Tag Archives: name history

Waltzing With … Darwin

26 Sunday Aug 2012

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A Girl’s Name from an Aboriginal Language Meaning “Star”

23 Thursday Aug 2012

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Anika has written in to the blog about a name she is considering but is unsure about. Her husband’s family is Indigenous Australian, one side being from the Wakka Wakka people of south-east Queensland. They have been told of a name Mirri Yannan meaning “falling star”, but it is from a language of northern New South Wales.

Anika adores the name Mirri, and its meaning of “star”, and would love to use it. However, when she did a search for the name, the meaning of “dog” was returned by Google. She doesn’t like the idea of her daughter thinking her name means dog, and now she’s not sure about it.

This is an issue I raised in my article about Australian Aboriginal names – there are lots of Aboriginal languages, and a word may mean something pleasant in one language, and less appealing in another. For example, Merinda can be taken from a Sydney-area language meaning “beautiful”, but in South Australia it means “leech”. This isn’t unique to Australian languages. Pippa is becoming a popular name in the English-speaking world as a short form of Phillipa, but in Swedish it is vulgar slang for “to have sexual intercourse”, while in Italian it means “masturbate, hand job”.

I read through some dictionaries and language guides in regard to the word mirri. It does mean “dog” in the Ngiyampaa and Wiradjuri languages of New South Wales. Mirri also means “face” in the Paakantyi language from New South Wales, and “sun” in the Gooniyandi language of northern Western Australia. So it has several meanings in different Australian languages.

I tracked it down in a dictionary from the Kamilaroi or Gamilaraay people from northern New South Wales. Their word for star is mirii, and mirii yanan means “shooting star” (meteor).

So I think you have a couple of options open to you. You could use Mirri or Mirii, which is said exactly the same way (I rang the very helpful Visitors Centre and asked).

If you are truly bothered by mirri meaning “dog” in another language, then mirii sounds like the solution to your dilemma, as well as being the word you were originally looking for.

I think Mirii makes an extremely pretty name for a girl, and I love its meaning of “star”. I hope you use the name, in whichever form you like best and feel most attracted to.

(Some information in the article from Macquarie Aboriginal Words, published 2006)

Famous Name: Adelaide

22 Wednesday Aug 2012

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Tomorrow the city of Adelaide will welcome their Olympic athletes home with a street parade. That’s a good enough excuse as any to cover the name Adelaide, which has been sitting in my Request file for many months now.

Adelaide is the capital of South Australia, and it’s a pleasant coastal city which has been voted the Most Liveable and judged Most Affordable capital city in Australia. It was planned in the 19th century as the capital of a British province of free settlers, and is the only state capital not to have a history of convict settlement – something of which it is still very proud.

Its early history was marked by a commitment to religious freedom and political civil liberties, which led to its nickname of The City of Churches. Despite this moniker, the last census revealed that almost a third of Adelaideans had no religious affiliation at all, making it one of our least religious cities.

From early on, Adelaide attracted many European immigrants escaping religious persecution, most notably from Germany. The Germans brought with them the vine cuttings which were planted to found the famous wineries of the Barossa Valley. After World War II, there were many more immigrants, including Italian, Greek, Dutch, and Polish. The names in the birth notices from Adelaide tell me that South Australians remain very aware of their cultural heritage, because there are always lots of German and Italian baby names.

Adelaide is famous for its many festivals, celebrating music, art, theatre, comedy, sport, food, wine and just about anything else you can think of. When not having a festival, Adelaide tends to be on the sedate side, although quite sophisticated for a small city. If you enjoy somewhere quiet and clean, with good food and wine, attractive beaches, plenty of parkland, lots of outdoor activities and generally friendly people, you will like Adelaide. Please don’t drink the water though; it’s not unsafe but it tastes like it is.

The name Adelaide is from the French form of the Germanic name Adalheidis, meaning “noble kind”. The Frankish nobility were keen to stress their daughters’ high-born pedigree, as it made them more marriageable, and thus names starting with Adel- abound.

There are several Adelaides from history amongst the ruling classes of Europe, including Adelaide of Aquitane, who married Hugh Capet, elected king of France and the founder of one of the most important royal dynasties of that country. Saint Adelaide was the wife of the Holy Roman Emperor Otto, and she ruled the Empire for several years as her grandson’s guardian. (Saint Adelaide’s daughters were Emma and Matilda, which both sound very contemporary).

The name wasn’t particularly common in England until the 19th century, when William IV, then the Duke of Clarence, married Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, a small state of Germany. Adelaide was less than half William’s age, and had to accept his ten illegitimate children as part of the bargain, but despite this, the couple were devoted to each other, and led a life of domestic harmony.

After William became king and Adelaide queen consort, the name got a huge boost. The English people loved Adelaide – she was dignified, modest, charitable, and gained public sympathy for being unable to produce a surviving heir. However, she was very fond of her niece, who would one day reign as Queen Victoria. Queen Victoria’s first child had Adelaide as one of her middle names, in her aunt’s honour.

It is this Adelaide that the city of Adelaide is named after; the city was founded in 1836, just a few years after Adelaide became queen. The city has never forgotten its royal namesake: there is a bronze statue of Queen Adelaide in the foyer of the Town Hall, and the Queen Adelaide Club provides an exclusive social club for women.

Each year the city celebrates Queen Adelaide’s birthday on August 13, held in the Queen Adelaide Room of the Town Hall. There is a tea party given, and everyone who bears the name Adelaide is invited to attend as an honoured guest. This year, on Queen Adelaide’s 220th birthday, 30 Adelaides came, up from 22 last year; the eldest was in her eighties, and the youngest only 17 days old. Over the past 15 years, more than 50 girls in South Australia have been named Adelaide.

In New South Wales, Adelaide was #132 in the 1900s, and then sank in popularity until it was out of regular use between the 1930s and the 1970s. During the 1980s, it was #792, representing about one Adelaide born each year. During the 1990s, it increased to #447, and continued rising. It peaked in 2010 at #154, and last year suddenly dropped to #232, so it may be losing popularity before reaching its 1900s ranking.

Australian actress Rachel Griffiths and artist Andrew Taylor welcomed a daughter named Adelaide Rose in 2005. As Adelaide Taylor was born in Los Angeles, she became part of a growing trend, because her name joined the US Top 1000 the year she was born. It has continued to rise, and is currently #407. I wonder if beleaguered MP Craig Thomson having a baby girl named Adelaide in 2011 damaged the brand in NSW – it was going so well until last year?

This is a stylish, ladylike name that manages to sound both “old fashioned” and contemporary. It’s never been on the Top 100, and doesn’t seem likely to join it at this stage. You could use Addie as a nickname, in which case it would blend right in with all the Addisons and Madisons, but many would prefer Ada, Adele, Dell, Della, or no nickname at all.

Names of Australian Male Olympic Medalists

19 Sunday Aug 2012

Posted by in Name Themes and Lists

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Bevan (George)

Bevan George is a hockey player who won gold at the Olympics in 2004, and bronze in 2008. Bevan is a Welsh surname meaning “son of Evan”; as Evan is a Welsh form of John, this is the Welsh form of Johnson. One of the most prominent people with this surname was Aneurin Bevan, a Welsh Labour Party politician most active in the 1950s. Recognised as one of the leaders of the party’s left-wing, he was a champion of social justice and the rights of working people. As Minister of Health, he was responsible for bringing in the National Health Service – that wonderful institution celebrated so effusively in the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympics. For reasons unclear to me, this name seems to have been used more often in Australasia than anywhere else, and unfortunately, familiarity seems to have bred a certain amount of contempt, for in Queensland especially, Bevan is seen much in the same way that Kevin is perceived in the United Kingdom, the word bevan used to denote a lower-class person. As such, parents would rather use the name Evan.

Deveraux (Mytton)

Deveraux “Dev” Mytton won a bronze medal in sailing at the 1956 Olympics. The surname Deveraux is a variant of Devereux, and it’s Norman-French, meaning “from Évreux” in Normandy. The city of Évreux gained its present name from the Gallic tribe the Eburovici, whose name may be related to the word for “yew tree”, so the French city could have a similar meaning to that of York in northern England. According to the BBC, so many of the gold medal-winners from Team GB were from Yorkshire that if this historic county was its own nation, it would have finished 15th on the Olympics medal tally – ahead of South Africa and Brazil. The city of Évreux has its own Olympic champion – Didier Courrèges, who won gold as an equestrian in 2004. The surname is one with an aristocratic air to it, and in the early twentieth century would have been considered a very upmarket, perhaps even pretentious, name to bestow upon your son (a 1920s version of a “preppy” name). Pronounced DEV-er-oh, I cannot see this name coming into use, despite the fashionable ending, but Dev has a brisk sound to it.

Eli (Matheson)

Eli Matheson is a hockey player who won bronze at the 2008 Olympics. Eli is a Hebrew name which means “ascension”, and in the Old Testament, Eli is a judge and high priest of Israel who is the teacher and mentor of the prophet Samuel. Eli himself is regarded as a prophet also in Judaism. According to how it is written in Hebrew, Eli can also be a separate name which means “my God”. In Hebrew, it is said EH-lee, but English-speakers tend to pronounce the name EE-lie (probably so it doesn’t get confused with the girl’s name Ellie). One well known person with this name is Hollywood actor Eli Wallach, who starred in the westerns, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, and The Magnificent Seven. As Old Testament names for boys gain increasing momentum, Eli continues to rise and rise. It first entered the charts in the 1970s, and joined the Top 100 in 2009. It’s already #45 and still forging ahead.

Fergus (Kavanagh)

Fergus Kavanagh is a member of the men’s hockey team, and won bronze medals in 2008 and 2012. Fergus is the Anglicised and Old Irish form of Fearghas, a Gaelic name meaning “man of vigour, strong virile man” – very apt for an Olympian. It was a name common amongst royalty in both ancient Ireland and Scotland, and is still often used amongst Scottish nobility. One of Queen Elizabeth II’s uncles was named Fergus, and another royal connection is Fergus Boyd, a friend and former flatmate of Prince William. There is a Saint Fergus, an 8th century Irish bishop who was a missionary in Scotland. King Arthur also had Sir Fergus as one of his knights, and he appears in a witty 13th century romance in which he appears valiant but lacking in sophistication. The name Fergus is currently gaining favour with the sort of parents who love Angus and Hamish, but are dismayed by their popularity. Aristocratic Fergus seems so much more select.

Hector (Hogan)

Hector “Hec” Hogan was a sprinter who was Australian champion seven times over in the 100 metres, and was able to equal the world record in this event. He attended the 1956 Olympics, and although he was already feeling strangely fatigued, still managed to win bronze. He was afterwards diagnosed with leukaemia, and died in hospital a few years later, while listening to the 100 metre sprint race at the Rome Olympics. In Greek mythology, Hector is a Trojan prince, and the greatest warrior of Troy, who slays Achilles in battle. A leader noted for his brave and noble nature, he is seen as far more worthy than his younger brother Paris, who caused the war. In Greek, Hector means “to hold”, and is interpreted as “holding firm, holding everything together”. It may be an epithet or title rather than a real name. In Scotland, Hector is used to Anglicise the Gaelic name Eachann, meaning “horse lord” or “brown horse”. Sir Hector is one of King Arthur’s knights in the legends, and is the brother of Sir Lancelot, while Arthur’s foster-father Sir Ector shows another form of the name. In Australia, Hector is the name of a cloud which forms each afternoon in the Tiwi Islands during certain months. This name is fast becoming seen as hip and quirky.

Ji (Wallace)

Ji Wallace is a gymnast who won a silver medal for trampolining at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. He later came out as gay, and was the first Australian to be an ambassador for the Gay Games; while attending the 2012 Olympics, he revealed that he is HIV-positive. Ji is a unisex Korean name which means “wisdom”; it’s also the word for an ancient Korean flute. This name sounds similar to the Indian name Jai, but manages to use even fewer letters, and is suitable for both boys and girls.

Kenneth (Wallace)

Kenneth “Ken” Wallace started out competing in Ironman, and switched to sprint canoeing while still in his teens. He won gold and bronze medals at the 2008 Olympics, and last year took part in Channel 7’s Australia’s Greatest Athlete. He came third, with Shannon Eckstein beating him to second place. Kenneth is the Anglicised form of two separate names. One is the Pictish Coinneach, meaning “handsome”; the other is Gaelic Cináed, meaning perhaps “born from fire” or “fire-head”, possibly to denote someone red-haired or hot-headed. According to tradition, the 9th century Kenneth MacAlpin was the first king of Scotland, and is known as Kenneth I (during his lifetime, he would only have been known as king of the Picts, however). There also two legendary saints named Kenneth, one Irish, one Welsh. For some reason, Kenneth became a “funny name” – perhaps because of uber-camp comic actor Kenneth Williams, from the Carry On movies. Kenneth was #38 for the 1900s, and peaked in the 1920s at #6. It left the Top 100 in the 1980s, and is currently #409. It rose last year, so things may be looking up for this attractive name.

Nimrod (Greenwood)

Nimrod Greenwood won bronze for rowing at the 1952 Olympics. In the Old Testament, Nimrod is a great-grandson of Noah, and king of several Mesopotamian cities. He is depicted as a man wielding great political power, a warrior, and a mighty hunter. Although the Bible never states this, according to tradition, he is the king for whom the Tower of Babel was constructed. This hubristic piece of engineering sought to build a tower into heaven itself, and so alarmed God that He scattered humanity over the globe, and made them speak different languages, to prevent further outbreaks of co-operation and harmony. It’s obviously a story to explain cultural differences, and there are similar myths around the world. The name Nimrod is traced to the Hebrew for “rebel”, but as he was Sumerian, this seems unlikely. The most convincing theory is that he is based on the Babylonian god Bel Marduk, one of whose titles was Bel-Nimrod, meaning “to pursue, to make someone flee before him”. Nimrod has entered our language to mean either a tyrant, a warrior, or a huntsman; however, in the United States it is slang for “idiot” – perhaps due to a 19th century play with a character called Nimrod Wildfire. It is still an Olympian name, for one of the Israeli swimmers at this year’s Olympics was Nimrod Shapira-Bar-Or.

Ralph (Doubell)

Ralph Doubell had a brief career in athletics, but was lucky enough to peak just as an Olympics came around. He won gold in 1968 in the 800 metres, and set a world record of 1:44.3. No other Australian has ever managed to equal this, and it’s stood as the Australian record for more than 40 years. Ralph is a contraction of the Old Norse name Ráðúlfr, meaning “wolf counsel”, which was introduced to England by Scandinavian settlers. When the Normans arrived, they brought with them their own form of the name, Radulf, and English Ralph can be seen as a continuation of both these names. Ráðúlfr is pronounced ra-THOOL-fer, and Radulf is said RAD-oolf; in the beginning Ralph was spelled Ralf and pronounced RAYF. By the 17th century the spelling had been changed to Rafe to reflect the pronunciation, and the Ralph spelling appeared in the 18th century. You are now free to pronounce this name either RAYF or RALF, but as far as I know, only one Ralph seems to say his name like Rafe, and that’s English actor Ralph Fiennes. The name was favoured by the ruling classes during the Middle Ages, but American pop culture has not been kind to it, often assigning it to comic or dim-witted characters. In American slang, ralph means “to vomit”, which can’t have done its image any good. Ralph was #91 in the 1900s, and peaked in the 1920s at #89. It left the Top 100 by the 1950s, and hasn’t ranked since the 1980s.

Verdi (Barberis)

Verdi “Vern” Barberis was a seven times Australian champion in weight-lifting, and took the bronze medal in the Lightweight category at the 1952 Olympics. He was the first Australian lightweight to clean and jerk over 300 lb (140 kg), which at that time exceeded his state’s heavyweight record. The name Verdi is an Italian surname, common in the north of Italy, and best known as that of the composer, Giuseppe Verdi. One of the most influential composers of the 19th century, he is famous for such operas as Rigoletto, Aida and La Traviata. The name means “green”, from the Latin viridis, related to the word virere, meaning “to bloom and flourish”. In the same way, the English word verdant, from the same Latin root, means “green”, but also has connotations of lush vegetation. It’s very much a name of freshness, spring time and new life. I think this rare unisex name is very appealing, and also begins with the fashionable V.

(Photo shows Ken Wallace after winning gold at the 2008 Olympics)

Famous Names: Sally and Malcolm

15 Wednesday Aug 2012

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The 2012 Olympics came to an end on the weekend, and today our athletes came home, to be met by huge crowds at the airport, which included the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition. Although the London Olympics had many critics and doubters before they began, from the stunning Opening Ceremony onwards, all was forgotten as everyone agreed that London had done a bang-up job hosting the Summer Olympics.

Everything had gone smoothly, athletes were well taken care of, the historic capital looked grand and stately, the weather was good, and the wonderful volunteers ensured that, above all, it was a friendly and fun Olympics where people felt free to relax and enjoy themselves. No wonder that Rio has said that it watched and learned from London, as it prepares for its own hosting gig in 2016.

There were so many memorable moments from the Olympics, but from an Australian perspective, I am choosing two athletes who, for me, were the stand outs from our team. The first is hurdler Sally Pearson, simply because her race, which ended in a photo-finish, was nail-bitingly close. Nearly everyone I’ve spoken to has nominated Sally’s gold medal win as the most exciting of the Olympics. Sally not only set an Olympic record, she joined a select group of athletes who were world champions when they won at the Olympics, and is the first Australian woman to win Olympic gold in athletics since Cathy Freeman.

The other is sailor Malcolm Page, because our sailing team did so well at the Olympics, and it’s obvious their training regime really paid off. Malcolm is the first Australian sailor to win two gold medals at consecutive Olympic Games, and he was chosen as the Australian flag-bearer for the Closing Ceremony. Just as Sally was named the IAFF Female Athlete of the Year in 2011, Malcolm was inducted into the Australian Institute of Sport’s “Best of the Best”. Two sportspeople at the top of their game, and here’s a closer look at their names.

The name Sally is a pet form of Sarah, a Hebrew name meaning “princess”. It’s been used as an independent name since the 16th century, and seems to have been first used in the southern coastal areas of England. Since then, it has become a short form of almost any similar name, including the Italian male name Salvatore. It is also, by coincidence, an English vocabulary word, for sallies is an old word for “willow trees”, as in the W.B Yeats poem, Down by the Salley Gardens (the Latin for “willow” is Salix). In military terms, a sally is a sudden attack on an enemy, and we use this word to also mean to attack someone verbally in a witty way. To sally also means to rush off or venture out – very suitable for a sportswoman!

Like Jack, Sally is a name we are familiar with from dozens of cultural references. Sally has appeared in many popular songs, from the nursery rhyme Sally Goes Round the Sun, the traditional Sally in Our Alley, to the blues song Mustang Sally to the rock and roll Long Tall Sally. There is the traditional English fairground game, Aunt Sally, in which a ball is thrown to knock off a wooden woman’s head. We know many a fictional Sally, from wayward Sally Bowles in Cabaret, to Charlie Brown’s sister in the Peanuts cartoon, to the good-looking but annoying Sally Hayes in Catcher in the Rye, the Sally who was met by Harry in the romantic comedy, and the little sister of Dick and Jane in the vintage reading books.

Sally first entered the charts in the 1920s, and was Top 100 by the 1950s; it peaked in the 1970s at #53, and left the Top 100 in the 1990s. Currently it’s #492, and fell last year after a sharp rise in 2010. Sally is one of the most popular names Googled to reach my blog, and I can see the attraction – it’s a fresh, spunky little name that seems clean and wholesome, but not exactly goody-two-shoes. It’s girlish without being girly, and a fuss-free way to wear a princess name without sounding the slightest bit princessy.

Malcolm is the Anglicised form of the Scottish name Máel Coluim, meaning “devotee of Saint Columba”. Columba is a Latin name meaning “dove”. It was a common name amongst medieval royalty in Scotland, which has a long line of King Malcolms. The most well known is Malcolm III, for it is claimed that he is the historical person on which the character of Malcolm in Shakespeare’s Macbeth is based, and who becomes king of Scotland after Macbeth is killed. Although his second wife, Margaret, is recognised as a saint, King Malcolm does not seem to have been very religious.

Scottish-born Malcolm Young is famous in Australia as the brains behind rock band AC/DC, but although the name of his younger brother Angus is a popular favourite, Malcolm’s name has languished. Malcolm was #81 for the 1900s, and peaked in the 1950s at #52. It left the Top 100 in the 1980s, and hasn’t charted since 2009.

Part of the reason may be that Malcolm is a name well known in politics, which rarely seems to do a name any favours. Liberal Party Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser came to power in 1975, a time which saw a definite plummet in popularity for the name Malcolm. In recent times, Malcolm Turnbull has been the Liberal Party Leader of the Opposition, and is currently Shadow Minister for Communications and Broadband. He is known for being Australia’s wealthiest parliamentarian, and is the only sitting politician to make the BRW Rich List. Since he was elected in 2004, the name Malcolm has gone out of regular use altogether.

So although Scottish names for boys continue to be fashionable choices in Australia, the related name Callum, which is the Scottish form of Columba, has taken over from Malcolm – soaring in popularity during the 1980s as Malcolm sank. Is it purely coincidence that the 1980s was a decade in which Malcolm Fraser’s party suffered the worst defeat of a non-Labour party since Federation, and he was discovered in a confused condition in a seedy hotel in Memphis, wearing only a towel? I cannot help but feel neither of these things improved the prospects of the name Malcolm.

Names of Australian Female Olympic Medalists

12 Sunday Aug 2012

Posted by in Name Themes and Lists

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Chantal (Meek)

Chantal Meek is originally from Britain, and won a bronze medal in 2008 for sprint canoeing. The name Chantal was originally given in honour of Saint Jane Frances de Chantal (her non-saint name was Jeanne-Françoise Frémiot, Baronne de Chantal). Jeanne-Françoise was of the nobility, and married a baron; she devoted herself to prayer and charity, and later in life founded a religious order. Not only kind and sensible, she was known for her great sense of humour. The place name Chantal is from Old Provençal cantal, meaning “stony”, but people often imagine it is from the French word chant, meaning “song”. Chantal was first used as a personal name in France in the 1920s, and was most popular there during the 1940s-60s. The name entered the US Top 100 in 1968, the same year Marie-Chantal Miller was born to American millionaire and socialite, Robert Warren Miller (Marie-Chantal later became Crown Princess of Greece). Chantal (shan-TAHL) has never charted in Australia, with the preference here being for the variant Chantelle (shan-TEL).

Clover (Maitland)

Clover Maitland has won gold twice for hockey, in 1996 and 2000. Although usually thought of as a nature name, Clover was originally from the surname. It was an occupational name given to an official mace-bearer (a mace was called a clavia), or to a timber-worker, with the origin being from the word cleave. This accounts for boys named Clover. The plant of this name plays a role in folklore, for it is said that to find a four-leafed clover is lucky. The shamrock is a clover variety which is one of the symbols of Ireland, and proudly displayed on Saint Patrick’s Day. The word clover ultimately goes back to a Proto-Indo-European word meaning “sticky” – quite apt, as white clover flowers make excellent honey. Clover is also used in farming and gardening to enrich the soil, and so good for stock to eat that we say someone is living in clover if their life is one of ease and prosperity. So many positive things attached to this fresh green plant – another one is that it contains the word love. Clo, Cloey, Clove and Lola could all be used as nicknames.

Maree (Fish)

Maree Fish is a hockey player who won gold at the 1988 Olympics. The name Maree is typically Australasian, and so little known elsewhere that Abby at Appellation Mountain even asked about it, as she was puzzled why so many baby girls in Australian birth announcements had Maree in their names. There are several possibilities. The original pronunciation of Maree was MAH-ree, so it could be an Anglicisation of the Scottish Màiri, which is a form of Mary, and can be pronounced the same way. On the other hand, MAH-ree is how the name Marie was pronounced in England until the early twentieth century, and is also a common Gaelic and Irish pronunciation of the name. There is a Loch Maree in the Scottish Highlands, named after Saint Maree – however, he was a man, and his name is the Anglicised form of Máel Ruba, which roughly means “red haired monk” (sometimes it’s Anglicised as Rufus). These days, Maree is usually pronounced muh-REE, as a variant spelling of Marie. Maree entered the charts in the 1920s and was Top 100 by the 1940s. It peaked in the 1960s at #62, and left the Top 100 the following decade. It hasn’t charted since 2009. Like Marie, it’s much more common as a middle name.

Nova (Peris-Kneebone)

Nova Peris began her sporting career in hockey, becoming the first Indigenous Australian to win an Olympic gold medal when the Australian team won at the 1996 Olympics. She then switched to athletics, and although she won gold twice at the Commonwealth Games as a runner, she never received another Olympic medal. The name Nova is from the Latin word for “new”, and the word nova is well known in astronomy to describe a nuclear explosion in a white dwarf star. This makes it another “star” name. Although a rare name here, it has been on the US Top 1000 since the 1880s, and last year returned at #882, after not being seen there since before World War II. It now seems very usable, with its fashionable O and V sounds – it fits right in with popular girls’ names such as Ava and Eva, and can also be seen as an unusual nature name. It may remind some Australians of the radio station, Nova FM, but I’m unsure whether that would bother anyone.

Rohanee (Cox)

Rohanee Cox is a basketball player with the national women’s team who won silver at the 2008 Olympics. She is the first Indigenous Australian to win an Olympic medal in basketball. She has been awarded many sporting honours, including NAIDOC Sportsperson of the Year in 2010. Rohanee, pronounced ro-HAH-nee, is an Indian girl’s name which is a variant of Rohane, based on Rohana, meaning “sandalwood”. Sandalwood trees are native to southern India, and incense made from the tree is used in Hindu ceremonies, while devotees wear a paste made from it on their bodies, so the name has spiritual connotations. Another person with the name is Rohanee Walters, the sister of actor Brandon Walters, who served as his stand-in during the making of Baz Luhrmann’s Australia. Like Ms Cox, Miss Walters is from Broome in Western Australia, and I think is young enough to have been named after local sports star Rohanee Cox – although I don’t know if that’s what happened.

Shirley (Strickland)

Shirley Strickland is one of our most famous athletes, gaining more Olympic medals than any other Australian woman in track and field. She won silver and two bronze at the 1948 London Olympics, gold and bronze at the 1952 Olympics, and two gold at the Melbourne Olympics in 1956. Shirley is a surname from a common English place name meaning “bright clearing”. It was a rare male name until Charlotte Brontë’s 1848 novel Shirley was published. In the story, the lively young heiress Shirley Keeldar has been given a boy’s name, because her parents had no son to pass the family name on to. The US Top 1000 shows Shirley as a unisex name from the 1880s onwards, with 1957 being the last year it appears as a male name. The name began steadily rising just before World War I, coinciding with the 1908 publication of L.M. Montgomery’s novel, Anne of Green Gables, with its imaginative red-haired heroine, Anne Shirley (in a later book, Anne calls her youngest son Shirley). In Australia, Shirley was in rare use in the 1900s, and skyrocketed in popularity to be #10 for the 1920s. It peaked in the 1930s at #3, and had left the Top 100 by the 1960s. It hasn’t charted since 2009.

Taryn (Woods)

Taryn Woods was a member of the women’s water polo team which won gold a the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Taryn is a name popularised by Hollywood matinee idol, Tyrone Power, and his second wife, Linda Christian. They gave the name to their second daughter in 1953, and the name Taryn first appears on the US Top 1000 in 1955. Her name is presumed to be a feminised form of the name Tyrone, which is the name of an Irish county. Taryn is found in ultra-ultra-rare use before that as a unisex name, and similar-sounding names such as Taren, Terrian, Toreen and Torunn were common in the 1940s and ’50s, so the Powers did seem to be tapping into a mid-century zeitgeist. Many of these names look to be inspired by Scandinavian links to the Norse god of thunder, Thor, or perhaps combinations of names, such as Terri and Karen. Taryn first entered the Australian charts in the 1960s, and peaked in the 1980s, at #230. It hasn’t charted since 2009. The name seems to have been more popular in Australia than anywhere else, although its only tenuous Aussie connection is that Linda Christian was one of Erroll Flynn’s lovers.

Tatiana (Grigorieva)

Tatiana Grigorieva was a national hurdler in Russia, but when she migrated to Australia in 1997 she took up pole vaulting. Within a year of picking up a pole for the first time, she won a medal at an international competition. After winning silver at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, she became a household name, and her blonde good looks made her very marketable. Tatiana is the feminine form of Tatianus, derived from the Roman family name Tatius. The name may be of Sabine origin, and the meaning is unknown. Saint Tatiana is supposed to have been a 3rd century Roman Christian who was martyred for her faith. She was venerated in Orthodox Christianity, and her name has been commonly used in Russia and surrounding areas. Although Tatiana is unusual in Australia, its forms Tania and Tanya both peaked in the 1970s in the Top 100. Last year, NRL star Akuila Uate welcomed a baby girl named Tatianna, and its short form Tiana peaked in the early 2000s.

Virginia (Lee)

Virginia Lee is a rower who won bronze at the 1996 Olympics. The name Virginia is the feminine form of the Roman family Verginius; the meaning may be “bend, turn toward”, but modern writers often spell it Virginius, to make it seem as if it is derived from virgo, Latin for “virgin”. According to legend, Verginia was a beautiful Roman girl murdered by her father to protect her honour. Virginia was the name of the first English colony in North America. In 1584, Sir Walter Raleigh’s expedition to what is now North Carolina brought word of a Native American chief named Wingina. The first Native American leader to meet English settlers, he died by their hand soon after, setting an unhappy precedent for future cultural relations. Queen Elizabeth I called the new colony Virginia in her own honour, due to her status as Virgin Queen; it is thought that Wingina’s name may have helped inspire her choice. The original colony stretched from North Carolina into Canada, but the modern American state of Virginia is of more modest proportions. The first child born in the Americas to English parents was Virginia Dare, named after the colony, and her fate is a mystery, for all the colonists disappeared a few years later. Because of its origins, Virginia has been more popular in the United States than elsewhere. In Australia, it first charted in the 1920s, and peaked in the 1950s at #94 – the decade when Virginia McKenna starred in A Town Like Alice. It hasn’t ranked since the early 2000s.

Wendy (Schaeffer)

Wendy Schaeffer is an equestrian who won gold in eventing at the 1996 Olympics. The early history of the name Wendy is rather murky, and it’s usually suggested that it began as a pet form of Gwendoline or Wanda. Unfortunately for this theory, the first Wendy I can find was born in 1615 in Cambridgeshire, and was male. He may have been named after the Cambridgeshire hamlet of Wendy, meaning “island on the river bend”. In fact, boys named Wendy in 18th century England did tend to come from Cambridgeshire. The earliest woman named Wendy I can find died in Essex, and is estimated to have been born around 1711. Wendy is also a surname which is most commonly found in Essex – as this county is next to Cambridgeshire, could it be inspired by the place name? Leaving aside this mysterious origin, the name’s popularity is due to author J.M. Barrie. He knew a wee lass called Margaret Henley, and she called Barrie “fwendy”, as a childish way of saying “friend”. Margaret died aged five, and Barrie named the heroine of his 1904 play, Peter Pan, Wendy Darling; the novelisation of the play was published in 1911. In Australia, Wendy first entered the charts in the 1920s, and was Top 100 by the following decade. It peaked in the 1950s at #15, and left the Top 100 in the 1980s. It is still in rare use.

(Photo shows Tatiana Grigorieva after winning silver at the Sydney Olympics in 2000)

Famous Name: Gale

08 Wednesday Aug 2012

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On August 6 the Curiosity rover, which had been launched by NASA at the end of November last year, successfully landed on the planet Mars. As with the 1969 moon landing, Australian scientists played a crucial role in this international endevour, and NASA administrator Charlie Balden made special mention of the Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex at Tidbinbilla, which is part of NASA’s Deep Space Network. Tidbinbilla was the only space station which was facing Mars for the descent, making it uniquely positioned to transit data from Mars to the Earth.

Curiosity landed on the Gale crater, which is believed to be more than 3 billion years old. The main goal of the mission is to determine whether life could ever have existed on Mars, and it is thought by some scientists that the Gale crater could have contained water at some point. If they are correct, this would make life on Mars a real possibility.

The Gale crater is named after Walter Frederick Gale, an early twentieth century amateur astronomer from Sydney. A banker by profession, Walter Gale made several important astronomical observations, including discovering seven comets. He also examined the surface of Mars, and was a keen supporter of the idea that the planet could contain life.

The surname Gale can be from an Old English nickname for someone who was cheerful, merry or fun-loving by nature. The Normans had a male personal name Geil, meaning the same thing, and that can be another source of the name. Another possibility is that is from the Norman-French word for “gaol”, perhaps denoting someone who worked as a gaoler, or even lived near a gaol. The surname Gale is mostly found in the southern coastal areas of England, but it is also commonly found in Yorkshire, leading to the possibility that there it may be from the Norse word geil, meaning “deep ravine”.

As a vocabulary word, gale has more meanings than you may suspect. It is an old dialect word meaning “to sing”, with connotations of “charm, enchant”, but also referring to birdsong. Gale Day is an old legal term, meaning the day that a tenant’s rent was due to be paid. Sweet gale is another name for the bog myrtle (Myrica gale); a shrub which typically grows in peat bogs. Its sweet scent has seen it used to flavour beer, and to make perfumes, and it’s one of the plants traditionally used in Royal wedding bouquets.

Of course, when we hear the word gale, we most likely think of a strong wind, especially those which feature in storms. It may also remind us of the phrase gales of laughter, which seems to tie in pretty neatly with its original meaning of “cheerful, merry”.

Gale was originally a male name, and taken directly from the surname. It isn’t found as a female name on the US charts until the 1930s – not surprisingly, this correlates with the rise in popularity of the female Gail, used as a short form of Abigail (Gail was also used for boys as a variant of Gale). In the US, despite the popularity of Gail as a girl’s name, male and female Gales existed together until the name disappeared from the charts for both sexes around the same time – 1969 for boys, and 1970 for girls.

In Australia, Gail was a popular girl’s name which peaked in the 1950s at #26, and I suspect for people born around that era, and perhaps a decade or so later, Gale would sound feminine to their ears. However, Gail hasn’t been on the charts since the 1990s, and Abby is the popular short form of Abigail today. If you look on the current Top 100 for the name that sounds most like Gale, it’s a male one – Gabriel.

Gale is an interesting name that by meanings, associations and sound, manages to present itself as both masculine and feminine, depending on how you think of it. I do like the idea of using it as a boy’s name, because English names are lacking male forms which have connotations of joy and happiness, compared to the numbers of female ones. Perhaps also because the Gale Crater is on the planet Mars, a name associated with masculinity for thousands of years.

However, this name is up for grabs by both genders, and does honour a great Australian star-gazer. If you can only think of this as meaning “a strong wind”, it would be on trend as one of the one-syllable nature name, which go so well in the middle position.

UPDATE: Blue Juniper from Baby Name Ponderings has reminded me that of course, Gale Hawthorne is one of the main characters in The Hunger Games trilogy. The best friend and hunting partner of protagonist Katniss Everdeen, Gale is played by Australian actor Liam Hemsworth in the film version. (Liam is the younger brother of Chris Hemsworth).

As Blue Juniper points out, this gives a current-day Gale much more of a masculine edge.

Famous Name: Lauren

01 Wednesday Aug 2012

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Last Friday night in London was the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympics, and wasn’t it a corker? I got up at 5.30 am on Saturday to watch it, and was glued to the screen in wonder, and sometimes fits of laughter at its cheekiness. Our own Lou from Mer de Noms was front and centre for this historic event, as she is volunteering at the Games over the summer. She chummed up with her seatmate, a friendly Londoner named Osama, who you can hear on her video of the event.

The Australian flag bearer during the Parade of Nations was basketball star Lauren Jackson. She is the first female flag bearer from Australia for quite some time, as the last four standard-bearers have been male. Indeed, beach volleyball player and five-time Olympian Natalie Cook threatened to boycott the ceremony if a woman wasn’t chosen. I’m not sure whether her threats influenced the decision-making or not, but during the ruckus which followed, it turned out that the men’s basketball players fly business class, while the women’s national team, which have a higher ranking worldwide, has to fly economy, due to lower funding.

Maybe there was an uncomfortable feeling amongst sports administrators that female athletes were getting rather ripped off. This neglect is an utter disgrace, because Australia has been blessed with scores of talented sportswomen, and without them, our medal tally at any Olympics would look pretty lame. I think choosing a female flag-bearer was the absolute least that they could do.

Lauren Jackson was an admirable choice. The daughter of two national basketball players, and the granddaughter of another, she has been playing since the age of four and competing since six. She joined the under-20 national team when only 14, and the women’s national team at 16. She plays for the Seattle Storm in the WMBA, and has also played basketball in Russia, Spain and Korea. Widely acknowledged as Australia’s best basketball player, London is her fourth Olympics, and she has three Olympic silver medals so far. Can she make it gold in 2012 with the help of her team? Only time will tell.

The name Lauren began life as a male name, a short form of Laurence. However, that all changed with Hollywood star Lauren Bacall. Born Betty Joan Perske, she was working as a fashion model under the name Betty Bacall when Nancy Hawks, the wife of director Howard Hawks, spotted her on the cover of Harper’s Bazaar. Once she passed her first audition, the elegant socialite Nancy took her under her wing and taught her how to behave, speak and dress for success. Nancy also changed her name from girl-next-door Betty to the more stylish Lauren.

Lauren Bacall’s first movie, the wartime romance To Have and Have Not, came out in 1944. At this time, Lauren was #772 for boys on the US Top 1000. The very next year, Lauren had entered the US charts as a girl’s name at #355. Lauren wasn’t a popular boy’s name (it had never been in the Top 500) and Betty Perske’s screen name finished it off. It hasn’t charted for boys in the US since 1989.

In Australia, we were obviously just as taken with Lauren Bacall, and the name Lauren was #357 for the 1940s in New South Wales. It rose through the 1950s and ’60s, and took off during the 1970s, to become the #9 name of the 1980s in New South Wales, and the #5 name of the 1980s in Victoria. Perhaps as Ms Bacall’s career gracefully waned, the name became less closely associated with its famous namesake, helping its popularity grow – or maybe it was a matter of a generation who had grown up watching Bacall becoming parents.

Because of its high popularity, there are many successful Australian women named Lauren, and many of them seem to be involved in sport, such as sprinter Lauren Hewitt, netball player Lauren Nourse, and Olympic gymnast Lauren Mitchell, who was covered at Ebony’s blog, babynameobsessed. In the field of entertainment, we have Lauren Newton, daughter of Bert Newton, singer Lauren Buckley who competed on Australian Idol, and Lauren Brain, who is a member of Dave Hughes‘ radio show.

Lauren maintained its Top Ten status for the 1990s, peaking as the #7 name in New South Wales, but dipping to #8 in Victoria. It has been declining since then, and last year it disappeared from the Top 100 altogether as it dropped to #109. This puts us out of step with the rest of the English-speaking world, because Lauren is still Top 100 in the United States, Canada, New Zealand, England/Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Ireland.

It’s a shame that we have tired of Lauren so easily compared to other countries. Part of the reason may be because its fortunes were closely tied with its twin name, Laura. Both names rose at the same time at similar rates, and fell at similar rates too. Laura is currently #118 – just nine places lower than Lauren.

It seem unlikely that Laura and Lauren can stage a comeback – but if Lauren lifts even a little in the rankings next year, I will attribute it to the Olympian Lauren Jackson.

More About Matilda

29 Sunday Jul 2012

Posted by in Your Questions Answered

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I love the title I chose for my blog, and as time goes by, it seems to be growing into its name even better. Although I don’t suffer from one ounce of name regret, an unintended side effect of its title is that it when people Google anything to do with the name “Matilda”, they often seem to be guided to Waltzing More Than Matilda.

They have been sent here under false pretences, because the blog isn’t dedicated to the name Matilda, or people named Matilda, or the song Waltzing Matilda. Even though Matilda is a Featured Name, in the wider scheme of things, it doesn’t rate too many mentions at all on the blog. I feel bad that so often, the information they are looking for just isn’t here.

So this is my attempt to answer as many of the Googled questions as I can about the name Matilda. They are all genuine questions, but I have added punctuation and corrected the odd typo to make things easier (it seemed fair enough as people don’t write their Google searches for publication). I’ve added information in brackets to make questions clearer, and where there were several questions asking similar things, I have amalgamated them into a generic enquiry.

I hope you enjoy learning more about Matilda; I ended up learning a great deal myself!

Matildas in the Bible/What is the Biblical significance of the name Matilda?

There aren’t any, and there is none.

Is Matilda the name of an angel?

No. Angels are always given male Hebrew names by tradition.

Is Matilda a saints name?

Yes. Saint Matilda was the wife of King Henry I of Germany, and she was therefore Queen Matilda too. She is said to have been very beautiful and virtuous, and was famous for her devotion to prayer and works of charity. Her feast day is March 14, and she is the patron saint of parents with large families, although she only had five children herself – Hedwig, Otto, Gerberga, Henry and Bruno.

Is there a character named Matilda in Shakespeare?

No.

Is there a star or constellation named Matilda?

No.

Is there a rose named Matilda?

Yes. There’s a hybrid named Rosa “Matilda” which was registered in France in 1988. It’s a hardy perennial shrub, and its scentless blooms are white with delicate pink edges.

Is Matilda an Irish or an Australian name?

Neither – it’s the Latinised form of a Germanic name, Mahthildis.

What is the Irish form of Matilda?

Maitilde. It was never a common name in Ireland though.

Why do Australians claim Matilda (as their own)? It’s not really Australian

It’s because of our national song, Waltzing Matilda. I’m sorry if it annoys you – you sound annoyed. You’re right that it’s not Australian, it’s German originally, but a German migrant to Australia helped to inspire the song.

What was Waltzing Matilda‘s first name?

As far as I know, the song’s title was always Waltzing Matilda.

Is Waltzing Matilda a train?

Not that I know of.

Did James Cook have a kid named Matilda?

No. His children were called James, Nathaniel, Elizabeth, Joseph, George and Hugh.

Were any of the convicts named Matilda?

When I searched the Australian Convict Collection at Ancestry.com.au, I got almost 2000 hits for the name “Matilda”. Some of those would be middle names, and some would be doubled-up entries, so maybe around 1000 convicts had the name Matilda.

There was also a convict ship named the Matilda; she came out in 1791 as part of the Third Fleet. However, she only carried male convicts, so there were no Matildas on the Matilda, alas.

How popular is the name Matilda in Australia?

It made #19 on the national chart for 2011.

A beautiful rocking Australian girl named Matilda?

I’m sure there’s absolutely tons of them.

Is there an Aboriginal name that’s the equivalent of Matilda?

It depends what you mean by “equivalent”. If you mean, Is there an Aboriginal girl’s name with the same meaning as Matilda?, then I don’t think so. Matilda means something like “strong in battle”, as the ancient Germanic tribes had a warrior culture. Aboriginal names tend to be inspired by nature.

However, if you mean, Is there a girl’s name of Aboriginal origin which, like Matilda, is considered to be a stereotypically Australian girl’s name?, then I would suggest that the name Talia fits that description, and Allira seems to be preparing to take its place.

Famous people named Matilda

One of the most notorious in Australia is Matilda Mary “Tilly” Devine, who was a prostitute and madam prominent in the 1920s and ’30s. The press called her “The Worst Woman in Sydney” and “The Queen of the Night”. Her colourful career continued until the late 1960s, and she died relatively well off.

Celebrity babies named Matilda

Matilda Esma Birmingham – Simon Birmingham (2011)

Matilda Thomson – Craig Thomson (2009)

Matilda Kewell – Harry Kewell and Sheree Murphy (2008)

Matilda Rose Ledger – Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams (2005)

Matilda Elizabeth Ramsay – Gordon Ramsay (2002)

In what year was Matilda a name?

Wow, that’s very specific. The name’s origins go back to the Dark Ages, but I’m not sure at which point it was Latinised as Matilda. I do know that it became an English name in 1066, as this was the name of William the Conqueror’s wife. However, her name was pronounced Maude. I think the modern-day pronunciation dates to the 18th century.

There must be a “first Matilda” – the first person with both the modern spelling and pronunciation of the name – but who she is, and what year she was born, I’m afraid I cannot say. I welcome input and suggestions from others more knowledgeable than myself.

Is Matilda too trendy?

No, I don’t think so. It’s trending downwards in Australia and the UK, and is still underused in the United States.

Will Matilda reach Top 100 in North America?

It’s been back on the US Top 1000 for only four years, and you are already worrying about it getting into the Top 100? Sheesh. It’s not even going up in popularity very quickly! If it does, it won’t be for years and years, so quit stressing already.

Is Matilda a boy or a girl name?/Matilda as a boy’s name/Any boys named Matilda?

It’s a girl’s name, and although you are free to use it on a boy, it’s an idea that doesn’t appeal to me. I’ve never heard of a boy named Matilda; they may all call themselves Matt to avoid terminal embarrassment.

What’s a good boy’s name to match with Matilda?

Angus, Banjo, Barnaby, Charlie, Darcy, Harry, Henry, Jack, Jasper, Lachlan, Liam, Sam, William

What girl names go good with Matilda?

Adelaide, Alice, Charlotte, Clementine, Harriet, Edith, Emmeline, Lucy, Poppy, Rose, Ruby, Sophie

An Aussie-style sibset for Matilda?

I think the quintessential Australian sibset is Jack, Matilda, Lachlan, and Ruby.

Names to go with the middle name Matilda?

Annabel Matilda, Caroline Matilda, Eloise Matilda, Jane Matilda, Phoebe Matilda, Violet Matilda

A boy’s name that rhymes with Matilda?

Bob the Builder? Seriously, I don’t think there is one.

Name of story about mean stupid couple who have nice smart kid called Matilda?

Matilda, by Roald Dahl. It was originally published in 1988, made into a film in 1996, and adapted as a musical in 2012.

What’s that song at the start of (the movie) Matilda where she makes stuff spin round?

Little Bitty Pretty One. It was written and originally recorded by Bobby Day; the movie features the 1957 version sung by Thurston Harris.

What are the cast of (the movie) Matilda all doing now?

The whole cast? For flip’s sake, that’s dozens of people! Go look it up at the Internet Movie Database or something.

Matilda is an awesome name

Too right it is!

(Image from Flickr)

Famous Name: Apollo

25 Wednesday Jul 2012

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Last Friday marked the anniversary of the first moon landing, which took place on July 20 1969. The NASA spaceflight programme responsible was famously named Apollo, and the name was chosen in 1960, during the administration of President Eisenhower.

It was named after the Greek god of the sun by NASA manager Abe Silverstein, and he later said that he named it as carefully as if he was naming his baby. Dr Silverstein had been reading a book of Greek mythology, and was struck by an illustration of the god Apollo riding his chariot across the sun; this seemed in line with the grand scale of the project they had in mind.

It became far grander after the election of President John F. Kennedy, for while Eisenhower was on the fence about the whole space thing, Kennedy had made winning the Space Race against the Soviet Union a key campaign promise. Like many people on their way to power, President Kennedy hadn’t considered how much such a promise would cost, and when he found out the price, he also started to go a bit lukewarm on the idea.

Once the Soviet Union became the first to send a man (cosmonaut Yuri Gargarin) into space in 1961, it all suddenly seemed a lot more pressing, and President Kennedy vowed that the United States must be the first nation to land a man on the moon, and would do so by the end of the decade.

Even some people at NASA thought this was going a bit far, and wondered if the President understood how difficult it would be. No he didn’t, but that’s what leaders are for – to come up with big impossible dreams, and then let the brainiacs sort out the technical details.

As we all know, they did manage to get to the moon by the end of the 1960s, on spaceflight Apollo 11, and history was made – not just American history, but world history. Around the globe, 500 million people watched the moon landing on their TV sets, and Australia played a vital role in the television broadcast of the moon landing.

The images broadcast from the moon were received by three tracking antennae – one in California, one in the delightfully named Honeysuckle Creek near Canberra, and one in Parkes, New South Wales. The very first television pictures were received by Honeysuckle Creek, and then NASA alternated between California and Parkes, trying to find the best quality pictures. Less than ten minutes into the broadcast, the signals from Parkes were so superior that NASA stayed with them for the rest of the two-and-a-half hour television broadcast.

The behind-the-scenes of the television broadcast seems to have been very confused. One of the biggest mysteries to me is how NASA managed to lose all the footage we sent them. They didn’t throw them in a cupboard and forget about them, they actually taped over them. I mean, this isn’t the family holiday to Fiji we’re talking about, it’s the freaking moon landing! With baffling carelessness, they also lost the back-up copy Australia sent them. After an exhaustive search, a bootleg copy of the original broadcast was found in Australia in time for the fortieth anniversary of the moon landing. Phew!

The god Apollo who had inspired the name of the space programme was one of the most important and complex in the Greek and Roman pantheon. Always depicted as a handsome and gloriously athletic young man, he was the god of many things – light, the sun, prophecy, healing, music and poetry amongst them. I think of him as a very appropriate god for Australia, because (apart from all the sunshine he’s blessed us with), he was also a god who ruled colonists, and protected flocks and herds. As a former colony with a strong interest in farming, it’s a wonder we don’t celebrate him more often in official imagery.

His name is so ancient that the meaning of it is now very obscure. The Greeks themselves tried to link the name to Greek words that sounded similar such as those for “destroy”, “redeem”, “purification”, “simple” and “ever-shooting”. The name was connected to the word apella, meaning “assembly”; the Apella was a Spartan political meeting held on each full moon, aptly enough. This word originally meant “a wall, a fence”, so you can see that the Greeks saw the political process as being protected by the god, just as he protected flocks of animals. Apollo’s earliest role seems to have been as a protector against evil.

The name is likely to be older than Greek, as there are a number of gods from the Middle East with similar-sounding names. The official title of the Babylonian sun god Nergal was Aplu Enlil, meaning “son of Enlil”. Enlil means “lord of the storm”, and he was the chief god of the Sumerians. Not only does Aplu sound like Apollo, but the parallels between chief storm gods Enlil and Zeus, and their sons, sun gods Nergal and Apollo are obvious. If so, the name Apollo simply means “the son of”, like the Gaelic prefix Mac.

The meaning is far less important than what it symbolises, for classical Greece made Apollo the principle of light, harmony, order and reason. This is the Apollo who presided over contests of music, art and literature, and who inspired the greatest composers and poets. But he had a darker side too from his Eastern origins, which were shamanistic and oracular. His Delphic priestesses sometimes perished in their efforts to hear his divine voice, people who died suddenly were said to have been struck down by the god, and he also brought plague and pestilence as a mark of his displeasure. He demonstrates that everything being light, bright, clear and intellectual are not enough – we also need intuition, awe and mystery in our psychological make-up.

Apart from the god and the space programme, the name may remind you of fictional characters Apollo Creed, from the Rocky movies, and Captain Apollo from Battlestar Galactica. A famous example of a real life Apollo from our own region is the Samoan-New Zealand rugby player Apollo Perelini, a relative of Australian soccer star Tim Cahill. Perelini got his name because he was born the day the Apollo 11 space project was launched – July 16 1969. His middle name is 11. An Australian link is the tourist town of Apollo Bay on the Victorian coast, so named because the ship Apollo sheltered from a storm there.

Apollo is a strong, handsome and spectacular name which commands attention. It’s garnering some interest and perhaps greater use, as it fits in with the trends for mythological names and names ending in O. I suspect this might be a name where many people love the sound and associations, but fear that calling their son after such a divine figure may seem a little hubristic. If so, it makes a brilliant middle name. Many parents are becoming a bit more daring with boy’s names, and if you prefer names without a built-in nickname, Apollo is one to consider.