Yearly Archives: 2012

Happy First Birthday, Waltzing More Than Matilda!

13 Monday Feb 2012

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My blog is one year old today. If it was a baby, it would be starting to walk and talk by now … and that’s kind of how I see it, that it’s beginning to take a few hesitant steps on its own.

I discovered in the past 12 months that blogs and babies have quite a few things in common. They both go through teething problems, they both keep you up late at night, and when they go quiet, you find yourself leaning over both trying to tell if they are still breathing!

Unfortunately, there’s no $5000 bonus for having a blog, and you can’t get time off work by telling your boss that your blog is unwell and needs your attention. Well, I can’t anyway – maybe you’ll have more luck with that one.

Just like a proud mama with her baby book, I have all the statistics on my growing Matilda, kindly provided for me by WordPress.

All the Dirt

I have just over 70 000 views. I thought that seemed reasonable, and then I saw a blog started around the same time as mine that already has 2.8 million views. It has funny pictures taken from the Internet, mostly cats. Why have I not tried to appeal to these vast numbers of hilarious cat lovers? A great opportunity lost.

I received the most number of views on January 9, when Practical Parenting Magazine linked to my article, You Can’t Call It That. Thank you to Practical Parenting and its readers for their interest.

Most of my views were gained from search engines, especially Google.

The most common search term people used was flynn christopher bloom.

The most common girl’s name that people searched for was Hazel, and the most common boy’s name was Link.

The blog that sent me the most views was Appellation Mountain. Huge thanks to Abby, who is so generous when it comes to supporting other bloggers!

After posting this, I will have made 362 blog entries, so I never quite succeeded at the “Blog Entry a Day” challenge that WordPress suggested I take up when I joined.

My most popular entry is Flynn Christopher Bloom, which Wikipedia provided a link to at the bottom of their article on Miranda Kerr. More thanks are due to Wikipedia, as this was very encouraging for a novice blogger.

I have posted a ridiculous number of photos, somewhere between 400 and 500. The most popular photo that people clicked on was the one I made of Miranda Kerr and Orlando Bloom, each with baby Flynn. At this point I’m thinking that if I’d done a blog entirely devoted to the Kerr-Bloom family and their offspring, I would basically own the Internet by now.

I have 19 Categories and 244 Tags. The most popular Category is Celebrity Baby News, and the most popular Tag is celebrity baby names.

The most popular link on my Blog Roll is For Real Baby Names. Congratulations Sarah, you’ve obviously come up with a winning blog title that people can’t resist checking out!

The most popular website link is to the Baby Name Explorer from the NSW government.

The most popular news article is on rugby league star Mark Gasnier, and his 2010 marriage to Claudine Bonnechere.

I have 49 people following my blog, and as far as I can work out, have maybe another 50 or so following it in a more casual, commitment-free way.

People have left me almost a thousand comments, not including comments from myself (this is what WordPress says, but I don’t think it can be right; maybe it’s counting pingbacks).

Askismet has protected me from from more than 5 500 spam comments, which unfortunately means thousands of my views came from spammers.

My most loyal commenter is Lou at Mer de Noms, who has left well over 100 comments, meaning that more than 10% of my comments are from Lou. Thanks heaps Lou; I feel like I should give you some kind of award!

I got a surprising amount of fan mail, and hardly any hate mail at all.

My Birthday Presents to Waltzing More Than Matilda

I got her a new theme, as Pilcrow was beginnng to get on my nerves. One of the reasons I chose Chateau is because it is mobile compatible, so if you are out and about, and feeling as if you simply must read my blog for some reason, you can if you have a mobile device handy. (You could before, it just wouldn’t have looked the same).

I have got her a Twitter account. I don’t really know what to do yet, but I’m sure I’ll pick it up in time.

Many happy returns, Waltzing More Than Matilda, and may we enjoy another year of blogging together.

Celebrity Baby News: Steve Johnson and Erin Biggs

13 Monday Feb 2012

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AFL player Steve Johnson, and his partner Erin Biggs, welcomed their first child on January 20 – a son named Archie.

Steve plays for the Geelong Cats, and at the time his son was born, was named as part of the club’s leadership group.

Archie Johnson is the second celebrity baby named Archie just in the month of January; this must be a significant sign of the name’s growing popularity.

MYTH: Certain Baby Names Must Be Avoided Because They Are “Dog Names”

12 Sunday Feb 2012

Posted by in Baby Name Mythbusters

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toddler__dogBaby Name Mythbusters is a new Category I dreamed up to replace Celebrity Baby Names, which seems redundant now that we have Celebrity Baby News. I thought it would be a fun way to examine some of the myths prevalent amongst the baby naming community, and see whether they stack up.

I was in an Australian parenting forum where someone was looking for opinions on a baby name they were considering – Sailor, for a girl. One of the responses was ewww not sailor i had a dog called that. This struck me as one of the least useful or helpful things you could say in this situation – I mean I had a horse named Caroline; I don’t expect that name to be forever off limits for babies because I claimed it as a “horse name”. (I also had a dog named Judith, same deal).

It got me thinking about how often “That’s a dog’s name” comes up in discussions on baby names, and how it is designed to end all debate. That’s a dog’s name: a good parent would never give their baby a name suitable for a dog : discussion over, seems to be pretty much how it is supposed to work.

I decided to search through baby name forums to see what names were perceived as “dog names”, and then see how popular they really were for dogs, based on the popularity charts put out by a major dog tag corporation, which is the only national database for pet names that I know. Then I could compare them to the latest available data for baby name popularity.

I hit upon this method because it’s common for people to use popularity charts to decide how a name’s popularity reflects its usage for each gender. So if Matthew has continually charted for males, and never for females, it’s usually decided that makes it a “boy name”, and if there are more girl babies named Harper than boy babies, some would argue that Harper is more of a female name than a male one.

I didn’t see any reason why that method couldn’t be applied to see whether a name was more dog than human. Here is what I discovered:

NAMES THAT PEOPLE THINK ARE DOG NAMES THAT ARE MORE POPULAR FOR DOGS THAN HUMANS

  • Bailey (#36 dog, #47 human)
  • Barney (#28 dog, unranked human)
  • Bear (#21 dog, unranked human)
  • Beau (#17 dog, #71 human)
  • Billy (#30 dog, #112 human)
  • Buddy (#12 dog, unranked human)
  • Buster (#14 dog, unranked human)
  • Charlie (#7 dog name, #22 human)
  • Duke (#48 dog, unranked human)
  • Harley (#25 dog, #126 human)
  • Harry (#15 dog, #27 human)
  • Jake (#4 dog, #25 human)
  • Lucky (#23 dog, unranked human)
  • Max (#1 dog, #17 human)
  • Milo (#22 dog, unranked human)
  • Monty (#10 dog, unranked human)
  • Rex (#24 dog, #472 human)
  • Rusty (#18 dog, unranked human)
  • Sam (#2 dog, #97 human)
  • Shadow (#19 dog, unranked human)
  • Toby (#5 dog, #56 human)
  • Zeus (#50 dog, unranked human)
  • Bella (#15 dog, #41 human)
  • Belle (#41 dog, unranked human)
  • Buffy (#47 dog, unranked human)
  • Cassie (#23 dog, unranked human)
  • Cleo (#55 dog, unranked human)
  • Coco (#11, unranked human)
  • Daisy (#9 dog, #149 human)
  • Gypsy (#42 dog, unranked human)
  • Holly (#13 dog, #42 human)
  • Honey (#25 dog, unranked human)
  • Lucy (#5 dog, #21 human)
  • Maggie (#18 dog, #204 human)
  • Millie (#34 dog, #202 human)
  • Misty (#27 dog, unranked human)
  • Molly (#2 dog, #55 human)
  • Poppy (#57 dog, #68 human)
  • Sally (#7 dog, #306 human)
  • Sasha (# 6 dog, #167 human)
  • Sheba (#32, unranked human)
  • Tara (#31 dog, #153 human)
  • Tess (#8 dog, #260 human)
  • Zoe (#10 dog, #15 human)

NAMES THAT PEOPLE THINK ARE DOG NAMES THAT ARE MORE POPULAR FOR HUMANS THAN DOGS

  • Cooper (unranked dog, #7 human)
  • Jack (#3 dog, #2 human)
  • Riley (unranked dog, #20 human)
  • Annabelle (unranked dog, #38)
  • Emily (unranked dog, #8 human)
  • Maya (unranked dog, #46 human)
  • Sophie (#16 dog, #11 human)

A NAME THAT PEOPLE THINK IS A DOG NAME THAT’S EQUALLY POPULAR FOR DOGS AND HUMANS

  • Chloe (#3 dog, #3 human)

NAMES THAT PEOPLE THINK ARE DOG NAMES, BUT ARE NOT ACTUALLY COMMONLY GIVEN TO DOGS

  • Alfie
  • Andy
  • Akira
  • Bandit
  • Barclay
  • Baxter
  • Bernie
  • Bran
  • Brindley
  • Brock
  • Brody
  • Bruno
  • Buck
  • Champ
  • Chance
  • Colby
  • Cosmo
  • Dash
  • Dexter
  • Digby
  • Earl
  • Eddie
  • Elliot
  • Elvis
  • Gage
  • Gunner
  • Hunter
  • Nico
  • Otis
  • Pete
  • Prince
  • Remy
  • Rocco
  • Roscoe
  • Rufus
  • Samson
  • Shiloh
  • Sonny
  • Spike
  • Winston
  • Wyatt
  • Zane
  • Zeke
  • Ziggy
  • Abby
  • Apple
  • Bess
  • Betsy
  • Bindi
  • Bluebell
  • Dakota
  • Dixie
  • Fifi
  • Fran
  • Gigi
  • Ginger
  • Jenna
  • Josie
  • Kiki
  • Libby
  • Lola
  • Lulu
  • Luna
  • Macy
  • Maddie
  • Madison
  • Madeline
  • Maisie
  • Mia
  • Olga
  • Piper
  • Raven
  • Reba
  • Sadie
  • Sailor
  • Skipper
  • Sophia
  • Star
  • Zuzu

NAMES THAT ARE POPULAR FOR DOGS, BUT PEOPLE DON’T SEEM TO THINK OF THEM AS DOG NAMES

  • Oscar #6
  • Zac #9
  • Tyson #11
  • Ben #13
  • Jasper #26
  • Jackson #29
  • George #34
  • Casper #38
  • Angus #39
  • Jesse #40
  • Cody #42
  • Basil #45
  • Gus #47
  • Jock #49
  • Bronson #51
  • Henry #53
  • Casey #54
  • Clyde #60
  • Ralph #58
  • Bonnie #4
  • Rosie #14
  • Ruby #17
  • Penny #24
  • Gemma #28
  • Jasmine #32
  • Roxy #33
  • Kelly #38
  • Tessa #35
  • Emma #48
  • Chelsea #51
  • Ellie #52
  • Amber #53
  • Jedda #58
  • Heidi #60

From this we can see that although people were able to correctly identify some names as “dog names” that had greater popularity for dogs than humans, there were many more names that they were wrong about. Much as people might imagine that dog owners call their pets Spike and Fifi, these names did not even make the Top 60.

Even more revealingly, there were a number of names that were very popular for dogs that didn’t seem to earn them the title of “dog name”. Henry and Emma are both names commonly given to dogs, and yet I couldn’t find any examples of parents being warned off these names as “too doggy”.

You might argue that’s because these names are so popular for humans, and yet you can see from the first list that very popular baby names like Charlie and Zoe were correctly identified as names commonly given to dogs. You can also see from the second list that popular baby names like Cooper and Emily were incorrectly identified as “dog names”. Moreover, names such as Bonnie and Basil are many times more often given to dogs than humans, yet they were not perceived as dog names.

Because people seemed to do so poorly at correlating baby names perceived as “dog names” with names that were actually given to dogs, I am calling this

MYTH BUSTED

Disclaimer: Information for entertainment purposes only; results may not be scientifically accurate and further studies need to be done with better data. There is no connection between Baby Name Mythbusters and the television show “Mythbusters”, so nobody needs to sue me or anything.

Saturday Sibset: Nine Children in Nine Years

11 Saturday Feb 2012

Posted by in Sibsets in the News

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Trudy and Clint Hill live in a five-bedroom house in South Penrith, a suburb on the outskirts of western Sydney. Clint works from home inventing fitness equipment, and Trudy is kept pretty busy, because she became pregnant with their first child in 2000, and then had nine children in nine years.

Trudy says, “I just fell in love with having kids. I love that whole experience of giving birth and having a newborn baby. For me, that’s really addictive and that’s what keeps me going back and having more.”

Family life is well-organised, and the Hills claim to average seven hours sleep a night. Trudy copes with stress by hitting the gym twice a week. In fact, Clint and Trudy first met at the local gym, and soon after they began dating, planned to have a large family.

At the end of the story, Trudy says she is open to the idea of having another baby, and says she might get clucky a bit further down the track – she’s never had the opportunity to get clucky before!

The Hill Children

Jett (boy), born February 2001

Cruize (boy), born November 2001

Bronte (girl), born March 2003

Reef (boy), born June 2004

Zye (boy), born October 2005

Finn (boy), born December 2006

Bay (boy), born February 2008

Skyla (girl), born May 2009

Nox (boy), born May 2010

This is a great collection of almost typically Australian on-trend names. The Hills seem to be very attracted to short names, as seven of the nine names are one syllable, and although the girls’ names are two syllables, neither has more than six letters. There is a noticeable absence of classic names, Biblical names, elaborate names, names with a long history of usage, or frilly names for the two girls. These are names that are fresh and punchy.

Although the Hill family are practising Christians, the names aren’t Christian-oriented, except maybe Zye, which might be short for Zion. However, it could also be seen as an attempt to Anglicise the Chinese word zai, meaning “young man”, or the Greek xy, relating to “wood, forest”. Nox even has the name of a Roman god.

If there is any particular “theme” to the sibset, I would say that it is one relating to nature, and in particular the beach. I think these are Australian surfer names, and show an affinity with the encircling sea and the great outdoors.

Celebrity Baby News: Matt and Bianca Giteau

10 Friday Feb 2012

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Rugby union star Matt Giteau, and his wife Bianca, welcomed their first child on January 1, making their son Levi the very first celebrity baby of 2012!

Matt played rugby union for the ACT Brumbies, and the national men’s team, the Wallabies. Last year he signed with French club Toulon, and moved to France. Bianca (nee Franklin) is a netball player from country Western Australia who plays for the Adelaide Thunderbirds. An Indigenous Australian, she received the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission Award for West Australian Young Achiever of the Year in 2003.

Bianca and Matt met at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra, where Matt was attracted by Bianca’s athleticism and height (she’s slightly taller than him). Matt and Bianca were married on the Gold Coast in December 2010.

Both Matt and Bianca come from sporting families. Matt’s dad Ron Giteau is a former rugby league player who was captain of the Canberra Raiders, and his older sister Kristy plays both rugby codes for Australia. Bianca’s brother is Australian rules star, Lance “Buddy” Franklin. Levi Giteau has some fantastic sporting genes there.

I do apologise for the lateness of this news, as Levi’s birth in France never seems to have filtered down to the mainstream press.

Saskia and Livia: Birth Announcements from the “Canberra Times” (January)

10 Friday Feb 2012

Posted by in Birth Announcements

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Twins

Cameron Leslie and Daniel John (Jack)

 

Girls

Elbe Souad (Azim, Mae)

Indira Lee

Livia Mae

Macaela Ruby Isobelle

Phoebe Elizabeth Rose

Quinn Julie Tracy

Rory Joe Anne

Saskia Isis

Serena Ariana

Tahlia Jazmyne (Mekhai)

 

Boys

Angus Jed

Blake Darcy (Brady)

Cadel Gareth

Caleb Andrew (Eilah, Noah)

Drew Morgan (Coen)

Hudson James

Jack Brian Jeffrey (Ella)

Lachlan Kevin

Orlando Vittorino

Tate Gordon Phillip (Taylah)

Ottilia Antoinette: Birth Announcements from the Brisbane “Courier Mail” (December/January)

10 Friday Feb 2012

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Girls

Bronte Elizabeth (Zara)

Chloe Anneliese (Michaela, Jaida)

Emme Rebecca (Allara)

Jeda Kate Mabel

Lucy Nerida

Maggie Florence (Olivia, Ruby)

Ottilia Antoinette (Jacqui, Bronte, Gabi, Chelsea)

Regan Gabrielle (Peyton)

Summer Mary-Rose

Verity April

 

Boys

Ari Graham

Eli Hunter Nichol (Phoebe)

Hugo Neville

Jamie Charles Robertson

Levi Jay (Charlie)

Nate Jack James (Dax)

Nicholas Stephen (Genevieve)

Sam Cary

Seamus Geoffrey (Tiernan, Michael, Finbar)

Storm Zachary

Bodhi and Zane: Birth Announcements from Sydney’s Southern and Outer Suburbs (December/January)

10 Friday Feb 2012

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Girls

Annabelle Shea (Aiden)

Chloe Julia (Billy)

Claudia Janice

Evie Dale (Myah)

Lana Sharee

Lillian Grace “Lilly” (Liam)

Mary Alanah (Josephine)

Matilda Susan

Phoebe Jane

Violet Nancy

 

Boys

Bodhi Lennox (Jett, Mason)

Braxton Paul (Talen, River)

Dante Perry

Finn Joseph Miro (Sophia)

Jack James Joseph (Samuel)

Jordan William Peter

Noah Harley (Boadie)

Reece Vance (Blake)

Tate Taylor (Bryn, Leira)

Zane Bowman (Taj)

Top Baby Names from Regional Victoria for 2011

09 Thursday Feb 2012

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Have you ever noticed that the official name data for your state or territory doesn’t always tally with your own experiences? Perhaps overall there were more baby girls named Mia in your state than anything else, and yet in your own town, every second person seems to be calling their new baby Ava, or Scarlett. You might even pick a name much further down the rankings, such as Jett, but when you rock up to the first day of kindy, there’s four other boys named Jett in your son’s class (plus two named Jhett).

If you’re interested in name popularity, it helps to keep a weather eye on the local conditions. The easiest way to do this is to read the birth announcements in your local paper, which is where the information on these towns and regional centres came from.

GEELONG

Boys

1. Oliver (#3)

2. William (#2)

3. Charlie (#18)

4. Harry (#19)

5. Archie (#37)

6. Xavier (#13)

7. Jack (#1)

8. Noah (#5)

9. James (#7)

10. Cooper (#11) and Oscar (#20)

Girls

1. Amelia (#8)

2. Olivia (#3)

3. Mia (#1)

4. Sophie (#11)

5. Chloe (#4)

6. Ruby (#2)

7. Matilda (#16)

8. Sienna (#7)

9. Willow (#39

10. Ella (#9), Emily (#12), Evie (#24), Milla (#35) and Zoe (#15)

BALLARAT [pictured]

A lady named Ruth Matthews has been collating name data from birth notices in “The Courier” since 1964, after the birth of her first child. Trends she has noticed include a wider pool of names (107 names for boys in 1965, compared to 235 in 2011), variant spellings of popular names, and unisex names. Mrs Matthews counts similar names as one.

Boys

1. Cooper (#11)

2. Harry (#19) or Harrison (#29)

3. Jack (#1) or Jackson (#30)

4. Oliver (#3), Will (-) or William (#2)

5. Thomas (#6) or Tom (-)

6. James (#7)

7. Max (#14) or Maxwell (-), Xavier (#13)

8. Lachlan (#10)

Girls

1. Ruby (#2)

2. Charlotte (#5), Lily (#10)

3. Mia (#1)

4. Grace (#14) or Gracie (-), Lucy (#17), Maddison (#43)

5. Isabella (#6), Olivia (#3)

6. Olive (#82), Chloe (#4), Evie (#24), Matilda (#16), Sophie (#11)

7. Addison (#54), Annabelle (#50), Chelsea (#38), Ella (#9), Emily (#12), Sienna (#7)

THE SOUTH-WEST REGION

They collated their names even more vaguely, counting Ava and Eva as the same name, as well as Pippa and Piper.

Boys

1. Harry (#19)
2. Charlie (#18), Oliver (#3), Thomas/Tom/Tommy/Tommie (#6)
3. Archie (#37)
4. Cooper (#11), Harrison (#29), Lewis/Louis (#96), William/Will/Wil (#2)
5. Harvey (#66), Lachlan (#10)

Girls

1. Isabelle/Isabel/Isobel/Isabella/Bella (#26/46/-/6/88)
2. Ava/Eva (#12/27), Grace (#14)
3. Emily (#12), Madison/Maddison (#30/43), Mia (#1), Zoe (#15)
4. Amelia/Amellia/Amalia (#8), Charlotte (#5), Pippa/Piper (-/#75), Sophie (#11)

Another way to keep track of local baby names is to contact the local hospital in your area, to see if someone makes a public record of the most popular baby names.

At Bacchus Marsh and Melton Regional Hospital, just outside Melbourne, the most popular name for girls was Ruby, and the most popular name for boys was either Lachlan or Ryan. Other popular girls names were Isabelle, Lilly, Olivia, Sienna, Zoe, Amelia, Ava, Ellie, Hayley and Matilda, and for the boys, it was Cooper, Jack, Thomas and Tyler. In Bacchus Marsh, Xavier, Jaxon and Ryder are considered unusual names.

Famous Names: Ita and Cleo

08 Wednesday Feb 2012

Posted by in Famous Names

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The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts was established last year as a subsidiary of the Australian Film Institute; its job is to administer the AACTA Awards, which replace the old AFI Awards. Every news report on television seemed to feel it necessary to point out that AACTA is said just like the word actor, which I think most of us would have understood without help, seeing as they just said it aloud to us.

The Australian Academy has been deliberately set up in a similar way to the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and the awards ceremony has been moved to late January, in order to fit in with the prize-giving season in the United States, which holds the Golden Globes and the Academy Awards in January and February. The AACTA Awards ceremony has been moved to Sydney and held at the Opera House, possibly because that seems more Hollywood than Melbourne. The AACTA statuette has also been remodelled, with some commenting that it looks like a flamboyant Australian Oscar.

Amongst the prize-winners was Asher Keddie, who won the Switched on Audience Choice Award for Best Performance in a Television Drama, for her role as Ita Buttrose in the mini-series Paper Giants: The Birth of Cleo. I must confess to not voting in this contest, or even knowing it existed until too late (obviously I’m not a very switched on audience member), but I do approve of the choice, as I thought Ms Keddie did an excellent job of portraying famous editor, Ms Buttrose.

Ita Buttrose, like Barry Humphries and Father Bob, is another super septuagenarian. She was named after her maternal grandmother, Ita Clare Rodgers (nee Rosenthal). Her ambition since the age of 11 was to be a journalist, and she began working as a copy girl at 15. Ita was a force in the Australian media for many years, including as youngest editor of The Australian Woman’s Weekly, the largest magazine in Australia. She became the first woman to edit a major metropolitan newspaper, the Daily Telegraph. Always perfectly presented, cultured and refined, she is instantly recognisable for her trademark lisp. She’s been granted several awards and honours, and supports a multitude of causes, from AIDS to Alzheimer’s. Ita is also an author of many practical books; her latest is a guide to etiquette.

Ita (IE-ta) is an Anglicisation of the Irish name Íte (EE-ta). Saint Ita of Killeedy was a 6th century Irish nun who headed a community of women. One of their tasks was to run a school for small boys; among her students was Saint Brendan the Navigator. According to tradition, Ita was of royal blood and baptised Deirdre; the name Ita she chose herself from the Old Irish word ítu, “thirst”. This was to signify her thirst for divine goodness. Today it sounds mildly vampiric.

Ita Buttrose became the founding editor of Cleo magazine in 1972, and made it an instant success – the first edition sold out in two days. Cleo was something new in Australian publishing: a magazine for women that spoke openly about sexuality. There were articles on masturbation, abortion, contraception and sex toys, and a nude centrefold – the first model for the centrefold was actor Jack Thompson. It made the sexual revolution accessible to the average woman. In Paper Giants, the title Cleopatra is suggested for the magazine, as befitting a strong yet sexual woman, but Cleo is chosen because it fits better on the masthead. It intrigues me that Cleo sounds similar to Ita’s middle name – Clare – and wonder whether she unconsciously selected a title that sounded like her own name. Cleo is also the name of Ita’s pet dog (Clare is her grand-daughter).

Cleo is usually thought of as being a short form of Cleopatra, but it can be short for any name beginning with Cleo-, such as Cleophas. It is therefore a unisex name, and there are several prominent men named Cleo, including American motorcyclist and World War I flying ace Cleo Pineau. The father of Elizabeth Short, the Black Dahlia murder victim, was named Cleo. It is from the Greek for “glory, fame, pride”. This gorgeous little name is right on trend for o-enders, and was also a celebrity baby name last year. It would make a great alternative to popular Chloe.