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Tag Archives: slave names

Boys Names from International Destinations

04 Sunday Oct 2015

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Ikuta Shrine

Arden
A region of Warwickshire in England, once thickly covered in trees and known as the Forest of Arden. It has strong Shakespearean connections, as William Shakespeare’s home town of Stratford-upon-Avon is one of the region’s main attractions. Furthermore, the Arden family were prominent in the area for centuries – they are one of the few landed families in England who can trace their lineage back to before the Norman Conquest. William Shakespeare’s mother, Mary Arden, was one of this family. Shakespeare’s comedy As You Like It is set in the Forest of Arden, a creative mixture of the real forest, a romanticised version of it, and the Ardennes Forest in central Europe. The name Arden is thought to come from the Ancient British word ardu, meaning “high land”; it has been used as a personal name since the 17th century, and had strong ties with Warwickshire. Arden is more popular for girls in the US (perhaps because of cosmetics company Elizabeth Arden), but is fairly even in the UK, and rising for both sexes. This matches my own observations in Australia, and it fits with both male and female name trends.

Boston
The capital of Massachusetts, one of the oldest and largest cities in the United States. Founded by Puritans in the 17th century, it was the scene of many of the key events in the American Revolution – perhaps most famously, the Boston Tea Party. Boston is one of the most economically powerful cities in the world, and a major educational centre, the home of top universities such as Harvard. It has been called “The Athens of America” for its contribution towards literature, art, music, and high culture in general. It is also known for its strong Irish history and culture: former President John F. Kennedy was from a Boston family of Irish Catholic heritage. The city is called after the town of Boston in Lincolnshire, whose name is said to be a contraction of “St Botolph’s town” – St Botolph was an obscure yet strangely popular Anglo-Saxon saint, and his name is believed to be an Old English one meaning “messenger wolf, herald wolf”. Also a surname, Boston has been in use since the 18th century. I saw this name more frequently after the Boston Marathon terrorist attacks in 2013, which matches the situation in the UK, although the name remained stable in the US.

Cairo
The capital of Egypt, and one of the largest cities in the world. Founded in the 10th century, it is close to several ancient sites, including the Pyramids, so that despite being a busy metropolis, it is often associated with the romance of Ancient Egypt. Cairo is a transliteration of the Arabic name for the city: al-Qāhirah, meaning “the victorious”. The reason for the name is because the planet Mars (in Arabic, Al Najm Al Qahir) was rising at the time of the city’s founding. The Egyptian name for the city is Khere-Ohe, meaning “place of combat”, referring to a battle which is supposed to have occurred here between the gods Set and Horus. Not only a strong, war-like name, Egyptian-themed names are very cool at present, and this might appeal to someone wanting a nod to African or Arabic culture. It fits very well with current trends in boys names and can be shortened to Cai.

Cuba
The largest island in the Caribbean, which was claimed for Spain by Christopher Columbus in 1492. It is an ethnically diverse nation with a tumultuous history, and has been under Communist rule since 1965. The island’s name comes from the indigenous Taino language, but the meaning is not certain: it may be from cubao, meaning “where fertile land is abundant”, or coabana, meaning “great place”. Cuba has become well known as a boy’s name due to Hollywood actor Cuba Gooding Jr. As his name tells you, Cuba was named after his father Cuba Gooding Sr, lead singer of the group The Main Ingredient. Cuba Sr’s father Dudley was from Barbados, but fled to Cuba, and met and married a woman there. After she was murdered because of their involvement in the Pan-African movement, Dudley promised her on her deathbed that he would name his first son Cuba. That is a very powerful name story for the name Cuba, and let’s face it, yours won’t be able to compete. However, Cuba has been used as a name since the 18th century, and in the US had strong ties to the African-American community: it may have originally been given as a slave name.

Denver
The capital of Colorado, and one of the largest cities in the American south-west. Set high in the Rocky Mountains, it has the distinction of being exactly one mile above sea level. The city was named after a 19th century politician, James W. Denver, in hopes of currying favour. The surname Denver is after a village in Norfolk, meaning “the passage of the Danes” in Old English – it’s a place on the River Ouse once crossed by Danish invaders. Famous people with the surname include Bob Denver from Gilligan’s Island, and singer John Denver (born Henry Deutchendorf). Denver Pyle played Jesse Duke in The Dukes of Hazzard, while a famous Australian namesake is Denver Beanland, a former Liberal politician from Queensland. The name isn’t particularly strongly tied to the city and can be seen just as easily as a surname name. In use in Australia since the 19th century, it has a reasonable history, so that it doesn’t seem too modern and trendy, despite having a fashionable letter V. Little wonder that it seems to be in quiet but steady use.

Harlem
An area of Manhattan in New York City which has been known as a major centre for African-American culture since the “Harlem Renaissance”of the 1920s. Originally a village settled by Dutch immigrants, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands. Haarlem is the capital of North Holland, and historically the centre of the famous tulip industry. Its name probably means something like, “home on the forested dunes”, as it lies on a thin strip of land near the North Sea. It is also a surname; one example is former Norwegian prime minister Gro Harlem. I see this name fairly regularly, and that’s probably because it fits in so well with the strong trend for Har- sounds in boy’s names, such as Harvey, Harley, Harland, and so on. Not only similar to these, Harlem celebrates a place with a cool, and perhaps slightly dangerous image. The Harlem Shake memes could even be a contributing factor!

Jericho
A city in Palestine on the River Jordan. It is believed to be one of the oldest inhabited cities in the world, and the oldest walled city; archaeologists have found remains in Jericho dated to 9000 BC. Jericho features in a famous Bible story, which tells how Joshua, the general of Moses, took the city of Jericho. The Israelites marched around the city perimeter for six days with the Ark of the Covenant. On the seventh day, they marched around seven times, then the priests blew a ram’s horn and the Israelites raised a great shout. The walls of the city fell down, and the Israelites slaughtered almost all the inhabitants. There is a very rousing African-American spiritual about the incident, where the “walls came tumbling down” – an inspiration for the Thatcher era pop song. Archaeologists tell us that although Jericho’s famous walls have been brought down during various conflicts, Jericho was temporarily abandoned during the time that Joshua was supposed to have lived. Perhaps more importantly for the name, it fits in with the current fashion for names with an -o ending, and joined the US Top 1000 in 2013, as it has recently become known as one of the Teen Titan superheroes, and a common name in video games.

Kobe
A busy port in Japan, and one of the country’s largest cities. It is famous for its hot springs, which provide a tranquil retreat and have been in use since at least the 8th century, making them amongst Japan’s oldest. The city’s name is connected to its Ikuta Shrine, a Shinto shrine founded in the early 3rd century to venerate Wakahirume, the Japanese goddess of the rising sun and weaving. The city’s name is derived from kamube, an old name for the people who supported the shrine. It is also a Japanese surname, after the city. The name has been popularised by American basketballer Kobe Bryant, whose parents named him after Kobe beef, a very high quality meat from Japan, that they saw on a restaurant menu. Although the Japanese pronunciation is more like KO-BEH, English-speakers generally say it as a homophone of the name Coby, which is one of the name’s attractions. In fact, it is also a Dutch pet form of Jakob. Kobe is around the 100s in Australia, significantly more popular than in either the US or the UK, although it is a Top 50 name in Belgium.

Memphis
The largest city in the state of Tennessee. It is famous as a centre for popular music; because of this, almost a thousand songs are about Memphis, or mention it in some way, and Graceland, Elvis Presley’s famous estate, is a major tourist attraction of the city. Memphis is named after a a capital of ancient Egypt because the American city is situated on the Mississippi, just as the Egyptian one was situated on the River Nile. The Egyptian city is now in ruins, but was once a port and busy commercial centre. Memphis is the Greek transliteration of the Egyptian name Men-nefer, meaning “enduring and beautiful”, and Greek mythology personified it as a nymph named Memphis who founded the city along with her husband, a king and son of Zeus. Despite this feminine history for the name, Memphis is much more common as a male name than a female one, most likely because of Elvis. It is around the 600s for boys in Australia, more popular than in either the US or UK.

Tyrone
The largest county in Northern Ireland. Its name comes from Tir Eoghain, meaning “land of Eoghan”; according to Irish legend, Eoghan was a son of a great medieval king who claimed this land for himself. Eoghan may be derived from Eugene, and thus an Irish form of the Welsh name Owen; others say it is from the Old Irish, and means “born under the protection of the sacred yew tree”. Tyrone has been used as a personal name since the 18th century, and originated in the United States, presumably as an Irish heritage name. It later became used in Ireland too. The name was popularised by Hollywood actor Tyrone Power Jr; part of a long line of actors, the name Tyrone was traditional in his family. The original Tyrone Power, the great-great-grandfather of the Hollywood actor, was from a landed family in Ireland. Tyrone entered the charts in the 1960s at #413, and peaked in the late 2000s at #181. Currently around the 300s, it has never become popular, yet never gone out of use, pioneering, and still fitting in with, the well-worn trend for Ty- names for boys, such as Tyler and Tyson.

POLL RESULTS
People’s favourite names were Arden, Jericho and Boston, and their least favourite were Cairo, Harlem and Cuba.

(Photo of the Ikuta Shrine in Kobe, Japan by Suguri F)

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Girls Names from International Destinations

27 Sunday Sep 2015

Posted by in Name Themes and Lists

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alaska-mountains

Aberdeen
The third largest city in Scotland, often called The Energy Capital of Europe because of its North Sea oil reserves, and Scotland’s most important city economically. Another of its claims to fame is that it is the coldest city in the UK. The original name for Aberdeen was Aberdon, a Celtic name meaning “mouth of the Don” – the River Don empties into the North Sea north of Aberdeen’s original site. The river’s name may be derived from Devona, a Celtic deity whose name means “river goddess”. I saw a baby girl named Aberdeen in the newspaper, and her mother emailed me to explain that her name is in honour of Kurt Cobain, lead singer for the rock band Nirvana, who was born in Aberdeen, Washington (Aberdeen’s father is a great admirer). The American city’s name is after a salmon cannery which was named for the Scottish city, because it is also situated on a rivermouth. A rare name with a possible feminine origin which can be shortened to Abby or Deeni.

Alaska
The most northern state of the USA, separated from the continental US by Canada. First colonised by Russia, it was purchased by the United States in the 19th century, and eventually became a state in 1959. Once famous as a gold rush area and wild frontier, it is now known for its vast gas and oil reserves, and stunning natural beauty. The state’s name was adopted during the Russian colonial period, derived from an Aleut word meaning “mainland” (literally “that which the sea breaks against”). The name has become better known since the 2005 publication of John Green’s first young adult novel, Looking for Alaska, with the character of Alaska Young a beautiful but unstable teenage girl who is the hero’s love interest.

Calais
A town and major seaport in northern France and a major trading centre since the Middle Ages. It is famously located at the narrowest point of the English Channel, and a popular place to make for when swimming the Channel (or crossing by ferry). It was once a territory of England, and called “the brightest jewel in the English crown” for its rich commercial opportunities. The Romans called it Caletum, apparently in reference to the local Celtic tribespeople; it was from Calais that Caesar launched his invasion of Britain. Pronounced kal-ay, Calais sounds similar to names such as Callie and Carly while having the fashionable AY sound. Calais is also a boy’s name – in Greek mythology, Calaïs was a son of the North Wind, and one of the Argonauts. The name means “turquoise” or “chrysolithe” (another blue-green jewel), so is a rare masculine gemstone name. It is pronounced KAL-uh-ees. I’ve seen several boys in Australia named Calais, but more likely because of the car, the Holden Commodore Calais, than after the Greek hero.

Havana
The capital of Cuba, and a popular tourist destination that’s almost instantly recognisable from its colourful architecture and vintage cars. Under American occupation before the revolution, it was a playground for the middle classes, a sort of offshore Las Vegas with an exciting tinge of corruption and decadence. The city was founded by the Spanish in the early 16th century and named San Cristóbal de la Habana. Saint Christopher is the city’s patron, but the meaning of Habana isn’t certain. It may come from Habaguanex, the name of a Native American chief who controlled the region. The name has become fairly well known in Australia because of the DJ, singer, and dancer Havana Brown. Born in Melbourne to parents from Mauritius, Havana’s birth name is Angelique Meunier. The name Havana was #339 in Victoria in 2012. Pronounced huh-VAH-nuh, it fits in with the trend for names with a strong V sound, and looks like a natural successor to Ava and Harper.

Holland
A historic region of the Netherlands, sometimes informally used to refer to the country itself (Dutch people outside North and South Holland may not appreciate this, just as Scots don’t care for being told they’re from England). The name comes from the Middle Dutch holtland, meaning “wooded land”, but folk etymology connects it to the modern Dutch hol land, meaning “hollow land”, because the Netherlands is famously low-lying. Holland is also an area of Lincolnshire, similarly flat and famous for tulips, but its name comes from the Old English for “hill spur land, ridge land”. It is from this area that the English surname Holland comes, and you can see Holland as a surname name too. Both Holland Park in London and the Holland Tunnel in New York are from the Lincolnshire connection. Holland is also a fabric; this heavy linen was in the past often imported from the Netherlands. Long in use for both sexes, on a girl this name easily shortens to Holly.

India
India is named for the Indus River, one of the longest rivers of Asia, which flows from Tibet into the Arabian Sea; the Sanskrit name for the river is Sindhu, which means “body of trembling water”. Alexander the Great crossed the Indus, and the ancient Greeks called the people of present-day Pakistan and India Indoi, meaning “people of the Indus” – it’s the origin of the word for the Hindu religion as well. The Indus Valley was the birthplace for an ancient civilisation, the oldest urban culture in South Asia. In Britain, India was often given as a name in reference to the British Raj, and still has a rather upper class image in the UK. In the US, India had steady use in Indiana, but overall was more common in the south – a famous fictional namesake is India Wilkes from Gone With the Wind, the sister of Ashley. India was also given as a slave name in colonial America, perhaps because it was associated with a dark complexion. It’s always been a name which symbolises exoticism to Europeans, and is around the 200s in Australia, a natural successor to popular Indiana and sharing the nickname Indi.

Mississippi
An American state in the south, named for the Mississippi River, another inspiration for the name. The Mississippi is the chief river of North America, and one of the largest in the world, rising in Minnesota and meandering to the Gulf of Mexico. The Mississippi River Valley is one of the country’s most fertile areas, and was the focus for the steamboat era, brought to life in the works of Mark Twain. It features in songs such as Johnny Cash’s Big River, Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Proud Mary, and Charley Pride’s Roll on Mississippi. The river’s name comes from Misi-ziibi, the Objibwe or Algonquin for “great river”. Lengthy, and a spelling minefield for the unwary, this comes with two snappy nicknames: Missi and Sippi.

Odessa
A city in the Ukraine founded by Catherine the Great. It was named thus because of a belief that it was the site of an ancient Greek city called Odessos – Odessos is now thought to have been where Varna, in modern Bulgaria, is today. The name is probably pre-Greek, and its meaning and origin unknown. A free port, Odessa was a city where people of many cultures and languages mingled; its cosmopolitan nature made it a place for freethinkers to congregate, and Mark Twain predicted it would become one of the great cities of the world. The first tremors of the Russian Revolution could be felt here in 1905, after a workers’ uprising was put down with a brutal massacre. Odessa looks as if it could be related to all kinds of familiar names, and is sometimes even touted as a feminine form of Odysseus, so it feels like a “real name”. It’s right on trend and would make a great alternative to popular Olivia.

Sahara
The largest desert in Africa, and the largest hot desert of the world, the Sahara stretches right across northern Africa, often very beautiful in its shifting sandscapes. Its name is an intensifier of ṣaḥrā , the Arabic word for desert, to suggest “great desert”. The singer-songwriter Sahara Smith received her name because her father hiccuped while suggesting the name Sara, and liked the result. This is a pretty name which is so similar to names like Sara, Sarah, Zara and Zahara that its main issue is probably being confused with them.

Venice
A city in northern Italy built on a series of islands separated by a maze of canals and linked by bridges. It is seen as one of the most beautiful cities in the world and a very romantic destination, thanks to its ornate architecture and the gondolas providing transport through its waterways. A wealthy city for most of its history, it has a particularly strong connection with the arts and music, and has featured in many plays, novels, and films. The city’s name comes from the Veneti, the tribespeople who populated the area in ancient times. Etymologists believe their name comes from an ancient root meaning “strive, wish for, love” (to suggest strong kinship bonds), giving it a very attractive meaning as well. The name seems to have been used since the 16th century, although in at least some records, may have been confused with the related names Venus or Venetia. This artistic name would make a good alternative to rising Florence.

POLL RESULTS
People’s favourite names were Odessa, India and Holland, and their least favourite were Havana, Venice and Mississippi.

(Photo is of Denali National Park in Alaska)

Famous Names: Bowie and Pluto

20 Thursday Aug 2015

Posted by in Famous Names

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Names in the News
On July 14 this year NASA’s New Horizons space probe made its closest encounter with the dwarf planet Pluto. Australia was the first place on Earth to receive images of Pluto from New Horizons, at the CSIRO’s Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex at Tidbinbilla. The CDSCC has been tracking New Horizons since it was launched in 2006, and it will take more than a year to receive all the data.

Two days later, the David Bowie Is touring exhibition opened at Melbourne’s Australian Centre for the Moving Image, and broke all records for ticket sales before anyone stepped inside the doors. First staged at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, it has already been seen by more than 1 million people around the world. The show includes costumes, video, photographs, and items from Bowie’s own collection, including notes and sketches.

David Bowie has a special significance in Melbourne. His first Australian tour was in 1978, and the biggest concert of his career to that point was at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. People queued for three weeks to buy tickets, and the fact that it poured with rain did nothing to dampen the spirits of 40 000 fans. His experiences in Australia in the 1970s inspired the music video for Let’s Dance, filmed in Sydney and outback Carinda).

Besides having key Australian events at around the same time, there isn’t an obvious connection between Bowie and Pluto. Except that Bowie has had so many references to space in his music – Space Oddity, Ashes to Ashes, Ziggy Stardust, Moonage Daydream, The Stars (Are Out Tonight), Life on Mars?, Star Man – that it doesn’t seem too much of a stretch to cover these names together.

BOWIE
Scottish surname derived from the Gaelic nickname Buidhe, meaning “yellow”, to denote someone blond or fair haired. It has also been used to Anglicise the Irish surname Ó Buadhaigh, meaning “son of Buadhach”, with Buadhach meaning “victorious”, although more commonly that’s Anglicised to Boyce. In rare cases it may be a variant of the English surname Bye, from the Old English for “bend”, referring to someone who lived on a river bend.

The Bowie surname originates from Kintyre in western Scotland, and the Bowie family were early colonists to America, with John Bowie Snr one of the founders of Maryland in the early 18th century. He was the grandfather of James “Jim” Bowie, who played a prominent role during the Texas Revolution, and died at the Battle of the Alamo in 1836.

The thick heavy blade known as a Bowie knife is named after Jim, who carried a hunting knife with him and had a reputation as a skilled knife fighter. His brother Rezin Bowie is supposed to have been the creator of the Bowie knife, although Bowie family history relates that it was Rezin’s blacksmith who created the knife.

David Bowie was born David Jones, and first performed as Davie Jones, which risked being confused with Davy Jones from The Monkees. He chose his stage name after seeing the movie The Alamo in 1963, with Richard Widmark as Jim Bowie; allegedly he wanted a name with a “cutting” feel to it, like Mick Jagger’s, and the Bowie knife gave it some edge. He deliberately chose the name of a famous American, as American music and culture had first inspired him.

Bowie has been used as a personal name since the 18th century, and originated in Scotland. Mostly used as a middle name, it was first given as a family name, but in 19th century America increasingly given to honour Jim Bowie: it was particularly found in the southern states. The name Bowie has been given to both sexes, but mostly to boys.

Jagger, Lennon, and Hendrix are reasonably common names, but even with the fame of David Bowie, the name Bowie is in rare use. It doesn’t chart in Australia, while in the UK there has been a smattering of Bowies on the charts since 2003; in 2013 there were 5 baby boys named Bowie. In the US last year, there were 59 baby boys named Bowie and 30 baby girls (numbers rose considerably for boys, but fell for girls).

It is slightly puzzling why Bowie isn’t used more. It sounds like familiar names like Beau, Bohdi, and Brodie, is a counterpoint to popular Archer, and as a knife it fits the trend for weaponry names like Blade.

One issue is that the pronunciation is slightly confused. In the US, Bowie tends to be said BOO-ee, the usual pronunciation of the surname and the Bowie knife. The British sometimes say the first syllable of David Bowie’s surname like the bough of a tree, whereas Bowie himself says it like bow and arrows.

PLUTO
In Greek mythology, Pluto is the god of the Underworld and the afterlife. His earlier name was Hades, but gradually this was used to mean the Underworld itself. Pluto is the Latinised form of the Greek Plouton, meaning “wealth, riches”, and the name is sometimes glossed as “giver of wealth”.

It makes sense that Pluto should be associated with wealth, because he has dominion over all the precious metals, gems, and resources under the earth, and all crops planted in soil. He was a god of abundance, and from early on was associated with agricultural fertility – which is why he was the natural husband for the agricultural goddess Persephone. Pluto and Persephone were revered as a divine couple with knowledge of the mysteries of birth and rebirth.

In the Christian era, there was often a horror of gods of death and the Underworld, who tended to be associated with Satan or demons. Pluto’s image, never a particularly cheerful one, became positively macabre, with Hades a place of torment. In Dante’s Inferno, Pluto rules the fourth circle of Hell, where those who have squandered their wealth are sent. Medieval English writers sometimes conflated Hades with Fairyland, giving Pluto a magical elf-king quality.

The dwarf planet Pluto was discovered in 1930 by a young astronomer named Clyde Tombaugh who had just started working at the Lowell Observatory in Arizona. It was named by an eleven-year-old Oxford schoolgirl named Venetia Burney. She made the suggestion to her grandfather Falconer Madan, retired from the University of Oxford’s Bodleian Library. He had the connections to ensure that Venetia’s idea got to the right people, they unanimously agreed, and Venetia was paid £5 (around $450 in today’s money). A big help was that the first two letters were PL – the initials of Percival Lowell, who had founded the observatory.

When Walt Disney studios created a pet dog for Mickey Mouse in 1930, he was named Pluto – apparently after the planet, although nobody is able to confirm that. So Pluto went from being a god name to a dog name!

Pluto is a gloomy god, a dwarf planet, a cartoon dog … but the name has also been rarely used for humans. The name is first found in colonial America in the 18th century, as a slave name. Pluto can be found in Australian historical records (Pluto Riches and Pluto Surprise are two interesting finds), and was also given to Aboriginal servants. Overall, Pluto has mostly been used in the United States. Use of the name, always low, fell after 1930 and never recovered, although it isn’t clear whether parents were put off by the astronomical body or the Disney character.

Pluto is probably too much of a space oddity to use as a first name, but would make a memorable middle.

Two rare names from the stars: which one will rate better?

POLL RESULTS
The name Bowie received an approval rating of 50%. 42% of people weren’t keen on it, although 17% loved it.

The name Pluto was much less popular, with an approval rating of 15%. 46% of people weren’t keen on it, and only 7% thought it was a good name.

(Picture of David Bowie in 1973 by Masayoshi Sukita; photo from Urban Walkabout)

Baby Names That Don’t Always Travel Well

12 Sunday Oct 2014

Posted by in Naming Issues

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Last month I had an article on baby names that are widely popular all over the world, and this post is its opposite – a look at some baby names which are common or accepted in Australia, but can be problematic in other countries.

While an international name means that most people understand your name easily, these are names that not everyone are going to immediately “get”. They may need explanation, a thick skin, and in some cases, a nickname or more appropriate middle name to the rescue.

I often see Australians having a laugh at foreigners with “funny” names, so this is a reminder that one day your child could be the foreigner with the funny name!

BOYS

Banjo
It’s the name of our national poet, but let’s face it, it will sound weird to people in other countries.

Connor
Sounds very much like the French word connard, which is an extremely rude insult.

Duncan
In Australia this is an underused classic. However, in many parts of the world, the American company Dunkin’ Donuts makes people associate the name with sugary deep-fried dough. It’s enough for Nancy from Nancy’s Baby Names to consider the name unusable – she’s from New England, which is where Dunkin’ Donuts originated. Dunkin’ Donuts are rapidly expanding through the United States, and sold in many countries around the world. They used to be here too, and I can’t remember the name being an issue – maybe I didn’t eat enough doughnuts.

Hamish
Although popular here for decades, this is a very rare name in the United States, and according to Nameberry, is seen as “redolent of Olde Scotland”. Even Angela Mastrodonato from Upswing Baby Names sees Hamish as much too stereotypically Scottish for American use. In German, Hamish sounds just like the word hämisch, meaning “bitter, spiteful”.

Harry
In many parts of the United States, this name is commonly pronounced the same way as the word hairy. It is enough of a problem that the city of Fort Wayne in Indiana decided not to name a government building, or any streets, after a popular mayor named Harry Baals (Baals pronounced like the word “balls”). However, there is a Harry Ball [baseball] Field in Massachusetts which doesn’t seem to have caused any issues.

Kai
Kai is a common name for boys and girls in many countries of the world – but not New Zealand. Why? Because it’s the Maori word for “food”.

Kevin
This Australian classic that we were happy to elect to high public office seems to be the most internationally despised name, with Germans in particular discriminating against Kevins. They even have a word for it: Kevinism (like racism, but more socially acceptable). In the UK, it’s short form Kev is another word for chav.

Luke
In Russian it sounds the same as the word for man hole.

Ned
In Scotland, ned is very derogatory slang for “thug, lout”, and even in parts of England isn’t viewed favourably (rather in the fashion of Kevin).

Rex
A classic name in Australia, but considered to be a dog’s name in Central and Eastern Europe: in Germany, they cannot seem to disassociate it from German Shepherd star, Inspector Rex. We also have a tradition of dogs called Rex, and Inspector Rex is on here television here too. Go figure.

GIRLS

Allegra
An allergy medication in the United States – it’s sold as Telfast here.

Bebe
In French, this is the word for baby. Comedian Adam Hills has a daughter called Beatrice, nicknamed Bebe, and during this year’s comedy festival in (French-speaking) Montreal, he noted the puzzled and disdainful reactions he received when announcing his daughter’s name (much like here if you told people you’d called your baby, Baby). In Finland, a bebe is a type of cake.

Harriet
Harriet was one of the fastest-rising names of last year. But in Iceland it became a huge problem for one family, with the threat of Harriet’s passport being cancelled. Harriet doesn’t make sense grammatically in Icelandic, so it is on the list of banned baby names. Of course, that only applies to babies born to at least one Icelandic parent – it won’t stop someone named Harriet living in Iceland. However, English people who work in Iceland and have names that aren’t on the official list say their names have made communication very difficult, due to the problems with Icelandic grammar. I suspect that in countries which have official lists of names, anyone with a name that doesn’t make the list might be seen in a negative light, as they won’t have a “real name”.

Jemima
Fashionable Jemima is a “problem name” in the United States, where Aunt Jemima is a highly popular brand of breakfast foods. The image for Aunt Jemima is an African-American woman, originally a stereotyped figure from a minstrel show. Even though the modern icon of Aunt Jemima is quite different, many white Americans still feel uncomfortable about the brand’s racially-loaded history. They may also be discomfited that Jemima was a “slave name” – probably an Anglicisation of one of the many similar-sounding African names. African-Americans seem less conflicted about using the name Jemima, and can even feel positive towards the affirming side of the trademark.

Lola
Means “grandmother” in the Philippines – it’s the opposite problem to Bebe.

London
In Britain this is considered a “weird name”. Well fair enough – imagine if you met an Englishwoman named Canberra Smith! (I think it would be cool, but still weird).

Nikita
Although nearly always a female name here, in Russia and eastern Europe it is a male name. Rocking up and declaring yourself to be a girl named Nikita is the same as a woman in Australia explaining she’s named Nicholas.

Piper
Sounds very similar to the Dutch word pijpen, which literally means “playing the flute”, but is also vulgar slang for oral sex. Apparently sounds enough like it to be readily confused by Dutch speakers.

Pippa
This just entered the Top 100 in Australia, rising since the royal wedding in 2011. However, in Sweden it is a vulgar word for sexual intercourse, and in Italy, slang for masturbation or a hand job. In Poland, the word pipa is pronounced just like Pippa, and means “vagina”; as in English, this word can be used as an insult against a person.

Poppy
In German, Poppy sounds similar to poppen, a vulgar slang term for sexual intercourse. Names with a P-p sound seem to be a bit of an issue.

What names do you know of that might be a problem in other countries?

Waltzing With … Sunday

13 Sunday Apr 2014

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Heide_1_at_Heide_Gallery

In a week it will be Easter, which is always on the first Sunday after the full moon following March 21. This computation was agreed upon in the 4th century, although it was apparently already an old tradition in Rome. The Gospels tell us that the Resurrection of Christ took place on a Sunday, and from then on the day had special significance for Christians.

In the New Testament Sunday is called the Lord’s Day, and early Christians gathered for worship then. This was formalised in the 4th century, and may have been easier to implement because Sunday was already a public holiday in the Roman Empire. It is because of Christianity, and in particular because of Easter, that Sunday is regarded as a holiday – technically every Sunday of the Christian year is “Easter”, because it commemorates the Resurrection.

The English word Sunday comes from Old English, and simply means “sun’s day”. It is derived from the Germanic translation of the Latin term dies solis, meaning “day of the sun”, and in turn, this translates the Ancient Greek, heméra helíou.

The Ancient Greeks named each day of the week after the sun, the moon, and the five known planets, which were associated with gods; an idea they got from the Egyptians. The Romans followed this pattern, as did the Germanic peoples. It seems to be an Indo-European custom, because in most Indian languages, the word for Sunday is also linked with sun gods. So although Sunday has strong Christian associations, the English word has a long pagan history.

Sunday has been used as a personal name since at least the 18th century, and was possibly used for babies born on a Sunday. The first American named Sunday I can find was African-American, and in her case it may have been a slave name. The name Sunday was originally given fairly evenly to boys and girls, although today Sunday is usually thought of as a female name. Its unisex status is still active – in 2012 we had a celebrity baby boy called Sunday.

Sunday has become a celebrity baby name in Australia, since radio host Kate Langbroek chose it for her eldest daughter, Sunday Lil Lewis, in 2005. Kate’s daughter was named after celebrated art patron Sunday Reed, born Lelda Sunday Baillieau. She was from a wealthy and privileged background, and her second husband was John Reed. Together the couple gave both friendship and financial support to modern artists such as Sidney Nolan and Charles Blackman. Sidney Nolan became Sunday’s lover, and he painted his famous Ned Kelly series in the Reeds’ dining room.

The Reeds’ home near Heidelberg was named Heide, and it later became the Heide Museum of Modern Art. There was a kitchen garden at Heide, and many years later, Kate Langbroek ate from a rockmelon which Sunday Reed had planted there. It seems to have been something of an epiphanous moment for Kate, and served as the inspiration for her daughter’s name.

In 2008, actress Nicole Kidman and her husband, country music star Keith Urban, named their eldest daughter Sunday Rose. This caused Kate Langbroek a certain amount of consternation, who declared that the Kidman-Urbans had “stolen” her baby name.

What may have made it more irritating for Kate was that news sources reported that Sunday Rose had also been named after Sunday Reed. Nicole’s father Dr Antony Kidman was quoted as saying that he and Nicole’s mother had suggested the name Sunday after reading about Sunday Reed.

Meanwhile, baby name conspiracy theorists believed that the name Sunday had been chosen for its Christian significance. They saw the choice of the name Sunday as a declaration of Nicole Kidman’s Catholic faith, and a public rejection of her ex-husband’s devotion to the Church of Scientology.

By Nicole Kidman’s testimony, neither of these stories was correct, and they simply liked the name Sunday. Furthermore, what made the name special to them was that Sunday was the couple’s day to spend together – it was a name that symbolised love and the end of loneliness. It was also the day of the week they got married.

Although some people still see Sunday as a religious name, it’s important to remember that Sundays have secular significance too. Sunday is a holiday, a day of freedom from work, a day for sports and games, for beaches and barbecues, for friends and family. A great day for visiting art museums, too!

When the name of Nicole and Keith’s daughter was announced, I was surprised to see how many people online thought of it as a “wacky celebrity baby name”, like Audio Science or Pilot Inspektor. There often seemed to be disdain or even hostility towards it. In Australia, most people seem to like the name, except those who think that Sunday Rose sounds too much like “Sunday roast”.

Now Canadian comedian Mike Myers has a daughter named Sunday – Sunday Molly. However, Mike’s son is named Spike, which may just cement the idea that Sunday is the sort of crazy baby name that parents who like the name Spike might choose.

The name Sunday has only been on the US Top 1000 once, in the 1960s, and is extremely rare in the UK. Sunday has never charted in Australia, and between 2002 and 2007 there were 36 babies named Sunday born in Victoria. While Kate Langbroek hasn’t managed to keep the name to herself, her fear was that after the birth of Sunday Rose, the popularity of the name would snowball and there would be a “plague of Sundays”. Her baby name nightmare hasn’t eventuated – yet it does feel as if the name Sunday is slowly gathering momentum.

Sunday is a rare name, but still in occasional use, and you must not expect to be the only parent in the world, or even the state, with a little Sunday. It’s a day of the week with a simple meaning, and many layers of associations that are pagan, Christian and secular, but overall tied to the light and life from the sun – a name of warmth and happiness. Sunny or Sunnie is the obvious nickname, which brings the name right back to its origins.

POLL RESULT
Sunday received an excellent approval rating of 80%. 31% of people thought it was a good name, while 28% thought it was a great name. Less than 5% of people hated the name Sunday.

(Photo shows the original 19th farmhouse at the Heide Museum of Modern Art in Melbourne, which became a focal point for progressive art and culture: the Reeds made it their home from 1935 to 1967)