I have been asked recently how I came up with my child’s name Georgiana. My husband movie director Ryan Pickett and I shared an interest in unique baby names, cinema, and novels. We wanted a name that was meaningful to us. My husband had lost his father Olympic weightlifter George Ernie Pickett and I had lost my grandfather Italian immigrant Ignazio Biondo five years earlier. Ryan and I had planned our unique baby boy name Vincent George Ignazio Pickett after our beloved family members. When we learned we were having a girl, we had some gender disappointment and we rethought our approach to our name.
Family Inspirations
My grandmother’s maiden name Gianosa and my father-in-law’s name George served as inspirations for me. Incorporating my father-in-law’s name George meant a lot to my husband, and I wanted him to love our baby’s name. I wanted to use a name that had some inspiration from my Italian family’s names. I looked at the Gianosa family tree and I saw several people named Gia or Giana. I realized that the name Georgiana had the letters “gian” that I also saw in my grandmother’s maiden name Gianosa and in my distant relatives’ name Giana. Georgiana was a unique baby name that fulfilled my husband’s wish and my wish to have a name with a meaningful family background.
Book Inspirations
As a child I grew up reading an English set of novels The Famous Five by author Enid Blyton. My favorite childhood novels The Famous Five had a main character Georgina “George” Kirrin. I liked the name Georgina from The Famous Five. My husband helped convince me that the name Georgiana had a uniqueness that the name Georgina did not have. When I was pregnant, I downloaded a free version of the book Pride and Prejudice on my Kindle, and I loved that my daughter could have the same name as the quiet talented little sister Georgiana Darcy from Pride and Prejudice.
Movie Inspirations
My husband movie director Ryan Pickett and I met in the movie industry. Ryan and I began dating as he directed me in a six-time award winning movie Look that was visually inspired by Keira Knightley Coco Chanel ads. Our enjoyment of Keira Knightley films helped inspire our child’s unique baby name Georgiana as we realized that Keira Knightley had played English aristocrat Georgiana Cavendish in the movie The Duchess.
Reactions
My husband and I were ecstatic when the woman who tested our daughter’s hearing asked whether the name Georgiana was spelled the proper way G-E-O-R-G-I-A-N-A? I loved hearing how a person recognized my unique baby name. I liked that people who recognized the name Georgiana perhaps shared a common interest with me in some of my favorite movies and books.
