
NBCUniversal Media
Peacock first shared a video clip on Instagram that hinted something special involving Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie is coming in May. A nostalgic TV set with a black and white screen can be seen while our favorite duo's voices can be hearing saying, "Sanasa, Sanasa."
Peacock captioned the post, "New Era. Same Besties. Coming soon to Peacock," and fans could barely contain their excitement. Even celebs like Naomi Campbell and Katy Perry commented on these hot vibes.
Bravo
Then Paris Hilton took to her own Instagram to share more about what fans could expect. She said, "As some of you may know, we are doing a reunion special to celebrate 20 years of our show The Simple Life and it's been so much fun."
Actress Selma Blair shared how much she's looking forward to this by commenting that she's "living for this."
So are we!
The Simple Life/20th Century Fox
The Simple Life showed Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie as they basically traded their wealthy lifestyles for 'everyday' living. Cameras followed them from fast food jobs to dealing with getting out of sticky situations they'd supposedly never experienced. Needless to say, it was hilarious, iconic, and instant reality TV gold.
Peter Kramer/Getty Images
The Simple Life was on air from 2003 to 2007 with five successful seasons. It seemed like it wasn't going to be hit at first, but it defied expectations. By how much you ask?
According to reporting from The Cut, somewhere around 13 million viewers tuned in to watch Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie's oddball take on daily life. That's a pretty huge deal if you ask us!
Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images
Paris & Nicole: The Encore will premiere on Peacock December 12! The two were previously seen at a Sonic drive-thru yesterday so it can be assumed filming is underway (via People)!
Sporting partial Sonic uniforms, Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie added accent pieces that match their signature flairs. Paris wore a pair of reflective sunglasses, silver sequin heels, and added a pink flip phone to front of her blue apron. Nicole wore gold hoops and a pair of slingback pumps alongside her hotdog mascot costume. That's hot (dog).
Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
Paris Hilton has expressed how much she loves to be sharing the screen with Nicole Richie again. "I'm so excited to be doing this with Nicole on Peacock. Nicole has been my best friend since we're 2 years old, every memory that I have is with her," (via E! News).
Nicole also posted a few throwback moments from The Simple Life on her Instagram, but the most notable one is the video mashup of them singing "Sanasa, Sanasa" over and over. "20 years ago, not only did we become television stars… we became song writers. Happy Anniversary Sill @parishilton#TheSimpleLife#sannnasaaaaa" she wrote in the caption.
Peacock
Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie sat down with W Magazine to let the world know the Paris & Nicole: The Encore show is on its way! Not only that, but fans can expect to see an Opera version of the show they fell in love with two decades ago. Paris said, "The idea of the opera was unexpected" while Nicole chimed in with, "What people need, even though they don't know it yet, is for 'Sanasa' to be an opera.'"
The two besties came up with the idea via a series of texts that started off as ideas between them. Nicole said everything "came up organically" for the two and we can only imagine the memories this brought up for them. OG influencer Paris even talked about how The Simple Life was an "important show in pop culture history" and we couldn't agree more!
Nicole truly wants people to enjoy themselves while watching Paris & Nicole: The Encore and "find the same joy" she had while filming it. According to Paris, she feels what they have is "magic" because "there's just so much history behind it."
It's not every day that you can get to have fun with your best friend while coming up with long-lasting memories that contribute to pop culture, but Paris and Nicole have always danced to the beat of their own drums. Now we'll get to see them in action again!
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This post has been updated.
Whether you're a new or seasoned parent, it seems like finding mom-approvedorganizationtips to help keep your space tidy feels like another never-ending task that may or may not get done. Even though we'd love to keep everything clean, I'm sure other moms will tell you that clutterwins more often than we'd like to admit. To be blunt, I've even given myself permission to stop feeling guilty when my apartmentdoesn't look presentable. Still, it doesn't hurt to be able to know where things are instead of accidentally leaving my keys in the refrigerator or having to run to the pantryto find a backup diaperduring blowout moments — *blank stare.*
Luckily, moms' prayers have been answered thanks to Ria Safford's new book The Organized Home for New Parents. Not only is Ria a certified organization queen, but she's also a wife and momof three. Arguably the best thing about Ria is her willingness to be honest about *not* always having it together. "I'm messy at heart. Like, I want people to understand that being a walking hot mess and being organized aren't mutually exclusive," she said.
It's the main reason she wrote The Organized Home for New Parents — she honestly gets how hard it is to navigate motherhood while caring for little people. Since I'm getting ready for the threenager stage (send help) of being a toddler mom, here are five mom-approved tips from The Organized Home for New Parents I've started putting into practice.
Photo by The Organized Home for New Parents/Blue Star Press
Unless cleaning and organizing makes you feel absolutely giddy, chances are...you dread doing it. This isn't a call-out because I'm right there in the trenches with you. I went from loving being a part of the cleaning process to realizing my mom intended to spend half of Saturday morning doing *just* that. Although I maintained the understanding that cleaning my space is necessary, I was never thrilled about it.
However, Ria said it's important to shift the way we think about cleaning. "I think the biggest reasons my kids look forward to helping me keep different parts of our home clean is because I make things fun. We're a very competitive household, so I make up games like 'who can clean the fastest,' so it doesn't make them feel I'm taking away time they want to spend doing something else."
Photo by The Organized Home for New Parents/Blue Star Press
Raise your hand if you've ever asked yourself why you didn't remember something or uttered, "How could I be so stupid?" First, here's a virtual hand-to-heart moment because I've done the same. Second, know that being clear about your reasoning for having an organized space is necessary for you to get started. "Maybe you feel you can't function unless things are perfectly organized and experience discomfort when they aren't," Ria said.
Reading the book helped me personally identify my main goals for wanting an organized space and I realized two things:
It may look completely different for you and that's totally okay. Ria's organization tips are designed in a way that help you tailor them to your needs.
Photo by The Organized Home for New Parents/Blue Star Press
Ria and I both agreed that there are tons of books about how to prepare for your baby's arrival, but there aren't many that shed light on truly helpful organization tips in the midst of it. It can be overwhelming when you realize all of the gifts or clothes you received during your baby shower have to find a place to go in your home. On top of it all, you probably didn't even think about discussing with your partner or supportive village, or ask them to help lighten your housework's load.
"When my first daughter was born, I wanted to do everything myself," Ria said. While it's cool to have an independent nature, it can lead to feelings of burnout. The Organized Home for New Parents outlines how to have conversations with the people in your life so everyone is able to effectively work together to provide support that goes beyond feeding the baby while mom takes a nap.
"Labeling things and letting your support system know where they are so they feel adequately equipped to help is one of the things I was adamant about putting in the book," said Ria. The fact she doesn't gloss over this section in Chapter 2 is so helpful, and serves as a conversation starter for those at different stages of parenthood.
Photo by The Organized Home for New Parents/Blue Star Press
Although Ria wanted to specifically make sure new parents felt seen with her book, she wrote it in a way she hopes feels timeless. "Organization is never over. There's always going to be constant editing that occurs over time. Look, my kids are 8, 6, and 4 so I had no choice but to pivot," she said.
If you don't have small kids, The Organized Home for New Parents is still helpful because it can help you think about how you want to approach organizing in the different seasons of your life. You might not have to organize your kids' diapers anymore, but they're still going to wear other clothes that need to be folded and put away. And let's not forget the mountain of toys kids tend to accumulate over the years...*side eye*
Photo by The Organized Home for New Parents/Blue Star Press
Regardless of where you live — house, townhouse, apartment, or otherwise — you probably have a few small spaces that you haven't figured out how to organize. They could be your kitchen drawers, a corner in your living room or even the small space on the side of your toilet that's collected random Amazon boxes. Yes...I'm speaking from experience.
The Organized Home helps you reimagine those spaces so that you're able to collect your overflow in a more organized way. One of these ways is by making use of a three-tier rolling cart. Since I built one of my own over the weekend, it's helped to transform my bathroom so that other essentials are securely stored there. Surprisingly, my toddler thinks it looks "cool" and even helped me put back his Boogie Wipes that were on it.
Photo by The Organized Home for New Parents/Blue Star Press
I'll be honest — I'm pretty critical of books geared towards parents because some feel like you're having a ton of instructions thrown at you. Although The Organized Home for New Parents is filled to the brim with actionable steps you can take to get your home organized, they're easy to digest and break down step-by-step. Ria said, "The goal isn't to tackle everything at once. Do what you can a little at a time to help lessen the chance you feel overwhelmed."
Taking her advice, I chose three areas of my apartment to clean this weekend, and I was able to organize my pantry and my toddler's bathroom station without feeling discouraged. I also didn't do everything in one day. Ria's tips are helping this mom communicate better about the household things I need help with, and the areas I've gotten around to organizing feel damn good to look at and walk into.
Take it from me, The Organized Home for New Parents by Ria Safford is worth buying and isn't another pretty book that's going to collect dust on your coffee table. You'll probably bookmark and annotate sections throughout it for years to come. Plus, it makes for a great gift for other moms in your life!
Photo by The Organized Home for New Parents/Blue Star Press
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Lead image via The Organized Home for New Parents/Blue Star Press
The average calf circumference for women is 15 inches – a fact that a lot of brands making trendy tall boots completely ignore.
My calves measure 16 inches around, meaning fitting comfortably into the boots I would give an arm and leg for (ahem, the famed Frye Campus boots and these sleek Sam Edelman steppers, 14 and 15 inches, respectively) will never be a reality.
Meredith Holser
As a gal with a little more meat and muscle on her bones, this has always been a problem for me. It’s infuriating, but it feels even more isolating. I can’t always wear the same styles that smaller women do, and even if I do find similar boot designs fashioned for wide calves, they look noticeably cheap or simply don’t check all the boxes in terms of my desired look.
I grew tired of saving all the “perfect” tall boot outfit inspo pics to my Pinterest board only to find that the boots in question had way too small of calf sizes, so I did what I always do when I shop for size-specific pieces: I took to Reddit.
Meredith Holser
I primarily consulted r/femalefashionadvice, r/plussize, and r/ausfemalefashion to see what people like me are saying about wide calf boots. The frustrations with finding good-looking, comfy tall boots was pretty similar across all three subreddits. As one passionate user put it:
“Even at a size 6, I have never been able to just buy any old pair of boots and have them fit. It is interesting to me how we've made great progress the past several years in regards to body inclusivity, yet somehow there seems to be a huge lack of sizing in regards to tall boots… It makes me so sad to see these beautiful boots everyone else gets to wear, slouchy, over the knee, western inspired, leopard/snake print, etc. Nothing like that comes in wide calf.”
Luckily, Redditors across all three threads suggested a handful of brands that actually offer cute wide calf boots with extended sizing. I had never heard of a few of them, but after scrolling through their sites, it felt like I struck gold.
The top-recommended brands for wide calf boots:
Franco Sarto
You're meaning to tell me these chic boots can really accomodate my calves?! The deep red color already had me sold, but that 15.75-inch calf circumference made this style so much better. They also come in a smooth brown color and a foxy faux-snake pattern, if those speak to your personal style more.
Børn
The suede leather construction of these boots honestly rivals that of the beloved Campus boot, but their fit is much more roomy, boasting a 16.5-inch calf circumference. These zippered boots also have a playful lace-up detail on the back that's utterly unique.
Penningtons
The calf circumference on these bad boys starts at around 17 inches for shoe size 6, and tops out around 19 inches for shoe size 12. I can't get enough of these moto-style boots and I love that they have the signature harness with silver hardware around the base that other similar boots do.
DuoBoots
The fact that you can choose the calf sizing yourself when purchasing these Western-esque boots is ahh-mazing. The options start at 13 inches and go up to 20 inches to hold your beautiful legs without any fuss.
Billini
From all the wide calf boot brands suggested on the Reddit threads I scrolled through, Billini has to be my favorite. They state that these adorable camel-colored boots can fit calf sizes from about 18.11 to 21.42 inches, and while they do have an elastic panel on the sides to stretch even further, I think it's discreet enough that it doesn't distract from the overall look. Score!
DSW
A very similar style to my wishlist Sam Edelman boots, this black pair actually has a 16.5-inch calf circumference that'll fit my legs to a tee. The block heel is the perfect shape and height, plus the toe isn't overly pointed (I don't necessarily care for pointy toes).
Sam Edelman
Finding cowboy boots with wide calves can be a big challenge – but no more! These reddish-brown boots have a 16-inch calf circumference so you can confidently rock any and all Western looks.
Billini
Immediately yes. These broader-fit boots are everything you need to make a statement with your shoes. They're definitely going on my wishlist! The calf circumferences for this style start at 16 inches and go up to 19 inches based on your shoe size.
DSW
With a 18-inch calf circumference, you won't have to worry about squeezing into these tall boots. I adore the timeless squared toe and wide block heel on these!
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The Holiday movie is an absolute unicorn. Not only does it capture the Christmas magic I want to feel during ~the holiday~ season (and features an all-star cast with Jude Law, Cameron Diaz, Jack Black, and Kate Winslet), but it's also an amazing rom-comand compelling family story. Each relationship, both platonic and romantic, is compelling, and it'll make you feel just about every emotion: glee, heartbreak, yearning. And I'm convinced that, in addition to an absolutely bulletproof script from our queen Nancy Meyers, the movie's magic can be chalked up to one other thing: the fact they filmed the final scene of the movie first.
Sony Pictures
Yes, you read that right — they filmed the final scene of The Holiday before they filmed anything else! The final scene of the movie takes place at Jude Law's Graham's house in England during the characters' New Year's Eve party. The four leads, and Graham's daughters, are dancing, having fun, and celebrating the new year together. In an interview with Vulture, Miffy Englefield (who plays one of Graham's daughters) talks about how filming that party first set the stage for the rest of production.
"That’s the one scene in the film that all of the main characters are together," she says. "So it was a really, really nice starting point for us to be able to get to know each other...It was the loveliest first day I’ve ever had."
Miffy continues that since she was so young when they filmed the movie, she didn't really understand who she was working with. "My dad was really good at showing me [Jude Law, Cameron Diaz, and Kate Winslet's] work and more underground things that they’d done. He wanted me to realize they were humans and not just these actors."
Sony Pictures/YouTube
Even though Miffy didn't necessarily know Jude Law before working with him, they grew closer throughout the process of filming. When Amanda shows up to Graham's house, she learns (as do we) that he isn't divorced — he's a widower. That's why he hadn't asked Amanda over before, and why he always answers the phone when Sophie or Olivia call. They're not other women in his life, they're his daughters!
The evening Amanda spends with Graham and his daughters is one of the standout moments of the film because it shows a whole new side of Graham, but it also allows the girls (and Jude Law, TBH) to take center stage.
Sony Pictures/YouTube
While she wasn't familiar with all her costars in The Holiday, there was one actor Miffy Englefield recognized when she got to set, and that was Jack Black ("I think at that point it was when it hit me like, 'Oh goodness, this is like a thing. This is real, this is real life.'").
Even though Nancy Myers had written the role of Miles for Jack Black, he was hesitant to be in a rom-com. That is, until he realized he would get to work with Kate Winslet!
“I saw School Of Rock and thought he was the cutest guy and fell in love with him," Nancy told IndieLondon in a 2006 interview. “I assured him that I had [seen his work] and told him that I thought he was fabulous and that he’d be in a movie with Kate Winslet. He just said ‘yeah.’”
And I am literally so glad he did because Miles is my favorite part of the movie! His quirky kindness and fun personality are definitely a reason The Holiday is so successful. Another reason? The chemistry between all the actors. Thanks to the energy and community on set for the final scene — which, TBH, I'd never have known was the first scene filmed! — the rest of the movie has that same kind of giddy electricity you feel when you reunite with your best friends or host your first adult party or finally visit New York City during the holidays.
Because just like the party scene is a celebration, The Holiday is about unexpected love and finding joy despite the most heartbreaking, mundane experiences. And THAT is the true magic of Christmas, isn't it?
Did you know The Holiday's end was filmed at the beginning? What's your favorite moment of the movie? Let us know on Facebook!
This post has been updated.
