2 Aria vs. 7 Cecilia; 2 Sahara vs. 7 Soledad

Last week's results are in: Amalia beats Georgiana 8-4; Shiomi wins over Shoshanna 12-1.

This week's match-ups:  2 Aria vs. 7 Cecilia from the "Pop Culture" region, and 2 Sahara vs. 7 Soledad from the "S-Names" region.

By popular request, a pronunciation guide... Aria (Ar-ee-ah), Cecilia (Suh-sil-yah), Sahara (Sa-hair-ah), Soledad (So-lay-dahd).

Gar:  My first pick for this week is Aria.  Besides the simple, yet pleasing sound of the name, it also has 2 great meanings.  In Hebrew, Aria means "lioness" and as any well educated school child knows, it's lionesses that do the majority of the hunting, rather than the males!  In Italian, Aria refers to the solo melody song in an opera.  As a popular culture reference, Aria refers to Arya Stark, one of my favorite characters from the HBO series Game of Thrones.  Aria is also reference to a character in one of my favorite video games, Mass Effect (Aria T'Loak).  As for Sahara versus Soledad, I'll go with Soledad!  It comes from the Spanish word meaning "solitude" and is reference to the Virgin Mary, Maria de Soledad.

Shiv: I am reminded of the movie, Beaches, when I hear the name Cecilia aka CC Bloom. She was the main character who wanted to be a singer and dancer for the stars. It was a great movie about friendship and how the two characters kept in contact through snail mail. As for the S-names, I prefer Sahara because of how it rolls off the tongue, but then I am reminded of Zahara Jolie Pitt. Yes, it's the same pronunciation but different spelling. I don't know if I would like our daughter to have the same name as a Brangelina child!

Gar: Haha... you said Brangelina.  Well, the Sahara desert is a part of Africa and its geography has made it part of ancient human civilization like the Nubians, Egyptians, Phoenicians, and Greeks.  The desert can symbolize things like loneliness, but it can also be a place of austere beauty and the spirit of survival despite the difficulties of life (heard of the Desert Fathers/Mothers?) .  I think you like the name Cecilia because "CC" reminds of your secret family nickname, but Beaches... psshhhht!  Yeah, it was popular drama/comedy movie, but anybody who's seen the movie has to admit that CC was a completely selfish and vain character.  I don't want Baby Girl Chan to have those terrible traits!

Shiv: Yes, CC does have a special place in my heart because it's a family nickname for me. My maternal grandmother gave it to me. Wouldn't it be nice for Baby Girl Chan to have it too? After watching Game of Thrones with Gar, I am liking the character of Arya (Aria). She is a strong and courageous girl who is a fine swordsman. It is a tough match-up in the pop culture region.

Vote in the comments below!

Here's a link to Baby Girl Chan's Name Bracket.