Category Archives: Famous Names

Famous Name: Esme

21 Wednesday Sep 2016

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mollyfink1

Famous Namesake
Last week it was the 122nd birthday of Esme Fink, born on September 15 1894, and known as “Molly” from her middle name, Mary. She was an attractive blue-eyed blonde with a charming, fun-loving personality, and came from a respectable Melbourne family who had fallen on hard times, so her mother was desperate for Esme to meet an eligible bachelor as soon as possible.

While staying in Sydney, Esme caught the eye of of a middle aged Indian rajah who was there for the races and had become part of Sydney’s elite. His name was Martanda Bhairava Tondaiman, and he was the ruler of the princely state of Pudukkottai in British India, today in southern India. Martanda was smitten with Esme, and after a few months proposed marriage.

The happy couple wed almost immediately, and after being sneered at in the Australian press, travelled to India. Right from the start the British authorities were hostile to Martanda’s choice of bride. They had already warned him that a “mixed marriage” would not be formally recognised, and King George V decided that Molly Fink was a dreadful name. The final straw came when Esme became pregnant, and a poisoning attempt was made on her.

Esme and Martanda returned to Australia, where their son Martanda Sydney was born; Martanda became known in racing circles, and Esme as a socialite. They left Australia for London in order to demand recognition of their marriage, but when it became obvious their son would never be acknowledged, Martanda abdicated in exchange for substantial financial compensation.

Esme and Martanda settled in Cannes, where Esme’s friends included the photographer Cecil Beaton, and hostess Elsa Maxwell. Esme loved fashion, and was the first person to ever buy a Schiaparelli evening dress; she known for her extravagance, and eccentricities such as taking a pet tortoise for walkies while dressed to kill.

After her husband’s unexpected death, the Aga Khan proposed marriage to her, but she turned him down in order to live the high life independently. When World War II broke out she travelled to New York with Cecil Beaton and Anita Loos, and with her money frozen because of the war, worked illegally in a department store to make ends meet, while raising funds for Australian and Canadian servicemen.

She was estranged from her son after he was imprisoned for jewel theft, and as her funds dwindled became something of a recluse, taking comfort in alcohol and her Pekingese dogs. She died in 1967, leaving her extensive wardrobe to the Fashion Museum in Bath.

Name Information
Esme is the Anglicised form of Esmé, derived from the Old French word esmer, meaning “esteem, respect, love”, and pronounced EZ-may. It was first given to Esmé Stewart 1st Duke of Lennox, a cousin of King James VII, born in 1542; his mother was French. The name was used for eldest sons in his family for a few generations (the chain was broken after one of the Esmés died young, after which the name wasn’t used again by the family).

Esmé as a boy’s name never really took off, even in Scotland, and by the 19th century Esme was becoming better known as an English name given to girls, although still in some use for boys by the aristocracy, especially those with ties to Scotland.

The reason for its gender switch could have been because it sounds like a cross between Esther and May, or perhaps it became conflated with Ismay, a medieval English girl’s name thought to be derived from the Germanic name Ismagin, meaning “iron strength”. It is better known as a surname (the owner of the doomed Titanic was J. Bruce Ismay), and the surname Esmay is a variant. Ismay and Esme both came into use around the same time in the modern era, and at one time Ismay was usually given to boys – both names became more commonly feminine in the 19th century.

Another possible blow to the name Esmé remaining masculine was the scandalous 1894 novel The Green Carnation, published anonymously but written by Robert Hichens. The lead characters in the novel were Esmé Amarinth and Lord Reginald Hastings, closely modelled on real life lovers Oscar Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas. An instant success in both Britain and the US, its readers were shocked and titillated, and a reviewer described it as “impudent … bold … delicious”.

The book had to be withdrawn because it depicted homosexuality, but the damage was done and the novel set the stage for Oscar Wilde’s public disgrace and downfall. The Green Carnation was one of the works used by the prosecution in the case against Oscar Wilde for gross indecency, which saw him sentenced to two years hard labour. Use of the name Esme for boys became extremely rare after the late 19th century, and I can’t help wondering if the book helped cement the idea that the name was not only feminine, but effeminate on a man.

The name Esme has been used several times in literature, quite apart from this scandalising roman-à-clef. J.D. Salinger wrote a short story called For Esmé – with Love and Squalor; Esmé is an orphaned English teenager who befriends an American soldier. The name is referenced in Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, which has a nasty piece of work named Esmé Squalor.

Another villainess is mutant Esme Cuckoo in Marvel’s X-Men series, while powerful witch Esmerelda “Esme” Weatherwax in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld  fantasy series is a force for good. In Saki’s darkly comic 1911 short story Esmé, the title character is an animal and the person who bestows the name does not know its sex, so chooses Esmé as suitable for either male or female. Knowing Saki, it’s hard not to wonder if The Green Carnation helped inspire the choice of name.

More recently the name has featured in Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series, as Esme Cullen is the gentle, caring vampire den mother. Her name is half the basis for her granddaughter’s name, Renesmee.

Esme was #139 in the 1900s, and peaked in the 1910s at #120 – the same period Esme Fink was in the papers as a society beauty and putative rani. Esme left the charts in the 1950s. Since then it has made a mild come-back, and is around the 600s.

In the UK Esme did not make the Top 200 during the 19th century. However, it has been rising steadily since the late 1990s, and joined the Top 100 in 2008. It is currently #38 and still going strong. One influence on the name may be the British model, DJ and actress Esmé Bianco, who played Ros in Game of Thrones. The name is popular in Scotland, at #57.

Esme doesn’t have a strong history of use in the US, and only joined the Top 1000 in 2010, two years after the first Twilight movie. Numbers have risen, and it is currently #682.

For many years in Australia this name was associated with gossipy old Esme Watson from A Country Practice, but it has been given a new lease of life. It’s a vintage name that feels contemporary and stylish, and by now its masculine origins are long past, although not forgotten. It’s an artistic name with plenty of literary clout, and popular culture has brought it new admirers.

You can spell it Esmé if your state or territory birth registry will allow it (some won’t), but Esme looks neat and pretty, and by now I think nearly everyone knows how to pronounce the name without the aid of an accent. Adding an extra E to spell it Esmée in an attempt to feminise or Frenchify it is redundant, as by now the name already is feminine, and it’s not a French name but a British one.

POLL RESULTS
The name Esme received an approval rating of 82%. People saw the name Esme as intelligent and artistic (20%), pretty or beautiful (20%), classy and elegant (17%), and cute on a little girl but sophisticated on a grown woman (15%). However, 6% saw it as ugly and frumpy.

(Photo is of Esme “Molly” Fink, taken by Cecil Beaton)

Famous Name: Forbes

24 Wednesday Aug 2016

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forbes-carlile

Famous Namesake
Just before the Summer Olympics started this year, we lost our oldest Olympian – Forbes Carlile, who was 95. Forbes was a scientifically-trained pioneer in elite swimming coaching, using many of the training methods we take for granted today in sports physiology and psychology, and writing the first book on modern competitive swimming.

Forbes was Australia’s first Olympian post-war swimming coach, and the youngest Olympic coach when he began at the age of 27. He was the Australian swimming coach at the 1948 and 1956 Olympic Games, and Scientific Adviser at the 1960 Olympic Games; he coached the Dutch team at the 1964 Olympics.

Swimmers coached by Forbes won 12 Olympic medals including 5 gold, and set 31 world records. His greatest success was at the 1973 Swimming World Championships, which produced nine Australian champions, and his most successful student was Shane Gould, who held six world records simultaneously when she was 15.

Forbes is the only person so far to have coached at the Olympic Games, and then gone on to compete at Olympic level. He was the first Australian to compete in the modern pentathlon at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, where he came 25th overall and 10th in the swimming phase.

Forbes went on to receive many awards for his work as a coach and is in three sporting Halls of Fame, both in Australia and internationally. He and his wife Ursula were the first in Australia to open a commercial swimming school, still in operation.

A quote from Forbes Carlile demonstrates the thinking behind his success: Our aim is not to produce champions, but to create an environment where champions are inevitable.

Name Information
Forbes is a Scottish surname which comes from a place name in Aberdeenshire derived from forba, Gaelic for “field”. Clan Forbes claims to have owned land in this area since the 12th century, but the first Forbes on record is Duncan Forbes, in the late 13th century. The Forbes were raised to the Scottish Peerage in the 15th century, so the name has an aristocratic feel.

The name is well known in the United States, as members of the Scottish clan emigrated to America and became one of the wealthiest and most prominent in Boston. Politically influential, one of their best known members today is US Secretary of State John Forbes Kerry. Another Forbes from Aberdeenshire, of more modest origins, emigrated to the US later and is known for founding Forbes business magazine, famous for its rich lists, so either way this name signals money.

In Ireland, the surname Forbes can either be directly related to the Scottish name, as one of the aristocratic Forbes settled here in the 17th century, or can be an Anglicisation of the Gaelic name MacFearbhisigh, with the personal name Firbhsigh from the Celtic for “man of prosperity”. Whatever the origin, Forbes is a wealthy name.

The name is known in Australia from the New South Wales town of Forbes, named after the state’s first Chief Justice, Sir Francis Forbes. Sir Francis was related to the Scottish clan, and because of his family’s business links, had been educated in America and travelled there, which is said to be the source of his politically liberal views.

Forbes the town got bad reviews at first, with explorer John Oxley opining that it was impossible to imagine a worse country, due to the clay soil, poor timber, and swamps. Perhaps these weren’t mentioned on the brochure, as people did settle in the area. Everything changed when gold was discovered in 1861 and the population swelled by more than 30 000. A historic town, the bushranger Ben Hall met his end in Forbes, and Ned Kelly‘s sister Kate died a heroine here.

Forbes has been used as a personal name since the 18th century, where it was originally strongly associated with Scotland, but soon became much more generally used. In America, it was most commonly found in Boston. Although at first girls with the names Forbes weren’t particularly unusual, overall the name is overwhelmingly male.

Forbes is a very uncommon name. In the US, just 5 baby boys were named Forbes in 2015, while in the UK no baby boys are listed as having been given the name since 2008. I have occasionally seen Forbes used as a boy’s first name in Australia, but perhaps more often as a middle name. (This reminds me that a well known person with Forbes as his middle name is mathematician John Forbes Nash, of A Beautiful Mind fame).

Forbes is a rare surname name for boys redolent of success, wealth, power, nobility, and even long life. Although most of us like the idea of names which have positive meanings, namesakes and associations, some parents might feel that this one is almost too much. However, for a name with history and class behind it, Forbes is worth considering for your own future champion – at least in the middle.

POLL RESULTS
The name Forbes received an approval rating of 39%. 28% were reminded too strongly of Forbes magazine, and 15% found the name pretentious. However 11% thought the name sounded strong and powerful.

(Photo from Carlile Swimming)

Famous Name: Billie

08 Wednesday Jun 2016

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After looking at the fastest-rising names in the Top 100 for last year, I thought it would be a good idea to add these names to the database if they hadn’t already been covered. This week we are starting with Billie, a name which has risen through television.

Name Information
Billie is traditionally considered a short form of names such as Wilhelmina, but more practically is used as a feminine form of Billy, short for William. In fact its gender lines are very blurry, because the name originated in the US in the 18th century as a spelling variant of Billy, and for quite some time there were more male Billies than female ones.

In the US, Billie charted for boys on the Top 1000 from 1880, not leaving it until the mid 1980s. It peaked in 1929 at #122, but last year there were just 10 baby boys named Billie. It began charting for girls in 1886, and was in the bottom portion of the Top 100 from 1928 to 1934 – as with the boys, the name peaked in 1929 and 1930 at #79. It left the Top 1000 in 1998, and last year there were 95 girls named Billie, with numbers continuing to fall for both sexes.

In the UK Billie has also charted for both boys and girls, although always much higher for girls. In the mid 1990s Billie was #182 for girls, and generally fell in popularity after that. After hitting a low in 2009 at #673, the name has risen and is now #439. Boys hit a peak in 1997 at 17 births, but since then has mostly around a handful of births per year; in 2014 there were 4 baby boys named Billie.

In Australia, the name has only ever charted as a female name. It first charted in the 1930s and 1940s, when it was around the 300s and 400s. This correlates with the biggest career success for seminal jazz star Billie Holiday, often known as Lady Day. Holiday was born Eleanora Fagan, and took the first part of her stage name from silent film star Billie Dove, called The American Beauty for her good looks (Dove was born Bertha Bohny, so in her case Billie was a screen name). The name’s peak in the US seems to fit better with the film star, as it peaked there before Billie Holiday’s career really began.

The name Billie disappeared from the Australian charts in the 1950s, when Billie Holiday’s career began to fail, embroiled in legal proroblems, drug addiction, and illness; she died in 1959. However it returned in the 1970s at #739, when there was a Billie Holiday revival. A film based on her autobiography called Lady Sings the Blues was released in 1972, with Diana Ross in the starring role, and the soundtrack was a huge success. In 1973, Billie Holiday was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

After a steep rise in the 1980s, the name Billie climbed more gradually, levelling off around the high 200s/low 300s towards the late 2000s. However, the name began zooming up the charts after 2010, when the hit TV drama series Offspring began screening. This starred Kat Stewart as the bold, brassy and brutally honest big sister Billie Proudman; she puts her wild child past behind her as she matures, and eventually helps her sister Nina raise her daughter.

Based on its trajectory, I predicted that Billie could be in the Top 100 by 2013, encouraged by the fact it was already in the Top 100 in Victoria. Instead it debuted in the national Top 100 in 2015, gaining 19 places or more to make #82. It made the Top 100 in New South Wales for the first time at #99, was the fastest-rising girl’s name in Victoria, going up 40 places to #57, and was #83 in Tasmania. Analysis of data from Sydney shows it is a favourite in the city’s wealthy northern suburbs.

There have been further boosts to the name in Australia, with soapie Home and Away introducing tomboy surfer Billie Ashford in late 2014, and attractive chef Billie McKay winning MasterChef in 2015. AFL star Chris Judd, and his wife, model Rebecca Judd, welcomed their daughter Billie in 2014, making this a celebrity baby name.

Other famous Billies include Broadway and silent film star Billie Burke (real name Mary), who played Glinda the Good in The Wizard of Oz; British pre-war long distance cycling champion Billie Fleming (real name Lilian); American tennis champion Billie Jean King; American country music star Billie Jo Spears; British actress and singer Billie Piper; Australian TV actress Billie Hammerberg; and Australian professional wrestler Billie Kay (born Jessica). Examples of famous men named Billie include Billie Joe Armstrong from the band Green Day and AFL footballer Billie Smedts.

Billie is a retro name only popular in Australia, as there is a local interest in the name. Data shows you are more likely to appreciate the name if you live in Victoria or Tasmania, or in Sydney’s northern suburbs. With Billie, you get a cute and spunky tomboyish name shared with strong and beautiful female namesakes; it’s a casual name that you can take to the beach, but hip enough to dress up nicely in the evenings too. Billie’s day has arrived: the question is, will it keep climbing?

POLL RESULTS
Billie received an approval rating of 46%. 23% of people thought it was only suitable as a nickname, although 22% saw it as strong and spunky. Only one person thought the name Billie seemed smart and classy.

Famous Name: Elizabeth

25 Wednesday May 2016

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parramatta-elizabeth-farm-house

Famous Namesake
Next month marks 226 years since Elizabeth and John Macarthur came to New South Wales on the Second Fleet. From her arrival Elizabeth found herself in a privileged position, for she was the first educated woman to arrive in the colony. Beautiful, tastefully-dressed, charming, witty, articulate, and well-read, she held court among the men of colonial society like a queen. Because of this, she is known as Australia’s First Lady.

When her husband was made Commandment at Parramatta and given land there, he built Elizabeth Farm at Rosehill for them. Originally just a stone cottage, in time the farm became a country estate surrounded by gardens and orchards. While her husband was a politically controversial figure who created chaos and drama wherever he went, Elizabeth transformed their home into an oasis of peace and harmony which even impressed her husband’s numerous enemies.

Elizabeth wrote many letters to family and friends in England, and what strikes the reader is the happiness she managed to create for herself in her new homeland. She loved the climate, and was sensitive to the beauty of the natural landscape, exulting in the way she could grow vegetables, fruit and flowers in rich abundance. She enjoyed the social life of the colony, and with her high spirits and sense of fun, was perennially popular.

After her husband was arrested in 1809 and forced to flee to England, Elizabeth took on the management of John’s extensive merino sheep farm on his estate in Camden, including managing the convict labour force; she is credited with pioneering haymaking in Australia. Elizabeth was a spectacular success in the business, which involved travelling alone through dangerous territory and writing detailed reports for her husband. Together they were a formidable force: John promoting Australian wool in England, while Elizabeth worked hard at producing it.

When her husband returned in 1817, Elizabeth remained important to the Macarthur wool business. Now wealthy and powerful, John built a mansion on the estate in Camden, and descendants of the Macarthurs still live at Camden Park: here also is the Elizabeth Macarthur Agricultural Institute, and nearby Elizabeth Macarthur High School, a selective agricultural high school. Elizabeth Farm, which is one of the oldest colonial dwellings still standing, is now a museum where visitors can move freely and interact with everything on display.

Colonial society was a hotbed of gossip and could be relentlessly critical. Anyone who made the smallest error in appearance or behaviour was mocked and torn down, yet none of this ever touched Elizabeth Macarthur. Contemporaries heap only praise upon her as a devoted wife, perfect mother, accomplished homemaker, and determined businesswoman. She never gossiped, never criticised, and never complained, either of her own workload or the brutality of colonial life.

To the end of her life she remained a lady through and through, combining gentleness and delicacy with a very womanly strength and tenacity. Our First Lady, and our greatest.

Name Information
Elizabeth is from the Greek form of the Hebrew name Elisheba, which can be translated in two ways. One is “God is an oath”, to indicate the power of God’s word – what He swears will be done must come to be. The other is “God is abundance”, to suggest that God always fulfils our needs. Even for a biblical name, Elisheba has a very religious meaning, and in the Old Testament, she is the wife of Aaron, the first High priest, and the mother from whom the priestly caste was born.

The Greek form of the name is used in the Gospel of Luke in the New Testament. Elizabeth was a distant descendant of Aaron, presumably named for her ancestress, and married to Zechariah, who was a priest. The couple had been married for many years and grown old together without ever having the son they longed for.

This is a well-worn plot device in the Bible, so it should come as no surprise that the angel Gabriel brought Zechariah the good news that God had answered their prayers, and Elizabeth was going to have a baby. While pregnant, Elizabeth was visited by a young relative of hers named Mary, from Nazareth, who had received a similar message from Gabriel.

As soon as Mary greeted her, Elizabeth felt the child leap in her womb, and she was moved to hail Mary as “blessed among women” and “the mother of the Lord” (her words used to write the Hail Mary prayer, the basis of Ave Maria). Because of this, she is seen as one of the female prophets.

Elizabeth gave birth to a son, who she named John. He became John the Baptist, the preacher and prophet seen as a forerunner to the ministry of his kinsman Jesus. As a prophet and mother of a prophet, Elizabeth is revered as a saint in Christianity, and given reverence in Islam.

The name Elizabeth has been in use since the Middle Ages, and there are several other saints with the name. The most famous is Elizabeth of Hungary, a 13th century princess famous for her charity. One story told of her is that she was secretly taking bread to the poor when someone demanded to know what she had in her basket. She lifted her cloak, and instead of bread, all that could be seen was a divine vision of roses. This was such a popular act that after this female saints often seemed to cart around miraculous roses as a sign of God’s favour.

Because of the saint’s noble ancestry the name Elizabeth became a favourite among European royalty and aristocracy. It is a traditional name in the British royal family, and Elizabeth I was the last Tudor monarch of England, named after her grandmother Elizabeth of York, the wife of Henry VII. The present queen is Elizabeth II, and she was named after her mother, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, wife of George VI. Her name was given to the suburb of Elizabeth in Adelaide.

Thanks to its royal associations Elizabeth has remained popular for centuries, and there are many famous namesakes, such as poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning, novelist Elizabeth Gaskell, feminist Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and actress Elizabeth Taylor. In Australia there is the writer Dame Elizabeth Durack, Sister Elizabeth Kenny who saved so many polio patients, pioneer Elizabeth Underwood who founded Ashfield in Sydney, and speedy athlete Elizabeth “Betty” Cuthbert.

In fiction we know witty Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice; shy Elizabeth “Beth” March in Little Women; good-girl twin Elizabeth Wakefield in Sweet Valley High; the mysterious Elizabeth (aka Anna) from Bioshock Infinite; spirited beauty Elizabeth Swann from Pirates of the Caribbean; klutzy Elizabeth “Lizzie” McGuire from the TV series; dainty Elizabeth Grayson from L.M. Montgomery’s Anne Shirley books; and Enid Blyton’s “naughtiest girl” Elizabeth Allen.

Elizabeth is a solid classic which has never left the Top 100; it is the only girl’s name to have achieved this distinction. Elizabeth was #13 in the 1900s, and peaked in 1952 at #10, the year that Elizabeth II ascended the throne, and also a year that she toured Australia. Elizabeth is currently #42 nationally, #45 in New South Wales, #50 in Victoria, #49 in Queensland, #42 in Western Australia, and #25 in the Australian Capital Territory.

In the US, Elizabeth has enjoyed even greater popularity and almost never been out of the Top 25 (in 1948 it reached #26). It was continuously in the Top 10 from the 19th century until the mid 1920s, and rejoined the Top 10 in 1980. Since then it has been in the Top 10 or only just outside it, and is now #13.

In the UK, Elizabeth has never been out of the Top 50. It was a Top 10 name from the mid 19th century until the 1930s, and regained its Top 10 spot in the 1950s when Elizabeth II became queen, but left it again by the following decade. It is currently #37. Elizabeth is popular in all English-speaking countries, and most popular in the United States. It is also popular in Mexico and Latin America.

Elizabeth is that rare creature: a true timeless classic. Held by generations of royalty, it is a name of strength, power, and dignity, while also wholesome, honest, and serious. It is as practical as bread and as pretty as roses, and tells us that every word must bear fruit, every promise must be fulfilled.

There isn’t really any other English name that sounds like Elizabeth: it is both distinguished and distinctive. Furthermore, it has a wealth of nicknames, so that every Elizabeth has the chance to be a Lizzie, a Beth, a Libby, a Birdie, an Ellie, an Elsie, or a Betsy (and that’s just for starters). Hail to thee, Elizabeth, mother of many names!

POLL RESULTS

Elizabeth gained an excellent approval rating of 87%, making it one of the highest-rated names of 2016. People saw the name Elizabeth as classy and elegant (23%), versatile because of its many nicknames (19%), strong yet feminine (17%), and intelligent and professional (15%). However 6% of people thought it was too common and boring. Only one person thought the name Elizabeth sounded snobbish.

(Photo shows the verandah at Elizabeth Farm in Parramatta)

Famous Name: Georgia

11 Wednesday May 2016

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0905_GeorgiaLee-cropped_800

Famous Namesake
The blog will look at a few musical names in May, and this week the focus is on jazz singer Georgia Lee. She was born Dulcie Pitt in Cairns, and her ancestry was an exotic blend of Jamaican, Indian, Australian Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander, and Scottish. She and her sisters Sophie and Heather formed The Harmony Sisters, and they toured Queensland to entertain the troops during World War II, meeting other performers such as Hollywood star John Wayne.

After the war she took the stage name Georgia Lee and became a cabaret singer in the jazz and blues clubs of 1950s Sydney and Melbourne. She was part of the bohemian world that included famous artists like Donald Friend, Margaret Olley, and Russell Drysdale, and together with Indigenous opera star Harold Blair, took part in the first Moomba Festival in Melbourne in 1951.

Georgia made her mark overseas when she went to London to sing in the West End, which was recorded on BBC radio. Homesickness cut short her international career, but back in Australia she toured with Nat “King” Cole, and appeared on popular TV shows such as Graham Kennedy’s In Melbourne Tonight and Bandstand.

She apparently suffered some sort of nervous breakdown in the late 1950s, but recovered enough to record her 1962 album Georgia Lee Sings the Blues Down Under, which was done all in one take. This was the first album ever recorded by someone with Indigenous Australian ancestry, and was also the first album in Australia recorded in stereo. The album was reissued in 2009, a year before Georgia’s death.

Georgia Lee was our Queen of Jazz, with a distinctly Australian identity and style. She was also a trailblazer for other Indigenous performers. Interviewed in her late seventies she said, “I had a fantastic life and met so many wonderful people”.

Name Information
Georgia is a feminine form of George, a name of Greek origin meaning “farmer”, which became well known because of the dragon-slaying St George. There is a St Georgia as well, a 6th century French nun, who doesn’t get nearly as much publicity, due to the paucity of dragons in her area.

As with its masculine counterpart, the name Georgia was rarely used in Britain until the 18th century, when the Hanoverian dynasty gained the throne; before this, the name Georgia was better known on the Continent, from the Italian Giorgia. However, an early British example is said to be a god child of Anne of Denmark, the wife of James I.

King George II gave his name to the American state of Georgia, which was first administered as a British colony. The name became more popular in the United States, and was a particular favourite in the south. A famous Georgia from Georgia was Georgia Brown, the daughter of politician Dr George Brown, who named her after their home state (although surely after himself too). Her story is said to have inspired the jazz standard Sweet Georgia Brown, whose lyrics explain that Georgia named her, Georgia claimed her.

Another geographical namesake is the country Georgia, once part of the Russian Empire. The origin of its name is not certain: it may be after St George, or from the Greek for “tiller of the soil”, as ancient Greeks called agricultural tribes Georgi. Another theory is that it comes from the Persian word gurg, meaning “wolf”, to indicate “land of wolves”. Its possible all these theories are true, with the different origins conflated.

The name Georgia first entered the charts in the 1940s, debuting at #442. A famous namesake for the era was American singer Georgia Carroll, who was part of the Big Band sound of the 1940s. Previously a model, the attractive songstress was known as “Gorgeous Georgia”. Another was the American artist Georgia O’Keefe, whose reputation grew substantially during the 1940s.

The name Georgia began increasing in popularity in the 1960s, making #228. This was the decade that Ray Charles released his hit version of the song Georgia on My Mind, which was written about the American state Georgia, although the lyrics are ambiguously written so that a girl can also be pictured. The composer Hoagy Carmichael did know a girl named Georgia – his sister – although he said that was a coincidence.

Georgia joined the Top 100 in 1989 at #98. It quickly leaped into the Top 50, making #42 by 1991, and was in the Top 10 by 1996, and the Top 5 by 1997. It peaked at #3 in 2001. It is currently #26 nationally, #25 in New South Wales, #26 in Victoria, #23 in Queensland, #31 in South Australia, #24 in Western Australia, #85 in Tasmania, and #21 in the Australian Capital Territory.

In the UK, Georgia’s popularity has been similar to that in Australia. It was a Top 100 name by the 1990s, peaking at #10 in 1997, and is now #48. Georgia is also popular in New Zealand, Ireland, Northern Ireland, and Scotland. In the US, Georgia has never left the Top 1000. It was popular in the 19th and early 20th centuries, but got as low as the 700s in 1990. It has been generally trending upward since then, and is now #230, so Georgia’s popularity has been quite different there.

The variant Jorja made the Top 100 in both Australia and New Zealand during the early to mid 2000s. It has never been popular in any other country, and in the US only made the Top 1000 once, in 2006 when it was #976 (the year after heavy metal singer Bret Michaels welcomed a daughter named Jorja). This is a common variant spelling of Georgia in Australia, which I suspect parents think will be more intuitive to pronounce, and be free of geographical associations. Like other spelling variants, it’s generally frowned upon by those who furrow their brows over names.

Georgia is a modern classic which has been Top 100 for almost thirty years, and is now very stable in the Top 30. It peaked higher in Australia than anywhere else, and has become one of our popular standards. Georgie is the usual nickname, but Gigi is now more fashionable. If this sweet peach of a name that’s been celebrated in dozens of songs has been on your mind, then you might keep going back to Georgia.

POLL RESULTS

The name Georgia received an approval rating of 79%, making it one of the highest-rated names of 2016. People saw the name Georgia as pretty or beautiful (17%), suitable for all ages (17%), warm and sunny (16%), and sweet and spunky (15%). However 9% thought it was too common and boring. Only one person thought the name Georgia had too many spelling and pronunciation issues.

(Photo of Georgia Lee from ABC radio)

Famous Name: Kip

27 Wednesday Apr 2016

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It was Anzac Day on Monday, a national day of remembrance. It is also closely connected with a form of gambling called two-up, a coin toss game where two coins are flipped on a flat wooden paddle by the “spinner”. Players bet on whether the coins land as two heads, two tails, or a head and a tail, called “odds”.

Two-up has become a part of the Australian identity, and is considered to be our national game. You can see games of two-up depicted in the films The Sundowners, Forty Thousand Horsemen, The Shiralee, and Wake in Fright, and it features in songs by AC/DC and Little River Band. The novel Come in Spinner by Dymphna Cusack takes its title from the call given by players to encourage the spinner at the start of play.

Although pitch and toss games were popular among the convicts and on the goldfields, it is thought that the game of two-up as we know it evolved among Australian soldiers during World War I. Not only does the art of war involve a lot of hanging about, but Australians were the best-paid soldiers in the First World War, with disposable income to burn. Gambling was therefore a popular pastime, and became a traditional game for Australian troops.

When returned soldiers came home to Australia, two-up was illegal, but a tactfully blind eye was turned by authorities when it was part of Anzac Day celebrations. It was only in the late 1980s and early 1990s that it became legal to play two-up on Anzac Day (you can also legally play it on Victory in the Pacific Day and on Remembrance Day after midday, although there are certain places, such as casinos, where you can play two-up on any day of the year).

The big catch under the Gaming Act is that you are not allowed to make a financial profit from two-up, and if you organise a game and end up making money, you are required to donate it all to charity. So this is a form of gambling you can play knowing that the money is going to a good cause. And if you end up giving away some of you hard-earned cash, that’s a small sacrifice to make compared to those who gave their lives for their country.

Name Information
The flat piece of wood which holds the coins in a game of two-up is called the kip. The origin of the slang term is not known for sure, but it may the same as the British slang kip, meaning “a short sleep”.

If so, the slang term kip comes from the Dutch kippe, meaning a cheap tavern or dosshouse, which by the 19th century had become a slang term for a brothel (cheap taverns and dosshouses having a tendency to be used in this way).

In either a tavern, dosshouse or brothel, although you might get a chance to doze off, you aren’t expecting it to be a place where you can regularly bed down – hence kip to suggest a short snooze. In Ireland, kip is still used to mean a dirty, messy place, in keeping with the meaning of an unsavoury inn.

The use of the word kip for the paddle used in two-up suggests that it was in such low dives that the game had its origins, or at least that it was a popular form of entertainment in such venues.

Kip is also used as a boy’s name, perhaps originating as a nickname for Christopher or Charles, but in practice often short for a surname such as Kipling, or a “true nickname” with no connection to the name at all.

Use of the name dates to at least the 19th century, although it isn’t possible to tell from records how often the name was given independently rather than as a nickname. The name is particularly associated with the United States, where it once had a bit of social cachet as an upper class nickname.

Kip was on the US Top 1000 from the end of World War II until the mid 1980s, peaking at #380 in 1965. In 2014, there were 50 baby boys named Kip in the US and 12 named Kipp (boys named Kipton, Kipper, and Kipling could well be called Kip for short). In the UK in the same year, there were 5 boys named Kip.

A famous Australian namesake is the amusingly named Kip Gamblin, a ballet dancer who has worked on several opera operas, both here and in America; his dance background has seen him chosen for the movie Moulin Rouge!, and for teen drama series Dance Academy. The name might also remind you of Kip McGrath Education Centres, the tutoring business founded by an Australian schoolteacher named Kip.

Former AFL footballer Brodie Holland and his wife, former model Sarita Stella, named their son Kip, twin brother to Bowie. The inspiration for Kip’s name was model/actor Kip Pardue, whose nickname came about because the initials of his name, Kevin Ian Pardue, spell KIP.

I have seen a few baby boys named Kip in recent years, and this looks like a short vintage-style nickname due for a comeback, in the style of Gus and Ned. Cute and fresh, Kip also manages to slyly reference an Australian tradition: it’s patriotic in a much more subtle way than Anzac and Digger. The name may be rare, but isn’t as much of a gamble as you might think.

POLL RESULTS
Kip received an approval rating of 69%. People saw the name Kip as fun and friendly (29%), and cute and charming (17%), but 21% thought it was only suitable as a nickname. Nobody thought the name Kip was dorky or nerdy.

(Picture shows a commemorative two-up set, complete with wooden kip; although this set has specially made coins, traditionally it is played with Edwardian era, or at least pre-decimal, coins)

Famous Names: Angela and Russell

30 Wednesday Mar 2016

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On March 27 it was the thirtieth anniversary of the Russell Street bombing in Melbourne, in which a gang of criminals blew up the city’s Police Headquarters Complex in an apparent revenge attack. That day in 1986 was Easter Thursday, and the bomb was timed to go off at 1 pm, when the street would be crowded with police and court room staff breaking for lunch.

Constable Angela Rose Taylor, aged 21, was on duty in the watch house at the old Magistrates Court when she tossed a coin with her workmate as to who would collect their sandwiches. Constable Taylor lost. She was on her way to the canteen when a stolen car packed with 50 to 60 sticks of gelignite exploded on Russell Street.

Constable Taylor was just one metre away from the car at the point of detonation, and she was thrown across the street in a fireball, her clothes blown off her body, her shoelaces alight, and her police hat melting. She suffered horrific burns to over 70% of her body and died in hospital on April 20, becoming the first Australian policewoman to die in the line of duty.

Twenty-two other people were injured in the blast, and over one million dollars worth of damage was done to the Police Headquarters, which is now an apartment block. Two men were sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Constable Angela Taylor and other crimes, one without a parole period.

Constable Angela Taylor received a posthumous service medal from Victoria Police, there is a plaque in her honour on Russell Street, a unit at the Royal Melbourne Hospital is dedicated to her, the Angela Taylor Memorial Scholarship offers grants for police to study, the Angela Taylor Memorial Run/Walk commemorates her life, and the dux of each graduating squad receives the Angela Taylor Award. Four of the Taylors’ grand-children are named in her honour – Brooke Angela, Laura Angela, Alyssa Rose, and Alex Jasmine Rose. In these ways does her name live on.

ANGELA
Angela is the feminine form of the Latin name Angelus, meaning “angel”. Angels are mentioned in the Old Testament as spiritual beings who bring communications from God; the word angel is derived from the Greek for “messenger”. Angels play a much bigger role in the New Testament, where they make several important announcements, including the birth and resurrection of Christ.

Angela has been used as a name since the Middle Ages, and given impetus by St. Angela of Foligno, one of the great medieval mystics and a spiritual teacher; later St. Angela Merici specialised in the education of young girls.

The name Angela was most common in Italy, Spain (from where it spread early to Latin America), Germany and Central Europe. Although the name was known in Britain too, it didn’t come into common use in English-speaking countries until the 18th century, aided by Spanish immigration in England. In the US, the name spread via the Hispanic population, and immigration from Germany and Italy.

Famous Australians named Angela include mining heiress Angela Bennett, the second richest woman in the country after Gina Rinehart; actress Angela Punch McGregor, who starred in classic films such as The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith and We of the Never Never; British-Australian novelist Angela Thirkell, who was the god-daughter of J.M. Barrie; scriptwriter Angela Webber, who created the successful children’s show Mortified; and veteran radio broadcaster Angela Catterns.

Angela is a classic name which has never left the charts. It was #268 in the 1900s, joining the Top 100 in 1957 at #87. Famous namesakes from this era include actresses Angela Lansbury and Angie Dickinson. Angela peaked in 1976 at #12, and didn’t leave the Top 100 until 2003. Use has remained stable, and it is not far outside the Top 100 even now.

Angela is also a classic in the United States which has charted in the Top 1000 since the late 19th century, and almost never been lower than the Top 200 during the 20th century. It joined the Top 100 in 1956, and hit its peak in the mid-1970s at #5, when Angela Lansbury was wowing Broadway audiences in Gypsy, while Angie Dickinson starred in TV drama Police Woman. Angela left the Top 100 in 2003; it is now #191 and reasonably stable.

In the UK, Angela joined the Top 100 earlier, during the 1930s. It had been a fashionable choice among the aristocracy earlier in the century, with a notable example being Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, later the Queen Mother, who had Angela as a middle name. The name Angela peaked in the 1960s, and was off the Top 100 by the mid-1990s. It is far less popular in England/Wales than in Australia or the US, being #516 and fairly stable.

Angela is a Top 100 name in Spain, Portugal, and Latin America, and is most popular in Spain, where it is #39.

No longer popular, Angela is an enduring classic with a beautiful meaning that is still in reasonable use. Pretty and sweet, it works well cross-culturally and makes a good choice for parents who want a familiar name which is neither very common for new babies, nor rising in popularity, without being particularly dated. Ange or Angie are the usual nicknames.

RUSSELL
Russell is an English surname of Norman origin. The aristocratic Russell family claim descent from Hugue de Roussel, who came over with the Conqueror as a high-ranking attendant and was granted land in Dorset. The Russells trace their surname from Roussel in Normandy, whose name comes from the Old French for “stream, brook”.

The Scottish Clan Russell trace their descent from an English baron named Rozel, whose name is perhaps derived from the Norman nickname Rous, meaning “red” and given to someone with red hair or ruddy skin. It was common amongst the Normans, and Latinised to Rufus, as with William Rufus, the son of William the Conqueror, who was blond with a florid complexion. This is another possible source for the surname.

The Russell family is one of the most famous in Britain, among the richest landowners in the country, and a powerful dynasty in Whig politics. They are descended from John Russell, a royal minister in the Court of Henry VIII, and the 1st Earl of Bedford, ancestor of all subsequent Earls and Dukes of Bedford.

Sir John Russell was British Prime Minister during the 19th century – it is he who Russell Street in Melbourne is named after. Others members of this prominent family include Bertrand Russell, the 20th century philosopher, humanist, peace activist, and Nobel Prize winner, and Bertrand’s son, historian Conrad Russell. Anne Russell was a literary patron and one of Elizabeth I’s closest friends, niece to the writer Anne Clifford; Anne’s mother Elizabeth Russell was a noted poet herself, so the family has long had a literary connection.

Famous Australian Russells include distinguished artist Russell Drysdale; World War II fighter pilot Russell Fosket; controversial politician Russell Hinze; New Zealand-Australian actor Russell Crowe; film director Russell Mulcahy who created the cult classic Highlander; and rock star Russell Morris, who sang the 1960s classic The Real Thing.

Russell has been used as a personal name since at least the 16th century, most likely in honour of the aristocratic family, and in some cases perhaps to demonstrate kinship with it. By the 18th century it shows up in Scotland, as by that time the Scottish Russells had a baronetcy and were distinguishing themselves in military service.

The name Russell was #94 in the 1900s, and peaked in 1956 at #45 (just as Angela was joining the Top 100). It left the Top 100 in the 1980s, and hasn’t charted since 2009. It is still in occasional use.

In the US, Russell has never been off the Top 1000, and was a Top 100 name from the late 19th century until 1983. Currently it is #408, and relatively stable. In the UK Russell was a Top 100 name from the 1960s until the 1980s. It has been on a fairly steep overall decline, and is now #959 and reasonably stable.

Russell is certainly not fashionable, but doesn’t seem horribly dated either – British comedian Russell Brand is perhaps helping to give it a rather livelier image. Although not a nature name it almost seems like one, as it sounds like the words russet and rustle, conjuring up images of autumn leaves. The usual nicknames are Russ and Rusty.

POLL RESULTS

Angela received an approval rating of 45%. 50% of people weren’t keen on it, and 5% thought it was a terrible name. Russell had a very similar approval rating of 46%. 48% of people weren’t keen on it, and 7% thought it was a terrible name.

 

(Photo of Constable Angela Taylor’s memorial service from the Daily Mail)

Famous Name: Patrick

16 Wednesday Mar 2016

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SaintPatrickShamrock

Tomorrow is St Patrick’s Day, a worldwide celebration of Irish culture. With such a strong Irish heritage in Australia, you would think that St Patrick’s Day would be special here, and you would be right. As early as 1795, Irish convicts were celebrating March 17 in raucous fashion, and these later became more respectable dinners held by colonials of Irish descent. Parades began to be organised in the 1800s, and had become established institutions by the 1920s.

St Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland, and people are sometimes surprised to learn he wasn’t Irish; he was a 5th century Romanised Briton from an aristocratic family on the west coast of Britain. Although his father was a deacon and his grandfather a priest in the Christian church, as a youngster Patrick wasn’t very interested in religion.

According to his own testimony, when he was a teenager he was kidnapped by pirates and taken as a slave to Ireland, where he worked taking care of farm animals in what he describes as a very cold and wet climate. During this time he learned the Irish language and converted to Christianity; after six years he managed to escape and return to his family.

Patrick wrote that a few years after his return, he had a vision of the Irish people begging him to help them. After training as a priest, he went as a missionary to Ireland and became a bishop. Here he converted many people, not only slaves and the poor, but also noblemen and women who became monks and nuns (this may not seem very liberating to us, but the church provided an attractive career path for educated medieval women).

Very little is actually known about Patrick’s life and work, and doubt has even been cast upon his claim of enslavement in Ireland. He wasn’t the first missionary to Ireland – that was St Palladius. Some of the details of Palladius’ Irish mission seem to have got mixed up with Patrick’s story, and Palladius’ role in Ireland may have been minimised to give Patrick the spotlight.

However where facts are thin on the ground, myths and legends flourish. A favourite is that St Patrick used the three-leafed shamrock to illustrate the Trinity, so that the shamrock is a popular symbol on St Patrick’s Day. Another is that St Patrick banished all the snakes from Ireland – an incredibly easy miracle to perform, as they were never there. It is even said that he introduced whiskey to Ireland, and used the drink as a teaching aid: thus drinking alcohol is traditional on St Patrick’s Day.

St Patrick overcame his slightly boring saintliness to become a colourful figure of folklore, and over the centuries a symbol of Irish identity and culture that transcends Catholicism, and even Christianity. And that’s why we all feel just a little bit Irish on St Patrick’s Day!

Name Information
In his autobiography, St Patrick always refers to himself as Patricius, a Roman name meaning “nobleman” (it is the source of the word patrician). It is possible that he chose this himself, because the name is linked with the Latin for “father” – pater – to suggest he was the father of his people. However, Patricius was in regular use among the Romans, and in fact the name of St Augustine’s dad.

It is often said that Patrick’s birth name was Maewyn Succat, a British translation of the Roman name Magonus Succetus, and translated with great optimism as “famous war god”. (Succetus was supposedly a Celtic god of war, although nobody seems to have heard of him, which doesn’t help the translation overmuch).

This already seems like something his followers might have invented, and looks even less convincing as it appears that the name comes from British and means “servant swine-herd” – a clear reference to Patrick’s period of slavery. If St Patrick had another name as a child, we do not know it.

Patrick is the Anglicised form of Patricius, with the Irish form being Pádraig, the Scots Gaelic Phádraig, and the Welsh Padrig. Due to the fame of St Patrick, Patrick was used in Britain by the Middle Ages (sometimes with Patricius as the official name), where it was especially popular in the north of England. It was also taken up with enthusiasm in the west of Scotland, where it was seen as a form of Peter.

Although we think of Patrick as a typically Irish name, it did not come into common use in Ireland until the 17th or perhaps even 18th century, when it was introduced by Scots immigrants to northern Ireland. Before this, the Irish felt that the name of their national saint was far too sacred to be given as a baby name, although they did use names such as Gilla Pátraic, meaning “servant of St Patrick”.

However, once the Irish gave in to peer pressure and decided Patrick was okay to use, it became a great favourite. Patrick was so popular as a boy’s name in Ireland by the 19th century that the nickname Paddy became a (rather disparaging) term for an Irishman.

With strong Irish immigration to Australia, there have been many Australian Patricks. Some examples include the Nobel Prize-winning author Patrick White; pioneering farmer Patrick Durack, who founded the famous Durack dynasty; Patrick Hannan, whose discovery of gold sparked the gold rush in Western Australia; Presbyterian minister Patrick Murdoch, progenitor of the famous Murdoch dynasty; and Patrick Sullivan, creator of Felix the cartoon cat.

It thus comes as little surprise that the name Patrick is a solid classic in Australia, never out of the Top 100, and rarely out of the Top 50. It was #36 in the 1900s, and reached its lowest point in 1978 at #71. Its peak was in 1994, when it reached #30. It is now stable around the lower end of the Top 50.

Currently it is #40 nationally, #51 in New South Wales, #26 in Victoria, #46 in Queensland, #36 in South Australia, #46 in Western Australia, #46 in Tasmania, and #29 in the Australian Capital Territory. In 2014 it was the fastest-rising name in Tasmania, and one of the fastest-rising in South Australia.

In the US, Patrick has constantly charted on the Top 1000, and never been lower than #166, which it reached in 1919. It was a Top 100 name at the turn of the 20th century, and again from 1936 to 2003, peaking at #30 in the 1960s. Currently it is #153 and fairly stable.

In the UK, Patrick has likewise been a long-time favourite. It was in the Top 100 from the mid-19th century until 2006, and is now #115 and stable. Patrick is a Top 100 name in New Zealand, and in Northern Ireland, where its popularity is similar to Australia’s. It is most popular in Ireland, where it is in the Top 20, and very stable.

Patrick is a strong, handsome name that is a timeless classic while remaining stylish. It’s popular, but has always been so, and its position on the charts is is extremely stable. It’s a traditional name with ties to Irish history and culture, and in Australia often considered a rather upper class choice. Traditional nicknames like Pat, Patsy and Patty are out of favour, but Paddy is still going strong, and Patch perhaps deserving of a mention.

POLL RESULTS

Patrick received an approval rating of 79%, making it one of the highest-rated names of 2016. People saw the name as handsome and charming (24%), a stylish classic (21%), and a name which ages well (17%). However 9% thought it was too common and boring. Only 1 person thought Patrick from Spongebob Squarepants made the name too embarrassing to use.

Famous Name: Asha

02 Wednesday Mar 2016

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BABY ASHA HOSPITAL PROTEST

Even though this blog discusses baby names, real life babies, names of famous people, and names of famous people’s babies, this is the first time I have looked at the name of a real life famous baby. Unfortunately, when a baby is able to grab the headlines in their own right, it is nearly always a tragic story, and this is no exception.

The baby girl known as “Asha” was born in Australia at the start of 2015 to refugees who had arrived by boat: her parents are Nepalese Christians. Under Australia’s Migration Act, any person who arrives by boat without papers is declared an “unauthorised maritime arrival” (UMA) and is transferred to an offshore processing centre. These are not pleasant places, and the waiting times for processing can be extremely long.

You would think that anybody born in Australia would be an Australian citizen by birth, but that changed in 2014 when the Migration Act was amended retrospectively to say that any child born in Australia to a UMA is also a UMA.

In June last year baby Asha became the first Australian-born child to be transferred to a detention centre on Nauru with her parents. Although a thriving baby when she arrived, she had a less than ideal life sleeping on a wet mattress in a leaky tent in the middle of a phosphate mine surrounded by rats and mosquitoes. Her parents quickly became suicidal, and her mother unable to feed her. Asha’s health deteriorated.

Doctors and nurses at the detention centre said that it amounted to child abuse: the government decided to do something about that by changing the Border Force Act to say that any health worker who spoke up about the dangerous conditions on Nauru could be imprisoned for two years. A social media campaign started to Bring Back Asha, and the other babies kept in detention.

On Australia Day this year, baby Asha was taken to Brisbane’s Lady Cilento Hospital to be treated for burns, having been accidentally scalded with hot water. Even after she had been effectively treated and her condition stabilised, doctors refused to release her from hospital, as they feared that sending her back to Nauru would be detrimental to her physical and mental health. Hundreds rallied outside the hospital in support of staff, with Let Asha Stay banners.

The Immigration Minister suggested that Asha had been burned on purpose so that she could come to Australia for treatment. There was no evidence to support this, and it is unclear how it would have made a difference anyway: if a baby is hurt deliberately, it needs the same health care as if it had been hurt by accident.

The stand off between the Federal Government and doctors continued. After almost a month in hospital, baby Asha and her parents were released into community detention instead of being sent back to Nauru. The Immigration Minister insists this is not a back-flip on policy, but exactly what would have happened all along, and that the baby and parents will eventually be returned to Nauru.

The location of baby Asha and her family is currently secret, and their fate is unclear. The other babies and children on Nauru remain in detention, their situation unchanged. It is not really a happy ending to the story.

But at least we know now that Australians are ready to stand up for children against their government, because there was widespread community support for the hospital staff and for the protesters. That is the ray of light in an otherwise very dark chapter.

Name Information
Asha is a Hindi name for girls, from the Sanskrit word āśā, meaning “hope”. A famous namesake from India is Asha Bhosle, who has done playback singing for thousands of Bollywood movies; she is immortalised in the song Brimful of Asha, by British band Cornershop, and still touring the world as a concert singer.

The name Asha is also used in East Africa, an apparent form of the Arabic name Aisha, translated as “life, alive, she who lives”. The name is commonly used among Muslims, because Aisha was the name of the prophet Muhammad’s third wife. A famous namesake is Asha Abdalla, a Somali politician and activist who has been recognised globally for her efforts towards promoting peace and women’s rights.

Another African connection is the award-winning Nigerian-French singer-songwriter Aṣa, her name pronounced the same way as Asha. Born Bukola Elemide, she took her stage name from the Yoruba word for “hawk”: I have seen her name transliterated as Asha, even on official merchandise. Like Asha Bhosle, she has performed in Australia.

There is a male association for the name Asha as well. In Zoroastrianism, Asha Vahishta is a deity of Truth and Righteousness. Asha is translated as meaning “truth” in the Avestan language, but it also means “existing”, in the sense of bringing something into being. Asha can also be translated as “natural order, acting correctly, righteous”, in the sense of cosmic harmony under natural law.

Asha is strongly connected with divine fire, and this is not only the spark of life which brings creation into being, but also a fire which can pass judgement, finding out the truth, and burning away the lie. Fire protects Asha Vahishta, and in later times he is identified as a god of the household hearth. It is interesting for an Anglophone that Asha is connected with fire, which produces ash. Asha is used as a male name in Iran, but is more common as a name element.

Despite all these origins for the name, Asha has been used in the English-speaking world since the 18th century, given to both sexes. It might have been used as a variant spelling of the biblical name Asher, or seen as a specifically feminine spelling. (Asher is translated as “happy, lucky”, but you can read more about its etymology in the entry for this name).

Asha also makes sense as a name to an English-speaking person because of the word ash. This can mean the residue of a fire, and ashes are often seen as holy and protective. The other meaning of ash is an ash tree, which has the same etymology as ashes – ash trees were also seen as protective and healthy.

Although ash trees do make excellent firewood, the Old English word for ash and spear were the same, aesc. Aesc was a popular element in Anglo-Saxon names, and both men and women were called Aesca (said Asha). Even today, popular names such as Ashley (“ash meadow”) and Ashton (“ash town”) are derived from the ash tree, so Asha does not feel alien to us.

Asha is a fairly common name for girls in Australia, and has become conflated with the name Asher, which is used for girls as well as boys here, thanks to actress Asher Keddie. If Asha and Asher were combined together, the name would be in the Top 100, or only just outside it.

In the UK, the name Asha is #940 for girls, and falling in popularity from a peak of #313 in 2003 (Asha has rarely been given to boys, and Asher only occasionally given to girls in Britain). In the US in 2014, 200 girls were given the name Asha, and 74 called Asher (no boys are registered as having the name Asha, while Asher is a Top 100 name for boys).

Asha is an attractive name that has a long history, but feels contemporary. Simple to spell and pronounce, it works multiculturally without seeming particularly exotic. One of its most appealing attributes must be the multiplicity of meanings, all of which are positive. Although common in Australia compared to other English-speaking countries, it could very well be confused with Asher.

I hope the baby Asha story does not put parents off the name: not only is Asha just a name used by the press to protect her identity, but the meaning of “hope” seems so apt. Hope not only for Asha, but for all babies who need our care and compassion.

POLL RESULTS

Asha received an outstanding approval rating of 90%, making it the most popular of all the Famous Names for 2016. People saw the name Asha as pretty or beautiful (23%), working well multiculturally while still fitting in (23%), strong and independent (22%), and having many positive meanings (17%). However, 4% thought it would be too easily confused with the name Asher. Only one person thought the name would be connected with the Baby Asha case, and nobody thought it would be confused with names like Ashley and Ashlyn.

(Photo of protesters supporting Asha from SBS).

Famous Names: Lleyton and Daria

18 Thursday Feb 2016

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BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA - JANUARY 02: Lleyton Hewitt of Australia celebrates winning his match against Feliciano Lopez of Spain during day five of the 2014 Brisbane International at Queensland Tennis Centre on January 2, 2014 in Brisbane, Australia. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

January is the great month for tennis in Australia. There’s the Australian Open and Kooyong Classic in Melbourne, the Hopman Cup in Perth, the Brisbane International, and the Sydney International, as well one-off events and exhibition matches around the country. I have to watch all of them, because my husband is a tennis fan who started playing as soon as he could hold a racket without falling over from the weight of it.

This year one Australian champion bowed out of competition, while a young player began competing under the Australian flag for the first time.

Lleyton Hewitt retired after making his twentieth appearance at the Australian Open, a former world number 1 and youngest ever male to make number 1, at the age of 20. Not only remembered as someone who was once at the top of the game for several years, he never lost his fighting spirit, and catchphrase warcry of “C’mon!”. He has been an inspiration for many young tennis players, and made the Australia Day honours list year.

Daria Gavrilova is a Russian-born tennis player who was the world number 1 junior, winning gold at the 2010 Youth Olympics. She emigrated to Australia last year, as her boyfriend is Australian player Luke Saville, and became an Australian citizen. Last month she won the mixed doubles at the Hopman Cup with partner Nick Kyrgios, and is the number 2 Australian player in women’s tennis.

LLEYTON
Lleyton is a variant spelling of Leyton. This English surname is derived from several places in the UK called Leyton, Layton, or Leighton. Depending on regional accent they can either be said LAY-ton, LIGH-ton, LEE-ton, or even LAW-ton, but the first is by far the most common.

Leyton in north London means “farm on the River Lea”; the River Lea’s name may come from the Celtic meaning “light, bright”, and possibly refers to the god Lugus. Layton in Lancashire comes from the Old English meaning “farm near water channels” – Layton is part of Blackpool, which had a drainage system of channels running over its peat bog. However, most places with these names are derived from the Old English for “leek farm”.

As a first name Layton and Leighton are the earliest spellings, in use since at least the 16th century. Most people with the names have been male, although from the beginning they were sometimes given to girls too. The names had early associations with Shropshire and Warwickshire, suggesting the inspiration may often have been the village of Leighton in Shropshire.

Leyton has been used as a first name since the 18th century, nearly always given to boys. Also strongly associated with Shropshire and Warwickshire, Leyton shows up in the Leyton area near London. For reasons I have been unable to identify, the name Leyton is also associated with south Wales, and there are several well-known Welshmen with the name Leyton or Leighton.

Lleyton seems to be a modern innovation, and to be found quite rarely. It is interesting to speculate whether the double L is an attempt to make the name seem more Welsh, in the style of names like Lloyd and Llewellyn. The name has become more common in the 21st century, perhaps due to Lleyton Hewitt himself.

In the UK, the spelling Layton has charted in the Top 1000 since the mid-1990s, and rose until a peak in 2011 at #161. It is currently #175 and stable. The spelling Layton has been on and off the US Top 1000 since the 19th century, with its most recent burst starting in 2001 – the year after Lleyton Hewitt won his first Grand Slam title at the US Open. It is currently #643 and fairly stable.

In the UK, the spelling Leighton has charted in the Top 400 since the mid-1990s. It hit a peak of #150 in 2013, and is now #154. It has occasionally been given to girls in the UK. In the US, Leighton has been on the Top 1000 for boys a few times since the 19th century, and made #892 in 2014. Since 2009 it has regularly made the Top 1000 for girls, and is currently #540 and gradually rising. The American actress Leighton Meester from TV show Gossip Girl has recently made this spelling of the name seem feminine.

In the UK, Leyton has charted in the Top 1000 since the mid-1990s, and peaked in 2007 at #345; it is now #434. In the US in 2014, there were 131 boys and 27 girls names Leyton, so it is much less common than in the UK.

Lleyton has shown up in the UK data since 2000, the start of Lleyton Hewitt’s career and his first Grand Slam win. The name peaked in 2005 at #747, and in 2014 there were 15 baby boys given the name Lleyton. In the US, 34 boys were named Lleyton and no girls, so if nothing else, this spelling seems to be only one which is currently male-only.

I see this name quite often in Australian birth announcements, with such a variety of spellings that no single variant would ever show up in data. It is sometimes used for girls here, but in these cases is invariably spelled Leighton, perhaps because of Leighton Meester.

This is a contemporary unisex name with a perhaps confusing array of spellings – but only Lleyton will always seem male, and remind people of the famous tennis player.

DARIA
Daria is the feminine form of Darius, a Romanised form of the Greek form of the Persian name Dārayavahush, meaning something like “possessing goodness, holding onto goodness”. In modern Persian, the name Darya coincides with the word for “sea”.

St Daria is a legendary saint. According to legend, she was a Roman Vestal Virgin married off to an early Christian nobleman named Chrysanthus. He converted her to Christianity, and persuaded her to live with him in a state of chastity (which helpfully agreed with her vows as a Vestal Virgin). The pair of them went around converting loads of other Romans, and eventually they were tortured and executed.

The story (written centuries after the supposed events) goes against everything we know about the status of Vestal Virgins in ancient Rome – they weren’t allowed to marry before the completion of their vows, and at one point, Daria’s punishments include being placed in a brothel as a common prostitute, an act of sacrilege which simply could not have occurred.

However, the story must have been appealing as they became quite popular saints. Three cities claim to have the remains of Chrysanthus and Daria, and the ones in Italy have been been confirmed as a male and female in their late teens, dating to roughly the correct era, so they at least got some believable bones.

St Daria was especially venerated in the Orthodox faith, and the name Daria is much more common in Central and Eastern Europe than elsewhere, although also used in Spain and Latin America. It is popular in Poland and Romania.

Daria has been used in the English-speaking world since the 18th century, without ever becoming very common. It’s been on the US Top 1000 a smattering of times, and in 2014 there were 104 baby girls named Daria – the same number as those called Arwen and Memphis. In the UK the name Daria is #439 and rising: a reflection of high immigration from Poland and Russia.

The name Daria isn’t common in Australia. It may be familiar to some because of Daria Gavrilova and Australian gymnast Daria Joura – although perhaps best known from the sardonic teenage cartoon character Daria Morgendorffer.

Daria has several possible nicknames – Dasha, Dasia, Danya, Darinka, and Dolly are a few in use. Both Daria Gavrilova and Daria Joura are known as Dasha (said like DAH-shah, not like Dasher the reindeer), and this makes Dash another possible nickname.

Darius is becoming better used, and the fame of the Australian tennis player could give more publicity to its feminine form. Strong and attractive, Daria would work well multiculturally.

POLL RESULTS

Lleyton received an approval rating of 33%. 52% of people weren’t keen on the name, and only 6% loved it. Daria did better with an approval rating of 54%. Although 41% of people weren’t keen on it, only 6% thought it was a terrible name.

(Photo shows Lleyton Hewitt at the 2014 Brisbane International)