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Tag Archives: royal baby names

Royal Baby News: Lord Frederick Windsor and Sophie Winkleman

23 Saturday Jan 2016

Posted by A.O. in Celebrity Baby News

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

celebrity baby names, celebrity sibsets, honouring, royal baby names, royal sibsets

1453423128861_Freddie-and-Sophie-Windsor-2

Lord and Lady Frederick Windsor welcomed their second child on January 16 and have named their daughter Isabella Alexandra May. Isabella is a little sister for Maud Elizabeth Daphne Marina, aged 2; Maud’s birth was featured on the blog.

Although the Windsors live in the United States, they returned to Britain for Isabella’s birth, and she was born at Chelsea & Westminster Hospital in London, weighing 6.75 lb (3 kg). The baby is 48th in line to the throne.

Lord Frederick is the only son of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, and is first-cousin once removed to Queen Elizabeth II. Lady Frederick Windsor is an English actress known professionally as Sophie Winkleman.

Maud has the queen’s name, Elizabeth, as one of her middle names, while Isabella has one of the queen’s middle names, Alexandra, as one of her middle names. Isabella is also another form of the name Elizabeth.

Poll Results: What Did Blog Readers Think About Names in 2015?

14 Thursday Jan 2016

Posted by A.O. in Blog News

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

celebrity baby names, choosing baby names, name trends, royal baby names

Will the Name Elsa Continue Growing in Popularity?
Nearly everyone (91%) thought that Elsa would keep becoming more popular. 54% thought it would probably become more popular, while 37% were absolutely sure that it would. 9% thought it probably wouldn’t become more popular, and nobody was definitely sure that it wouldn’t.

Will Harper Lee’s Go Set a Watchman Affect the Popularity of the Name Atticus?
Most people (73%) didn’t think the book would affect the popularity of the name Atticus. 49% of people thought the name Atticus would become less popular for a while, but popularity would recover once the fuss over the book died down. 24% didn’t think it would make any difference, and Atticus would continue growing in popularity at the same rate. Of the 27% of people who thought its popularity would be affected, 23% thought it would steadily become less popular, while 4% believed it would become totally unusable.

Favourite Name Trend for 2016
People’s favourite baby name trend trend for 2016 was names that sound equally good on babies and the elderly, gaining 43% of the vote. Their least favourite was 1950s names, which 11% of people voted for.

Should Grandparents Be Part of the Baby Naming Process?
Most people (62%) thought that grandparents should be free to make baby name suggestions, but with no expectation that they would be followed. However, a significant minority (36%) felt that they should stay out of the baby naming process altogether. 2% thought that grandparents should be allowed to veto a name they hated that was very strange, and one person thought that if grandparents wanted to choose the baby name, they could pay for the privilege. Nobody was in favour of grandparents being given significant input into the baby naming process.

What Should the New Royal Baby Be Called?
People’s favourite choices for a princess were Alice, Victoria, and Eleanor. 10% of people voted for Elizabeth, and 9% voted for Charlotte, the next two most popular choices. Nobody voted for the names Sophie or Maria. 3% of people felt that the royal couple should start a new trend in baby names. If the baby had been a prince instead, people voted to name him Arthur, Frederick, or Alfred, while the names William and Andrew received no votes at all. 4% of people thought the royal couple should start their own trend in baby names.

The Fastest Rising Popular Names of 2014
People’s favourite fastest rising names were Hazel, gaining 38% of the vote, and Maxwell, gaining 27% of the vote (George was close behind on 26%). Hazel and Maxwell were the fastest-rising names of the year, so now you know how names get to rise the fastest! The least favourite were Ariana (7%), and a tie between Harvey and Nate (15%).

The #1 Baby Names of All Time
People’s favourite #1 boy’s name was William, gaining 21% of the vote, and Jack was very close behind on 20%. The least favourite was Michael, which only one person voted for. People’s favourite #1 girl’s name was Charlotte, gaining 20% of the vote. The least favourite was Michelle, which nobody voted for.

Would You Consider Creating A New Surname For Your Child?
Most people (67%) would not consider creating a new surname for their child. 36% approved of the idea, but felt it just wasn’t right for them, while 31% didn’t like the idea. Of the remaining 33%, 25% were interested in the idea, and wouldn’t rule it out, and 7% would seriously consider it. One person said they had already chosen this option.

What Do You Think of Celebrities Giving Their Daughters “Masculine” Names?
34% of people were strongly against this trend, with 2% feeling seriously angered, worried, or stressed about it. 23% of people were in favour, with 21% thinking it was fantastic, and believing we should all be allowed to choose whatever names we liked. 42% of people weren’t concerned about it, with 22% not caring since it was none of their business, and 20% believing the issue had been blown out of proportion. One person said that they were not aware of this issue.

Would You Change Your Mind About a Possible Baby Name If a Celebrity Used it for a Child of the Opposite Sex?
The poll was very even – 51% of people said no, while 16% said yes, and 33% said maybe. That means around half of all people would at least think about changing their minds about a name on their name list if a celebrity chose it for an opposite sex child. That’s despite more than 40% of people not being concerned about the names that celebrities choose, so the numbers don’t quite add up there!

So what does the average blog reader think about names?

They like the fastest-rising names Hazel and Maxwell, but are less thrilled about Ariana, Harvey, and Nate increasing in popularity. They like currently popular names William, Jack, and Charlotte, but don’t think much of 1970s favourites like Michael and Michelle. They know that Elsa will keep going up in popularity, and they’re pretty sure Atticus will as well.

They wish the royal baby could have received a Victorian-era name like Alice or Arthur (but presumably approve the choice of Charlotte). They hope that a new baby name trend for 2016 will be giving children names that age well, but aren’t so impressed with the idea of 1950s names coming back just yet.

They are fairly open to hearing baby name suggestions from their parents, but won’t allow them to dictate to them. They won’t create a new surname for their baby, but don’t mind if other people choose this option. And although they don’t really care what celebrities name their children, there’s a fair chance that it will still influence their own choice of baby name!

Royal Baby News: Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge

05 Tuesday May 2015

Posted by A.O. in Celebrity Baby News

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

honouring, middle names, royal baby names, royal names

Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, leave St Mary's hospital

Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, and his wife Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, welcomed their second child on May 2, and have named their daughter Charlotte Elizabeth Diana, Princess of Cambridge, a sister for Prince George, aged nearly 2.

Princess Charlotte was born at 8.34 am, weighing 8lb 3oz (3.7 kg) in the Lindo Wing of St. Mary’s Hospital in London – the same hospital where her brother Prince George, her father Prince William, and her uncle Prince Harry were born. Her birth was celebrated by the illuminating of landmarks such as Tower Bridge in pink, and gun salutes at the Tower of London. She is fourth in line to the throne.

Princess Charlotte is the first princess to be born into the British royal family in 25 years – the last one was Princess Eugenie of York, the daughter of Prince Andrew. The last Princess of Cambridge was born 182 years ago, and that was Mary, Duchess of Teck; her brother was also called George.

Charlotte has been chosen before as a name in the royal family – the last Princess Charlotte was born in 1819. The name is believed to be a nod to the princess’ grandfather, Prince Charles. Charlotte is also the middle name of Catherine’s sister Pippa, so could be honouring the princess’ mother’s side of the family as well. The names Charles and Charlotte are traditional ones in the Spencer family too, and in fact Princess Diana’s brother Charles Spencer, the 9th Earl, has a young daughter named Charlotte Diana, so like Prince George’s three names, Princess Charlotte shares her name with a Spencer cousin.

Elizabeth is another traditional royal name, given in honour of the princess’ great-grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II. It is also Catherine’s middle name, and her mother Carole’s middle name as well, so can be seen as honouring the princess’ mother and maternal grandmother at the same time. Prince George has one of his father’s middle names, Louis, as one of his middle names, so it makes perfect sense for Charlotte to share her middle name with her mother.

Diana is in honour of William’s mother Princess Diana, the princess’ paternal grandmother; Diana is a traditional name in the Spencer family. This middle name came as no surprise, because when the royal couple were touring Australia, Prince William explained in an interview they planned to use Diana as a middle name for Prince George, should he have been a girl.

Strange Searches and Intriguing Inquries: The Weird Ways People Wind Up On My Blog

23 Sunday Nov 2014

Posted by A.O. in Your Questions Answered

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Australian slang terms, baby name regret, celebrity baby names, Facebook, famous namesakes, Google Maps, royal baby names, stripper names, unisex names, web searches

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It’s time for another silly season look at the odd, thought-provoking, and just plain barmy search terms used to get to the blog. Some are autocorrections gone wrong, others are typos or the vagaries of Google Translate, but there seem to be some genuinely confused people wandering around the Internet. I’ve tidied searches up with some basic punctuation for easier reading, and corrected spelling errors unless they provided some amusement.

AUSSIE, AUSSIE, AUSSIE

Is Australia a country?
Yes. So glad that’s cleared up.

W.A. is the best f*** the rest Australia Australia map
If you put this into Google Maps (with the asterisks filled out in full), it suggests you see a therapist. At least it did for me.

Bongs Baby Search
Contest winners: Bud and Mary-Jane.

Jewish roots of Australian Aboriginal tribes
The lost tribes of Israel didn’t get that lost.

Australian Aborigines are the true Indians from India [searched for many times]
That’s going to make the land rights issue a whole lot more complicated.

Did Abel Tasman change his name to Tasman because he discovered Tasmania?
Yes, then Captain Cook changed his name to Cook after discovering the Cook Islands.

Did Abel Tasman have a daughter named Tasmania/Did Abel Tasman name Tasmania after his daughter? [searched for many times]
No, Tasmania Tasman sounds really awkward.

Why do Australians add the word “did” after a girl’s name, as in Katie-did?
We do what now?

FAMOUS FOLK

Prince William’s baby should be called Prince Alfred Edmund William [several months after Prince George’s birth]
It’s probably time to let go. Maybe they’ll listen to you next time.

What is Hank Marvin’s home address?
Stalker.

How is Wendy Harmer married?
Um … legally?

Pictures of Liz Ellis and her son Evelyn Audrey
I can understand thinking Evelyn might be a boy – but Evelyn Audrey?

Was the actress Grace Kelly related to the bushranger Ned Kelly?
I would guess, not closely.

Was Banjo Paterson a Templar?
No, a solicitor and tax reformist, which sounds slightly less exciting.

My civil partner’s name is Rupert Grint and mine is Danny Driscoll – what surname do we use?
I’m more interested to discover the actor Rupert Grint is in a civil partnership with a fictional gangster from Only Fools and Horses. The mind is boggling.

Was Liberace gay?
Yes, and to anticipate your next question, bears go to the lavatory in the woods.

NAME-O-RAMA

I regret naming my son Hamish, and call him James instead
I’m not kidding, somebody Googles a variant of this question about sixty times a week. Either there’s a whole bunch of Hamishes called James, or someone needs to get a new hobby.

Tomboy baby names like Rose, Lily, Daisy, Violet
Flipping heck, those are tomboy names?

Common names in rare use
That’s the Holy Grail of baby naming right there.

The truth about calling your son Ryder
The truth is, his name will be Ryder.

Do people look at your kid’s names funny?
No – but now we’re all interested to know what yours are called.

How to convince girls named Naomi to go out with you
I think it’s basically the same method as for girls with other names.

“Worst name ever” – Ian
Forget Hitler, Satan, or Laxative, Ian is the worst baby name in history!

Is Mary and Matilda the same name in Sweden?
No, and in no other country either.

Oliver cannot marry Olivia
Why ever not?

HORRID HISTORY

The origin of death
Someone died, and it caught on.

Medieval newspaper article of the battle of Hastings
They don’t seem to have produced one – just a tapestry. Slack!

What was the dress code for Arabs and Hebrews during the Biblical era?
Smart casual.

Why are English monarchs ugly?
Gosh, that’s jolly rude.

LOOPY LITERATURE

Children’s book with hippo eating more humans than sharks
Should be required bedtime reading for every four-year-old.

Romeo, Dan, Juliet
The little known Shakespearean love triangle.

Some good frictionless stories of Shakespeare
Because nobody wants stories that give you chafing.

Was Frankenstein’s wife’s name unisex?
Only if you consider Elizabeth a unisex name.

The poetry of Ben Jo Peterson
He just never had the fame of Banjo Paterson.

STRANGE SCIENCE

Blonde women love autumn
So brunetttes must love spring, redheads love winter, and bald people love summer.

600 year old dead body gave birth to baby, and the baby stayed alive about 72 hours
Eww. I’m pretty sure this didn’t happen.

Miserable heavenly body discovered
The science news we never hear about.

Budgies sound like they’re talking Welsh
Ours just make chirpy noises.

Cicadas are all homosexual
I think the cicada population would be a lot lower by now if that was true.

SPIRITUAL STUMPERS

What are some signs the American occult have used musicians and football players?
Minimal, if any.

99% accurate psychic – free
Even ones that are 38% accurate aren’t free.

Mythical Christmas sweater for Catholic children made by their mother
My mother never made me one, probably because it was 110 in the shade at Christmas.

“The holy Christmas dwarf”
The Yuletide yarn we never hear about.

I sense souls who are licensed to answer
This sounds a bit like a movie I saw.

Can a baby be born with 2 souls?
That’s very deep, which is another way of saying I have no idea.

INFORMATION, PLEASE

Baby Ruby, Adelaide. Cash only.
I hope you’ve been arrested by now.

Velvet painting of a whale and a dolphin getting it on
The art news we never hear about.

Where can I buy German animated Easter cards which are baby announcements?
There’s clearly a market for German-speakers who happen to have their baby at Easter, and want to announce that fact in animated greeting card form. Please consider developing this exciting business concept.

How to announce baby’s birth in Australia slang?
Strewth cobbers, we’ve dropped a sprog, so it’s my shout.

Need a Victorian style cursed wedding dress
Wanting to get your marriage off on the right foot, huh?

Groan grunt growl grumpy grumble exercises
Yep that’s how I sound when I exercise.

Old English movie in which a magical necklace converts heroin
What does the necklace convert the heroin into – tea and scones?

What is the movie name where the woman had a daughter and she got married and she died of cancer after giving birth to a little boy?
One of the classic chick flick plots. The other two are: Boy and girl fall in love then one dies of cancer, and Female friends discover cancer is a catalyst for bonding, empowerment.

SEX SELLS

Intercourse while waltzing
That never happened in any of my dance classes. I feel ripped off.

Lucy is a stripper at Players on the Gold Coast. What’s her real name?
If Lucy is her stripper name, I’m guessing her real name is Destinee Bunny-Starr.

How can I find strippers ‘n’ escorts in Emerald area, Qld?
Yellow Pages.

Australian girls named Lola – they have sexy hips, Facebook page?
I don’t think either can be guaranteed.

WHAT ARE THEY ON ABOUT?

Any Madison eating girls? Far angry sex with boy.

Quick Siobhan, your knickers, your mother is coming

What means: Australian bond named Dingo?

Aboriginal name meaning “aupprice shock”

List agent Greek names that is not used in space, less than 16 characters

Royal Baby Meltdown, Name Discrimination, and Other Name Stories in the News

11 Thursday Sep 2014

Posted by A.O. in Names in the News

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

bogan names, classic baby names, creative names, Essential Baby, famous namesakes, Kidspot, locational names, name studies, royal baby names

ImageResizer

Royal Baby 2.0
Yes, it’s another baby expected by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, due in April next year. The Internet goes wild, bookies make billions, name bloggers all collapse from guessing until our brains explode. So far, punters are gunning for a brown-haired girl, and the most popular names for the prince or princess, younger sibling to George, are James for a boy, and Elizabeth for a girl.

I am very sceptical of an Elizabeth, as the queen has apparently made it clear she is not interested in having a namesake (royal babies with Elizabeth as their middle name are supposedly named after the queen’s mother, not Elizabeth II). To me, George and James are too similar-sounding as brothers, and surely the heir to the throne needs a distinctive name, if only for publicity purposes? However, the Duke and Duchess may not agree with my name advice.

You can read plenty of baby name predictions online (most of them are just recycling their guesses for Prince George, with the name George removed). I won’t be doing anything in regard to the name until much closer to the royal birth, as I think it is far too early. They aren’t even at the twelve-week mark yet, and the duchess is ill with severe morning sickness. Give them some space, people!

Last time, my bizarre method of tracking royal baby names turned out to be unexpectedly successful (for a boy, anyway; it might have been totally wrong if George had been a girl), but next time we might try something completely different, and see how that goes.

Utter Drivel Bogan
Kidspot have brought out a rather cringe-making article on “bogan baby names”, which they pretend is all in good fun.

Clare asked on her Scoop page whether this was as controversial or potentially offensive as calling names “chavvy”? I would say, yes Clare, it is: it’s like an article about chavvy names, redneck names, ghetto names, and the like. Despite protestations to the contrary, articles like these are intended to be offensive, and they certainly seem mean-spirited.

Apart from being copied from other sources, the article has some real clangers, such as saying Zaiden is “made up”, when it’s an elaboration of the Arabic name Zaid. Or listing the name Princ’ess, which isn’t even allowed in Australia.

Jorja Fights Back!
One person who took exception to Kidspot’s article was Jorja Orreal, whose name happened to feature on the list of “bogan names”. She loves her name, and her mother says it is not bogan at all, but very pretty. Jorja was named thus because her mum noticed that best-selling author Sidney Sheldon dedicated several of his novels to his wife at the time, actress Jorja Curtright. As she points out, how could the man behind I Dream of Jeannie possibly be associated with something in poor taste?

Jorja believes her name actually looks like a name, rather than Georgia, which is also a country and an American state, and seems more feminine. Unfortunately, she then loses every bit of my sympathy she might have mustered by going on to trash the names that she thinks are really bogan. Thanks to her intervention, my comments on the Kidspot article were much less severe.

Reach the Top of Your Game with a Creative Name
Almost everyone agrees: “creative” names are a terrible idea. Received wisdom is that it’s better to be a Chloe than a Kloey, James looks more professional than Jaymezz, and a traditional name like Elizabeth or William will gain greater esteem than a modern concoction like Neveah or Latrell. Essential Baby examines this idea by seeing if it stands up in the modern workplace.

In fact, there’s a lot to be said for “creative” names, perhaps most of all that they tend to be memorable, and can also be a great ice-breaker. Interviews with a couple of creatively-named people in business demonstrate that their names have been an asset to their careers. It seemed to me that their attitude to their names was really important, because they expected people to have trouble spelling their names, and were relaxed about the idea that people might find them amusing. Could those people skills have been gained through constant negotiations with others over their names?

Paul Barbaro, a spokesman from a recruitment agency, believes the idea that a “classic” baby name has prestige is an old and outdated one, and that people today are much less judgemental, being used to a wide variety of names (someone alert Kidspot to this valuable information!). He suggests that unusual names are now the norm, and that it can be helpful to have a name that is a little different, or globally recognised.

However, language expert Roly Sussex, from the University of Queensland, appears to be unconvinced. He can’t think of many people in public life with an unusual name, and thinks it would be far better to have a name that everyone knows how to spell and pronounce. But perhaps his attitudes really are outdated.

Should You Change Your “Ethnic” Name?
Roly Sussex thought that people with ethnic names were more likely to be successful if they anglicised their names, or used a nickname.

While I’m not sure if it will help you become successful in the long-term, the sad news is that it will probably help you to get a foot in the door. Researchers from the Australian National University submitted 4000 fictitious CVs for entry level jobs, and found that people with a Middle Eastern name need to submit 64% more applications that one with an Anglo-Saxon name to gain a job interview, while those with Chinese names need to submit 68% more applications, Indigenous names 35% more, and Italian names 12% more.

The study also showed that name discrimination was not evenly applied, and there could be differences when other factors were changed. For example, men of all minority ethnic groupings found it harder to get interviews than women; waitstaff and data entry jobs were the most likely to discriminate against ethnic minority males.

The city the person is in makes a difference too, with Sydney the most biased city against people with ethnic names – a Chinese person in Brisbane must submit 57% more applications, while in Sydney, it is a whopping 92% more. There was no evidence of discrimination against Italians in Melbourne, which has a relatively high Italian population.

Middle Eastern job seekers fared better when they applied for jobs with a non-Anglo employer or in ethnically diverse neighbourhoods. Interestingly, while a Chinese employer was much more likely to give someone with a Chinese name a callback, Italian employers were significantly less likely to offer someone with an Italian name an interview!

The entry level job that appeared to have the least amount of discrimination was customer service: your name doesn’t seem to make much difference when it comes to getting an interview in this field.

And there is some good news to go along with this rather depressing research. A study conducted by the University of Melbourne this year found that ethnic minority jobseekers were much more discriminated against during the application process than they were once they had actually secured a position.

Some people who did use an English name or an English nickname to find work felt comfortable enough to revert back to their real name in the workplace, and some were even encouraged to do so by their fellow colleagues. So if you write Rick on your resume, it doesn’t mean you can’t become Rashid again once you have been successful in your interview.

How to Dot Com Your Baby Name, and Other Name Stories in the News

02 Tuesday Sep 2014

Posted by A.O. in Names in the News

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Awesome Baby Name, domain names, Facebook, Game of Thrones names, name data, name meaning, name studies, name trends, nicknames, popular names, royal baby names, Twitter

Modern Baby Names

Mastering Your Baby’s Domain
Baby names in the digital age have become so complicated that some parents now make sure their child has their own e-mail account, Twitter handle, Facebook page, and website before they are born.

And since it gets frustrating finding the baby name you want to register has already been taken, you can do a sort of “reverse look up”, where you use a website that will tell you which names are still available. Such a website is the misleadingly-titled Awesome Baby Name, which suggests names based on domain availability.

Naturally I had to give this a try, and it’s easy enough. You type in your surname, and say you want a boy, girl, or “whatever” name, and receive a list of ten names that haven’t been taken yet. If you don’t like the ten they offer (and you probably won’t), they offer to sell you another 100 names for $3. You would be crazy to actually make this purchase, since every time you use it you get another ten names, and by simply clicking it again and again would soon find 100 names all on your own for free.

The site promises to find you the “very best matches” possible, but in fact it’s just a random list of names that may or may not sound even half decent when matched with your surname. The names have a very American bias – I was offered quite a lot of Hispanic names, and names currently trending in the US, like Jayceon. I’m not sure how the algorithm works, but I tried it with fifteen very different surnames, and each one offered the name Colton.

I was quite pleased by most of the boys names I was offered (except Colton, a name I now utterly loathe from having it thrust on me so many times): Alistair, Axel, Declan, Jude, Matthias, Maximilian, and Thaddeus seemed nice. Girls names were uniformly terrible. They were either dated, like Megan and Julie, very modern like Kyra and Brylee, or variant spellings, like Kaitlynne and Brooklynn. Maybe all the good girls’ names are already taken?

The “whatever” button is a complete waste of time: it doesn’t give you unisex options, as I thought, but just five girls names and five boys names.

Our surname is relatively uncommon, so that almost every name could be matched with it and still not be registered, and yet I wasn’t offered even one Top 100 name. Furthermore, different surnames didn’t get you a different range of names: I was offered relatively uncommon names, no matter if I said I was named Smith or Hetherington-Smitherswaithe. I wonder if the surname has been factored in at all?

The About on the page says it started as a joke, but doesn’t say whether it still is one or not, or how funny the joke turned out to be. I rate it as Mildly Amusing.

Names at Work
Could your name be holding back at work, muses Kochie’s Business Builders in Yahoo Finance? Short answer, from researchers at the University of Melbourne, is yes. They found that people with simple, easy to pronounce names had an advantage in the workplace, and would be more likely to be elected to political office.

Dr Simon Laham, from the University of Melbourne’s School of Psychology, said research findings revealed that it wasn’t the length of a name, or how “foreign” it seemed, or how unusual (or even made up) it was, but its pronounceability that made the difference.

It’s quite interesting, because we’re often told that names have to be familiar, recognisable, “non-ethnic”, or short for people to feel comfortable with them, but it seems that isn’t really that important, as long as they can intuitively guess the pronunciation. This might be something to bear in mind when choosing names.

Worried about your hard to pronounce name and how it’s ruining your career? KBB suggests using a nickname or short form of your name for easy communication, but sensibly comments that your skills and experience are far more important. An article on names which says your name is less important than who you are and what you do! Let’s hope this trend continues.

Capital, By George
There was royal baby name spotting during the royal visit in Canberra in April. The Canberra Times had a light-hearted look at a few baby Georges around town, including a George Louis, a George Middleton, and a Giorgio. The name George appears to be on the rise in the ACT, with 14 registrations in 2012 climbing to 22 in 2013. Between Prince George’s birth and his visit to Australia, 15 Georges were registered in our capital. What that means for the 2014 data is anyone’s guess.

Mothers of Dragons in the West
And those other royal names … Perth Now tells us that baby names from Game of Thrones are rising in Western Australia. Unfortunately, no actual data to support this plausible theory, but a couple of anecdotes instead. Fascinated by the mother who chose Khaleesi for her daughter in 2012, because “it had some sort of history”. I guess almost every name has some sort of history … in this case, a purely imaginary one! The meaning of “queen” was also a drawcard.

Names All Over the World
The Essential Baby website has got a little map of popular names from around the world. It doesn’t cover every country, but it does look at several regions. Africa and the Middle East are completely missing (I guess they have bigger issues than putting out birth name data). Worth a look to see how different the Top Tens are around the world.

Royal Baby News: Lord and Lady Nicholas Windsor

28 Thursday Aug 2014

Posted by A.O. in Celebrity Baby News

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

honouring, royal baby names, royal sibsets, saints names

lord-nicholas-windsor--a

Lord and Lady Nicholas Windsor welcomed their third child on May 27 and named their son Louis Arthur Nicholas Felix. Louis’ older brothers are Albert Louis Philip Edward, aged nearly seven, and Leopold Ernest Augustus Guelph, aged nearly five. Louis is 37th in line to the throne, and is to be known as Mr Louis Windsor.

Lord Nicholas is the youngest son of the Duke and Duchess of Kent, and a great-grandson of King George V. Prince Edward, the Duke of Kent, is a cousin of Queen Elizabeth, so Lord Nicholas is a first cousin once removed of the queen. In 2001, Lord Nicholas was received into the Roman Catholic Church, following the lead of his mother Katharine, who converted in 1994. This makes him the first male member of the blood Royal to convert to Catholicism since King Charles II. Because of his conversion, he forfeited the right of succession to the British throne, but is still in the line of succession to the Dukedom of Kent.

Lady Nicholas Windsor was born Paola Doimi de Lupis de Frankopan; her father is a member of the Croatian and Italian nobility, while her mother is a distinguished Professor Emeritus at Stockholm University. Under her maiden name Paola Frankopan, she writes for The Tatler, where she is a contributing editor. She and Lord Nicholas were married on September 4 2006 in Vatican City, making Lord Nicholas the first member of the Royal Family to marry at the Vatican, and the first to marry in a Catholic ceremony since the Reformation. By having Louis shortly before her 45th birthday, Lady Nicholas became the oldest royal to give birth.

Louis is most likely in honour of Lady Nicholas’ father, Louis, Prince de Frankopan, Count Doimi de Lupis, a barrister and businessman. The children’s maternal grandfather was earlier honoured by having Louis as Albert’s middle name. Louis also has a Catholic saint’s name, like his brothers Albert and Leopold.

Arthur has previously been used in the royal family; most recently by Prince Arthur of Connaught, the son of Prince Arthur, son of Queen Victoria. Perhaps coincidentally, Arthington is a name traditionally used in the family of Lord Nicholas’ mother Katharine, whose maiden name was Worseley.

Nicholas is after the baby’s father. It is one of the middle names of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, the father of Lord Nicholas, and Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark was Prince Edward’s grandfather, the father of Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent. Lady Nicholas’ brother is also named Nicholas, so it’s a name from both sides of the family.

Felix may be in honour of Lord Nicholas’ great-uncle, Sir Felix Brunner, 3rd Baronet, the uncle of his mother Katharine (and her godfather) The meaning of “lucky” seems apt, because the Windsors were not expecting to have any more children, and felt very fortunate to be blessed with a child; indeed Louis has been hailed as a “miracle baby”.

(Photo of Lord and Lady Nicholas Windsor with their two eldest sons from Hello!)

What I Know About Australian Names

09 Sunday Feb 2014

Posted by A.O. in Naming Issues

≈ 13 Comments

Tags

Appellation Mountain, Arabic names, Australian Aboriginal names, birth notices, blogging, middle names, name trends, popular names, royal baby names, unisex names, vintage names, Waltzing More Than Matilda

1000posts

This will be my 1000th blog post since I started blogging nearly three years ago in 2011 – something which fills me with a certain amount of awe, coupled with a strong feeling I may have posted too often!

When Abby from Appellation Mountain reached her 1000th blog post in 2010, she decided to share a few of the things she had learned about names as a blogger. I thought about doing that, then realised how embarrassing it would be to admit how little I knew to begin with. And I’ve learned so many things that I’d need another blog with 1000 blog posts to explain all that I’ve learned writing this blog.

So instead I will share a few things I have learned about Australian names.

1. Australia, like other countries, has its own unique name trends

Matilda, Lachlan and Banjo mean more to us than in other countries. Darcy is a boy’s name here, Asher is unisex, and Avery is only for girls. We have a special connection with Talia, but prefer to spell it Tahlia.

Adrian was popular here for much longer than in other countries; Mitchell and Chelsea are still popular here while they have disappeared from the Top 100s of other places; Mervyn and Dulcie were only ever popular in Australia, while Derek and Gillian never became popular here.

Because of our relatively small population size, name trends often show up earlier in Australia than elsewhere, so that names such as Isabella and Jayden were Top 100 here long before anywhere else. Does that mean that current Australian favourites like Amity and Braxton will become popular elsewhere? Only time will tell!

Although Australia’s name trends are heavily influenced by both the UK and US, and sometimes by Europe, only one country can claim to be our baby name twin, and that is New Zealand. It’s seldom acknowledged, but we share more than 70% of our popular names with our Trans-Tasman cousins.

2. Every state and territory is a little different when it comes to names

Queensland is crazy for royal baby names – any name chosen by royalty will invariably rise in popularity this state. New South Wales is the only state with Arabic names in the Top 100 – Muhammad would be in the Top 30 there if all spellings were combined. Tasmanians adore vintage names, Western Australians tend to shun the classics for the contemporary, the Northern Territory has many names of Indigenous significance, and South Australians love a quirky middle name. The ACT has the strictest naming laws, and are therefore the most conservative at choosing baby names. Victorians are the name nerds of Australia – they are deeply interested in name trends, worry about popularity, and are the most likely to announce their baby’s name in the newspapers. I probably couldn’t function (as a blogger) without them.

3. Rural and regional Australians are the best at choosing interesting names

I love name stories and birth notices from country Australia, because they always have the most diverse selection of names, and the most unusual names and colourful name combinations. If it wasn’t for local newspapers, I don’t think I could keep doing the Birth Announcements each week.

4. Australians are patriotic namers

When I first started Waltzing More Than Matilda, I couldn’t help wondering if anyone would be interested in a blog about Australian names, and more importantly, I wasn’t sure if Australians would be interested!

Happily, my doubts have been proven wrong, because every day people come to the blog searching for Indigenous Australian names, names of Australian plants, names of Australian towns and cities, names of famous Australians, and asking for “patriotic Australian names” to use for their son or daughter.

It seems that there are many people at least considering a name with an Australian “flavour” for their children.

5. Australian parents are AWESOME namers!

There’s a vocal, mean-spirited and ignorant group of people who think it’s fun (or funny) to insist that Australians are too stupid or tasteless to be allowed to name their own children. According to this mob, who often seem to work in the media, you only have to read a few birth notices to see that Australian babies are given increasingly bizarre “made up names” with a bewildering range of spellings and punctuation that render them barely comprehensible.

Well, I read birth notices every day, and have done for years, and I can tell you that that is absolute tripe. Most babies are given fairly common names like Emily and Liam, and even less common names are usually traditional like Walter and Patricia, familiar like Axel and Clementine, or are from other cultures, like Malini and Ngemba. Variant spellings are generally low-key and easily coped with, such as Scarlette or Jaxson – out of the thousands of babies’ names I read each year, perhaps four or five have given me real difficulties in understanding them.

Australian parents, let me tell you that you are doing a great job! A brilliant job! An outstanding job at naming your babies! You make reading birth announcements a joy and an adventure!

Whether you chose the name Audrey or Behati. Whether you preferred Thomas or Zephyr. If you picked Felix or Kylen or Huckleberry or Lenny or Percival or Diamond. Opted for Eloise or Mietta or Taiyah or Rafferty or Storm or Xanthe. If your heart told you that the perfect name was Acacia or Digger or Lawson. Or you knew straight away that only Jack or Charlotte or Hamish would do. You all did the right thing, and you all did very well.

You impress and amaze me every day. Thank you.

Royal Baby News: Zara and Michael Tindall

24 Friday Jan 2014

Posted by A.O. in Celebrity Baby News

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

celebrity baby names, royal baby names, royal names

Britain's Zara Phillips and her husband Mike Tindall leave after their marriage at Canongate Kirk in Edinburgh

Zara Tindall, and her husband Michael, welcomed their first child on January 17 and have named their daughter Mia Grace. Mia was born at the Gloucestershire Royal Hospital in Gloucester, and weighed 3.5 kg (7lb 12 oz). She is the Queen’s fourth great grandchild, and is sixteenth in line to the throne. She will not have a royal title, and is to be known as Miss Mia Tindall.

Zara is the daughter of Princess Anne, and the granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth. She is an accomplished equestrian who has won many medals, and was the Eventing World Champion between 2006 and 2010. She competed at the 2012 London Olympics on her horse High Kingdom, where she won silver for team eventing – the medal was presented to her by her mother. She is also a horse trainer, and has designed her own line of equestrian clothing.

Michael or “Mike” is a rugby union player who has played for both Bath and Gloucester, as well for the English national team. Last year he was selected for the Barbarians on their tour against England, when he served as captain. Zara and Mike met in Australia in 2003, during the Rugby World Cup, which England won. They were engaged in 2010, and their wedding took place on July 30 2011 at the Canongate Kirk in Edinburgh, Scotland.

The name Mia wasn’t expected by the punters, who were tipping Anne, Elizabeth, Zara, Sophia, Ava, Emma or Poppy. Princess Anne’s family has always preferred informality, and Mia Grace seems very much in line with her cousins Savannah and Isla Phillips, the daughters of Zara’s brother Peter.

Royal Baby News: Lord Frederick Windsor and Sophie Winkleman

19 Monday Aug 2013

Posted by A.O. in Celebrity Baby News

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

celebrity baby names, honouring, royal baby names, royal names

Lord+Frederick+Windsor+Sophie+Winkleman+Wedding+jA4beGI3Bwrl

Lord and Lady Frederick Windsor welcomed their first child on August 15, and have named their daughter Maud Elizabeth Daphne Marina. Maud Windsor was born at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, and weighed 7 lb (3.2 kg). The baby is 42nd in line to the throne.

Lord Frederick is the only son of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent. Prince Michael is a cousin of Queen Elizabeth, so Lord Frederick is a first cousin once removed to the queen. Through his maternal grandmother, he is a first cousin twice removed to Prince Philip. Lord Frederick is a financial analyst at JP Morgan bank in Los Angeles.

Lady Frederick Windsor is an English actress known professionally as Sophie Winkleman; she is the daughter of children’s author Cindy Black. Her career includes work on stage, television, film and radio, and she has had a recurring role on US sit-com Two and a Half Men. Lord and Lady Windsor were married in Hampton Court Palace in 2009.

Maud is a traditional name in the royal family, with the most recent being Princess Maud of Fife (Countess of Southesk upon her marriage), a grand-daughter of Edward VII, niece of George V and cousin of George VI. She was named after Princess Maud of Wales, the youngest daughter of Edward VII, who later became the Queen of Norway, through her marriage to Haakon VII.

Elizabeth is in honour of Queen Elizabeth II.

Daphne is in honour of Lady Frederick’s grandmother, who she was very close to.

Marina is in honour of Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent, the mother of Prince Michael of Kent, and the baby’s great-grandmother. Princess Marina, who was born Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark, was the most recent foreign-born princess to marry into the British royal family, which occurred in 1934. She was known for her great sense of fashion and style.

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