Tag Archives: alphanumeric names

Rare Royal Names for Boys

08 Sunday Sep 2013

Posted by in Name Themes and Lists

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Franz_Xaver_Winterhalter_Family_of_Queen_Victoria

Alastair

Alastair Windsor was a great-grandson of Queen Victoria through his father, and a great-great-grandson of Victoria through his mother. Although born a prince, he was stripped of his royal titles while still a toddler, after the regulations were tightened up. Alastair went into the army, and died during World War II on active service, in unconventional circumstances. He had been sent to Canada as aide-de-camp to the Governor General, who was a relation of his. Both his regiment and the Governor General had rejected him as incompetent, and he fell out of a window while drunk. It can get very cold in Canada, and Alastair succumbed to hypothermia overnight. Alastair is the Anglicised form of Alasdair, a Scottish form of Alexander. Alasdair Mòr Mac Dòmhnaill is the ancestor of the Clan MacAlister. I think Alastair very handsome, and in a country where Lachlan and Hamish are common, it doesn’t seem out of place. If the alas at the start bothers you, it can also be spelled the more common Alistair.

Athelstan

Although there had been many English kings before him, Athelstan the Glorious was the first ruler of all England, and the first who can be called king of the English. He was the grandson of Alfred the Great, and like his grandfather, had a reputation as a man of great intelligence and justice. His household was a centre for learning, he created the most centralised government England had yet had, maintained social order, encouraged literature, was an unbeaten military leader, and a key player in international affairs. He gets rave reviews from medieval historians, and even foreign writers of his time were eager to sing his praises. He is a king worthy of admiration, yet while the name Alfred was successfully revived and is still used now, Athelstan went out of use after the Norman Conquest, and remains extremely rare. Just doesn’t seem fair, does it? Athelstan is the modern form of the Anglo-Saxon name Æþelstan, meaning “noble stone”; it was very common amongst Anglo-Saxon royalty and nobility, and there are quite a few other kings with the name. I admit it does seem a little unwieldy, but it comes with the nickname Stan.

August

August was the second name of Prince Ernst August, a great-great grandson of George III and cousin of George V. As a member of the Hanoverian family, he was born a prince of Britain and Ireland, but during World War I, anti-German sentiment convinced the British royal family to strip the titles from their German relatives. However, the Hanoverians didn’t consider themselves bound by British rules, and continued to call themselves princes and princesses. To this day, the Hanoverians ask the British monarch for permission to marry, like other royals. It’s a bit of an odd situation. Prince Ernst was the last reigning monarch of the House of Hanover, and his marriage to Princess Victoria of Prussia the last large gathering of European royals before World War I broke out – he was very much the end of an era. August is the German form of Augustus, a traditional middle name in the Hanoverian royal family which continues to be handed down. You can also see August as after the month, in which case it can be given to both sexes.

Axel

Axel was the final middle name of Prince Georg Wilhelm Ernst August Friedrich Axel, the son of Prince Ernst August. He married Princess Sophie of Greece and Denmark, who was Prince Philip’s sister. The name Axel is the medieval Danish form of the Hebrew name Absalom. In the Old Testament, Absalom was a son of King David, staggeringly handsome and extremely charming. He rebelled against his father; it’s a pretty awful story involving incest, rape and murder, and not one of the most uplifting parts of the Bible. Absalom was killed when he got his head stuck in a tree, which is meant to be very ironic for some reason. To me the ironic part is his name means “my father is peace”, and he went to war against his father. Axel is not a popular name in Australia, but I feel as if it will be in a few years, based on how frequently I see it in birth notices – it is #164 in Victoria. Its use seems to be influenced by singer Axl Rose, whose stage name is famously an anagram.

Edmund

Edmund the Magnificent was half-brother to Athelstan the Glorious, and his successor to the throne. He only ruled for a few years before he was murdered, but in that short time he had important military victories in the north, established peace with Scotland, began reviving the monasteries and helped restore Louis IV to the throne of France. His great-grandson Edmund Ironsides fought valiantly against the Danes, and although ultimately defeated by King Canute, was a skilled and inspiring leader. Edmund is an Old English name meaning “rich protector”, and it was common amongst Anglo-Saxon royalty and nobility. Saint Edmund the Martyr was a King of East Anglia killed by the Danes, and was the patron saint of England until Saint George got the gig – there is a movement in East Anglia to reinstate him. Unlike many other Anglo-Saxon names, Edmund remained in use after the Conquest (probably because of the saint), and was even used in the royal family. It’s surprising how rare this name is compared to classic, popular Edward, but it’s a very handsome and noble one. Narnia fans will know it as the name of the treacherous Pevensie brother, who redeems himself and becomes a king of Narnia. Edmund “Ted” Gyngell is a recent celebrity baby, sometimes called Edmund the Magnificent after his namesake.

Emmanuel

Emmanuel was the final middle name of Francis Albert Augustus Charles Emmanuel of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, otherwise known as Prince Albert. He married his cousin Victoria, who was the heir to the British throne at the time. Victoria had the choice of two cousins to wed, and chose Albert as the most handsome and charming. Queen Victoria was devoted to Albert, and he was a great support to her, holding quite a bit of power behind the throne. A progressive and liberal thinker, he helped bring in many reforms, set the example that monarchy must be above politics, and made a huge success of the Great Exhibition of 1851. He died while only in his early 40s, and Queen Victoria was devastated. She wore mourning for the rest of her days and withdrew from public life. Emmanuel is a Hebrew name meaning “God is with us”; the Old Testament gives the name in a prophecy, and the New Testament attached it to Jesus Christ as the Messiah. The name was common amongst European royalty, but less often used in Britain. In Australia it’s possibly best known as a surname, from guitarist Tommy Emmanuel.

Eustace

Eustace was the eldest son of King Stephen, and a great-grandson of William the Conqueror. Stephen had become king of England in a rather controversial way. After the heir to the throne had drowned in a disastrous shipwreck, Stephen had himself declared king by popular acclaim and was speedily crowned before anyone knew what was happening. The Empress Matilda had been next in line, but she was only a woman, and Stephen thought he should rule instead. Matilda didn’t agree, and their subsequent battle for power threw England into a state of anarchy for nearly two decades. Stephen had Eustace declared his co-king, but the church refused to ratify this, and nearly everyone was greatly relieved when the teenaged Eustace unexpectedly died. Generally perceived as rather a blot, his welcome demise allowed peace negotiations to go ahead. Even more conveniently, Stephen died the following year leaving Matilda’s son, Henry II, as ruler. Eustace is the English form of Greek Eustachios, meaning “rich crop”, a name chosen for himself by a 2nd century Roman general and martyr who had been born Placidus, and is known as Saint Eustace; because of him, the name was common during the Middle Ages. This is another name from The Narnia Chronicles, because Eustace Scrubb was a rather annoying character who, like the saint, was converted from his previous beliefs. Hardly anybody seems to like the name Eustace, and even C.S. Lewis made fun of Eustace Scrubb’s name.

Leopold

Prince Leopold was a son of Queen Victoria, named after his great-uncle, Leopold I of Belgium, who had helped arrange the marriage of Victoria and Albert. Leopold’s birth is famous because his mother used chloroform during labour, giving the royal seal of approval for women to seek pain relief during childbirth. Prince Leopold inherited the family condition of haemophilia and also had mild epilepsy; he became a patron of the arts, literature and chess. He knew Alice Liddell, famous as the inspiration for Lewis Carroll’s Alice books (one of which revolves around chess), and some believe he considered marrying her, although others say it was her older sister Edith who was his intended wife. Queen Victoria arranged for him to marry Princess Helena of Waldeck and Pyrmont, a distant cousin. Leopold’s marriage was happy, and he and Helena had a daughter named Alice, but he died as a result of haemophilia after only a few years. He passed away just before his son Charles was born. Alice inherited the haemophilia gene, and passed it on to her son Rupert, who also died young. Leopold is a Germanic name meaning “bold people”; it was common amongst German royalty. This rather grandiose name has popular Leo as the nickname.

Magnus

Magnus was a son of King Harold II and Edith the Fair, or Edith the Gentle Swan, sometimes (wrongly) called Edith Swan-neck. Harold and Edith were married in a traditional manner known as handfasting, and although Edith was regarded as Harold’s wife by regular people, and their children as princes and princesses, the clergy saw her only as his mistress because they hadn’t wed in a Christian ceremony. Harold did have another wife, also called Edith, but this was a marriage of political convenience, and not a love match as it was with Edith the Fair. According to legend, after Harold was killed at the Battle of Hastings, only Edith the Fair could identify his body by markings she knew, so Harold was able to have a Christian burial. Magnus is a Latin name meaning “great”; Magnus Maximus was a 4th century Western Roman Emperor who became important in British folklore and Welsh legend, and is part of the mythology of King Arthur. There are several saints named Magnus, and it was a traditional name in the royal families of Norway and Sweden. The name is often thought of as Scottish, and one of the Saints Magnus was from Scotland. This is a great name, rich in history and legend, strong and interesting, and a good alternative to Max.

Octavius

Prince Octavius was the thirteenth child of King George III, and doted upon by his adoring parents. At the age of four, he was inoculated against the smallpox virus, and as vaccination was still in its experimental stages, became ill and died, the last member of the British royal family to suffer from smallpox. The sudden death of the tiny prince caused his family immense grief, and during his later bouts of madness, King George even had hallucinations about Octavius. What made it harder for them was they had lost Octavius’ younger brother Alfred in exactly the same way six months previously. Octavius is a Roman name coming from the Latin for “eight”; Octavius was the eighth son of King George III. Octavius seems very hip – fresher than Atticus and Orlando, with a distinct feel of its own. It would be a good choice for an eighth child or grandchild, or someone born in August (the 8th month) or October.

POLL RESULT: People’s favourite names were August, Magnus, and Alastair, and their least favourite were Octavius, Athelstan and Eustace.

(Picture shows a portrait of Prince Albert and his royal family by Franz Xaver Winterhalter)

Famous Names: Aria and Delta

14 Wednesday Aug 2013

Posted by in Famous Names

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thumbThe Australian music industry celebrated an important birthday a month ago, because July 10 this year marked thirty years since the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) began collating sales information from music stores. The ARIA charts developed from the Kent Music Report, and the first Australian charts began in the 1960s, collated by Go-Set magazine, the music “bible” of its time which later spawned Australian Rolling Stone, and whose weekly music columnist Ian “Molly” Meldrum would go on to host seminal music show Countdown.

The first single to top the ARIA charts way back in 1983 was Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler, the first #1 album was Michael Jackson’s Thriller, and the most consistently popular performer over the many years of her career has been Madonna. However, Kylie Minogue equalled Madonna for the most #1 singles (10), and was equal second with the Black Eyed Peas for most weeks (30) spent at #1 in the singles charts.

Pop singer Delta Goodrem’s debut album, Innocent Eyes, spent longer at #1 than any other Australian album at 29 weeks, and she is the first ever music artist to have five #1 singles from a debut album. Innocent Eyes went on to be the best-selling album of the 2000s. Delta played aspiring singer Nina Tucker on soapie Neighbours, where she sang Born to Try, scoring Delta her first #1 spot on the ARIA charts. She has won ten ARIA Awards, and all her albums have gone to #1, making her one of Australia’s best-selling female artists. Delta is currently a judge, coach and mentor on The Voice.

In music, an aria is a vocal piece performed by a singer, usually as part of a larger work. We often connect arias to opera, although they can be part of classical concert music too, and usually think of them as very beautiful and elaborate pieces of music that only an expert singer can do justice to.

Some famous arias are Ave Maria, O Sole Mio, La Donne e Mobile from Rigoletto, and Nessun Dorma from Turandot (if you think you don’t know them, click on the links to listen, and you’ll probably find that you have heard them before). In Italian, aria means “air”, and is from the Latin word for “atmosphere”.

As a girl’s name, Aria is usually said to be a modern English name. It’s hard to track it through historical records, as any Arias you find could easily be a misprint for Maria, so while there are hundreds of Arias in Australian records, with both English and Italian surnames, your guess is as good as mine whether they were really named Aria.

There is a Saint Aria, an obscure early Christian who was martyred in Rome, but her name seems to have been short for Ariadne.

Aria catapulted into the national Top 100 last year, debuting at #83, the second-highest rising name for girls in Australia, and possibly the highest, if we had access to all the data. The name has been popularised by the character of Aria Montgomery, from the Pretty Little Liars books and TV series, and young singer and actress Aria Wallace; it’s also been boosted by its similarity to other fashionable names, like Arya, Arianna, Ariel, Allira and Allegra. Musician Ash Grunwald welcomed a daughter named Aria earlier this year.

Delta is the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet; it’s based on a letter in several Semitic alphabets which is supposed to represent a door. The Greek letter is shaped like a triangle when capitalised, and it is for this reason that the landmass at the mouth of river became known as a “delta”. If you want to get geographically technical, it is wave-dominated deltas which tend to have this triangular form; the most obvious example is that of the River Nile, and it is the Nile Delta which was first given the name, and is the “original” delta.

The Mississippi Delta region is the area which lies between the Mississippi and Yazoo Rivers, and includes parts of the states of Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas. Here’s another geographical technicality – the Mississippi Delta isn’t actually a delta – it’s an alluvial plain. The Mississippi River Delta is 300 miles to the south, in Louisiana, where the river meets the Gulf of Mexico. Just in case you have, in this short space of time, due to my scintillating prose style, become obsessed with river deltas, the Mississippi River has a bird-foot delta, where long finger-like projections reach out into the sea, and isn’t actually delta-shaped in the least.

The Mississippi Delta (the region, not the actual river delta in Louisiana – gosh I hope all this geography isn’t getting too confusing) is associated with the very beginning of several genres of popular music, such as Delta blues and rock and roll. You can no doubt get yourself into some very stimulating arguments over whether Delta blues is significantly different to any other kind of blues, or just how rock and roll got started anyway, but the Mississippi Delta would be crazy not to cash in with tons of music festivals, and they’re not, so they do.

Rita Coolidge is an American singer who inspired the song Delta Lady, by her one-time boyfriend, singer-songwriter Leon Russell. I always assumed that the name came about because Ms Coolidge is from the Mississippi Delta, but – more geographical technicalities – she’s from Macon county in Tennessee, which isn’t in the Delta region. So we may be talking poetic license here rather than geographical technicalities, although from the song’s lyrics, Russell seems to be using delta as a metaphor for ladyparts (as in the erotica collection, Delta of Venus, by Anais Nin).

(Just as an aside, the faded southern belle of unsound mind in the song Delta Dawn, which became Helen Reddy’s first #1 hit, was from Brownsville in Tennessee, which prides itself on being the “heart of the Tennessee Delta”. Dawn was a real Delta Lady.)

It was the song Delta Lady which inspired Delta Goodrem’s parents to name their daughter Delta, so that is one possible source of the name, but you could see it as a geographic name, a nature name or an alphanumeric name as well. You can also see it as a musical name, because a major 7th chord is sometimes called a Delta Chord.

There are many, many women named Delta in Australian historical records, dating back to the 19th century, and it is currently #412 in Victoria.

So here’s two pretty, modern-sounding musical names for girls, both with an Australian focus. Cross-cultural Aria is much more on trend that Delta, and consequently more popular, yet Delta has a more solid history of use as a personal name. Which one do you like better?

POLL RESULTS: Aria received an approval rating of 78%, and Delta of 33%.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOz6Mt2t084

MYTH: A “Weird” Baby Name Can Ruin Your Child’s Life

18 Sunday Nov 2012

Posted by in Baby Name Mythbusters

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This is an idea you cannot help running across if you frequent baby name forums, attend a few parent group meetings, or just read the papers – that the bestowing of a name considered strange or highly unusual upon a child is a cruel thing to do, and has the potential to impact on their life in negative ways.

A short-lived parenting blog at the Herald Sun which was written by Cheryl Critchley asked, Are Weird Names Child Abuse? It might seem a bit extreme to suggest that calling your son Raiyybanzi is the equivalent of hitting him around the head or locking him in his room for three weeks without food, but Cheryl goes to the child psychologists for further information.

According to child psychologist Dr Michael Carr-Gregg, yes, an unusual name is a form of child abuse, as it will lead to non-stop teasing in the schoolyard. Another psychologist, Dr Janet Hall, said a poor choice of name could lead to the child developing self-esteem problems. A name that others constantly question and mock is a “constant attack on your self-esteem”. It’s all sounding pretty dire for poor little Raiyybanzi.

A dim ray of light shone through when an education psychologist named Dr Helen McGrath suggested that while shy children probably won’t appreciate an unusual name, an extroverted one might enjoy the attention that it brings. She noted that unusual names do tend to change people’s perceptions, and even self-perception. However, there was no research which suggested any negative impact, and that factors such as social skills and family relationships were far more important.

The interesting thing is that Cheryl got her inspiration for the article from the names of AFL footballers she had seen in the newspapers – names such as Ayce, Jarryn, Jarrhan, Cheynee and Sharrod. These horrified her, and yet it would seem that Ayce and friends hadn’t had their lives ruined, but embarked on potentially lucrative and rewarding sporting careers. The photo of Ayce used for the article showed him looking cheerful and confident, with his self-esteem firmly intact.

This article was published a few years ago, but journalistic opinion doesn’t seem to have moved forward very much in the meantime. There’s a good reason for that – if you’ve been following the ‘Twas Ever Thus series at Elea’s blog, British Baby Names, you will see that when it comes to getting worked up over “weird” baby names, the media is pretty much churning out the same stuff they produced in the 19th century. Only the names have been changed, as the saying goes.

On Radio National a few months ago, on their popular Life Matters show, presenter Natasha Mitchell had a programme called You’ve Named Your Baby What?!. Generally light-hearted in tone, the show discussed unusual celebrity baby names (Natasha confessed she rather liked Sparrow), old-fashioned names like Mavis and Alfie, little boys just called H, and little girls named Rach’elle.

Guest Mia Freedman, who runs the successful parenting website Mamamia, while not actually accusing anyone of child abuse, opined that a strange name, especially one spelled strangely, could be a “burden” for a child. A burden in so much as they would be constantly questioned about their name – perhaps not damaging to their self-esteem, but a downright nuisance to them nonetheless.

In these sort of shows/articles, everyone is very careful to explain that when they say “unusual names”, they don’t mean names from other cultures, which to our ears may be difficult to pronounce, or sound like rude words, or appear to be on the “wrong” sex. No, these names are a wonderful sign of our diversity, and people should be proud to possess them as part of their culture, and it would be very wrong indeed to poke fun of them.

To my mind, this is the downfall of their argument, because it’s never explained why it’s not a “burden” to be named Caoilfhionn, even though that must surely involve at least as many requests to explain spelling and pronunciation as Rach’elle does. If it’s not such a terrible burden to be named Caoilfhionn, then I don’t see how Rach’elle is any heavier for a child to bear.

And if we as a society should be able to cope with Caoilfhionn, Purushottama, Oluwakanyinsola, Dudel and Phuc as names, then I don’t see why we cannot also cope with Mavis, Alfie, Sparrow, Ayce, Jarryn, Rach’elle and H. For that matter, how could anyone be confused by the spelling of the name H? Surely the strange-names-as-a-burden club should be heaping praise on H for its unburdensome simplicity? However, for some reason that never happens.

Oddly enough, Mia, who has an extremely simple and popular name, says that she needs to often correct people on the spelling and pronunciation of it. And yet, this burden doesn’t seem to have really been much bother, or held her back in life. From this I deduce that almost everyone has to explain their name at some point (“No, it’s John – J-O-H-N, not Jon – J-O-N”), and that it’s just one of those little things you have to deal with.

To befuddle the argument even further, Mia poked mild fun at “cutesy pet names” for children, singling out Jools Oliver for naming her children Poppy, Daisy, Petal and Buddy. Fun fact: Mia’s daughter is named Coco. I know: go figure.

Although these examples are not the most convincing you’ll come across, and don’t even manage to present a cogent argument, there are no lack of studies which purport to reveal the dreadful consequences of giving your child a strange name.

They tell us that your child will do worse at school, be less popular with their classmates, drop out of tertiary education, and have their resumes ignored by prospective employers (although, after doing so badly at school and flunking university, you’d think a boss would have pretty good grounds for ignoring their resume).

Furthermore, they were more likely to be diagnosed as psychotic and to end up in prison – the bitter conclusion to a life of failure and misery. After reading this terribly sad story, which seems like the stuff of nightmare and soap opera, how could a parent be so heartless as to inflict on their child any name other than one selected by the Chamber of Commerce, heads of all major universities, and a panel of psychiatrists?

However, other researchers crunched the numbers and came up with opposing results. It was noted that men with rare names were over-represented in Who’s Who, suggesting that a life of success was just as possible as one of failure for those with less common names. Other researchers noted that many children with uncommon names came from lower socio-economic backgrounds, and that once this was allowed for, there was no difference in academic outcomes that could be attributed to the person’s name.

One interesting finding by development psychologist Dr. Martin Ford is that everyone tends to attach a particular image or set of expectations to a name – up and until they confronted with a person with that name. People might say that they think of Berthas as being unattractive, but if shown the photo of a beautiful woman and told she is named Bertha, they rate the photo more or less the same as someone told the lovely woman is called Jacqueline or Christine.

In other words, Shakespeare was clearly on the money in regard to roses smelling just as sweet.

So here we have two competing theories: one is that unusual names are little more than child abuse, will damage self-esteem, prove an unnecessary burden, and be a severe handicap in regards to academic and social success. At worst, they may even send your child mad, or force them into a life of crime.

The other is that names, once attached to a real person, become almost meaningless – that what we are judged on is not our names, but our appearance, voice, grooming, hygiene, mannerisms, personality, social skills, motivations, abilities, intelligence, beliefs, income, education, job, family, friends, hobbies, home, influences, aspirations, and indeed the whole “package” that is ourselves.

I’m not sure I am completely convinced by either side – mostly because I am sceptical as to whether any of them have considered genuinely “weird” names. I feel as if they have looked at unpopular or uncommon names, or names judged to be undesirable by others, but that’s not really the same thing.

I mean come on, how sheltered must your life be to think that Ayce and Rach’elle are weird!

From what can I gather, Dr. Ford’s photo experiment was just using “outdated” names of the time like Hazel and Harriet – not only in no way weird, but by now very much back in fashion.

His original name study was done in 1984, on children who would have been born in the early 1970s. Very rare names of people born in 1972 include Atticus, Briar, Bristol, Coco, Darcey, Denzel, Emmeline, Fallon, Heaven, Jaxon, Jorja, Kourtney, Larkin, Lourdes, Marigold, Reeve, Rosamond, Sonnet, Star, Theodoric, and Wilder.

These names aren’t weird any more – some of them look pretty hip, and others seem unsurprising; a couple are even quite dull. In just forty years, a name can go from Woah, what the heck? to Meh. Maybe the rare names of today, such as Cameo and Twain, will seem equally familiar by the early 2050s.

That’s looking at US data of course, but in Australia we know that just twenty years ago Olive was a strange and awkward name to give a baby, and it is now Top 100 in Victoria, and getting there in New South Wales.

If name-weirdness is dependent on time, it is equally so on space. I know that when I look at some names on the American charts, or in American birth notices, they seem odd to me because names such as Legend, Princess, Race, Tinsley,  and Dutch are rarely or never used in Australia. Likewise, Americans look at Australian-used names like Lachlan, Jacinta, Hamish, Bronte and Zali, and think What the dealio?

A normal name can become weird just by crossing the Pacific; conversely, an American boy named Hamish who moves to Australia will blend in instantly. Fun fact: in the US, 8 baby boys were named Hamish last year.

What an individual person believes is weird seems to be almost entirely subjective. To Cheryl it’s Jarryn. To Natasha it’s Apple. To me it’s Race. To 1972 it’s Coco. To a commenter I saw on Mamamia it’s Felix (in the Top 100). To this journalist it’s Becket. To my mother it’s Madison. To you maybe it’s Hamish. Or Metallica. Or Banjo. Or Justus. Or Crew. Or Dudel.

I genuinely thought that this myth would be either BUSTED or CONFIRMED by the time I finished the blog entry, but not only has it not been answered, the very myth itself seems to be retreating over the horizon the closer we get to it, like heat shimmering on a bitumen road in January.

I am becoming less and less convinced that a weird name will ruin anyone’s life, and moreover, I am becoming less and less certain that weird names even exist, in any useful sense of the word “weird”.

Even Raiyybanzi isn’t that strange once you get used to it – it’s really just a juiced-up Raymond.

The People’s Choice of Boy’s Names

23 Sunday Sep 2012

Posted by in Name Themes and Lists

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Adolf

A form of the Germanic name Adalwolf, meaning “noble wolf”. The Old English form is Æthelwulf, and there are a few famous men of this name in English history, most notably the father of Alfred the Great. The name was often used amongst the royal houses of northern Europe, and the Latinised form Adolphus turns up in the monarchy of the United Kingdom. There is a saint called Adolf of Osnabrück, a 9th century German monk. Up until the mid-twentieth century, the name was common in central and northern Europe, and can be found in Australia due to immigration from Germany and Scandinavia. The reason this name has been included is because barely a day goes by without someone Googling: “Is it legal to call your child Adolf?”, to which I can say, yes, it is legal here, and you can find quite a few Australians in the records with this name – including ones born during and shortly after World War II. I have met a man named Adolf (born around the early 1960s), and I believe he was named after his grandfather. The other chestnut is, “Is it legal to call your child Adolf Hitler in Australia?” to which I reply, Why would you want to do that? Seriously, why? As the name Ned Kelly is banned because he is considered too wicked, I’m pretty sure Adolf Hitler would also be illegal here.

Buster

This spunky name has more history than you might think. In England, it was first used in the middle position; Buster is a variant of the surname Bustard, after the bird. In 18th century America, it seems to have been more common for African-Americans, and may have started as a pet name in the sense of “breaker”. Later it took on the meaning of “unusual, prodigious, amazing”. Buster is used to address males in the same way as pal or fella (“Now listen up, buster”). This comes from the Spanish dialect busté, meaning “you”. It’s gone on to have negative connotations. One of the most famous men with this name is actor Joseph “Buster” Keaton, who started his career in vaudeville as a small child. He claimed to have received his nickname as a toddler from Harry Houdini, after falling down a flight of stairs unhurt. Houdini allegedly remarked, “That was a real buster!”, meaning “a fall with the potential to cause injury”. So Keaton’s name indicated he was tough enough to take a tumble. Buster Brown was a cartoon strip boy who was an angelic-looking blond prankster. In Australian slang, come a buster means to fall or fail by misfortune, while buster is a term for a strong wind – especially the Southerly Buster. This is a name Sydneysiders give to the abrupt cool change that sometimes blows in from the south during the warmer months. Vintage name Buster has recently become rather an Australian favourite for boys, although in the novel, The Shiralee, by D’arcy Niland, Buster is a little girl.

Chester

Chester is a city in Cheshire, England, founded by the Romans as a fortress in 79; its size has led some historians to speculate that the Romans intended it to be the capital, rather than London. Its current name comes from the Old English Ceaster, meaning “Roman fort”, and its early history was very military, with wars seemingly constant. Even King Arthur is supposed to have won a major battle here, and it was the last city to fall to the Normans during the Conquest. Today it’s a thriving modern city which still tries to preserve its historic buildings. Chester has been used as a personal name since the 16th century, probably after the surname, although early births in Cheshire suggest they may have been named directly for the city itself. Although it’s been a popular name in the US in its time, and only left the Top 1000 in the mid-1990s, for some reason it never caught on in a big way here. I was surprised to see it on a baby in the Bonds Baby Search Competition this year. For some reason, this baby name is often Googled, although the slang term chester is an impediment to its use.

Digby

An English surname from a place name meaning “settlement by the ditch”, derived from a combination of Old English and Old Norse. The name seems to have been first given in honour of the aristocratic Digby family, Anglo-Irish peers whose family seat in Coleshill, Warwickshire was granted to them by Henry VII. It is from the town of Coleshill that the personal name originates in the 17th century. One of the most famous of this clan was Sir Kenelm Digby, a Catholic philosopher considered a great eccentric for his exuberant personality and fascination with science, which extended to studying alchemy, astrology and magic (not considered incompatible with science then); he was the first person to note the importance of oxygen to plants. A man of action as well as thought, he became a privateer, and killed a man in a duel; he also wrote several cookbooks, invented the modern wine bottle and managed to fit in a secret romance to a famous beauty which led to their marriage. A true all-rounder. This name regularly appears in birth notices here, especially from Victoria, and may be encouraged by comedienne Cal Wilson, who welcomed a son named Digby a few years ago. People seem to either loathe this name or find it irresistibly cute; I must confess to being in the second category.

Elfyn

This is the Welsh form of the Old English name Ælfwine, meaning “elf friend”; it went out of use after the Norman Conquest. J.R.R. Tolkien liked to think of the name as meaning “friend of the elves”, and invented two fictional characters with this name who formed close bonds with elves. Modern forms include Alvin and Elvin, both taken from the surname form of the name. There are several famous people in Wales with Elfyn as either their first name or surname, including young rally driver Elfyn Evans and poet Menna Elfyn. For reasons I cannot explain, it is Googled several times a week.

Jharal

Jharal Yow Yeh is an NRL star who plays for the Brisbane Broncos. An Aboriginal Australian from the Margany people of Queensland, he also has Torres Straits Islander, Vanuatuan and Chinese heritage. Now aged 22, he has been playing for the Broncos since 2009, for the Indigenous All-Stars since 2010, and for both the Queensland state team, the Maroons, and the Australian national side, the Kangaroos, since last year. Early this season he sustained a serious leg injury, and is still recovering. People Google Jharal’s name all the time, asking for its meaning, and often querying whether it’s of Indigenous origin. In fact, his name was created for him by his grandmother. His mother couldn’t decide what to call him, so she asked nana Iris to name him. Iris cleverly arranged the letters of all the strongest men in her family into a name, and came up with Jharal. It is taken from the initials of James, Harold, Anthony, Reece, Arthur and Linc. The name is pronounced JHUH-rahl, and Iris says that most people think it is an Indian name. In fact, by coincidence, a jharal is a mountain goat from India. Names created for celebrities often seem too unique for others to use, but I have seen Jharal a few times in birth notices recently. Looking for a nickname? Jharal is known to his family as Joe.

Koa

This unisex name has several different origins. There is a Hawaiian male name Koa meaning “strong, brave, fearless”, and it’s also the name of a Hawaiian tree, the Acacia koa. The wood was traditionally used to make dug-out canoes and certain types of surfboards. In Maori, the word koa means “happiness”. In the Kaurna language of South Australia, the word koa means “crow”, and the Koa people come from south-east Queensland, so it’s also a tribal name. There has been a sudden proliferation of this name in Australian birth notices, and that might be because Tom Dumont from No Doubt welcomed a son named Koa last year. However, I am beginning to see far more girls named Koa in birth notices than boys. This may be because of model and actress Koa Whelan, a contestant on this year’s dating show, Please Marry My Boy. I think this works equally well for boys and girls, although the first meaning is male only.

Neo

This is from an Ancient Greek prefix meaning “new, young, fresh”. It turns up in words such as neonatal, meaning “pertaining to the newborn”, or neologism, meaning “a freshly coined word”. The name has become well-known since 1999 because Neo is the protagonist of the cyberpunk Matrix film series. In the films, the character’s name is Thomas Anderson, and Neo is his computer hacker identity (Anderson does have the letters N, E and O in it). Neo is also an anagram of One, and the films seek to discover whether Neo is “The One”, a Messiah-like figure who will be able to rescue humanity. The films have become cult classics, and intermingle a range of philosophical and spiritual ideals from the East and the West – it’s even spawned its own religion, Matrixism. From the amount of times that people have Googled neo baby name or neo for a boy, there are quite a few parents considering using this name. Neo fits right in with current trends, and doesn’t sound any stranger than Leo. It is very strongly associated with the film character though. However, Australians have a solid history of gaining name inspiration from the movies, and most of The Matrix series was filmed in Sydney, giving it an Australian connection.

Rune

A Scandinavian name derived from Old Norse meaning “secret”. The runes are the letters of the runic alphabets, which were used to write different Germanic languages, dating from at least the first or second century AD. Runic inscriptions seem to have been for magical and divinatory use, and perhaps their knowledge was restricted to an elite in early times. According to Norse mythology, the runes were originally stolen from the god Odin. They are part of English history, because the Anglo-Saxons had their own runic alphabet. If you have read The Hobbit, you will have seen Anglo-Saxon runes used on a dwarven map; Tolkien later invented his own runic alphabet which appears in The Lord of the Rings. Rune stones are  used for divination today, often in a similar way to tarot cards. The name isn’t unusual in Scandinavia, and you may know the name from the Polish speedway rider Rune Holta, born in Norway. I think this is a simple, attractive name with layers of history and meaning.

Zephyr

A zephyr is a light, warm wind. It comes from the name Zephyrus, who was the Greek god of the west wind – the gentlest of breezes, which served as a harbinger of spring. He married both Iris, the goddess of the rainbow, and Chloris, the goddess of flowers – who is also seen as a deity of spring (and named Flora by the Romans). Children may know the name as that of a bat in the Silverwing book series, and, in the form Zephir, as the monkey in the Babar the Elephant stories. Grown ups may be reminded of The Zephyr Song by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. If you take the name as derived directly from the god, then it is male, but if you accept it as a nature name and vocabulary name, it is unisex. It only seems to be Googled to my blog as a male name however. Pronounced ZEF-uhr, this name is unsual but not outrageous; it seems like a breezy alternative to popular Z names like Zachary, Zeke or Zane. The obvious nickname is Zeff or Zeffy.

(Picture shows actor Keanu Reeves in his role of Neo from The Matrix; Sydney skyline in background)

Less Commonly Used Girls Names

03 Sunday Jun 2012

Posted by in Name Themes and Lists

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When all the name data for the most popular names was released, there were also several articles which looked at some of the names closer to the bottom of the popularity lists than the top. Dorcas at Names from the Dustbin calls these names Bottom of the Barrel – not meaning that they are necessarily of poor quality, but just low in the rankings.

Most names at the bottom of the lists are just re-spellings of common names, or short forms of names that are usually kept as nicknames rather than a full name. However, if you sift through these, there’s some interesting finds at the “bottom of the barrel”, and even some neglected gems.

These names are from the popularity charts of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, and Tasmania. Nearly all of them are taken from the very rarest names in their state.

Adeline

This is a pet form of the French name Adele; the French pronunciation is a-de-LEEN, but the English is AD-uh-line. The name is well known from the American ballad Sweet Adeline, which was a standard for Australian folk band, The Seekers. There’s also the piece, Ballade pour Adeline, written for the composer’s baby girl, which I had to thump out tunelessly with my chubby fingers during many a childhood music lesson. However, Adeline has got considerably cooler since then; Kasey Chambers has a song called Adeline, Green Day’s Adeline Records handles indie rock bands, and Elliot Smith released his own darker version of Sweet Adeline. I read at Abby’s Nameberry Nine that Simon Helberg from The Big Bang Theory welcomed a daughter named Adeline last month, making it an up-to-the minute celebrity baby name. Adeline has never been on the Top 100; it was #162 for the 1900s, and then sank until it was out of regular use by the 1940s. Today it fits in well with Adelaide, Addison, Madison and Madeline; however it may be difficult for short form Addie to stand out amongst the sea of Maddies and Abbies.

Allegra

Allegra means “cheerful, lively” in Italian, related to the musical term allegro, and has a long history as a celebrity baby name. Romantic poet Lord Byron re-named his illegitimate daughter Clara Allegra Byron (called by her middle name, and originally named Alba by her mother). Despite poor little Allegras’s life being brief and marked by neglect, the name seems to have been an apt one, because she was described as a vivacious child. Her story didn’t stop American poet Henry Longfellow from using it as his daughter’s middle name; in his poem The Children’s Hour, he describes her as “laughing Allegra”. The American inventor and designer, Buckminster Fuller, also gave this name to his daughter. Allegra Versace is the daughter of Italian designer Donatella Versace, and Allegra Kurer is the daughter of British radio host Vanessa Feltz. In Australia, news presenter Jessica Rowe chose it for her eldest daughter in 2007, and last year it was chosen for the daughter of Emmy Kubainski. Frothy and elegant, with a positive meaning, this fashionable favourite would also make a good Italian heritage choice.

Bonnie

Bonnie is taken from the Scottish word bonnie, meaning “pretty, beautiful”; it’s derived from the French bon, meaning “good”. Bonnie has been used as a personal name since the 19th century, and was even sometimes given to boys, but received a huge boost when it was used in Margaret Mitchell’s popular romance, Gone with the Wind. Bonnie Blue Butler is the daughter of Scarlett and Rhett, and receives her name because she has eyes the colour of the Bonnie Blue Flag – the banner of the Confederate States in the American Civil War. British rocker Billy Idol, who sang Rebel Yell, named his daughter Bonnie Blue, and we had a Bonnie Blue competing in the Bonds Baby Search. Another famous Bonnie is Bonnie Parker, one half of notorious crime duo Bonnie and Clyde. Bonnie has been on the charts almost continuously, albeit in rare use in the 1950s and ’60s. It had a peak in the 1920s at #172, then peaked again in the 1990s at #157; it’s currently climbing in the mid-100s in New South Wales, but is obviously rarer in other states. It’s a sweet old-fashioned name which is also linked to rebellion, giving it a spunkier image.

Cleopatra

This Greek name means “glory of the father”, and is almost impossible for us to disassociate from the famous Queen of Egypt. From a dangerously inbred family of Macedonian Greek origin, she ruled Egypt alongside her father, and then her brothers (who were also her husbands), but then seized control and reigned alone for many years. She was able to align herself with Rome as both ally and lover to both Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, but after Mark Antony’s death, is said to have poisoned herself before she could be captured and humiliated. According to tradition, she killed herself with an asp. Her story captured the imagination of William Shakespeare, who based his play Antony and Cleopatra on the last part of her life, and her story has been made into several films, including the lavishly dreadful one starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. Cleopatra is always depicted as a woman of great beauty, although early traditions suggest her attractiveness was based more on enormous charm and sex appeal. This ancient, glamorous name carries a lot of weight, but with short form Cleo becoming fashionable, some parents may wish for a long form of the name.

Elif

This Turkish name is after Alif, the first letter of the Arabic alphabet, and has connotations of “tall and slender”, as if the person is shaped like the letter, which is a long vertical line. It is pronounced ay-LEEF. You probably recall that Natalie Portman had a son named Aleph last year; Aleph is the Hebrew form of the same letter. The meaning of the letter goes back to the West Semitic word for “ox”, as the cuneiform originally represented the shape of an ox’s head. In Arabic, the word is connected via folk etymology to the word for “coy, tamed”, giving it a subtly demure feeling. It’s a common girl’s name in Turkey, and there are several Turkish celebrities with this name. There’s also a town in Turkey called Elif. I’m not sure a non-Turkish person would ever use it, but it’s certainly an attractive name that is easy enough for an English-speaker to understand and pronounce, once they’ve learned how it’s said.

Harlow

This name is inspired by Jean Harlow, a Hollywood superstar of the 1930s. With her platinum hair and vampish image, she was the forerunner to many blonde bombshells of the movies. Despite her beauty and success, Harlow’s life contained much tragedy, and she died of kidney failure while only in her twenties. Harlow took her mother’s maiden name as her stage name; her birth name was Harlean Carpenter. The surname Harlow is from several places in England. Harlow in Yorkshire means “hill of rocks” in Old English, while the meaning of Harlow in Essex is disputed. One theory is that it means “army hill”, with the idea being that local landmark Mulberry Hill was a meeting place for the local people. Another is that it means “temple mound”, as there is an Iron Age burial mound in the area which later had a Roman temple built on the site. Harlow is a unisex name, but more common for girls; the name came to public attention when Nicole Richie named her daughter Harlow in 2008. There were 20 babies named Harlow in Queensland last year, up from 12 the year before. Although numbers are still low, that’s a significant jump.

Pixie

This name is after the small mythological being of English folklore, tales of which come from Cornwall and Devon. They are usually depicted as small sprites who could be mischievous, but were often helpful to humans. A famous Australian with this name was the prolific illustrator and artist Pixie O’Harris (aunt of singer-artist Rolf Harris). Her real name was Rhona Olive Harris, but when she migrated to Australia from Wales she changed her name to Pixie because she was nicknamed “the Welsh pixie” on the boat over. A printer’s error changed her name from Pixie O. Harris to Pixie O’Harris, and she stuck with it as her pseudonym. Last year, businesswoman Roxy Jacenko named her new baby Pixie-Rose. I think some people will find the name Pixie adorably cute, and others impossibly twee; it’s bound to get some interesting reactions, and does have the fashionable X in it.

Sippie

The only person I know of named Sippie is the blues singer Sippie Wallace, who was born Beulah Thomas. Her career spanned seven decades, and although she found fame as a young woman in the 1920s, she was rediscovered in the 1960s and ’70s and was a big influence on Bonnie Raitt, who went on tour with her. Her album Sippie won the Blues Album of the Year in 1983, so her comeback was a definite success. The name Sippie is one that she gained in childhood because the gap in her teeth meant that she had to “sip” all her food and drink. Coincidentally, there is a place on the Gold Coast called Sippy Downs; its name is a corruption of an Aboriginal word meaning “winged creatures”, and interpreted as meaning “birds”. As Sippie Wallace was billed as “The Texas Nightingale”, I find this juxtaposition very charming. Sippie is an unusual name, but what a wonderful namesake. This would be very suitable for a family who loves music, especially jazz and blues.

Torah

In Australia, this name is well known as belonging to snowboarder Torah Bright, who won gold at the 2010 Winter Olympics. Her parents named her after the Torah, which is the Jewish word for the first five books of the Old Testament. The word is from the Hebrew, meaning “teaching, instruction”, however, Torah Bright’s mother believed that it meant “bearer of a great message”. Torah Bright is a member of the Church of Latter Day Saints (Mormon), and lives in Salt Lake City, Utah. There was slight disbelief at this name on The Baby Name Wizard, with a couple of people feeling that it seemed rather offensive, or at least strange. Torah’s name was reported on in Washington Jewish Week; there was no mention of it being offensive to Jews, but they did appear to find it slightly amusing. Like calling your child Bible or Gospel, many will find this name a head-scratcher. It would be given in honour of our Olympic champion, but the religious ramifications may be lost on some people. The fact that it sounds as if it could be short for Victoria is probably a help.

Zahlia

This name is pronounced ZAH-lee-uh, and as far as I’m aware, it’s a modern invention. It seems to be an elaboration of the name Zali; Zali Steggall is Australia’s most internationally successful alpine skier (now retired). Her name has proven a great success here, and spawned many variants, such as Zarly, Zahlee, Zalie etc. It’s unclear where the Stegalls got the name Zali from, and to the best of my knowledge, it’s made up. Zahlia does well in Australia, because it sounds rather exotic, while also being similar to popular names such as Zara and Tahlia (it even looks like a combination of those names). Despite being listed as a rare name, I have seen some parents dismiss Zahlia as being “too common”; perhaps it’s not rare enough to seem “unique”, or perhaps the many variants and sound-alike names make it appear to be one of the pack.

(Picture is from one of the posters for the 1963 movie Cleopatra)