I’m not exactly sure why baby naming is headline news here in Utah.  Maybe because we have more babies to name…  but whenever the list of top baby names of the year comes out… we pour over the list looking for the names of our own kids and grandkids… first to see if they made the list… and second check whether our offspring were given a name that’s unique enough.

It’s a cutthroat business… and here’s a perfect example.  A family member of mine had selected a name for her first baby.  There was no baby.  Just a name and a gleam in her eye.  But if she was ever bestowed with a baby girl… she landed on the name "Kiara with a “K.”  She told everybody the good news.  There’s a name!

For whenever a baby might show up.  Itd’s Kiara.

You know?  The next week… one of her friends got a new dog and named it Kiara.

That’s ice cold.

But in the cutthroat game of baby naming… no harm no foul… because the dog was Kiarra with 2 “r’s.”

Their friendship continues.  And years later when a baby did come… they named it Ava.  Which is usually in the top 20… but this year… boys and girls… there was only one new name added to the top 10 lists...  it’s Luna.  A name that laid dormant for 82 years…  til Harry Potter featured a rather looney girl named “Luna Lovegood.”   Which sounds like it belongs to one of those websites blocked by the state  - but the name really took off when model Chrissy Teigan named her baby Luna in 2016and now the name’s in the top 10.

And it’s also one of the most popular names… for dogs.