Tag Archives: modern classic names

Shortened Names for Boys – 2

28 Sunday Sep 2014

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Zeke_06_s

Alby
Can be an Anglicised form of the Irish name Ailbhe, a unisex name which is also Anglicised to Alva and Elva. In Ireland particularly, Alby seems to have been used for girls quite frequently. In Australia, Alby is almost always understood as a short form of Albert, and is accepted as a boy’s name: it seems to be more familiar in Australia than in other English-speaking countries. A famous namesake is Albert “Alby” Lowerson, who was awarded the Victoria Cross for bravery during the Battle of Mont St. Quentin on the Western Front during the First World War. Adventure travel film-maker Alby Mangels, who made documentaries in the 1970s and ’80s, is originally from the Netherlands and his birth name is Albertus. Alby was fairly common as both a full name and a nickname in the late 19th century, and is currently having a revival, being around the 200s. It can also be spelled Albie, and this spelling is around the 500s.

Bobby
Pet form of Bob, which is short for Robert; it can also be used as a short form of Roberta, although far more common as a male name. Bobby has been used as an independent name since the 18th century, and is one of those names which seem part of our childhood, as it is such a popular name for characters in books for small children. There’s also the nursery rhyme, Bobby Shafto, and the sweet story of Greyfriars Bobby, the wee Scottish dog who stayed by his master’s grave for years and years. It has a fun meaning in Australia, because in old-fashioned slang, a bobby dazzler is something which is excellent or awesome (it’s probably from Northern English dialect, where bobby meant “well-presented, cheerful”). This year radio host Tim Ross welcomed a son named Bobby Arrow. A bouncy, breezy little name with vintage style, Bobby is around the 300s.

Charlie
Unisex nickname for either Charles or Charlotte. Charlie has been used as an independent name since the 17th century, and as a female name since the 18th century, where it seemed to have a particular usage for girls in Scotland. The big Scottish connection to this name is of course Bonnie Prince Charlie, the Jacobite pretender to the throne, who has remained a figure of romance in some eyes, and appears in Sir Walter Scott’s novel Waverley. It’s interesting that he seems to have inspired the use of Charlie as a girl’s name. There’s tons of famous Charlies, including actors Charlie Chaplin and Charlie Sheen, and musicians Charlie Parker and Charlie Watts, not to mention Charlie Bucket from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Charlie Townsend from Charlie’s Angels. Charlie has charted for boys since the 1950s, and began rising in the 1990s before joining the Top 100 in the early 2000s. It’s currently #20, and fairly stable. As a girl’s name, Charlie joined the charts in the 1990s, and made the Top 100 in 2011. Although it’s not on the Top 100 for girls now, if you add it together with Charli and Charlee, it makes #71.

Freddie
Pet form of Fred, short for Frederick or Frederic, and related names, such as Frederico. It can also be used as a pet form of Alfred, as in the English actor Alfred “Freddie” Highmore, who played Charlie Bucket in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It also seems to be used as a nickname to match a surname starting with F, such as with English cricketer Andrew “Freddie” Flintoff, and rugby league player Brad “Freddy” Fittler. One of the most famous namesakes is Freddie Mercury, lead singer of rock band Queen; he was born Farrokh Bulsara, and had used the nickname Freddie since his school days. An independent name since the 18th century, Freddie is very popular in the UK, yet doesn’t chart at all here as a full name; neither does the variant spelling Freddy. It’s a bit puzzling since we’re fine with so many other boyish short forms, but Freddie is an insouciant charmer that I feel will win a few hearts yet.

Jimmy
Pet form of Jim, short for James. Jimmy has been used as an independent name since the 18th century, and is a more modern form of the medieval Jemmy. Famous namesakes include American president Jimmy Carter, actor Jimmy Stewart, rock star Jimmy Page, singer Jimmy Buffet, comedy hosts Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon, and comedian Jimmy Carr. Musical Australian Jimmys include Jimmy Chi, who wrote the Aboriginal musical Bran Nue Day, Jimmy Barnes, lead singer of rock band Cold Chisel, and Aboriginal singer and actor Jimmy Little. Jimmy entered the charts in the 1950s at #344, and peaked in the 1990s at #233. It hit its lowest point in 2009 at #474, and since then seems to have been climbing steeply, although still around the 200s. This is a cheery underused modern classic that still has a touch of Everyboy about it.

Kit
Unisex nickname which can be short for the boy’s name Christopher, or the girl’s name Kitty (a pet form of Katherine). Kit is historically much more common for boys, and as an independent name, dates to the 18th century for both sexes. One of its most famous namesakes is American frontiersman Kit Carson, while British actor Kit Harington plays popular character Jon Snow on Game of Thrones, and British writer Kit Pedler created the Cybermen for Doctor Who. In Australia, Kit Denton was a writer and broadcaster who wrote the novel The Breaker, about Breaker Morant; he is the father of comedian and television host Andrew Denton. Media personality Chrissie Swan welcomed a son named Kit in 2011. A cute meaning is that a kit is a baby animal in many species, including rabbits and foxes, and is the name for a group of pigeons. This is a cool and casual name that works well as either a first or middle name.

Lenny
Traditionally a pet form of Leonard, although these days it is often used as a pet form of the fashionable Lennox. Some famous men named Lenny include rock singer Lenny Kravitz, and comedians Lenny Bruce and Lenny Henry. Australian namesakes include AFL star Lenny Hayes from St Kilda, who just retired this year, NRL player Lenny Magey from the North Queensland Cowboys, crime novelist Lenny Bartulin, and Len “Lenny” Pearce from Justice Crew, who was featured as a celebrity dad on the blog. There are famous Australian female Lennys too – Olympic badminton player Lenny Permana, who was born in Indonesia, and children’s author Lenny Pelling. Lenny has been chosen as a baby name by Australian celebrities AFL footballer Michael Firrito, and comedian Mick Molloy, and is used as a nickname for Lennox by radio host Ryan Fitzgerald and racing driver Jason Bright. A favourite in Australia (France is the only country where it’s more popular), Lenny is around the 100s, and could easily go Top 100.

Monty
Short for names such as Montgomery or Montague; surname names where the Mont- part is from the French for “mountain”. Monty became very well known as the nickname of Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, who served with distinction in both world wars, but is especially famous as the decorated commander of the successful North African campaign in the Western Desert during World War II; Viscount Montgomery spent part of his childhood in Tasmania. His nickname was the inspiration for the British comedy group Monty Python, who found it amusing, and in their turn, Monty Python inspired the character of Dr Montgomery Montgomery, or Uncle Monty, a snake researcher in A Series of Unfortunate Events. Field Marshal Montgomery is rumoured to be behind the phrase the full monty, meaning “everything, the works, the whole kit and caboodle”, although it may actually refer to a complete suit from tailors Montague Burton (the phrase is familiar from the film, The Full Monty). Very much in line with British trends, Monty is around the 400s.

Ollie
Usually seen as a short form of Oliver, but could be a nickname for Olivia or Olive as well, and is sometimes used as a surname-based nickname, such as Australian composer Ian “Ollie” Olsen. Other famous Australians named Ollie include celebrity chef Ollie Gould, who was named Young Chef of the Year in 2013, and Ollie McGill, who is in the band The Cat Empire. Famous sporting namesakes include Ollie Wines, who plays for Port Adelaide in the AFL, Ollie Hoskins, who plays for the Western Force in Super Rugby, and Ollie Atkins, who used to play for the Waratahs in Super Rugby, and is currently signed with Edinburgh. Ollie has a connection with sports, because in skateboarding, an ollie is an oft-used trick where both rider and board jump into the air without the use of hands. It is named after its originator, Alan Gelfand, whose nickname is Ollie. An Australian sporting connection is Olly the Kookaburra, one of the mascots of the 2000 Sydney Olympics – his name was short for Olympic, and he symbolised the Olympic spirit. Ollie is around the 300s, and is in line with British trends, while having a strong Australian feel.

Zeke
Short for Ezekiel, a Hebrew name meaning “God strengthens”; it has more history of use in the United States, where the name Ezekiel has been far more common. It’s well known from popular culture, such as the Big Bad Wolf in Disney cartoons, skater boy Zeke Falcone from Disney sitcom Zeke and Luther, and baking-obsessed basketballer Zeke Baylor in High School Musical. Zeke is the name of the farmhand in The Wizard of Oz movie, who is also in the role the Cowardly Lion (this might explain why some people see Zeke as a “cowpoke” name). Famous Australian namesakes include former Olympic snowboarder Zeke Steggall, the brother of alpine ski champion Zali Steggall, and DJ Zeke Ugle. Zeke was also the nickname of Corporal Roy Mundine, an Indigenous soldier who served with distinction in the Vietnam War, and was severely wounded in the line of duty. Fictional namesakes include the teenage boy whose drawings on his magic electronic pad come to life on cartoon Zeke’s Pad, and the character Zeke Kinski from soap opera Neighbours. This is a cool alternative to Zack in line with American name trends, and is around the 400s.

POLL RESULTS
The public’s favourite names were Charlie, Kit and Alby, and their least favourite were Jimmy, Lenny and Bobby.

(Picture shows Zeke from Zeke’s Pad, a Canada-Australia co-produced animated TV show)

What Makes a Baby Name Trendy?

03 Sunday Aug 2014

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trendy baby

Trendy baby names are a hot topic that’s leaving parents feeling anxious. Parents write in to the blog to say they don’t want a trendy name, or are worried that their favourite baby name might be too trendy.

Yet what exactly is a trendy baby name? Even the authors of articles on trendy baby names disagree on the subject, or are vague as to what “trendy” actually means (many seem to think it just means popular, although parents often say popularity doesn’t bother them, as long as the name isn’t trendy).

We could fall back on that old chestnut, “I know it when I see it”, but I thought we might try for something a little more concrete. So instead we’ll look at the factors which might be linked with a name being considered “trendy”.

Going up rapidly in popularity …

This is the one which nearly everyone first thinks of – a name which is going up steeply in popularity, so that its progress through the charts looks like a mountainside or a cliff; even more so, a name which suddenly jumps in popularity in a single year.

This gets some parents so worried that even a modest increase can have them fretting because a name went up seven or eight places, but I think a name has to go up at least twenty places before it really draws attention to itself. Names in this category from last year include Aria, Penelope, Louis, and Nathaniel.

Nathaniel rising

But here’s the good news: often after a huge boost in the charts, a name will settle down and continue rising at a steadier pace, or even stabilise. Names such as Harper, Flynn, Ivy, and Sienna have had a big jump in previous years, but are now just comfortably trundling along.

… only to come down just as rapidly …

This really is a classic sign of a trendy name – it not only goes up the charts steeply, it comes down again at a similar rate, so that its progress through the charts has a cone shape; the skinnier the cone, the less years it was popular, and the more spectacular has been the name’s rise and fall. Kylie‘s cone, for example, looks quite thin.

kylie trendy

The trouble is that this isn’t very helpful for predicting whether a particular name will be trendy. It’s strictly a post mortem technique, so by the time you realise you chose a trendy name, it’s too late – your child is thirty six years old and nobody cares anyway.

Some people fear that any name going up steeply in popularity is sure to come down steeply as well, but this isn’t necessarily the case. For example, imagine you chose the name Jennifer for your daughter in the 1930s. It jumped straight into the Top 100 from nowhere, which seems very alarming, but it remained in the Top 100 for seven more decades. Your little Jenny would have collected her old age pension before her name stopped being popular, and even today Jennifer is only around the 200-300s and fairly stable. It never fell as dramatically as it rose.

Jennifer

For this reason, it seems a bit silly to avoid a name that’s trending upwards. If anything, the message seems to be to jump on a trend as early as possible, because it’s cooler to be a Jennifer born in 1935 than one born in 2000, even though the popularity was around the same in those two years.

… and has reached a certain level of popularity

Even though trendiness and popularity are not the same thing, it’s only once a name becomes reasonably popular that most people start to call it trendy, even if it’s been zooming up the charts for several years. It needs to be used by enough people that it can have those impressive rises in rank, as well as enough visibility to be considered trendy.

So Melva might have a steep rise and descent, but as it never reached the Top 100, it doesn’t get mentioned as a past trendy name. Persistently low usage does help protect a name against a charge of trendiness from most people (not all).

melva

New to the charts

I know many will disagree with this one, but I believe that no matter how rapidly a name is rising, it’s not trendy if it has previously been on the charts. Otherwise you get comments like “Leo is both classic and trendy“. Which is absurd when you think about it – like describing someone as an extremely tiny giant, or a colour as a very pale shade of black – because classic and trendy are opposing terms. I would say Leo is a rising contemporary classic, not a trendy classic.

Leo rising classic

Names that have been on the charts previously and disappeared before returning again are retro names. No matter how much Nathaniel may be zooming up the charts at present, I don’t consider it to be trendy, as it already has a history as a traditional name.

Inspired or boosted by popular culture

Any name that has suddenly got a boost in the charts (or even just in the public consciousness) due to a popular song, movie, TV show, celebrity, or celebrity baby is liable to be labelled “trendy”, whether it’s Elsa, Khaleesi, Penelope, Jagger, George, or Banjo.

I think that’s very unfair, because if you look through the history of naming, people have always named their children after the celebrities and culture of their day. By this standard, familiar names such as William, Eleanor, Alexander, Cordelia, Stanley, Fiona, Eric, and Rosamund have all been “trendy”. In fact, you could include all the Bible names and saints’ names in that group as well, since saints were the celebrities of the Middle Ages, and the Bible everyone’s favourite book.

Fitting in with one or more name trends

Another thing that can get a name labelled trendy, even if it’s in rare use, is if it fits in with current naming trends, especially with multiple trends. So you might claim that Liliana is a trendy name, because it fits in with the trend for L-L names for girls, like Lila, and with the trend for elaborate names for girls, like Isabella.

The trouble is that by this logic, practically every name being used today could be labelled as “trendy” – it’s very difficult to avoid ALL name trends.

This article mentions some of the current baby name trends in Australia: patriotic names, surnames as first names, place names as first names, nicknames as first names, and biblical names. Remove all those, and the choices dwindle significantly. And this isn’t even touching on mythological names, vintage names, unisex names, rare names, uniquely spelled names, literary names, virtue names, nature names, vocabulary names, and boys’ names ending with N.

* * * * * * * * * *

There you have it: six things might get your baby name labelled trendy. And the more categories it fits into, the more likely that it will seem trendy to somebody. So the current most “trendy” name in the Top 100 is Aria – it’s climbing fast, quite popular, new to the charts, inspired by popular culture, and fitting in with current trends, such as the AR sound in names.

Of course, in the 1970s there was a name which rocketed into the Top 100 from nowhere, had never been on the charts before, with use boosted by a popular singer, and whose sound fit in with other popular girls’ names such as Emily and Felicity. That name was Olivia, and although it may have been trendy in 1978, it isn’t any more. Aria could become equally as established, or even a modern classic, so there’s no guarantee that a trendy name will stay trendy.

Olivia

The big question is: what exactly is so terrible about a trendy baby name anyway? We’re always being told to avoid trendy baby names, and rarely are we given a reason. It’s just taken for granted that of course you don’t want to give your child a trendy name, in the same way that of course you don’t want them to put their hand on a hot stove.

About the only thing I can come up is that trendy names tend to become dated, except that a) sometimes they don’t eg William and b) most names date eventually anyway, even classics eg Susan.

And even if your name doesn’t become dated, it isn’t going to make your life especially wonderful. I have a non-trendy classic name which is still reasonably popular, and not only has it failed to provide me with a magically charmed life where nothing ever went wrong, its impact has been minimal at best. Meanwhile, my peers with the trendy names of our generation, such as Jodi and Jason, don’t seem to have had their lives ruined by their names.

* * * * * * * * * *

So there you have it – trendy names are something to be avoided, even though there’s no compelling evidence they’re particularly awful, or that a trendy name will remain trendy; there’s not even any real proof that trendy names actually exist as an objective phenomenon. And the criteria as to what is trendy is so broad that almost any name you can think of can be labelled as such.

Perhaps it’s time to put this baby name bogeyman behind us.

POLL RESULTS
The things that most people thought made a name trendy were:

* destined to fall as quickly as it rose – 23%
* rapidly rising in popularity – 13%
* boosted by popular culture – 12%

26% of people thought a name had to fulfil at least two or more of the stated requirements before being considered trendy, while 7% thought that it had to fulfil all six of the requirements to be a trendy name.

Just 1% of people thought that being new to the charts made a name trendy.

2% of people did not think there was any such thing as a “trendy” name.

(Popularity charts from Baby Names Explorer)

Famous Name: Fiona

30 Wednesday Jul 2014

Posted by in Famous Names

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2014ARC_Lowry.jpg.496x605_q85

The Archibald Prize this year was won by Fiona Lowry, for her portrait of architect Penelope Seidler. The Art Gallery of NSW trustees, who are the judges of the Archibald, seemed to avoid controversy this year by awarding the $75 000 prize to an overwhelming favourite.

Fiona first saw Penelope Seidler six years ago at a gallery opening, and was struck by her beauty and presence; she decided then that she would like to paint her. The portrait was begun at Penelope’s home, Killara House, a heritage-listed Sydney icon which she designed with her husband, the famous modernist architect Harry Seidler.

Fiona’s paintings are made with an airbrush and a limited range of soft pastel colours, creating an often unsettling atmosphere seen through a fine mist. I can’t help thinking that Clarice Beckett would give a wry smile … and that once again, Penelope proves a winner!

The name Fiona was created by the 18th century Scottish poet James McPherson, and first used in his famous Ossian poems, which were a great influence on the Romantic movement, and instigator of the Gaelic revival. MacPherson pretended his poems were “translations” of ancient Gaelic poems, but could never produce the originals, and it is now agreed that while he based them on old ballads, many of the stories and characters are from his imagination.

In the Fingal section of the Ossian poems, MacPherson wrote: Let the sons of Fiona rise, on the lone plains of her lovely Ardan. Fiona is a not a person, but a feminine personification, like Erin or Brittania, or Lady Liberty. But a personification of what?

You may recall that the Irish hero Finn McCool’s warriors were called the Fianna. Although that looks as it means “Finn’s men”, fiann means “soldier, warrior, hero” in Old Irish, and fianna is its plural. Fianna can thus be translated as “war band”. Although the Fianna come from mythology, it is believed that such bands did exist in medieval Ireland; young men and women of the nobility who had not yet come into their inheritance and had no lands of their own.

Fiona is James MacPherson’s transcription of Fianna, which he may have written to make it look as if it was derived from Fionn, or Finn, meaning “fair, white”, in order to give his Fingal the status of the great Irish hero Finn McCool. You might see MacPherson’s “Fiona” as a personification of Celtic pride, independence, and fighting spirit.

Baby name books often try to claim Fiona as a feminine form of Finn or Fionn, but in medieval Gaelic, adding an -a to a name did not make it feminine. Instead -nat or –sech were used, so the feminine forms of Finn are Finnat and Finnsech (genuine medieval names). Just to confuse things, Fíona is a modern Irish name meaning “wine”. Although some people take Fiona as an Anglicisation of Fíona, it’s more that an Irish meaning was found for an existing name.

Fiona was used as a pseudonym by the Scottish writer William Sharp. Although already a distinguished poet, biographer, and literary editor, he chose to sometimes write romantic novels and poetry as Fiona McLeod – which he feared would not be accepted if it was known he was the author. William Sharp edited the Ossian poems, which is most likely where he found the name Fiona.

William Sharp had a love affair with a woman named Edith Wingate Rinder, and it was those works inspired by his passion for Edith that he attributed to “Fiona McLeod”. The poetry he wrote under the influence of this inspiration is considered his greatest work, and the Fiona McLeod novels proved so popular that they brought him financial success. You could say that “Fiona” was the name William gave his feminine side, and tapping into it unleashed a wave of creativity.

The secret of William Sharp’s dual identity only became publicly known after his death, when his wife revealed that her husband was the author of all works by Fiona McLeod. It was after Fiona McLeod became a popular novelist that the name Fiona became well known, so while James MacPherson may have created it, it was another Scottish writer who spread its use.

Fiona first charted in Australia in the 1950s, making an impressive début at just outside the Top 100 at #105. The reason for its sudden appearance on the charts is the 1954 film Brigadoon, based on the Broadway musical of the same name. It’s about two American men who are hunting in Scotland when they happen upon a miraculous village which rises out of the mists every hundred years for just one day. One of the men falls in love with a girl from the village named Fiona Campbell (Fiona McLaren in the original musical), played in the film by Cyd Charisse. The magic and romance of the story were clearly a hit with Australian audiences.

By 1960, Fiona was #57, by 1961 it was in the Top 50 at #47, and by 1967 it had just scraped into the Top 20. Fiona reached its peak in 1970 at #14, and was last in the Top 100 in 1986. A famous fictional Fiona during the 1970s was matriarch Fiona Cleary, from Colleen McCullough’s The Thorn Birds, although by this time the name was falling in popularity.

If you judge the name Fiona purely as a name nerd, you must admit it has some black marks against it. It’s a “made up” name, and furthermore, not even a name made up for a character – it’s basically the Khaleesi of the 18th century. It was popularised by a man pretending to be a woman, in part to obscure an extra-marital affair. It’s not the most promising name history of all time.

Fiona leapt into the charts out of nowhere due to popular culture – a musical film which was a box office success, but received lukewarm reviews. It was a “trendy” name that climbed in popularity very suddenly, then sank again at almost the same rate. It’s a “dated” name, in that it is dated to a particular era – you can be almost sure that someone named Fiona was born somewhere between Brigadoon and The Thorn Birds 1983 mini-series, and most likely between the late 1960s and mid-1970s (Fiona Lowry was born in 1974).

But isn’t it tiresome to always judge names through the lens of nerdism? Because in spite of all this, I think Fiona remains a pretty, delicate name with a fascinating literary history. It has a romance to it – a name created by a poet who changed the face of literature, made well known by a writer who had a talent he never knew existed until he fell in love, brought to popularity through a miraculous love affair.

I like the fact that such a gentle-sounding name has a war-like meaning; it’s a warrior princess of a name. Despite being dated, Fiona doesn’t sound particularly dated – it even has a fashionable OH sound in the middle. There are tons of Fionas in current popular culture, including Princess Fiona, the feisty green ogress from Shrek.

If you love the name Fiona, take heart – it is no longer plummeting in popularity, but relatively stable around the 300-400s, and can claim modern classic status. Furthermore, in the United States, which is much slower to appreciate British (especially Scottish) names, Fiona only began charting in the 1990s and has been gradually climbing ever since.

I have a family member who is a massive fan of the Shrek movies, and especially of Princess Fiona. Sometimes I think I will be a grandmother to a little Fiona, and the idea doesn’t displease me at all.

POLL RESULTS
Fiona received a very good approval rating of 72%. People saw the name Fiona as strong and feisty (23%), and beautiful or pretty (19%). However, 16% of people considered it too dated to be a baby name. The association with Shrek didn’t seem to be an issue, with twice as many people (10%), thinking it was a cool association than a problematic one (5%). Only one person thought the name Fiona was “too made up”.

(Painting is Penelope Seidler by Fiona Lowry)

Requested Famous Name: Annabelle

23 Wednesday Jul 2014

Posted by in Famous Names, Requested Names

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Annabelle_Rankin

Famous Namesake
On July 28, it will be the 106th birthday of pioneering stateswoman Dame Annabelle Rankin, who was the first woman from Queensland to sit in the Parliament of Australia, the second female Australian Senator, and second female parliamentarian for the Liberal Party.

Annabelle was the daughter of Colin Rankin, a Scottish-born Queensland politician who served in both the Boer War and First World War; Annabelle was named after her mother. Her father encouraged her to travel, and when she left school, she went to China, Japan, England, Scotland, and continental Europe. With a background in community involvement, she worked in the slums of London, and with refugees from the Spanish Civil War.

Back in Australia, Annabelle was a volunteer during World War II, serving at air raid shelters and hospitals, and organised the YWCA’s welfare efforts for servicewomen. Her responsibilities involved travelling to military bases in Queensland and New South Wales, and she accompanied Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady of the United States of America, and Lady Gowrie, wife of the governor-general, on their visits to the troops.

After the war, she stood as a candidate for the Liberal-Country Party, and entered the Senate on July 1 1947. Annabelle was the first woman in the British Commonwealth to be appointed as an opposition whip, and was the whip in the Senate from 1951 to 1966.

Dame Annabelle was appointed Minister for Housing in 1966, becoming the first woman in Australia to administer a government department. As minister, she worked to provide housing for old age pensioners, and introduced a housing system for Aboriginal Australians and new migrants. As a newspaper of the time helpfully noted: “She tackles men’s problems too”.

After retiring from parliament in 1971, Dame Annabelle was appointed high commissioner to New Zealand – the first woman in Australian to lead a diplomatic mission. She supported several community organisations, including the Australian Red Cross Society, Country Women’s Association, Girl Guides, Victoria League, and Royal Commonwealth Society.

She was for many years the President of the Queensland branch of the Children’s Book Council of Australia, and the Dame Annabelle Rankin Award for services to children’s literature in Queensland is given in her honour. Another of her namesakes is the Annabelle Rankin, one of the ferries on Sydney Harbour.

Dame Annabelle was easily recognisable from her auburn hair and warm brown eyes, and combined a cheerful, friendly demeanour with a strong, uncompromising will, and apparently tireless energy. She was an excellent orator, and very capable of handling the occasional heckler (by no means were all the hecklers male, either).

While researching the name Annabelle, I noticed quite a few people seemed to think that the name Annabelle sounded “unprofessional”, and predicted that a woman named Annabelle could never be taken seriously in public life. If nothing else, the career of Annabelle Rankin proves this to be completely untrue.

Name Information
Annabelle is a variant of the name Annabel, which originated in Scotland during the Middle Ages. Although it is sometimes treated as a cross between Anna and Belle, this isn’t plausible as it pre-dates the common use of the name Anna in Scotland.

It’s assumed to be a variant of the Latin name Amabel, meaning “lovable” – the long form of Mabel, and close relation to familiar Amy. It may have been influenced by the name Agnes (“pure”), which was said (and often spelled) Annas at that time.

The Annabelle spelling probably has been influenced by Anna and Belle in the modern era, and is often understood as meaning “graceful and beautiful”. Although this isn’t very good etymology, the name is a bit of a hodge-podge, and you might feel free to translate it as you wish.

The names Annabel and Annabelle have long been favourites with the British peerage, both English and Scottish, which gives them a rather aristocratic air. I tend to feel that Annabel is a bit more “posh”, while others may think that the Frenchified Annabelle seems more stylish and “finished”.

Annabelle has charted in Australia since the 1970s, when it debuted at #580. Since the 1980s it has risen steeply, and it entered the Top 100 in 2000, at #92. It entered the Top 50 in 2007, when it reached #46, and although it wobbled a little here and there, it is now at the highest point it has ever been.

Currently it is #44 nationally, #35 in New South Wales, #50 in Victoria, #43 in Queensland, #47 in Western Australia, #61 in Tasmania, and #36 in the Australian Capital Territory.

Annabelle is also Top 100 and climbing in the US and the UK, but is more popular here than anywhere else, making Annabelle one of those unexpectedly Australian names. Annabelle is also Top 100 in New Zealand, but isn’t rising in popularity.

Annabel has charted in Australia since the 1960s, entering the rankings at #420, but while it also rose steeply during the 1980s, hasn’t become popular, and is still in the 100s. Annabel is only just outside the Top 100 in the UK, but is stable rather than rising, which is probably similar to the situation here. In the US, it is rising steeply, but only in the high 400s, so a long way off popularity.

Annabelle is a pretty, elegant, ultra-feminine name that’s well on its way to becoming a modern classic (while Annabel is already there). It fits in so smoothly with the trend for -belle and -bella names that it’s become quite popular, and may become more so.

Although it wasn’t originally linked to the names Anna and Belle, it might be used to honour people with those names, or similar names. Possible short forms abound, but all the the Annabelles I’ve ever met have only used their full name – it strikes me as one of those relatively long names that are somewhat nickname-resistant. There’s plenty to love about adorable Annabelle!

Thank you to Brooke for suggesting the name Annabelle to be featured on Waltzing More Than Matilda

POLL RESULTS
Annabelle received an approval rating of 62%. 20% of people preferred the name Annabel, but 16% thought Annabelle was beautiful and feminine. Only person thought the name Annabelle was too popular. I wonder if Annabel would have done better – perhaps we will feature it another time.

(Photo is of Dame Annabelle Rankin)

Irish Names for Boys

15 Sunday Jun 2014

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It was very hard to choose just ten Irish boys’ names, as there are so many commonly used Irish names for boys in Australia, especially if you include Irish surnames. It’s not surprising when you consider our strong Irish heritage, and because the Irish were here from the beginning of European settlement, they were never marginalised as happened in other countries.

Famous Australians with Irish heritage include bushranger Ned Kelly, Peter Lalor who led the Eureka Rebellion, actor Erroll Flynn, artist Sidney Nolan, rock singer Doc Neeson, philanthropist Daisy Bates, and our greatest prime minister, Ben Chifley. Those alive today include Governor-General Peter Cosgrove, Nicole Kidman, Kylie Minogue, surfer Mick Fanning, Socceroo Lucas Neill, author Tom Keneally, and former prime ministers Paul Keating and Kevin Rudd.

A reminder I haven’t included any names with fadas (accent marks), as they aren’t permitted in all states and territories.

Aidan
Anglicised form of Aodhán, a pet form of Aodh or Áed, meaning “fire” in Old Irish; there are many characters from Irish mythology named Aodh. St Aidan of Lindisfarne was an Irish-born monk known as the Apostle of Northumbria; he was famous for converting people by simply walking from village to village, politely chatting with people and introducing them to Christian beliefs by helping them in their daily lives. The name Aidan first ranked in the 1970s at #533, and by the 1980s was already #177. Aidan joined the Top 100 in 1993 at #92, and peaked in 2008 at #51. Currently Aidan is #99 in Victoria and #102 in the Australian Capital Territory. The Aiden spelling is more popular: this first charted in the 1980s at #368, joined the Top 100 in 1997 at #62 and peaked in 2009 at #35. Currently Aiden is #41 nationally, #45 in New South Wales, #45 in Victoria, #65 in Queensland, #47 in Western Australia, and #39 in the Australian Capital Territory. Even combining spellings, Aidan/Aiden is only #51 nationally. This doesn’t seem as if Aidan is very popular, yet it still has a reputation as an “overused” name because of the massive trend for sound-alike names, such as Hayden, Brayden, Caden, Jayden, Zayden etc. Aidan is #50 in Ireland and #43 in Northern Ireland.

Cian
In Irish mythology, Cian was a god and father of the hero Lugh of the Long Hand. According to folk tales, Cian possessed a magical cow which produced a superabundance of milk. During a quest to recover his cow after she had been stolen, he seduced a princess who had been locked up in a tower (it was the princess’ father who had stolen the cow). The tale sounds very much like the Greek myth of Danae, and the princess was imprisoned for the same reason – a prophecy said that the princess’ father would be killed by his grandson. Lugh the Longhand was born from this union, and eventually the prophecy was fulfilled when Lugh killed his grandfather in revenge for locking his mother in a tower. The name Cian means “long, enduring, far, distant” in Gaelic, and is pronounced KEE-in. It is often anglicised to Kian, which is in the 400s in Victoria. Cian is #15 in Ireland.

Connor
Variant of Conor, Anglicised form of the Gaelic name Conchobhar, meaning “lover of hounds”. There have been several real life Irish kings with this name, including a High King, and also the legendary Conchobhar mac Nessa, who was unsuccessfully married to both Queen Medb and Deirdre, but had many other wives. The name is the basis for the Irish surname O’Connor, meaning “grandson of Conchobhar”, and the Clan O’Conchubhair is a royal Irish dynasty whose lineage has provided one hundred kings of Connacht, and two High Kings of Ireland: some members of the noble O’Conor family of Ireland are the living descendants of the last High King of Ireland. Connor is a truly royal name, which must have an influence on its use. The name Connor has charted since the 1980s, debuting at #418. It joined the Top 100 in 1994 at #83, and peaked at #21 in 2003. Currently it is #43 nationally, #74 in New South Wales, #61 in Victoria, #33 in Queensland, #31 in Western Australia, #40 in Tasmania, and #69 in the Australian Capital Territory. Connor is #97 in Northern Ireland; Conor is #5 in Ireland and #17 in Northern Ireland.

Darragh
Variant of Dara, derived from from the Gaelic for “oak grove”. The oak was sacred to the Celts, and the word druid is directly related to the word for oak. The city of Derry in Northern Ireland has the same meaning. Darragh can also be an Anglicisation of the Old Irish name Dáire, meaning “fertile, fruitful, virile, sexually aroused”, but also “agitated, raging, violent, tumultuous”. It’s a very explicit meaning in regard to masculine sexuality, suggesting a sort of bestial lust. The Darini were an ancient peoples from Northern Ireland, and it would seem that Dáire was their ancestor or ancestral god. Several Irish noble families and Scottish clans claim descent from the Darini, as do the current British royal family. There are many kings and heroes from Irish legend named Dáire, but folklorists believe they are ultimately versions of the same mythological figure, who may have been a god of the battlefield. Darragh can be pronounced DAH-ruh, or DA-ra, and may seem like an updated Darren to Australians. Darragh is #20 in Ireland and #30 in Northern Ireland; Dara is #86 in Ireland, and Dáire is #88 in Northern Ireland.

Finn
Both the older Irish and Anglicised form of Fionn, meaning “blond, fair, white, bright”. Its most famous namesake is the mythical warrior and giant Find mac Cumail, transcribed in English as Finn McCool. Finn was a nickname – his real name was Deimne, meaning “sureness, certainty”, and gained his nickname after his hair turned prematurely white. Finn was brought up by a warrior woman who trained him in war and hunting, then he studied under a poet and druid. One day Finn was cooking a mystical salmon for his master which would give him all the knowledge in the world: he burned his thumb in the process, and instinctively put his thumb in his mouth to cool it, swallowing a piece of salmon skin. This gave Finn the wisdom of the salmon, and whenever he needed to draw on its power, he needed only to suck his thumb. Finn’s followers were called the Fianna, and it is from them the Fenian Brotherhood gained their name. According to legend, Finn is sleeping in a cave beneath Ireland, and will one day awake to defend Ireland in her hour of greatest need. Finn first charted in the 1990s at #287, and by 1997 was already in the Top 100 at #88. Currently it is #62 nationally, #68 in New South Wales, #60 in Victoria, #76 in Queensland, #40 in Western Australia, and #30 in the Australian Capital Territory. This is a handsome popular name that has helped drive the popularity of names such as Flynn and Finlay. Finn in #38 in Ireland and #56 in Northern Ireland; Fionn is #27 in Ireland and #70 in Northern Ireland.

Lorcan
Anglicised form of Lorcán, derived from the Irish Gaelic word for “fierce”. There have two been ancient Irish kings named Lorcán, and a medieval saint Lorcán Ua Tuathail whose name is Anglicised to Lawrence O’Toole. St. Lorcán was of royal blood, and became Archbishop of Dublin. He played a prominent role in the religious reform of the 12th century, spearheading a movement of spiritual renewal while bringing the church in Ireland closer to Rome. He was admired by both members of the church and the secular community for his many acts of charity to the poor – much needed at the time due to a severe famine. This is a cool Irish name which could be an alternative to names as Lachlan, Liam, or Declan. Lorcán is #67 in Northern Ireland.

Malachy
Anglicised form of Máel Sechlainn, meaning “follower of St. Seachnall”. St. Seachnall is an obscure 5th century Irish bishop who seems to have been of Italian origin; his name may be an Irish form of the Latin name Secundus, meaning “second (born)”, as he is also known as St. Secundius. The modern spelling of Malachy has been influenced by the Hebrew name Malachi, meaning “my messenger”, and therefore understood as “my angel”. However, Malachy is pronounced MAL-uh-kee, not MAL-uh-kie. There have two medieval High Kings of Ireland named Malachy, and also a St. Malachy, who was the first native-born Irish saint to be canonised. The saint’s name is an Anglicisation of Máel Máedóc, meaning “follower of St. Madoc”; Madoc was a 7th century Irish monk, and his name may come from the Welsh for “fortunate”. Malachy is an attractive name in occasional use, and AFL footballer Liam Picken has a young son named Malachy.

Oscar
Believed to mean “deer friend”. In Irish mythology, Oscar was the son of the warrior Oisin (“young deer”) and the fairy queen Niamh; he was the grandson of Finn McCool, and one of his warriors. Oscar was killed by a member of the increasingly corrupt Fianna, and upon his death, Finn wept for the first time in his life. The name Oscar was popularised in the 18th century by the poems of James McPherson; Napoleon was a great admirer of McPherson and gave his godson Oscar as one of his middle names. Later Napoleon’s godson became Oscar I of Sweden, and the name Oscar became traditional in Scandinavia. The Irish writer Oscar Wilde may have received his name because his mother collected Irish folk tales, but perhaps also because his father had travelled in Sweden, where he received honours from King Carl XV – Carl had a son named Oscar, born two years before Oscar Wilde, and sadly the little prince died just months before Oscar Wilde’s birth. Oscar was #103 for the 1900s, and sank before leaving the charts in the 1940s. It returned in the 1970s at #478, joined the Top 100 in 1998 at #98, and the Top 50 in 2004 at #47. Currently Oscar is #24 nationally, #27 in New South Wales, #20 in Victoria, #39 in Queensland, #34 in Western Australia, #19 in Tasmania, and #20 in the Australian Capital Territory. This tough, masculine yet snuggly retro name is more popular than it has ever been. Oscar is #61 in Ireland and #64 in Northern Ireland.

Ronan
Anglicised form of Rónán. Irish and Scottish legend tells of selkies, who swim in the sea as seals, but can shed their sealskin and become human on land. Male selkies were handsome and seductive; female selkies were said to make excellent wives, but could never forget their true home, and would gaze longingly out to sea – selkie tales are nearly always romantic tragedies. The children born of selkie women were called ronans, or “little seals”. The lovely film The Secret of Roan Inish, set in Ireland, is about the selkie legend, and an Irish animated movie is due to come out this year on the same topic. St. Ronan was an educated Irish bishop who sought exile in Brittany and a peaceful life as a hermit. A magical fairytale name that sounds smooth and handsome, Ronan could replace popular Ryan; it will remind many of Irish singer Ronan Keating from The X-Factor. Ronan is #52 in Ireland and #40 in Northern Ireland.

Rory
Anglicised form of the Irish Gaelic name Ruaidhrí or Ruairí. The name means “red king”, referring to fox-coloured hair. There have been many Irish kings named Ruaidhrí, including Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair, the last High King of Ireland before the Norman invasion. Rory has charted since the 1950s, debuting at #289; after a bumpy start (when it sank to #420 in the 1960s) it began climbing steadily, and peaked in the late 2000s at #125. Currently it’s in the mid 100s, and this is a rare example of a modern classic which has never become popular. Not only underused, Rory is cute but with a “tough boy” vibe, and could be an alternative to popular Riley, or fashionable Remy. Rory is #42 in Ireland and #44 in Northern Ireland; Ruairí is #81 in Ireland and #74 in Northern Ireland.

POLL RESULTS
The public’s favourite names were Finn, Rory and Oscar, and their least favourite were Lorcan, Cian and Darragh.

(Picture of a Harbour Seal or Common Seal from the Belfast Telegraph)

True Blue Names for Boys

26 Sunday Jan 2014

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Happy Australia Day! Here are ten names for boys which are associated with the colour blue, in honour of the saying, a true blue Aussie.

Bay

A bay is a scoop in the shoreline, much prized for providing safe anchorage and opportunities for fishing. Having a long coastline, Australia has many bays, including the Great Australian Bight which forms the southern edge of the continent, and Botany Bay in Sydney – there is even a Blue Bay on the Central Coast of New South Wales. Although bay also describes the colour of a horse’s coat (coppery brown with black markings), and bay tree is another word for a laurel bush, I tend to think of the name Bay as being influenced more by the geographic term, at least in Australia. Bay can also be from the surname – the first English people with the surname Bay took their name from baille, an enclosed courtyard as part of a Norman castle’s fortifications. Although Bay can be used for both sexes, I have only ever seen it on boys, perhaps because it sounds as if could be short for Bailey.

Blue

Blue is a colour of the spectrum, and a primary colour. Because it is the colour of the sky, it has often been seen as representing heaven and divinity. It has been connected to the “blue collar” working class, but also with the wealthy, and “blue blooded” nobility. Blue is a popular colour for uniforms, and the navy, air force, and police traditionally wear blue. Blue can also mean “sad, melancholy”; hence blues music, which arose out of suffering. The Australian flag and Eureka flag are both blue, blue heelers are tough, loyal Australian cattle dogs, and it is an Australian irony that a red-headed man is called Blue or Bluey – some say because of the redhead’s reputation for temper, as a blue is Australian slang for a fight. Since World War II, blue has been seen as the colour for boys (with pink for girls), giving the name Blue a boyish feel – although celebrity baby Blue Carter shows it works well for girls too.

Dean

The Blue Mountains are to the west of Sydney, part of the Great Dividing Range down the eastern side of Australia. Their name comes from the blue-grey haze which can be seen when the mountains are viewed from a distance, believed to be caused by the diffusion of eucalyptus oils from the trees. One of the most prominent is the Mountain Blue Gum (Eucalptus deanei), a tall forest tree. Its scientific name comes from Henry Deane, an Australian engineer who first collected specimens in the late 19th century. The English surname Dean or Deane comes from dene, meaning “valley” – the Mountain Blue Gum grows in sheltered valleys. Dean has been used as a boys name since the 17th century, and seems to have been initially most popular amongst non-Anglican Protestants. Dean first ranked in Australia in the 1950s, probably because of Hollywood star James Dean; it debuted at #134. By the following decade it had reached the Top 50, and peaked in the 1970s at #34. It didn’t leave the Top 100 until the early 2000s, and since then has gently declined into the mid-100s. It has recently got some exposure via Dean Winchester from the television show Supernatural, played by Jensen Ackles; the character is named after Dean Moriarty, from Jack Kerouac’s On the Road. A simple, clean modern classic, this still has a touch of Hollywood.

Drake

Drake has been used as a boys name since the late 16th history in honour of the heroic sea captain, Sir Francis Drake – the first babies with this name were born around the time of Sir Francis’ death. His surname is from the Old English nickname Draca, meaning “dragon, serpent, sea serpent”, coming from the Latin draco. The word goes back to an ancient root meaning “to see” – perhaps suggesting that dragons had a mesmerising gaze. In European mythology, dragons are serpentine rather than lizard-like, so the word drake covers a range of creatures. The name would have been given to someone who was very bold and fierce, for dragons were generally viewed as evil. They were often shown guarding a hoard of treasure with avaricious ferocity. In the post-Christian era, they became associated with Satan, but in modern fantasy stories, dragons nearly always seem to be noble and friendly. Although dragons are cool, this name reminds me of the watery Rainbow Serpent of Indigenous cultures, depicted as a blue serpent on Sydney’s coat of arms.

Levi

Levi Strauss was the German-American businessman who founded the first company to manufacture blue denim jeans, which gain their colour from indigo dye. Originally sturdy workwear for labourers, jeans became iconic fashion items, and are now essential clothing for almost everyone. In the Old Testament, Levi was the son of Jacob and Leah, and the founder of the Tribe of Levi. The Levites became the priestly caste of the Hebrews – perhaps the most famous members of the Tribe of Levi are Moses, and his siblings Aaron and Miriam. The name Levi is traditionally understood as “he will join”, because Jacob joined with Leah to produce Levi, but Biblical scholars believe it simply means “priest”, and comes from Arabic. Levi has charted in Australia since the 1970s – this was the decade that Levi jeans were first manufactured in Australia, and the brand name probably had more impact than the Biblical figure. Levi was #243 for the 1980s, and climbed steeply to make the Top 100 by the early 2000s, where it remains stable. It is #26 nationally, #31 in New South Wales, #30 in Victoria, #24 in Queensland, #40 in South Australia, #22 in Western Australia, #23 in Tasmania, #13 in the Northern Territory, and #53 in the Australian Capital Territory.

Marlin

Blue marlin are one of the world’s largest fish, blue-black with a silvery white underside, and an elongated upper jaw. They can reach more than 500 kg in weight, and have few predators, apart from humans. Because of their size, power, and elusiveness, they are considered to be one of the most highly prized targets for sports fishing. Found in many oceans of the world, blue marlin have been captured as far south as Tasmania. However, the greatest numbers have been caught off the Gold Coast in Queensland, and the largest ones in Bateman’s Bay, on the south coast of New South Wales. Blue marlin are considered be a threatened species, due to overfishing, and most anglers in Australia use the tag and release method. If you would like to use Marlin as a boy’s name, it doesn’t seem too different from Marlon in sound. The word marlin is short for marlinspike fish, as a marlinspike is a pointed tool used by sailors to separate strands of rope; it comes from the Dutch for “fasten, secure”. Like to use this as a girl’s name? What about Makaira, the Latin name for marlin?

Ocean

Australia is entirely surrounded by ocean, and more than 80% of our population live near the sea. 71% of the planet is covered by ocean, which holds most of Earth’s water. Integral to life on the planet, it is believed that life first arose in its waters. It is not known where all the water on our planet came from, but it must have played a major role in cooling it and making it possible for anything to live here. It still continues to moderate our climate and weather patterns, so we can keep living here. From space, Earth appears to be a marbled blue colour, earning it the moniker The Blue Planet. The word ocean comes from Oceanus, which the ancient Greeks and Romans believed was an enormous river encircling the world. In Greek mythology, this world-ocean was personified as a Titan, depicted as a large, muscular man with a long beard and horns, having a serpent for his lower body. He is the father of the ocean nymphs, and all the rivers, fountains and lakes of the world. Despite these masculine origins, the name Ocean is given to both boys and girls.

River

Although it has around a hundred of them, Australia cannot be said to be a land of great rivers – river beds are often dry, and even our largest rivers tend to be on the thin side. Of course, this means that every single one of them is especially precious. It seems slightly cheating to include them on a list of Blue Names, as every river I have seen here was brown or green in colour. However, rivers are marked in blue on maps, and if you saw one from a distance with a quantity of blue sky reflected in it, from the right angle it would probably look blue-ish. The word river is Anglo-Norman, from the Latin for “riverbank, shore”; it is ultimately from an ancient root meaning “scratch, tear, cut”. River has been used as a first name since the 17th century, and from the beginning seems to have been used with the geographic term in mind, since people named River Banks and River Jordan turn up quite early in the records. The name is unisex, but historically much more common for boys – in Australia, it seems to be more than twice as common for boys as for girls.

Steel

Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon. Steel production began on an experimental basis in Australia in the 19th century, but didn’t really get going until World War I, when BHP opened the first steelworks in Newcastle. Its boom years were after World War II, but since the 1980s our steel production has decreased significantly due to global competition. During its heyday, steelworks provided mass employment and were a source of great pride for workers; it was from the steelworkers that the modern working class emerged. Blue steel is steel that has been given a dark finish, in order to increase toughness. Although we often connect blue steel with guns and other weapons, it is used in many useful capacities, such as on the steel-capped toes of work boots. It gives its name to a colour – steel blue, a shade of blue-grey. Last year I saw several boys named Steel or Steele in birth notices, after the release of the Superman movie, Man of Steel.

Suede

Suede is a soft napped leather, popular for making accessories such as shoes and handbags. It was originally used for women’s gloves, and the word comes from the French gants de Suède, meaning “gloves from Sweden”, since this is where the gloves were imported from. Suede features in the Carl Perkins song, Blue Suede Shoes, considered one of the first rockabilly records, and the first million-selling country song to hit the R&B charts. Perkins wrote the song based on a suggestion from Johnny Cash, and a real life encounter with a man who didn’t want anyone stepping on his blue suede shoes. It was soon afterwards recorded by Elvis Presley, who made it a hit all over again, and the song has gone on to become a rock and roll classic. I have met a little boy named Suede, and once I got used to it, found it rather cool and rockabilly. Suede was named in honour of the song, as his parents are Elvis fans. They probably attended the recent Elvis Presley Festival in Parkes.

POLL RESULTS
The public’s favourite names were Levi, River and Bay, and their least favourite were Ocean, Steel and Suede.

True Blue Names for Girls

19 Sunday Jan 2014

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It will be Australia Day in a week’s time, and rather than cover just one name, I am suggesting names with a “blue” theme, in honour of Australia, where the phrase “true blue” has taken on its own patriotic meaning.

Azura

The name Azura is an elaboration of the colour name Azure. Azure is an intense light blue, the colour of a clear sky on a hot summer’s day. In the patriotic Song of Australia, the lyrics describe how all about is azure bright, and the bird called the azure kingfisher is native to Australia. The English word azure comes from French azur, and is taken from the blue mineral lapis lazuli – lapis means “stone” in Latin, while lazuli is from lāžaward: the Persian name for the mineral, derived from Lazhward, a place where it was mined. According to Jewish tradition, Azura was one of the daughters of Adam and Eve, and the wife of her brother Seth. Azura is a popular name in science fiction and fantasy, most notably in Skyrim, where Azura is the Lady of Twilight who rules over the realm of Moonshadow. Last year, NRL star Anthony Minichiello, and designer Terry Biviano, welcomed their daughter Azura. This is pretty and exotic while still similar to names like Arya and Zara.

Bluebell

The bluebell is a type of hyacinth; a spring bulb which grows wild in the woodlands of Europe and is also a popular garden plant. Its name comes from its violet-blue colour, and mass of bell-like petals. Several other unrelated flowers around the world are named bluebell, and in Australia we have the Royal Bluebell (Wahlenbergia gloriosa). This deep violet wildflower grows abundantly in the Australian Alps, and is the floral emblem of the Australian Capital Territory. Summer flowering, it is hardy and easily grown in the garden; however, it is protected in the wild, and cannot be picked or collected. Bluebell came into use as a girls name during the 19th century, along with other flower names, but doesn’t have a Victorian vintage vibe – it seems hip and funky. I have seen this a few times as a middle name, but would love to see it boldly upfront.

Delphine

Delphine is the French form of Delphina, which can be understood as meaning “from Delphi”. However, the name reminds me of dolphins, whose scientific family name is Delphinidae, from the Greek delphus, meaning “womb”, to indicate that although they look fish-like, as mammals, they bear live young. The Greek town of Delphi, the home of the famous Delphic Oracle in ancient times, is also said to mean “womb”, as it was meant to be the navel of the earth goddess Gaia. The grey-blue colouring of the dolphin suggested this name to me, and there are several species of dolphin which live in, or migrate to, the waters surrounding Australia. Since ancient times, people have been fascinated by dolphins, and there are many stories of wild dolphins rescuing people, helping surfers and swimmers in trouble, or even protecting humans from shark attacks. Their high intelligence and playful behaviour make them appealing companions, and there are several places in Australia where you can swim with and interact with wild dolphins. Delphine is a pretty dolphin-related name for anyone who loves these free-spirited sea creatures, and has Dell and Fifi as potential nicknames.

Indigo

Indigo is one of the seven colours of the rainbow, a dark shade of blue. It was Sir Isaac Newton who introduced indigo as one of the colours of the spectrum, because in the mid-17th century, when he began his work with prisms, the East India Company had begun importing indigo dye to Britain, where it was used to colour clothing a deep blue. Indigo dye comes from the plant Indigofera tinctoria, native to tropical Asia, and the word indigo comes from the Greek, meaning “Indian dye”. Indigo is a rather controversial colour, because Sir Isaac Newton decided there had to be seven colours to match the seven notes of a scale and seven days of the week, and scientists question whether indigo is really a colour of the spectrum, or just the point where blue deepens. Even more confusingly, Sir Isaac Newton seems to have used the word indigo to mean the colour we call blue. Indigo has strong New Age associations, because it is seen as a particularly spiritual colour connected to psychic power. Indigo is a rather trendy girls name in Australia, a favourite choice of celebrities; rising with other Ind- names, it is #137 in Victoria.

Jasmine

I would not have considered this for a list of Blue Names, except that while writing it, Australian actress Cate Blanchett won a Golden Globe for her role in the film Blue Jasmine. There are about twelve species of jasmine native to Australia; these climbing vines come from tropical and subtropical areas of Queensland and northern New South Wales. The flowers are delicate and white, and have a sweet, intoxicating scent; they are both fragile and strong. The word jasmine comes from the Latinised Persian yasamen, meaning “gift from God” – there really is something quite heavenly about jasmine. The name Jasmine is a modern classic which has charted here since the 1960s, and soared during the 1970s to make the Top 100 for the 1980s. It peaked in the early 2000s at #14, and is still stable in the Top 100. It is #36 nationally, #33 in New South Wales, #28 in Victoria, #41 in Queensland, #31 in South Australia, #24 in Western Australia, #59 in Tasmania, #15 in the Northern Territory and #20 in the Australian Capital Territory.

Sailor

This name occurred to me because the Royal Australian Navy winter uniform is dark blue (and the summer uniform has dark blue trim); Sailor could be used as a name to honour a family naval tradition. Sailor has been used as a first name since at least the 19th century, and was used for both sexes, although more common for boys. It received greater recognition in the 1990s, when American model Christie Brinkley gave the name to her daughter, and since then has been overwhelmingly seen as a girls name – perhaps partly because it fits in so well with the trend for names such as Kayla, Layla and Tayla. Weatherman Grant Denyer named his daughter Sailor in 2011, his wife Cheryl a fan of the name ever since Christie Brinkley’s choice. The name Sailor probably came originally from the occupational surname, in which case it can be from the German seiler, and mean “ropemaker”, or English, where it means “dancer, acrobat”, from the Norman French sailleor, meaning “dancer, leaper”. The German origin seems to be more common, and as sailors once worked with ropes, still seems to fit as a sailing name.

Sapphira

A Greek name meaning “sapphire”, which simply means “blue stone”. However, it is likely that the ancient Greeks were referring to lapis lazuli when they used the word – it comes from the Hebrew sappir, meaning “lapis lazuli”. In the New Testament, Sapphira was an early Christian who, along with her husband, was struck dead for concealing money from the church and lying about it. It’s hard not to think that they were executed, although the Biblical account is vague on the details. It’s one of the creepier and more troubling parts of the Bible, and doesn’t really show the early church in a good light. A more pleasant connection is the intelligent and loyal blue dragon named Saphira in Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance series of fantasy novels. Crime novelist Tara Moss chose the name Sapphira for her baby daughter in 2011, apparently because she had blue eyes. Sapphira is an exceptionally beautiful and elegant name which can also reference the sapphire mining trade in Australia.

Sky

The atmosphere as it appears from Earth; the word comes from the Norse word for “cloud” (you can see our ancestors came from a place where skies tended to be cloudy!). On a clear day the sky appears blue because air scatters blue sunlight more than it scatters red. Because of this, we give as a truism that the sky is blue, even though it appears in a range of colours depending on the conditions, and there is a colour named sky blue because of that. Blue skies are symbolic of happiness and good times ahead, and blue skying is to think creatively – to think that the sky is the limit, to reach for the sky. Although there are blue skies all over the world, in Australia the strong sunlight and lack of cloudiness mean we see a lot of blue sky, and intensely blue skies – the patriotic song Awake! Awake, Australia! mentions our “bright blue skies”. Sky is a unisex name which has never charted in Australia, but its similarity to Skye and Skyla will make it seem feminine here.

True

An English word which can be understood as meaning “genuine, trusty, faithful”, ultimately from an ancient root meaning “steady, firm”. A common saying in Australia is to describe someone as a true blue Aussie, as featured in the John Williamson song, True Blue. The phrase true blue goes back to medieval times, when the colour blue symbolised faith and constancy. Although theories abound as why this was so, the most likely explanation is that it’s from the blue-dyed cloth produced in the town of Coventry, famous for not fading with washing, and thus remaining “true”. Later on, the phrase became associated with the Presybterian Church, and later still, the Tory Party, and their “true blue supporters”. In Australia, far from “true blue” having these conservative associations, in the 19th century it was used to describe those working class men who remained true to their labour principles, and was thus a left-wing term. Gradually, true blue came to mean anyone loyal to Australia and its values. True can be used as a name for either sex; on a girl, it seems as if it could be short for Trudy and similar names.

Wren

Australian wrens are similar in appearance, but unrelated to the wrens of Europe and the Americas. In some species, such as the Superb Fairywren and Splendid Fairywren, the breeding male has a very distinctive and beautiful blue plumage in contrast to the grey-brown tones of the females and juniors. In other species and subspecies, both males and females are bright blue, or have blue patches. Because they are tiny, pretty, and have an attractive range of birdsongs, we love it when fairywrens visit our gardens. Seeing a group of colourful wrens flutter through the bushes is the closest thing to having fairies in the garden that most people will experience. Another charming fairywren fact is that the male will present brightly coloured flower petals when courting a female, which to human eyes looks like bringing a bouquet of flowers. Wren has been used as a first name since the 17th century, and from the beginning was unisex, given roughly equally to both sexes, and possibly influenced by the surname, which comes directly from the bird. Today it is usually thought of a girls name, and although I can see it on a boy, the fairywren seems to render it more feminine than masculine. Elsewhere Wren might seem a humble choice as a name, while here I think it’s much brighter and more cheerful.

POLL RESULTS
The public’s favourite names were Wren, Indigo and Delphine, and their least favourite were Sailor, True and Sky.

Famous Names: Mitchell and Mervyn

08 Wednesday Jan 2014

Posted by in Famous Names

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Mitchell Johnson Media Session

It is a glorious summer: beautiful weather, cloudless blue skies, golden sunshine, and best of all – victory in that ancient international cricketing rivalry, the Ashes. Having lost to England during the northern summer of 2013, Australia was itching to get revenge back on home soil, and we did.

For whatever reason, England failed to perform in Australia and had already lost the Ashes 3-0 by Christmas. The series finished 5-0 to Australia, only the third time in history such a whitewash has been achieved, and England lost all 10 wickets in every innings of the Test series – the first time either side has forfeited 100 wickets in Ashes history. Little wonder we celebrated wildly at the Fan Day at the Opera House yesterday, having taken down the team which was ranked #1 in the world and were favourites to win.

Mitchell Johnson was awarded Man of the Series, the fast bowler having taken 37 wickets – the most in an Ashes series in Australia since the late 1970s. Even more remarkably, this was a comeback with a vengeance, because not so long ago, Mitchell was battling injury, his self-confidence destroyed by the jeering of England’s fan base, the Barmy Army (a jingle about Mitchell Johnson is still their most popular song, and I use the word “song” extremely loosely).

Quite apart from his Barmy Army-silencing performance (and I use the word “silencing” with great poetic licence), Mitchell’s value during the Ashes was as a psychological weapon, because he seemed to strike fear into the English batsman. His secret? Maybe it was his training, the confidence brought about by fatherhood, or a pep talk by a war hero, but nearly everyone was convinced it was his moustache. No, seriously.

Mitchell grew a moustache for Movember to raise money for men’s health, but was urged not to shave it off at the end of the month by selector Mervyn “Merv” Hughes, who sports an impressive moustache himself. A public campaign and $10 000 donation from Gillette convinced Mitchell to keep the mo, and it seemed to work.

I was following the Ashes on the BBC, and was interested to see how much that moustache affected the English: it was the “menacing mo”, “the terrifying tash”, “the malicious moustache”, “the fearsome face-fuzz”, or the “horrid horseshoe”, and Mitchell became the “pantomime villain”. Add one moustache, and suddenly this shy, quiet man had become a bowling nightmare to the English.

Unfortunately, Mitchell says the magic mo must go for now, but confirms he will be growing it back when we take on South Africa later in the summer. I just hope it hasn’t lost its mystique by then.

Mitchell is an English surname of several origins. It is said that the first people with this surname came from Mitcham in Surrey (now in the outer suburbs of London), with Mitcham meaning “big town, large settlement”. Mitchell can also be derived from the male name Michel, a Middle English nickname for a large person, meaning “big”. The Normans had the name Michel, but in their case it was a form of the name Michael.

The surname Mitchell must have moved north during the medieval period, as it became particularly associated with Scotland. The Gaelic form of the name is based on the name Michael. In Ireland, Mitchell is used to Anglicise the Irish surname Ó Maoilmhichil, from the clan name Uí Mhaoilmhichil, meaning “devotees of the Archangel Michael”.

The surname Mitchell is one very well known in Australia, for Sir Thomas Livingstone Mitchell was a 19th explorer of Australia. Originally from Scotland, he joined the British army, where he distinguished himself during the Napoleonic Wars, then became a surveyor in New South Wales. He explored New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland, and published two books which included close and sympathetic observations of the Aboriginal people he encountered.

He is also remembered for the invention of the boomerang propeller, and being the last man in Australia to challenge anyone to a duel (both marksmen missed, so nobody was hurt). Many things are named after him, including the town of Mitchell and the Mitchell River in Queensland, the Mitchell Highway between Queensland and New South Wales, and Major Mitchell’s Cockatoo, a very beautiful bird with soft pink and grey markings, much admired by Sir Thomas Mitchell.

Mitchell has been used as a boys name since at least the 16th century, and turns up early in Scotland. There are many men named Mitchell in Australian records, and lots of them emigrated from Scotland or have Scottish surnames.

The name Mitchell has charted in Australia since the 1940s. It climbed gently until the 1980s (the decade when Mitchell Johnson was born), when it suddenly shot into the Top 25 from virtually nowhere. It peaked in the 1990s at #12, and is still stable in the Top 100. Currently it is #45 nationally, #77 in New South Wales, #53 in Victoria, #51 in Queensland, #41 in South Australia, #37 in Western Australia, and #91 in Tasmania.

Australia is the only country in the world where the name Mitchell is still in the Top 100, and with the success of Mitchell Johnson, I don’t see it going anywhere soon. It’s an Australian modern classic with a lot of history, and a name we hold dear.

Mervyn is derived from the Welsh name Merfyn, of uncertain meaning. It is sometimes said to be a variation of the Welsh name Myrddin (“sea fortress”), from whence we get Merlin, but it may mean “big”, and is often translated as meaning something along the lines of “famous to the marrow”. There was a medieval Welsh king named Merfyn.

The name Mervyn was #66 in Australia in the 1900s, and peaked in the 1920s at #44 before declining and leaving the Top 100 in the 1950s. It hasn’t charted since the 1970s. It may be dated, but it is a uniquely Australian name, because in no other country (not even Wales) did it ever become popular.

Two names more Australian than you might have thought – but which one do you prefer?

POLL RESULTS
Mitchell received a respectable approval rating of 68%, while people were less enthusiastic about Mervyn, with an approval rating of 22% – not one person loved the name Mervyn.

 

The Geography of Sydney Baby Names

16 Tuesday Oct 2012

Posted by in Names in the News

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A news story I quoted on the weekend said that when it comes to the most popular names, each region of New South Wales tended to be quite similar. This story, on the other hand, says that there are subtle differences between the names chosen in different areas.

At Westmead Hospital in Sydney’s west, the most popular names are Joshua, Ethan and Lucas for boys, and Olivia, Mia and Chloe for girls.

At the Royal Hospital in Randwick in the eastern suburbs, the most popular names for boys are William, Alexander and James, and for girls, Isabella, Sophie and Grace.

On the upper-class north shore, boys were most likely to be called Oliver, Thomas or Jack, and girls Chloe, Charlotte or Emily.

In the southern suburban areas of Sutherland Shire and St. George, the most popular boy’s names are Lucas, Benjamin and Christian, and the most popular girls Olivia, Amelia and Zoe. (Overseas readers may be interested to know that the Australian equivalent of Jersey Shore is set in Sutherland Shire).

The article says that this means that in the west, they choose “Hollywood movie star” names, while in the east, they opt for more “conservative, traditional or Biblical” names. I find this quite confusing, because Joshua, Ethan and Chloe are names from the Bible, and from the other group, only James is Biblical.

And whether a name is “Hollywood” seems rather subjective, because of course there is Will Smith, Alexander Skarsgard, James Dean, Isabella Rosselini, Sophie Monk and Grace Kelly! I couldn’t actually see why the west was more “Hollywood” than the east.

The ones from the eastern suburbs hospital do tend to be names which have charted since 1900, and the ones from the west are all modern classics. So perhaps we can say, very vaguely and generally, that people in more affluent areas of Sydney are more likely to prefer classic and retro names, while working-class areas prefer modern classics.

However, the working-class choice was Sophia, which is a retro name charting since 1900, while affluent choice Sophie is a modern classic, so it’s not cut-and-dried by any means. Both areas liked James, Chloe and Isabella, so there are several name choices which apparently suit all classes.

Away from Sydney, on the Central Coast and in Newcastle, the popular boys were Cooper, Noah, Riley, Lachlan and Tyler, and the most common girls Ruby, Sienna, Ava and Ella. Interestingly, if you live somewhere regional and coastal, you do seem more likely to call your son Cooper or Riley, and the addition of Tyler makes it seem this is where surnames-as-first-names rule.

Rather typically, neither of the articles from Sydney bothers to look at other regions of New South Wales or even acknowledges they exist. I would have been very interested to see the popular names from other regional centres.