26 Wednesday Mar 2014
Posted in Celebrity Baby News
Actor Chris Hemsworth, and his actress wife Elsa Pataky, welcomed twin boys on March 18, and have named their sons Tristan and Sasha. Tristan and Sasha Hemsworth join big sister India, nearly 2; India’s birth was announced on the blog.
The twins are the first members of the family to be born in America, as they arrived at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in West Hollywood, Los Angeles. India was born in London, while Elsa is Spanish, and of course Chris is Australian.
23 Sunday Mar 2014
Posted in Blog Reviews
Tags
Anne of Green Gables, baby name blogs, baby name books, Baby Names from the Bible, Biblical names, choosing baby names, Clare's Name News, controversial names, fictional namesakes, honouring, Instagram, pen names, popular names, rare names, US name popularity, YouTube
Alexia Mae is the warm and enthusiastic blogger behind Baby Names from the Bible, devoted to all the great names in the Good Book, whether familiar or unusual. I usually allow blog readers to decide which blogger is interviewed, but last month Alexia Mae was kind enough to invite me to be interviewed at Baby Names from the Bible, so this is a return visit – although she would have been chosen next time anyway. Alexia Mae passed her 100th post a month ago, so let’s hope there are many more.
What is your name?
Alexia Mae. I’m the “Dear Abby” of baby names, as Alexia Mae is my pen name.
Have you ever wished you had a different name?
My real one? Oh, yes. It’s not too common a name; it’s only ever made it to #30. But the spelling of it is unique, which catapults it outside the Top 1000 for all time. Add a filler family middle, and the annoyance of people misunderstanding my name, and I begged to be called Alexia as a kid. Fast forward to me needing a pen name … Bob’s your uncle, I had one. Mae is in honour of my grandma. Now that I’m an adult I appreciate my given name more. I was almost a Kasia, which I would have loved, too.
How did you become interested in names?
I blame my name craziness on Shane, my kindergarten crush. He was the ruddy-haired Irish kid with the leather necklace, the dude everyone wanted to be friends with. In a classroom of boring names from the ’80s, Shane stuck out. I suddenly became very aware of people’s names.
When I was thirteen, my mom got pregnant. My brother Aaron and I were close in age, but now I was way older for this new brother, and boy, was I ready to help name the kid! Shot down, but kept on trying. Their choice? Another A name, Andrew. A perfect recipe for my mom to never get our names right. But, after stealing (I mean permanently borrowing) a name book my mom picked up, I came down with full blown name-nuttiness. It’s been downhill ever since.
How did you become interested in biblical names?
That first baby name book I got my hands on happened to be about biblical names. And it was literally four pieces of paper. (Maybe that’s why my parents never got out of the As.) It was small. But it had a big impact. To see the meaning of names, and to be able to go to the Bible and see them used, just blew me away. It was my own “sawdust trail moment” for names. They have proved themselves to be real gems, and have a power in their age and timelessness.
Do you have a favourite baby name book?
The Holy Bible 😉 My email inbox is also swarmed with name people I’m subscribed to, and I rely on Clare’s Scoop for everything else. (That gal needs an award.) [WMTM: She got one! She has a gold ribbon saying her page is one of the most highly-recommended in the Society topic on Scoop].
What inspired you to begin a name blog?
My husband Josiah and I both love the idea of using biblical names for our children. When I was first married I searched for biblical baby name books, and couldn’t find any. Zilch. Zip. Nada. Not even the one that I originally had. Then I began to think about that original name book, and thought it was awfully small compared to the actual Bible. I mean, the Book of Numbers wouldn’t even fit in there, and it’s practically nothing but names.
I kept asking myself, if I can’t find them, who else will? Why is no one celebrating the biblical names I know must exist? So I began logging the names I was coming across for my own use, and I really wanted to share them … and Baby Names from the Bible was born.
Do you have a favourite blog entry on Baby Names from the Bible?
The post that I’m the most proud of is one I wrote a couple of years ago, Why Name Your Baby a Biblical Name? I take a moment to stand on my soap box and talk about why people, even those who aren’t religious, should take another look at baby names from the Bible. Forget about Zerubbabel. How about Junia? Rissah? Ardon? There are names galore for anyone thirsty for a good name.
Are there any other ways to stay in touch with you online?
I’m @NamesDaily on Instagram, and I post names every day, both biblical and not. Instagram has been an amazing experience. I have a growing following of over 2000 people. I’m getting the opportunity first hand to see names that knock your socks off, and some, that well, just don’t. I’m also on YouTube.
Do you have a pet peeve in regard to names?
Yhess. Yoonique namez. If I have to read it more than once to get what name you’re actually trying to say, I’ve got to stand up and get a cup of coffee. It literally makes my skin crawl. Jaycein? I am somebody who has zero adrenaline tolerance for awkwardness in any way, so I have to get up and walk it off. True stuff.
In the name community, I feel sometimes it’s like Eskimos marketing ice to fellow Eskimos who live in the same igloo. I want to find ways to branch out and actually talk to parents who have never even owned a baby name book. I think that’s why I love being on Instagram so much, because it’s exactly that. I enjoy so many people in the baby name community, but I want to find ways to branch out, too. (We need an annual name conference.)
What are some of your favourite names?
Boys: Judah and Josiah, of course. Abel.
Girls: Juniper. Ellowyn. Cassia. Maewyn. I really love Naphtali for a girl, but can’t bring myself to use it because no one would be able to pronounce it or spell it. It’s like Natalie with an F. I’m drawn to biblical names, but I enjoy other names, too.
What names do you dislike?
Delilah. I see the appeal, but I would never use it. The same with Jezebel. That one makes my skin crawl when I hear someone nonchalantly talking about using it. Whether you believe in the Bible or not, the connotation still exists. Jezebel was a murderer, and it would be like naming your child Hitler. I just don’t think you should do it.
What are your favourite names in the US Top 100?
Girls: Biblical – Leah (#33). Other – Harper (#24) and Lillian (#25)
Boys: Biblical – Josiah (#79). Other – Landon (#34)
What are your favourite names in the rest of the US Top 1000?
Margaret (#178) and Judah (#273)
What are your favourite names that don’t currently chart?
Blythe (never charted) and Clive (hasn’t charted since 1935)
What is your son’s name?
Judah David. Our story of Judah’s name is a fun and interesting one, and you can read about it at So There’s This Name ….
If you found out you were pregnant right now, what names would you be considering?
I would be trying to convince Josiah to like Blythe Salomae. We have boys names we like, but like we did with Judah, we’re not telling anyone.
What is something we don’t know about you that you would like to share?
I love the Anne of Green Gables series and have read them probably too much. Tell me Lucy Maud Montgomery wasn’t a name nut. Ludovic Speed? Gilbert ❤ Is this why I love the name Blythe? I will never tell.
What advice would you give someone choosing a baby name?
If you can’t use the one you love, use it anyway. Never, ever settle. Unless it’s Jezebel or Kidneigh Bean, and then I’d say maybe keep looking. Valuable life lessons also apply to names. You are giving your babies the first impression they will have on people. Give them something that makes them proud. Something that makes you proud. And like weak coffee, name regret stinks. I’ll brew down some Starbucks, and you can come over and we can talk more about names!
(Picture shows Alexia Mae with her son Judah; photo supplied by Baby Names from the Bible)
21 Friday Mar 2014
Posted in Birth Announcements
Multiples
Boston and Phoenix
Edison Brave and Spencer Ace
Gypsy and Lulu
London and Cairo
Thor and Storm
Ziggy and Soul
Amethyst, Sapphire and Emerald
Girls
Acacia Violet
Arden Glow Marsh
Azalea Pearl (Havana)
Bijou
Camilla Elisabeth
Capri Amour
Cataleya Rose
Dru Magenta
Emily Beatrice (Madeleine)
Esha Viola Lorraine
Indiah Berry
Iolanthe Marceau Louwon (Siddy)
Kinga Florence
Lola Starr
Lucy Elsa
Marina Anne (Clancy)
Mila Danica
Mystique Bella Rose
Nevaeh-Dolly
Opal Jane
Sage Harper (Mason, Ruby)
Soleil Nova Minnie May
Tamsin Annabelle (Tessa)
Velicity
Vesper Lucia
Boys
Akira Cheema
Arlo Breeze Wilson (Taylah)
Bowen Christopher
Eli Samuel (Tate, Asher)
Finlan Joshua (Fletcher)
Fortune
Henry Nigel Gregory
Huon Lawson Mac (Lachlan)
Hurley Adam
Jarryd Usher
Jasper Fox
Jaxon Friend
Josiah Gideon (Jessie, Phoebe, Rebekah, Esther, David, Jonathan)
Kai Ringin
Kingston Blu
Ned Raymond (Olive, Henry, Edie)
Oliver Flannery
Quinn Ollie (Keeble)
Riordan Kade
Roc Roberts (Aina) – surname Storm
Shayden James
Sonny Jai
Ted Bradshaw
Vincent Tom
Zeke Noel (Joshua, Trent)
Note: Some of these names are from Bonds Baby Search 2014.
(Picture shows Saint Matthew’s Anglican Church at Poonindie, near Port Lincoln in South Australia, at evening – the church was once part of an Aboriginal mission; photo by Jacqui Barker at Open ABC)
20 Thursday Mar 2014
Posted in Name Data
GIRLS
|
BOYS
|
GIRLS NAME TRENDS
Biggest Risers
Violet (+86), Paige (+66), Evelyn (+63), Maggie and Savannah (+60)
Biggest Fallers
Jessica (-60), Hannah (-44), Zara (-38)
New: Abby, Annabel, Bronte, Daisy, Dakota, Elsie, Estelle, Florence, Indy, Josie, Kaylee, Lauren, Mabel, Macey, Nevaeh, Nina, Peyton, Rubi, Stephanie, Summer, Tilly, Trinity
Gone: Adele, Anna, Ayla, Faith, Freya, Gracie, Hailey, Indie, Isobel, Josephine, Kate, Leah, Lydia, Macy, Milla, Pippa, Rose, Rosie, Sofia, Tayla, Victoria, Zoey
Comment: Tasmania seems to embrace both the new and the retro with equal warmth. Where else can you see Mabel and Nevaeh side by side, or Maggie and Savannah growing at the same rate?
BOYS NAME TRENDS
Biggest Risers
Owen (+53), Hudson (+46), Lewis (+39), Ryder (+36), Caleb (+35)
Biggest Fallers
Seth (-54), Leo (-46), Jake and Jett (-38)
New: Ari, Charles, Heath, Jobe, Joel, Kai, Kaiden, Koby, Louie, Malachi, Marcus, Michael, Parker, Zane
Gone: Aaron, Aiden, Andrew, Ashton, Billy, Brax, Brock, Callum, Cameron, Finn, Gabriel, Jax, Patrick, Saxon, Vincent, Zac
Comments: Fun royal baby name fact – George, Alexander and Louis all rose in popularity in 2013!
NOTE: Because of its small population size, Tasmania’s top names are its complete name data. For the same reason, its charts are highly volatile.
20 Thursday Mar 2014
Posted in Celebrity Baby News
Former pop singer Nikki Webster, and her husband Matthew McMah, welcomed their first child early this year and have named their daughter Skylah.
Nicole, or “Nikki” started out in show business at the age of five, performing in pantomimes, musicals, and commercials. She came to prominence at the age of 13, when she was chosen for a starring role in the opening ceremony of the 2000 Sydney Olympics. She then signed a recording contract with BMG, and released her first single, Strawberry Kisses, in 2001. Her début album, Follow Your Heart, went platinum, and she received a John O’Keefe Encouragement Award at the 2001 Mo Awards. Her second album was also a success, and she was chosen as the face of a cosmetics line for young teens, and designed her own range of children’s clothing. She competed in Dancing With The Stars at the age of 17. As an adult, Nikki tried to give herself a more mature image, controversially appearing on the front cover of FHM magazine on her 18th birthday, and making #7 on their 100 Sexiest Women of 2005 list. She also performed at the Sydney gay and lesbian dace party, Sleaze Ball in 2007. Since 2008, she and her brother Scott have managed performing arts schools to help children get into the entertainment industry, where she teaches dancing.
Matthew works in the aviation industry. He and Nikki met on a blind date on Australia Day in 2010, and were married in 2012.
19 Wednesday Mar 2014
Posted in Famous Names
Tags
english names, Greek names, holiday names, locational names, musical names, mythological names, name history, name meaning, name popularity, name trends, US name popularity, virtue names
This Friday, March 21, it will be Harmony Day. Harmony Day is a government initiative which began in 1999, inspired by the United Nation’s International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which takes place every March 21 around the world. It is a public holiday in South Africa, commemorating those who lost their lives in the struggle against apartheid.
On Harmony Day, primary schools, workplaces and communities come together to celebrate diversity and learn respect for each other. The message of Harmony Day is Everyone Belongs, and people are encouraged to dress in orange or wear orange ribbons to show their support. Harmony Day is managed by the Department of Social Services, and is part of Diversity Week.
Australia is one of the most multicultural countries in the world, with people from more than 200 countries and more than 150 languages represented. More than a quarter of the population are migrants, and clearly we all need to learn to get along. Although studies find that Australia is a generally tolerant society, and most migrants feel that they are accepted as part of the community, that isn’t the same as a society where diversity is welcomed, and more needs to be done.
The English word harmony can mean either “agreement, accord” (as Our views on child rearing were in complete harmony), or “a pleasing combination of elements” (as in The harmony of colours in her decorating scheme gave the house a relaxed feel). It is especially connected with music, where harmony is the use of simultaneous notes or chords.
The word is from Old French harmonie, from the Latin harmonia, based on the Ancient Greek harmozo, meaning “to fit together, to join”. In former times, the word harmony was used to mean music itself.
Harmonia was the Greek goddess of harmony and concord. She was seen as the personification of harmonious love between all people, of social order and civic unity. She was married to the Phoenician prince Cadmus, the founder of the city Thebes, and is famous because of a magic gold necklace she received as a wedding present, in the shape of two serpents. Although the necklace made any woman who wore it eternally beautiful and youthful, it had the unpleasant feature of bringing grave misfortune to its owners.
The necklace was wrought by Hephaestus, the god of metalwork, who became enraged when he discovered his wife Aphrodite having an affair with Ares, the god of war. He vowed to wreak revenge by cursing the lineage of any children arising from the affair: Harmonia was the result, and so she was given the jewellery of doom. Harmonia and Cadmus were transformed into dragons as part of the curse, and all Harmonia’s female descendants had horrible times because of the necklace. One of her descendants was Queen Jocasta, the mother of Oedipus – a famous example of family life going terribly wrong.
Eventually, after generations of misery, someone stole the necklace to give to his mistress, upon which her son went mad and set fire to her house, killing her and mercifully burning all that she had possessed, including the necklace. Why no one thought to destroy the thing earlier is a mystery – I suppose looking eternally young and beautiful was too hard to give up.
Harmony has been used as a girls name since the 18th century; although originating in England, it quickly gained more use in the American colonies, and to this day is more popular in the United States than elsewhere. An American connection to the name is the Harmony Society, an esoteric Christian sect which came to the United States from Germany in the early 19th century, named their first commune Harmonie, and built several towns with the name Harmony.
A statue of the goddess Harmonia is in the Harmony Society Gardens in the Old Economy Village in Pennsylvania, showing the high esteem they held for the virtue of harmony – as I think all communes must do, otherwise communal life would soon become intolerable. However, when they built New Harmony in Indiana, they included a shrubbery maze, to indicate that the path to harmony was not easy.
Harmony is a misunderstood virtue: it is perhaps too easy to dismiss those aiming for harmony as submissive, or passive-aggressive, or to see harmony as stifling, controlling, dull, or even totalitarian. Maybe when we think of harmony, we imagine everyone repressing their individuality to conform, being insincerely “nice” to each other, and minimising differences between people.
But in a truly harmonious society, people would recognise and value each other’s individuality, taking pleasure in their differences. Harmony isn’t about us all shutting up so we can fit in, but allowing each other to express ourselves, so that the entire range of the notes of the human chord can be heard together.
In music, harmony occurs when there is a balance between tense moments and relaxed moments – and that’s good in harmonious relationships too. Harmony doesn’t mean that things are always mild, pleasant and bland: it means that there is a healthy balance between dissonance and concurrence, between conflict and peace. Of course, harmony is very subjective, with each of us having our own idea of what this healthy balance looks like: no wonder harmony is so difficult to attain!
Harmony is a pretty name, and extols an unusual virtue, which is secular rather than spiritual, and communal rather than personal in nature. It’s also a musical name, more fashionable than Melody, but less trendy than Cadence, and so a nice harmonious balance between them. It fits in with choices such as Harper and Harlow, and in Victoria is a similar popularity to Harlow, in the 200s.
POLL RESULT
Harmony received an excellent approval rating of 75%, making it one of the highest-rated names of 2014. People saw the name Harmony as pretty and sweet (29%), and a beautiful musical name (25%). However, 16% thought the name seemed unprofessional or lower class.
18 Tuesday Mar 2014
Posted in Celebrity Baby News
Rugby league legend Mal Meninga, coach of the Queensland Maroons, and his wife Amanda [pictured], recently welcomed their second son, who they have named Zach. Zach Meninga joins big brother Elijah, who hadn’t had his first birthday at the time, so for a while the Meningas had two boys under the age of one. Elijah’s birth was announced on the blog last year.
Liberal National Party MP Saxon Rice, and her husband Thomas, welcomed their first child on February 6 and have named their daughter Imogen Anderson. Imogen Rice was born at 4.05 pm weighing 4.2 kg (9lb 5oz), and her birth was announced on Facebook. Saxon is the Member for Mount Coot-tha in Brisbane, winning the seat at the 2012 state election.
Radio host Jess Eva, and her partner Norm Hogan, welcomed their first child on March 4 and have named their son Fred Hayden. Jess is the co-host of BarRat & Jess at 919 SEA FM on the Sunshine Coast, and her pregnancy was announced on air by a psychic, which seems to be a spooky new celebrity baby trend.
18 Tuesday Mar 2014
Posted in Celebrity Baby News
Rugby league star Braith Anasta, and his wife, actress and model Jodi Jordon, welcomed their first child on March 2, and have named their daughter Aleeia. Aleeia Anasta was born at 10.33 am at the Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney, weighing 3 kg (6 lb 6 oz) and 49 cm long.
Braith has been a professional league footballer since 2000, and has played for the Canterbury Bulldogs and Sydney Roosters, signing with Wests Tigers last season. He has played for the Australian national team, the New South Wales Blues, NSW City, the Prime Minister’s XIII, and last year he played for the national team of Greece. He won the Jack Gibson Medal and the Supporters Club Player of the Year in 2007, the Players Player of the Year in 2008, and the 2010 Captain of the Year in 2010. Braith’s interesting name has been featured on the blog, and also at Baby Name Pondering.
Jodi won a modelling competition at the age of 13, and signed with Vivien’s Modelling Agency. Since 2008 she has been the ambassador for lingerie brand Crystelle. Jodi was on soap opera Home and Away for five years, and won a Logie for Most Popular New Talent in 2006. She received her first film role in 2010, for The Cup, and in 2012 had a role in the crime drama series Underbelly: Badness. She and Braith were married in Bali in 2012.
17 Monday Mar 2014
Posted in Celebrity Baby News
Former tennis player Mark Philippoussis, and his wife Silvana Lovin, welcomed their first child on February 3, and have named their son Nicholas Emanuel. Nicholas may be named after Mark’s father, Nick Phillipoussis, who was his first tennis coach.
Mark was a professional tennis player during the 1990s and early 2000s. He and his doubles partner Jelena Dokic won the Hopman Cup in 1999 – the only time Australia has ever won it. At the height of his career, he was known for having one of the fastest serves in tennis, and gained the nickname Scud, after the Scud missile. Mark has had a minor career in modelling, and appeared on the NBC dating show, The Age of Love. He is now in the fashion business after launching his own label, runs tennis clinics, and still plays seniors tennis.
Silvana is a model and actress who has appeared in the Australian movie Vanished, and in the American version of the television comedy, Wilfred. She and Mark were married last year, and live in San Diego.
16 Sunday Mar 2014
Posted in Your Questions Answered
≈ Comments Off on Questions About “Waltzing Matilda” Answered
Tags
Australian slang terms, Banjo Paterson, Google, Google searches, names from songs, names of boats, names of businesses, nicknames, Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing More Than Matilda
When I decided to call my blog Waltzing More Than Matilda, I wasn’t prepared for the number of people who would come here searching to find out more about the name Matilda. Every once in a while, the number of searches builds up to the point where I start feeling guilty that I’ve lured people to my blog under false pretenses, and I answer their questions. These are specifically about Waltzing Matilda.
What are the words to Waltzing Matilda?
That’s a harder question to answer than you might think, because there aren’t any “official” lyrics, and there are a few slightly different versions. You can see Banjo Paterson’s original version here.
Does Waltzing Matilda rhyme?
Yes – it has an ABCB rhyming pattern, so that the second and fourth lines of each stanza are exact rhymes, and all the B lines end with a word that rhymes with bee: eg tree, me, glee, three. Mostly it’s the word me, which several times rhymes with itself.
Name of the guy from Waltzing Matilda/What’s the boy’s name in Waltzing Matilda?
He’s never mentioned by name, but he’s said to be based on a real man named Samuel Hoffmeister, originally from Germany, whose nickname was “Frenchy“. Presumably by the same Australian logic whereby a red-haired man will be nicknamed “Blue“.
There’s a familiar Australian witticism that the jolly swagman’s name must have been Andy: “Andy sang as he watched, Andy waited ’til his billy boiled”. As Banjo Paterson’s real first name was Andrew, perhaps a laboured attempt to put him into the song.
Can “waltzing Matilda” mean to be hung?
No – it means to travel by foot, carrying your belongs on your back. A swagman’s rolled sleeping blanket was his “Matilda”, and to “waltz” your Matilda was to take it on a long walk.
Is “waltzing Matilda” a euphemism?
No, it’s slang.
Is there a Waltzing Matilda Hotel?
Yes, it’s not a particularly unusual name for hotels. Here’s an example.
One or more islands named Waltzing Matilda?
I don’t think there’s even one, let alone more than one.
[Did] Ansett use [the song] Waltzing Matilda?
Yes, Ansett Australia Airlines used the song in their advertisements to mark the centenary of Waltzing Matilda in 1995. They also had a scene from the song painted on their 737s the year before, and the first 737 aircraft they ordered in 1986 was named Waltzing Matilda.
Was there ever a warship named Waltzing Matilda?
No. The Royal Australian Navy usually names its vessels after Australian place names, animals, Aboriginal words, and famous people from history, rather than works of fiction. Besides, the song ends with someone drowning, which hardly seems appropriate for a ship (although it doesn’t seem to have put other people off naming their boats Waltzing Matilda).
A 1950s horror movie which has the song Waltzing Matilda in it?
It’s not strictly a horror movie, but could you be thinking of the 1959 post-apocalyptic film, On the Beach? The song is used to great effect in a particular scene.
Waltzing Matilda – the national disgrace – America owns it
That’s not quite true, but it’s a complicated story. Banjo Paterson sold the rights to Waltzing Matilda to Australian publishing house Angus & Robertson for 5 pounds. Banjo died in 1941, and under Australian copyright law, as in most of the world, once the creator has been dead for 50 years, a creative work is in the public domain, so Waltzing Matilda has been copyright-free here since 1991.
However, in the United States, Waltzing Matilda was falsely copyrighted as an original composition by Carl Fischer Music in 1941. This came as a horrible shock to Australia when they found out in the 1980s, although Carl Fischer Music claimed most of the royalty money went back to Australia, to the Australian music publisher Allans Music (they may have bought the copyright from Angus & Robertson). Since copyright in Australia expired in 1991, Carl Fischer Music obviously didn’t give any money to Australia after that.
A bitter pill for Australians to swallow was that they had to pay a licensing fee to Carl Fischer Music to have Waltzing Matilda played at the closing ceremony of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, since it was on American soil. It sounds rather mean and money-grubbing to have charged us for own anthem, probably because it was.
So Waltzing Matilda was never “owned by America”, but only by one American company. And as all good things come to an end, and all bad ones too, eventually copyright ran out in the US, which doesn’t happen until 70 years after the creator’s death, and Waltzing Matilda has been in the public domain worldwide since 2011.
If it was a national disgrace that it occurred, I can’t see that the disgrace is attached to our own nation. We didn’t steal it, and our shonky copyright laws didn’t allow it to happen.
Why isn’t Waltzing Matilda the [Australian] national anthem?
There was a plebiscite to choose a national anthem in 1977, and more than 43% of people voted for Advance Australia Fair, while only around 28% voted for Waltzing Matilda. (Almost 19% voted for God Save the Queen, and less than 10% for Song of Australia).
God Save the Queen is our royal anthem, to be played whenever someone royal shows up. Waltzing Matilda is an unofficial national anthem, and is a particular favourite at sporting events – especially the Olympics and Commonwealth Games.
In any case, it probably wouldn’t have been a good idea to have a national anthem under copyright in another country.
[Is] Waltzing Matilda no longer sung at AFL [Grand Finals]?
I think the 1980s was the only decade where it was sung almost every year; it didn’t start out like that in the 1970s, and seems to have become hit-and-miss in the 1990s. The last person to sing Waltzing Matilda at an AFL Grand Final was probably Guy Sebastian, about ten years ago.
Some people feel outraged that this “great tradition” has been neglected, but their memories have probably made it seem more frequent than it really was. I suspect these people were children and teens during the 1980s, so that they grew up with a general impression of Waltzing Matilda being played each year.
Why did Senator [Bob] Kerrey sing Waltzing Matilda after being elected?
Robert Kerrey was elected to the US Senate for Nebraska in 1989. He didn’t actually sing Waltzing Matilda after his election: he sang And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda, written by Australian folk singer Eric Bogle.
The song is written from the point of view of an Australian soldier who loses his legs at the Battle of Gallipoli, and sees the war he participated in as bloody and futile. Because the song was written in 1971, it can be seen as a criticism of the Vietnam War, which was similarly gruesome and pointless.
Senator Kerrey served in the United States Navy during the Vietnam War, and lost the lower half of one leg in combat. He suffered some traumatic experiences during the war, and must have identified with the narrator of And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda. He also used the first line of the song for the title of his autobiography, When I Was A Young Man.
The song has been frequently covered by folk singers in the UK and the US, and is internationally famous as an anti-war song.
(Painting shown is Down on His Luck, by Frederick McCubbin – 1889)
Waltzing More Than Matilda 