Top Baby Names of 2007

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Published 06.05.2008 | Permanent Link | Comments (3)

A couple of weeks ago while at a friend's birthday party, I found myself making small talk with the screenwriter for the hit 80s movie, Splash. Bruce Jay Friedman had no idea (seriously) that the name Madison had risen to be one of the most popular girl's names of the 90s and this century, having been in the top ten since 1997. Only now is the name falling in popularity with a current rank of five rather than *cough* number three.

As a tween, I remember watching Splash in the theater and hearing Madison for the first time. Being a New Yorker, it was extra bizarre to accept it as a name. Now, though Madison is as ubiquitous as the data suggests. And, not just literally on the streets of New York.

Looking at the social security data, Madison was not even in the top 1000 girls' names in 1984, the year the movie was released. By 1985, the name was ranked at 628, followed by a ranking of 366 the next year. In baby name terms, that kind of jump is very impressive, and according to Wikipedia, it's phenomenal. And Splash is the sole reason attributed to the name's meteoritic rise, which apparently was a very popular name amongst boys until the early 50s.

According to the Social Security Administration, here is the most recent list of popular baby names:

Top 10 Names for 2007

Female names
1- Emily
2- Isabella
3- Emma
4- Ava
5- Madison
6- Sophia
7- Olivia
8- Abigail
9- Hannah
10- Elizabeth

Male names
1- Jacob
2- Michael
3- Ethan
4- Joshua
5- Daniel
6- Christopher
7- Anthony
8- William
9- Matthew
10- Andrew

You may also like to peruse:

- Our Baby Names Database

- Our Weekly Pregnancy Calendar by Amalah

M&A in the Parenting Sector

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Published 05.22.2008 | Permanent Link | Comments (10)

Congratulations to Celebrity Baby Blog on its sale to People.com, owned by AOL Media. This is such great news for all us mom and pop entrepreneurs. I am a huge fan of Danielle Friedland, founder of CBB, who started her then fledging website four years ago while still an executive assistant at Avon, as a hobby.

But, anyone who has ever met or worked with Danielle, knows that she is a smart and principled business woman. She was a pioneer in a niche area just as the celebrity baby boom was beginning, but was able to hold on to dominance in the space (8+ million pageviews per month) despite an ever growing number of copy cat sites launching by bigger players with deep pockets. Moreover, CBB held its lead without succumbing to snark and waving of the moral judgment stick which unfortunately is the trademark of most of the celeb posts written on the blogosphere. It's great to see the good guys win.

Well done Danielle and Team CBB!

True Cleaning Confessions: what's your dirty little secret?

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Published 05.18.2008 | Permanent Link | Comments (5)

Did you get all OCD after your firstborn? I read that post-pregnancy, new moms get all germaphobic and that it's not their fault. Apparently, it's part of the typical hormonal changes that many women get, along with varying degrees of postpartum depression (PPD). Luckily both are highly treatable.

In my circle, we talk a lot about maternal depression as an issue, but not nearly enough about anxiety and OCD. Perhaps some health care professionals classify these as symptoms of depression? All I know is that I have had it all, anxiety, PPD and OCD as a new mom, as well as OCD on its own when I was a tween. I think when we see a germaphobe new mom, we poke fun rather than give her the supportive smile that she really needs.

So, when I stopped by Method Home's NYC pop-up store (it's temporary, sniff), I couldn't resist jumping into their Cleaning Confessional Booth and sharing my dirty little secret: when I had my newborn, I couldn't stop washing my hands! Oh dear, the amount of soap, paper towels, water and time I wasted. But, I guess, I just couldn't help myself. I feel much better now that my secret is out in the open.

If you need to get a dirty little secret off your chest, I suggest you stop by the Method Home store which is traveling around the country. It's in NYC's Soho neighborhood through June 7th, and then it's going to Minneapolis, MN and then Charlotte, NC.

While you're there you can pick up most of their products and they have some cool kits that they've put together-- all at terrific prices-- and packaged in a hip reusable green market tote. They also have a "Toxic Turn-In" program where they will dispose safely of your caustic household cleaners and products and in return, you get a 10% discount at the store.

But, if you're already green at home and just want to go in and shop, shop, shop use the code ALPHAMETHOD and get 10% off your purchases at the NYC Method Home Store.

Open Letter to the NBC: What are you doing to your Today Show Brand?

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Published 05.08.2008 | Permanent Link | Comments (19)

Dear NBC,

Most of the loyal readers of Alpha Mom by now have already watched (and gagged) as poor Heather B. Armstrong had to endure being questioned by Kathie Lee Gifford on the Today Show. The entire time Heather was on TV all I could think was I can't believe they are wasting Dooce's time. No less, as I live "Twittered" and "Flickred" the event I connected with the thousand other fans of hers as they watched the Today Show at 10:30am when normally they would be, um, mothering. Then, I had empathy for all of the collective lost "mommy & me" time. See, Heather is very important to us.

Now, Kathie Lee (KLG) has had a nice TV career. She hosted Live with Regis and Kathie Lee for 15 years and that is damn impressive and nothing to sneeze at. But... she gave up that job in 2000 and so much has happened since. I nearly fell off my chair when I learned that KLG is now hosting the fourth hour (!!) of the Today Show. And, not in a good way. Am I the only one who doesn't think KLG should be hosting a news talk show any longer? Do you guys actually watch your own shows? KLG admitted to "not liking computers." Out loud, in 2008.

Or, maybe I'm totally off-base, NBC, and you realize that KLG is who she is and she appeals to a certain demographic of woman that you want to reach in America at 10 am. But, why oh why, are you messing with the Today Show brand? Diluting it by 1) extending it to the fourth hour, and 2) having Kathie Lee host, does not serve you well. Instead, create another show, with another title for her.

I have never considered the Today Show to be cutting edge, but at least it's always had bright personalities like Bryant Gumbel, Katie Couric, and Matt Lauer running the place. Now, we have seen the statistics about online news stealing eyeballs from morning TV shows, but you don't combat that by throwing in the towel and bringing KLG out of retirement thus weakening the Today Show. (There's nothing Today about her or her POV. She's all about yesterday.) Instead you go after the fresh stories-- like you did on the mom blogging phenomenon-- but you put it in the hands of capable journalists. Otherwise, your whole network falls into disrepair, as evidenced by the "Paid Programming" infomercials that kicked-in on the NY-NBC affiliate at 11am once Kathie Lee waved buh-bye.

Respectfully,
Isabel Kallman
Chief, cook and bottle-washer
Alpha Mom, LLC

Just in case you haven't seen the footage...

Trademark Thy Business Name

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Published 04.28.2008 | Permanent Link | Comments (3)

Lots of news and conversation lately about trademarks and it's made me think about this company's experience and the vigilance a business-owner needs particularly in a "hot" space.

First, I read how there's "green gridlock" at the US Trademark Office with an overall 10% spike in trademark filings for green-themed marks over 2006. The most popular was for marks using "green" with 2,400 occurrences up from 1,100 occurrences in 2006, and following a 36% increase in 2006 and 23% increase in 2005. Whoa!

Apparently, "with multiple companies filing for almost-identical marks at nearly the same time ...it's not easy being green, since a trademark by definition is a distinctive term. ... Many of these me-too filings will either not merit legal protection or will be very weak trademarks," says the AdAge article.

This is exactly what my Twitter buddy, Dana owner of the trademark Mamalogues, has been dealing with. However, her trademark is already registered and approved, but that hasn't stopped the owner of a similarly named website to try and weaken her intellectual property rights.

Then, I saw that my buddies at Sk*rt are going through a legal situation over their own business name. I don't know the story, apart from what they list on their website: "under threat of lawsuit, Morris Publishing, the owner of Skirt! Magazine, is forcing us to rebrand and relaunch our website. We pledge to do this in a way that will have minimum impact on you, the users."

The message is clear folks: PROTECT THY NAME.

And do it sooner, rather than later.

Firstly seeking trademark registration is standard business procedure. As I understand it, before you launch a business or brand in commerce, Step #1 is to make sure you are legally permitted to use the name. Then, Step #2 is to protect your brand name by applying for trademark registration in the business areas where you have a bona fide plan for use. Visit the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

Trust me, before we decided to use Alpha Mom as our business name, we spent money (lots of it) researching its usage in every state in the US. We were searching to see whether the name had been registered in other areas apart from trademark. Then, once we determined it was “cleared for trademark application,” very detailed analyses and conversations with our lawyers transpired. As you can read on the USPTO website, just because a name doesn’t show up on the trademark database doesn’t mean that it is going to be allowed for use by the trademark office. Extensive research is needed.

Yes, I am over-simplifying a very detailed, laborious and (for us) expensive legal procedure. But, remember this. If you have a business name or brand name which you are or are planning to use in commerce soon, register it.

Don’t let the amount of effort or money this company invested deter you from tackling a trademark application. I bet there are tutorials available that you can access to find out how to apply for trademark use that will allow you to minimize costs. (See that nice disclaimer in the right hand column, this is NOT legal advice).