“Gemma Rose” 

Quite by chance, I picked out soccer star Michael Owen’s daughter, Gemma Rose, to serve as celebrity baby name of the day. It was then I noticed that yesterday’s choice also featured the middle name Rose.

A quick check of my database shows no less than five celebrity babies in 2006 alone with the name Rose as a middle name: actress Anna Gunn’s Eila Rose; soccer star John Terry’s Summer Rose; actor John Favreau’s Brighton Rose; comedian John Stewart’s Maggie Rose, and Melissa Etheridge’s Johnnie Rose.

The Social Security baby names stats show that the name Rose has been steadily declining in popularity for the past 90 years, slipping to # 333 in 2005, from # 15 in 1916. So what’s with all the roses among the celebs?

Maybe the name Rose is more popular as a middle name, which is also how English footballer Michael Owen and his wife Louise Bonsall chose to use it, when they named their daughter Gemma Rose in 2003. “Gemma” means “bud, or precious stone,” according to Alfred J. Kolatch’s Dictionary of First Names. That makes it a really nice combination with Rose, especially if you favor the “bud” meaning.

And you thought Michael Owen was only good for scoring goals.

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Photo Credit: Creative Commons License, AFP PHOTO / LLUIS GENE

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Anna Gunn, who plays Martha Bullock, the shy wife of Sheriff Bullock, on HBO’s hit drama Deadwood, is a mom in real life too. Her second daughter, Eila Rose, was born September 12 in Los Angeles.

According to one source, the name Eila is Irish in origin, and is a variant of Evelyn. Hmm. Not much to chew on there.

Now Rose is another matter. We had Brighton Rose just last week, the daughter of actor Jon Favreau. And Jon Stewart’s daughter, born earlier this year, was named Maggie Rose. English soccer star John Terry recently named his daughter Summer Rose.

I think I smell a trend here (or is it a rose?). This can only be one of two things. Either it’s become de rigeur in stardom, if Dad’s name is Jon or John, to name your daughter Rose, or, more likely, it’s just getting to be a little floral in the celebrity baby name world. In 2006, we also welcomed Gerri Halliwell’s Bluebell Madonna, Renee O’Connor’s Iris, and Dave Grohl’s Violet Maye.

Now that everyone knows what’s going on, I predict a not-so-subtle shift to more exotic floral baby names. Maybe a whole new crop of celebrity babies with names like Orchid, Hyacinth, and Peony. But please, forget Sweet Pea. Just don’t go there.

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