Famous Name: Tigerlily

19 Wednesday Feb 2014

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Lilia_tygrysiaLilium_lancifoliumLilium_tigrinum

Last week we looked at the name of actor Orpheus Pledger, who was in the Channel Nine telemovie, Schapelle. As it turned out, ratings for it were only average, with almost twice as many people tuning in to watch Channel Seven’s mini-series, INXS: Never Tears Us Apart. In fact, since the screening, an INXS album has reached #1 in the charts for the first time since 1990.

Watching the mini-series reminded me of Michael Hutchence’s daughter Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily, who was given one of the “crazy celebrity baby names” of the 1990s. It’s interesting how much less “crazy” crazy celebrity baby names seem as the years go by: once Cruz, Maddox, River, Rocco, Banjo, Jett, Sunday and Coco were considered outrageous, but now they’re mainstream. I have to admit that the Heavenly Hiraani part still seems offbeat 17 years later, but Tiger Lily is pretty rocking – a spunky nature name combining flora and fauna.

The Tiger Lily (Lilium lancifolium) is native to China, Korea and Japan, and its common name came about because its flowers are large and bright orange with black markings – although they don’t literally have tigerish stripes, but spots. Introduced to England in the early 19th century, it became naturalised in some parts of the United States (just to confuse things, Americans refer to some native lilies as “Tiger Lilies”).

Easy to grow, the Tiger Lily is edible, and the roots used in Chinese cooking. There is a legend that a Korean hermit took an arrow from the foot of a wounded tiger, and after its death, the tiger transformed into the Tiger Lily, so that he could remain with his human friend. When the hermit died, the flower spread widely, searching for the hermit. The Tiger Lily is said to symbolise wealth, perhaps because its spots reminded people of coins. A funny superstition related to these spots is that if you smell a Tiger Lily, you will end up with freckles!

There is a graceful tiger-lily in Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass, a passionate and rather bossy bloom which tries to keep all the flowers in line (with the ferocity of a tiger). When Alice wishes to herself that the flowers could talk, the tiger-lily is the first to respond, with “We can talk, when there’s anybody worth talking to”.

The first human character in fiction named Tiger Lily I can think of is the “redskin princess” of the Piccaninny tribe in J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan. Beautiful and brave, Tiger Lily’s life was saved by Peter Pan, so that her tribe became his allies. As a result, the flirtatious yet aloof Tiger Lily harbours (futile) romantic feelings for Peter, and refuses to marry. Barrie gives her cringe-inducing dialogue, such as “Me Tiger Lily. Peter Pan save me, me his velly nice friend”, and her tribe call Peter The Great White Father – Barrie’s preference for the book’s title, which his publishers’ fortunately didn’t think was a good idea.

In the 1953 Disney film of Peter Pan, this dialogue is embarrassing enough that Tiger Lily doesn’t speak at all, and her role was eliminated in later films, lest the stereotypes of Native Americans should give offence. Because of this, she has never become a Disney princess (in fact, calling her a “princess” would be a whole other cultural controversy).

Another exotic Tiger Lily from children’s fiction is a little girl of Chinese heritage in the Rupert Bear comic strips and television show. A rather mysterious figure of royal blood, her father is a Conjurer, and she has quite a bit of magical knowledge herself, which helps Rupert in several adventures. Not nearly as controversial as Barrie’s Tiger Lily, her role was nonetheless phased out in the 1990s, presumably for similar reasons.

In Australia, Tigerlily is a swimwear fashion label started by designer Jodhi Meares, which gives the name an expensively casual, beachy feel. If you look at the models used by Tigerlily, and at its Facebook page, the ideal “Tigerlily girl” is not some blonde beach bunny with a banging bod, but sophisticated and well-travelled, yet relaxed and confident enough to be in search of the perfect bikini.

Tigerlily is a rare name, but there is something rather magnificent about it. We usually think of lilies as pale and demure, yet here are these flamboyant tiger-cat lilies – big, bright, and bold, growing wild and untamed, or bringing a garden to life with glorious colour. Tigerlily sounds gorgeous and fierce, exotic and feminine, freckled and free-spirited, full of passion and vivacity. It could be seen as whimsical and hippie, but because of the expensive fashion label, also seems quite posh.

Worried that Tigerlily is too big a name for a little girl? Miss Hutchence Geldof goes by Tiger, but you could also use Ty, Tige, Tig, Tiggy, Tilly, Iggy, Lily, Lil, and TL.

POLL RESULT
Tigerlily received an approval rating of 56%. People saw it as a beautiful, whimsical nature name (26%), and wild and bold (19%). However, 13% believed it was still a wacky celebrity baby name, and 12% saw it as too hippy-dippy.

I Get Interviewed at Baby Names from the Bible

18 Tuesday Feb 2014

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I was recently interviewed by Alexia from Baby Names from the Bible, who had some interesting questions to ask about Biblical names that gave me a bit of a brain work-out. You can read it here.

Alexia has a really great name blog with some intriguing name theories and suggestions, so if you’ve never visited before, why not check it out.

Interview with Zeffy from Baby Names from Yesteryear

16 Sunday Feb 2014

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Winterhalter_Eugenie_1855Zeffy is the enthusiastic blogger at Baby Names from Yesteryear, which features wonderful, winning, and sometimes slightly wacky names from history. Whether you enjoy names of English gentlemen, ladies from antiquity, or contemporary British royals, you will find many beautiful names which are elegant, elaborate and eccentric. You will also find names from South America, and names from Zeffy’s own family tree. One of my favourites of Zeffy’s posts is an extremely sweet story about one of her sentimental favourites – I dare you to read it without either smiling tenderly or getting a tear in your eye. Zeffy has been away from blogging for a year, but she’s back (hooray!!!), and this is a chance to catch up with her and find out what Zeffy is short for.

What is your name? 
Sephora. I go by Zeffy online, a nickname given to me by my loopy, but incredibly sweet, university professor.

Have you ever wished you had a different name?
Have I ever! I’ve disliked my name for most of my life. As a child, all I wanted was a nice common name, something like Jessica or Rebecca, so I could blend in. I was a bit shy as a child so I hated being different from everyone else. It was only when I got to my late teens that I realised my name was quite nice and fitted my personality very well. I would never consider changing it now – having such an unusual name is a big part of my identity.

How did you become interested in names?
It goes back to having an unusual name. I’ve always wanted to know where my name came from, what it meant, how it came to be used. My curiosity stemmed from having absolutely no clue about my name’s origins. I guess my interest in names in general dates back to when I started school and noticed that I was the only one whose name wasn’t “normal”. Since then I’ve always loved reading about names and looking up meanings. There hasn’t been a time when I haven’t been interested in names and their stories.

How did you become interested in names from the past?
I’m obsessed with history. I’ve always been interested in the history of people’s lives, particularly focusing on the social and private life of early 19th century English aristocrats. There’s something very fascinating about discovering the small details of what people 200 years ago ate for breakfast, where they bought their boots from, why they married who they did, and what they named their children. That’s what attracts me to names from the past – it’s a glimpse into the personal and private life of someone who lived hundreds of years ago.

What inspired you to begin a name blog?
I came across The Gentleman’s Magazine during my last year of university. I was meant to be researching contemporary reviews for Thomas Paine’s Rights of Man, but I kept flipping back and having a look through all the wedding announcements. Once I left university, I had a heck of a lot of time on my hands, and I really don’t deal well with boredom. I had to find a project to do before I completely lost my sanity. I thought about all the lovely names I’d read and decided to share them. I knew there had to be someone out there who was equally as interested in Georgian era names as I was. I couldn’t be the only one who oohed and ahhed over them!

Do you have a favourite blog entry on Baby Names from Yesteryear?
I really enjoyed writing about The Patronesses of Almack’s and Popular Names of the Georgian Era. They hit on my favourite time period in history so I can’t help but have a soft spot for them. Having said that, the posts I tend to like the most are those which required me to really do research, to look through a number of sources before hitting name gold. I’m such a geek, I know.

Do you have a pet peeve in regard to names? 
When people think that many of the current trends are a modern concept. People have been naming their children all sorts of weird and wonderful things for hundreds, even thousands, of years. Masculine names on girls, surnames used as first names, nature names, unusual names … it’s all been done before, so let’s not get in a tizzy about them now.

There’s also something about the word “unique” which I find unrealistic. The chance of any name being unique is truly slim, and I don’t think it’s a good idea to change spellings in search for uniqueness.

What are some of your favourite names? 
A few of my current favourites are Minerva, Emmeline, Margaux, Josephine and Magdalene. For boys, Alexander, Lucien, Mikael and Hart are long time favourites. I think Noa is absolutely darling. Tierney, Seren, Clover, Lyra, Orion and Shia are just a few that are on my favourites list.

What names do you dislike?
I’ve never been a fan of overly “cute” names, on girls or boys, for a number of reasons. Children don’t need cute names to be cute. A lot of names that fall into that category for me have really taken off in England and Wales where there is currently a trend for over-the-top cuteness, especially on the girls’ side. There’s a message behind that trend which I’m not comfortable with.

I’m also not at all keen on the Mae/May/Mai hyphenated names which are very popular over here. It feels like half the female population under the age of 5 answers to Something-Mae. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t dislike Mae or May. Just please, please stop hyphenating it!

Are there any names you love, but could never use?
So, so many. Hyacinth is always in the back of my mind, but I think of Hyacinth Bucket [from sit-com Keeping Up Appearances]and it’s over. Millicent is another. I really love how it sounds, but not how it looks. Ptolemy is probably the biggest one. Why does the P have to be silent?! I so wish it wasn’t; it would be a serious contender then.

What are your favourite names in the UK Top 100?
Eleanor (#63) and Alexander (#27).

What are your favourite names that have never charted in the UK?
Sanceline and Holland.

Do you have any names picked out for your future children? 
Not really. Children haven’t crossed my mind yet so it’s all up in the air. If, however, I were to have a baby at this exact moment, I guess it would be something like Emmeline Clover, Emmeline Jane Noa, or Noa Emmeline Jane. I adore Jane. I know it has in the past been overused in the middle spot, but it’s lovely and I can’t help myself. For a boy, it would be Alexander Lucien or Shia Alexander. I think when it comes down to it, I won’t be as tame in my choices. It’s fun having a name on the unusual side so I think I’ll go down that path. But who knows?!

What is something we don’t know about you?
I’m incapable or remaining serious for very long. Trying to answer your questions without making silly and inappropriate jokes hasn’t been easy! Also, I love exclamation marks 🙂

What advice would you give someone who was choosing a baby name?
I wouldn’t. I don’t have any children so I don’t know anything about how hard the naming process is or the pressures of it. I only wish all parents would put as much time as possible into choosing their child’s name. Your child has to live with their name every single day. That’s a big thing. Take it seriously! (Yay, got to use an exclamation mark again.)

(Painting shown is Eugenie, Empress of the French and Her Ladies by Franz Xaver Winterhalter; 1855 – one of the many lovely illustrations on Zeffy’s blog)

Is Ivy Too Trendy?

15 Saturday Feb 2014

Posted by in Naming Assistance

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Ferrice and her husband are expecting a baby girl, and she always wanted to use the name Ivy for her daughter, which is the middle name of a dear departed family member. However, she now worries that the name might have become too popular. The level of popularity doesn’t worry her so much as the idea that the name might be too “trendy”; however, there is a great deal of sentiment attached to the name Ivy.

Ferrice and her husband have a son named Bernie (a family name), and their surname begins with W and ends with R eg Webster.

Other Names Considered

  • Tess (another family name)
  • Layla (not sure it suits surname, as it ends with a similar sound)
  • Imogen (good friends just used it, so it’s ruled out)
  • Bronte (not sure it sounds right with brother Bernie)
  • May (a family name)
  • Alice (husband not convinced)
  • Poppy

However, they aren’t in love with any of these names, except Tess, and Ferrice’s husband isn’t quite on board with it at this stage.

Ferrice would love to know what blog readers think of the name Ivy, and whether it’s too popular. She’d also be open to hearing name suggestions from anyone who thinks there’s another name they might like better.

* * * * * * * * * *

As a name blogger, my heart sinks whenever I hear someone say they are worried that a name they love is now “too popular” to consider. I can’t help wondering if I am contributing to the problem by providing information on name popularity, and I hate the thought that I might be unwittingly putting parents off using perfectly nice names.

Ivy is a popular name, and fits in with the trend for simple, pretty names with a V, such as Ava and Evie, and for non-floral plant names, such as Olive and Willow. It’s also a Downton Abbey name, which has helped give it widespread attention, and a celebrity baby name, after it was chosen as the middle name of pop star baby Blue Carter. No wonder the name has become popular!

However, it may be popular and on trend, but to me it isn’t a “trendy” name. Ivy isn’t a classic, but it is a traditional name with quite a bit of history, and was very popular in the 19th century (more popular than it is now). It has been climbing since the 1980s, so it hasn’t come out of nowhere, and its biggest burst of popularity was in 2009, before the television show and Blue Ivy.

You may be somewhat reassured to know that Ivy isn’t shooting up crazily in popularity – it was one of the fastest-rising girls names of 2012, but from the 2013 data that has come in so far, it seems to be still rising, but at a more modest pace. In 2012 it was #22, and it went up 18 places to reach that position.

For what it’s worth, I think Ivy is a lovely name – simple, charming, retro, fresh and green sounding, and somehow more piquant and distinctive (even seductive) than many other popular “old fashioned” plant names like Lily and Daisy. I completely understand why so many parents have chosen it.

I tend to feel that when it comes to honouring someone, sentiment far outweighs any other factor. This is the name of someone you love, and must miss every day. I can’t help thinking that you might regret giving up this name for a reason such as popularity – especially knowing that your reasons for loving the name Ivy have nothing to do with how popular it is.

However, popularity genuinely does bother some people, and if you really feel that the name is too popular for you, then using it in the middle position seems like the obvious solution. The trouble is, you don’t have too many candidates for a first name at this point. Most of the names you’ve considered are similar to Ivy in regard to popularity, and you admit that you don’t really love them.

Tess seems like the most likely proposition. This is a cute name which has never become popular, and is very fashionable – and it is a family name. Bernie and Tess sound pretty adorable together too. How do you feel about Tess Ivy? You did say your husband is not really convinced about Tess though, which puts a bit of a question mark over it.

If you’d like to try out some other names that have a similar level of popularity to Tess, and sound okay with Ivy in the middle, and with your surname, you might consider:

  • Caroline Ivy
  • Juliette Ivy
  • Mabel Ivy
  • Miriam Ivy
  • Millicent Ivy “Millie”
  • Gwendolyn Ivy “Gwen”

I hope I’ve been able to provide you with at least some help, and perhaps when you talk it over with your husband, your choice will feel clearer. Please feel free to write in for further assistance if other names become possibilities for you.

UPDATE: Unfortunately Ferrice never got back to me, but a little bird tells me that she did indeed name her daughter Ivy.

POLL RESULTS: 95% of people thought Ferrice should choose the name Ivy, with 35% saying that popularity shouldn’t be considered at all when it comes to the name you love best, and 25% believing that as this was a family name, the popularity didn’t matter.

(Photo of ivy hair comb from etsy)

Tilba and Tyde

14 Friday Feb 2014

Posted by in Birth Announcements

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Twins

Estelle and Tate

 

Girls

Azalea Jade (Kaylan, Dakota)

Cadence Anne

Catriona Lee (Callan)

Celina Helen (Annika, Callie)

Deanna (Francesco, Nadia)

Della Therese

Eleanor Jean Dawn

Elsie Elizabeth

Grace Marjorie “Maggie”

Logan Faith (Maddison)

Rosie Kathleen

Saskia Eve (Isabel)

Tilba Val (Zeff)

Vayda Bella

Velvet Dakota Rose (Alysha, Rose, Charlotte, Holly, Daisy, Lily)

 

Boys

Alessandro Antonio (Valentina)

Banjo Thomas

Bennett Ellis

Finnian Joseph (Molly, Una)

Freddie Donovan

Jarrah John

Leo Paxton

Levi Arrow

Rex Champion (Jonty, Emma)

Rio Andre

Royce

Tucker Abe (Ada, Milly, Harvey)

Tyde Rikah (Asha)

Uriah

Zachariah (Xavier, Seraphina)

(Photo shows the heritage-listed village of Tilba Tilba, near Central Tilba, on the NSW South Coast; its name is from the local Aboriginal language and means “many waters”)

Happy Third Birthday, Waltzing More Than Matilda!

13 Thursday Feb 2014

Posted by in Blog News

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The blog’s birthday sneaked up on me this year, and I only realised it turned three on February 13 today. Then I realised it was February 13 today! Then I realised it’s Valentine’s Day tomorrow, and I’m not prepared for that either! Another year seems to have just flown by, and I think it has been one of happy blogging for me.

An interesting new development is that names which are featured on the blog now have a poll attached to them, and so do celebrity baby names, and some other articles too. You can also nominate and vote on your favourite names from the birth announcements. As a result, we were able to find out which were people’s favourite names, and in some cases this will affect which names are covered in the future.

One of the most exciting things was the release of my first e-book, International Names for Australian Parents. Writing it was a very steep learning curve, and I’m now working on a longer book that’s slightly more daring.

What Was Popular on the Blog Last Year?

The most popular article I wrote was Upper Class Baby Names – there have been thousands of searches for this topic since it was published. I felt a bit uncomfortable about writing it, as it is a rather politically incorrect topic, but parents must feel a lot of status anxiety in regard to baby names.

The most popular celebrity baby article was for motivational speaker Nick Vujicic, and his American wife Kanae Miyahara, who welcomed a son named Kiyoshi James. The article was cited on the Italian language version of Wikipedia, which brought in more views. The most popular photo that people clicked on was one of Nick holding Kiyoshi, and the most popular news article clicked on was to a news story about Kiyoshi’s birth. Nick has legions of fans around the world, and many of them wanted to see his wife and baby, and wish him well.

The most popular document clicked on was the complete name data from Victora for 2012. A fantastic resource, and many thanks to Brooke from Baby Name Pondering for making it available.

The most popular searches for individual names were for Bambam and Asher. Interestingly, Asher was overwhelmingly searched for as a girl’s name rather than a boy’s.

I got my highest amount of views ever on December 2 last year, when thousands of people wanted to read all about James and Erica Packer. This was because James and Erica separated, and James was rumoured to be dating model Miranda Kerr, also recently separated from her spouse.

The month I got my highest number of views was May. Popular articles from this month included Asher and Hamish, and Finding Baby Names to Match Your Surname.

The busiest day for commenting was October 25, which was when birth announcement Endellion and Florabella was published, with 12 comments.

The most common time people leave comments on my blog is 6 pm – perhaps because I often post around then.

Nameberry was the most popular blog on my Blog Roll. Baby Name Pondering was the most popular Australian blog on my Blog Roll, and was #3 overall, only 3 views behind Appellation Mountain. Nice work Brooke!

I have nearly 900 000 views at present. I have just over 1000 posts, in 24 categories and with 904 tags. I’m not really sure how many names I’ve featured, as I’m currently re-organising them, but I estimate it’s over 800. I’ve tried to make it even between the genders, but apart from all the unisex names confusing matters, I think girls might be ahead at this stage.

Many Thanks

Thank to Pam and Linda at Nameberry for giving me the opportunity to write for Berryjuice on Nameberry. Most of my referrals this year have come from Nameberry – and that means a thank you to Abby as well, because some of them were from her Nameberry Nine series.

Thank you to Kate for inviting me to write an article for Matilda magazine. Called Beyond Liv and Zeke, it looked at some of the less common one syllable names for boys and girls.

Thank to Sophia, who was my busiest commenter. Sophia’s comments are thoughtful and humorous, and it’s a pleasure to hear from someone who is so candid without being unkind.

And of course thank you to YOU – all of you! Thank you to every reader, commenter, poll voter, subscriber, name consultation requester, Twitter follower, Facebook liker, blog roller, book buyer, and everyone who has made a contribution to Waltzing More Than Matilda in some way. It just wouldn’t happen without you, and you’ve helped make Waltzing More Than Matilda’s year.

Famous Name: Orpheus

12 Wednesday Feb 2014

Posted by in Famous Names

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(c) Lady Lever Art Gallery; Supplied by The Public Catalogue Foundation

The big news this week was the release of Australian convicted drug smuggler Schapelle Corby, who has spent the last nine years in a Balinese prison, but is now out on parole, with the proviso that she continue living in Bali where she can be supervised.

To coincide with this event, Channel Nine put on the television movie Schapelle. There’s a lot of interesting names connected with the movie – Schapelle for starters – but the one I was drawn to was Orpheus, because Orpheus Pledger plays Schapelle’s half-brother James. If the name Orpheus Pledger sounds familiar, you may have seen him on Neighbours.

Orpheus was a musician and poet in ancient Greek mythology. He was venerated as the greatest of all poets and musicians and called “the father of song” – according to one tale, it was the god Apollo himself who gave Orpheus his golden lyre and taught him to play it. Poets told how Orpheus’ music could charm the birds, wild beasts and fish, make trees and rocks dance, and change the course of rivers.

The most famous story about Orpheus involves his wife Eurydice, a tree nymph. At their wedding, Eurydice was attacked by a lustful satyr, and in her efforts to escape, she fell into a nest of vipers and suffered a fatal bite on the foot. Orpheus was the one who discovered her body, and in his grief, he played such sad songs that all the nymphs and gods wept for him. They were moved to such pity that the gods advised him to try to get his wife back by travelling to the Underworld.

Once he was in the Underworld, Orpheus sang before the god Hades and his wife Persephone. For the first and only time, their hearts went out to him in his plight, and they agreed that Eurydice would be allowed to return with him. There was just one condition: Orpheus must walk ahead of her, and never look back until they reached the upper world.

Orpheus did what they asked, but once he was in our world, in his desperate anxiety he looked behind to see if Eurydice was still following. Eurydice disappeared, this time forever, and Orpheus’ heart broke all over again.

This descent to the Underworld connects Orpheus to a myriad of mythological figures from different cultures, including Egyptian, Japanese, Sumerian, Hindu, Christian, Norse, Mayan and Celtic, who travel to the land of the dead. The figure who makes this journey returns with some “gift” from the Underworld, marking them as more than mortal, and suggesting the possibility of overcoming death.

The story of Orpheus has inspired many works of art. Creators as diverse as Neil Gaiman, Stravinsky, Jean Cocteau, Franz Liszt, Tennessee William, Poul Anderson, and Andy Partridge have drawn on his myth. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds have a satirical retelling of the legend called The Lyre of Orpheus, and Baz Lurhmann’s film Moulin Rouge is partly inspired by the story, using music from Jacques Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld.

Towards the end of his life Orpheus turned away from worshipping any but Apollo. Previously, he had been a devotee of the god Dionysus, deity of wine, madness and ecstasy, but now he gave his allegiance to the god of poetry. While venerating the sun god at dawn, Orpheus was killed by Maenads, the frenzied female worshippers of Dionysus, to punish him for his apostasy. It is said that the women began by throwing sticks and stones at him, but the trees and rocks refused to hurt Orpheus, so that the enraged women tore him to pieces with their bare hands.

Orpheus’ head continued to sing mournfully, and his lyre still played; they floated down a river until they reached the sea, and the winds and waves carried them to the Island of Lesbos. Here the head was buried and a shrine built to Orpheus, where people could consult an oracle. The Muses, the nine goddesses of the arts, pieced Orpheus together, and gave him a burial near Mount Olympus, where nightingales sang over his grave. The Muses placed his golden lyre in the sky, where we can still see it as the constellation Lyra. At last his soul was free to join his bride Eurydice in the Underworld.

The name Orpheus is believed to be derived from an ancient root meaning “to put asunder, to separate”. It could be translated as “darkness”, “fatherless, orphaned”, and “to lament, to sing wildly, to cast a spell” – all these come from the same root word. Putting them together, they sum up Orpheus’ story rather well, because his wildly tragic songs enchanted all who heard them, and he continued to sing as he descended into darkness.

Orpheus is an unusual name with a great deal of power. The story of Orpheus is that of a great artist whose powers were magical – one who defied death itself in his quest for love, and who suffered a cruel fate when he turned towards the light. It is a name which has weight, and even a certain amount of heaviness, but it has everything: Art, Magic, Love, Death, Suffering, Light. It doesn’t seem too strange, as it fits in with currently fashionable names such as Orlando and Orson.

POLL RESULT
Orpheus received a fairly good approval rating of 65%. People saw the name Orpheus as haunting and poetic (20%), beautiful and unusual (17%), and usable, as it fits in with current trends (15%). However, 14% thought the story of Orpheus was too heavy, violent, or depressing.

(Picture shows Orpheus by John Macallan Swan)

Celebrity Baby News: Melissa George and Jean-David Blanc

12 Wednesday Feb 2014

Posted by in Celebrity Baby News

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Actress Melissa George, and her boyfriend Jean-David Blanc, welcomed their first child on February 11, and have named their son Raphaël. Raphaël Blanc was born at the American Hospital in Paris.

Melissa began modelling in her early teens, and in 1992 was named Western Australia’s Teenage Model of the Year. At the age of 16, she was cast as Angel Parrish on Home and Away, and won two Logies for the role. She had a regular role on the fantasy drama series Roar, opposite Heath Ledger, before moving to Hollywood. Melissa had a number of minor film roles before scoring her first starring role in a feature film in the 2005 version of The Amityville Horror. She has starred in several other films and appeared in television series such as Friends, Charmed, Alias, Monk, Lie to Me and Grey’s Anatomy. In 2012 she appeared in the critically-acclaimed Australian drama series, The Slap. Recently she has had a recurring role in The Good Wife, and stars in Sam Hunter, the follow-up to British spy series The Hunter. Melissa is the inventor of Style Snaps, which alter the hems of pants without sewing, and says that she has earned more money as an inventor than as an actress. Melissa became a naturalised American citizen in 2008.

Jean-David is a French entrepreneur, founder of AlloCiné, which provides information on French cinema and television. He and Melissa began dating in 2012, after meeting at a BAFTA after-party,and live together in France.

Raphaël is a highly popular boy’s name in France, and also very much on trend in Australia.

The Names With the Best and Worst Credit Rating

11 Tuesday Feb 2014

Posted by in Names in the News

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Australian credit reporting company Veda has analysed the credit scores of 4.6 million people, and tells us which names are associated with the highest and lowest ratings of credit worthiness in each age group.

Gen Y

Best: Brendan, Wei, Georgia, Ying

Worst: Harley, Kayla, Skye

Gen X

Best: Lachlan, Murray, Ying, Clare

Worst: Mohamed, Tammy, Ali

Baby Boomers

Best: Brendan, Penelope, Gillian, Ross

Worst: Jose, Henry, Gloria, Marlene

Silent Generation

Best: Trevor, Pauline

Worst: Arthur, Valeria

I thought this report was more interesting than usual, because it divided people by age, so we could see names judged within their peer group.

People called Brendan and Ying certainly seem to be very financially responsible, as these are both top-rated names of two generations!

Celebrity Baby News: Sporting Babies

10 Monday Feb 2014

Posted by in Celebrity Baby News

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AFL player Paul Chapman, and his partner Lauren Smyth, welcomed their first child on January 29 and have named their son Myles. Paul starts his first season with Essendon this year, having played with Geelong since 2000.

Jockey Adrian Patterson, and his wife Donna, welcomed their second child on February 4 and have named their daughter Tayla Amelia. Tayla Patterson weighed 3.49 kg (7lb 7oz) at birth. Adrian is currently recovering from surgery on a shattered collarbone, and hopes to be back on the track by the end of next month.

Basketball star Abby Bishop [pictured] became a foster-mother to her niece Zala Kate in August last year, taking her home from hospital when she was two days old. Zala is the daughter of Abby’s sister Chloe, and Abby will have custody of Zala for at least a year. Zala has the same middle name and surname as Abby, and Abby and Chloe are in regular contact to share details about Zala’s life and progress. Zala, or Zdog as she is known, has become a “team mascot” to the Canberra Capitals, which Abby plays for; she also plays for the national women’s team, the Australian Opals.