I think Briann is pronounced like Bree-Ann (I believe it's a variant of Brianne) and it's pretty name. Maddie's nice, too, but I'd also prefer Madeline or something. Still, a good, normal name.

I always tell her that if she ever meets Bruce Willis she should use it as an in.

I wish Briann were spelled Brianne. Otherwise, I hope this is the last we hear of the child and she has a normal life without her crazy stage-grandmother trying to get her to be a popstar.

Briann does need that "e". Otherwise, it just looks with Brian with an extra "n".

My grandfather's name was Addison. It's really weird to hear someone call out my Poppy's name see a two-year old girl answer to it.

Ditto on the Briann spelling.

Well I know there is the Southern tradition (among some very old families) of giving girls family surnames for first names. My Mother knew this woman who came from a family of FFV (first families of Virginia) and her first name was Hyde.
Yeah. Hyde. And I recall a girl from Texas who was named Crockett.

Yes, we'll screw you up but good in the south. And parents try to "feminize" names by putting "Mary" or "Anna" in front, but then there are a dozen girls running around with double names all starting with Mary, and so they all drop the Mary part and THAT is how my friend ended up being named.... Hamilton.

So, now when I see a boy named Hamilton, I think that it looks strange.

On topic: I dislike nicknames as names, so I wish she'd gone with Madeline or Madison even, and Briann needs an e, but she didn't use any punctuation so I guess it's better than I expected.

I agree that the middle name would be better with a final e. I thought the middle name was Brian. And I have a sister named Brianne!

Since I saw a news story a couple of weeks ago about a young woman in my area named "Madeysen," I'll give Jamie Lynn a pass on "Maddie." I hate using nicknames as names less than I hate kre8iv spelling.

I think the most recent crop of Addisons were inspired by Kate Walsh's character on "Grey's Anatomy"/"Private Practice." They had a couple of weeks' of First Communions at my church this past spring. Although there were about 15 kids at each Mass, I could count the number of kids with "traditional" names on one hand. I think there were two McKenzies at one Mass.

That is my pet hate when it comes to names. I always think the "creative" spelling just makes it look like the parents must have had some sort of head injury instead of looking unique or eclectic.

I was expecting her to name the baby something like Kyliee or Neveah,* so Maddie is a bit of a relief to me. I would have preferred a full first name, but hey, it could be worse.



*If you're not sure why that name would be a poor choice, read it backwards.

No Doubt guitarist Tom Dumont and his wife Mieke had their second son on Wednesday, named Rio Atticus Dumont...making the kid's initials R.A.D. That? Is made of awesome.

That is my kind of weird. Unfortunately, the name Rio is giving me Jem flashbacks.

While I feel like it's a girl's name. But maybe I listen to too much Duran Duran. Atticus, on the other hand, is pure awesome. I always knew Tom was secretly the coolest one in the band.