Upper Class Baby Names

18 Sunday Aug 2013

Posted by A.O. in Your Questions Answered

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Class, baby names, and judgement thereof seems to be a topic under discussion everywhere at the moment. BRW magazine told us how to name our babies like a rich person, Wendy Harmer set high, perhaps unattainable standards for baby names, an American blogger told us how names are done in Old Blighty’s class system, and a random Devonian reality television contestant decided nobody’s baby names were good enough, not even hers. Perhaps the royal baby is the catalyst for all this reflection – he didn’t escape the scrutiny either; the reality TV contestant decided he had a “dog name”.

And then I checked my search engine stats this week, and found that someone had Googled what baby names do upper class australians use.

Strictly speaking, Australia doesn’t have an upper class, because we don’t have a hereditary aristocracy. It’s usual to consider the richest people of a country the de facto upper class, but when we talk of someone being “upper class”, it has connotations of more than mere possession of a large disposable income. Some of the richest families in Australia are from traditionally working class or middle class backgrounds – they’re just regular people with vast fortunes.

While Australia does have a class system, it’s a flattened-out one, with fewer social divisions, and a large middle ground. Class is more fluid and less structured here than some other places. Of course, that doesn’t mean we are free of all status markers and snobbery – including name snobbery.

So if we don’t have an upper class, do we have upper class baby names? I don’t think so, because any particular name is used by a wider variety of people than you might suppose. Although in our imaginations, poor people have children named Jaidyn and Tayylah, and rich people send Agatha and Lucius off to St Barnaby’s or the Kindergarten of Higher Consciousness, in real life it is a lot less stereotypical.

When you register your baby name, the registry doesn’t ask for your family tree or your bank balance. They won’t ever say, Look, I think Peregrine is out of your price range. Might I suggest something more affordable, like Cooper? All names are equal, because they cost the same amount to register. No matter how humble your circumstances, you can give your baby any name you want – elegant, serious, trendy, sassy, bold, or eye-raising.

And because all names are equal, they won’t make any difference to your own social position, or to your child’s. A poverty-stricken family won’t receive an invitation to join the Yacht Club just because their daughter is named Agatha, and a Jaidyn born into wealth will have just as privileged a life as if his name had been Lucius, and will be just as welcome at St Barnaby’s.

Although some people fret that their baby’s name needs to sound like a doctor, a judge, a professor, or a prime minister for them to succeed, in real life surgeons are named Kellee, chief justices are named Wayne, academics are named Tiffany and Brandy, and prime ministers are named Kevin. Not only does your name not indicate where you came from, it doesn’t indicate where you are going either.

However, it’s fair to say that some names have an upper class image. I don’t think Australia is significantly different from other English-speaking countries when it comes to what names may be perceived as upper class.

Names Which May Be Seen as Upper Class

Please note: This is by no means an exhaustive list, just a few ideas as to what I think sounds “upper class”, what others may perceive as upper class, or that I have noticed upper-middle class people choosing. I am not recommending these styles of name, or suggesting you use them.

Classic English-style names eg Thomas and Lucy
Anglo-Saxon type names eg Alfred and Edith
Names from European royalty eg Leopold and Adelaide
Latin and Latinate names eg Rufus and Aurelia; Hugo and Miranda
Classical names eg Leander and Hermione
Retro names eg Arthur and Florence
So old-fashioned that they’re hip eg Reginald and Gertrude
Vintage-style nicknames as full names eg Monty and Lottie
Names that have remained in use while never becoming popular eg Theodore and Susannah
Uncommon Scottish-style names for boys eg Cormac and Fergus
Uncommon flower names for girls eg Dahlia and Saffron
Historical surname names for boys eg Forbes and Monash
Whimsical names eg Huckleberry and Tuppence (while putting the whimsical name in the middle is the prudently middle class thing to do)
Fashionable “arty” names eg Ziggy and Coco (strike me as more aspirational middle class for some reason)
Literary names eg Caspian and Evangeline (these definitely seem middle class, as the middle class is keenest on reading)

How Middle to Upper-Middle Class Australian People Tend to Judge Names

Please note: I am not suggesting you follow any of this advice. It is for information only.

They like names that are spelled the more commonly accepted way. People are really fussy about this for some reason, and even slight changes to a name can bring on eye-rolling.
Any name that looks or sounds recently “made up” is frowned upon (although it’s fine if it was created a long time ago and therefore has a history behind it).
If a name has several variations, the simpler one is usually considered more upper class than the more elaborate eg Isabel rather than Isabella, Alice rather than Alicia, Sophie rather than Sophia.
Classic and retro names are usually considered more upper class than modern classics. However, Sophia is a classic name and Sophie is a modern classic, yet Sophie is more upper class than Sophia – so this does have exceptions, or can be overwritten by another rule.
Hyphenated names for girls, like Emma-Rose or Ruby-Lee, are often viewed with suspicion. This could be because “double” names are elaborations by their very nature.
Masculine or unisex names on girls are generally considered downmarket, while a unisex or feminine-sounding name on a boy often has quite a bit of cachet. So Mackenzie on a girl = thumbs down, Mackenzie on a boy = thumbs up.
It is fashionable to show pride in your cultural heritage, so Lorenzo, Agnieszka, Tevita, Silka and Johannes can be more stylish than Laurence, Agnes, David, Cecilia and John.
Conversely, many people seem to think that using names from a culture that you don’t have any immediate tie to looks distasteful. I think it’s silly, but it seems to be a widespread idea.
One or two middle names are fine, but once you reach three or more middle names (and you’re not royalty), you are considered to have gone beyond the bounds of good taste. It’s a little arbitrary, but it does seem to be the rule.

Names Not Obviously One Class or Another

Many names that have been highly popular for a length of time – by their nature, popular names are “of the people”; it’s easier for a name to remain very popular if many groups of people use them. Names like Charlotte, William, Chloe and Lachlan could belong to almost anyone, and do.
Hickster names – those that are fashionable-sounding yet slightly countrified, like Mayella and Elroy. Even after reading the birth notices carefully, looking for clues as to which kind of families choose these names, I still don’t know.
Uncommon nature names – names like Leaf or Snow are hard to place, I think. I have seen these names on children from absolutely everywhere on the social spectrum.
Extremely rare or obscure but genuine names – due to the fact they are almost never heard of, they don’t have any social context to put them into. You may only meet one Harmon in your whole life – so how can you generalise about the name?

What names do you think have an upper class image? And do you think there is any such thing as an upper class name?

Famous Name: Griffin

06 Wednesday Mar 2013

Posted by A.O. in Famous Names

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Anglo-Saxon names, animal names, english names, famous namesakes, honouring, Irish names, mythological names, name history, name meaning, nicknames, surname names, vocabulary names, Welsh names

On March 12 the city of Canberra, Australia’s capital, will celebrate one hundred years since its foundation in 1913. Special events are planned for the entire year, with the major festivities taking place on the long weekend preceding the actual date.

A baby called Allegra Bluebelle Sofo born this year was named in honour of Canberra’s centenary – the royal bluebell is the floral emblem of the Australian Capital Territory. Her story was featured in The Canberra Times, and as further inspiration for potential Canberran baby-namers, the paper went on to make more suggestions for names with a Canberra connection, which you can read about on Nancy’s Baby Names blog.

I couldn’t help noticing that all the suggestions were for girls names, which seemed very unfair, given that boys will make up about half of all the babies born in Canberra during 2013, and an obvious suggestion is staring them in the face.

In 1911, King O’Malley held an international competition to find a designer for the layout of the new city, which was won by Chicago architect Walter Burley Griffin. Walter produced the design in colloboration with his wife and business partner, the architect Marion Mahony Griffin. The Griffins moved to Australia to oversee the project, and fell in love with the Australian landscape, becoming enthusiastic bushwalkers with a keen interest in botany and conservation. The building of a city set in bushland seemed perfect for their idealistic vision inspired by the Garden City movement.

Unfortunately, World War I put a dent in everyone’s plans, and Walter Burley Griffin was treated shamefully by bureaucrats, who undermined him to further their own interests, eventually forcing him to resign. Many of his ideas were discarded or altered, but the basic plan of the central city is undeniably that drawn up by Walter Burley Griffin.

It wasn’t until the 1960s that the artificial lake he had envisioned was built in the heart of Canberra (not to his plans, it must be said), and in the first kind gesture Canberra had made toward its designer, Prime Minister Robert Menzies refused to have the lake named after himself, and insisted it be called Lake Burley Griffin. Australians had rather cluelessly misunderstood American naming conventions, and imagined that Burley must be part of Walter’s surname, rather than his middle name, so the lake doesn’t even have his correct name.

It’s never been rightfully re-named Lake Griffin, which would also have honoured co-designer Marion, but it’s the only monument that Walter Burley Griffin has in Australia. One was planned in the 1960s, and an American architect hired, but a change of government left it shelved indefinitely.

With so little appreciation during his lifetime (Walter died in 1937), why not name your son Griffin to honour the man and his wife who helped bring the city of Canberra into being?

The surname Griffin has several sources. It can be a Latinised form of the Welsh name Gruffud, which is also Anglicised as Griffith. There was also an Anglo-Saxon name Griffin, derived from High German grifan, meaning “snatch, grab”, and an allusion to dragons. The Irish surname is taken from the Gaelic name Grioghtha, meaning “griffin”.

This legendary animal (also spelled gryphon or griffon) is a combination of an eagle and a lion, thus blending the king of the beasts with the king of the birds. How this combination was achieved was a matter to be decided by the artist, but by accepted convention the griffin has the body, tail and hindquarters of a lion, with the head, wings and talons of an eagle, and has prominent pointed ears. The word griffin is derived from the Greek for “hook”, possibly denoting the creature’s hooked beak or curved talons.

Griffins were prominent in the art and design of Ancient Greece, where they were seen as powerful protectors against evil. Greek writers described the griffin as native to mountainous areas of Asia, sacred to the sun, and a hoarder of gold. Other ancient legends tell of the griffin’s prodigious strength and intelligence, its hatred of horses, and wars against the Amazons. The griffin seems to be a symbol of good, of light, and of the masculine principle.

You will sometimes see griffins carved into old churches and cathedrals, because during the medieval era, the griffin was considered a symbol of Christ, who, like the griffin, has dominion over both the heavens and the earth. It was also thought that the winged cherubim mentioned in the Bible could have been griffins, as they are described as having the face of a lion and an eagle (although this ignores the fact cherubim also have the face of a man and an ox). It is possible that the legends of cherubim and griffins had the same source – the winged beasts of ancient Middle Eastern art.

Just to confuse things, the griffin was also associated with Satan, probably in the belief that anything so fierce must be up to no good (the hoarding of gold might have looked sinfully avaricious as well). This miserable idea doesn’t seem to have persisted, probably because it doesn’t make sense, since griffins were always noble, majestic, and on the side of good.

Griffins are a popular symbol in heraldry, with the first known person to have a griffin on his coat of arms being Richard de Redvers, the Earl of Exeter, in 1167 (the coat of arms was much older than that). A symbol of strength and vigilance, the griffin is said to be the perfect emblem for a hero in battle. For some reason, male griffins are always shown in heraldry without wings, but adorned with spikes denoting the sun’s rays. They are less common than winged female griffins. Canberra doesn’t have any griffins on its coat of arms, which I think would have been an appropriate choice.

Griffins are often found in fantasy literature, and the first one appears to be Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. You may also read stories that involve griffins in the works of Frank Stockton, Diana Wynne Jones, Tamora Pierce, Neil Gaiman, Mercedes Lackey, Patricia A. McKillip and Rick Riordan. Readers of the Harry Potter series will remember that Harry’s house at school was Gryffindor. These fantasy novels had a noble forerunner, because the poet Dante sees Beatrice in a chariot drawn by a griffin in The Divine Comedy.

Griffin is a strong, handsome and very masculine name which can either be taken as Celtic or English. The legendary creature gives it many layers of mystical associations, nearly all of them extremely positive. You could use either Griff or Finn as nicknames.

POLL RESULT: Griffin received a worthy approval rating of 77%. People saw the name Griffin as strong and handsome (33%), cool (18%), noble and chivalrous (13%), and cute and brainy (13%). However, 9% thought the connection to mythological griffins made the name seen ridiculous – half as many as those who thought the mythological connection made the name cool.

(Picture shows a heraldic griffin)

Underused Names for Boys

10 Sunday Feb 2013

Posted by A.O. in Name Themes and Lists

≈ 14 Comments

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This follows on from last week’s Underused Names for Girls; to briefly recap, they are names which aren’t common here (used less than six times in the 2012 Victorian data, have never charted in Australia), but still have a history of use in Australia (can be found in historical records).

Alaric

Alaric is from the Gothic name Alareiks, meaning “ruler over all”. Alaric I was the king of the Visigoths who sacked Rome in 410, and his great-grandson, Alaric II, was ruler of the Visigothic kingdom, covering most of Spain and the south of France. Another Alaric was a legendary king of Sweden, skilled in battle and sport, and a masterful horseman. He had a brother Eric, and for some unknown reason, the pair of them killed each other with their horses’ bridles, which seems an awfully strange choice of weapon. The name Alaric is far commoner in fiction than in real life, where it tends to be either chosen for comedies, in the belief that the name Alaric sounds amusingly high-faluting, or science-fiction/fantasy, in the belief that it sounds geekily exotic. In the TV series, The Vampire Diaries, there is a character named Alaric; he says his name uh-LAHR-ik, although most sources say the name is pronounced AL-uh-rik. Powerful and commanding, this is unusual, but sounds similar to familiar names like Alan and Eric.

Blaise

In Arthurian legend, Blaise was the priest who baptised the wizard Merlin, became his tutor and friend, then took the trouble to write down all Merlin’s deeds for posterity. There is a Saint Blaise, who is a saint of healing, as he cures sore throats (the saint was a doctor as well as a bishop). He seems to have been quite popular in England, perhaps because his feast day of February 3 is right after the Celtic festival of Imbolc and the Christian feast of Candlemas, and often marked by bonfires. Blaise sounds like the word blaze, so a pleasing coincidence for fire-lovers. The most famous namesake is Blaise Pascal, the French theologian and philosopher. The meaning could be from either Latin or Greek. If Latin, it means “stuttering, lisping”; if Greek it means “bow-legged”, so either way it’s not flattering. Saint Blaise was Greek, but the Blaise of Arthurian legend is probably meant to be Roman or Romanised, so you can take your pick. It’s a name loved for its sound, namesakes and associations rather than its meaning.

Corin

Corin is a French surname derived from Quirinus; Saint Quirinus was part of a Roman missionary group sent to convert Gaul, and legend has attached to this popular saint all the standard saintly stories, such as killing a dragon and going for a stroll after getting his head chopped off. The original Quirinus was an early Roman god, probably a Sabine war deity. The Sabines had an altar to Quirinus on the Quirinal Hill, one of the Seven Hills of Rome. The Romans considered him to be a deified Romulus, and in the early days he was a major god, although they gradually lost interest in worshipping him. However, even after the fall of Rome, the Quirinal Hill remained a place of power, so that it was chosen as the seat of royalty, and later the residence of the Presidents of the Italian Republic. The name is linked to the name of the Sabine town Cures, and may come from the Sabine word for “spear”. There is a shepherd named Corin in Shakespeare’s As You Like It, and a Prince Corin in C.S. Lewis’ The Horse and His Boy. You can also see this name from another perspective, for in British legend, Corineus was a great warrior and giant-killer who founded Cornwall; his name may be an echo of Cernunnos, the Celtic god, whose name is usually translated as “horn”, or “horned one”. There are several place names in Cornwall apparently derived from Cernunnos (including Cornwall itself), and the name Corin enjoyed early popularity in Cornwall and Devon – so you can see this as a British name just as much as a French one. This packs a double mythological punch, and doesn’t seem much different than names such as Corey or Colin.

Edgar

Edgar is an Old English name meaning “rich spear”. Saint Edgar the Peaceful was a king of England; a Scottish King Edgar was a son of Saint Margaret. The name became rare after the Norman Conquest, but had a revival in the 19t^h century, after Sir Walter Scott’s historical novel, The Bride of Lammermoor, told the story of tragic lovers Lucy and Edgar – a tale which ends in madness, murder and quicksand. Edgar is also a character in William Shakespeare’s King Lear; disinherited by his father, he wanders the heath disguised as a babbling madman. Noble and clever, he is also enigmatic with a touch of darkness; he enjoys playing the crazy beggar just a little too much. The most famous person named Edgar is probably the American writer, Edgar Allen Poe, said to have been named after Shakespeare’s character. Poe’s works are also quite dark and enigmatic, dealing with topics such as grief, guilt, mystery, murder, madness, doom, death, drugs, and being buried alive. Edgar is related to the other Ed- names, such as Edward and Edwin, but seems more vintage, a bit edgier, and a touch more Gothic. This name might be uncommon, but it’s also traditional and comes with all the usual Ed and Eddie nicknames.

Giles

This is based on the Latin name Aegidius, derived from the Greek for “young goat”. Aegidius was a 7^th century hermit from Athens who lived in the south of France with a tame deer; in Old French his name became Gidie, then Gide, and finally Gilles; when the Normans took his name to Britain, it became Giles. A noted miracle worker, Saint Giles was very popular in the Middle Ages, and his name became common; it was also given quietly but steadily to girls (even into the 20^th century). Although we often think of Giles as a terribly “English” name, Saint Giles is the patron saint of Edinburgh, and the name Giles is traditional in Scotland; many Gileses in Australian records have Scottish surnames. The English haven’t done this name many favours, as it’s a favourite in English books and TV shows for good-natured upper class twits. However, this doesn’t reflect the reality of the name, or the Australian experience of it, and I think it’s possible to see Giles in quite a different light. I can see Giles as a solid country-style name, a brother to Archie and Will, or slightly hipster, a brother to Hugo and Barnaby. If you crossed Gus with Miles, you might end up with something that looks a little like Giles …

Huxley

Huxley is an English surname. The Huxley family were Normans who came to Britain after the Conquest and settled in Cheshire, taking their name from a village near Chester, which was originally named Holdesieia, and corrupted into Huxley. The original name may be from the Anglo-Saxon for “sloping land”, and Huxley is believed to mean’s “Hucc’s wood”, with Hucc being an Anglo-Saxon nickname meaning “insult, taunt”. Huxley has been used as a personal name since the 18^th century, and early examples are from the Cheshire area, suggesting they may have been named directly after the village. The Huxley family have produced an astonishing number of brilliant thinkers, from the biologist T.H. Huxley, supporter of Charles Darwin, to the author Aldous Huxley, who wrote Brave New World. T.H. Huxley came to Australia as a young man, and did such excellent work in natural history that he was made an immediate Fellow of the Royal Society on his return (Mount Huxley in Tasmania is named in his honour). T.H. Huxley’s distant cousin, Sir Leonard Huxley, migrated to Australia in childhood, and became one of our most distinguished physicists. With its fashionable X and intellectual pedigree, this name seems very hip, and comes with the nicknames Huck or Hux.

Jethro

Jethro is translated as “excellence, abundance” in Hebrew, and in the Old Testament, Jethro is the father-in-law of Moses, and a priest (it is never made clear in what religion he was a priest, but by the end he accepted Yahweh as his God). Jethro is revered as a prophet in Islam, and is held in the highest regard by the Druzes. The most famous person with this name is Jethro Tull, an English agricultural pioneer who helped bring about the British Agricultural Revolution which formed the basis of modern farming practices. The rock band Jethro Tull is named after him. You may also remember the dull-witted Jethro Bodine from The Beverly Hillbillies. Jethro is a little bit hick and a whole lot hip – it’s hickster.

Rufus

Rufus started life as a Roman nickname, but afterwards became a family name; it’s from the Latin for “red haired”. There are many famous men with the surname Rufus, including the Stoic philosopher Gaius Musonius Rufus. His views on philosophy were moderate and practical, encouraging all men and women to follow a philosophical life, and giving advice on all manner of topics, including diet (vegetarian, raw) and hairstyles (long, beardy). He was so highly-regarded that when all other philosophers were expelled from Rome by the Emperor Vespasian, Rufus was allowed to stay. There are at least ten saints named Rufus, one of whom is mentioned in the New Testament as a disciple of St. Paul; his father was the man who carried the cross for Jesus on the way to Calvary. There is also the Gaelic saint Mael Ruba, whose name is Anglicised as either Maree or Rufus. King William II of England was nicknamed “Rufus” for his ruddy complexion. Famous people named Rufus include the Canadian-American singer Rufus Wainwright, and the British actor Rufus Sewell; Roger Taylor from Queen has a son named Rufus Tiger. With names ending in -us becoming fashionable, Rufus looks set to become the new Atticus.

Wolfgang

Wolfgang is a German name meaning “wolf path, wolf journey”, and interpreted by folklorist Jakob Grimm as being the name of a hero who follows in the wake of the “wolf of victory”. It has two heavy-duty namesakes: composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe; there is also a Saint Wolfgang, one of the patrons of Germany. Eddie Van Halen chose this name for his son. Nearly all Wolfgangs in Australian records have German surnames, and although this would make a striking heritage choice, it could work even if you don’t have a scrap of German ancestry. Wolfgang is one of those names that people seem to either love or loathe, so it attracts some extreme reactions. The usual nicknames are Wolf or Wolfie.

Zebedee

In the New Testament, Zebedee was a fisherman, and the father of the Apostles John and James. He is mentioned as being left behind in the boat when Jesus called the brothers to “become fishers of men”; we never learn whether he was supportive of his sons’ career change, or thought they should have remained fishers of fish. Zebedee’s wife was one of the women present at the crucifixion. The name Zebedee is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Zebadiah, meaning “Yahweh has bestowed”, and nearly always interpreted as “gift of God”. There is an English painter named Zebedee Jones and an English newsreader named Zebedee Soanes; both these Zebedees were born in the 1970s, when the cult children’s show, The Magic Roundabout, was first on television. In the show, Zebedee was a jack-in-the-box who is popularly recalled as ended the show by bouncing down out of nowhere and intoning, “Time for bed, children” (although I’m not sure how often this occurred). With Old Testament names for boys becoming a bit old hat, it could be time to consider some of the more unusual New Testament names. This one is full of zest, and the nickname Zeb is as cowboy cool as Zeke and Jed.

POLL RESULT: People’s favourite names were Huxley, Alaric, and Corin, and their least favourite were Wolfgang, Zebedee, and Giles.

(Picture shows Zebedee from The Magic Roundabout)

Famous Name: Bede

07 Wednesday Nov 2012

Posted by A.O. in Famous Names

≈ 5 Comments

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Anglo-Saxon names, Australian Dictionary of BIography, birth notices, english names, famous namesakes, historical records, name history, name meaning, name popularity, Old English names, popular names, royal names, saints names

On November 1, Corporal Daniel Keighran became the third Australian soldier serving in Afghanistan to receive the Victoria Cross, the highest military decoration awarded for bravery in Australia. Corporal Keighran is the first member of the Royal Australian Regiment, and the 99^th Australian, to receive a VC, and did so with great modesty and humility. Daniel’s wife Kathryn had no idea of the courage her husband had displayed under fire in battle two years ago until she learned he was about to be decorated for it. The Victoria Cross was awarded in a ceremony at Government House in Canberra.

Watching this story on the news reminded me to look at the list of those Australians awarded the Victoria Cross in the past, as I wanted to cover the name of a World War I hero for Armistice Day, which is on Sunday. As I ran my eye down the list, one name stuck out because it has been in my Request file for ages, and I briefly covered it in my article at Nameberry a short time ago. So it was quite an easy choice for me to select Bede as this week’s Famous Name.

Corporal Thomas James Bede Kenny, always known as Bede, was born in Sydney in 1896. The son of a butcher, he had just begun training as a chemist’s assistant when he enlisted with the Australian Imperial Force in 1915. He initially served in Egypt, then was sent to northern France in 1916 to take part in the second phase of the battle of Pozières, in the battalion bombing platoon.

It was in the spring of 1917, as British and Australians captured the outpost villages of the Hindenberg Line, that he performed the acts of valour that were to earn him the Victoria Cross. In the attack on Hermies, his platoon came under heavy fire from a machine-gun post which caused severe casualties. Bede rushed at the enemy single-handed, hurling three bombs, the last of which knocked out the post. He then took the surviving Germans prisoner, his actions contributing significantly to the success of the operation.

Later he was injured in battle and invalided home to Australia, arriving in Sydney to a hero’s welcome a few weeks before the Armistice. He was offered the chance to join the military police, and rejected it immediately, as for some reason he had a great dislike of them.

In civilian life, he worked as a salesman, and was happily married; he is remembered as a popular man with many friends, and a fondness for innocent pranks. He was left partially deaf from the war, and also suffered the effects of trench foot throughout his life. The great tragedy of his life was the deaths of two of his three children, which he never recovered from.

Like Corporal Keighran, Corporal Kenny never talked about his wartime experiences, and the only sign that he was proud of his military service was that he always led the VC winners at the Sydney Anzac Day marches. He died in 1953, and by a cruel irony, his pallbearers were military policemen.

The most famous person with the name Bede is the 7^th/8^th century English saint, Venerable Bede. Although it is not certain, it is thought that his Anglo-Saxon name, Beda, is from the Old English word bēd, meaning “prayer”. If so, it’s possible that his parents chose a religious life for him from his birth. The name wasn’t a common one, but interestingly, one of the kings of Lindsey, in England’s north, was named Beda; as Venerable Bede was from this area, it’s tempting to wonder if he was named after an ancestor, or a famous local namesake.

Venerable Bede is most famous for his prolific writing career, eventually completing over sixty books, most of which have survived. He wrote on a wide variety of subjects, including science, history, grammar, hagiography and theology; his best known work is An Ecclesiastical History of the English People, which begins with Caesar’s invasion of Britain, and ends with Bede’s own times. His use of AD to refer to events after the birth of Christ helped it become standard. He was also a teacher, a music lover, and was said to be accomplished at singing and poetry recitation, even writing some poetry of his own.

Bede is the only Englishman to be declared a Doctor of the Church; he is also the only Englishman to be mentioned in Dante’s Paradiso, where he appears amongst the theologians and doctors of the church. He is regarded as a saint in both the Catholic and Anglican churches.

If you are thinking that Bede (pronounced BEED) sounds a lot like the word bead, you would be correct. That’s because the Old English word bede, meaning “prayer” is the source of the modern word bead – because beads are used as a means of keeping count of prayers, a practice in Christianity which dates to the 5^th century (although prayer beads are ancient and used in many religions). Because of this, you will sometimes see the name Bede interpreted as “bead” or “prayer bead”.

Bede isn’t a common name in Australia; at the same time, it isn’t all that unusual either. There are plenty of Bedes in the records, and if you go to the Australian Dictionary of Biography, you will find quite a few famous Australians with Bede as part of their name. What you primarily notice is that these Bedes tend to be from Catholic backgrounds (and some High Anglicans), and that Bede is usually one of their middle names. It is also the name of Bede Durbidge, who won Surfer of the Year a few years ago, giving the name a more cool laidback image.

I can imagine some people thinking that Bede sounds weird and ungainly; something only a staunchly Catholic family would use; a name best suited to leaving in the middle position. Which sounds perfectly reasonable – except that less than half a century ago, there was another boy’s name that seemed weird and ungainly, was used almost exclusively by Catholics, and generally relegated to the middle position, usually after Francis.

That name was Xavier, which is now #22 and rising. Could Bede be the Xavier of the future?

It’s a very old name with a solid history of use in Australia, part of the Catholic tradition, and with spiritual associations. It’s short yet substantial, clunky yet surprisingly cool. It’s the name of our heroes, our leaders, our intellectuals, our athletes, our artists, our businessmen, and for many of us, our dads and uncles and grandfathers too.

Wherever it might be headed, I see this name often enough in birth notices to know that it is not going away, which gives me a strange feeling of comfort.

(Photo of the Victoria Cross from The Australian)

Names of Australian Male Paralympic Medalists

28 Sunday Oct 2012

Posted by A.O. in Name Themes and Lists

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Anglo-Saxon names, Arabic names, Arthurian legends, Arthurian names, Cornish names, Croatian names, Disney names, english names, epithets, European name popularity, famous namesakes, French names, Gaelic names, germanic names, Irish names, K.M. Sheard, Latin names, locational names, mythological names, name history, name meaning, name popularity, names of organisations, Old Irish names, Old Norse names, Pictish names, popular culture, popular names, Roman names, royal names, saints names, Scottish names, South American name popularity, surname names, Welsh names

Bruno (Moretti)

Bruno Moretti won silver in table-tennis at the 1960 Paralympics, and a gold and two silvers in athletics at the 1964 Paralympics. Bruno is a Germanic name meaning “brown”. The name was used by the nobility in medieval Europe, and there are several saints named Bruno. One of them is Saint Bruno of Cologne, who was the son of Saint Matilda. He was Duke of Lotharingia and Archbishop of Cologne, and his court in Cologne was an intellectual and artistic centre. Bruno was also the given name of two popes – Gregory V and Leo IX. Bruno has a long history of use in Europe, and today is Top 100 in Croatia, Catalonia, Spain, and Chile. It’s also a common surname in Italy, and Giardano Bruno was a Dominican friar, philosopher, mathematician and astronomer, who suggested that the Sun was a star, and the universe had infinite worlds, populated by intelligent beings. He went down very badly with the Spanish Inquisition, who had him burned him at the stake. Today he is regarded as a martyr to science. Bruno is a warm cuddly-sounding name, and seems to be a popular choice for bears, both real and fictional.

Cody (Meakin)

Cody Meakin grew up playing both rugby union and Australian rules football; he broke his back in a rugby scrum, and while still in high school, became quadriplegic after a car accident. He took up wheelchair rugby in 2010, where he became an international champion. He won gold at the London Games this year. Cody is derived from the Gaelic surname Ó Cuidighthigh, meaning “son of Cuidightheach”. Cuidightheach is an Old Irish epithet meaning “helpful”. The most famous person with the surname must be “Buffalo Bill” Cody, an American frontiersman who became a celebrity for his Wild West touring shows; these introduced the concept of the American West to Britain and Europe. Buffalo Bill was a supporter of Native American rights, women’s rights and conservation, making him a very modern namesake, as well as giving the name Cody an “American West” feel. In the 1990 Disney film, The Rescuers Down Under, the boy from the Australian outback is named Cody. Cody first charted in the 1970s, and was top 100 by the 1990s. It peaked in the early 2000s at #59, and only left the Top 100 last year, when it dropped to #124.

Dylan (Alcott)

Dylan Alcott has been paraplegic from birth due to a spinal tumour, and began playing wheelchair basketball in 2003. He won gold at the 2008 Paralympics, and silver at this year’s London Games. Dylan is a Welsh name which is difficult to translate exactly, but very roughly means “flood, wave, tide”. In Welsh mythology, Dylan Ail Don was a blond god of the sea, and his epithets were “son of the wave” and “son of the sea”. In the legends, he is killed, and it’s said that the sound of the waves is the sea lamenting his death. The name became well known outside Britain due to the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, who was named after the god. In Welsh, his name is pronounced DUL-uhn, but Thomas himself preferred the Anglicised pronunciation of DIL-uhn. Thomas’ emotionally powerful yet tightly controlled verse was admired by a young American named Robert Zimmerman, who promptly changed his name to Bob Dylan. As Dylan went on to become a folk balladeer, protest singer and counter-cultural icon, the name Dylan ended up with a double helping of street cred. Dylan first charted in the 1960s and reached the Top 100 in the 1980s. It peaked in the early 2000s at #17, and is currently #41.

Erik (Horrie)

Erik Horrie was left paraplegic after a car accident in 2001, and became involved in wheelchair basketball, but last year switched to canoeing. He won a silver medal at the 2012 London Games, and also welcomed his son Lewis. Erik is derived from Old Norse, and interpreted as “only ruler, eternal ruler, eternal power”. It has been heavily used in the royal houses of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, the most famous to us being Erik the Red, who explored a little-known country, called it Greenland, and became its head chieftain. King Erik IX of Sweden is considered to be a saint, and according to legend was martyred while attending a church service. The name Erik was used in England by the Anglo-Saxons, and settlers from Scandinavia but only became popular in the form Eric in the 19^th century, thanks to an earnestly moralising book called Eric, or Little by Little. Other fictional Eriks include the Phantom of the Opera and Erik the Viking from the Monty Python film.

Fabian (Blattman)

Fabian Blattman became paraplegic after a motorcycle accident, and took up wheelchair athletics to improve fitness. One of our most successful Paralympians, he has set several world records. He won a silver and bronze in 1992, a gold and a silver in 1996, and a gold, silver and bronze in 2000. The name Fabian is derived from the Roman family name Fabius, one of the most ancient noble houses of Rome. According to legend, the Fabii claimed descent from Hercules, and were shepherds who followed founding father Remus. Their name is said to be from the Latin word for “broad bean”, a vegetable that the Fabii were supposedly the first to cultivate. The surname Fabianus was given to freed slaves who had been owned by the Fabii, and Fabian is from this name. It was introduced to England by the Normans, but never became as popular there as its equivalents in Continental Europe. There is a 3^rd century Saint Fabian, who was elected pope by a dove; despite this unorthodox beginning, he was highly-regarded and worked hard for the early church. The Fabian Society gives this name a left-wing edge; the socialist organisation took its name from the Roman general Fabius Maximus, who wore Hannibal down by attrition rather than engaging in head-on battle.

Jago (Mikulic)

Jago Mikulic was a blind athlete who competed at the 1976 Paralympics, and won a silver in javelin and a bronze in the pentathlon. Jago is a Croatian form of James or Jacob, and is said YAH-go. It can also be a Cornish form of those names, but is pronounced JAY-go in this case. However, the Welsh form Iago is very old and predates the common use of Biblical names in Britain; K.M. Sheard suggests that it may be from the Celtic word for “ice”. If so, this would give Cornish Jago another possible origin.

Kerrod (McGregor)

Kerrod McGregor was a track and field Paralympian who won two golds, three silvers and two bronzes at the 1984 Paralympic Games, one gold in 1988, and one silver in 1996. Kerrod is an English surname that can be derived from the village of Curridge in Berkshire, with the village’s name meaning “Cusa’s ridge”. Cusa was a common Anglo-Saxon name, but what it meant I have been unable to discover. Another possible origin is the hamlet of Kerridge in Cheshire, which means “key ridge” – Kerridge Ridge is one of the foothills of the Pennines. The surname seems to have been most common in Yorkshire. The name Kerrod is well known in Queensland from former NRL star Kerrod Walters, who had a twin brother named Kevin.

Nazim (Erdem)

Nazim Erdem was born in Turkey and came to Australia early in life. As a kid, he practised holding his breath under water as a little game with himself. At the age of 20 he dived into shallow water in an effort to impress some girls; he was underwater for two and a half minutes before being rescued, and his technique of holding his breath saved his life. After the accident, he was quadriplegic. He began playing wheelchair rugby in 1992, and won silver medals at the 200 and 2008 Paralympics, and a gold at the London Games. Nazim is an Arabic boy’s name which means “organiser, convenor”, and as a title, loosely corresponds to the word “mayor” in English. The name isn’t uncommon in Turkey, and Nâzım Hikmet was a charismatic Turkish writer, a leader of the literary avant-garde who was often arrested for his revolutionary political beliefs, and spent much of life in prison or exile. His poetry and his struggles for peace are widely admired in Turkey and outside it; some of his poems have been turned into songs by folk singers such as Joan Baez and Pete Seeger. The name is pronounced NAH-zim.

Rene (Ahrens)

Rene Ahrens won a bronze in discus in 1980 and 1988. René is the French form of the Latin Renatus, meaning “born again, reborn”, referring to the act of baptism, and a popular choice for early Christians. René was a name used by the French aristocracy, and the name is known to us through the philosopher René Descartes (“I think therefore I am”). There is a Saint René Goupil, a French missionary to Canada who is one of the rare North American martyrs. The name is pronounced reh-NAY. Although the feminine form Renee has been popular in Australia, masculine Rene remains very rare here – no doubt partly because it could easily be confused with the girl’s name.

Tristan (Knowles)

Tristan Knowles lost his leg at the age of 9 as a result of cancer, and also lost a lung at the age of 11. He has been playing wheelchair basketball since 1999, and in 2002 was named the NSW Wheelchair Basketballer of the Year. He won silver in 2004, gold in 2008, and a silver at this year’s Paralympic Games in London. Tristan is a Cornish hero of Celtic folklore who is also one of King Arthur’s knights of the Round Table. He is best known as the lover of the beautiful Irish princess Iseult (or Isolde). Iseult was to marry Tristan’s uncle, King Mark of Cornwall, but she and Tristan accidentally drank a love potion that had been prepared for Mark and his bride to share. The two became hopelessly infatuated with each other and embarked on a passionate affair, until Tristan was banished from Cornwall by an understandably irate Uncle Mark. The story was enormously popular in the Middle Ages, and is one of the forerunners to the story of adulterous lovers Lancelot and Guinevere. The name Tristan was yet another revived in the Victorian era, thanks to Tennyson, and the poems he wrote based on Arthurian legends. In the story, Tristan’s name is supposed to be linked with triste, the French word for “sad”, to fit in with his tragic love life. However, it is a form of the Pictish name Drust, which means “riot, tumult”. Drust was a traditional name amongst the royalty of Scotland, and it’s quite a puzzler as to how a Cornish story ended up with a hero with a Scottish name. Some claim that Tristan was a real person, pointing to a 5^th century stone in Cornwall, which is supposed to be the grave marker for someone named Drustanus, the son of Cunomorus. Titillatingly, Cunomorus is said to be King Mark himself, suggesting that Tristan and Iseult’s step-incest was even closer and creepier (although his uncle was also his adoptive father anyway). Tristan and Iseult are two literary characters I’ve never been able to warm to, as their actions are so selfish; perhaps the story is trying to tell us that nobody does very well out of an infatuated love affair, not even the lovers themselves. Tristan first charted in the 1960s, and has managed to reach #100 twice, in the 1980s and late 2000s. It’s currently #123.

(Photo of Dylan Alcott celebrating victory from Zimbio)

Famous Name: Piper

24 Wednesday Oct 2012

Posted by A.O. in Famous Names

≈ 12 Comments

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Anglo-Saxon names, english names, famous namesakes, Hollywood names, locational names, musical names, name history, name meaning, name popularity, popular culture, popular names, surname names, unisex names, US name popularity, vocabulary names

Sydney was recently named the second most expensive city in the world, after Tokyo; luckily it was also revealed that Australians are now the richest people in the world, so we can afford it! The most expensive suburb in Sydney is Point Piper, where the median house value is $7.38 million, and the most expensive privately owned house in Australia, costing $70 million to build, is located here. Point Piper’s Wolsley Road is the tenth most expensive street in the world, with 16% of Australia’s priciest houses on this 1 km stretch.

Point Piper is a little piece of land which juts into Sydney Harbour, a small enclave of just eleven streets and 148 houses. As Sydney’s most exclusive suburb, it is only 4 km from the CBD and offers views of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House. Despite its size, it has two beaches and two yacht clubs. The suburb is named after Captain John Piper, a Scottish-born military officer of Cornish parentage and German descent who arrived in the colony in 1792 and became an immediate social success.

Piper’s career got off to an interesting start when he asked to be posted to the penal settlement in Norfolk Island after a scandalous love affair which ended with an illegitimate daughter in his care. Later he became acting commandment of Norfolk, and ruled it so kindly that even one of the convicts wrote home to say how outstandingly nice he was. While on Norfolk, he took as his mistress a teenage girl who was the daughter of convicts; they eventually married, but not before she had borne him four children (they had nine more).

He became very rich by collecting custom duties and excises, and after being granted land by the governor, built a mansion on the point which is now named after him in 1816 at a cost of £10,000 (about $11 million in today’s money). He continued gathering wealth, real estate and respectability, until he ran into financial difficulties in the 1820s, and was suspended from his position after mismanagement of funds was discovered.

Piper tried to drown himself in Sydney Harbour, but was rescued. He had to sell everything he owned to settle his debts, and moved to Bathurst, where he ran a farm and became a figure of local importance. When he ran into problems there as well, his friends bailed him out and bought him a riverside property, where he and his wife and numerous children could be comfortable. He was just so nice, you see – blithe, unsinkable, amiable, and eminently forgiveable for his lack of business acumen.

Piper is an English surname which refers to someone who played the bagpipes. Although we think of bagpipes as being uniquely Scottish, their origins go back to the ancient world; it’s said that the Roman emperor Nero could play them. Their use spread through Europe in the Middle Ages, with their first explicit mention in Britain being in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. However, it was in Scotland that bagpipe music became most sophisticated and highly developed.

The piper was a well-paid and highly-respected professional, who would have been employed by a great lord or chief; it was often a hereditary position. The piper’s job was to entertain his lord at home and while travelling; this sometimes included military service. While traditions of pipers rallying the troops before battle go back centuries, the first documented case is 1549, when they were played by the troops of the Earl of Argyll. Later, pipers could be employed by a town to play each day, as well as at fairs and other events.

There is a myth that in times of old only men were pipers, and one ancient saw is that a woman found playing the bagpipes would have her fingers cut off in punishment, but this simply isn’t true. There are many documented cases of women pipers, and they were employed as teachers in a famous piping school on the Isle of Skye. Today women pipers are still out-numbered by the men, but there are plenty of them, and they are equally good.

The surname Piper goes back to the 13^th century, and seems to have historically been most common in Sussex in England. However, the personal name may predate the surname, for the name Pipere has been found in an Anglo-Saxon charter from Sussex, which could make Piper one of the oldest English names – and another possible source for the surname.

Piper, with the modern spelling, comes directly from the surname, and dates to the 18^th century, when it was nearly always given to boys (although as a middle name, much more evenly divided between the sexes). The name became seen as a girl’s name when a teenager from Detroit changed her name from Rosetta Jacobs to Piper Laurie and got a contract in Hollywood.

Although Ms Laurie says in her autobiography that she had to change her name because it sounded “too Jewish”, she gives no clues as to where she got the name Piper Laurie from. It almost sounds like a girl’s name – Laurie Piper – backwards.

Piper Laurie was in The Hustler and Carrie, but would have become well-known here for her role in the miniseries The Thorn Birds, based on the best-selling novel by Australian author Colleen McCullough. The Thorn Birds was originally broadcast in 1983, and the name Piper first charts in Australia the same decade.

The name skyrocketed in the 1990s to reach #128 by the early 2000s; I can’t help feeling this has a lot to do with the character of Piper Halliwell in the TV show Charmed. The actress who played Piper, Holly Marie Combs, confessed to having a large and inexplicable fan base in Australia.

Piper made the Top 100 in 2009, and is currently #70 and rising. Although we think of this as an American-style name, it’s only been on the US Top 1000 since 1999, and is still not Top 100, although not far off at #110, so Piper has charted in Australia longer than in the US and is more popular here. Australian parents do seem quick to pick up on Hollywood names.

I saw someone on a name blog say Piper is a name which will please everyone, which seemed going a bit far. However, I do think it has a lot to recommend it. It references luxury real estate, an ancient form of music, a Hollywood star with an Aussie connection, and an appealing namesake with a history unusually free of tragedy.

It’s a very old Anglo-Saxon name, but seems bright and modern. It’s a surname name for girls that doesn’t have any “son of” or male-only occupation issues, or significant prior use as a male name. It’s a vocabulary word which everyone can spell, pronounce and understand, and it’s a popular but not too popular name that still has room for growth.

So while Piper may perhaps not please all people, if Piper pleases you, then you may be pleased enough with Piper to pick it!

(Photo of Point Piper from the Sydney Morning Herald)

Meanings of Names

07 Sunday Oct 2012

Posted by A.O. in Your Questions Answered

≈ 3 Comments

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There’s many different ways to choose baby names. Some people pick out a name they like, and perhaps quickly check to make sure it doesn’t mean something horrible, like “he who has the face of a deranged warthog”, or maybe not even care what it means. Others think of a meaning they would like to associate with their baby, and then hunt around for a name that fits that meaning.

These are all the web searches people used to get to the blog this year, looking for names with particular meanings. I don’t know if I’ve always come up with a name they wanted to know about, and I’m not even completely sure that I’m correct on each one, but I did my best.

NAMES WITH MEANINGS RELATED TO STARS

Boys name that means “star”

The English word Sterling, referring to sterling silver, is said to most likely mean “little star”, as some early Norman pennies were imprinted with a small star. The Old French word for the pennies is Esterlin. We also use the word sterling to mean “excellent, of high quality”, so you get another layer of meaning from it.

Latin boy’s name meaning “star”

The Latin for star is Astrum. Astro is a Latin prefix meaning “pertaining to the stars”, as in the word astronomy. I have seen this used as a name.

Swedish girl’s name that means “star”

Stjarna.

A boy’s name that means “bright star”

Nayyar is an Arabic boy’s name which is understood as meaning “bright star”. It also refers to the sun, which of course is our nearest, and thus brightest, star.

Male name meaning “bright star in the southern hemisphere”

There’s isn’t a star name which means that, but Sirius is the brightest star in the sky, and is visible in both hemispheres. However, Canopus, the second brightest, is more often connected with the southern hemisphere; it is always visible from some parts of Australia. It is occasionally called Soheil in English, and the Maori name for it is Atuatahi, meaning “stand alone”.

Spanish girls name that means “constellation”

I’m not sure there is one, but the Spanish for constellation is Constelación. I haven’t heard of it being used as a person’s name, but Constelacia might look a bit more name-like. I don’t speak Spanish, so apologies if this looks absurd to Hispanophones.

Boy name that means “many constellations”

The Japanese name Ikuto has this meaning, although I’ve only seen it used as a fictional surname.

A constellation name which means “small”

All the constellations have names which are nouns or “things”, not adjectives, so there isn’t one. A few have Minor as part of their name, to indicate they are the smaller of two eg Ursa Minor. The closest I could find was Equuleus, meaning “little horse, foal”.

Name meaning “starry sky”

In Japanese, Hoshizora means “starry sky”. It’s used as a surname in the Japanese anime Smile Pretty Cure!

Boys name that means “galaxy”

I have seen Galaxos as a character name in online games, and Galaxian would mean “of the galaxy” or “from the galaxy”.

NATURE NAMES

Boys name that means “beach”

Beach, Bay or Cove.

Names that mean “songbird”

Hebrew has both a male and female name with this meaning. Efrona for a girl (meaning “lark”), and Zalmir for a boy.

Flower name that means “peaceful”

There’s a native plant from Western Australia called the Gunniopsis pax – it’s a succulent, and it does have small flowers. There is also the Peace Lily, and the Peace Rose, and a type of guzmania (a bromeliad) called Pax. The White Poppy, the Lotus and the Daisy have all been used as symbols of peace.

Boy name meaning “otter”

In Japanese, Rakko means “sea otter”. That seemed to be the most usable word for otter in another language I could find.

POSITIVE MEANINGS

Indian boy’s name meaning “one who cannot be defeated”

It seems to be a popular meaning for boy’s names in India, for there are several. I managed to find Adityendra, Ajay, Ajeenkya, Ajeesh, Ajit, Aparajita, and Durjaya. Take your pick!

Viking name meaning “prince”

Balder is translated as meaning “lord, prince, king”, and it was used as an epithet for heroes. In Norse mythology, Balder was the son of Odin and Frigg.

Girl name that means “independence”

Liberty or Freedom.

Sanskrit girl’s name meaning “bright, happy”

Nandita.

Girl’s name that means “beautiful”

There’s a lot. A few you may not be familiar with are Mei (Chinese), Shayna (Yiddish) and Ziba (Persian).

Name that means “bewitching”

Mohana is an Indian unisex name which means “bewitching, infatuating, charming” in Sanskrit. It is used as an epithet of several gods and goddesses.

The word for “lovely” in some other language

Delightfully vague! I pick French – Jolie.

NEGATIVE MEANINGS

Baby name that means “spiteful”

I hope this is for a story and not a real baby! The German surname Sauer means “spiteful” (related to the word sour, acid), and it can be Anglicised as either of the unrelated names Sawyer or Sayer, so I guess those are possible options.

Hindi word for “proud”

Ooh there’s quite a few. Garvi, Garvit and Nidar look the most like names, to me.

DOESN’T EXIST

Name that means “daughter of a princess”

Hmm, seems a bit narcissistic as a baby name, somehow! Anyway, there’s no term for a princess’ daughter, and the daughter of a princess doesn’t necessarily have any special status – Princess Anne’s daughter Zara is just Mrs Tindall. I would choose a name that simply means “princess” or is royal-related. However, the Indonesian name Putri means both “daughter” and “princess”.

Norse name which means “female knight”

Vikings didn’t generally fight with a cavalry, and although there were some female warriors, it’s very unlikely they would have ridden horses, as this was usually reserved for leaders of a warband. It does make me think of the Valkyries, who were mythological women of the afterlife, always depicted on horseback. Valkyrie means “chooser of the slain”.

Norse name meaning “hunter”

There isn’t one. The Old Norse word for hunter is Veiðimaður, and some think this word is the basis of the English surname Waitman. This is occasionally used as a first name.

Name for a girl that means something

More specific, please!

NAMES FOR SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES

Name that means “perfect time”

I know it’s not quite right, but I keep thinking Serendipity. Also Season, because of the saying that “For everything there is a season, and a time for everything under heaven”. The Japanese girl’s name Aya means “design”, suggesting a planned pregnancy. Musical names like Rhythm or Cadence come to mind, as music must be perfectly timed. Ogechukwukama is an Igbo girl’s name meaning “God’s time is the best” – good for a surprise, but very welcome, baby.

Name that means “beating the odds”

Lucky or Chance.

Boy’s name that means “when two souls join”

I’d probably be thinking of names that mean “bliss, joy”. Anand is a Sanskrit name meaning “bliss”, while Anglo-Saxon has Wynn, meaning “joy, bliss”. The word Bliss itself can be used for both sexes. The Chinese unisex name Zheng or Zeng means “harmony, union”, which seems to describe the state of soul togetherness.

Zulu name for boys that gives hope for the future

Mduduzi is a Zulu boy’s name that means “bringer of hope”.

Boy’s name meaning “not meant to be”

Oh how sad, and what a sad meaning. I’m so sorry. I thought long and hard about this one, and it seems to me that the concept behind “meant to be” and “not meant to be” is the same, that is, some idea of Fate, Fortune or Destiny. We usually think of it as feminine (“Dame Fortune” etc), but the Ancient Egyptians had a god of fate, named Shai or Shay, meaning “that which is ordained”. I think that’s a nice name for a boy, and has the sense of the meaning you’re looking for.

(Picture shows the Milky Way above Lake Moogerah in south-east Queensland; photo from Perth Now)

The People’s Choice of Boy’s Names

23 Sunday Sep 2012

Posted by A.O. in Name Themes and Lists

≈ 15 Comments

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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 9^th 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 18^th 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 16^th 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 17^th 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)

Famous Names: Ned Kelly

29 Wednesday Aug 2012

Posted by A.O. in Famous Names

≈ 12 Comments

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African names, African-American names, American names, Anglo-Saxon names, Australian idioms, banned names, birth announcements, British Baby Names, Cornish names, English name trends, english names, famous namesakes, folk etymology, Google, Irish names, locational names, middle names, name history, name meaning, name popularity, nicknames, popular culture, Scottish slang, surname names, unisex names, US name popularity

On August 2 this year, it was reported that the descendants of notorious bushranger Edward “Ned” Kelly were about to receive his remains, 132 years after he was hanged for murder. At that time, the bodies of executed prisoners were buried in unmarked graves in Melbourne Gaol, and Kelly was one of them. In 1929, he and several others were re-buried in Pentridge Prison during renovations to Melbourne Gaol, and last year scientists were able to identify Ned Kelly’s skeleton from a group of twenty-four at Pentridge, by comparing his DNA to that of living members of the Kelly family. The Kellys can now give Ned a private burial.

Ned Kelly was the son of an Irish convict, and gained notoriety as a horse thief and cattle rustler before being convicted of bank robbing and murder. He was hanged on November 11 1880. He looms large in the Australian imagination, and is widely seen as a folk hero, and a symbol of Irish-Australian resistance against the ruling classes and police corruption. There is in the Ned Kelly legend a particular type of Australian masculinity which is admired: physically powerful, ballsy, defiant, daring, anti-authority, and an under-dog. The phrase, As game as Ned Kelly, is the ultimate praise for bravery, and his legend has spawned countless folk stories and ballads – not to mention a few films.

The name Ned is a pet form of names starting with Ed-, such as Edward and Edmund. It has been used as a nickname since at least the 14^th century, and as an independent name since the 17^th century. One theory is that it began life as a contraction of the affectionate “mine Ed“, which became understood as “my Ned”. Although this can’t be verified (and Elea at British Baby Names remains slightly sceptical), the story does add a layer of sweetness to the name.

It is among the first names that crossed the pond, because a baby named Ned was born in the English colony of Virginia, so it became a British and American name almost simultaneously. It has often appeared in American popular culture, such as Ned Flanders on The Simpsons and Ned Dorsey from 1990s sit-com Ned and Stacey. All-American girl detective Nancy Drew even had a boyfriend named Ned Nickerson. (Ned and Nancy! Adorable!). Ned was on the US Top 1000 until the mid-1970s.

Like Kevin in England and Bevan in Australia, it’s a name with a bad rep elsewhere, because in Scotland ned is slang for a hooligan or petty criminal. Given our own history with the name, this seems unlikely to put Australian parents off. Here solid unpretentious Ned will always be associated with folk hero Ned Kelly, but as it’s currently fashionable as an upper-class name in England, this makes it seem quite chic as well.

Kelly is an Anglicisation of the Irish surname Ó Ceallaigh, meaning “son of Ceallach”. Ceallach is often interpreted as meaning “bright headed”, but it may mean “church-going”, as the Irish word for church is ceall. It can also be seen as an Anglicisation of Ó Cadhla, meaning “son of Cadhla”, with the male name Cadhla meaning “attractive, graceful”.

Outside Ireland, the surname Kelly can be from place names in Scotland (in this case, probably from the Anglo-Saxon meaning “calf hill”) and in Devon, the latter derived from the Cornish word for “grove”. However, it is much more common as an Irish surname.

Kelly has been used as a first name since at least the late 17^th century, and is another name which seems to have been used in Britain and America almost at the same time. It appears to have quickly become far more common in America as an Irish heritage name.

Although the name was first given to boys, in a relatively brief space of time the name seems to have been accepted as unisex, with roughly even numbers of males and females named Kelly in colonial America. Quite a few of the early American Kellys arrived directly from Ireland itself, and these were just as likely to be female, if not more so.

I don’t know why, but the name seems to have been commonly given to the sons and daughters of Christianised black African indentured servants in early colonial America. I would be fascinated to know the reason for this, and wonder if there is an African name Keli that seemed familiar to both cultures. Or perhaps working alongside Irish indentured servants gave them a fondness for the name.

Kelly first shows up on the US Top 1000 in 1880 as a male name, and first appears there for females in 1944. It grew in popularity for both sexes, but really took off as a girl’s name in the 1950s with the fame of glamorous Hollywood actress Grace Kelly (of Irish background). After she became Princess Grace of Monaco, the name simply bounded up the popularity charts.

Kelly peaked for both boys and girls in the late 1960s, but then lost ground as a boy’s name, while maintaining a female presence; it even managed to peak again for girls in the 1970s. Kelly hasn’t ranked as a boy’s name in the US for ten years, while it is now #335 for girls, and falling.

In Australia, the history of the name is much shorter, and it only ever charted for girls. It first appears in the charts in the 1950s at #560 (about one Kelly per year). By the following decade, it was already in the Top 100, and peaked in the 1970s at #13. It left the Top 100 in the early 2000s, and last year just ten baby girls named Kelly were born in New South Wales, giving it a ranking of #641.

Amongst the most common Google searches used to reach my blog are those enquiring about using Kelly as a boy’s name, and many of these are from Australia. With Kelly becoming rare as a name for girls, and the fame of American world surfing champion Kelly Slater (of Irish background) lifting its profile internationally as a male name, this seems the perfect time for Kelly to step up and gain more use for boys in Australia.

I hope that these assiduous Googlers are giving serious thought to choosing Kelly as their son’s name. I scan the birth notices for Kelly, and this year I have only seen it used as a middle name for boys. However, Kelly Slater himself uses his middle name (his first name is Robert), so these babies do have the choice to go by the name Kelly when they get older.

NOTE: Although you are free to call your child Ned, or Kelly, it is, bizarrely, forbidden in New South Wales to name a baby Ned Kelly. This makes Ned Kelly one of Australia’s rare illegal names.

(The picture is from Sidney Nolan’s series of paintings of Ned Kelly in his armour 1946-47. These images are some of the most iconic and recognisable of Australian artworks. Taken from ABC News).

Waltzing With … Darwin

26 Sunday Aug 2012

Posted by A.O. in Waltzing with ...

≈ 1 Comment

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Anglo-Saxon names, english names, famous namesakes, locational names, name history, name meaning, surname names, UK name popularity, US name popularity

This blog post was first published on August 26 2012, and revised and re-posted on May 18 2016.

Famous City, Famous Namesake
Today is the last day of the Darwin Festival, a Top End cultural extravaganza of art, music, dance, comedy, film, theatre, cabaret, and festivities. The city of Darwin is known for its laid-back lifestyle and unique multicultural mix, with people of over fifty nationalities living side-by-side and intermingling.

If you attended the festival, you could have learnt how to make Chinese dumplings, watched an Aboriginal drag queen, got a make-over at an African beauty salon staffed by children, picnicked with teddy-bears, been seduced at a Bollywood burlesque show, swum at a pool party, gone to a Rio-style cabaret, and attended a rock concert in someone’s back yard.

Darwin is the capital of the Northern Territory, the smallest Australian capital, and the most northerly of our capital cities. It looks towards Asia, across the Timor Sea, and is geographically closer to the capital cities of five other countries than it is to the capital of its own.

It has the highest Indigenous population of any capital city, with perhaps 10% of the city’s residents being Aboriginal, and has a significant Asian population from China, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines. Darwin swelters in tropical heat year-round, and is one of the most lightning-prone areas of the world. Having been bombed by the Japanese in World War II, and flattened by Cyclone Tracey in 1974, it’s been rebuilt twice and looks very modern.

The first British person to see Darwin harbour was Lieutenant John Stokes in 1839, who was on HMS Beagle. The ship’s captain, John Wickham, named the port after naturalist Charles Darwin, who had sailed with them on the Beagle‘s previous voyage. Charles Darwin had spent almost five years sailing the world on the Beagle, and it was his adventure of a lifetime.

He accumulated enough specimens to make his reputation and keep him occupied for years, not to mention surviving an earthquake and discovering a new species of dolphin. In Australia, he found the platypus and kangaroo-rat so odd that it seemed to him two distinct Creators must have been at work making life on earth – a radical thought for someone who had just finished studying to become a clergyman (not surprisingly, he went with a scientific career instead).

Darwin returned to England a celebrity, but what he didn’t do on his trip was discover evolution, for that idea was decades old, and familiar to Darwin’s own grandfather, Erasmus. What he did (when he got home) was come up with natural selection as a means to help explain the mechanism behind evolutionary theory.

His masterwork On the Origin of Species proved a bestseller, but Darwin avoided using the word evolution in case it proved too controversial, and only vaguely alluded to humans being part of the evolutionary framework. However, it resonated with both the scientific community and popular imagination, inspired the ideas of others, and made evolutionary theory an established part of the modern world-view.

Name Information
The English surname Darwin has two separate meanings. Originally it was from the Anglo-Saxon personal name Deorwine, meaning “dear friend”. Later it was taken from the town of Darwen, which stands on the river of that name in Lancashire. The river’s original name seems to have been Darwent, from the British meaning “valley thickly grown with oaks”. The surname Darwin is most often found in the north of England, suggesting the origin from the town is more common.

Darwin has been used as a personal name since at least the 18th century, and in England was first associated with Lincolnshire. Charles Darwin was descended from the Darwins of Lincolnshire, and he inherited the family estate there, which came down to him through his grandfather.

Even in the 19th century, a link with Lincolnshire continued, but the name became more common in the Midlands, a focal point for the Darwin family as it married into the Wedgwood family, famous for its pottery. So many Darwins went on to do interesting and worthy things that it isn’t possible to say everyone called Darwin had their name inspired by Charles Darwin – it might well have been another admired family member.

The name Darwin has always been more common in the United States, where it was first associated with the New England area. Although some of the towns and natural features in America called Darwin are named in honour of Charles Darwin, unlike in other countries, several are named are local people whose first name was Darwin.

The name Darwin has been on and off the US Top 1000 since the 19th century, with a long continuous stretch from the early 20th century until the mid 1990s. It peaked in 1938 at #279. It has been on the Top 1000 again since 2001; it is currently #876 and generally fairly stable. In the UK, the name Darwin has been generally rising, and 27 baby boys were given the name Darwin in 2014.

In Australia, Darwin is extremely rare as a first name, and only slightly more common as a middle name. Although it can be found a handful of times in records, most Australians probably think of it as a “modern” name. While Adelaide and Sydney are accepted as baby names here, I suspect for many people Darwin seems more of a “place” name than a “person” name. However, Darwin is genuinely Australian, and honours a wonderful namesake – a great thinker and humanitarian scientist who changed our world forever.

POLL RESULT
Darwin received a decent approval rating of 68%. 26% of people thought the name was okay, and 14% hated it.

(Picture of a storm over Darwin from the NT News; the photo was snapped from Darwin’s Evolution Building)

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~ Names with an Australian Bias of Democratic Temper

Tag Archives: Anglo-Saxon names

Upper Class Baby Names

Famous Name: Griffin

Underused Names for Boys

Famous Name: Bede

Names of Australian Male Paralympic Medalists

Famous Name: Piper

Meanings of Names

The People’s Choice of Boy’s Names

Famous Names: Ned Kelly

Waltzing With … Darwin