Beautiful: Bellies
Wednesday, April 4th, 2007
We’re not shy about our appreciation of pregnant women, offered on the site via our professional shots by Jennifer Pliego and my personal shots with any friend I happen to run into who’s in her third trimester. So I was thrilled to hear about the new book, Birth of a Mother, from Pascale Nadya Wowak, done on the self-publishing site Blurb. Thing is, you don’t need to see shots of pregnant women doing awesome backbends on incredible beaches and adorned by Blake and Rachel Carson quotes to appreciate what’s before you. But it doesn’t hurt. Wowak does a graceful job of pulling together inspiration from all sorts of places; you just can’t help but be moved, even if, like me, you’ll never feel what these women are feeling. A photographer’s passion + the DIY publishing site Blurb = a true labor of love. (Tip o’ the belly to Girl Gone Child. )
In other baby news: We’re having a baby naming contest. Friend of SMITH, Lori Leibovich (the good-looking one on the left), has a girl inside her and needs a name toute suite. Relevant deets: It’s a girl and she’s looking for a name that starts with N, S or F (per a deceased grandparent rule; it’s a Jewish thing, you might understand). The new chick will take her father’s surname, Kanter. Leave any notion you have in the comments here. Winner gets a first-edition SMITH baby tee and, let’s face it, one great story to tell.
Love it. Still crossing fingers that one of my baby names will make the cut. Viva Los Bellies!
I submitted: Sabine, Sabina, Simone, Sasha, Sierra, and Nova
I was gonna say Sabine! I also like Nora, Nina, Nell, and Fiona.
I say something original, like Nostrilla, or Farn.
First, thank you for the wonderful review
Now onto names!
S: Seraphine (pronounced say-rah-feen) French name for an angel
Simone
Sofia
Sadie
Saskia
Stella
N: Nadya/Nadia/Nadja (disclaimer of bias: it’s my middle name
Norah
Nina
F: Fiona (who doesn’t love fiona apple?)
GOOD LUCK!
Pascale
Ha! I was going to say, Fiona, too. Great minds…
I like “Nora” (no “h,” the poor girl shouldn’t have to win a Grammy) and also Sia (that song at the end of Six Feet Under was so good, and the one Sia I know is off-the-charts smart and beautiful … not that brains and looks matter). F is a tough one. Franny?
I’m borrwing this name from a friend, but I really like Frankie. I really like Siobhan but it probably doesn’t go so well with Kantor.
For S: Sam/Samantha, Shari (a good friend of mine’s name though she pronounces it “Sherry” and for the longest time I thought it was pronounced Sha-ree), Stella (old-fashioned I know, but still), and Sonya.
But something tells me JahFurry’s gonna win this one!
For some reason, Neela popped into my head. I haven’t watch “ER” in years, but I like the name.
Francesca
Sarah/Sara/Sarai
Best wishes to the parents!
Why not have a range of names for the first year, so you can try them out with different relatives and on different playgrounds.
Natasha, Nadia, Nell
Sativa, Sianna, Shane
Faun, Frances, Firoozeh
Enjoy your new love!
As the mother of two boys - congrats on having a girl. You’ll be thankful. Fiona was always at the top of the list. You may say too british but what the hell. Fi for short is just so cute. Or Sadie. Nina. Simone. Cheers!
I’m not a mom, but I’m saving a few names for when I do …
Simone (because I love Simonetta), Sera (pronounced Sara - but could mean “to be” or “night” and I like both possibilities and the mysterious nature of night), Sofia (because I love Sofia Loren), Selene and Salima (because these are two beautiful and nice people I encountered. One is incredibly creative and sweet and can do anything she imagines, it seems. The other is a supermodel now).
For F’s, Francesca because it’s elegant and if she turns out spunky, you have the Frankie option. Filamina because there’s the Mina option, and “mina” can mean love, precious, girl and other good things and the name sounds like it belongs to a legend, a girl with big pretty eyes and unheralded beauty from within.
N’s - I’d go with Nina. Nadia also sounds like it’d belong to a cool girl.
Fernanda (goes with her brother’s name, Carlos, no?)
Nell
Sabine/Sabina
Simona
Silvia
Saskia
Oh, and Finley.
I have one more name and I might have just made it up but, what about Naoli?
Naoli Kanter the FIRST!
Also:
Nessa
Naarah
Nadja (one of my favorite books)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nadja_(novel)
Nia
Noa
Okay, I’m done.
I guess that wasn’t “one more” name was it? I’m sorry. I just love this stuff.
I love Nia, but I think Noa sounds like Noah, and androgeny ain’t sexy when it evokes bearded biblicals. Francesca is nice, and Francie’s nice too, especially when she’s young.
And has no one said Sarina yet?
Nan belongs to a couple of great literary ladies. And I’m inexplicably drawn to Sylvie. Everything Granny is young again! Speaking of which, I just met an 87 year old man who sang a beautiful love song for his late wife Filomina. I swear if you’d been there, you’d be sold…
F
fionnuala (very irish, nuala or nula for short)
feagan
N
nory
nealy
nico
S
samanna (sam for short)
sallee (a twist on the normal spelling)
Neveah…. pronounced (nu vay uh) which is heaven spelt backwards.