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Sydney Suburbs That Could Be Used as Girl’s Names

15 Sunday May 2011

Posted by in Name Themes and Lists

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Bronte-Beach-6

This blog post was first published on May 15 2011, and revised on May 7 2015.

Arcadia
Arcadia is a semi-rural suburb in the Hornsby shire, first opened up into a settlement by timber cutters in 1817. It is named after a region of Greece that in legend was seen as an idyllic pastoral area. The name of the Greek region means “bear”, and is after a son of Zeus from Greek mythology called Arcas, whose mother Callisto was turned into a bear. He and his mother were made into the constellations of Ursa Major and Ursa Minor – the great and little bear. Because commercial development is severely restricted in the suburb of Arcadia, it has retained an image as a rustic retreat which fits its name. The name Arcadia is a feminine form of the Greek name Arcadius, meaning “from Arcadia”. There are a couple of saints named Arcadius, and there was also an Emperor Arcadius, whose daughter was named Arcadia after him. This name, which has been more often used in continental Europe and Latin American than in English-speaking countries, feels rather exotic, and quite Utopian. It is pronounced ar-KAY-dee-uh, and you could use Arkie, Kay, or Kaydee as a nickname.

Avalon
Avalon is a suburb in the Northern Beaches region famous for its surf culture. An episode of Baywatch was filmed here in the 1990s, and must have impressed, as the show’s producers decided to shoot the rest of the series at Avalon Beach. However, residents complained until Baywatch went to Hawaii instead. Woot, people power! The first land grant in the area was in 1827, but it didn’t receive its name until 1921. It is named after the paradisical island of Celtic myth, where it is said King Arthur received his final resting place. It is thought the name of the island comes from the Welsh word for “apple”, as it is pictured in myth as being blessed by an abundance of fruit. Avalon has been used as a personal name since the 19th century, when anything Arthurian was fashionable, and has more often been given to girls. Fitting in with popular names such as Ava, it seems like a more mystical version of Eden or Heaven.

Bronte
Bronte [pictured] is an upmarket beach-side suburb close to the city centre, with scenic cliff-top walking paths to popular locations such as Cooge and Bondi. This is another suburb with a keen surf culture, and the Bronte surf life saving club, founded in 1903, claims to be the oldest in the world. It has made notable residents over the years, including Peter McCormick, who wrote the national anthem. Robert Lowe, later Viscount Sherbrook, bought 42 acres here in the 1830s. His house was completed in 1845 and named Bronte House in honour of admiral Horatio Nelson, who was the Duke of Bronte. Bronte is a place in Sicily, Italy, near Mount Etna. Its name, pronounced BRON-tee, means “the thunderer”, and as it is right near a volcano, it is easy to see how it got its name. Bronte first joined the charts in the 1990s, and was in the Top 100 by 1997, making #98. It joined the very bottom of Top 100 twice more, in 2000 and 2001, never getting higher than #93, and is now around the 400s. Only in Australia has Bronte attained even mild popularity, and no doubt Bronte Beach helps explain why.

Elanora
Elanora is another Northern Beaches suburb; it is located on a hill overlooking a lagoon and the sea. The northern and south-western sides adjoin national parks, and native wildlife abounds in the area. It’s a suburb of large houses with a country club, and is popular with tourists. Originally a coal mining camp, it came into existence as a residential area in 1929, named Elanora Heights Estate. The name Elanora is derived from an Aboriginal word which means “home by the sea” or “home by the water”. It’s easy to see the appeal of this name – it sounds exactly like the elegant Eleanora, yet has an indigenous origin and pleasant meaning. You could use popular Ella or hip Nora as nicknames.

Eveleigh
Eveleigh is an inner-city suburb, and an area of of great historical importance, because it was here that the first steam locomotives were built in Australia in the railway workshops. The Eveleigh site was also used to manufacture munitions in both world wars, and is significant in the history of unionism. In 1892, unions first successfully negotiated a six-day working week in Eveleigh, and in 917 the General Strike began there. Unlike some of the other suburbs, this isn’t just a swanky address with a nice beach, but a place with working class roots that helped forge our nation. The name Eveleigh is taken from the name of an English estate. It’s a surname that is a variant of Everly, and means “wild boar’s wood”: despite the spelling, it’s pronounced EV-uh-lee, not like Eve + Lee. Similar to popular Evelyn, this spelling may seem more feminine than Everly.

Jannali
Jannali is in Sutherland shire, south of Sydney. The railway was built in 1885, but few people lived in the area until the 1910s. In 1927 the township was named Jannali after a railway signal box that had been there since the beginning. During the Depression, the population of Jannali increased dramatically as people were forced to sell up and move out of the city, and it became known as a place for “battlers” who were doing it tough during the economic hardships of the 1930s. Today Jannali is an unpretentious commuter suburb. When the name Jannali was chosen, it was reported that it was an Aboriginal name from the Northern Territory, meaning “the moon”. Indigenous Australians already used it as a name, and it does have occasional use. Pronounced juh-NAL-ee, the appeal of this name is its vague similarity to names derived from Jane, such as Jan and Janelle, while having an attractive meaning and indigenous origin. It would make a bold alternative to Selena or Luna.

Kareela
Kareela is also in Sutherland shire, and the next suburb to Jannali. Located on the banks of the Georges River, it was first established in 1968. Its name is derived from an Aboriginal word which is said to mean either “place of trees and water” or “south wind”. It was the second meaning that the Geographical Names Board probably had in mind, as the area is known for its strong southerly breezes. Pronounced kuh-RHEEL-ya, Kareela sounds feminine and begins with the popular K sound. People who like Cara and Cordelia may also like the sound of Kareela.

Rosebery
Rosebery is in south-eastern Sydney, near the city centre, and is the seat of local government. In the 1960s it was developed for industry and government housing, and became home to many migrants, especially Greeks and Italians. Rosebery was named after Archibald Primrose, Earl of Rosebery, British Prime Minister in 1894-95. The suburb was named in his honour after a visit he made to Australia in 1883-84. Rosebery is a variant of the place name Roseberry, on the Yorkshire Moors. James Cook once helped his father run a farm here, and climbing the high peaks gave him a taste for adventure which led him to become a sea captain and brought him to Australian shores. It looks like a nature name and sounds like Rose + Bree (ROZE-bree), but Roseberry is a corruption of the Old Norse for “Odin’s rock or crag”. Many of the place names of this area were given by the Vikings. Rosebery is deceptive – it has the air of a fairytale princess, yet its origins are ancient, powerful, and masculine. You may be intrigued by it if you would like an unusual girly name with a surprising amount of grunt.

Rozelle
Rozelle is an inner-city suburb to the west of Sydney’s centre; Rozelle Bay surrounds the container port Glebe Island. Once a colourful working-class district, this attractive village is now fashionable and quirky. The area where Rozelle is now was part of a 1800 land grant to colonial surgeon Dr William Balmain. The land was settled in 1836, and by 1861 was divided into the suburbs of Balmain and Balmain West. By 1900, Balmain West, now a thriving suburb in its own right, became known as Rozelle, after Rozelle Bay. Rozelle Bay (often marked as “Rozella Bay” on old maps), was called after the Australian parrot, the rosella. These beautiful crimson birds were first seen at Rose Hill, the first suburb of Sydney to be established. The parrots were commonly known as “Rose Hill parrots”, then “Rose Hillers”, and finally, “rosellas”. By coincidence, there is an Italian name Rosella, and Rozelle (roe-ZEL), gives it a twist that seems quite cool. It has occasionally been used as a girl’s name.

Sylvania
Sylvania is another southern suburb from Sutherland shire, next to Kareela. It is mostly residential, but also contains areas of native bushland. The traditional owners of this area are the Dharawal people, and their middens, burial sites and rock art remain in sheltered caves along the Georges River. After European settlement, it was acquired as a land grant by John Connell Laycock, and then shortly afterwards by politician Thomas Holt. Holt built Sutherland House on the foreshore in 1818, and a village grew here from 1881 onwards. The name Sylvania is Latin for “wooded area”, and must have been chosen because of its bush setting, but who chose it and why has been lost to history. Sylvania is already a girl’s name, a form of Silvana. However, the suburb’s name is pronounced sil-VAYN-yah and may sound too much like Pennsylvania and Transylvania for some.

POLL RESULTS
Peoples’ favourite names were Bronte, Avalon, and Elanora, and their least favourites were Kareela, Jannali, and Sylvania.

Boys Names from Video Games

17 Sunday Apr 2011

Posted by in Name Themes and Lists

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This post was first published on April 17 2011, and heavily edited on April 23 2015.

Altair
Altaïr Ibn-La’Ahad is the protagonist of the first game in the Assassin’s Creed series. Born in the Holy Land in 1165 to an Arabic Muslim father and Italian Christian mother, he joins the medieval secret society of the Assassins. Due to his superior abilities, he quickly gains the title of Master Assassin, but Altaïr becomes overconfident and arrogant, and must be taken down a peg or two. He goes on to have further adventures in later games. Mysteriously cloaked and hooded, he is dark, rather handsome, and has an intense expression. Altair is Arabic for “the flying eagle”, and it is the name of the brightest star in the Aquila constellation. It is pronounced al-TAH-yir, but English-speakers will probably prefer al-TARE instead, and this pronunciation is accepted by astronomers as equally correct. Not only an extremely popular name for people and places in video games, Altair is commonly used to name aeroplanes and rockets too, adding to its flighty, space-age image.

Ash
Ash Ketchum is the main protagonist of the Pokémon (“Pocket Monsters”) series; a ten-year old boy with shaggy dark hair covered by a baseball cap, brown eyes, and a snub nose. A true Pokémon obsessive, he always has a fanatical look in his eyes. He has no other interests apart from Pokémon, and only makes friends with children and adults who share his hobby. His original Japanese name was Satoshi (“clear-thinking, wise”), after creator Satoshi Tajiri. The character is based on Tajiri’s memories of himself as a child, when he was a keen insect collector. The English name Ash was taken from one of the possible default names that can be chosen in the original Pokémon game. Ash can be short for names such as Ashley, Asher, or Ashton, a vocabulary name for the residue of something burned, or a nature name after the ash tree. As the Professors in the Pokémon universe all have tree names (Oak, Juniper, Rowan etc), I think the game-makers probably had the last option in mind. This is a simple, attractive nature name, and although it is technically unisex, I have only seen it on boys so far.

Kain
Kain is an arrogant nobleman who becomes a vampire lord in the Legacy of Kain series, an anti-hero who is morally ambivalent at best, yet provides his world’s only hope. There has been a trend in popular culture to present male vampires as romantically desirable, but Kain is not a pretty-boy vamp, but the stuff of nightmares, and not suitable for taking to senior prom. Kain is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Cain, which is used in the Greek version of the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, Cain was a son of Adam and Eve, and committed the first murder by killing his brother Abel in a fit of furious jealousy. This theme also plays a role in the Legacy of Kain story. In the Bible the name Cain is interpreted as “begotten, acquired”, but modern etymologists think it is most likely from an ancient South Arabian word for “metalsmith”. In the Bible, Cain is said to have been the ancestor of a nation who became the first metalworkers, so that does mesh with the Biblical narrative. Although Cain is a controversial character, this name fits in so well with current name trends that it has had reasonable use over the years: a big help is that it’s a homophone of Kane, the Anglicised form of Irish Cathan, meaning “battle”. Famous Australian namesakes include fantasy writer Kain Massin, and actor Kain O’Keefe.

Link
Link is the hero of The Legend of Zelda game series [pictured]. Usually he is young with fair hair and blue eyes, and he is always dressed in green tights and tunic, and has pointed ears. Link is humble, polite and brave, as befits a true hero, and is possessed with a burning sense of justice. He travels through the land, defeating creatures, evil forces, and baddies in order to save Princess Zelda and her kingdom. Despite having minimal facial expression and speaking mostly in grunts, Link is one of the most popular video game characters of all time. Creator Shigeru Miyamato wanted to call him Chris or Christo after his godfather, but this was changed by Nintendo (I wonder if it seemed too Messianic for them?). Instead Link was chosen, because the character is the player’s link to the world of the video game. You might also think of a baby Link as being the link that brings your family together. The name Link doesn’t seem that unusual, because it is already used as a short form of Lincoln.

Maximo
In the Maximo duology, Maximo is a gallant knight who goes out into the world leaving his castle and kingdom in the care of a trusted friend. Unfortunately, little does he know that his pal is, in fact, an evil super-villain. While Maximo tools around in blissful ignorance, this dastardly creep takes over Maximo’s kingdom, and forces Maximo’s girlfriend, Princess Sophia, into marriage with him. Maximo returns home to find his kingdom and his life in ruins. It’s a completely awful day for him, but rather than sit at home crying and eating chocolate, he bravely goes in search of his lost love.
Maximo is the Spanish form of the Roman family name Maximus, from the Latin for “greatest”. Although the Spanish pronunciation is MAHK-see-mo, I’m guessing most English-speakers would say it MAKS-uh-mo, and use the popular Max as a nickname. A Spanish heritage choice that puts a cool spin on fashionable Maximus.

Raiden
Raiden is a thunder god in the Mortal Kombat series, an immortal with many supernatural abilities, and a distinctly hands-on approach. He looks like an enormous, muscular man with eyes filled with lightning and long iron-grey hair. Raiden is a variant of Raijin, the name for the god of thunder and storms in the Shinto religion and Japanese mythology. His name means “thunder god”. He is a popular folk figure who appears in many stories, and his name has been used in several other Japanese video games. The name is pronounced RAH-ee-den, but in English, is meant to be said RY-den. However, the temptation to pronounce it RAY-den, to fit in with the trend for Aiden, Braden, Caden and Hayden type names, is often too strong to resist. I have seen this name used quite a bit on boys in Australia, and mostly their parents have gone with the RAY-den pronunciation.

Ryu
Ryu is the lead character of the Street Fighter series, and an enormously strong Japanese martial artist. Powerful and uber-masculine with huge muscles, his karate outfit is casually tattered. During the game series, it turns out that Ryu has a touch of evil in his psychological make-up which can be exploited by the bad guys. However, Ryu is mentally strong enough to fight off their brainwashing attempts. What a trouper. Naturally he is far too butch to hang out with girls or anything wet like that, but he does have a rather super chum called Ken. Ryu is Japanese for “dragon”, and it is also a suffix to denote a particular school of thought, usually used for martial arts. It’s a popular name in Japanese video games. Ryu is difficult for English-speakers to pronounce correctly. It’s said as one-syllable – RYOO. I have seen this name used on several Australian boys in honour of the game character, but they have either been called RY-oo or ROO (like a kangaroo). This does fit in with familiar names such as Ryan and Reuben.

Snow
Snow Villiers is the leader of an anti-government rebel group in Final Fantasy XIII who gets engaged to a cute pink-haired girl. Their wedding plans are put on ice once his fiancée is turned into a block of crystal. He has to save the world and his sweetheart, while trying to convince his future sister-in-law he’s a decent bloke. Snow is a Nordic giant – 6 foot 7 with a powerful physique, fair skin, pale blond hair, blue eyes, and a light stubble beard. Despite his wintry appearance, he is warm-hearted, fiery-tempered, and optimistic. In the game, the name Snow denotes the character’s affinity for water and ice spells. Snow is a nature name and surname in use as a personal name since the 16th century, and is one of those rare names that has been almost equally given to boys and girls over time. Names connected with the winter and cold are currently on trend, and this one works for both sexes, and as either a first or middle name. It’s a hip alternative to fashionable Winter, but a possible drawback is that it is also a slang term for cocaine.

Sparrow
In Fable II, Sparrow is a poor orphan child who finds out they are descended from a heroic line. Sparrow can be played as either a male or female character, so the name is deliberately unisex. The name Sparrow is after the small brown bird, one of the most familiar birds in the world. Sparrows are often used to denote something common, or of low value, and they are the emblem of the London Cockneys. The New Testament tells us that God cares even for the worthless sparrow, so we know the most insignificant person is valued and worthy of divine love, and Saint Francis preached sermons to these birds. According to the ancient Greeks, sparrows were sacred to the goddess Aphrodite and a symbol of enduring love, while in Christian legend, the sparrow was the only bird who witnessed the Crucifixion. Sparrow has been used as a name since the 17th century, and is historically more common for boys; Pirates of the Caribbean has given it a swashbuckling air. It became a celebrity baby name when Nicole Richie and Joel Madden had a son called Sparrow in 2009. A humble name that’s on trend, and has more behind it than at first glance.

Thane
In Mass Effect 2, Thane Krios is a member of an alien species who are humanoid with reptilian features. An expert assassin dying of an incurable lung disease, he joins an apparent suicide mission to give purpose to what’s left of his life and atone for all the murder he’s committed. Despite his chosen profession, he is a deeply spiritual man following a polytheistic religion. The name Thane is an Anglo-Saxon title of nobility, and is from the Old English thegn meaning “servant, retainer”. A thane was an attendant to a king or noble lord who had military duties as part of their service (similar to a knight). In medieval Scotland it was the name for a hereditary tenant of the Crown; Macbeth held this title in Shakespeare’s play. The name has been used since the 16th century, and a famous namesake is English actor and dancer Thane Bettany, father-in-law to Jennifer Connolly, and step-uncle to Sophie Rhys-Jones, the wife of Prince Edward. This is one of those rare names that have a strong history, and don’t sound strange, being similar to familiar names like Dane and Zane.

POLL RESULTS
People’s favourite names were Ash, Sparrow, and Link, and their least favourite were Kain, Raiden, and Ryu.