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Waltzing More Than Matilda

~ Names with an Australian Bias of Democratic Temper

Waltzing More Than Matilda

Tag Archives: scandinavian names

Boys Names of Australian Aboriginal Origin

26 Sunday Feb 2012

Posted by A.O. in Name Themes and Lists

≈ 18 Comments

Tags

Australian Aboriginal names, Buddhist names, famous namesakes, fictional namesakes, Indian names, Indonesian names, Japanese names, Korean names, locational names, Maori names, name history, name meanings, Native American names, New Zealand names, nicknames, Quechuan names, Samoan names, scandinavian names, scientific names, seasonal names, Slavic names, South American names, Spanish names, surname names, unisex names

This follows on from last week’s list, Girls Names of Aboriginal Origin. It was more challenging to find boys’ names, because many, if not most, Aboriginal words end in a vowel, and easily conform to we think of a “feminine sounding” name. They are similar to names in Hebrew, Arabic, and in the Indian languages in that regard, and even now you will find people who insist that Ezra must be a female name, because it ends in -a.

These are not traditional or tribal Aboriginal names for men, but rather words from Aboriginal languages that I thought could be used as names by people from any culture. Some of them coincide with words or names from other languages, as I thought people may be interested to know that a word from their own heritage has a distinct Australian meaning as well.

Dural

Dural is a pleasant semi-rural suburb of Sydney, and its meaning has been in some dispute. It is said that dural was a word from the Dharug language, meaning “gully, valley”, and this information came from a traditional owner of the land in the 19th century. It was also said to mean “burning logs”, from the word dooral dooral, but this belief only dates from the 1940s, and is taken from the Wiradjuri language. As the Wiradjuri people are from central New South Wales, the local meaning is claimed to be the correct one. Translations of this name as “hollow tree” or “burned out tree” in baby name books can be safely discarded as invention. I think Dural seems very usable as a personal name, and I considered it for Sydney Suburbs That Could Be Used as Boy’s Names. It sounds like familiar names such as Darrell, and sturdily similar to the word endure.

Jarli

This word means “barn owl” in the Jiwarli language of northern Western Australia. As in many other societies, several Australian Aboriginal cultures saw owls as symbols of wisdom, mystery, secrets and sacred knowledge; messengers from one world to another, and companions of the medicine men. The owl features in several myths and legends, and is sometimes depicted in Aboriginal art. This name seems familiar to us, because Jarli is also a Scandinavian boy’s name based on the word for “earl”, and I have seen one or two boys with this name. I like the sound and the meaning of this name, and it is similar to another Jiwarli word: jali, meaning “friend”.

Kaiya

This word from a Queensland language refers to a spear with two barbs, and is pronounced KY-uh. It has been used in the Latin name for a species of caddisfly – Chimarra kaiya – who is so called because of its distinctive barb-like projections. In the Kaurna language of South Australia, the similar sounding kaya means “spear”, although in Nyungar it means “hello; yes”. This is always listed as a girl’s name in baby name books, but the name Kai makes this name look masculine to me. I don’t see how the sound of it is any more “girly” than, say, Hezekiah. The meaning does not seem feminine either. I would say it is a unisex name, and suitable for a boy.

Kuparr

This means “red earth, burnt earth” in the Ngiyampaa language of New South Wales. It refers to the ochre used for making body paint for the Coroborees; the sacred ceremonies of Indigenous Australians involving ritual, dance and music. Red ochre is also used in other Aboriginal forms. Kuparr was the basis for the name of the mining town Cobar, and because copper was mined there, it has also been suggested that it may have been the local way of translating the word copper. Most likely the similarity between the words is a coincidence though. The attraction of this name is that it sounds a bit like Cooper. If you like the sound of Cooper but think it seems a bit boring or surnamey, Kuparr might be for you.

Miro

Miro (MEE-roh) is a Nyungar word for a type of spear thrower which propels the aim of the gidgee; a fearsome qaurtz-tipped spear about 8 feet long. Miro exists as a name or word in several other languages. It’s a Slavic name which is short for Miroslav, meaning “glorious peace”. In Japanese, it’s short for Miroku, a Japanese form of Maitreya, the fifth (future) incarnation of the Buddha. In New Zealand, it’s the name for a species of conifer tree. In Korea, it means “maze”. It’s also the surname of Spanish artist, Joan Miró i Ferrà (Joan was a man) – his surname was short for Ramiro, the Spanish form of a Germanic name meaning “famous counsel”. It’s very multicultural, and none of the meanings that I’ve seen are negative. I think it’s attractive. We had a baby boy in a recent birth announcement named Finn Joseph Miro, so it’s considered usable in Australia.

Monti

This is one of the Aboriginal names for the Black-necked Stork, which is found across the tropical north of Australia, and is the only stork species native to Australia. I have not been able to track down which language it is from, except that it’s not from the Northern Territory, where this bird is called a jabiru. It’s therefore either from Queensland or northern New South Wales, as the only other places where this bird exists. It’s listed as one of the Indigenous names by museums, so I feel fairly confident it’s authentic. The stork is mentioned in several Aboriginal legends, one of them an extremely touching love story. The attraction of this name is that it sounds exactly like the fashionable name Monty, but has its own significance.

Tarka

This means “eggshell” in the Kaurna language of South Australia. I thought of it because I have seen the name Tarka used in the birth announcements from the London Telegraph. It has a number of meanings in other contexts. There is a well-loved English children’s book called Tarka the Otter, so famous that it has given its name to a railway line and a bike path in the West Country. It was made into a film in the 1970s. In the book, Tarka’s name was meant to suggest the barking sound that an otter makes. In India, tarka is a word for seasoning added to a meal, and in Quechuan, a tarka is a type of flute played by the Indigenous people of the Andes. Tarka Cordell was a British musician who died in tragic circumstances a few years ago; I’m not sure where his name was taken from, or whether he is the inspiration for British children having Tarka as one of their names. This is the second name with the meaning of “eggshells” I have suggested; the other was Keid. Because eggshells appear so fragile, and yet are surprisingly strong under compression, I find this meaning very evocative.

Tau

Means “evening, dusk, twilight” in the Kaurna language of South Australia, and is said to rhyme with the word cow. In Maori, it can mean a number of different things, including “sweetheart”, “song, chant”, “string”, or “ridge”. In one of the Indigenous languages of Indonesia, it means “man”. In Samoan, it can mean “anchor” or “war”. It’s known to many people in the context of the Tau Cross, a symbol of life which was used by the Egyptians, and became important in a number of different religions and spiritual paths, including Christianity. I have met men named Tau, but I’m not sure which meaning was associated with their names. I think Tau fits in very well with other popular names for boys, such as Ty, Tai and Taj, and would be readily accepted.

Warragul

Warragul, pronounced WOHR-uh-guhl, is a town in the West Gippsland region of rural Victoria, the birthplace of legendary Aboriginal boxer Lionel Rose. Its name is said to come from a local word, warrigal, meaning either “wild” or “wild dog”, referring to the dingo. The dingo is Australia’s largest predator on land, and its ancestor is thought to have been introduced to Australia by seafarers from south east Asia thousands of years ago, when dogs were less domesticated and more closely related to wolves. Dingoes play a major role in Aboriginal myths and legends; in stories they are often guardians of humans who can warn them of the supernatural or evil spirits. There are also myths of dingo-people shapeshifters, or “were-dingoes”, and often the dingo in legends is a rebel or trickster figure. In everyday life, dingoes were tamed and kept in Aboriginal camps as guard dogs. They were treated with great affection, given names, slept with their human companions, and were even breastfed. At least sometimes they were buried alongside humans. I saw someone in a parenting forum say they had already used Warragul as a baby name.

Warrin

Warrin meant “winter, cold and frosty season” in one the language spoken around the Sydney region when Europeans first arrived. However, there are a number of similar words used throughout Indigenous languages. Warran or Warrung was the original name for the place we call Sydney Cove, and by extension, Sydney itself; it is said to mean “the other side [of the harbour]”. In the Brisbane area, Warun was a place name in the suburb now called Redcliffe; it may have meant “neck”. There are historical records of a man from south-west Queensland named Warun, so it was used as a personal name. In the Melbourne area, warun meant “eel” in the local language, a fish prized as a valuable food source; there is a suburb of Geelong named Warun Ponds. I have also seen the word warun translated to mean “diving ducks” in the Northern Territory. Baby name books translate Warun as meaning “sky”, but I don’t know which language they are deriving it from. From this I deduce that the English name Warren is the most “indigenous sounding” of our names, and perhaps it deserves a closer look.

(The photo is of young actor Brandon Walters, who starred in Baz Luhrman’s film, Australia).

Famous Name: Gunner

22 Wednesday Feb 2012

Posted by A.O. in Famous Names

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

dog names, english names, famous namesakes, military terms, scandinavian names, slang terms, stage names, vocabulary names

Sunday February 19 marked the 70th anniversary of the bombing of Darwin by the Japanese. Both the first and the single largest attack against Australia by a foreign power, it is often referred to as “Australia’s Pearl Harbor”. However, Darwin was bombed more heavily than Pearl Harbor, and almost 100 air raids were to follow. Numbers of the dead are disputed, but the official toll is just under 300, with maybe 300 to 400 injured. Amongst the casualties were men on the USS Peary, whose memorial President Obama visited in Darwin last year.

One of the lesser-known heroes of the Darwin air raids was a young black and white kelpie, who was found distressed and with a broken leg under a bombed mess hut on February 19 1942. He was taken to a field hospital, and immediately inducted into the Australian Air Force so that he could receive medical treatment. He was named Gunner, and given the serial number 0000.

Leading Aircraftman Percy Westcott, one of two men who found Gunner, became the dog’s master and handler. I think Gunner was just expected to be a pet and a mascot for the air base, and probably a much-needed distraction for the men. However, about a week after he came to live with them, Gunner began to demonstrate his remarkable hearing skills.

Time and time again, Gunner would whine and jump whenever he heard Japanese aircraft approaching. Long before the air raid siren sounded, Gunner would become agitated and head for shelter. He was able to warn Air Force personnel that the Japanese planes were coming up to 20 minutes before they appeared on the radar, and was so reliable that Percy was given permission to sound an alarm whenever Gunner gave his signal.

You’d think that living on an airbase, Gunner would soon get used to the sound of planes taking off and landing, but he only behaved like this when he heard Japanese planes – Allied ones didn’t faze him at all.

Gunner was accepted as a full member of the Air Force: he slept under Percy’s bunk, showered with the men, attended the movies with them, and regularly went up with pilots during practice flights.

Percy was posted to Melbourne 18 months later, and Gunner remained with the RAAF in Darwin, being cared for by the Air Force butcher, who had access to plenty of meat to feed Gunner. It’s not known what happened to Gunner when the war ended; I hope he lived a long happy life.

In the Air Force, the gunner is the person who operates the machine gun or cannon during air battles, although a Gunner is also any non-commissioned member of the air force in a Regiment. It’s often used as a slang term in several different ways, including in sport – for example, the word Gunner describes a certain specialist in gridiron, and the Gunners is a nickname for Arsenal Football Club. Gunners is also slang for a fans of the rock band Guns ‘n’ Roses.

Gunner has been used as a stage name in professional wrestling, such as by Gunner Scott (real name Brent Albright). It also sounds like the Scandinavian name Gunnar, which combines the elements for “war” and “warrior” together, to sound extra-warlike.

I’m not sure I would have suggested this as a possible baby name, except that I saw a baby called Gunner Phoenix in an Adelaide birth announcement last month.

I can see this as a wonderful way to honour a military connection in a family. Gunner sounds all boy … although according to some people, it sounds all dog! But we have established that the line between dog and human names has become increasingly blurred, and if you were going to give your baby the name of a dog, then what cooler canine than an Australian kelpie who became a wartime hero?

(Gunner’s story appears in the book Animal Heroes, by Anthony Hill. Photo of Gunner with Percy held by the Australian War Memorial)

Waltzing with … Sunniva

25 Sunday Dec 2011

Posted by A.O. in Waltzing with ...

≈ 13 Comments

Tags

Anglo-Saxon names, Christmas names, name history, name meaning, name popularity, nicknames, saints names, scandinavian names

This blog post was originally published on December 25 2011, and revised and re-posted on December 23 2015.

From the very start I knew that I would have a name profile due on Christmas Day, and began thinking of suitable names for girls. Because Christmas is just after the Summer Solstice in Australia, and because Christmas is on a Sunday this year, I kept coming back to one name: Sunniva.

This lovely name is the Scandinavian form of the Anglo-Saxon Sunngifu, which means “gift of the sun”. As Christmas is a time for sharing gifts, and Australian Christmases can often be hot and sunny, and Christmas 2011 is on the Sun’s own day, it seemed perfect.

The story of Sunniva is one fraught with drama and high adventure. According to legend, there was once a 10th century Irish princess called Sunngifu, a virgin and very devout Christian. When her land was invaded by a pagan king who wished to marry her, she made a brave and rather desperate decision to escape. Along with a group of loyal companions, amongst them her brother Alban, she fled in a ship without oars or sails, trusting their destination to God.

After a few hairy encounters with Vikings, the pious company settled on the island of Selje, off the coast of Norway. They moved into an empty cave, and supported themselves with fishing and gathering wild foods, living a life of austerity and holiness. If you live in a comfortable house with a supermarket just down the road, this might sound a bit eccentric or at least cold and dismal, but Irish saints had a long and rich tradition of taking themselves off to remote windswept islands to worship in peace, so Sunniva and her crew were pretty normal by the standards of their time and place.

Unfortunately, the locals on the mainland believed these peaceful cave-dwellers were rustling their sheep and chowing down on ill-gotten roast mutton rather than the simple viands of nature. They came after them, intending to murder them as payback. Sunngifu and her company prayed to God to save them from the angry Norsemen. When the armed band arrived on the island, they found nobody there, and the cave sealed by a landslide. None of the exiles were ever seen alive again.

(This story may remind Australian readers both of Waltzing Matilda, with the accused sheep-thief preferring death to punishment by the authorities, and Picnic at Hanging Rock, which also ends with a mysterious disappearance in a cave which seals itself.)

Many years later, after reports of an unearthly light and heavenly fragrance in the area, King Olaf Tryggvason ordered that the cave be opened. Sunngifu’s body was found unharmed by the landslide and incorrupted, and as this was a clear sign of sainthood, King Olaf had a church built in her honour. Her relics were moved to Bergen Cathedral, where they performed another miracle by halting a fire (these useful relics disappeared at some point, unfortunately).

She became known in Scandinavia as Saint Sunniva, and is Norway’s first female saint. Saint Sunniva is the patron of Bergen, and the west coast of Norway. Her feast day is July 8 – appropriately enough, at the height of the northern hemisphere summer. The island of Selje is a place of pilgrimage, and you may see there the ruins of a Benedictine monastery dedicated to the saint, called Selje Abbey.

Sunniva has been well used as a girl’s name in Scandinavia, and is currently #68 in Norway, although falling in popularity, as it peaked at #32 in 2000.

Sunniva is pronounced SOON-ee-vah, but some people prefer to say it SUN-ee-va. Other popular pronunciations are soon-EE-va and sun-EE-va. You could also pronounce it soon-IE-va or sun-IE-va.

Sunniva has a happy meaning, well suited to summer and a land of sunshine.  It provides good ties with our English, Irish and Norwegian heritages (we have several popular celebrities of Norwegian ancestry, and bush poet Henry Lawson’s father was from Norway). It’s an unusual name in Australia, but doesn’t sound particularly strange, and isn’t hard to spell or pronounce, once you work out which pronunciation you’d like.

Attractive nicknames for Sunniva include Sue, Susie, Sunny, Eve, Eva, Evie, Neva, Neve, and Zuzu.

POLL RESULT
Sunniva received an approval rating of 81%, making it one of the highest-rated names of 2011. 30% of people loved the name Sunniva, while only one person hated it.

(Picture is from the cover of Emma’s Secret by Steena Holmes)

Kai Erik Lassila: A Son for Lydia and Lauri Lassila

21 Sunday Aug 2011

Posted by A.O. in Celebrity Baby Names

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

Finnish names, name combinations, name history, name meaning, nicknames, Old Norse names, popular names, scandinavian names, Viking names

Lydia Lassila is an Australian Olympic freestyle skier, who has competed in three Winter Olympics and won gold in the aerials at the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver last year.

Winning gold came just five years after she ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament and underwent a radical knee reconstruction. In case you are not familiar with the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), rupturing the ACL sometimes spells the end of an elite athlete’s career. By the time their knee recovers from surgery, they are too old or out of condition to get back their previous level of fitness and skill.

However, Lydia was young, still in her early twenties, and determined to make a full recovery to competition fitness. So swift was her return that she was able to compete in the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin. During the second round of the aerials competition, her knee collapsed on impact after a difficult landing. She was just one jump away from the gold medal when her knee gave way. Onlookers still remember her spine-chilling screams of agony.

Lydia vowed that she would return to ski-ing when her knee recovered again. She took inspiration from her team mates Jacqui Cooper and Alisa Camplin, who had both made come-backs after similar knee injuries. As well as her physical rehabilitation, she gained motivation from internationally renowned sports psychologist Dr Barbara Meyer.

Her time away from competition gave her the opportunity to marry her Finnish boyfriend, Lauri Lassila, a former professional freestyle ski-er whose career highlight was winning silver at the Freestyle World Championships in 1999. Lydia and Lauri were married in a Scandinavian castle in mid-2007. Before her marriage, Lydia’s surname was Ierodiaconou; her mother is Italian and her father Greek-Cypriot.

Sixteen months after re-injuring her knee, Lydia made her come-back at the World Cup in China, where she won silver, and won her first World Cup title the following year. As world number 1, the pressure was on her to succeed at the 2010 Winter Olympics, and the beaming Lydia was soon dubbed “golden girl” for winning her medal.

She immediately took a year-long break from competition – this time so she and Lauri could start a family. Everything went to plan, and Lydia says she had a dream pregnancy, with no morning sickness, where she felt extremely healthy, and was able to exercise every day.

On Sunday May 8, which this year was the date of Mother’s Day, she gave birth to a healthy baby boy, with his dad’s blonde hair and blue eyes. He caused his happy parents some consternation, because they had elected not to find out the sex so it would be a surprise; however for some reason they were convinced they were having a girl! This is the second celebrity couple this year to be sure they were having a girl but had a boy; the first was Miranda Kerr and Orlando Bloom. Lydia and Lauri had a nice long list of girl’s names, but no names for boys picked out.

In the end, they chose a thoroughly Scandinavian name for the blonde baby who Lydia calls her “little Viking”.

Kai is a boy’s name commonly used in Finland, where it means “probably”. This may be a case of an existing name coinciding with a word in a modern language, because Kai could be a short form of Caius, or Kaiser, or Nicolaas, or any number of names. It’s one of those useful and simple names that occur in many different cultures and languages, and all of them ascribe a positive meaning to it, so it’s a truly international name that can travel anywhere. It’s currently #85 in Lydia’s home state of Victoria, and February 16 is the name day for Kai in Finland.

Erik is even more recognisable as a Scandinavian name. It’s derived from the Old Norse name Eiríkr, and the first element ei either means “single, alone”, or “ever, eternal”. The second element ríkr either means “ruler, prince”, or “powerful, rich”. It’s therefore interpreted to mean “only ruler”, “eternal ruler”, “eternal power”, or something along those lines.

It’s a name that has been heavily used in the royal houses of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, the most famous to us being Eiríkr Thorvaldsson, commonly known as Erik the Red. Exiled for three years from his home in Iceland after committing a few murders when neighbourhood disputes got slightly heated, Erik spent the time productively by exploring a little-known land mass to the west.

Showing good sales tactics, he decided to call this country “Greenland” in order to suggest it was rich and fertile; much as modern-day land developers name estates built on reclaimed swamp Gumnut Rise, to suggest it was once a hillside covered with trees, rather than the more accurate Muddy Flatland. To be fair, Greenland is green in bits, at certain times of the year.

When he returned home to Iceland, he spent the winter telling everyone about this fantastic place Greenland, to such good effect that he was able to persuade many people to become the first settlers in the new land. Whether it was quite as good as the brochures or not, the colonies eventually thrived, and Erik became head chieftain of Greenland, enjoying a wealth and respect he hadn’t attained in Iceland.

Erik remained a follower of Norse paganism all his life, but his son Leif Erikson was a convert to Christianity, and the first Viking to explore a country called Vinland, thought to be part of the west coast of Canada. Erik decided at the last moment not to accompany his children on the expedition to Vinland due to a bad omen that occurred on the way (falling off his horse), so he remained safely at home, where he shortly afterwards died in an epidemic brought over by some immigrants from Iceland. Maybe that’s what the omen was trying to tell him about, or perhaps it just means that when your time’s up, it’s up, whether you go or stay.

You may also know this name from Terry Jones’ movie Erik the Viking, starring Tim Robbins. It’s a Pythonesque satire on Viking life, and has nothing to do with Erik the Red, but it does help remind us that Erik is a Viking name.

I won’t pretend Kai and Erik are my favourite names ever (not that I don’t like them), but I am completely loving this name combination. It’s a fantastic way to give Kai a Finnish name that is also popular in Australia and doesn’t sound in the least out of place. I also think Kai Lassila just sounds perfect. A big thumbs up from me!

Bonds Baby Search 2011 – Names from the Shortlist

22 Friday Jul 2011

Posted by A.O. in Baby Contests

≈ 16 Comments

Tags

Arabic names, Celtic names, famous namesakes, French names, Gaelic names, germanic names, Hawaiian names, Irish names, Japanese names, locational names, name combinations, nicknames, Persian names, polynesian names, Roman names, saints names, Sanskrit names, scandinavian names, surname names, Swedish names, unisex names

Girls

Alexandra

Alira

Annabella

Anika

Ava Lily

Brooke

Claire

Daisy

Drisana

Grace

Gwyneth Chloe

Harvey

Ke’ala

Keela

Isabella

Mia

Mikayla

Montanna

Paige

Tully Belle

Boys

Beau

Bodie

Chace Tyler

Charles

Eskander

Isaac

James

Jensen

Jeremiah

Kooper

Leo

Maximus

Mekai

Oliver

Oscar

Remy

Riley

Sandon

Shaun

Taj

Tommy

Tyler

Zachariah/Zakkariah

Not sure (hard to tell on a bub!)

Marley (boy?)

Milan (girl?)

Osh (boy?)

Girls Names from Video Games

10 Sunday Apr 2011

Posted by A.O. in Name Themes and Lists

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

Arabic names, Australian name trends, celebrity baby names, code names, created names, dog names, english names, ethnonyms, famous namesakes, fictional namesakes, flower names, food names, French names, Greek names, hebrew names, Japanese names, locational names, mythological names, name history, name meaning, name popularity, names from movies, names from songs, names from video games, nature names, nicknames, Persian names, popular names, rare names, Russian names, saints names, scandinavian names, stage names, surname names, tree names, unisex names, vintage names, Welsh names, Yiddish names

This blog post was originally published on April 10 2011, and heavily edited and updated on April 16 2015.

Ayame
Ayame is a female ninja in the Tenchu series; she appears petite and feminine, but is possessed of a sharp tongue, and is a cunning and aggressive fighter. Her real name is Omon, so Ayame is her professional or code name. Ayame is the Japanese word for the iris flower. It is used as a girl’s name in Japan, and has a long history, for five generations of kabuki actors, beginning in the 17th century, adopted it as a stage name while playing female roles. The name has become a favourite for Japanese video games, anime, and manga. Pronounced ah-YAH-me, I have seen two girls in Australia with this name, and heard of another. The soft sound and floral meaning make this name an attractive choice which fits in with names like Aya and Ayla.

Coco
Coco is the smart, fearless younger sister of Crash Bandicoot in the Crash Bandicoot series, set in Australia. Coco is a nickname for any name with a CO sound in it, or given because of its similarity to the word cocoa. Its most famous namesake is French fashion designer Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel, who got her nickname from her days as a cabaret singer. It may have been an allusion to either one of her signature songs: Ko Ko Ri Ko (“Cock-a-doodle-doo”), or Qui qu’a vu Coco (“Who Has Seen Coco?” – Coco was a lost male dog). Another theory is that it was based on the French word coquette, used as a slang term for a kept woman or a mistress. Coco the Clown (born Nikolai Poliakoff) is one reminder of its use for males as well. Coco became a celebrity baby name when it was chosen by actress Courtney Cox for her daughter in 2004. Australian journalist Mia Freedman named her daughter Coco the next year, actress Diane Farr called one of her twin daughters Coco in 2008, and Tony Kanal from No Doubt welcomed a daughter with this name in 2011. This is a cute, flirty, yet stylish name that is still underused.

Elika
Prince of Persia is set in ancient Persia and inspired by the religion of Zoroastrianism. Elika is a runaway barefoot princess who must help the hero by systematically travelling the area, and magically healing particular sectors of ground called Fertile Lands; unfortunately each time she does this her life force becomes weaker. In appearance, Elika is beautiful with tousled dark chestnut hair, enigmatic hazel eyes, and a slender, fragile figure; her personality is guarded and serious. She is much greater than she appears, for she holds many secrets, and almost has the status of a demi-goddess. Elika is a name which is found in many different cultures, but I have seen the Persian name Elika translated as being derived from ela or ellka, the Sanskrit for “cardamon”, a fragrant spice tree. In the game Elikas’s name is pronounced ELL-eh-kuh, but eh-LAY-kuh is more traditional. This pretty name fits in with popular names like Ella and Layla, and is not too different from fashionable Elke.

Kairi
Kingdom Hearts is a collaboration between the makers of Final Fantasy and Disney, whereby Disney settings are crossed-over into a fictional universe, and characters from Final Fantasy interact with the player and popular Disney characters. Kairi is one of the hero’s best friends, and also one of the seven Princesses of Hearts – pure maidens whose hearts are free of all darkness. The name Kairi was invented for the game and according to creator Tetsuya Nomura, her name is derived from the Japanese word for “sea”, just as the other two main characters’ names mean “sky” and “land”. The name has become quite popular for use in use other Japanese video games, anime, and manga. It is pronounced KY-rhee, and is similar in sound to familiar names such as Kara, Kyra and Kylie. There is an Australian Aboriginal tribe called the Kairi, whose name has been given to a small town in Far North Queensland, so the name does not even have a particularly foreign sound to Australian ears. Kai can be used as a unisex nickname.

Lara
Lara Croft is the beautiful and intelligent heroine of the Tomb Raider series, an archaeologist travelling the world in search of adventure [pictured]. Lara is a Russian short form of Larissa. In Greek mythology, Larissa is a nymph, and it was also a common name for ancient Greek cities, as the name means “citadel”. Saint Larissa was a 4th century Goth who was martyred in the Crimea; her name is otherwise recorded as Baren or Beride. She is recognised as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox church, and the name Larissa is traditional in Russia and Slavic countries. The name Lara became known in the English-speaking world from Larissa, nicknamed Lara, in Boris Pasternak’s 1957 epic novel, Doctor Zhivago, which was banned in the Soviet Union but popular in the West. It was made into a successful Hollywood movie in 1965, with Julie Christie playing Lara; the piece Lara’s Theme from the film has become a favourite. Lara has charted in Australia since the 1960s, when the film was released, debuting at #337. It reached the Top 100 in the late 1990s, and peaked at #27 in 2002. In 2013 it was #54. Romantic and exotic, Lara is a softer alternative to names such as Laura, Laurel, and Lauren.

Rinoa
Rinoa Heartlilly is the main female character in Final Fantasy VIII, and the love interest of the hero. She is a cute friendly teenager who is member of a resistance faction seeking to liberate a small nation from occupation, and also has magical abilities which render her a “berserker” during warfare. Although it hasn’t been confirmed, game experts believe that the name Rinoa is supposed to be a Japanese rendition of Lenore, a short form of Eleanor. Lenore has a long history as a literary Gothic name, appearing in a Gothic German ballad as well as a poem by Edgar Allen Poe; it is possible that this dark side was intended as part of the character of Rinoa. As there is no spoken pronunciation of her name, you can say it however you like, but RINN-oh-uh seems to be the most commonly used. The nickname Noa gives this a unisex option.

Tira
Tira is a character in the Soulcalibur series. She is a very disturbed person who has been raised since childhood by a group of assassins, and has an uncontrollable urge to kill. A split personality, she has pledged herself to the powers of evil. Tira’s appearance reflects her madness, with rag-doll hair, tattered clothing and bizarre make-up. As her weapon of choice is a ring-blade which looks like a hula-hoop, she resembles a mental patient who has run away to join the circus. The name Tira is most likely an Anglicisation of the Scandinavian name Thyra, which means something like “strength of Thor”. It is pronounced TEE-ra, and people have told me that they love the sound of the name Thyra, but don’t like the look of it, or worry that others would pronounce it like TY-ra or THY-ra. The Tira spelling does solve that problem, and this name fits in well with Australian trends in girls names. I don’t know if it’s because of the video game (which is a slightly worrying thought), but I have seen and heard about quite a few babies called Tira. It seems to be popular to use it in a double name such as Tira-Lee or Tira-Rose.

Wynne
Wynne is a character in Dragon Age: Origins, a prominent mage and powerful spirit healer. Wise, dutiful and virtuous, she could have had a successful political career, but refuses power in order to fight demons and aid the innocent. A tall, handsome, middle-aged woman with an intelligent face, she takes a motherly role, and is blessed with common sense and a dry sense of humour. Wynne is a Welsh surname based on the male name Wyn, meaning “blessed, white, fair”. Although Wynne can be used for both sexes, it is often understood as a specifically feminine form of Wyn. It is the middle name of famous children’s fantasy author Diana Wynne Jones, which may have been a factor in the game makers choosing it. Simple and clean, this resembles the fashionable Winnie.

Zafina
Zafina is a character in the Tekken series who is born into an ancient bloodline which fights evil. The protector of a royal tomb, Zafina uses her spiritual powers to gain omens from the stars. Of Middle Eastern appearance, the game makers believe she is most likely Egyptian. Zafina is an Arabic name, which I have seen translated as “victorious, triumphant”. Pretty and usable, it makes an exotic alternative to Victoria, and sounds enough like familiar names such as Zara, Sophia and Seraphina to be easily accepted.

Zelda
The Legend of Zelda is the longest-running video game series so far. The eponymous Zelda is an elfin princess, usually slender and blonde with dark blue eyes, and often with magical powers. Zelda is a feminine form of the Yiddish name Selig, meaning “blessed, happy”, although it can be also be used as a short form of names such as Griselda. One of its most famous namesakes is Zelda Fitzgerald, wife and muse of American novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald. Beautiful, glamorous and daring, she was an icon of the Jazz Age, until her intensity and high spirits descended into obsession and mental illness. Zelda’s mother named her after characters in two romantic stories; in both of them, Zelda is a beautiful gypsy. The creator of The Legend of Zelda has said that Princess Zelda’s name was inspired by Zelda Fitzgerald. In turn, Princess Zelda has inspired a celebrity baby name, because actor Robin Williams named his daughter Zelda in 1989 because of his love for the video game series. Zelda can be found in Australian records in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and this is a zippy vintage name that feels clunky cool and fit for a princess.

POLL RESULTS
People’s favourite names were Lara, Zelda, and Wynne, and their least favourites were Elika, Tira, and Rinoa.

Girls Names from Songs

06 Sunday Mar 2011

Posted by A.O. in Name Themes and Lists

≈ 39 Comments

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American names, aristocratic names, Australian slang terms, British name trends, created names, famous namesakes, fictional namesakes, food names, French names, fruit names, gemstone names, germanic names, Hawaiian names, hebrew names, Latin names, name history, name meaning, name trends, names from films, names from songs, nature names, nicknames, Old Norse names, patriotic names, plant names, polynesian names, popular names, retro names, royal names, saints names, scandinavian names, Turkish names, UK name popularity, unisex names, vintage names, Yiddish slang


This list was first published on March 6 2011, and substantially revised and updated on March 12 2015.

Astrid
Goodbye (Astrid Goodbye) was a 1979 single for popular rock band Cold Chisel, written as an energetic set finisher. Songwriter Don Walker didn’t know anyone named Astrid, and thinks he probably heard of the name because of Bill Wyman’s partner, Astrid Lundstrom. Astrid is the modern form of Ástríðr, an Old Norse name which can be translated as “beloved of God”, or more freely as “divine beauty”. A traditional name amongst Scandinavian royalty since medieval times, it was the name of Canute the Great’s sister, giving it a slender English connection. It became well known in the English-speaking world because of popular Swedish children’s novelist Astrid Lindgren, the author of the Pippi Longstocking books, and has received fresh attention from Astrid Hofferson in the film How to Train Your Dragon. The name is often understood as being related to the word “star”, because it sounds like the Greek aster, which was exploited in a Dr Who special where Kylie Minogue played star-loving Astrid Peth. This attractive name is currently around the 500s.

Ayla
Ayla was a 1987 single for New Wave duo Flash and the Pan, comprised of music industry powerhouses and ex-Easybeats, Harry Vanda and George Young. The name Ayla has several possible origins. It can be a variant of the Hebrew name Elah, meaning “terebinth tree”, pronounced eh-LAH, or a Turkish name meaning “halo of light around the moon”, and often translated as “moonlight”. In Turkey, it is pronounced to sound like the name Isla. The name Ayla was also used for a beautiful, inventive, and spiritually gifted palaeolithic superwoman in the popular Earth Children  novel series by Jean M. Auel. In the books, Ayla is a Neanderthal attempt at the character’s real name, which isn’t given, but much longer; it is said like Kayla without the K. The name Ayla first joined the US Top 1000 in 1987, a year after Auel’s Clan of the Cave Bear was made into a film, starring Daryl Hannah. Despite being a flop, it seems to have catapulted Ayla to #593, and to have helped inspire the Flash and the Pan song. In Australia, Ayla joined the Top 100 in 2013, fitting in with popular names like Layla and Ava.

Clementine
Col Joye’s 1959 #1 hit single (Rockin’ Rollin’) Clementine is a hip retelling of the folk ballad, My Darling Clementine. In this version, the miner’s daughter Clementine is a jeep-driving “real down chick” who meets up with a “cat from the city” in a jumping joint where she hops, bops, and “digs that crazy rhythm”. Clementine is a French form of Clementina, the feminine form of Clement, from the Latin name Clemens, meaning “merciful, gentle”. Clement is a saint’s name, so Clementine would originally have been given with this in mind, and the name dates to the Middle Ages. It has a rather aristocratic image, with several French princesses named Clémentine, and Sir Winston Churchill’s wife was also called Clementine. A clementine is a small citrus fruit, but that isn’t an issue in Australia, where they are nearly always sold as mandarins. Clementine was quite a popular name in Australia in the 19th century, but has never been in the charts since Federation. There has been renewed interest in the name recently, with the quirky Clementine children’s book series by Sara Pennypacker, Clementine the moral compass in The Walking Dead video game, and free spirit Clementine in the film, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Expect to see more of this elegant vintage name in the future.

Evie
Stevie Wright is the former lead singer of legendary 1960s rock band The Easybeats. Australia’s first international pop star, he was the first forced to deal with the pressures of being famous and beautiful at a very young age, and the first to blaze, burn out, and come crashing down in spectacular fashion. Evie is his 1974 rock ballad of young love and new life blossoming, blooming, and then going appallingly wrong, and is the only 11-minute song to become a #1 hit. Evie is a pet form of Eve, or a short form of names like Evelyn. It’s been used as an independent name since the 18th century in America, and may have a Dutch influence. Evie first joined the charts in the early 2000s, after the song was covered by one-off supergroup The Wrights in 2004. It climbed so steeply that it was in the Top 100 by the late 2000s, and was #22 in 2013. It’s even more popular in the UK, so you can see this as part of the British nicknamey trend, as much as a tribute to an Australian classic.

Georgy
The Seekers were a folk group, and the first Australian band to achieve major success in the UK and US. Georgy Girl was the title song to the 1966 British movie of the same name, a Swinging Sixties coming-of-age tale about a naïve, frumpy young girl and her unconventional love affairs. The song went to #1 in Australia, and was The Seekers’ highest-charting single in the US, where it got to #2 and was used to advertise mineral water. Georgy can be used as a pet form of either the male name George, or the female names Georgia, Georgette, or Georgiana – the “Georgy Girl”in the song is named Georgina. Although Georgy has a long history of use for both sexes, it is far less common that the variant Georgie, which has charted for girls since the 1990s and is rising steeply in the 200s.

Leilani
Leilani, released 1982, was the début single by quirky rock group Le Hoodoo Gurus (later Hoodoo Gurus). The song’s narrative is loosely based on the plot of 1951 B-grade movie Bird of Paradise, and combines an exotic South Pacific setting with an oddly suburban mindset, and a fun faux-Polynesian chorus filled with Australian place names. Leilani is a Hawaiian name meaning “heavenly garland of flowers”, but often understood as “heavenly child”, pronounced lay-LAH-nee. It fits in with the trend for L-l names, such as Lillian, and is currently around the 300s. A very pretty Polynesian heritage choice which has the fashionable nickname Lani.

Matilda
Waltzing Matilda was written by Banjo Paterson in 1895. The Matilda in the song isn’t a dancing girl, but is what swagmen called the bundle that they carried; to “waltz Matilda” is to walk while carrying a bundle. It is said that the swagman in the song was a real person called Samuel Hoffmeister who was involved in the Shearer’s Strike of that year, so it’s a political protest song (unintentionally). Waltzing Matilda is our unofficial national song and the lyrics are written on every Australian passport. Matilda is a Germanic name meaning “mighty in battle”. A traditional name amongst European royalty, it was literally brought over with the Conqueror to England, as it was the name of William I’s wife, the mother of William II and Henry I. Her grand-daughter was named after her, and she was married to a Holy Roman Emperor, so was the Empress Matilda. She tried to claim the throne of England as her father’s heir, but was never crowned queen, being named Lady of the English – her son instead became King Henry II. Saint Matilda was a medieval German queen whose son became a Holy Roman Emperor; she is the patron saint of large families. Matilda was #144 in the 1900s, and disappeared from the charts in the 1930s. It made a comeback in the 1980s, after Matilda the Kangaroo was chosen as the mascot for the 1982 Commonwealth Games, held in Brisbane and won by Australia. Matilda joined the Top 100 in the early 2000s, peaked in 2009 at #16, and by 2013 had only fallen to #18. A patriotic retro name choice that is extremely stable in the charts.

Rosie
Founded by the brothers of one of the Easybeats, AC/DC is Australia’s most successful rock band, and one of the most successful world-wide. Whole Lotta Rosie is their cheeky 1978 single, allegedly based on Bon Scott’s real life encounter with an obese Tasmanian woman. Rosie is a pet form of Rose which has a long history as an independent name; it can be used as a short form of any Rose- name, such as Rosalie, Rosamund, Rosetta, or Rosemary. Rosie was #229 in the 1900s, and left the charts in the 1930s. It made a come-back in the 1980s, reaching #749 and climbing steeply. It was in the mid-100s in Victoria in 2012. A sweet, fresh-faced retro name that is already Top 100 in Britain.

Ruby
Ruby Wednesday is an early song by rock band Eskimo Joe, released in 1999. A whimsical re-take on the Rolling Stones’ Ruby Tuesday, it made the Triple J Hottest 100 the year it came out. Ruby is a precious gemstone, whose name comes from the Latin for “red”. It’s been used as a girl’s name since the 17th century, but became popular in the 19th, when gemstone names became fashionable. Ruby was #21 in the 1900s, and had left the Top 100 by the 1930s. It disappeared from the charts in the 1950s, but came back in the 1980s at #548. It reached the Top 100 in 1996, peaked at #1 in 2012, and and by 2013 was #2. A spunky retro choice which has already reached maximum popularity, and is therefore expected to gradually fall.

Sadie
Sadie (The Cleaning Lady) was a 1967 novelty song and the first solo single for pop idol Johnny Farnham; it hit #1 and was the biggest-selling single by an Australian artist in the 1960s. Sadie is a pet form of Sarah, which seems to have originated in 18th century America. The name gained an especially Jewish image in 19th century England, where in Yiddish slang, a Sadie was a low status Jewish girl, sometimes with connotations of prostitution. It’s interesting how often Sadie is linked with that profession, such as Sadie Thompson in the W. Somerset Maughan’s Rain, while The Beatles’ Sadie adds another “sexy” image to the name. Sadie was #145 in the 1900s, and left the charts in the 1940s. It returned in the late 2000s at #566, and in Victoria is in the mid-100s, a similar popularity to that in the UK, while it is already a Top 100 name in the US. This sassy retro name looks set to go places.

POLL RESULTS
People’s favourite names were Evie, Matilda, and Clementine, and their least favourite were Ayla, Leilani, and Georgy.

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