Tag Archives: name meaning

Famous Name: Boris

05 Wednesday Feb 2014

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Last week we covered the name of the Australian of the Year for 2014, and here we have another name associated with the Australia Day Foundation awards. At an Australia Day dinner in London, Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, was declared Honorary Australian of the Year for 2014.

The flamboyant mayor confessed to being a “bit baffled” by his unexpected award, which he received for promoting Australian interests, and campaigning to create visa-free labour and migration between Australia and the United Kingdom. You’ve probably heard on the news that the numbers of Antipodeans in the UK has dropped significantly, partly because of new restrictions on Australians in gaining visas and employment. It’s hard to believe that Londoners want more Australians, but Mayor Johnson will endeavour to get them more anyway.

In case you are dubious about Boris Johnson’s qualifications for being an Australian (even an honorary one), he spent a working holiday in Australia as a teenager, and seems to have had a pretty good time, and he has relatives here. He also points out that as there are more than 200 000 Australians living in London, he can be counted as mayor of the 12th largest Australian city.

Boris is a Bulgar name derived from the Turkic nickname Bogoris, usually interpreted as “short, small”, although other suggestions are “wolf” and “snow leopard, lynx, tiger”. Another theory is that the name ultimately comes from an Iranian source, and may mean “god-like”. Boris can also be used as a short form of the Slavic name Borislav, meaning “one who fights for glory”.

The first person known to history with this name is Prince Boris I, a 9th century ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire who converted to Christianity and adopted the name Mikhail. Boris seems to have converted chiefly for diplomatic and political reasons, for as a Christian ruler he could make more alliances and expand his personal power. However, his conversion also appears to be have been sincere, and at the end of his reign he abdicated to become a monk: he kept having to come out of monkish retirement to quash pagan rebellion and help out with major crises. After his death, he became known as the first Bulgarian saint.

The name Boris became particularly associated with Russia, because Boris II, the great-grandson of Boris I, formed an alliance with the Rus’ Slav prince, Sviatoslav I of Kiev. Sviatoslav’s son Vladimir the Great had a son named Boris – it is conjectured that his mother may have been Bulgarian, possibly even Boris II’s sister. The Kievan Rus’ converted to Christianity, and Boris (son of Vladimir) was later martyred and canonised, becoming one of the Russian Orthodox Church’s most revered saints. The name Boris became used in surrounding countries, and was a traditional name amongst royalty and nobility.

Boris is often seen by English-speakers as an almost comically stereotypical Russian name, and is a favourite choice for fictional villains. This may be a hangover from the Cold War, when Russians were generally portrayed as menacing “baddies”, or it may be because of the English movie star Boris Karloff (real name William Pratt), best known for playing sinister roles in Hollywood horror films such as Frankenstein and The Mummy.

Despite the name being familiar due to high profile Borises such as German former tennis champ Boris Becker, Russian author Boris Pasternak who wrote Dr Zhivago, former Russian President Boris Yeltsin, and Boris Johnson himself, Boris continues to sound rather exotic.

Boris is one of my early name loves, and I think this is because of the novels for young people by Mary Rodgers called Freaky Friday and A Billion For Boris (there’s another book in the series, but my school library didn’t have it). I liked A Billion For Boris better than Freaky Friday, probably because the idea of a psychic television which can make you rich was more appealing to me than swapping lives with my mother (an incredibly selfless workaholic whose life would be daunting for me to take on even as an adult).

Boris is (as you may remember) the tomboyish Annabel’s neighbour, childhood playmate and proto-boyfriend, and as you may also recall, during the course of Freaky Friday, it transpires that Boris’ name is actually Morris – he just has a nasally voice and says his Ms as Bs. Perhaps Mary Rodgers intended this to be a Oh thank goodness – he has a totally normal name! moment, but I was horrified.

To me, Morris was a hideous old man name, reeking of mothballs and uncoolness. Maybe in America in the early 1970s, Morris was considered an okayish name for a nerdy teenager (it only left the US Top 1000 in the 1990s), but by the time I got to read the books, it was nausea-invoking. Luckily, everyone continues to call Morris Boris for the rest of the books.

I thought then, and still tend to think now, that Boris is an awesomely hip yet huggable name, with a lot going for it. Interestingly, the name Boris has risen in popularity in the UK since the 1990s, and last year it made the Top 1000 again at #901 – it debuted there in 2004 at #999.

Political figures are not usually helpful to the popularity of their own names, yet Boris Johnson does not seem to have negatively affected the name Boris. Its rise in the UK may have more to do with the growing number of emigrants to Britain from Russia and Slavic countries though. Indeed, Boris Johnson has Russian ancestry, and describes himself as a “one man melting pot”, so melting a bit of Australian into the pot won’t be any great stretch for him.

POLL RESULT
Boris received an approval rating of 21%. 40% of people saw it as ugly and lumpy, 17% thought it was only suitable for people with Russian or Slavic heritage, and 12% preferred the name Morris. Only 5% of people thought the name Boris was handsome and exotic. 7% were put off the name by Boris Johnson.

Waltzing with …. Candelaria

02 Sunday Feb 2014

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Candlemas

Today is the Feast of Candlemas, which commemorates the presentation of Jesus at the Temple and the Purification of Mary. Traditionally, there is a blessing of the candles to be used by the church that year, followed by a procession around the church with the congregation holding lighted candles, singing hymns of praise. People can also ask for a blessing on their own personal candles.

The feast follows the story given in the Gospel of Luke, where Mary and Joseph took the infant Jesus to the Temple in Jerusalem 40 days after his birth for Mary’s ritual purification after childbirth, and the redemption of a first-born son, according to the Law of Moses. Luke notes that Mary and Joseph sacrificed a pair of pigeons or doves, which was the option offered to the poor – wealthy people sacrificed a lamb.

While in the Temple, the Holy Family encountered an elderly pair of prophets named Simeon and Anna, who prayed for Jesus, prophesying that he would redeem Israel and bring enlightenment to the world. This is significant as the first public recognition of Jesus as a future religious leader, and his first entry into a house of religion.

We know that the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple has been celebrated by the Christian church since at least the 4th century, but its connection with candles only seems to have begun in the Middle Ages. As candles don’t play any role in the Gospel story, one might suspect that the custom began because in Europe, early February marks the midpoint of winter, when it starts to become noticeably lighter. Because Jesus was prophesied to be a “light … to the Gentiles”, there was a natural link between celebrating the return of the sun’s light with the “light of the world”.

Candlemas has many secular traditions associated with it, especially ones connected with agriculture; as the half-way point of winter, Candlemas was a handy reference point. Farmers were meant to have half their winter grain stores left by Candlemas, and it was the date that poultry was supposed to begin laying. It was also the traditional day to bring cattle in from the hay meadows so that the land could be prepared for another crop.

Weather lore is also a Candlemas tradition. In Britain, a saying is: If Candlemas Day is clear and bright, winter will take another flight. If Candlemas bring cloud or rain, winter is gone and will not come again. In the United States, they have the German tradition of Groundhog Day on Candlemas, when folklore says groundhogs will only come out of their burrow if it is cloudy, meaning that spring is on its way; if it is sunny, the groundhog will retreat back into the burrow for six more snoozy weeks of hibernation. In France, they think the opposite is true: a cloudy Candlemas means forty more days of winter, and in Italy, Candlemas is supposed to be the last cold day of the season.

In Australia, we cannot share in these wintry traditions, and as Candlemas often falls during the bushfire season of total fire bans, it would be foolhardy, not to mention illegal, to be messing around with lighted candles at this time. However, Candlemas is also supposed to mark of the end of the Christmas season, and this probably works better in Australia than Europe now, because it is around this time of the year that the Christmas holidays end.

There is a name especially associated with this festival. Candelaria is a Spanish name meaning “Candlemas”, which can be given in honour of the day. It can also be seen as a reference to Our Lady of Candelaria, one of the titles of the Virgin Mary. The Virgin of Candelaria is especially venerated in the Canary Islands, and we learned about this mysterious figure when we covered the name Chaxiraxi late last year. Her feast day is August 15, but she has another on February 2, linking her to Candlemas.

Candelaria is a rather gorgeous Spanish girl’s name, another of the many names which reference light, and in this case, a promise of approaching spring (or in Australia, the promise of cooler weather, which can’t come soon enough for my liking).

Candelaria may seem extravagant to some, and others may worry that the word “candle” is too obvious within it, but it could be used as a middle name if it seems too spectacular as a first name. I think it would be a marvellous name for anyone born around this time of year, and may be especially attractive to those with Spanish or Canarian heritage. The nickname Candy seems dated, but Aria would be smack bang on trend.

POLL RESULT
Candelaria received an approval rating of 42%. 32% of people hated the name, while only 7% loved it.

Famous Name: Adam

29 Wednesday Jan 2014

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On Australia Day, the Australian of the Year for 2014 was announced, and it was AFL footballer Adam Goodes, who plays for the Sydney Swans.

Adam is a distinguished player who has experienced a great deal of success in his field, and is very active in the Sydney Indigenous community, providing leadership and guidance to troubled Indigenous youth, including those in youth detention. He has also started an Indigenous football academy, and he and his cousin Michael O’Loughlin founded the Goodes O’Loughlin Foundation which focuses on education, employment and healthy life choices. Adam plans to use his profile as Australian of the Year to help raise awareness of the push for constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians.

Adam is well known to almost everyone, even those with no religious background, as the first human mentioned in the Bible. He was created by God out of earth, and placed in the paradisical Garden of Eden with his companion Eve. However, they were expelled from the Garden after disobeying God’s commands, and went on to become founders of the human race. Adam is also seen as the first human in Islam, which regards Adam as a prophet, and the first Muslim.

In Hebrew, āḏām is the word for “human”, and the creation story in Genesis uses this word for “mankind”, “humanity”, “a man”, and the person named Adam, in an ambiguous and complex play of meaning. The word comes from a Semitic root meaning “red, fair, handsome”, and is also the masculine form of the Hebrew word adamah, meaning “ground, earth”, related both to the word for “red”, and the word for “blood”. In Arabic, Adam means “made from the earth”.

Putting this all together, the impression one gets from the name is that Adam is a signifier for all men, and all humans, a handsome man created from the red earth, the colour suggesting that of life-giving blood (the clay become flesh), and perhaps even implying that his skin tone was meant to be a coppery, reddish-brown – which seems reasonable given the story’s Middle Eastern origins.

Genesis emphasises Adam’s connection to the earth, for God set Adam to work on the land, to get his hands dirty, scratched by thorns in order to eat and survive. God’s curse was From dust you were made and to dust you will return, meaning that humans were condemned to mortality (still echoed in the funeral service, ashes to ashes, dust to dust). Adam is separated from nature by his humanity, yet inextricably part of nature and still tied to the earth and his earthy instincts – a succinct précis of the human condition.

The first historical person named Adam we know of is an Assyrian king named Adamu, who lived more than 4000 years ago (it is probably worth mentioning that the Babylonian creation story, many centuries older than Genesis, has the same main features, and there the first man is named Lullu, meaning “man, human being”; when the Assyrians copied the story, they called the first man Adami, possibly from the Akkadian for “to make”).

The name Adam came into common use in Britain in the Middle Ages, and became more popular after the Protestant Reformation. It has particularly strong ties to Scotland, perhaps because it was used to Anglicise the Irish name Áedán (an older form of Aidan), traditional amongst the royal houses and nobility of medieval Scotland.

Although in rare use early in the twentieth century, Adam only began charting in Australia in the 1940s. It raced up the charts during the 1950s to make #51 for the 1960s. It peaked in the 1980s at #10, and is still in the Top 100. It is #66 nationally, #55 in New South Wales, #57 in Victoria, #99 in Queensland, #44 in Western Australia, #84 in Tasmania, and #60 in the Australian Capital Territory.

Adam is a modern classic, yet it is an ancient name – the oldest name in the Book! Brief, strong and primal, it is earth and blood, flesh and bone, birth and death, innocence and guilt: the most human of all names, with its hands buried in the soil and its soul yearning for paradise. Adam is all man and all men; we are all Adam and the children of Adam; and yet Adam is still too archetypal to ever become an Everyman name.

It will always remind us of the first man in one of the oldest stories we know. A man whose descendants have continued to live and die and toil and survive – and remember paradise.

POLL RESULT
Adam received an approval rating of 64%. 30% of people saw it as strong and handsome, but 14% thought it was too common.

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: Rhonda and Ketut

15 Wednesday Jan 2014

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For months, Australia has been avidly following the unfolding romance between a redheaded Australian woman who meets a flirtatious local on a Balinese beach, a younger man working as a waiter. Sparks fly, there is unmistakable chemistry … and something surely happens between them. Or has Rhonda read too much into the situation, her brain fevered from multiple viewings of Eat, Pray, Love?

It sounds like the plot of a soap opera, but we’ve actually been watching a clever series of car insurance commercials from AAMI. Rhonda saved so much money on car insurance that she was able to take a holiday, and it was here that the handsome Ketut pressed exotic drinks on her, and who knows what else. Back home, she found herself gaining the attentions of smooth Trent Toogood at her high school reunion, leaving us wondering if her destiny was Trent or Ketut … or if Ketut was nothing more than a fantasy.

The advertisements have captured the public’s imagination, with several fan pages on Facebook to Rhonda and Ketut’s relationship, and tribute tee-shirts being sold in Bali, reading Rhonda is Mine, and Kiss Me Ketut. Lines such as “beautiful brake foot” and “hot like a sunrise” have entered the popular consciousness, and according to Twitter denizens, if you’re australian and rhonda and ketut aren’t your otp there is something v wrong with u.

The public were invited to vote on whether Rhonda should find eternal bliss with either Trent or Ketu (happy singledom not an option). There wasn’t much doubt that there was nothing v wrong with us and that Team Ketu would win, and Rhonda finally found the happy ever after to her unexpected holiday romance.

AAMI have sensibly said they aren’t going to continue Rhonda and Ketut’s story in case people get sick of it, so the loved-up couple won’t be buying home insurance together or honeymooning in Fiji with all the money they saved on life insurance. AAMI increased its sales by almost 22% during the Rhonda-Ketut story line, so it’s a happy ending for them as well.

Rhonda is a modern Welsh name taken from the Rhondda Valley, once a coal mining area with strong community ties. It has been used since the 19th century, and Rhondda seems to be the older spelling in Wales. Rhondda may be from the Welsh for “recite, recount”, related to the Old Irish for “speech”, with the suggestion that the River Rhondda is speaking aloud (in the sense that we say a river is “babbling”). The meaning is usually glossed as “noisy”.

Rhonda first charted in the 1920s, debuting at #371. It soared in popularity during the 1930s, and made the Top 100 by the 1940s. It peaked in the 1950s at #29, then declined; even the Beach Boys song Help Me Rhonda doesn’t seem to have aided it in the 1960s (it may have possibly damaged the name’s popularity). It was out of the Top 100 by the 1970s, and hasn’t charted since the 1990s.

Rhonda is a dated name, with even the Rhonda in the AAMI commercials given the name when it was already out of fashion (the character is 39). Yet there’s something rather appealing about Rhonda – it’s not glamorous, but seems honest, friendly and good-hearted. I don’t think the advertising campaign is likely to boost Rhonda, but it’s a likeable 1950s name with plenty of warmth.

Ketut (keh-TOOT) is a common Balinese name meaning “fourth-born”; like all Balinese names, it is unisex. It’s a suitably humble name for Rhonda’s hunky waiter, but both characters have names which reference cars – Ketut sounds like the toot of a horn, while Rhonda has Honda in it.

We fell in love with Rhonda and Ketut – but do we love their names?

POLL RESULTS
Rhonda received an approval rating of 44%, and Ketut was further behind with 34%.

Famous Names: Mitchell and Mervyn

08 Wednesday Jan 2014

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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.

 

Waltzing with … Barton

29 Sunday Dec 2013

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Soon it will be New Year’s Day – the first day of 2014, with a whole calendar of days ahead to fill. Australians have something else to celebrate: the 113th anniversary of the Federation of Australia, which took place on January 1 1901.

Federation was the process by which the six British colonies of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania, South Australia, and Western Australia were united as one nation – the Commonwealth of Australia. Unfortunately, we don’t celebrate this momentous occasion, having stayed up late New Year’s Eve, and we already have a public holiday anyway, so instead Australia Day is our national holiday.

The movement towards Federation began in the late 19th century, when enough people had been born in Australian to identify as “Australian” rather than British (even though they were still British subjects). Nationalism was celebrated in songs and poetry, with Banjo Paterson one of the poets who led the way, and technology had improved enough that people could travel and communicate across the country.

Despite this, it was hard to get everyone interested in being federated, as there were so many issues to resolve. At one time, it was thought New Zealand and Fiji might want to join, but for some reason they didn’t (New Zealand showed interest, took a raincheck and never called us back). Smaller colonies were convinced that big ones like New South Wales and Victoria would end up running the show, while the labour movement worried that it might distract everyone from industrial reform.

There was also the problem of what model we were to follow in federating the colonies. The United States had managed to unify their colonies – but they did so through a bloody revolution, and becoming a republic. Canada seemed a promising candidate, but it was thought to be too highly centralised, which brought out the paranoia of smaller colonies all over again. Switzerland was another possibility, but it had pretty much followed the American model anyway.

In the end, the United States was the obvious model, and we did a bit of a mix-and-match – using the US Constitution as a guide, while retaining the Westminster system, and passing on the revolution and the republic. Like the United States, Australia leaves a few big things in the hands of the federal government, while allowing the states the freedom to handle a whole raft of smaller things. We both have a Lower House and a Senate, and the most obviously American thing of all – our colonies became states, not provinces or cantons or counties or regions or departments.

One of the early supporters of Federation was a New South Wales lawyer and politician named Edmund Barton (Toby to his friends since childhood, for reasons I have been unable to ascertain). Barton had early on shown political promise when he umpired a cricket match between England and New South Wales which turned ugly, resulting in international cricket’s first riot (Banjo Paterson was amongst the rioters who invaded the pitch). Barton showed presence of mind in defusing the situation, and it is thought this helped him first become elected to the Legislative Assembly.

Barton was leader of the federal movement in New South Wales, and addressed nearly 300 meetings in both city and country, helped draft the Constitution, travelled to London to explain the federation bill to the British Government, and campaigned for federalism when the issue went to referendum. It was a total no-brainer to practically everyone that when a caretaker Prime Minister was appointed, it should be Barton, the leading federalist of the oldest state.

However it wasn’t quite so clear-cut to the first Governor-General, Lord Hopetoun, who asked the Premier of New South Wales, Sir William Lyne, to become the first Prime Minister. He doesn’t seem to have asked anyone’s opinion or gauged the public mood, and everybody had a fit, because Sir William had been the main opponent of federalism until he suddenly changed sides at the last minute once he realised that federation was definitely happening. Hopetoun blindly followed the protocol used by Canada, and it was such a disastrous decision that it has gone down in history as The Hopetoun Blunder.

After some rather tense negotiating, Lyne handed back his commission and Hopetoun swore Edmund Barton in as Australia’s first Prime Minister in Centennial Park, Sydney, on New Year’s Day 1901, and all his ministry as well – which included Sir William Lyne as Minister for Home Affairs.

One of the first tasks was to organise the first general election, which took place on March 29-30, and was different to today’s elections – voting was voluntary (about 60% voted), the first-past-the-post system was used, and every state had its own laws, so in some places women and Aborigines were allowed to vote, and in others they weren’t. No party won outright, but Barton’s Protectionist Party was able to govern with the support of the Labor Party, and it was felt that the nation’s first election had gone extremely well.

I remember some years ago (I think for the Centenary of Federation), there was a television advertisement which noted that many Australians didn’t know who their first prime minister was, although most knew that George Washington was the first president of the United States. Rather than decrying this failure in our education, the advertisement tried to make it seem like a good thing – apparently the lack of war made our first prime minister’s name forgettable.

Which is nonsense: plenty of other countries gained their first leaders without bloodshed, and I’m sure they know who they were. The Australian citizenship test used to ask who the first prime minister was, but this is no longer required. Feeble. (The US citizenship test still asks who the first US president was). No excuses – all Australians should know Edmund Barton was our first PM.

Barton is an English surname which comes from places named Barton in Lancashire, Staffordshire, Yorkshire and Kent, meaning “barley farm” in Old English. The one in Lancashire seems to be the earliest source of the surname. Barley was one of the first grains ever domesticated, and a staple food for peasants during medieval times. In fact, the word barn means “barley house”.

You may recall that A.B. “Banjo” Paterson, national poet and cricket rioter, was related to Edmund Barton through his mother, who was born Rose Barton. Paterson’s initials stood for Andrew Barton, and as his father was named Andrew, he went by his middle name, being known as Barty to his friends. The name Barton would be a good way to honour not only our first prime minister, but our favourite poet as well. You could use the Simpsonian Bart as the nickname, but I favour Paterson’s choice of Barty, which fits in with popular choices like Archie.

Name Combinations for Barton

Barton Aloysius, Barton Earle, Barton George, Barton Oswald, Barton Ramsay, Barton Thomas

Brothers for Barton

Arthur, Griffith, Reid, Stanley, Theodore, Winston

Sisters for Barton

Adelaide, Eliza, Ivy, Lucinda, Nell, Pearl

Note: Middle names and sibling names taken from names related to the Federation of Australia, and the lives of the early Prime Ministers

POLL RESULT: Barton received an approval rating of 53%. 29% of people thought it was a good name, but nobody loved it.

(Photo shows crowds filling Centennial Park in Sydney for the Federation Day celebrations of 1901)

The People’s Choice of Boys Names

22 Sunday Dec 2013

Posted by in Name Themes and Lists

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3 kings

A selection of boys names that have been searched for several times to reach the blog. I chose names from different backgrounds that aren’t on the Top 100.

Ari

This little name has several origins. It is a Hebrew name meaning “lion”, an Armenian name meaning “brave”, a Scandinavian name from Old Norse, meaning “eagle”, an Albanian name meaning “bear”, a Maori name meaning “clear, visible”, or an Indian name meaning either “sun-like” or “free from sin”. It is also a Finnish form of Aaron and Adrian, a Kurdish short form of the name Arian, meaning “Aryan”, and is commonly used as a short form of any name begining with Ari-, such as Aristotle. There have been quite a few characters named Ari in popular culture, starting way back in the 1950s, with Ari Ben Canaan as the hero of Leon Uris’ novel Exodus, about the founding of the state of Israel; based on Israeli military leader Moshe Dayan, in the movie he was played by Paul Newman. This simple multicultural name is rising like other Ar- names such as Archer, Arlo and Arthur, and is #135 in Victoria.

Balthazar

Variant of Belshazzar, the Hebrew form of the Akkadian name Bel-sarra-usur, meaning “Ba’al protect the king”. Ba’al is a Semitic title for any god, meaning “lord, master”, and in the Old Testament, the early Hebrews used the term to apply to the God of Israel. Later the term became seen as a heretical one, with a clear divide drawn between the Hebrew Yahweh and the Phoenician Ba’al. In Christian legend, Balthazar is the name given to one of the Magi – the three wise men who followed a mysterious star to visit the baby Jesus, bringing him gifts. The story appears in the New Testament, but no name (or even number) is ascribed to the Magi in the Bible. According to some traditions, Balthazar was an Arabian or Ethiopian scholar who brought the gift of frankincense to symbolise Christ’s role as a high priest. He is usually depicted as middle-aged and dark-skinned. One story is that Balthazar later converted to Christianity and was ordained a bishop; like the other Magi, he is regarded as a saint. Usually pronounced BAL-ta-zar in Australia, this is a seriously cool Christmas name.

Dragan

Slavic name meaning “precious, dear one”. It is usually pronounced DRAH-gahn, although I have heard people give it the same pronunciation as the word dragon. This reminds me that there is a sympathetic character named Dragan in the novel, Girl With a Dragon Tattoo; in the American film version, he is played by Croatian actor Goran Višnjić. Dragan Roganović is the real name of award-winning Serbian-Australian DJ Dirty South, and unfortunately the name has had a bit of bad publicity in Australia due to accused Serbian-Australian war criminal Dragan Vasiljković “Captain Dragan”, currently imprisoned in Australia awaiting extradition to Croatia. Despite this, Dragan is an attractive heritage choice with a very sweet meaning.

Kalani

Unisex Hawaiian name meaning “the sky, the heavens”. It’s a name often connected with surfing, because of Hawaiian surfers Kalani Robb, Kalani Chapman, Kalani Vierra and Kalani David, and young Australian surfer Kalani Ball. Mark Gasnier, former NRL player for the St George Illawarra Dragons, welcomed a son named Kalani two years ago. These are all guys, but surfer Kalani Miller, girlfriend of Kelly Slater, is a reminder that it’s a girl’s name as well – in fact, Kalani seems more common as a girl’s name in Australia, making #570 for girls in Victoria and not ranking as a boy’s name. Then again, Victoria is not famous for its surf culture – in northern New South Wales or Queensland, boys named Kalani may be more common. It’s a great name for either sex.

Leander

Greek name meaning “lion man”, featured in the tragic tale of Hero and Leander. Hero was a priestess of Aphrodite who lived in a tower in Sestos, on the European side of the Dardanelles, while her lover Leander was from Abydos, on the other side of the strait. Leander swam across the Hellespont every night to be with Hero, while she lit a lantern at the top of her tower to guide his way. Their love affair lasted all through the summer nights, but winter weather proved an obstacle to swimming. Desperate to be with his sweetheart, Leander braved the icy waters and was drowned during a storm, while the savage winds blew out Hero’s lantern. The distraught Hero plunged from her tower into the waves to join him in his watery grave. The story has inspired many writers, including Ovid, John Donne, Christopher Marlowe, and John Keats. Lord Byron recreated the swim by crossing from Sestos to Abydos, a distance of just over 1 km, which he turned into a poem; although he did it in May, according to his poem it was still difficult and he ended up with a chill. Leander was obviously made of sterner stuff. This is a handsome and romantic name with a very masculine meaning.

Mandela

The surname of inspirational world leader Nelson Mandela, his surname the name of his grandfather, the son of a king. Mandela was a lawyer and prominent campaigner against the apartheid government when he was arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment for crimes against the state. He served more than 27 years, released in 1990 after an international campaign had lobbied the South African government on his behalf. He joined negotiations to abolish apartheid and establish multiracial elections, becoming South Africa’s first black president. Deeply loved in his own country, where he was called Tata, or “father””, he was a respected figure on the world stage. He received more than 250 awards and honours during his lifetime, including the Nobel Peace Prize; he was appointed Honorary Companion of the Order of Australia in 1999. His passing this month at the age of 95 after a long illness has only highlighted the global reverence he attained. This is a worthy namesake whose name I have seen given to a boy – a name that Africa has given to the world.

Oisin

Anglicised form of Oisín, an Irish name translated as”young deer”. In Irish mythology, Oisín was a warrior and the greatest poet in Ireland. He was the son of the hero Fionn mac Cumhaill, and a woman named Sadbh, who had been turned into a deer by a malevolant druid. Fionn caught Sadbh as a deer, and she turned back into a human; all was well until the druid caught up with her and made her a deer while she was still pregnant. Sadhbh returned to the wild, and gave birth to Oisín while in deer form – hence his name. Eventually Fionn got to meet his son, and Oisín joined dad’s band of warriors. Oisín’s most famous adventure is when he fell in love with a fairy queen named Niamh, who took him to live in the Land of Youth. Although he thought he only lived with her for three years, three centuries passed in Ireland during his absence. Acording to some tales, Oisín lived long enough to meet Saint Patrick and tell him of his exploits. Oisín, or Ossian, is the narrator of the famous poem series by Scottish author James Macpherson, who made the Gaelic myths so popular in the 18th century. Pronounced OSH-een or USH-een, this a popular name in Ireland and would be well-received in Australia.

Remy

Anglicised form of Rémy, French form of the Latin name Remigius, meaning “oarsmen”. Saint Remigius was a 5th century Gallo-Roman bishop, a highly-educated man of noble blood. According to tradition, he converted and baptised Clovis, the King of the Franks. Clovis was baptised on Christmas Eve; such was his status that 3000 Franks were baptised that day with him. Because of this story, Saint Remigius is credited with France becoming a Christian country, and there are numerous places named Saint-Rémy his honour, as well as Saint-Rémy being a French surname. The name can also be spelled Rémi, and in France the second one is more popular. In Australia, both Remy and Remi are unisex, and roughly even for both sexes (Remy – 19 girls and 14 boys in Victoria; Remi – 11 boys and 7 girls). Although some get upset about Remy and Remi being used for girls, the names could just as easily be short forms of Remigia – the feminine form of Remigius. In Australia, they are usually pronounced RAY-mee or REH-mee.

Wyatt

English surname derived from the personal name Wyot, the medieval form of the Old English name Wigheard, meaning “brave in battle”. The Wyatt family were a prominent one in Britain; the Tudor poet Thomas Wyatt was one of their number. Sir Francis Wyatt was another, and he became Governor of Virginia, so the surname became well known in the United States as well. As a first name, Wyatt is famous because of Western lawman Wyatt Earp, who was Deputy Marshal of Tombstone in Arizona, and is known for the Gunfight at the O.K. Corall, in which three outlaw cowboys were killed. Wyatt was never injured in a gunfight, adding to his mystique, and after his death he gained legendary status as the toughest and deadliest gunman in the West. The name had a boost from popular culture through the television series Charmed, where Wyatt Halliwell was the son born to Piper and her White-Lighter husband Leo; the baby was named from his father’s earthly surname, and seems like a play on the word white, in the sense of “good, angelic”. Wyatt is #252 in Victoria.

Zayd

Arabic name meaning “abundance, growth, increase”. This name is important in Islam, because Zayd ibn Harithah was from an Arabian tribe, and after being abducted, sold into slavery while only a young boy. He was eventually sold to one of the wives of the Prophet Muhammad, and when she married, she gave Zayd to Muhammad as a wedding present. The Prophet became very fond of Zayd, even calling him “the beloved”. One day Zayd’s grieving family managed to track him down, and Muhammad asked him to choose his fate; Zayd told his family he did not want to leave his owner. Zayd’s family accepted his choice, and Muhammad legally adopted him as a son, making him a free man. After Muhammad received his divine revelations from the angel Gabriel, Zayd was one of the first converts to Islam, the only one of Muhammad’s companions who are mentioned by name in the Qur’an, and the first Muslim to be killed fighting for Islam on foreign soil. The name can also be spelled Zaid, and elaborated as Zayden or Zaiden – which fits right in with the -ayden trend. Zayd is #650 in Victoria, while Zaid is #648.

POLL RESULT: People’s favourite names were Ari, Leander and Remy, and their least favourite were Dragan, Kalani and Mandela.

(Picture shows the Magi travelling to see the infant Jesus)

Famous Name: Chaxiraxi

18 Wednesday Dec 2013

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The weather is getting hot now (super hot in some areas), and we are drawing close to the Summer Solstice, which is on Saturday. That means Christmas holidays are just about to start, or have started already! It seems like a good time of year to look at a name connected with both sunshine and Christmas.

I only learned about this name a few months ago, when I saw a Tasmanian chef called Chaxiraxi Afonso Higuera on television. Her first name absolutely fascinated me, and I had to look it up. I don’t know quite what I was expecting, but it wasn’t this.

Chaxiraxi is a goddess known as the Sun Mother in the Guanche religion – the Guanches are the indigenous people of the Canary Islands. The Canaries belong to Spain, but are situated just off the coast of north-west Africa, and the Guanches are Berbers, who have been in the Canary Islands for perhaps as long as three thousand years. The Guanches are not considered to exist in the Canaries as a distinct ethnic group, but traces of their language and culture can still be found there, and DNA tests show a high proportion of the Canarian population have Guanche ancestry from their female lineage.

Not much is known of the Guanche religion, but their gods lived in the mountains, descending to hear the prayers of the people. The Guanche worshipped outdoors, under trees, in caves, or near mountains, with particularly fervent prayers during times of drought. Chaxiraxi was their mother goddess, who had a special festival on August 15 to celebrate the end of the harvest season, and at that time food such as milk, flour made from roasted grains, and sheep and goat’s meat was shared.

The worship of Chaxiraxi continued in the Canaries in a very surprising way. According to legends told by early Spanish settlers, a statue of the Virgin Mary, holding a child in one hand, and a green candle in the other, was discovered on a beach on the island of Tenerife by two Guanche goatherds. This was in 1392, before the islands were conquered by Spain.

One of the goatherds tried to throw a stone at the statue, but his arm became paralysed; the other tried to stab it with a knife, but ended up stabbing himself. The goatherds took the strangely self-protecting statue to their king, who recognised it as a sacred artefact, and kept it in his cave-palace, where it was venerated as an image of Chaxiraxi. Holding a baby it was easy to see it as a mother goddess, and holding a source of light made it easy to associate with a goddess who gave birth the sun.

Later, a Guanche who had been enslaved by the Spanish and converted to Christianity recognised the statue as the Virgin Mary. The Guanche then took it to another cave, where it was venerated as the Virgin. Archaeologists tell us this cave was a holy site long before Mary was worshipped there, and many of the Guanche continued to see the statue as Chaxiraxi, or saw no difference between the mother goddess and the mother of God. When the islands were conquered, the Spanish believed that the Guanche were already Christians because of the statue.

In 1497 the first mass was performed at the holy shrine, and a hermitage built there in 1526, in the name of Our Lady of the Candelaria – the name coming from the candle the statue held. The Virgin of Candelaria was named as the patron saint of the Canary Islands in 1559, and prayers to the Virgin have been offered against epidemics, plagues, droughts, and volcanic eruptions. Her feast day is August 15 – the same day as Chaxiraxi’s festival, which coincides with the Assumption of the Virgin Mary.

The original statue was lost in 1826 when a tsunami carried it out to the sea from which it emerged; the present statue is a copy, always dressed in rich robes and jewels (it’s possible the one lost at sea was a copy of the original).

The cult of Our Lady of Candelaria swept through the Americas when the Spanish conquered there; Canarians emigrating to America took the veneration of the Virgin with them, in the same way Irish emigrants would later bring Saint Patrick. She is venerated in South America and the Caribbean, where she is the patron saint of cities in Bolivia, Colombia and Puerto Rico, and there is an image of her in San Antonio, Texas. The oldest Catholic cathedral in the United States is in San Fernando, Texas, and here you may see a replica of the statue of the Virgin of Candelaria.

As the veneration of the Virgin of Candelaria spread through different countries, she came to be identified with other goddesses. In the Caribbean religion of Santeria, with the Yoruba storm goddess Oya; in the Brazilian Canomble, with the love goddess Oshun; in Hinduism with the goddess Kali, who rules over Time; and in the indigenous religion of the Andes, with Pachamama, the mother goddess of earth, time, fertility and the harvest – the closest one to Chaxiraxi.

The original statue is believed to have been a medieval Gothic image of the Virgin Mary, perhaps from the prow of a wrecked ship. Because it had dark skin and held a baby, it was one of the so-called Black Madonnas which were created in medieval Europe.

Their significance is not understood, but one theory is that they were an attempt to convert images of ancient earth goddesses to Christian use. Many goddesses such as Isis and Demeter were depicted with black skin, because black is the colour of rich soil, and thus a sign of fertility. The Black Madonnas appear around the time of the Crusades, when Europeans travelled to the Middle East and Africa, and possibly saw such images.

If so, it would seem that the Virgin of Candelaria is a pagan mother goddess become Christian icon become multiple pagan goddesses merged with a Christian symbol of womanhood and motherhood.

I have seen the meaning of Chaxiraxi given, by scholars of the Guanche language, either “she who holds up the heavens”, or “bearer of he who possesses the world”. It is often translated as “sun mother” or “mother of the sun” but that is the goddess’ title rather than the meaning of her name.

Because Chaxiraxi is so strongly associated with the Virgin Mary (and could even be seen as her forerunner, paving the way for easier acceptance of Christianity), the name was acceptable for use by Catholics. It isn’t that rare in the Canary Islands, although more common as a middle name. The name is also used in the Caribbean and Latin America, in areas where the veneration of the Virgin of Candelaria, and Canarian culture, has spread.

I’m not completely sure on how Chaxiraxi is pronounced. In some South American countries it seems to be something like hahk-see-rahk-see, but the lady I saw, who is originally from the Canary Islands, only used the first half of her name, and pronounced it SHAH-see, which sounds much softer and prettier.

This is a genuinely unusual name, very ancient and redolent of a mysterious power. Chaxiraxi has managed to not only survive, but flourish, and attract followers from a range of religions and cultures around the world. So much of her history is myth and legend, but the mother of the sun who has become merged with the mother of the Son, while not being submerged by her, continues to captivate me.

POLL RESULT: Chaxiraxi received an approval rating of 58%. People saw the name Chaxiraxi as being an interesting part of African-Spanish culture (22%), and fascinating and mysterious (19%). However, people also thought it was too difficult to spell and/or pronounce (17%), and too strange and complex (13%). Only one person considered Chaxiraxi too pagan for Christians, but too Catholic for pagans. 

(Picture shows the statue of the Virgin of Candelaria in her shrine at Tenerife)