My husband and I walk to the same park nearly every day. I like to call it Marly Park, but for some reason no one else seems to call it that. (Sounds like a personal problem to me.)
Isn’t it beautiful? It has a walking trail that goes around the periphery. The hubby and I like to walk the two pooches on this trail. Usually twice a day! (I know, I know. Our dogs are so spoiled.)
The kids flock to the pirate ship playground. Unless you’re at the park early in the morning like I was on this day.
But do you see what I see? The writing on the path?
No, not the arrow. Although that is rather intriguing. It makes me want to look to the right to see if something is coming up next (I’m such a sucker for things like that).
Yes! This is what caught my eye…and made me run home for my camera. (OK, I didn’t technically “run”…but I walked very fast.)
Benten. I haven’t seen this name before. I looked it up on a couple of name trending sites and it hasn’t appeared on the top 1000 boy’s names, well, ever. The Baby Name Wizard did indicate that Benton was on its list, but the popularity of that name died in the 1970′s. The name Bentley shows an uptick beginning around 2007.
My daughter said she’s heard the name Benten (or Benton) in school so I’m just curious if we’re spotting a new trend. Some people like to follow fashion trends. Others follow home furnishing. I guess there’s trends for us all. I love discussing name trends. Have any of you heard this name? Inquiring minds want to know!
Hi Marly!
I’m so happy you stopped by my site because the last time I was here, I fell in love with your site and promptly lost the addy!
‘Marly Park’ looks heavenly – you are quite lucky to be able to walk there on a regular basis – and how fun is that pirate ship playground???
May 6, 2010
12:22 pm
Well, so glad we’ve reconnected! I think Marly Park has a nice sound to it! I’ll have to make it a suggestion, but there are those two people who donated the land that it’s currently named for. I love playing on that pirate plaground! Ahem. I mean, I like watching the kids playing on that playground.
May 6, 2010
9:32 pm
Although my husband and I are years away from having children (I hope at least!) We are always on the hunt for creative baby names…we love the name Della Rose, for a girl, but boys have been a bit harder. I love the name Benton though, and this was the first I’ve heard of it. What a beautiful walk you had in the park, I love your pictures, everything looks so green and lush!
I made some tropical vegan cupcakes/muffins, and I thought of you. I’ll be posting the recipe soon. I hope you like it. Thank you again for sharing! I only wish we lived closer so that we could meet and share in person!
May 6, 2010
12:44 pm
Monet
You are too sweet! The name Della Rose is beautiful! I think names are like a gift and that certainly would be a great gift for your child. I can’t wait to see the recipe for those tropical muffins on your site. I just made some flax seed muffins today. Trust me, they won’t be making it on my site any time soon. I’m going to have to work on this recipe a bit before it’s ready. Maybe one of these days one of us will be in the other’s neighborhood. It would be wonderful to talk in person. I envision a lovely little coffee shop with delicious baked goodies (some vegan) where we have plenty of time to chat about our favorite recipes and share blogging secrets. Ahh. Sounds so nice!
May 6, 2010
9:36 pm
Hey Marly,
I’ve heard of the name ‘Benten’ and also ‘Benton’. I actually like both of those names for a boy. I don’t know about Bentley though. That could be misconstrued as having a baby and being like ‘this baby boy is the Bentley (super expensive automobile) of all baby boys. Hmmm, nose in the air to all of you’ (smile). Not that there is anything inherently wrong with the name ‘Bentley’ though-pretty I suppose.
By the way, I think it’s cute that you call the park by your name-can’t imagine that it is a personal issue. And, even if it is, a minor one for sure (smile)!
May 6, 2010
2:27 pm
I agree – Bentley is a tad on the pretentious side.
I’m so relieved to know that naming a park after yourself is not a major issue. I was beginning to get worried! I think I’m more attached to this park then our own home. Did I just say that? Well, it is a great park.
May 6, 2010
9:40 pm
I have always enjoyed watching name trends (though I haven’t followed them). In the early 1990s Jordan was a popular boy name and then a decade later, it seemed like all the girls were getting that name. I have heard of Benton, but not Benten. Parents so often want to tweak the spelling of names to make them seem more original. I saw my name spelled “Krystyn” last week. That was a new one for me. My kids all have traditional names. I guess I will never be a trend setter myself.
I thought of you when I set up my post for tomorrow. Stop on Friday and tell me how you would tweak the recipe to fit a Vegan diet. I think it wouldn’t be too hard, but I’d love to know what you would do.
May 6, 2010
4:06 pm
I think the trend toward more creative spelling is here to stay. I also think there is a trend toward more gender neutral names. That’s why we see names like Devin or Devyn and Ryan now for both boys and girls. I think that’s something that’s gone on for quite awhile. The name Stacy used to be in the male domain but has moved over to being solely female today.
Did you say you have a new recipe being posted tomorrow? I can’t wait to see it!
May 6, 2010
9:45 pm
Nope, never heard of it! I like it! It’s different.
May 6, 2010
7:04 pm
I’m glad I’m not the only one! We’ll have to keep our eye out on this one to see if it grows…
May 6, 2010
9:50 pm
Yeah… Can’t say I’ve ever heard that name before. I love hearing new names. Of course, some, make me thing “oh! You poor thing being named that!”. I met a girl called “browning” once… That’s certainly unique! At the same time, I also met a girl called Jenica. Which, I think is a beautiful name. Have you heard those before?
May 10, 2010
8:52 am
There are a lot of interesting girls names that begin with J – Jordan, Jasmine, etc. But Jenica doesn’t show up on the baby name trends list. It must be a hot new name!
Same thing for Browning. I see Brianna, Brooklyn, but no Browning. We’ll have to keep our eyes (and ears) on this one to see if it turns into a serious trend.
Thanks for sharing these trendspotting names!
May 10, 2010
9:49 am
It made me think of a tv show, which is called Ben 10 (Ben-ten), but that came later, so he can’t have been named after it.
At first I thought it was a weird name, but when you say it a few times you get used to it easily and I think it’s even starting to grow on me
June 18, 2010
2:35 am
I hadn’t heard of that show, but that is a very good point. I agree with you, Benten is one of those names that seems like you’ve heard several times before. It reminds me of the name Monet. I interviewed her for a name interview posted on this site and it didn’t dawn on me how unusual the name is until I thought about it for awhile.
June 18, 2010
6:33 am