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Names Spotted at Home and Abroad: Name Story Special (Spring 2014)

08 Wednesday Oct 2014

Posted by in Names Spotted at Home and Abroad

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When I looked through my name files, I saw I had quite a collection of stories explaining how babies had received their names. I thought it would be worthwhile to see how other parents go about choosing baby names, as some of their solutions have been quite creative. (You may remember some of these names from the weekly Birth Announcements).

Footy Fever
Baby Aish Barker of Adelaide was named after a famous footballing family where three generations have played for Norwood Football Club. Dad is a massive Norwood fan, and always knew that this child would be called Aish, a name chosen in advance of the birth, regardless of the baby’s gender. Aish is a girl, and her big sister is Teegan. The Aish family feel honoured to have a baby named after them.

Reality Check
Amity McIntosh was born last Easter in Toowoomba, a sister to Dylan. She is named after Amity Dry, who got her big break after appearing on renovation reality show, The Block, in 2003; she and her husband were the winners that year. Through exposure gained on the show, Amity Dry got a recording contract, and has released two albums, as well as writing a musical play. You might remember that the name Amity has just reached the Top 100 in Queensland, so even though Ms Dry is from Adelaide, her name seems to have been a big hit north of the border.

His Name is History
Ethan Forbes Thomas was born in Sydney last autumn, the great-great-great grandson of William Thomas, the first Lord Mayor of Forbes, in country New South Wales. His parents were originally going to use the name William to honour the family connection, but there were already a lot of Williams in their family. They still wanted a name connected to their revered great-great, so chose the name of the town instead. The Thomas family have a strong connection to their family heritage in Forbes, and planned to have Ethan baptised in Forbes in September. Forbes is a very interesting town historically, as it was a gold-rush town in the 19th century. The bushranger Ben Hall was shot near there, and Ned Kelly‘s sister Kate lived in Forbes: she drowned saving an Aboriginal child during a flood, and is buried in the town’s cemetery.

Gender Swap Baby
Sebastian Carvajal was born on Mother’s Day in Melbourne, and was a “surprise baby”, because his parents were told at their ultrasound scan that their baby was a girl. They had therefore painted the nursery pink, bought girl baby clothes, and picked out the name Olivia, not to mention planning trips to the nail salon and dance classes. I remember reading that parents who opt to find out the sex of their baby in advance tend to have very set ideas about gender roles, and this seems like a good example – pink and dance classes for girls, blue and hobby cars for boys! I was interested that they had Olivia chosen for a girl and Sebastian for a boy, because Olivia and Sebastian are a couple in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.

Named After Mum’s Cheeks
Rosie Lyn Killalea was born in June in Sydney, and she is named that because her mum’s childhood nickname was Rosie, as she had rosy-red cheeks. Her middle name Lyn is after her great-grandmother, who passed away a year before Rosie was born. Rosie has inherited her mum’s pink cheeks.

Two Grandmothers in One Name
Lana Rosanna Krause was born in Rockhampton in July. Her middle name was chosen because her mother’s mum is named Annette and her father’s mum is named Rose.

Greek Mystery
Aeson Carter Small was born in August in Gladstone, just as his parents returned from holiday. When his parents first decided to start trying for a baby, they discovered that his mother was pregnant just two days later. They picked the name Aeson, because they believed that it was a translation from the Greek for “meant to be”, but I think they must have got it from some dodgy name book, because the meaning of Aeson isn’t known. In Greek myth, Aeson was the father of Jason, and he came to an unfortunate end.

He’s Cruz, Not Acacia
Cruz Zion Petterson, of Sutherland Shire, was born in the car on the way to the hospital. The car was parked on Fauna Place, just off Acacia Road in Sutherland, and some people thought he should have been named Acacia; however the Pettersons didn’t think either Acacia or Fauna were viable options for their son. I wonder if Cruz would have been called Acacia if he was a girl? Cruz wasn’t born in a Holden Cruze, but in a Mitsubishi 380. Cruz has a big sister named Starr and a big brother named Phoenix.

Names From The Best Gift of Life

The Best Gift of Life is a blog that Sarah from For Real Baby Names put me onto. It has interviews with mums, many of whom have interests in fashion, photography, and interior design, about their lives and their babies. One of the interview questions is about how they chose their baby’s name, so I thought I’d share some from Australian families.

Bambi – parents Vanessa and Sean liked the name, and knew she would be the cutest little girl.

Johnny Jay – named after mum Shaunyl’s grandfather, John James. Johnny honours Johnny Cash, one of Shaunyl’s favourite singers.

Kawa Leaf – parents are Dee and Desmond. Kawa means “river” in Japanese. Dee lived in Japan in her early twenties, and the name resonated with her; she is of Chinese heritage, and in Chinese Kawa translates as “family” + “fine painting”. The middle name Leaf was chosen because at the time of Kawa’s conception and during the pregnancy, the family were living in a garden nursery called New Leaf.

Peaches Wilde – parents Tess and Caleb had the name picked out even while they were dating. Peachy was mum’s nickname, so dad thought Peaches was perfect. The middle name Wilde was chosen because dad is a “wild hearted” stuntman, so the name honours both parents.

Ravi and Nova – two brothers born a year apart to Camille and Dean. Ravi‘s name was chosen at the 14 week mark of pregnancy, but Nova‘s took longer as most of their favourite names got “swiped”. Both parents like unusual names, and Camille comes from a family which includes Afrika, Harmony, India, Nimue and Joaquin, so different names blend in better.

Seb – named after the Spanish city of San Sebastian which his parents Karrie-Anne and Brent fell in love with on holiday. They were never going to call him Sebastian, so used the short form, Seb.

(Picture is of Peaches Wilde with her mother Tess; photo from The Best Gift of Life)

Boys Names From Australian Children’s Literature

24 Sunday Aug 2014

Posted by in Name Themes and Lists

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Darius
Odo Hirsch’s Darius Bell and the Glitter Pool (2009) tells the story of the Bells, a proud family fallen on hard times; plucky youngest son Darius must save the family’s estate. (Name nerd bonus info: Odo is the older form of the German name Otto). Darius is the Latin form of Dareios, the Greek form of the Persian name Dārayavahush, meaning “holding on to goodness”. This name was traditional amongst the Persian kings, and Darius I was known as Darius the Great, as he ruled over the Achaemenid Empire at the height of its power. Darius III was defeated by Alexander the Great, and there are a number of minor princes with the name. Darius is mentioned several times in the Old Testament, so it is a Biblical name as well (nobody is sure which historical Darius it means). Although rare, this name is known in Australia from NRL star Darius Boyd, while there is also a Darius in The Hunger Games trilogy. Darius is a cool-sounding name that might appeal to a broad range of people.

Felix
Terry Denton’s first picture book was Felix and Alexander (1985), about a little boy named Alexander who gets lost, and his toy dog Felix must find him. Felix is a Latin name meaning “fortunate”. It was first given as a nickname to the Roman general and statesman Lucius Cornelius Sulla, a free translation of the Greek nickname he acquired during his military campaigns – Epaphroditos, meaning “beloved of Aphrodite”. The Roman procurator Felix is mentioned in the New Testament, although not in a positive way – he imprisoned St Paul. Felix was a favourite name amongst early Christians, and there are heaps of saints named Felix, including the 7th century Felix of Burgundy, who introduced Christianity to East Anglia, and three popes. Two Australian connections are Felix the Cat, and Australia Felix, the name given to the lush farmland of western Victoria by explorer Sir Thomas Mitchell. Felix was #172 in the 1900s, and left the charts in the 1920s. It returned in the 1980s at #396 and climbed steadily; it’s been on and off the Top 100 since 2011. It’s now #86, and was one of the fastest-rising names last year. A hip retro favourite growing in recognition.

Harley
Sleepy Harley (2011), written by Karen Treanor and illustrated by Kelly Iveson, is a picture book about a cat named Harley who tries to find a place to nap in a Perth suburb. Harley is a surname which comes from a place name meaning “hare meadow” in Old English. The de Harley family were nobles whose history can be traced before the Conquest, and Sir Robert Harley, first Earl of Oxford, was from a prominent political family. One of them, William Cavendish-Bentinck, became British Prime Minister in the 18th and 19th centuries; he was the maternal great-great-great grandfather of Queen Elizabeth. The name will remind many of Harley-Davidson motorycles, giving Harley a pretty cool image. Harley was #212 in the 1900s, and went up and down before dropping off the charts in the 1950s. It returned in the 1970s at #462, and rose before peaking at #70 in 1992. It dropped again before starting to rise in the early 2000s, and is not far out of the Top 100. You could see Harley as an underused classic – in use for many years, but never very popular. I have occasionally seen Harley on girls as well.

Jude
Me and Jeshua (1984) by award-winning author Eleanor Spence is a historical novel about the childhood of Jesus of Nazareth, as seen through the eyes of his cousin Jude. Jude is a variant of the name Judas, Greek form of the Hebrew name Judah, meaning “praised”. In the New Testament, Jude is used for the Apostle whose name was Judas, to distinguish him from Judas Iscariot. Jude is also listed in the New Testament as one of the brothers of Jesus (Eleanor Spence follows a tradition they were cousins), but it is not clear if Jude the Apostle was Jesus’ brother. The Apostle Jude is usually connected with the Apostle Simon the Zealot, and according to tradition they were both martyred in Beirut. Jude is well known as the patron saint of lost causes, and this has made him one of the most venerated saints. Contemporary associations are the actor Jude Law, and the Beatles song Hey Jude. Jude can also be used as a girl’s name, short for Judith, as in the YA novel by Maureen McCarthy, Queen Kat, Carmel, and St. Jude Get a Life (1995). This attractive name has quietly been gaining in popularity, and last year joined the Top 100 in Victoria.

Leonard
The Lockie Leonard series by Tim Winton (1990-97) stars a surf rat named Lachlan “Lockie” Leonard who moves to the Western Australian town of Angelus (based on Albany). Leonard is a Germanic name which can be translated as “brave lion” or “brave as a lion”. St Leonard is a legendary 6th century saint, a Frankish nobleman at the court of Clovis I who could liberate prisoners from their chains when invoked. The Normans brought the name to England, although it didn’t become particularly common until the 19th century. Famous Australians with the name include distinguished chemist Leonard Lindoy, and hard-hitting post-war cricketer Leonard “Jock” Livingston, also a talented rugby league footballer. Leonard has been a popular name amongst Jews in the past, including Jock Livingston: other examples are Canadian folk singer Leonard Cohen and actor Leonard Nimoy. Leonard was #39 in the 1900s, and peaked in the 1910s at #35. It didn’t leave the Top 100 until the 1960s, and remained in steady but low use until getting a little boost after The Big Bang Theory, with main character Leonard Hofstadter, began airing in the late 2000s. Clunky cool, this underused classic provides a way to get the popular nickname Lenny.

Nathaniel
In Isobelle Carmody’s YA novel The Gathering (1993), Nathaniel Delaney is a teenager who moves to a grim seaside town and finds himself locked in a battle between the forces of Light and Dark. Nathaniel is a variant of Nathanael, the Greek form of Hebrew Netan’el, meaning “God has given”, nearly always understood as “gift of God”. In the Bible, Nathaniel is usually identified with the Apostle Bartholomew; as Bartholomew means “son of Talmai”, it is taken to be Nathaniel’s surname. Nathaniel was in use as an English name by the 16th century, and became more common after the Protestant Reformation. It was used amongst the aristocracy, and also became a favourite in America, with author Nathaniel Hawthorne a notable bearer. Nathaniel was #179 in the 1900s, and left the charts the following decade. It returned in the 1970s at #296, and climbed steadily until it reached the Top 100 last year at #79, making it one of the fastest-rising names of 2013. A handsome retro name that gives the popular nickname Nate, it’s well known from Australian actor Nathaniel Buzolic, from The Vampire Diaries, and Australian singer-songwriter Nathaniel Willemse, who was on The X-Factor.

Rafferty
The Rafferty series by Joan Woodberry (1959-62) are the adventures of an English boy named Rafferty who moves to a fishing village on the Queensland coast. Rafferty is a common Irish surname, an Anglicised form of O’Raithbheartaigh, meaning “son of Rabhartach”. The Old Gaelic personal name Rabhartach means “wielder of prosperity”. The name has a particular Australian resonance, due to iconic Australian actor John “Chips” Rafferty. He was seen as the quintessential Australian, and took part in a marketing campaign convincing British people to migrate to Australia in the 1950s – this might explain the choice of Rafferty’s name in Woodberry’s books. Another Australian reference is the slang term Rafferty’s rules, meaning “no rules at all”. It gives the name Rafferty a pleasantly raffish, lawless feel. This name is around the 200s in Australia, and although it is rising in the UK, is more popular here than anywher else. I have also begun to see a few girls named Rafferty.

Rowan
The Rowan of Rin fantasy series by Emily Rodda (1993-2003) takes place in a fictional world. Rowan is the unlikely hero, considered a bit of a wimpy weakling by the sturdy villagers of Rin, but when danger strikes, his resourcefulness and courage saves the day. Rowan is a Scottish name that’s an Anglicised form of Ruadhán, a pet form of Ruadh, Gaelic for “red”, often given as a nickname to a man with red hair. You may remember that the red-headed Scottish outlaw Raibeart “Ruadh” MacGregor is known as Rob Roy by the English. Rowan can also be unisex when named after the rowan tree; its English name comes from the Germanic for “to redden”, because of the tree’s red berries, so either way the meaning has a connection with the colour. A pleasant association with the tree is that according to folklore it has the power to ward off evil. The name Rowan has charted for boys since the 1940s, debuting at #205, and climbing until it peaked in the 1980s at #164. It’s now around the 300s-400s. Rowan is an underused modern classic which alludes to a vibrant colour, and a magical tree.

Silvander
Norman Lindsay is famous for writing and illustrating The Magic Pudding (1918), a comic fantasy deservedly recognised as a classic. For some reason, his other children’s book, The Flyaway Highway (1936), is neglected, even though it’s just as funny and fantastical. I loved this story, which relates how Egbert and Muriel Jane meet a “bloke with horns and cows’ hooves” named Silvander Dan, who take them on a journey down the Flyaway Highway. As a child, I thought that the name Silvander was made up for the book (although I’m afraid I was already junior name nerd enough to know what it meant). However, I’ve since found that Silvander was a literary name in the 18th century, and in most of the sources I’ve read, characters named Silvander are untrustworthy bounders! The name is derived from Silvanus, the Roman god of woods and fields, from the Latin silva, meaning “wood, forest”. Although an extremely rare name, it is just enough like Silas and Alexander to not be completely outrageous, and has an agreeably silvery sound. For those who like Leander and Evander, here is another to consider.

Theodore
I told myself I would not choose more than one book from a single author, but was forced to make an exception for Odo Hirsch, from whose oeuvre I could happily fill two lists. Antonio S and the Mystery of Theodore Guzman (1997) is his first novel, a charming story about a boy who lives in a grand old house, and is fascinated by a reclusive actor. (Name nerd bonus info: Odo Hirsch is the pen name of Dr David Kausman). Theodore is from the Greek name Theodorus, meaning “God’s gift”. Theodorus wasn’t uncommon in ancient times; ironically one of its famous bearers was the 4th century BC philosopher Theodorus the Atheist. Because of its meaning, the name was a popular choice for early Christians, and saints named Theodore are numerous, including a 7th century Archbishop of Canterbury and two popes. Theodore was also traditional mongst the Byzantine Emperors, and the Russian Tsars. Theodore was #116 in the 1900s, and reached its lowest point in the 1970s at #383. It began rising steeply in the 1990s, and last year joined the Queensland Top 100 at #79, making it one of the state’s highest-rising names. A sophisticated classic name which comes with cool short forms Theo and Ted, I’d call this underused except I’m not sure how long it will stay that way.

POLL RESULTS
The public’s favourite names were Theodore, Jude and Felix, and their least favourite were Leonard, Darius and Harley.

(Picture shows cover of Lockie Leonard – Human Torpedo by Tim Winton)

Name News: What Names Would You Choose For These Celebrity Twins?

21 Monday Jul 2014

Posted by in Names in the News

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X Marks the Spot for Future Celebrity Twins
A reader named Alison has kindly sent in an interview with Shannon Bennett, head chef at Melbourne’s Vue de Mond and judge of the ABC Delicious Produce Awards. You may remember Shannon, and his wife, actress Madeleine West, as the celebrity parents of four children named Phoenix, Hendrix, Xascha, and Xanthe.

Shannon explains in the interview that Phoenix was named after the restaurant where he and Madeleine met (Fenix, in Melbourne). Hendrix was in honour of Jimi Hendrix, who Madeleine is a big fan of. By this time, they noticed that they were getting a theme of the letter X in their children’s names, and decided to run with it for their daughters Xascha and Xanthe. However, the big news is that Shannon and Madeleine are expecting twins in November!

Alison wants to know: what do you think the Bennett twins might be called, given that we know they will have the letter X prominently in their names?

We don’t know whether they will be two boys, two girls, or one of each; nor do we know whether they will continue the theme-so-far of names ending in X for boys, and starting with X for girls, or will they mix it up a little?

My guess is Felix and Xavier for two boys, and Ximena and Lux for two girls – I seem to be betting that they will mix up up the first letter-last letter theme for twins.

Post your suggestions for the names of the Bennett twins, and we’ll see if any of us came anywhere close in four months time!

Dad Won the World Cup Baby Name Bet
Sydney couple Kathleen Vrinat, and her fiancé William Porkert, put their future baby name up as a bet for the World Cup. Kathleen is a supporter of Argentina, while William supports the German team, and as both their teams made the Grand Final in Rio, they decided that whoever’s team was victorious would get naming rights to their first-born child.

William already has some ideas, and is considering using names from the German football team, such as Andre, Manuel, or Mario – he points out that Andre is unisex, so could be used for either a boy or a girl, while Manuela is a feminine form of Manuel. Sadly, nobody seems very keen on the name Manuela, including Kathleen.

Kathleen was so distraught when she found out Germany won that she was sent home from work as her constant crying was distracting her colleagues. She says she will follow through with the bet, although she is now considering delaying having children. William hopes she’ll put the second child’s name up on a bet too.

The Rugby League Baby
Mother of seven Kirstie Nowland was watching her son Ivi at a junior rugby league game when her contractions started. She had had several dreams about giving birth at a football game, but her mother Kim dismissed them, putting them down to constant football attendance and the baby being overdue. Kirstie didn’t want to leave before the game finished, but it seemed that if she didn’t call for an ambulance soon, the baby would be born in the stands.

She was taken to Blacktown Hospital and gave birth 30 minutes later, but was upset she hadn’t got to see her son score before she left. The first thing she asked Ivi when she saw him was whether his team won, and he reassured her, “Yes mum; I scored, and we flogged St Mary’s 54-4”. Being a good rugby league mum, she knew that was the only thing that mattered.

Ivi plays for the Western City Tigers, and in honour of the triumphant team, Kirstie called the new baby Tiga Lilly. Tiga has a very memorable name story.

Sued Because of Her Baby’s Name
Baby name theft is a topic that gets bandied about a lot, but it’s very serious when a business believes that their “baby name” has been stolen. Canberra mum Neda Lutekic has a toddler named Zara, and when she started her own line of baby clothing, she named it Zarabumba after her little girl. Multinational fashion retailer Zara has now launched legal action against her, even though her inspiration wasn’t the store, but her daughter. Be careful that your baby’s name doesn’t sound like a big company before using it as inspiration for your own business.

There’s An App For That
Practical Parenting magazine has a gallery of baby naming apps you can download from iTunes. The most intriguing is one you can only test if you are actually pregnant, because it allows your unborn baby to pick its own name by registering its level of “enthusiasm” for each name from its movements. It doesn’t sound very scientific, but does sound fun, and you’ve got the perfect comeback if your child complains about their name in the future.

POLL RESULTS
People’s favourite choices for a baby name taken from players in the German football team were Roman, Matthias, and Bastian. The least favourite was Shkodran, which didn’t receive a single vote.

Thank you to Alison for the information on the forthcoming Bennett twins – all Australian baby name news gratefully accepted!

Interview with Nancy from Nancy’s Baby Names

01 Sunday Jun 2014

Posted by in Blog Reviews

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canyon75

Nancy is the anthroponomastic maven at Nancy’s Baby Names, a rich repository of name information delivered with a wry sense of humour. Nancy has been blogging indefatigably since 2006, making Nancy’s Baby Names one of the oldest baby name blogs out there. She has thousands of blog posts on all manner of names, but especially loves hunting down rare and unusual names, and discovering the stories behind them. Nancy also adores name data – there’s popular names from around the world, and tons of US data from well beyond the Top 1000. At Nancy’s blog you will find names that are bizarre, puzzling, curious … and they are all real.

What is your name?

Nancy Man.

Have you ever wished you had a different name?

I didn’t like the name Nancy when I was young, and I remember asking my parents for permission to legally change it. They laughed at me. These days I don’t mind my name as much, so I no longer think about changing it.

How did you first become interested in names?

The graveyards are what got me hooked, though I don’t think I would have been so fascinated by the names on the headstones had I not been so dissatisfied with my own name.

I was unhappy with my own name because I’d been named for the wrong grandmother (or so I believed throughout childhood). I got the name of the distant grandmother we hardly knew, not the awesome grandmother (Helen) we saw all the time. This was a problem.

The upside, though, was that it made me very curious about names in general. So when I began using a local graveyard as a short cut through town (around age twelve) I couldn’t help but check out all the names. I was especially attracted to the unfamiliar and bizarre names I’d never seen before – Peleg, Huldah, Zenas, Experience, etc.

After exploring that first graveyard thoroughly, I began visiting other graveyards, where I discovered even more curious names, and … that’s how the name obsession began.

What inspired you to begin a name blog?

I had an interest in names and a writing habit, so I started a blog in early 2006 to put the two together. My first posts were mostly tongue-in-cheek, but I began to take things more seriously once I started getting traffic and comments.

You seem to have a special fascination with unusual names of real people – how did that come about, and what is the most unusual name you have ever found on a real person?

It must have been the graveyards. In a sea of Sarahs and Johns, you can’t help but wonder about the one random Flavilla or Micajah.

The most unusual name? Wow, that’s tough. I’ll go with one I blogged about recently: Laxative Bromo Quinine. He was born in rural Texas in the early 1900s and named after the medicine that his mother credited with saving his life.

Do you have a favourite post on Nancy’s Baby Names?

I really like the Kasara/Casara post. That name had me stumped for a long time until it finally dawned on me that Kasara was a mondegreen. My extensive knowledge of long-forgotten ’80s pop hits finally comes in handy!

Are there are any other ways to follow you online?

Twitter is probably the best way. Pinterest is another option.

Do you have a pet peeve in regard to names?

My only pet peeve is that the U.S. Social Security Administration doesn’t release all its name data. Other countries do it, SSA, why not us? Come on! Privacy, shmivacy.

What are your favourite names?

I have two types of favourites.

One type, of course, would be the bizarre names: Zeppelina, Captivity, Oleomargarine, Emancipation Proclamation and the like. I especially love the ones that come with cool stories and explanations.

The other would be short, simple classics like Jane, John, Adam, Emma, Paul, and Rose. They’re familiar, unpretentious, and easy to live with. These are the names I’m always recommending to people in real life.

What names do you dislike?

I don’t care for names that are easy to make fun of. Not a fan of Abcde, for example.

Are there any names you love, but could never use?

Duncan. I’ve always loved the name, but I can’t say it without mentally adding “Donuts.” (Dunkin’ Donuts is a coffee/donut chain very popular in the North-eastern U.S., where I grew up.)

What are your favourite names in the US Top 100?

Girls: Elizabeth (#10). Runners-up: Hannah (#23) and Sarah (#48).

Boys: Thomas (#61). Runners-up: James (#13) and Sebastian (#45).

What are your favourite names in the rest of the US Top 1000?

Girls: Jane (#355). Runners-up: Daphne (#397) and Catherine (#172).

Boys: Duncan (#821). Runners-up: Paul (#198) and Theodore (#170).

What are your favourite names that have never charted in the US?

Girls: Mehitable. It’s a variant of the biblical Mehetabel, though I actually prefer the Mehitable spelling because that’s the way I always see it written on the headstones back home. (I kinda prefer Phebe to Phoebe for the same reason.) I’m slightly surprised that the belle/bella trend hasn’t brought Mehetabel back, even just a little. I wonder if spelling it Mehetabelle or Mehetabella would help…?

Boys: Chucknorris. I was so happy when I discovered this name in the wild, years after wondering aloud (via the blog) if it could possibly exist. It’s like that Walt Disney quote, “If you can dream it, you can do it,” except my version is “If you can dream it, you can find it on a birth certificate.”

If you found out you were pregnant right now, what names might you be considering?

I like classic names, but my husband prefers trendy names, so finding a name that suits both his tastes and mine would be the goal. I know Chloe would be a contender – it’s been a favourite of his for a while, and it happens to fit my criteria pretty well.

What is something we don’t know about you?

I cannot drink soda, beer, champagne, or anything carbonated. It’s like swallowing shards of glass to me. I’m amazed that so many people find bubbly beverages refreshing.

What advice would you give someone who was choosing a baby name?

This one is tricky to answer without a specific person in mind. For instance, the advice I’d give to the person deciding between Emma and Claire would be completely different from the advice I’d give the person seriously considering Kardashianette.

(Photo shows Nancy at the Grand Canyon, from her blog)

Questions About “Waltzing Matilda” Answered

16 Sunday Mar 2014

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When I decided to call my blog Waltzing More Than Matilda, I wasn’t prepared for the number of people who would come here searching to find out more about the name Matilda. Every once in a while, the number of searches builds up to the point where I start feeling guilty that I’ve lured people to my blog under false pretenses, and I answer their questions. These are specifically about Waltzing Matilda.

What are the words to Waltzing Matilda?

That’s a harder question to answer than you might think, because there aren’t any “official” lyrics, and there are a few slightly different versions. You can see Banjo Paterson’s original version here.

Does Waltzing Matilda rhyme?

Yes – it has an ABCB rhyming pattern, so that the second and fourth lines of each stanza are exact rhymes, and all the B lines end with a word that rhymes with bee: eg tree, me, glee, three. Mostly it’s the word me, which several times rhymes with itself.

Name of the guy from Waltzing Matilda/What’s the boy’s name in Waltzing Matilda?

He’s never mentioned by name, but he’s said to be based on a real man named Samuel Hoffmeister, originally from Germany, whose nickname was “Frenchy“. Presumably by the same Australian logic whereby a red-haired man will be nicknamed “Blue“.

There’s a familiar Australian witticism that the jolly swagman’s name must have been Andy: “Andy sang as he watched, Andy waited ’til his billy boiled”. As Banjo Paterson’s real first name was Andrew, perhaps a laboured attempt to put him into the song.

Can “waltzing Matilda” mean to be hung?

No – it means to travel by foot, carrying your belongs on your back. A swagman’s rolled sleeping blanket was his “Matilda”, and to “waltz” your Matilda was to take it on a long walk.

Is “waltzing Matilda” a euphemism?

No, it’s slang.

Is there a Waltzing Matilda Hotel?

Yes, it’s not a particularly unusual name for hotels. Here’s an example.

One or more islands named Waltzing Matilda?

I don’t think there’s even one, let alone more than one.

[Did] Ansett use [the song] Waltzing Matilda?

Yes, Ansett Australia Airlines used the song in their advertisements to mark the centenary of Waltzing Matilda in 1995. They also had a scene from the song painted on their 737s the year before, and the first 737 aircraft they ordered in 1986 was named Waltzing Matilda.

Was there ever a warship named Waltzing Matilda?

No. The Royal Australian Navy usually names its vessels after Australian place names, animals, Aboriginal words, and famous people from history, rather than works of fiction. Besides, the song ends with someone drowning, which hardly seems appropriate for a ship (although it doesn’t seem to have put other people off naming their boats Waltzing Matilda).

A 1950s horror movie which has the song Waltzing Matilda in it?

It’s not strictly a horror movie, but could you be thinking of the 1959 post-apocalyptic film, On the Beach? The song is used to great effect in a particular scene.

Waltzing Matilda – the national disgrace – America owns it

That’s not quite true, but it’s a complicated story. Banjo Paterson sold the rights to Waltzing Matilda to Australian publishing house Angus & Robertson for 5 pounds. Banjo died in 1941, and under Australian copyright law, as in most of the world, once the creator has been dead for 50 years, a creative work is in the public domain, so Waltzing Matilda has been copyright-free here since 1991.

However, in the United States, Waltzing Matilda was falsely copyrighted as an original composition by Carl Fischer Music in 1941. This came as a horrible shock to Australia when they found out in the 1980s, although Carl Fischer Music claimed most of the royalty money went back to Australia, to the Australian music publisher Allans Music (they may have bought the copyright from Angus & Robertson). Since copyright in Australia expired in 1991, Carl Fischer Music obviously didn’t give any money to Australia after that.

A bitter pill for Australians to swallow was that they had to pay a licensing fee to Carl Fischer Music to have Waltzing Matilda played at the closing ceremony of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, since it was on American soil. It sounds rather mean and money-grubbing to have charged us for own anthem, probably because it was.

So Waltzing Matilda was never “owned by America”, but only by one American company. And as all good things come to an end, and all bad ones too, eventually copyright ran out in the US, which doesn’t happen until 70 years after the creator’s death, and Waltzing Matilda has been in the public domain worldwide since 2011.

If it was a national disgrace that it occurred, I can’t see that the disgrace is attached to our own nation. We didn’t steal it, and our shonky copyright laws didn’t allow it to happen.

Why isn’t Waltzing Matilda the [Australian] national anthem?

There was a plebiscite to choose a national anthem in 1977, and more than 43% of people voted for Advance Australia Fair, while only around 28% voted for Waltzing Matilda. (Almost 19% voted for God Save the Queen, and less than 10% for Song of Australia).

God Save the Queen is our royal anthem, to be played whenever someone royal shows up. Waltzing Matilda is an unofficial national anthem, and is a particular favourite at sporting events – especially the Olympics and Commonwealth Games.

In any case, it probably wouldn’t have been a good idea to have a national anthem under copyright in another country.

[Is] Waltzing Matilda no longer sung at AFL [Grand Finals]?

I think the 1980s was the only decade where it was sung almost every year; it didn’t start out like that in the 1970s, and seems to have become hit-and-miss in the 1990s. The last person to sing Waltzing Matilda at an AFL Grand Final was probably Guy Sebastian, about ten years ago.

Some people feel outraged that this “great tradition” has been neglected, but their memories have probably made it seem more frequent than it really was. I suspect these people were children and teens during the 1980s, so that they grew up with a general impression of Waltzing Matilda being played each year.

Why did Senator [Bob] Kerrey sing Waltzing Matilda after being elected?

Robert Kerrey was elected to the US Senate for Nebraska in 1989. He didn’t actually sing Waltzing Matilda after his election: he sang And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda, written by Australian folk singer Eric Bogle.

The song is written from the point of view of an Australian soldier who loses his legs at the Battle of Gallipoli, and sees the war he participated in as bloody and futile. Because the song was written in 1971, it can be seen as a criticism of the Vietnam War, which was similarly gruesome and pointless.

Senator Kerrey served in the United States Navy during the Vietnam War, and lost the lower half of one leg in combat. He suffered some traumatic experiences during the war, and must have identified with the narrator of And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda. He also used the first line of the song for the title of his autobiography, When I Was A Young Man.

The song has been frequently covered by folk singers in the UK and the US, and is internationally famous as an anti-war song.

(Painting shown is Down on His Luck, by Frederick McCubbin – 1889)

Names Spotted at Home and Abroad (Summer 2013/14)

15 Saturday Mar 2014

Posted by in Names Spotted at Home and Abroad

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Stories in the papers on the most popular names often have a look at the other end, and tell us which names were least common in 2013. Some of them included:

BOYS: Clinchy, Jetta, Kayos, Magick, Rampage, Shanakee, Xenophon

GIRLS: Asterix, Blendin, Bonniebell, Euphemia, Lingo, Passion, Shiny, Tiger Lily, Vogue, Zipporah

A story from Ballarat focused on mothers who had “bonus babies” long after they thought their families were complete. One of the mums was named Peace, which I thought was a lovely serene virtue name. Another was parenting author Pinky McKay, who has a very colourful name (her hair matches).

‘Tis the Season

The first baby born in Wollongong Hospital on Christmas Day was Fenix Cooper Brudenell. Fenix has a very pop culture name: his first name is after Marcus Fenix from the Gears of War video games, while his second is after Sheldon Cooper, from The Big Bang Theory. Fenix’s siblings are Megan and Austin.

Jonathan Butler and Tahani Curtis, from the Tweed Heads region of New South Wales, were expecting a child on Christmas Day, and seriously considered calling him Jesus if they had a boy. Is this the ultimate Christmas name? They had a girl instead, and named her Matilda.

Saint James the Great church in Melbourne invited people to bring their pets to celebrate Christmas Mass, because baby Jesus was born in a stable amongst animals. Nick Haines and Michelle Nichol brought their three poodles, because as Nick says, “these are our children”. The poodles are named George, Poppy and Lilly – surely some are giving their “fur babies” the names they would have given human children, as this sounds like an adorable sibset … er, pupset.

Fighting Fit Families

Bec Hyatt from Brisbane took up cage fighting in order to lose 80 kg of baby weight. She is now set to become the first Australian woman in the UFC, earning more than $100 000 per fight. Bec’s two sons are Enson and Zake – Enson may be named after American MMA champ Enson Inoue, while Zake is a variant of the Arabic name Zaki, meaning “pure”. It sounds like a cousin of Jake, Zac and Zeke.

Still on the subject of competitive fighting: the children of the Metcalf family from Sutherland Shire are all boxers. Raised by a single dad, and with their trainer as a second father, three of them have fought their way to champion status, with the youngest a promising up-and-comer. Their names are Marizza, aged 18, Axx, aged 16, Lolli, aged 14, and Electra-Shenika, aged 11. If you’ve ever wondered what a sibset that can beat your kids up would sound like, this is it.

Expat Americana

Adam Preston lived in New York City for seven years, with his first apartment over a hot dog joint called Crif Dogs in the East Village [pictured], which calls itself “NYC’s  #1 Weiner”. When he married his Canadian wife Jessica two years ago, they eloped to New York, which has so many memories for Adam. Of course he took her to Crif Dogs, and when they had a baby boy soon after, they named him Crif Benjamin Klaver Preston. The name Crif Dogs came about when owner Brian Shebairo tried to say Chris, his former business partner’s name, while chewing a hot dog. Crif sounds more up-to-date as a baby name than Chris, and even a hot dog place can evoke sentimental memories to be commemorated as a baby name.

Yvette Aubusson-Foley, a former journalist from Dubbo, has been living in the US for more than 18 months, and uneasily watching her three children adapt to local conditions in Tucson, Arizona. They dress up as little pilgrims, develop a slight American accent, and (to Yvette’s horror) happily recite the Pledge of Allegiance – although one defiantly wears an Australian flag for Spirit of America Day. Yvette’s children are daughter Jett, and her sons Phoenix and Dash; names which somehow seem ready to assimilate. Would an Indi, Banjo and Taj remain more stubbornly Aussie, I wonder?

Television

Have you ever watched an episode of Australian reality television show Real Housewives of Melbourne? It tends to get people a little excitable, mostly because the women taking part in the show aren’t actually housewives, don’t have much left of themselves that’s real, and only live in a very limited part of Melbourne. One of the women, Andrea, who runs a plastic surgery clinic and is originally from New York, has three children named Budd, Kiff and Buster (who somehow require five nannies). Their names have caused predictable Internet outrage – especially Kiff, with many demanding to know “what culture” Kiff is from: it’s a short form of Christopher, and therefore a linguistic relation to Crif.

Children’s quiz show Pyramid featured a team consisting of two girls named Eugenie and Prudence. Isn’t that a fantastic pairing of gal-pal names?

Famous Names: Indi and Mirabella

13 Wednesday Nov 2013

Posted by in Famous Names

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The 44th Parliament of Australia opened yesterday at 10.40 am, with the swearing in of new MPs. When I covered a name from the election back in September, I hinted that there might be more political names coming up when all the votes had been counted. Now more than two months later, after an extraordinary vote-counting process which seems to have been more than usually disorganised, all results seem to have been declared, and we can go ahead with some names from politics.

One of the electorates which political pundits were keeping a close eye on was Indi. The division of Indi is in north-eastern Victoria, and its northern border is the Murray River, while in the south-east it is bordered by the Australian Alps. Its largest settlement is the city of Wodonga, on the border between Victoria and New South Wales. Although one of the largest electorates in Victoria, much of it lies within the Alpine National Park and is uninhabited.

Indi has existed continuously since Federation, being one of the original 75 electorates formed in 1900, and for almost all of its history has voted conservative. The last time Labor won here was in 1928, and that was because the conservative candidate rather carelessly forgot to nominate. The first person to represent Indi was Sir Isaac Isaacs, who went on to become Attorney-General, Chief Justice of the High Court, and the first Australian-born Governor-General.

The name Indi is taken from a local Indigenous name for the Murray River. Names starting with Ind- are very trendy in Australian, such Indiana, India, Indigo, Indie and Indy, and Indi seems like a great way to follow this trend with a specifically Australian meaning. It could be used for either sex, although many people feel an -i ending seems “feminine” eg Toni is for girls, Tony for boys.

Traditionally, Indi has been represented by what has been described as the “rural gentry”, but this changed in 2001 when former Melbourne barrister Sophie Panopulous (later Sophie Mirabella) won the seat with a primary vote of 40%. She was dubbed “Uptown Girl” by those who didn’t relish the thought of a young, female, Greek-Australian city lawyer representing their rural seat; however she had no trouble gaining pre-selection for the seat from the Liberal Party, and easily defeated her opponents.

Sophie continued to win elections in the safe Liberal seat, however some residents felt that she was taking them for granted. They formed a grassroots movement, Voice for Indi, to find an Independent candidate to run against Sophie Mirabella, and eventually Cathy McGowan accepted.

Cathy had been a staffer for Indi’s Liberal MP in the 1970s and ’80s, a regional councillor for the Victorian Farmer’s Federation, and President of Australian Women in Agriculture. She has a Masters in Applied Science in Agricultural and Rural Development, and received an Order of Australia for raising awareness of women’s issues in regional, rural and remote areas. Cathy lives in Indigo Valley, where she was born and raised, and works as a farmer and rural consultant.

The contest in Indi was extremely close, and counting of votes went on for eleven days, but on September 18, Sophie Mirabella conceded defeat and Cathy McGowan claimed victory by 431 votes, giving her a swing of 9.2% and a slender majority of 0.2% – the first time an Independent has won in rural Victoria since World War II, and the first Independent to ever win Indi. I believe this was the narrowest win in the lower house for this year’s election, and Sophie Mirabella was the only Liberal incumbent to lose her seat.

I can’t help feeling rather tickled that an Independent from Indigo Valley won the seat of Indi. Amazingly, nobody thought to use this as a headline, which would have been rather fetching.

An important message from the Voice for Indi election campaign is that a sitting MP should never take a safe seat for granted in the long term. The good news is that if you are stuck with a lacklustre MP in your electorate, you may be able to get rid of them with the right candidate, a well-orchestrated campaign, and grassroots support. Yay, people power!

Although she didn’t manage to make herself very popular in politics, Sophie Mirabella has a fantastic surname.

Mirabella is an Italian name which is the Latinate form of the English name Mirabel, from the Latin for “wonderful”. In the Middle Ages, Mirabel was a unisex name, but is now considered feminine, while Mirabella is specifically feminine (the male form is Mirabello – Mirabello Cavalori was an Italian painter during the Renaissance).

Beautiful, elaborate and right on trend, Mirabella would be a great choice for someone who loves Miranda and Isabella, but worries they seem too common. This has been chosen as a name for his daughter by Canadian rock singer Bryan Adams, and it’s a long-time favourite of Linda Rosenkrantz from Nameberry – that’s a very high recommendation! You could use hip Mira or popular Bella as the short form.

One other issue is that Mirabella is the name of an Australian company which makes electric light-bulbs, but when you think about it, light is a positive association. Unfortunately, I fear that the widely-loathed Mrs Mirabella may have done this pretty name more harm than a few light globes ever could.

POLL RESULTS: Indi received an approval rating of 60%, while Mirabella enjoyed more success with a rating of 75%.

(Photo shows the Murray River near Wondoga, from where the Division of Indi receives its name)

A Sibling Name for Harper

03 Saturday Aug 2013

Posted by in Naming Assistance

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Carissa and Nick Taylor are expecting their second child towards the end of the year, and they have a daughter named Harper Joy – Harper’s middle name is a family name.

If Harper had been a boy, the name they had picked out was Jensen, so that seemed an obvious choice for a boy’s name. However, they seem to be gradually losing interest in Jensen, and are now thinking of Carson instead. The only thing that bothers Carissa is that she wonders if Carson is too close in sound to her own name. The middle name for a boy will be Carissa’s maiden name, Fero.

They are having real problems deciding on a girl name that will match Harper. They love Avery, but dislike the idea of Ava as the nickname, and Carissa is concerned that the name will always remind her of Avery the stationery company.

They also love Quinn, but when they try to match it with a feminine middle name, it sounds too much like Queen ____. For example, Quinn Mary = Queen Mary. If they go with a more unisex middle name, it sounds “too American” to them. The middle names they are likely to use for a girl are Grace, May or Poppy (family names).

The Taylors don’t have any problems with popular names, but nothing in the Top 100 happens to appeal to them – except Willow, which isn’t possible for them to use for personal reasons.

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Name for a Boy

I get the feeling that Jensen is slipping away from you – part of the reason is probably that you think of it as Harper’s-name-if-she-had-been-a-boy, so it’s now hard for you to get enthusiastic about it on a new baby.

To me, Carson and Carissa sound similar, but not too similar, but I think this is something you have to decide for yourself. It might be a good idea to have Nick call out “Carson!” and then call out “Carissa!” and see if you can easily tell which one is your name from a distance (say, out in the back yard).

There’s nothing like road-testing a name for a week, so start using the name Carson in sentences all the time and see if it feels right to you. Talk to each other about Carson – “Carson came top of his class in maths this term; I think that extra tutoring is really helping” or “Carson has this weird rash on his left ankle. If I take him to the doctor, will they think I’m over-reacting?”.

Talk to Carson as if he’s there and already been part of your family for years. Call him to dinner, tell him to take those muddy football boots outside, talk to him about the family holiday you’re planning, ask him what colour he’d like his room to be painted. Does Carson sound like a name you can imagine saying for a lifetime? Is it a name that feels like it fits into your family? Can you imagine saying, “These are my children, Harper and Carson”?

You asked whether Jensen or Carson was more popular: Jensen is #149 in Victoria, and Carson doesn’t chart at all in Australia, although it is a Top 100 name in the US. I see Jensen fairly often in birth notices, but I can only remember seeing Carson a couple of times – once as a girl’s middle name. If popularity is a factor for you, then Carson is definitely the less common name.

Name for a Girl

If you had asked me to pick a sister for Harper, with no other information given, my top two suggestions would have been Avery and Quinn, so I think you have two excellent choices there.

Avery

It never occurred to me until you wrote it that Ava could be a nickname for Avery. While it’s hard to control what nicknames people will bestow on your child, I do feel as if Ava is the type of nickname which is not likely to take off if the parents don’t approve of it and give it their blessing. If I knew a little girl called Avery, and her mum and dad always referred to her as Ava, then I might call her that too, but I’d never think of just deciding to call her Ava on my own – maybe because I’d figure that if they’d wanted the name Ava, they would have chosen it in the first place.

As far as the stationery company goes, how often do you come across Avery? Do you have to use their products every day at work, or is it more that you’ll sometimes buy a box of labels for your Christmas cards? If you love the name Avery, I really don’t think you’ll be reminded of the stationery company once your baby girl arrives – Avery will be your daughter, and that will be it. Stationery isn’t a horrible association, and buying from Avery might even give you a bit of a buzz – seeing her name on a box of labels will probably be a thrill for a little girl named Avery anyway.

While Avery Grace or Avery May sounds nice, I think your own middle name would be lovely with Avery – Avery Elizabeth. If you were willing to share it, I think that one’s a winner.

Quinn

I see what you mean about the middle name issue with Quinn, which does make it slightly trickier for a girl’s name. I see girls named Quinn quite often in birth announcements, and what I’ve noticed is that they tend to be paired with a fairly modern or slightly gender-ambiguous middle name. Some from the blog are Quinn Eden, Quinn Gracyn, Quinn Cedar, and Quinn Brielle. I don’t think these sound “too American” – they just sound modern.

I don’t think Quinn sounds awful with any of the middle names on your list, but I wonder whether you might prefer it with a nature name eg Quinn Aspen, Quinn Autumn, Quinn Maple, Quinn Meadow, Quinn Saffron, Quinn Winter? To me, that solves the problem of Quinn + Girl Name, but at the same time, nearly everyone would recognise Quinn Meadow as a female name. It also fits in with Harper, who has a vocabulary word as her middle name.

If your heart is set on a family name, I like Quinn Poppy best, as it’s a nature name. You might also want to separate the names with another middle name, such as Quinn Winter Poppy.

Other Unisex Names for Girls

  • Arden
  • Ariel
  • Aubrey
  • Emerson
  • Fallon
  • Frankie
  • Marley
  • Morgan
  • Peyton
  • Remy

These names are all unisex, but more common on girls (like Avery), or fairly equally given to boys and girls (like Quinn). The one which appeals to me most is Arden, but I admit that might make a boy named Carson seem less usable down the track.

Well I hope that’s given you some food for thought. You’re still quite a way from your due date, so feel free to write in again as more ideas come to you!

NAME UPDATE: The baby was a boy, and his name is Jensen!

(Picture shows a vintage card with a female harpist)

Girls Names of Australian Aboriginal Origin – Part 2

28 Sunday Jul 2013

Posted by in Name Themes and Lists

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My first lists of names from Aboriginal languages are the most popular articles on the blog, so it seemed time for another selection. These names are all ones which have been used as personal names in Australia. I have done my best to elucidate meaning and history as much as possible.

Alinta

Alinta means “flame” in one of the traditional languages of South Australia; it was published in a dictionary by the Royal Society of South Australia in 1891. The name was popularised in 1981 when it was featured in the award-winning mini-series Women of the Sun. Each episode portrayed fictionalised accounts of lives of Aboriginal women in Australian society through history, and the first was Alinta: The Flame. It shows first contact between an Aboriginal tribe and Europeans, when early settlers encounter a tribe while searching for grazing land. The tribe’s culture is threatened by the newcomers, and the tribe is wiped out. The only survivors are a woman named Alinta and her child; Alinta vows that her daughter will “carry the torch” for her culture. There are several businesses in Australia named Alinta, most notably a Western Australian energy company, one of the largest in Australia, and named with the Aboriginal meaning in mind. There is also an Australian-bred variety of strawberry called Alinta. It’s not a very unusual name here, and there are several young actresses with the name. Alinta is also used as a name in Romania, where it means “caress”.

Arika

Arika is a name from the Waka Waka people of south-east Queensland, meaning “blue water lily”. There are several species of blue water lily native to Queensland, and they are used as bush food, for all parts of the plant are edible. In Aboriginal mythology, water lilies are a gift from the Rainbow Serpent, and sometimes in Indigenous astronomy, small stars were seen as water lily bulbs. In the novel Book of Dreams by Traci Harding, the meaning of the name is translated, and it says that in the past, Aboriginal women named Arika were given the name Lily by white people – which suggests that Arika might be a good name to honour a great-grandma Lily. Australians named Arika include Indigenous artist Arika Waulu Onus, and Arika Errington, who works in Aboriginal health, and contacted the blog to tell us about her name. I saw several children and teens named Arika online, mostly from Queensland, so it seems as if this name could be today’s Nerida. Arika sounds a bit like Erica, and is an angram of the Japanese name Akira, while having a similar meaning to Lotus. Possible nicknames that occur to me are Ari and Riki.

Jedda

Jedda (1955) was the first Australian film in colour, the last film of famous director Charles Chauvel, and the first film to star two Aboriginal actors in leading roles. In the movie, Jedda is an Aboriginal girl raised from infancy by a white woman after her mother died giving birth to her. Although she is curious about her own culture, her adoptive mother forbids her from learning anything about it, with tragic consequences. The film was nominated for the main prize at Cannes, and was a commercial success in Australia. In the movie, the name Jedda means “little wild goose” – a forerunner of the chase she will engender. I am not sure if the meaning was invented for the film, or drew on local knowledge; Jedda certainly exists as an Aboriginal name in historical records before 1955. An Aboriginal lady told me that she understood the name Jedda (which was her daughter’s name) as “little child”, but she didn’t say what language that was from. This is reasonably well used as a girl’s name, being similar to Jenna and Jetta – but I have seen it on a boy, because it shortens to Jed, and is also a plant name, because jedda (Jedda multicaulis) is a native shrub.

Kalina

Kalina means “love” in the extinct Wemba-Wemba language of north-west Victoria and south-west New South Wales. It has often been used as a place name, street name, a name for businesses and organisations, and sometimes as a girl’s name in Australia, but I’m not sure whether it was used as a personal name by the Wemba-Wemba people. It is also a literary name, because Kalina is one of the brumbies in the Australian classic children’s series, The Silver Brumby, by Elyne Mitchell – although in this case, Kalina is a white stallion, and his name is understood to mean (in horse language) “marvellous beauty of frost on snow”. Kalina is also a Slavic name which means “cranberry bush”; in Romania it means “rowan tree”, and in Poland it means “virburnum bush”. This is a pretty cross-cultural name which has several attractive meanings, and seems very easy to wear, being similar to Karina, Katrina and Kalista.

Leumeah

Leumeah is an outer southern suburb of Sydney, in the Macarthur region. It was settled by John Warby, a convict explorer who was transported here in 1792. In 1802, Warby was given the job of protecting cattle roaming free south-west of Sydney. Here he befriended the Tharawal people who lived in the area, and learned some of their language. In 1816 he was granted land on which to build a house, barn and stables; the barn and stables are still standing – one of them is a restaurant and the other a motel. (Just to confuse things, the stables is called The Barn Restaurant). Warby named his farm Leumeah, which means “here I rest” in the Tharawal language, and this became the name of the suburb. It is pronounced LOO-mee-uh. I have seen one or two girls given this name, and it seems like an especially happy name for an Australian, as it came about from a rare case of friendship between Aborigines and European settlers. The sound of it is quite on trend, and Lulu could be a nickname.

Marlee

Marlee is a small town in mid-northern New South Wales, whose name means “elder tree” in the local Biripi language. Native Elderberry or Yellow Elderberry is Sambucus australasica; its berries are bush food and they are sweeter than the variety from the northern hemisphere. Marlee is a popular name for houses and streets, suggesting leafy abundance, and it is not uncommon as a girl’s name here. Marlee also means “swan” in the Nyungar language of Western Australia, so it has a nice meaning in two languages. It is a rare week when I don’t see a baby named Marli, Marlie, Mahli or Mali in the birth notices, and Marlee fits in perfectly – in fact there was a Marlee in this week’s birth announcements. You could see these names as attempts to “feminise” Marley, but they could just as easily be short forms of Marlene, Mahlia or Malia. Marlee seems like a great way to join this trend with a specifically Australian meaning.

Narelle

Queen Narelle was the wife of King Merriman (or Umbarra), an important elder of the Yuin people in the latter part of the 19th century. The Yuin people are the traditional owners of the South Coast region of New South Wales, in the Bermagui area. Aboriginal people traditionally did not have kings or chiefs, and the title of “king” was given to certain elders by white people as a (misguided) mark of respect. There is a famous photo of Queen Narelle’s well-attended funeral taken around 1895, which shows black and white people mourning for her together, so it does seem as if Narelle and Merriman were able to form a bridge between cultures, or that relations in the 19th century could be harmonious. You may see Narelle translated as “woman from the sea” in baby name books, but in fact the meaning isn’t known; it is pronounced nuh-REL. Narelle first charted in Australia in the 1920s at #362, and reached the Top 100 in the 1940s. It peaked in the 1950s at #50, and was out of the Top 100 in the 1970s. It hasn’t ranked since the 1980s or charted since the 1990s. The name took a dive in the late 1970s, when it featured on highly popular comedy series The Naked Vicar Show. Narelle was a slightly dim-witted, mildly tarty woman – hence the plummeting popularity of the name, which immediately lost all cachet. However, Narelle is actually a pretty name, and the TV show has long been off the air. It even fits in with the trend for -ell names for girls, and could have fashionable Nell or Nellie as the nickname. Names from the 1950s are predicted to make a comeback: could Narelle be one of them?

Nyah

Nyah is a small town in Victoria on the banks of the Murray River, pronounced NY-ah. It began as a utopian socialist community in the late 19th century, but as utopian socialism went out of fashion, it lost the necessary government support, and it isn’t now any more utopian or socialist than the next country town. Its name means “this bend (of the river)” in the local Boorung language – the bend of the Murray River at Nyah was an important boundary marker for the Boorung people. The region around Nyah has several Indigenous sacred sites, and in the surrounding state forests, anthropologists have discovered many interesting artefacts of Aboriginal culture. I know of someone with this name, and it seems attractive and simple, similar in sound to popular names like Maya, while also a place name important to Indigenous heritage.

Talia

Talia is a small town on the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia whose name means “near water” in one of the local languages – appropriately enough for a town by the sea. It may be from Wirangu, or one of its closely related languages. Talia has charted in Australia since the 1970s, which seems to follow its inclusion in Aboriginal Words and Place Names by Alexander Wyclif Reed (1965). It first ranked in the 1980s at #483, and hit its peak in 2009, when it joined the New South Wales Top 100 at #91. Since then it has rapidly declined, and is now #222. The variant spelling of Tahlia has been much more successful, which has been in the Top 100 since the 1990s, peaked in 2009 at #36, and is now #78. Tahlia may be more than an attempt to make clear the Australian pronunciation of Talia – it may also be to differentiate it from international names, because Talia is known as a girl’s name in several other cultures. Talia is a variant of the modern Hebrew name Talya, meaning “dew of God”, and the Italian form of the Greek name Thalia, meaning “blooming”. It can also be used as a short form of Natalia. Talia was the name of the princess in an Italian folk tale on which Sleeping Beauty was based. This is a pretty cross-cultural name with a specifically Australian meaning, and although it is less popular than Tahlia, that may make it more attractive to some parents.

Yindi

Yindi was the name of a ship, one of four that the Australian government presented to the navy of the Philippines as a gift in 1958. Each of them were given Aboriginal names taken from The Australian Language by Sidney J. Baker (1945). The first ship was the Yindi, whose name is translated as “sun”; in most Aboriginal cultures, the sun is female. Yindi also means “to descend” in the Yindjibarndi language of Western Australia, and the name may remind you of the Australian band Yothu Yindi, which means “child and mother” in the Yolngu language of the Northern Territory. I saw a baby girl named Yindi in a birth notice last year, and it struck me as a really stylish choice, which stands out from the crowd and has a sunny meaning.

POLL RESULT: People’s favourite names were Talia, Alinta, and Kalina, and their least favourite were Leumeah, Jedda, and Narelle.

(Photo shows Nymphaea gigantea – a species of blue water lily native to south-east Queensland; © Raimond Spekking / CC-BY-SA-4.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)

Sydney Suburbs That Could Be Used as Boy’s Names

22 Sunday May 2011

Posted by in Name Themes and Lists

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KyleBay

This blog post was first published on May 22 2011, and substantially revised and updated on May 14 2015.

Auburn
Auburn is in Sydney’s western suburbs. The commercial district contains many Middle Eastern and Asian shops and restaurants, and is a focal point for migrant groups. Auburn has the oldest Hindu temple in Australia, which opened in 1977, and one of its busiest mosques – the Auburn Gallipoli Mosque, built by the Turkish community in honour of the Gallipoli conflict of 1915. Auburn is named after an Irish village in Oliver Goldsmith’s poem The Deserted Village; the first line of the poem is, Sweet Auburn, loveliest village of the plain. Auburn was a tiny place near Athlone in Westmeath, and doesn’t seem to exist any more – perhaps it was too deserted. Auburn simply means “red-brown”, and usually refers to dark red hair colours. Auburn has been used as a personal name since the 17th century, more often given to boys. It sounds similar to Aubrey, Aubin, and Auberon, and seems quite distinguished, while its literary ancestor gives it a sentimental air.

Bexley
Bexley is a suburb in Sydney’s south, in the St George area. It was originally a land grant to Thomas Sylvester in the 1810s, who sold it to James Chandler in 1822. Lydham Hall, the oldest residence in the area, was part of the 1822 sale. Chandler got fed up with the bushrangers, escaped convicts and other undesirables who infested his personal paradise, and sold it to Charles Tindell. By 1856 Tindell was subdividing the land into lots for homes, and by the late 19th century, Bexley was a thriving town. Its best days are behind it, for this suburb has been on the decline since the 1980s. James Chandler named it Bexley after his birthplace in London; the name comes from the Old English, meaning “box tree meadow”. In uncommon use as a personal name since the 16th century, mostly for boys, Bexley has the fashionable X-factor.

Camden
Camden is a historic town in the Macarthur Region, in the far south of Sydney. It’s pretty and semi-rural with a “gentleman farmer” atmosphere. The Camden area originally belonged to the Gandangara people; European explorers first arrived in 1795. In 1805, Governor King rather begrudgingly gave 5000 acres to John Macarthur, who had been promised land by Secretary of State, Lord Camden. (The descendants of John Macarthur still live in their ancestral home at Camden Park). Macarthur’s wool industry was so successful, a town was necessary in order to support it. Founded in 1840, by the 1880s it was a thriving concern. Camden was named after its sponsor, Lord Camden – his title is from a Gloucestershire place name meaning either “enclosed valley” or “valley of encampments” in Old English. In use since the 17th century, Camden sounds like familiar choices such as Cameron and Caden, while retaining a hint of its aristocratic past. It is in the Top 100 in the US, and I am seeing it more frequently in birth notices here.

Carlton
Carlton is the next suburb to Bexley. It is most famous for being the home of the St George Illawarra Dragons National Rugby League team. Carlton was originally heavily timbered, and given as a land grant to Captain John Towson in 1808. When the railway opened in 1884, the land was subdivided and people began moving to the area. Carlton is named after a suburb of Nottingham; I’m not sure why, but assume that it was Captain Towson’s birthplace. The place name Charlton is very common in the UK, and is a linguistic mix of Anglo-Saxon and Old Norse meaning “settlement of free men”. In use since the 17th century, this is a spin on classic Charles, and a variant of Charlton, that I have seen a bit of lately. Like popular Cooper, it is the name of an Australian brewery.

Colebee
Colebee is a fairly new suburb in Sydney’s far west. It is named after an Aboriginal guide, the son of a tribal chief, who assisted William Cox when he surveyed the land across the Blue Mountains. Colebee also tried to bring a peaceful resolution to the years of conflict that existed between Aborigines and white settlers in the area. For his efforts as a geographer and diplomat, he received the first grant of land that the British made to an indigenous person. He received 30 acres on the South Creek; an area which would later become known as Blacktown, and the location of the suburb of Colebee. The meaning of Colebee is not certain, but I have read a theory that it came from the local word for sea eagle (gulbi). Europeans were struck by the fact it sounded exactly like the English name Colby. If you are considering the name Colby, this spelling not only gives the nickname Cole, but is an important part of Sydney’s history.

Kyle
Kyle Bay is a tiny picturesque suburb in Sydney’s south, in the St George area, and takes its name from the bay on the north shore of the Georges River. It is named after local shipbuilder Robert Kyle, who was granted land here in 1853. Kyle is a Scottish surname from the district of Kyle in Ayrshire. The name is from a common place name, usually translated as from the Gaelic word caol, meaning “narrows, channel, strait”. As there are no channels or straits in this district, the name may come instead from the legendary British king Coel Hen (“Coel the Old”), otherwise known as Old King Cole. His name is possibly from the Old Welsh coel, meaning “belief, omen”. In use as a personal name since the 18th century at least, it was originally given to both sexes in its native Scotland, but is now considered to be a male name. Kyle first charted in the 1960s, debuting at #233; its use seems to be heavily influenced by the female name Kylie, which was popular in that decade. Rising swiftly, Kyle was a Top 100 name by 1980, peaked at #27 in 1998, and left the Top 100 in 2006 – the year after obnoxious shock jock Kyle Sandilands became a judge on Australian Idol. It’s now around the 200s, so it’s a modern classic still in reasonable use.

Miller
Miller is a south-west suburb in the Liverpool area. It was part of the Green Valley Housing Estate built in the 1960s, and the suburb was established in 1965. It is named after Peter Miller, an Irish immigrant who was one of the first settlers in the Green Valley area. His surname of Miller is an occupational one, indicating the bearer worked at or managed a corn mill. In use as a first name since at least the 16th century, it has mostly been given to boys, although I have occasionally seen it given to girls because it is a homophone of the popular girls’ name Milla. Miller is around the mid-200s for boys, so not an unusual choice as a name, although not common either, meaning it might very well hit that sweet spot between “too strange” and “too popular”.

Nelson
Nelson is a suburb in the north-west of Sydney, in the affluent Hills District. Governor William Bligh received a land grant in this area, and the suburb is named after Admiral Horatio Nelson, as Bligh served under his command during the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801. Just in case he hadn’t made it clear enough how much he admired Nelson, he called his property Copenhagen Farm in his further honour. Either Nelson had really impressed him, or he was a total crawler. The surname Nelson means “son of Neil” – Neil being from a Gaelic name which may mean either “champion” or “cloud”. It has been in use as a name for boys since at least the 16th century, but Horatio Nelson helped give the name a boost in the 19th. World leader Nelson Mandela and philanthropist Nelson Rockefeller give this heroic name a lot of clout.

Oran
Oran Park is a suburb of Camden, once the colonial estate of John Douglas Campbell, and for many years the home of the Oran Park Raceway, which regularly hosted major motorsport events. Since 2011 it has been developed for residential housing. Oran Park is named after the village of Oran in Scotland; its name comes from the Scottish Gaelic word for “song”. Oran is also an Anglicised form of the Irish boys’ name Odhran, meaning “sallow, pale green”. Saint Odhran was a follower of St Columba, associated with the island of Iona. There is a strange legend which says he willingly allowed himself to be sacrificed by being buried alive, in what sounds like a pagan ceremony to ensure a chapel could be built, and then popped his head out to tell everyone there was no heaven or hell! St Columba hastily covered Odhran more securely in earth before he gave any more alarming information about the afterlife, or lack thereof. Said like Orange without the ge (OR-an), this attractive Scottish or Irish heritage choice may appeal to nostalgic motorsport fans.

Richmond
Richmond is a historic town to the north-west of Sydney, on the Hawkesbury River flats near the foot of the Blue Mountains. The Darug people lived in this area when Europeans arrived in 1788; in 1789 it was explored by the British. The first settlers came to live here in 1794, and by 1799 it was providing half the grain produced in the colony. Because of its long history, Richmond has many heritage-listed buildings, and the University of Western Sydney dates back to 1891. Richmond was named by Governor Phillip, in honour of Charles Lennox, the Duke of Richmond, who was Master General of Ordance in the British government. His title comes from a town in Yorkshire, which was named after the town of Richemont in Normandy; its name simply means “rich hill”. Similar to both Richard and Edmond, this name has a casually expensive feel, and works well in the middle position.

POLL RESULTS
People’s favourite names were Miller, Camden and Nelson, and their least favourites were Colebee, Kyle and Carlton.

(Photo is of the waterfront at Kyle Bay)