Author Archives: A.O.

Famous Names: Barack

19 Saturday Nov 2011

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This blog post was first published on November 19 2011, and substantially rewritten and re-posted on November 19 2015.

Famous Namesake
This year is the sixtieth anniversary of the ANZUS Treaty, the military alliance which binds Australia to the United States. Partly to commemorate this occasion, the President of the United States, Mr Barack Obama, made a brief two-day stopover trip to Australia on his way to Bali. He is the fifth American president to visit Australia since Lyndon Johnson arrived in 1966.

Spending two days in Canberra and Darwin, capital cities of our two Territories, he made an address to Parliament, laid a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and paid his respects to the 89 US sailors who perished aboard the USS Peary after being bombed by the Japanese in Darwin Harbour in 1942. It was also announced that a US military base would be stationed in Darwin.

Handsome and charismatic, with a constant friendly smile, the President could not help but make himself popular. Mr Obama has the charm and good manners that we tend to think of as very American, and he made lots of pleasant jokes about Australian slang and the Australian accent, while expressing his fondness for the nation and its people (and no fondness at all for Vegemite, which is an acquired taste).

While in Canberra, he made a visit to a high school and hugged an excited young girl. “He’s so kind … and warm,” she exclaimed. That’s how Barack Obama came across – kind, warm, genuine, funny, and very charming.

Note: President Obama made another visit to Australia in 2014, when he attended the G-20 summit in Brisbane. He gave a speech to students at the University of Queensland, which received thunderous applause from a young audience unused to hearing political leaders talk about climate change and gender equality.

Name Information
Barack is a Swahili variant of the Arabic word barak meaning “blessed”. The name comes from a Semitic root meaning “to kneel down”, with connotations of someone receiving a benediction while on bended knee. In Islam, the related term barakah (“blessing”) means a continuous spiritual presence and revelation providing a flow of blessings and grace to those close to God, such as saints and holy people.

The name is sometimes confused with the Hebrew name Barak, meaning “shining, lightning”. In the Old Testament, Barak was a military commander. In Arabic the equivalent word for “lightning” is buraq – you can see it in the name Al-Buraq, the mystical horse who took the prophet Muhammad on his Night Journey to the heavens on a journey between Jerusalem and Mecca and back.

The Hebrew equivalent of Barack is Baruch, meaning “blessed”. It is related to the Hebrew word berakhah, meaning “benediction, blessing”. In Judaism, berakhah is a blessing or thanksgiving given before enjoying or performing certain acts; for example, before eating: it acknowledges God as the source of all blessings. Baruch can be Latinised as the name Benedict, which is why the Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza, who was Jewish, is often known to us as Benedict Spinoza.

As both Arabic and Hebrew are Semitic languages, it is easy to see how such confusion arises over similar or even identical-looking names.

By coincidence, Barak is also an Australian name. The famous Aboriginal spokesman William Barak (sometimes known as King Billy) took his surname from his tribal name of Beruk, meaning “white grub in gum tree”.

President Obama was named after his father, Barack Obama Sr, who was a senior economist in the Kenyan government during the 1960s. Mr Obama Sr was raised in a Muslim family, but was converted to Christianity at the age of six while attending a missionary school.

Apparently his original name was Baraka (from the Islamic term for spiritual blessings and grace), but he changed his name to Barack to avoid the overtly religious connotations of his name. I’m not sure how valid a conversion is in such a young child (it sounds almost coerced), but in any case it didn’t take, and Mr Obama became an atheist. His son did become a Christian, however.

The name Barack has never charted in the United States. Last year 11 babies were named Barack, a number which has decreased since 69 being born in 2009 – the year that Barack Obama Jr became President of the United States. In the year before President Obama’s presidential campaign, just 5 babies were named Barack.

Barack can only be found in British data between 2008 and 2010, peaking in 2009 at 17 births. I haven’t found any Baracks in Australian data, but based on international trends, it may have had a small spike in 2009.

Barack must be the most interesting of the American presidents’ names, and has at least busted the myth that you need a “presidential-style” name to become president of the United States (something like Ulysses or Grover, I presume).

One of its biggest issues as a baby name must be that it is so closely tied to the current US president, and may feel like a “one person name” – especially considering the name’s unique family history.

It could also be confused with similar names, and the pronunciation is something of an issue: although I understand it as buh-RAHK, I have heard it said it in a variety of ways by overseas commentators, including Burrock and Barrack. However, this is a strong handsome name with a nice meaning that will certainly stand out from the crowd.

NAME POLL RESULTS: Barack received an approval rating of 60%. 25% of people thought it was too closely tied to the American president, making it a one person name. However, 14% saw it as strong and commanding, and a further 14% thought it was a name unusual enough to stand out from the crowd. Only one person thought it was too rare, while 3% of people were put off the name because of President Obama.

(Picture shows President Obama arriving in Canberra in 2011; photo from the ABC)

Celebrity Baby News: V8 Ute Racing

17 Thursday Nov 2011

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Craig Dontas, who drives for Thirsty Camel Racing, and his wife Renee, welcomed a baby boy in March, named Zac Michael. Zac joins big brother Samual. Zac Dontas has already been mentioned on the blog, in the entry Boys Names That Only Chart in Australia.

Grant Johnson, the reigning V8 Ute champion, and his wife Belinda, welcomed a baby boy in June, named Elliot. Elliot joins big sister Amanda. Grant and Belinda apparently allowed themselves the full 60 days after Elliot’s birth to choose a name, and Belinda stipulated the name couldn’t start with the letter J, or “sound like a NASCAR driver”. The interviewer pointed out there is actually a NASCAR driver named Elliot – Elliot Sadler.

(Photo is of Craig Dontas with his eldest son, Samual).

Celebrity Baby News: Hayley Pearson and Jimmy Worthington

16 Wednesday Nov 2011

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Breakfast radio host Hayley Pearson, and her husband Jimmy Worthington, welcomed their first child on November 3; a son named Austin Bob. Austin Worthington was born at 5:43 am weighing 3.1 kg (7 pounds). Hayley and Jimmy married in 2007, planned to start a family at the end of the year, and were instantly successful in their efforts.

Hayley is co-host of the breakfast radio show on SAFM in Adelaide, has appeared on television several times, and was even an extra in a movie. In 2007, Hayley was lured to Nova in Melbourne when they heard that her weekend hobby was making fun of “silly bogan names” she read in birth announcements.

In May, Hayley revealed that she and Jimmy were arguing about what to call the baby; she has been planning baby names since she was in high school and already had a list ready to go, but Jimmy “screwed his nose up” at most of them. She made it clear that she would not be revealing the baby name in advance. SAFM jokingly referred to Austin as “Darren” – presumably because they consider it to be a “silly bogan name”.

I am reminded of two other breakfast radio hosts who became parents this year, in regard to baby names. Firstly, Ross Stevenson from 3AW in Melbourne, who often makes fun of celebrity baby names and names with unconventional spellings on his show, and whose colleagues made up a fake name for the new baby. And secondly, Emily-Jade O’Keefe from Triple M in Brisbane, who had also been planning baby names since high school.

It seems that breakfast radio hosts have a bit of a bee in their bonnets on the subject of baby names, which makes them perfect fodder for (and possibly even perfect readers of) this blog. Ross and Emily-Jade both chose names which have been featured on Waltzing More Than Matilda, while Hayley picked a name mentioned in one of the Midweek Sibsets.

(Story and photo from SAFM website)

Names of Australian Fashion Designers

13 Sunday Nov 2011

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Last week we began our gender re-balancing with the names of some beautiful Australian models. Yet without the clever and creative designers, models would have nothing to wear. Here are ten female fashion designers whose names I found interesting in some way.

Arabella (Ramsay)

Arabella Ramsay grew up on a sheep farm in country Victoria; her family are all very creative, and she was encouraged to become a fashion designer. She did a course in textile design at RMIT, then spent a year in Paris studying fashion before opening her first store in Melbourne in 2006. This year, Arabella welcomed her first child, a daughter named Marlowe. The name Arabella originated in medieval Scotland, and it is thought that it is probably a variant of Annabel, meaning “lovable”. However, it is found in old documents in the forms Orable and Orabella, and from early on seems to have been influenced by the Latin word orabilis (also used as a name in the Middle Ages). This means “invokeable”, in the sense that a saint can be invoked by prayer. Arabella has never been a common name in Australia, despite our love of names from Scotland; I think it has seemed too old-fashioned or perhaps too upper-class. However, with -bella names all the rage, this looks like the perfect time for Arabella to shine.

Camilla (Franks)

Camilla Franks was a theatre actress who loved to design and make her own costumes, and formed her own fashion label in 2004. She is known as the “kaftan queen” because of her signature flowing lines in colourful prints, and hosts her own fashion shows in exotic locations around the world. Camilla sells internationally, and her designs are worn by celebrities such as Kate Hudson, Lily Allen, Beyonce and Oprah. In Roman mythology, Camilla was a virgin warrior queen of the Volscian tribe who was bound to be a votary of the goddess Diana since infancy. It is said that she was so fleet of foot that she could race across a field without bending a blade of grass, and could even run across water without getting her feet wet. We are told by the Romans that she was named Camilla because this is what the Etruscans called all their young priestesses (the male form is Camillus); if so, it seems to be more a title than a personal name. Queen Camilla’s mother’s name was Casmilla, and this seems significant. Once a favourite in literature, it’s best known today as the name of the Duchess of Cornwall. Milla and Millie are so popular at the moment that this may give Camilla more of a chance.

Collette (Dinnigan)

Collette Dinnigan was born in South Africa and moved to New Zealand as a child. After studying fashion design at Wellington Polytechnic, she moved to Sydney and worked for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s costume department. She opened her first store in 1992 and exported her fashions to New York, London and Hong Kong; she was the first Australian to launch a ready-to-wear collection in Paris. Her clothing lines sell in major department stores, and many Australian women will have at least one Collette Dinnigan piece in their wardrobes. The Australian government sent a Collette Dinnigan cardigan as their gift to French president Nicolas Sarkozy’s baby daughter, Giulia. Collette is a variant spelling of Colette, a French pet form of the name Nicole. The name Collette is well known as Australia as the stage name of lycra bike shorts-wearing pop singer Collette Roberts, who sang Ring My Bell, as well as the surname of actress Toni Collette. French names are very fashionable at the moment, but I wonder whether Collette is still sounding a bit dated. I think Nicollette might do better, maybe with Collette as the nickname.

Clea (Garrick)

Clea Garrick is originally from the Northern Territory, studied design in Brisbane, then moved to Melbourne where she set up the Limedrop label in 2005 with Nathan Price, who handles the marketing side of things. Limedrop has won a major award, sells around the world, and recently broke into the Tokyo market. Clea is a Greek name meaning “glorious”, and was the name of one of the Delphic oracles, who held the title of Pythia. These priestesses foretold the future at the town of Delphi in a temple dedicated to the god Apollo; it seems that some kind of shamanistic trance was used to foresee the future, and it has been speculated that hallucinogenic gases were involved. We are told by the ancients that these predictions tended to be ambiguously phrased, but usually gave good advice, and that the prophetic process was physically demanding on the Pythia – sometimes to the point where it killed her. We don’t know whether Clea was this priestess’ real name, or a name she adopted. I think Clea has a lot of potential – it’s underused, sounds similar to Claire and Leah, and is perhaps more feminine than its sister Cleo.

Elke (Kramer)

Elke Kramer is a Sydney-based jewellery designer known for her bold, chunky pendants and bracelets. She launched her label in 2004, and has a range of other creative pursuits, including art and illustration. Elke is the feminine form of the Hebrew name Elkanah, which is translated as “God has purchased”, and often interpreted as “belonging to God”, or “in God’s possession”. There are several men named Elkanah in the Old Testament, most notably the husband of Hannah, the father of the prophet Samuel. (Elkanah had another wife called Penninah, meaning “pearl”, but she was mean and jealous, so he didn’t like her as much as Hannah, even though Penninah gave him more children.) Elke is said EL-kuh, and it fits with popular names like Ella and the trend for EL sounds in girl’s names, but may possibly remind people of that large deer, the elk.

Jolet (Ucchino)

Jolet Ucchino is an independent fashion designer from Melbourne who launched her own label in 2008. She is committed to supporting local industry and using high-quality natural fabrics. It has been suggested that Jolet was originally a male name, derived from the French word joli, meaning “attractive”. It’s more common as a surname, but is still used as a personal name by both genders. Jolet Ucchino pronounces her name yo-LET. This is an unusual French name that’s a little like Yolande and a little like Juliet, and a fresh alternative to the name Jolie.

Kirrily (Johnston)

Kirrily Johnston studied at the Melbourne Institute of Textiles, and began her career in 1999 before moving to Sydney. She founded her own label in 2004, and was immediately met by rave reviews. Kirrily Johnston clothes sell in boutiques and department stores in Australia, the USA, UK, Asia and New Zealand, and are worn by stars such as Miranda Kerr, Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon and Diane Kruger. This year Kirrily became a judge on Project Runway Australia. Kirrily is a much liked name here, and seems to be uniquely Australian. The origin is very uncertain. It could be a variant of the Maori name Kiri, which means “fruit skin, bark”, and is well known as the name of opera star Dame Kiri Te Tanawa. Kirri is the Maori word for “wild dog” and the South African word for “stick”, and also looks similar to kirra, an Aboriginal word meaning “leaf”, and Kirribilli, a Sydney suburb meaning “good fishing spot” in the local language. Most likely it came into use because it sounded similar to popular names of the 1960s and 1970s, such as Kylie, Kerry and Kelly. It has helped influence a new generation of soundalike names, such as Kirra-Lee, Keira-Leigh, Kirri-Li and Kyralee, of which you can find many examples given to recent babies and toddlers.

Lorna (Clarkson)

Lorna Jane Clarkson began her career as a dental therapist, but moved into fitness instruction. Finding the existing range of women’s activewear limited, she started making her own line of fashionable gym clothing. In 1990 she opened her own store, and today there are 122 Lorna Jane stores. The name Lorna was created by novelist R.D. Blackmore for his historical romance, Lorna Doone (1869). He may have based it on the Scottish place name Lorne, which is in a region once named Lorna, and is possibly based on the male name Loarn – Loarn mac Eirc was a legendary king who was one of the sons of the first Gael to arrive in Scotland from Ireland. Loarn may be from the Gaelic word latharn, meaning “fox”; perhaps a tribal totem. Lorna Doone is an exciting tale of a long-lost heiress, forbidden marriages, unexpected changes in fortune, and all manner of adventures. It was the favourite novel of Australian bushranger Ned Kelly, and he may even have got the idea of wearing armour from the book, as the outlaw Doone family are said to wear “iron plates on breast and head”. Lorna was an “old grandma” name when I was a little girl, which means another generation has gone by and maybe now it seems more usable. It really doesn’t sound much different to currently popular names such as Laura and Lauren, and has a surprisingly Australian significance.

Thulie (Ellis)

Thulie Ellis is an emerging fashion designer who was born in the Transkei Zulu region of South Africa, raised in New Zealand, and educated in Australia, studying at Sydney’s premier fashion school FBI. She debuted her first collection in 2009 and opened her online store the same year. Thulie is pleased that many of her clients are from the United States, as she has been in love with America since a trip there as a teenager. She hopes to expand further into the US market. Thulie’s name may be a pet form of Nokuthula, a common Zulu name meaning “peace and tranquillity”, although the word Thula (“peace”) is also used as a name, with Thuli or Thulie as the short form. Thulie is pronounced TYOO-lee; the first syllable is said like the word tulle, or the beginning of tulip. Exotic, yet simple, I can imagine many people being drawn to this pretty name.

Yeojin (Bae)

Yeojin Bae was born in Korea, and wanted to be a fashion designer when she was two years old; her grandfather was a designer, and both her parents worked in the industry. With their full support, she attended art school from the age of 4, and became the youngest student at the Whitehouse Institute of Fashion in Melbourne at the age of 14; she graduated when she was 17. She has done internships in New York with Marc Jacobs and Anna Sui, won the 2007 Tiffany and Co Young Designer of the Year Award, and in 2009 was nominated for the Prix de Marie Claire Designer of the Year Award. Her collections sell in major department stores in Australia, the UK, the USA and the UAE. Yeojin’s name means “beautiful treasure” in Korean. Her name is pronounced yo-jhin – at least in an Australian accent. I’ve included a short interview with Yeojin so you can hear her name said aloud.

(Photo of Thulie Ellis with one of her garments at Rosemount Fashion Week from Southern Courier, May 10 2010)

Saturday Sibset: Hugh Jackman and Family

12 Saturday Nov 2011

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Hugh Jackman is an acclaimed actor of stage and screen, has won many awards, and been voted “Sexiest Man Alive” in popularity polls. He is often put forward as a shining example of the nice ordinary family man – the type who could be welcoming you to the neighbourhood by putting on a barbie and offering you free tickets to the footy, except he can’t because he happens to be a big movie star. While women vote him as their preferred choice of dream hunk, Australian men rate him as the celebrity who best embodies the spirit of the modern Aussie bloke.

Yet if things had gone just a little differently, Hugh Jackman might have been a dancer instead of an actor, and wouldn’t have been an Australian either. (I guess it’s still possible he might have been sexy though). Hugh’s parents were English emigrants, and he was only their second child to be born in Australia. His parents divorced when he was eight, and his mother returned to England, while he and his siblings remained in Sydney with their dad.

After a teacher praised his dancing skills and suggested he undergo professional training, he was all set to become a dancer, until his older brother told him that was for “poofs”. Hugh describes himself as the “ten minute Billy Elliot“, because this childish comment convinced him to drop the idea of dance study for fear of his manliness being eroded.

His brother apologised for his comment, and as soon as he did, Hugh enrolled in tap class – however, by that time he was already grown up, and it was sadly far too late for him to become a professional dancer. (Much later, he got to dance his heart out in the stage musical, The Boy From Oz, playing the role of, in some bizarre fulfilment of his brother’s taunt, the gay Australian composer, Peter Allen).

Hugh enjoyed drama so much at university that he ended up studying acting in Sydney and Perth, even though he considers himself to have been the “dunce of the class”. Yet his period of unemployment as an actor lasted exactly thirteen minutes, as he was offered a lead role in TV prison drama Corelli on the night of his graduation ceremony. Corelli was a huge flop, but Hugh met actress Deborra-Lee Furness on the show, and two years later they were married, in 1996.

Hugh personally designed Deborra-Lee’s engagement ring, and their wedding rings had the Sankrit inscription Om paramar mainamar, meaning “We dedicate our union to a higher source”. Hugh has been a member of The School of Practical Philosophy since his student days; this organisation teaches a blend of Eastern and Western thought and spirituality, and Hugh practices yoga and meditation.

Hugh’s acting career went from strength to strength, as he worked on stage, film and television. He became known outside Australia in 1998 when he played the lead role in Oklahoma! in London’s West End, earning an Olivier Award nomination for Best Actor in a Musical. His Hollywood break came the following year, when he was offered the role of Wolverine in the X-Men movie. Deborra-Lee advised him not to take this role; she is now extremely glad that he ignored her suggestion.

Successful acting career? Check. Beautiful wife? Check. Happy marriage? Check. Meaning of life? Check. Everything was going brilliantly for Hugh and Deborra-Lee, except for their dreams of parenthood.

They had originally planned to have children naturally, and then adopt, but it turned out that they needed IVF, and then Deborra-Lee suffered two miscarriages. Hugh and Deborra-Lee tried to adopt, but found the process so fraught with difficulty that they moved to the United States in order to have children. Deborra-Lee is still very critical of how strict the adoption laws are in Australia.

They adopted a boy in 2000, who they named Oscar Maxmilian, and in 2005 adopted a girl who they named Ava Elliot. They had always planned on having a large family, but the reality of them both being busy and travelling a lot meant that it wasn’t practical. If you’ve ever taken a baby and a toddler on a plane, you would understand why the idea of adding several more kids to the mix didn’t seem like a good one – Hugh still remembers carrying a restless Oscar up and down the aisle of a plane “about 150 times“. He says the flight attendants thought it was sweet for the first 50 times. Oscar and Ava are both experienced travellers now.

Hugh says of being a father: “The love for your children is so powerful. It’s different from the love for your partner. You can’t believe you have that capacity – you’d do anything for them and not even think about it … Kids are the greatest joy. No matter what’s going on in the day, you can walk in that front door and it all goes away.”

Oscar and Ava are very popular names, and were already Top 100 in Hugh’s native New South Wales the years the children were adopted. There are lots of kids with these names, and I’m sure Hugh and Deborra-Lee chose them because they, like hundreds of other parents, just loved them.

However, I can’t helping feeling that they seem to have a Hollywood flavour to them. Is it just me, or does it seem peculiarly apt that a movie star would have a son named Oscar? Especially one who has hosted the Oscars? (Several years after Oscar was born). Ava of course is best known as the name of Hollywood screen legend Ava Gardner; I don’t know whether her middle name is in any way a nod towards the Billy Elliot that the young Hugh Jackman wished to be.

(Photo of the Jackman family visiting Disneyland from The Daily Telegraph, April 24 2009)

Local Heroes

11 Friday Nov 2011

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As it is Remembrance Day today, I have compiled a list of the first (and where applicable, middle names) of the young men from my home town who were killed in action during World War I. The war memorial only records surnames and initials, so I got some help from Kath and Joan at the local historical society to find their full names.

Middle names were significant – many boys were named after their father or uncle, and often shared their name with cousins. The middle name was used to differentiate them from these other relatives, and was often their “real name”, as it was the name they were known by (and, like first names, commonly shortened to a nickname). For example, my distant relatives George Aubyn and Alfred Leopold were known as Auby and Leo.

I’ve recorded which ones were from the town’s founding families as these are the closest thing to an aristocracy our little town has, and thought it might be interesting to see what names they chose. These men would have been born in the late 19th century – before the nation of Australia even existed.

Our town was founded at the start of the twentieth century, and I think is typical for small towns at that time in that World War I was devastating to it. Coupled with a severe drought in 1914, the loss of these young men sent it into an economic decline from which it would not recover until after World War II.

These are not heroic names, but they are the names of our heroes.

Albert

Alexander (from one of our founding families)

Abraham

Alfred Cecil (from one of our founding families)

Alfred Leopold (related to me through my maternal grandfather)

Angus

Blair Clifford

Charles Henry

Clement James

Francis (from one of our founding families)

Frank Walter and John James (brothers)

Frederick

George (from one of our founding families)

George Aubyn (related to me through my maternal grandmother)

Gerald Walter

Henry

Henry Lewis and Harold John (brothers)

Hugo Lawrence

James (from one of our founding families)

James William

John

John Leslie (from one of our founding families)

John William

Joseph Sylvester (from one of our founding families)

Julius Wilbur (from one of our founding families)

Matthew

Michael (from one of our founding families)

Maurice Russell

Norman Leonard

Oscar

Percy (from one of our founding families)

Roy

Robert Clyde

Richard Wilfred (from one of our founding families)

Sydney (from one of our founding families)

Stanley Bede (from one of founding families)

Thomas

Thomas

Thomas

Walter

Wilfred

William

William (from one of our founding families)

~Lest we forget~

Celebrity Baby News: Rob Hodges and Jo Fincham

08 Tuesday Nov 2011

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Recently we featured new babies from The Farmer Wants a Wife, and here is another. Rob Hodges runs a beef and sheep farm in Mount Gambier, South Australia, and Jo Fincham was a newspaper photographer from Melbourne when they met on the second season of the rural dating show. Rob and Jo have been married for eighteen months, and had their first child during the winter – a daughter named Darcy.

While some of the women from the show have admitted to having trouble adjusting to farming life, Jo is much happier and healthier since moving to the country, and loves being a mother.

(Story and photo from Woman’s Day website; November 7 2011).

Celebrity Baby News: Emily-Jade O’Keeffe and Gerard Murtagh

08 Tuesday Nov 2011

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Media personality Emily-Jade O’Keeffe, and her husband, architect Gerard Murtagh, welcomed their first child about a week ago. They have named their daughter Millie Valentine; Millie was conceived after Emily-Jade underwent fertility treatment.

Millie was only one of the names they were considering; Molly and Melody were also up for debate, and Emily-Jade was keen on Molly May Murtagh until she realised the initials spelled out the radio station she worked for. Valentine is what Emily-Jade and Gerard called their unborn baby as a nickname, because it was conceived on Valentine’s Day. As Valentine can be used for both sexes, perhaps the middle name would have been used whether the baby was a boy or a girl. My understanding is that Valentine is a name that Emily-Jade has loved since her early teens.

Emily-Jade is a breakfast radio host for Triple M Brisbane, a regular on Channel 9’s Mornings with Kerri-Anne, and writes a blog for The Courier Mail called Emily Everywhere. She is also a MC and a marriage celebrant.

(Story from Emily-Jade’s blog; photo from her website)

Names of Australian Models

06 Sunday Nov 2011

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Because we had two sets of male names for Boys Names from the Australian Football League and Boys Names from the National Rugby League, we need to have two sets of female names to keep the numbers even. As the spring fashion collections are out now, and ladies are getting frocked up for the spring racing season, it seemed a good time of year to feature women’s names from the world of Australian fashion.

Bambi (Northwood-Blyth)

Bambi Northwood-Blyth is a young up and coming model from Melbourne. She became known once her photo started being seen in tabloids partying with her surfer boyfriend who owns a fashion label, and soon became an internationally known “it” girl. At 5 foot 7, Bambi is unusually short for a fashion model, has a very distinctive look with heavy dark eyebrows, and sports tattoos and facial piercings. Bambi is a diminutive of the Italian word bambina, meaning “girl child”; English equivalents of Bambi might be Babe or Lassie. A girl named Bambi (real name Francesca) is the heroine of 1914 novel, Bambi, by Marjorie Benton Cooke. It recounts the romantic adventures of a lively young society girl in New York, and seems an entertaining enough read. However, it’s been overtaken in the public consciousness by a male deer called Bambi, hero of a novel by Felix Salten which was made into an animated Disney movie. Since then, Bambi has taken on connotations of being doe-eyed, long-limbed and generally adorable, like a baby deer. Bambi is usually a nickname or stage name in real life, and this case is no exception: Bambi Northwood-Blyth’s real name is Stephanie.

Cheyenne (Tozzi)

Cheyenne Tozzi was raised in Sydney, and is the type of blonde bikini babe which makes her suitable to be the face of Mambo Goddess and Just Jeans. She’s been hailed as “the next Elle McPherson”, and seems to be dating someone new every time you open a gossip magazine, from Kanye West to Mickey Rourke to Brandon Davis to our own Taj Burrow. Cheyenne is the name of a Native American people from the Great Plains region. Their name is what the Dakota Sioux called them, and means something like “the people of an alien language” (literally, “red-talkers”). One of their most famous members was the chief Black Kettle, who tried to make peace with the American settlers, and was killed by General George Custer. It’s pronounced shy-AN, and seems to be have been first used as a name in 1950s TV western, Cheyenne, about a cowboy called Cheyenne Bodie. It’s now seen as a primarily feminine name, and you should be aware that many Native Americans find using tribal names as personal names culturally insensitive or even offensive.

Demelza (Reveley)

Demelza Reveley is from Wollongong, and won the fourth series of Australia’s Next Top Model. Despite winning the show, judges said she lacked the sophistication to be a top model, and was just young and pretty. She has posed for Cosmopolitan and Vogue, and is currently the face of Sydney’s fashionable Strand Arcade shopping centre. Demelza is the name of a Cornish village said to mean “fort of Maeldaf”. The name Demelza was used for a character in the Winston Graham’s Poldark novels, and it became well known after the novels were turned into a TV series in the 1970s; the part of Demelza Poldark was played by Angharad Rees. Part of the success of the name at the time may be because, in the story, Demelza is told that her name means “thy sweetness”. Demelza Reveley’s parents obviously like unusual names – her sister’s name is Tanith.

Elle (Macpherson)

Elle Macpherson (pictured) was born in Sydney, and first modelled in New York as a teenager to raise money for her law degree (soon abandoned). She became known for her girl next door looks and magnificent figure, which earned her the sobriquet of “The Body”. Elle became part of the generation of supermodels in the 1980s, and went on to control many business interests. Today she is a multimillionaire businesswoman with her own fashion label, and is the face of Revlon cosmetics. She lives in Britain with her two sons. Elle’s name is short for her real name of Eleanor. Elle is the name of the world’s largest fashion magazine, founded in Paris in 1945. At one time, Elle Macpherson appeared in every issue of the magazine for six years in a row, and at the age of 21, married its creative director, Gilles Bensimon. The magazine’s name is the French word for “she”.

Miranda (Kerr)

Miranda Kerr was raised in the country town of Gunnedah in New South Wales before her family moved to Brisbane. She won the 1997 Dolly magazine contest at the age of 13, became a swimwear model, and relocated to New York. She is the first Australian to become a Victoria’s Secret lingerie model. She is married to actor Orlando Bloom, and is the mother of Flynn Christopher Blanchard Copeland Bloom. The name Miranda was created by William Shakespeare for his play, The Tempest; Miranda is the teenage daughter of the duke Prospero, and the two of them have been exiled on a remote island since Miranda was a toddler. Miranda’s name is derived from Latin for “admirable, miraculous” – Prospero is a magician, and perhaps chose a rather magical sounding name for his daughter. Miranda seems to be a popular name in Australia, at least in fiction; there seems to be a lot of Mirandas in films and television shows, including the beautiful schoolgirl Miranda in Picnic at Hanging Rock, based on the novel by Joan Lindsay. As this movie is very mysterious, it adds up to Miranda being a remarkably magical and mystical name.

Myfanwy (Shepherd)

Myfanwy Shepherd is from Cairns; she auditioned for the fourth series of Australia’s Next Top Model, but was rejected, as judges didn’t believe she had what it takes. A few months later, she was on the runways of New York, London, Paris and Milan. Myfanwy is a medieval Welsh name revived in the 19th century. It is often translated as “my fine one” or “my rare one”, but this seems to be an imaginative gloss, as it is more likely from the Welsh for “beloved”. A 14th-century legend tells of Myfanwy Fychan, who was said to be the most beautiful woman in Powys, and vain enough to love nothing more than hearing her appearance praised. She took a fancy to a penniless bard because he could compose poems extolling her loveliness. Fickle as well as vain, she soon dumped him for someone richer and better looking, and the bard was left to wander around sadly composing poetry to his lost love. This rather unpleasant character’s story was turned into a popular song by Joseph Parry in the 19th century. The name is pronounced muh-VAHN-wee, however Australian Myfanwys have a range of pronunciations, including like Tiffany with an M at the front. Like Myfanwy Shepherd, they all seem to use Myf (said MIFF) as the nickname.

Pania (Rose)

Pania Rose is from Perth in Western Australia; she was discovered during a national teen covergirl contest. She’s posed for Marie Claire and Spanish Vogue, and is most famous for her 2006 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition appearance. The name Pania is one from Maori mythology; Pania of the Reef was a beautiful sea maiden. She fell in love with a handsome son of a chieftain, and the pair became secretly married. These mortal-to-sea creature love affairs always seem to go horribly wrong in tales, and this one is no exception. Pania stayed with her husband every night, but during the day she needed to be in the sea in order to survive. Her frustrated husband got tired of not having a wife around during the day, and tried to force her to remain on land against her will. Horrified that he would risk her life, she fled from him into the ocean. There is a statue of Pania on the city of Napier’s Marine Parade that is sometimes compared to that of The Little Mermaid in Copenhagen. The name is said PAH-NEE-AH, and it may mean “polished”.

Tabrett (Bethell)

Tabrett Bethell was born in Sydney, and was a teenage model and cheerleader for the NRL Cronulla Sharks. After this she trained as an actress, has been in several films, and played a key role in the US fantasy TV show, Legend of the Seeker, where she gained a fan following. Tabrett’s unusual name came about because of an argument her parents had about what to name her. Her mother had chosen the name Siobhan, but her father preferred the name Murray. Her dad left the hospital and went for a drive, where he saw a sign for Tabrett Street. He drove back to the hospital, and suggested Tabrett instead, which her mother proved equally enthusiastic about. Tabrett is pronounced with the emphasis on the first syllable, and for many years, Tabrett was told her name was Welsh. I have read that it is derived from the Hebrew word tofe, for the hand drum that is used to praise Yahweh, and is interpreted as meaning “celebration”. Although Tabrett’s surname is Welsh, meaning “son of Ithel”, by coincidence it looks similar to the Hebrew for “house of God”, so there is some odd Welsh-yet-Hebrew/Hebrew-yet-Welsh theme to her name, I think.

Tahnee (Atkinson)

Tahnee Atkinson is from Perth, and is the winner of the fifth series of Australia’s Next Top Model. Tahnee has a curvaceous figure, and her weight was sometimes an issue during the course of the show. As part of her prize, she received a contract with Maybelline and a spread in Harper’s Bazaar, which retained exclusive rights to her for six months. Tahnee is a name that has long been a favourite in Australia; the oldest Tahnee I know is in her late fifties, and the youngest was born last year. The meaning of the name is uncertain, but Australians often fondly believe it to be Aboriginal or Maori in origin. Most likely, it just a variant of Tania; it is pronounced TAH-nee (like tardy with an N in it instead of a D).

Valli (Kemp)

Valli Kemp was born in Kenya to British parents, moved to London when she was seven and to Sydney when she was twelve. She was chosen Miss World Australia in 1970, and seen as the epitome of early ’70s glamour, with bedroom eyes and full lips. After moving to London for the Miss World finals (Grenada won), she became part of the “beautiful people” scene, and appeared in a few films, most notably cult horror flick Dr Phibes Rises Again, opposite Vincent Price. After moving back to Australia in the 1980s, she became a full-time artist and art teacher. The name Valli means “creeping plant” in Tamil, which refers to either a sweet potato or a yam; both of these grow on vines. Valli is a Hindu goddess in the mythology of South India and Sri Lanka. In the stories, a chieftain and his wife prayed for a child, and found a baby girl amongst the vines in the forest; they raised her as their own and she grew up to be princess of her tribe. She became the wife of Lord Murugan, the most loved deity in Sri Lanka – a brave warrior who protects even the most humble.

Celebrity Baby News: The Marchmont Brothers

05 Saturday Nov 2011

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Motocross champion Jay Marmont, and his wife Abby, welcomed their son Jax Robert on November 3. Jax Marmont was born at 8 am, 8.2 pounds in weight and 51 cm in length. Jax has an older sister named Lila Emma who passed away two years ago today.

Jay’s younger brother Ryan Marmont, and his fiancee Chelsea, welcomed a daughter named Indigo Grace in September. The birth of cousins Jax and Indigo was announced on the MotoOnline.com.au website.

This weekend, both Jay and Ryan will continue their Super X campaigns at Campbelltown Stadium. Jay is currently fifth in the Pro Open standings, while Ryan is seventh in his rookie season.