Victorian-Era Baby Names Inspired by Gemstones Are Back in Style; Here Are the Current Top 5

Last year, the most popular baby names in the U.S. were Noah, Liam and Jacob for boys, and Sophia, Emma and Olivia for girls. With traditional names making a comeback, expecting parents are taking a closer look at the Victorian-era names associated with precious stones.

At the beginning of the 20th century, it was not unusual for a one-room schoolhouse to be filled with young ladies named Pearl, Opal, Coral and Beryl. Parents believed that children named for precious stones would be anointed with luck and prosperity.

Now, more than 100 years later, five gem-inspired names are ranked in the Social Security Administration’s official list of the Top 1000 Baby Names.

Here’s a countdown of the top five, along with their symbolic meaning and comparative rankings from five years earlier…

5. Diamond. Famous for its strength, clarity and brilliance, diamond is the hardest substance known to man and the birthstone for the month of April. As a girl’s name, Diamond ranked #712 in 2013, down from #446 in 2008.

4. Pearl. Said to symbolize the purity, generosity, integrity and loyalty of its wearer, Pearl was one of the top girl’s names in 1880. It slowly faded from favor over the next 100 years, but resurfaced recently. Pearl ranked #677 in 2013 and did not make the Top 1000 chart in 2008. Maya Rudolph named her daughter Pearl Minnie Anderson in 2005.

3. Amber. This beautiful deep yellow gemstone is made from fossilized tree resin. It was also a marginally popular girl’s name in the late 1800s (ranking between 800 and 1000). Then, it zoomed to the very top of the list in 1980 and has fallen off only a bit over the past 34 years. Amber ranked #288 in 2013, down from #165 five years earlier. Johnny Depp's fiancée is Amber Heard.

2. Jade. This deep green gemstone, which is revered in the Orient for its mystical and healing properties, arrived on the U.S. top names chart in 1980 and has been in the Top 200 since 1992. In 2013, it ranked #126, up slightly from #130 in 2008. Jada, a slight variation of the name, was also highly ranked at #248. TV chef Giada De Laurentiis named her daughter Jade in 2008. Giada is the Italian word for Jade.

And our top-rated gem name is…

1. Ruby. Fiery and captivating, the rich red ruby is known as the stone of nobility and is considered a symbol of passion and power. For the past 134 years, the name Ruby has never placed lower than #400. It was near the top of the list in 1910, reached its low point in 1980 and has been making a rapid ascent ever since. Rated #93 in 2013, Ruby moved up 20 places over the past five years. Toby Maguire named his daughter Ruby in 2006 and today it stands as the most popular gemstone-inspired name.

In addition to the top five gemstone names, here are some unranked names for your consideration: Amethyst, Beryl, Garnet, Emerald, Coral, Sapphire, Opal, Peridot, Onyx and Topaz.

Gem photos: Ruby, jade, pearl and diamond by Stuller.com.
Gem photo: Amber (unattributed)

Nine-Year-Old Girl Finds Real Diamond Wedding Band in a Snack Bag of Goldfish Crackers

When a kid pulls open a snack bag of Pepperidge Farm’s Goldfish crackers, all she expects to find are delicious cheese-flavored morsels in the shape of smiling tiny fish.

Unlike Cracker Jacks, which has distributed more than 23 billion prizes — including rings — over the past 101 years, Pepperidge Farm's Goldfish brand had never given away a single ring over its 52-year history.

All that changed last week when a nine-year-old in South Carolina discovered a real diamond wedding band swimming with the fish crackers.

"I opened up [the bag] and I asked my mom, 'Is there supposed to be a ring in here?'" adorable Peyton Postol of Boiling Springs, S.C., told CBS affiliate WSPA.

"I took one look and then I took a double take. Sure enough it was a real ring," Peyton’s mom, Stephanie, told ABC 4 Utah.

Both surprised and outraged, Stephanie Postol wondered how a ring could have gotten into her daughter’s snack. It was presumed that a worker at a plant in Colorado or Utah, where Goldfish crackers are manufactured, may have lost the jewelry.

A spokesperson for Pepperidge Farm said the company is taking this incident very seriously. “We have in place a number of processes to avoid something like this from happening," Anna Burr told ABC 4 Utah.

Pepperidge Farm has asked the Postols to return the ring and the pack of Goldfish in which it was found so the company might determine how the jewelry got through its quality-control system, which includes a sensitive metal detector.

A tour of the Pepperidge Farm plant in Utah would reveal a mammoth operation that produces 3,000 Goldfish every second and more than 60 million pounds of the product each year. Line workers wear hairnets and gloves — and are prohibited from wearing jewelry — so it’s hard to figure how a ring could have slipped into the packaging.

Goldfish is the third-most-popular cracker brand in the U.S., just behind Nabisco Ritz crackers and Sunshine Cheez-It crackers. In 2012, Goldfish boasted $423.4 million in sales.

Music Friday: Frank Sinatra and His Pals Sing About a Ruby and ‘Lifting Platinum Falderal’ in ‘Guys and Dolls’

For today’s Music Friday feature, we join Frank Sinatra, Stubby Kaye and Johnny Silver as they stroll the streets of 1940s New York City singing the title song to Guys and Dolls. In this comical tune about how guys in love often do things they wouldn’t ordinarily do, ruby and platinum make their big screen debut.

Based on the unsavory activities of petty criminals and professional gamblers, Guys and Dolls, which was a hit Broadway play in 1950 and an equally successful movie in 1955, seems to be written in a language all its own.

For instance, take this verse written by Frank Loesser: “When you meet a mug / Lately out of the jug / And he's still liftin' platinum falderal / Call it hell / Call it heaven / It's a probable twelve to seven / That the guy's only doin' it for some doll.”

A loose non-poetic translation would be, “When you meet an ugly guy who's been recently let out of jail, and he still finds it necessary to shoplift platinum trinkets, you can agree or disagree with what he's doing, but it's a good bet that he’s doing it to impress a woman.”

The ruby line in the spoken introduction to the song needs no translation: “What's in The Daily News? / I'll tell ya what's in The Daily News. / A story about a guy / Who bought his wife a small ruby / With what otherwise woulda been his union dues. / That's what's in the Daily News.”

The Broadway premiere of Guys and Dolls was in 1950. It ran for 1,200 performances and won a Tony Award in 1951 for Best Musical. The film adaption by Samual Goldwyn Productions cost a then-unheard-of $5.5 million and starred Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons, Sinatra and Vivian Blaine. It ended up grossing $20 million at the box office.

We welcome you to enjoy the video of Sinatra (as Nathan Detroit), Kaye (as Nicely-Nicely Johnson) and Johnny Silver (as Benny Southstreet) performing the classic “Guys and Dolls.” The lyrics are below is you’d like to sing along.

“Guys and Dolls”
Music and lyrics by Frank Loesser

(spoken intro)...

What's playin' at The Roxy?
I'll tell ya what's playin' at The Roxy.
A picture about a Minnesota man
So in love with a Mississippi girl
That he sacrifices everything
And moves all the way to Biloxi.
That's what's playin' at The Roxy.

What's in the Daily News?
I'll tell ya what's in the Daily News.
A story about a guy
Who bought his wife a small ruby
With what otherwise woulda been his union dues.
That's what's in the Daily News.

What's happenin' all over?
I'll tell ya what's happenin' all over.
Guy sittin' home by a television set
Who once used to be something of a rover.
That's what's happenin' all over.

Love is the thing that has licked 'em.
And it looks like I'm just another victim.

(song begins)...

When you see a guy
Reach for stars in the sky
You can bet that he's doin' it for some doll

When you spot a John
Waitin' out in the rain
Chances are he's insane
As only a John
Can be for a Jane

When you meet a gent
Payin' all kinds of rent
For a flat that could flatten the Taj Mahal

Call it sad
Call it funny
But it's better than even money
That the guy's only doin' it for some doll

When you see a Joe
Savin' half of his dough
You can bet there'll be mink in it for some doll

When a bum buys wine
Like a bum can't afford
It's a cinch that the bum
Is under the thumb
Of some little broad

When you meet a mug
Lately out of the jug
And he's still liftin' platinum falderol

Call it hell
Call it heaven
It's a probable twelve to seven
That the guy's only doin' it for some doll

When you see a sport
And his cash has run short
You can bet that he's bankin' it with some doll

When a guy wears tails
With the front gleaming white
Who do you think
He's tickling pink
On Saturday night?

When a lazy slob
Gets a good steady job
And he smells of Vitalis and Barbasol

Call it dumb
Call it clever
But you can get odds forever
That the guy's only doin' it for some doll

Some doll
Some doll
The guy's only doin' it for some doll!

Dubai Dentist Gives New Meaning to the Term 'Brilliant Smile,' Introduces Diamond-and-Gold Dentures Worth $152,700

A Dubai dentist has given new meaning to the term “brilliant smile” with his custom-made dentures crafted from 10 grams of pure 24-karat gold and encrusted with 160 round diamonds weighing 2.5 carats.

With a price tag of $152,700, the dazzling dentures are being touted as “the world’s most expensive smile” by celebrity dentist Dr. Majd Naji of Liberty Dental Clinic.

Dr. Naji, whose clients include movers and shakers from the worlds of music, film and politics, is confident that his claim will be affirmed by the Guinness Book of World Records. The doctor has provided Guinness with authenticity and clarity certification from the World Diamond Institute in Belgium.

The doctor said his inspiration for creating the gold-and-diamond dentures was a 2013 United Nations Happiness Report that ranked the UAE first among the Arab countries, and 14th in the world out of the 156 nations surveyed.

"I then thought of designing this beautiful piece and enhancing the smile of not just the owner but also a charity,” said Dr. Naji, who plans to contribute AED100,000 (approximately $27,000) from each sale to a Dubai Autism Centre.

The doctor clarified that the blinged-out dentures are not intended for daily use and shouldn’t be worn while eating. The can be fitted in two appointments and no teeth-drilling is required.

He told the press that his firm is already processing its first two orders — one from a member of the UAE royal family the other from a affluent client in Qatari.

Photos: Liberty Dental Clinic Of Dubai

Sky-Diving Enthusiast Fumbles Ring During Marriage Proposal at 12,500 Feet… But All Is Not Lost

Californians Brandon Strohbehn and Nicole Nepomuceno share a passion for skydiving, so when it came time for the Orange County firefighter to pop the question to his girlfriend of 18 months he knew it had to happen while free-falling from 12,500 feet.

The couple was just a few seconds into a tandem jump over San Diego on May 18 when Stohbehn pulled out a ring box — open so the engagement ring was in view — and told Nepomuceno how he loved her more than anything. But, then Stohbehn fumbled the box. A now-viral video of the proposal shows the shocked girlfriend’s reaction as the box plummets to earth.

What seemed to be a heart-wrenching catastrophe was actually a clever prank. The lost ring was a $9 prop and the actual ring was waiting for the couple, along with friends and family, when they landed. Now on solid ground, Strohbehn got down on one knee and continued the proposal, which Nepomuceno enthusiastically accepted.

The real engagement ring, which the bride-to-be displayed proudly on Facebook, features a round diamond solitaire and a diamond-encrusted band fabricated in white metal.

When asked about the airborne prank, Nepomuceno told 10news.com, "Every single time I glanced at it, I was like, 'How is that strapped to him?' I was shocked to see it drop, and then he was ignoring me." That’s when she knew something was amiss.

"I couldn't stop smiling,” Strohbehn added. “I was like, that was so awesome. It went perfect."

On Facebook, Nepomuceno wrote, “Brandon Strohbehn, I love you more than everything. Your proposal was beyond perfection and everything about that day is an awesome portrayal of the weirdos that we are - Who proposes with a fake ring and drops it?!...”

She continued: “It's… definitely a day that will remain close to my heart as one of the best days of my life.”

Strohbehn and Nepomuceno, who have logged 224 jumps between them, are planning to marry in July 2015. Will they be taking their wedding vows at 12,500 feet? We wouldn’t bet against it.

Check out the viral video of the high-flying proposal below...