The last of our Father’s Day babies is Enid Chauncey Calvey who was born at 12.38 am on Sunday September 4, weighing 3.6 kg. Her just-after-midnight arrival meant she was the first baby born on Father’s Day at Sydney Adventist Hospital.

Her dad, Lachlan Calvey, says that Enid is the first girl born on his side of the family, which makes her particularly special, although naturally she is an absolute treasure anyway. Enid’s mum is named Grai.

The hospital gave commemorative gifts of books to the dads on Father’s Day.

Enid is a Welsh name meaning “soul”. In medieval Welsh legend, Enid is the wife of Geraint, a king of Dumnonia and valiant warrior who is one of King Arthur’s men. In the romance, Geraint and Enid are happily married, but rumours spread that domestic bliss has made Geraint go soft. Enid is found weeping that she has not been a true wife to Geraint, because she has taken him away from his knightly duties.

Due to one of those silly misunderstandings so common in fiction, Geraint takes this to mean she has been unfaithful to him, and drags her off on a long and dangerous journey where she is not allowed to speak to him. Sensible Enid ignores this request, as she often has to warn him of approaching danger. Adventures follow which prove Enid’s loyalty, and Geraint’s fighting ability. Somehow this road trip from hell doesn’t put off Enid off her husband, and in the end the two lovebirds are reconciled once more.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson turned the legend into two poems for his epic Idylls of the King, which brought the name to the attention of literature-loving Victorians.

Enid was last on the Top 100 in 1930, and it’s nice to see this sweet old name in use once more.

(Story and photo from Hornsby and Upper North Shore Advocate, September 8 2011)