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Waltzing More Than Matilda

Tag Archives: dog names

What Do You Think of Bruno as a Name for an Australian Boy?

19 Wednesday Dec 2012

Posted by A.O. in Naming Assistance

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

Australian name trends, choosing baby names, dog names, name image, names from movies, Sacha Baron Cohen

9956cc173a8fbb4051263936560ae_h_largeHelene and her husband are expecting a baby boy in the new year, and have the name Bruno as a front-runner on their shortlist.

For several years they have been living and working in the UK, but they plan to return to Australia in the near future, so they are interested in knowing how the name Bruno will go down in their home country.

The people they know in Britain strongly associate the name Bruno with the character and 2009 movie by English comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, and therefore it makes them wince a little. It also seems to be a reasonably popular name for dogs there, or is considered a “doggie” sort of name.

Helene is wondering what the image of Bruno is in Australia, and if we might see it differently. So I am throwing this question open to anyone who is Australian, or has lived in Australia, or knows lots of Australians, or is hip to Australian name trends.

  • What do you think of the name Bruno?
  • Do you think the name Bruno is cool or uncool?
  • Has enough time gone by that the Baron Cohen character no longer has a significant effect on the image of the name Bruno?
  • What about in six year’s time, when Helene’s son starts school? Is it a name which risks playground teasing in 2019?
  • Is the name Bruno too much of a “dog” name?

Okay, the floor is open – share your thoughts on the name Bruno!

Team Pink, Team Blue, or Team Lavender?

11 Sunday Nov 2012

Posted by A.O. in Your Questions Answered

≈ 13 Comments

Tags

dog names, english names, famous namesakes, fictional namesakes, French names, Gaelic names, locational names, mythological names, name meaning, name popularity, names for budgies, nature names, nicknames, popular culture, popular names, Sanskrit names, surname names, unisex names, US name popularity, vocabulary names

I wasn’t going to do another one of these, but it turned out the list of questions on unisex names could almost be eliminated if I did just one more, so I couldn’t resist doing an end-of-year clean up.

Some names are easy for most of us to assign to Team Pink or Team Blue – for example, a straw poll would probably show strong support for Amelia as a girl’s name, and Archibald as a more masculine moniker. But there are quite a few others that we have to think about a bit more, and some seem to be both feminine and masculine in such equal measure that we could probably call them Team Lavender.

Of course, for practical purposes, all names are unisex, so this is only designating them according to linguistic meaning, historical use, and current popularity.

I. ARE THESE GIRL NAMES?

Sydney as a girl’s name

Sydney is historically a unisex name in Australia, but hasn’t charted at all since the 1960s. I think it’s up for grabs by either gender, and is a definite member of Team Lavender.

Rory girl name popularity Australia

According to the data at hand, the popularity of Rory as a girl’s name in Australia is zero. It’s charted as a boy’s name since the 1940s and is currently #159; it’s never charted as a girl’s name. This makes it (for the purposes of this question) Team Blue.

Is Indiana a girl’s name? (multiple asks)

Yes, historically it is, for the first people named Indiana in the records are female. It’s only since the Indiana Jones movies that the name has widely been seen as potentially masculine – although the movie’s protagonist is named Dr Henry Walton Jones. From Utah rather than the state of Indiana, we learn in The Last Crusade that he took his nickname from the name of the family dog. I’m not sure whether the dog was male or female. Indiana has only ever charted as a girl’s name, and is currently #78 and climbing steeply. I call Team Pink.

Bodhi as a girl’s name

Bodhi is a Sanskrit word meaning “awakened”, referring to the enlightenment of the Buddha. As men and women are equally capable of spiritual enlightenment, I think this is for both boys and girls and can join Team Lavender.

Can Russell be a female name?

The surname Russell simply means “red” or “reddish”, and there’s nothing specifically masculine about it. However, Russell has a reasonable history of acceptance as a male name. Currently it doesn’t chart for either gender, and I think it could be used for a girl’s name. You could also use the vocabulary word Rustle. Maybe a Deep Indigo?

Is Campbell a girl name?

In Australia it is accepted as a male name, and has charted for boys since the 1950s, being now at #384. In the US it is more common as a female name. The surname means “crooked mouth”, which doesn’t sound at all pretty to me, but isn’t technically masculine. In Australia, I think it’s still Team Blue.

II: ARE THESE BOY NAMES?

Marlo as a boy’s name

Marlo Hoogstraten is a Dutch-born Australian DJ; he works under the name MaRLo. Marlo Stanfield is a character in the TV show, The Wire, who is head of his own drug crew. There seem to be more references to Marlo as a male name than a female one. This may be a pale Blue-Toned Lavender.

Is Riley a boy’s name in Australia?

Yes, it’s charted as a male name only since the 1970s, and is currently #20. Team Blue.

Can Autumn be a boy’s name?

There’s no reason why not, except that it is widely accepted as a female name. In Australia, Autumn is a fairly rare name for either sex, so it might be easier to be a boy named Autumn here than elsewhere. It would be unusual though. A very pale Pink-Toned Lavender.

Boys name Kirra

The town in Queensland is nearly always given as a female name in Australia. Besides sounding similar to girl’s names Keira and Kira, part of the reason may be because in Greek mythology, there are a couple of nymphs named Kirra, giving it a distinctly feminine vibe. I’m assigning this one to Team Pink.

Tahgan boys name

I only know of Taghan as a place name in the Middle East, which sounds unisex to me. It looks similar to boy’s name Teagan and girl’s name Tegan, so I’m calling this for Team Lavender.

Bay as a boy’s name

Although this nature name could be either male or female, in practice I’ve only seen this given to boys in Australia – maybe because it sounds like it could be short for Bailey. I guess it could be seen as Blue-Toned Lavender.

III: ARE THESE BOY OR GIRL NAMES?

Is Lyndall male or female?

Historically, it’s a girl’s name. Lyndall charted as a female name only from the 1930s to the 1990s. It currently doesn’t chart for either sex. Pink, or at least Pinkish.

Jordan – boys name or girls name?

Jordan has charted as a boy’s name since the 1960s, peaked in the 1990s at #23, and is currently #63. It has charted as a girl’s name since the 1980s, peaked in the 1990s at #85, and is currently #389. So it’s both a boy’s name and a girl’s name, but more boyish, since it’s been used longer as a boy’s name, hit a higher peak as a boy’s name, and is still Top 100 for boys. Deep Blue-Toned Lavender.

Is Jagger more a boy or girl name?

I’d say it’s more of a boy name, just by usage. I have seen people use Jagga or Jaggah for girls though. Blue, at present.

Kayley “unisex name”?

I think technically Kayley is two separate names, one unisex or male, and the other one female. The surname Kayley can be from several origins, and if English or  French, it refers to place names (unisex). On the other hand, if Gaelic, it means “son of Caollaidhe” (male). It’s been overwhelmingly used as a girl’s name though, probably with the idea it’s an elaboration of Kay, a pet form of Katherine. There have been a very few men named Kayley. Confusingly, I think this is Pink, Blue and Lavender all at the same time.

IV: ADVICE NEEDED

What boy’s name can Gigi be short for?

There’s a few choices. According to Wikipedia, famous men using Gigi as their nickname have Luigi, Luigino, Gianluigi or George as their full name – although my own first thought was Giglio. Another possibility is that in the story Gigi, the protagonist’s full name was Gilberte, so maybe a boy called Gilbert could be a Gigi.

Will people automatically assume someone called Kelly is a girl?

I would probably assume an adult named Kelly to be a woman, but I could easily adjust if it turned out to be a man instead. For a new baby, I wouldn’t assume it was either a boy or girl.

Are guys put off by women with male names?

There are quite a few studies on what names men and women find sexy, but these name-image polls are useless in real life, when you are confronted with a living breathing human being. I don’t believe any man would turn down a beautiful woman because her name was John; conversely, no matter how alluring and feminine your name, if you look and smell like you’ve been living in a sewer, I don’t think you are going to be besieged by suitors. Just from my own observations, I’ve noticed a lot of guys say they are intrigued by girls who have unisex nicknames, like Jamie, Charlie or Teddie.

A good unisex name for a budgie

You could use a nickname that could be short for either a girl or boy name, such as Charlie, Joey or Sam, otherwise I think a nature name would be nice, such as Ash, Blueberry, Midnight, Sky, Sunny, or Snowflake. You could also use a cutesy sort of name such as Pippet, Peep, Peck, Pixel, Tweety, Chirp, Happy, or Fidget. Apparently budgies can’t say words with a hard G sound in them, so avoid Giggles, Goldy or anything like that if you’re hoping to teach it to talk.

Famous Name: Gunner

22 Wednesday Feb 2012

Posted by A.O. in Famous Names

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

dog names, english names, famous namesakes, military terms, scandinavian names, slang terms, stage names, vocabulary names

Sunday February 19 marked the 70th anniversary of the bombing of Darwin by the Japanese. Both the first and the single largest attack against Australia by a foreign power, it is often referred to as “Australia’s Pearl Harbor”. However, Darwin was bombed more heavily than Pearl Harbor, and almost 100 air raids were to follow. Numbers of the dead are disputed, but the official toll is just under 300, with maybe 300 to 400 injured. Amongst the casualties were men on the USS Peary, whose memorial President Obama visited in Darwin last year.

One of the lesser-known heroes of the Darwin air raids was a young black and white kelpie, who was found distressed and with a broken leg under a bombed mess hut on February 19 1942. He was taken to a field hospital, and immediately inducted into the Australian Air Force so that he could receive medical treatment. He was named Gunner, and given the serial number 0000.

Leading Aircraftman Percy Westcott, one of two men who found Gunner, became the dog’s master and handler. I think Gunner was just expected to be a pet and a mascot for the air base, and probably a much-needed distraction for the men. However, about a week after he came to live with them, Gunner began to demonstrate his remarkable hearing skills.

Time and time again, Gunner would whine and jump whenever he heard Japanese aircraft approaching. Long before the air raid siren sounded, Gunner would become agitated and head for shelter. He was able to warn Air Force personnel that the Japanese planes were coming up to 20 minutes before they appeared on the radar, and was so reliable that Percy was given permission to sound an alarm whenever Gunner gave his signal.

You’d think that living on an airbase, Gunner would soon get used to the sound of planes taking off and landing, but he only behaved like this when he heard Japanese planes – Allied ones didn’t faze him at all.

Gunner was accepted as a full member of the Air Force: he slept under Percy’s bunk, showered with the men, attended the movies with them, and regularly went up with pilots during practice flights.

Percy was posted to Melbourne 18 months later, and Gunner remained with the RAAF in Darwin, being cared for by the Air Force butcher, who had access to plenty of meat to feed Gunner. It’s not known what happened to Gunner when the war ended; I hope he lived a long happy life.

In the Air Force, the gunner is the person who operates the machine gun or cannon during air battles, although a Gunner is also any non-commissioned member of the air force in a Regiment. It’s often used as a slang term in several different ways, including in sport – for example, the word Gunner describes a certain specialist in gridiron, and the Gunners is a nickname for Arsenal Football Club. Gunners is also slang for a fans of the rock band Guns ‘n’ Roses.

Gunner has been used as a stage name in professional wrestling, such as by Gunner Scott (real name Brent Albright). It also sounds like the Scandinavian name Gunnar, which combines the elements for “war” and “warrior” together, to sound extra-warlike.

I’m not sure I would have suggested this as a possible baby name, except that I saw a baby called Gunner Phoenix in an Adelaide birth announcement last month.

I can see this as a wonderful way to honour a military connection in a family. Gunner sounds all boy … although according to some people, it sounds all dog! But we have established that the line between dog and human names has become increasingly blurred, and if you were going to give your baby the name of a dog, then what cooler canine than an Australian kelpie who became a wartime hero?

(Gunner’s story appears in the book Animal Heroes, by Anthony Hill. Photo of Gunner with Percy held by the Australian War Memorial)

MYTH: Certain Baby Names Must Be Avoided Because They Are “Dog Names”

12 Sunday Feb 2012

Posted by A.O. in Baby Name Mythbusters

≈ 15 Comments

Tags

dog names, name forums, name perceptions, name popularity

toddler__dogBaby Name Mythbusters is a new Category I dreamed up to replace Celebrity Baby Names, which seems redundant now that we have Celebrity Baby News. I thought it would be a fun way to examine some of the myths prevalent amongst the baby naming community, and see whether they stack up.

I was in an Australian parenting forum where someone was looking for opinions on a baby name they were considering – Sailor, for a girl. One of the responses was ewww not sailor i had a dog called that. This struck me as one of the least useful or helpful things you could say in this situation – I mean I had a horse named Caroline; I don’t expect that name to be forever off limits for babies because I claimed it as a “horse name”. (I also had a dog named Judith, same deal).

It got me thinking about how often “That’s a dog’s name” comes up in discussions on baby names, and how it is designed to end all debate. That’s a dog’s name: a good parent would never give their baby a name suitable for a dog : discussion over, seems to be pretty much how it is supposed to work.

I decided to search through baby name forums to see what names were perceived as “dog names”, and then see how popular they really were for dogs, based on the popularity charts put out by a major dog tag corporation, which is the only national database for pet names that I know. Then I could compare them to the latest available data for baby name popularity.

I hit upon this method because it’s common for people to use popularity charts to decide how a name’s popularity reflects its usage for each gender. So if Matthew has continually charted for males, and never for females, it’s usually decided that makes it a “boy name”, and if there are more girl babies named Harper than boy babies, some would argue that Harper is more of a female name than a male one.

I didn’t see any reason why that method couldn’t be applied to see whether a name was more dog than human. Here is what I discovered:

NAMES THAT PEOPLE THINK ARE DOG NAMES THAT ARE MORE POPULAR FOR DOGS THAN HUMANS

  • Bailey (#36 dog, #47 human)
  • Barney (#28 dog, unranked human)
  • Bear (#21 dog, unranked human)
  • Beau (#17 dog, #71 human)
  • Billy (#30 dog, #112 human)
  • Buddy (#12 dog, unranked human)
  • Buster (#14 dog, unranked human)
  • Charlie (#7 dog name, #22 human)
  • Duke (#48 dog, unranked human)
  • Harley (#25 dog, #126 human)
  • Harry (#15 dog, #27 human)
  • Jake (#4 dog, #25 human)
  • Lucky (#23 dog, unranked human)
  • Max (#1 dog, #17 human)
  • Milo (#22 dog, unranked human)
  • Monty (#10 dog, unranked human)
  • Rex (#24 dog, #472 human)
  • Rusty (#18 dog, unranked human)
  • Sam (#2 dog, #97 human)
  • Shadow (#19 dog, unranked human)
  • Toby (#5 dog, #56 human)
  • Zeus (#50 dog, unranked human)
  • Bella (#15 dog, #41 human)
  • Belle (#41 dog, unranked human)
  • Buffy (#47 dog, unranked human)
  • Cassie (#23 dog, unranked human)
  • Cleo (#55 dog, unranked human)
  • Coco (#11, unranked human)
  • Daisy (#9 dog, #149 human)
  • Gypsy (#42 dog, unranked human)
  • Holly (#13 dog, #42 human)
  • Honey (#25 dog, unranked human)
  • Lucy (#5 dog, #21 human)
  • Maggie (#18 dog, #204 human)
  • Millie (#34 dog, #202 human)
  • Misty (#27 dog, unranked human)
  • Molly (#2 dog, #55 human)
  • Poppy (#57 dog, #68 human)
  • Sally (#7 dog, #306 human)
  • Sasha (# 6 dog, #167 human)
  • Sheba (#32, unranked human)
  • Tara (#31 dog, #153 human)
  • Tess (#8 dog, #260 human)
  • Zoe (#10 dog, #15 human)

NAMES THAT PEOPLE THINK ARE DOG NAMES THAT ARE MORE POPULAR FOR HUMANS THAN DOGS

  • Cooper (unranked dog, #7 human)
  • Jack (#3 dog, #2 human)
  • Riley (unranked dog, #20 human)
  • Annabelle (unranked dog, #38)
  • Emily (unranked dog, #8 human)
  • Maya (unranked dog, #46 human)
  • Sophie (#16 dog, #11 human)

A NAME THAT PEOPLE THINK IS A DOG NAME THAT’S EQUALLY POPULAR FOR DOGS AND HUMANS

  • Chloe (#3 dog, #3 human)

NAMES THAT PEOPLE THINK ARE DOG NAMES, BUT ARE NOT ACTUALLY COMMONLY GIVEN TO DOGS

  • Alfie
  • Andy
  • Akira
  • Bandit
  • Barclay
  • Baxter
  • Bernie
  • Bran
  • Brindley
  • Brock
  • Brody
  • Bruno
  • Buck
  • Champ
  • Chance
  • Colby
  • Cosmo
  • Dash
  • Dexter
  • Digby
  • Earl
  • Eddie
  • Elliot
  • Elvis
  • Gage
  • Gunner
  • Hunter
  • Nico
  • Otis
  • Pete
  • Prince
  • Remy
  • Rocco
  • Roscoe
  • Rufus
  • Samson
  • Shiloh
  • Sonny
  • Spike
  • Winston
  • Wyatt
  • Zane
  • Zeke
  • Ziggy
  • Abby
  • Apple
  • Bess
  • Betsy
  • Bindi
  • Bluebell
  • Dakota
  • Dixie
  • Fifi
  • Fran
  • Gigi
  • Ginger
  • Jenna
  • Josie
  • Kiki
  • Libby
  • Lola
  • Lulu
  • Luna
  • Macy
  • Maddie
  • Madison
  • Madeline
  • Maisie
  • Mia
  • Olga
  • Piper
  • Raven
  • Reba
  • Sadie
  • Sailor
  • Skipper
  • Sophia
  • Star
  • Zuzu

NAMES THAT ARE POPULAR FOR DOGS, BUT PEOPLE DON’T SEEM TO THINK OF THEM AS DOG NAMES

  • Oscar #6
  • Zac #9
  • Tyson #11
  • Ben #13
  • Jasper #26
  • Jackson #29
  • George #34
  • Casper #38
  • Angus #39
  • Jesse #40
  • Cody #42
  • Basil #45
  • Gus #47
  • Jock #49
  • Bronson #51
  • Henry #53
  • Casey #54
  • Clyde #60
  • Ralph #58
  • Bonnie #4
  • Rosie #14
  • Ruby #17
  • Penny #24
  • Gemma #28
  • Jasmine #32
  • Roxy #33
  • Kelly #38
  • Tessa #35
  • Emma #48
  • Chelsea #51
  • Ellie #52
  • Amber #53
  • Jedda #58
  • Heidi #60

From this we can see that although people were able to correctly identify some names as “dog names” that had greater popularity for dogs than humans, there were many more names that they were wrong about. Much as people might imagine that dog owners call their pets Spike and Fifi, these names did not even make the Top 60.

Even more revealingly, there were a number of names that were very popular for dogs that didn’t seem to earn them the title of “dog name”. Henry and Emma are both names commonly given to dogs, and yet I couldn’t find any examples of parents being warned off these names as “too doggy”.

You might argue that’s because these names are so popular for humans, and yet you can see from the first list that very popular baby names like Charlie and Zoe were correctly identified as names commonly given to dogs. You can also see from the second list that popular baby names like Cooper and Emily were incorrectly identified as “dog names”. Moreover, names such as Bonnie and Basil are many times more often given to dogs than humans, yet they were not perceived as dog names.

Because people seemed to do so poorly at correlating baby names perceived as “dog names” with names that were actually given to dogs, I am calling this

MYTH BUSTED

Disclaimer: Information for entertainment purposes only; results may not be scientifically accurate and further studies need to be done with better data. There is no connection between Baby Name Mythbusters and the television show “Mythbusters”, so nobody needs to sue me or anything.

Girls Names from Video Games

10 Sunday Apr 2011

Posted by A.O. in Name Themes and Lists

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

Arabic names, Australian name trends, celebrity baby names, code names, created names, dog names, english names, ethnonyms, famous namesakes, fictional namesakes, flower names, food names, French names, Greek names, hebrew names, Japanese names, locational names, mythological names, name history, name meaning, name popularity, names from movies, names from songs, names from video games, nature names, nicknames, Persian names, popular names, rare names, Russian names, saints names, scandinavian names, stage names, surname names, tree names, unisex names, vintage names, Welsh names, Yiddish names

This blog post was originally published on April 10 2011, and heavily edited and updated on April 16 2015.

Ayame
Ayame is a female ninja in the Tenchu series; she appears petite and feminine, but is possessed of a sharp tongue, and is a cunning and aggressive fighter. Her real name is Omon, so Ayame is her professional or code name. Ayame is the Japanese word for the iris flower. It is used as a girl’s name in Japan, and has a long history, for five generations of kabuki actors, beginning in the 17th century, adopted it as a stage name while playing female roles. The name has become a favourite for Japanese video games, anime, and manga. Pronounced ah-YAH-me, I have seen two girls in Australia with this name, and heard of another. The soft sound and floral meaning make this name an attractive choice which fits in with names like Aya and Ayla.

Coco
Coco is the smart, fearless younger sister of Crash Bandicoot in the Crash Bandicoot series, set in Australia. Coco is a nickname for any name with a CO sound in it, or given because of its similarity to the word cocoa. Its most famous namesake is French fashion designer Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel, who got her nickname from her days as a cabaret singer. It may have been an allusion to either one of her signature songs: Ko Ko Ri Ko (“Cock-a-doodle-doo”), or Qui qu’a vu Coco (“Who Has Seen Coco?” – Coco was a lost male dog). Another theory is that it was based on the French word coquette, used as a slang term for a kept woman or a mistress. Coco the Clown (born Nikolai Poliakoff) is one reminder of its use for males as well. Coco became a celebrity baby name when it was chosen by actress Courtney Cox for her daughter in 2004. Australian journalist Mia Freedman named her daughter Coco the next year, actress Diane Farr called one of her twin daughters Coco in 2008, and Tony Kanal from No Doubt welcomed a daughter with this name in 2011. This is a cute, flirty, yet stylish name that is still underused.

Elika
Prince of Persia is set in ancient Persia and inspired by the religion of Zoroastrianism. Elika is a runaway barefoot princess who must help the hero by systematically travelling the area, and magically healing particular sectors of ground called Fertile Lands; unfortunately each time she does this her life force becomes weaker. In appearance, Elika is beautiful with tousled dark chestnut hair, enigmatic hazel eyes, and a slender, fragile figure; her personality is guarded and serious. She is much greater than she appears, for she holds many secrets, and almost has the status of a demi-goddess. Elika is a name which is found in many different cultures, but I have seen the Persian name Elika translated as being derived from ela or ellka, the Sanskrit for “cardamon”, a fragrant spice tree. In the game Elikas’s name is pronounced ELL-eh-kuh, but eh-LAY-kuh is more traditional. This pretty name fits in with popular names like Ella and Layla, and is not too different from fashionable Elke.

Kairi
Kingdom Hearts is a collaboration between the makers of Final Fantasy and Disney, whereby Disney settings are crossed-over into a fictional universe, and characters from Final Fantasy interact with the player and popular Disney characters. Kairi is one of the hero’s best friends, and also one of the seven Princesses of Hearts – pure maidens whose hearts are free of all darkness. The name Kairi was invented for the game and according to creator Tetsuya Nomura, her name is derived from the Japanese word for “sea”, just as the other two main characters’ names mean “sky” and “land”. The name has become quite popular for use in use other Japanese video games, anime, and manga. It is pronounced KY-rhee, and is similar in sound to familiar names such as Kara, Kyra and Kylie. There is an Australian Aboriginal tribe called the Kairi, whose name has been given to a small town in Far North Queensland, so the name does not even have a particularly foreign sound to Australian ears. Kai can be used as a unisex nickname.

Lara
Lara Croft is the beautiful and intelligent heroine of the Tomb Raider series, an archaeologist travelling the world in search of adventure [pictured]. Lara is a Russian short form of Larissa. In Greek mythology, Larissa is a nymph, and it was also a common name for ancient Greek cities, as the name means “citadel”. Saint Larissa was a 4th century Goth who was martyred in the Crimea; her name is otherwise recorded as Baren or Beride. She is recognised as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox church, and the name Larissa is traditional in Russia and Slavic countries. The name Lara became known in the English-speaking world from Larissa, nicknamed Lara, in Boris Pasternak’s 1957 epic novel, Doctor Zhivago, which was banned in the Soviet Union but popular in the West. It was made into a successful Hollywood movie in 1965, with Julie Christie playing Lara; the piece Lara’s Theme from the film has become a favourite. Lara has charted in Australia since the 1960s, when the film was released, debuting at #337. It reached the Top 100 in the late 1990s, and peaked at #27 in 2002. In 2013 it was #54. Romantic and exotic, Lara is a softer alternative to names such as Laura, Laurel, and Lauren.

Rinoa
Rinoa Heartlilly is the main female character in Final Fantasy VIII, and the love interest of the hero. She is a cute friendly teenager who is member of a resistance faction seeking to liberate a small nation from occupation, and also has magical abilities which render her a “berserker” during warfare. Although it hasn’t been confirmed, game experts believe that the name Rinoa is supposed to be a Japanese rendition of Lenore, a short form of Eleanor. Lenore has a long history as a literary Gothic name, appearing in a Gothic German ballad as well as a poem by Edgar Allen Poe; it is possible that this dark side was intended as part of the character of Rinoa. As there is no spoken pronunciation of her name, you can say it however you like, but RINN-oh-uh seems to be the most commonly used. The nickname Noa gives this a unisex option.

Tira
Tira is a character in the Soulcalibur series. She is a very disturbed person who has been raised since childhood by a group of assassins, and has an uncontrollable urge to kill. A split personality, she has pledged herself to the powers of evil. Tira’s appearance reflects her madness, with rag-doll hair, tattered clothing and bizarre make-up. As her weapon of choice is a ring-blade which looks like a hula-hoop, she resembles a mental patient who has run away to join the circus. The name Tira is most likely an Anglicisation of the Scandinavian name Thyra, which means something like “strength of Thor”. It is pronounced TEE-ra, and people have told me that they love the sound of the name Thyra, but don’t like the look of it, or worry that others would pronounce it like TY-ra or THY-ra. The Tira spelling does solve that problem, and this name fits in well with Australian trends in girls names. I don’t know if it’s because of the video game (which is a slightly worrying thought), but I have seen and heard about quite a few babies called Tira. It seems to be popular to use it in a double name such as Tira-Lee or Tira-Rose.

Wynne
Wynne is a character in Dragon Age: Origins, a prominent mage and powerful spirit healer. Wise, dutiful and virtuous, she could have had a successful political career, but refuses power in order to fight demons and aid the innocent. A tall, handsome, middle-aged woman with an intelligent face, she takes a motherly role, and is blessed with common sense and a dry sense of humour. Wynne is a Welsh surname based on the male name Wyn, meaning “blessed, white, fair”. Although Wynne can be used for both sexes, it is often understood as a specifically feminine form of Wyn. It is the middle name of famous children’s fantasy author Diana Wynne Jones, which may have been a factor in the game makers choosing it. Simple and clean, this resembles the fashionable Winnie.

Zafina
Zafina is a character in the Tekken series who is born into an ancient bloodline which fights evil. The protector of a royal tomb, Zafina uses her spiritual powers to gain omens from the stars. Of Middle Eastern appearance, the game makers believe she is most likely Egyptian. Zafina is an Arabic name, which I have seen translated as “victorious, triumphant”. Pretty and usable, it makes an exotic alternative to Victoria, and sounds enough like familiar names such as Zara, Sophia and Seraphina to be easily accepted.

Zelda
The Legend of Zelda is the longest-running video game series so far. The eponymous Zelda is an elfin princess, usually slender and blonde with dark blue eyes, and often with magical powers. Zelda is a feminine form of the Yiddish name Selig, meaning “blessed, happy”, although it can be also be used as a short form of names such as Griselda. One of its most famous namesakes is Zelda Fitzgerald, wife and muse of American novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald. Beautiful, glamorous and daring, she was an icon of the Jazz Age, until her intensity and high spirits descended into obsession and mental illness. Zelda’s mother named her after characters in two romantic stories; in both of them, Zelda is a beautiful gypsy. The creator of The Legend of Zelda has said that Princess Zelda’s name was inspired by Zelda Fitzgerald. In turn, Princess Zelda has inspired a celebrity baby name, because actor Robin Williams named his daughter Zelda in 1989 because of his love for the video game series. Zelda can be found in Australian records in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and this is a zippy vintage name that feels clunky cool and fit for a princess.

POLL RESULTS
People’s favourite names were Lara, Zelda, and Wynne, and their least favourites were Elika, Tira, and Rinoa.

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