Tag Archives: unisex names

Waltzing With … Sydney

07 Sunday Feb 2016

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Sydney-Circular-Quay-2012Famous City
On Australia Day, January 26, we celebrate the start of European settlement in Australia, when the First Fleet landed at Sydney Cove in 1788. Not much was actually done on this day – the ships landed, they ran up a flag, and drank a toast to the king. Few people went onshore, and convicts did not begin disembarking until the following day.

It was on February 7 1788, 228 years ago today, that the colony was proclaimed by Governor Arthur Phillip. Everyone gathered for a ceremony where possession was formally taken of the east coast of Australia by Britain – although the description of offshore territories was left sufficiently vague that it’s possible they also took New Zealand at the same time.

They did not acknowledge the Indigenous population as owners of the land, but Governor Phillip did intend to treat them humanely and kindly. Unfortunately these good intentions didn’t work out that well in the long term, mostly due to cultural ignorance and the fact they were about to unknowingly decimate the local population with a bunch of diseases.

People love to make myths about the founding of nations and cities, and in the case of Sydney, it has a strange and salacious foundation myth. It states that when the convict women were finally allowed off the boat on February 6, there was such a burst of pent-up sexual excitement that the day ended with a drunken orgy. How an orgy works when there are many more men than women is left to our imaginations.

Male historians and writers seemed to be especially fond of this urban legend, apparently loving the idea that Sydney was founded on a hotbed of drunken gang rape. They helped spread it even when they knew it wasn’t true, because there is barely a shred of evidence to support it. The soldiers’ wives were allowed off the ships not long after their husbands, and a few hand-picked convict women on February 5.

The next day, the rest of the convict women disembarked in small groups, surprising one commentator who found them cleaner and better-dressed than expected. There were no drunken convicts, because they weren’t given any alcohol. The big event was the weather, alarming to the British but entirely normal for a Sydney summer – a hot, muggy day ended with a spectacular thunderstorm, including a massive lightning strike which killed a handful of sheep. Thankfully the sheep have been left out of the orgy legend.

There was certainly plenty of sex in early Sydney, but probably most of it was between people who were already in partnerships, or at least knew each other previously. Instead of a mass orgy, there was a burst of weddings which took place in the new colony, as people settled down together and raised families – these came quickly, as everyone appeared to get pregnant easily in Sydney, even those considered barren, so that the land seemed healthy and fertile.

That was the start of Sydney as we know it – not the boozy party town you might have thought, but still a place of love and hope, new life and fresh beginnings, myths and legends, sunshine and storms, and minor miracles. Not to mention the occasional lightning-struck sheep: surely the progenitor of the traditional lamb chop on the barbie.

Name Information
Captain Arthur Phillip’s first idea for the city’s name was New Albion, a poetic way to refer to England. However, he soon changed his mind, and named it Sydney after Thomas Townshend, Baron Sydney, who was the Home Secretary. This wasn’t a first – Sydney in Nova Scotia had been named after Townshend three years earlier.

The choice of Sydney made a lot of sense, because Thomas Townshend was recognised as the originator of the plan to colonise New South Wales (at that time, the whole eastern seaboard of Australia).

He also gave the colony its first constitution and judicial system – a sign that he did not want New South Wales to be a mere penal settlement, but a colony of free citizens under English law. Although his ideals may not have always worked out in the reality of colonisation, his determination that slavery be illegal here was at least a promising start.

Townshend had originally wanted his title to be Baron Sidney, after his ancestor Sir Algernon Sidney, the famous republican, patriot and martyr, whose revolutionary ideas would help bring about the founding of the United States.

However, Townshend worried that other family members might stake a claim to it (even barons have to worry about name stealing!), so he thought about making his title Sydenham, the name of a village near his home in Kent which is now a suburb of London.

Sydnenham may mean “Cippa’s village”, which is sometimes translated as “drunkard’s village” (there are many places in England derived from Cippa, so that adds up to a lot of drunk Anglo-Saxons!). Others prefer the less controversial “market village”.

Eventually, Thomas Townshend managed to find a compromise with Sydney. To make it clear he wasn’t trying to steal Algernon Sidney off any relatives, he said it was in honour of his ancestor Sir Robert Sidney, 1st Earl of Leicester, the brother of the poet Sir Philip Sidney, who brought us the name Stella. Sir Robert was a poet as well, a diplomat and patron of the arts in Elizabethan and Jacobean times.

In the days when people were more relaxed about spelling, the Sidney family often spelled their name Sydney. The aristocratic surname Sidney is from a place name meaning “wide island” – in this case, island refers to a dry patch in a wetland. It can also be loosely translated as “at the watermeadow”. Folk etymology connects it with the suburb of St. Denis in Paris, named after the city’s patron saint. The surname originates from Kent, where the Sidney family had a seat at Tunbridge Wells.

Sydney has been used as a personal name since at least the 16th century, and was in use by the Townshend family. The name was originally given to both sexes fairly evenly, and then gradually became more common as a girl’s name, although still given to boys. By the 19th century, the situation reversed and it became much more common for boys – a variant of Sidney, rather than a feminised form of it.

Famous people named Sydney include Sydney Smirke, the architect who designed the famous Carlton Club in London; witty author Sydney Smith, whom Henry Tilney in Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey is said to be based; actor Sydney Greenstreet; Sydney Silverman, the British MP whose efforts helped bring about the abolition of the death penalty in that country; American astrologer Sydney Omarr; and Hollywood director and producer Sydney Pollack.

Two famous actors named one of their children Sydney. Comic genius Sir Charles “Charlie” Chaplin had a son named Sydney, named in honour of Chaplin’s brother, actor Sydney Chaplin. Distinguished Hollywood star Sir Sidney Poitier has a daughter named Sydney, apparently named after himself. Both Sidney Earle Chaplin and Sydney Poitier entered the acting profession.

The most famous Sydney in fiction is Sydney Carton, from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. Although a flawed character, he redeems himself through an act of heroism, and Dickens gives him some farewell lines that are among the most quoted in English literature.

In Australia, Sydney charted as a unisex name from 1900 to the 1960s. It peaked in the 1910s at 222 births per year, but by the 1950s registered only 4 births per year. Although recent data is hard to come by, it would seem that Sydney is still given to both sexes, with perhaps more girls with the name overall. It is in steady but unobtrusive use.

In the UK, Sydney was a popular name for boys from the 19th century until the 1940s. Since the mid-1990s, it hasn’t been popular for either sex, and consistently charts higher for girls. Currently it is in the 300s for girls, and the 800s for boys. The name peaked for both sexes in 2001, the year after the Sydney Olympics, when it was #206 for girls and #805 for boys.

In the US Sydney charted for boys steadily from the 19th century until the 1950s, after which use became sporadic. It was last on the Top 1000 as a boy’s name in 1996, and has never charted higher than the 300s.

As a girl’s name, Sydney had a burst of use from the 1930s to the 1960s, but at lower levels of use than for boys named Sydney. After coming back in the early 1980s, the name was been consistently on the Top 1000 as a girl’s name, and was a Top 100 name from 1994 to 2013. it peaked in the early 2000s at #23 (around the time of the Sydney Olympics) and is currently just outside the Top 100.

It’s interesting that even though the name Sydney came well before the city of Sydney, the city inspired the name to peak at the time of the Summer Olympics in 2000.

Sydney may have passed its Olympian peak, but this is an appealing vintage unisex name that could honour someone named Sidney, or the city of Sydney. Despite being an “American-style” name, it will always have an undeniable Australian connection.

POLL RESULTS

As a girl’s name, Sydney received an approval rating of 78%, making it one of the top-rated names of 2016. 35% of people thought it was a good name, but 9% hated it. It was less valued as a boy’s name, although still gaining a reasonable approval rating of 67%. 26% of people thought it was a good name, and 12% hated it.

(Picture shows Circular Quay in Sydney, the area where the First Fleet landed at Sydney Cove in 1788)

Requested Name: Iden

03 Wednesday Feb 2016

Posted by in Requested Names

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Iden is an English surname which comes from the village of Iden near Rye in East Sussex, whose name in Old English means “woodland pasture where yew trees grow”. The Iden family were once Lords of the Manor in this village, Anglo-Normans who took their surname from the village.

A famous member of the Iden family is Alexander Iden, a medieval High Sheriff of Kent. He is a character in William Shakespeare’s historical play Henry IV, where he puts down a rebellion almost by accident and is knighted for his good deed.

Iden has been used as a first name since the Middle Ages, and was strongly associated with Sussex and Kent (where there is a hamlet named Iden Green). It was originally almost entirely feminine in usage, most likely because it looks and sounds very much like the name Idunn.

This is the name of a Norse goddess of spring, whose name is conjectured to mean something like “one who rejuvenates”, to indicate immortality and ever-youthfulness. In medieval England, the name was Anglicised to Idonae, Idony, and Idonea (the last one coinciding with the Latin for “suitable”). You could therefore see Iden as another attempt to Anglicise the name.

The gender ratio of Iden gradually evened up, and by the 18th century was significantly more common as a boy’s name, although still given to both sexes. It’s interesting that even in the 19th century, births of Idens in England were still strongly tied to Sussex and Kent, showing a local appeal to the name.

Probably the most famous person with the name is the Shakespearean actor and director B. Iden Payne. He went to the United States just before the First World War, and had a successful career as a director and drama teacher, working on Broadway and in the academic world. He finished his career at the University of Texas, and they have a theatre and acting award named in his honour.

Iden has been used as a character name on Star Trek. In the series Iden, played by Jeff Yagher, is a highly intelligent hologram who tries to defend and save his fellow holograms. In the process, he develops a Messiah complex, which leads to his downfall.

Another science fiction connection is the popular time-travelling cyborg novel In the Garden of Iden, by Kage Baker. In the story, the garden of the title belongs to Sir Robert Iden, a 16th century owner of a country manor house.

Nineteenth century English author Richard Jeffries also had a “garden of Iden” in his novel Amaryllis at the Fair. In it, Mr Iden turns his garden into a miniature paradise, with his daughter Amaryllis as its loveliest bloom. The rich prose and detailed descriptions make this a treasure for garden lovers.

The name Iden has never been common, and in Australia just a few examples can be found in historical records, mostly in the middle. I only saw it as a man’s name, but one or two women had it as a middle name.

The name is in occasional use in the UK, and in 2014 5 boys were named Iden. In the US, 42 boys were named Iden in 2014, and numbers appear to be increasing. The name does not seem to be in use for girls in the English-speaking world, despite the name starting out as feminine. Yet another example which shows that names do not always go from male to female when they switch gender.

Iden isn’t a common name, but neither is it bizarre or unfamiliar, and it has a significant history as a first name. Even for people who aren’t aware of the name Iden, it sounds enough like commoner names such as Aiden, Eden, and Arden not to sound too strange (there’s also Idan, a Hebrew name for boys).

On the flipside, its similarity to other names mean that it might be confused with them. Likewise, its deceptively easy pronunciation (IE-den, so the first syllable sounds like the word eye) will no doubt cause a certain amount of misunderstandings.

Short and simple, Iden is a medieval name that sounds completely modern and even space-age. It travels well, and works cross-culturally, because the name Iden is used in several other languages and countries.

I’ve seen quite a few people considering the name Iden, and can see it increasing in use, especially if it becomes more of a favourite in popular culture.

Thank you to V for requesting the name Iden be featured on Waltzing More Than Matilda.

POLL RESULTS

Iden received an approval rating of 54%. People saw the name as handsome or attractive (23%) and uncommon without being strange (19%). However 16% thought it was too much like other names, and would get confused with them. Only 5% of people thought the name Iden was ugly.

(Photo shows a view of countryside near Iden, East Sussex)

The Girls Called Max and Mason, or, Why are Celebrities Giving Their Daughters Masculine Names?

21 Monday Dec 2015

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A blog reader has written in to say that she has heard of yet another celebrity couple giving their daughter a masculine name – Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, who call their baby girl Max. She is curious why parents choose obviously male names for their daughters when there are so many other options, and wants to know what I think.

Oh poor old celebrities and their baby names – if they aren’t using their psychic powers to steal our favourite baby names and make them popular, they’re either choosing crazy names for their children which will scar them for life, or giving their daughters boys’ names.

In this case, you will perhaps be relieved to know that the straw which has broken your particular camel’s back is not quite accurate. Mark Zuckerberg’s daughter is named Maxima, the feminine form of the Roman name Maximus, meaning, “greatest”. They call her Max, which is the most obvious nickname. My aunt has a former colleague, now retired, named Maxine, and she is also called Max or Maxie as an affectionate nickname, so it’s not a new idea.

Although it must seem that tons of celebrities are giving their daughters boyish or unisex names, this isn’t really correct. If you look through the celebrity baby names at Name Candy, there are plenty of girls with names like Elsie, Georgia, Jane, Mia, and Scarlett.

In fact, celebrity baby names don’t look that much different from anyone else’s. There are popular names, vintage names, nature names, modern names, created names, unisex names, and the occasional very unusual name – much like any suburban daycare centre with a reasonably diverse clientele.

I think one of the things that concerns parents is the idea that if a big enough celebrity chooses a “masculine” name for their daughter, the name will “go girl” and become unusable for boys – hence goodbye Max and James as possible choices for their future sons.

I am happy to say that there is little evidence that this takes place in any significant way. In 2013, Kristen Bell named her daughter Lincoln. In that same year, there were 61 baby girls named Lincoln and 4024 boys. Last year, there was a “Kristen effect” with 127 girls named Lincoln compared to 4785 boys.

So Lincoln rose much more steeply for girls, but there were overall many more boys given the name than the previous year. Although the name has increased feminine usage, there is no evidence that the name has become “feminine”, as Lincoln is a Top 100 boys name in the US, and has been rising every year for the past five years. Kristen Bell’s daughter did not stop it rising again.

And if we go further back in time to see what happens on a longer-term basis, Kelsey Grammer named a daughter Spencer in 1983, and another of his daughters Mason in 2001. Both Spencer and Mason continued rising for boys, Spencer reaching the US Top 100 in the 1990s and Mason reaching the Top 10 in 2011.

In fact I can’t find even one example of a celebrity changing the usage of a name from masculine to feminine through their particular name choice. Maxwell, Arlo, Owen, and Casper have been given as names to celebrity baby girls, and Maxwell, Arlo, Owen, and Casper continue to be overwhelmingly more common for boys.

It’s nice to know that parents of boys are not so foolish and easily panicked that they will immediately abandon all their name plans based on the actions of one celebrity. I’m not sure why we have the belief that they will, as nobody seems to think that parents of daughters will abandon a more “feminine” name choice once a celebrity chooses it for their son.

It’s a very strange phenomenon, but once Ryan Reynolds calls his daughter James, or Mila Kunis chooses the name Wyatt for her little girl, hand-wringing articles appear saying that this will create serious issues for parents expecting a baby boy, as the name James or Wyatt will now be “ruined” for boys by even ONE well-known girl with the name (and not well-known for her own achievements, but just for having famous parents).

Yet Liv Tyler can name her son Sailor (198 girls 23 boys), both Chris Hemsworth and Shakira can name their sons Sasha (535 girls, 20 boys), and Alicia Keys can have a little boy named Genesis (4144 girls, 63 boys), and nobody seems too concerned at all. There is no widespread fear that Sailor, Genesis, and Sasha will “go boy” , or cause undue angst among parents of girls.

It’s telling, and rather horrible, that we believe just one girl can taint a name with her hideous femininity, like the proverbial bad apple in a barrel, while boys can be named safely and with impunity whatever we desire, and the name will remain clean and fresh. Like so many myths of female impurity (such as menstruating women making food spoil), this one is simply not true.

It might seem like a new trend for girls to be given “masculine” names, but if you look through the records, there are tens of thousands of women named James. In the 18th century, there were many girls named Maxwell, especially in Scotland and on the Scottish border. In the 19th century, there were women named Arlo. None of this caused civilisation to fall, nor has it stopped these names being predominalty masculine today.

Of course sometimes names do swap gender – Lauren and Piper were once masculine names, while Christian and Emmett were once female. I guess that begs the question: just what exactly makes a name feminine or masculine, when gender usage can be fluid and changing?

Maybe the answer is that each of us, whether rich and famous or poor and obscure, is free to decide for ourselves. Perhaps even more shocking, our decision might not even make very much difference.

Thank you to Clare for asking for this issue to be covered on Waltzing More Than Matilda.

POLL RESULTS
34% of people were strongly against celebrities giving their daughters “masculine” names, with 2% feeling seriously angered, worried, or stressed about it. 23% of people were in favour of it, 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.

The poll was very even on whether people would change their mind about a potential baby name if a celebrity chose it for a child of the opposite sex. 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!

(Photo shows the Zuckerberg family with some light bedtime reading for their daughter Max)

Famous Name: Ariel

16 Wednesday Dec 2015

Posted by in Famous Names

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As we head towards Christmas holidays and hot weather, you might be planning to put The Little Mermaid on for the kids, or take them to the beach so they can swim like fish. I know lots of people (big and small) who love the spirited redhead Ariel from the Disney film, so I am covering the name as a summery choice.

Name Information
Ariel is a Hebrew name that means “lion of God”. Although it mentioned in the Old Testament as the name of several men, it is best known as a designation for the city of Jerusalem, and was also used in reference to the altar of the city’s temple (in this context, perhaps best understand as “hearth of God”).

In Jewish, Christian and Gnostic mysticism, Ariel is also the name of an angel. It is something of a mystery where the name came from, but it may be influenced by the archangel Uriel, or the Zoroastrian destructive spirit Ahriman. In several sources, Ariel is shown as an angel with power over Hell, and for this reason John Milton makes him one of the rebel angels who fight on Satan’s side in Paradise Lost.

Another image of Ariel is that it is the name for the Creator God, and in mysticism was often depicted as a lion-headed deity with power over the Earth. Others call him the Spirit of Air, the Angel of the Waters, or Wielder of Fire.

You can see the attraction of Ariel for writers: he is morally ambiguous, and has enormous yet extremely vague powers. In Shakespeare’s play The Tempest, Ariel is a spirit of the air under the control of the magician Prospero. It is not clear whether he is a good sprite, but because he refused to work for an evil sorceress, he is at least not demonic. The angel Ariel may have been as inspiration, or perhaps Shakespeare chose the name because it is similar to the word aerial, meaning “of the air”.

It is through Ariel’s magical agency, by the command of Prospero, that the action of the play progresses and reaches its conclusion. Because of this, it is very easy to see him as a metaphor for creativity – artists are all Prosperos, who work magic by bringing under their control that elusive and puckish spirit of inspiration.

In Alexander Pope’s poem The Rape of the Lock, Ariel is the guardian sylph of the heroine: a spirit of air who watches over young maidens. Pope edited the works of Shakespeare, and must have taken the name from The Tempest. Percy Bysshe Shelley identified Ariel as a symbol of the poet, and his songs with poetry. Poor poets – enslaved by the Prospero of their own creative genius!

T.S. Eliot published The Ariel Poems, and Sylvia Plath has a collection titled Ariel. In Plath’s case, although Ariel was literally a horse she rode, the poem Ariel is about her identity as a poet, and she takes the Shelley-approved “tortured soul oppressed by own genius” line. Although the Ariel of the poem is a stallion, Plath refers to herself as “God’s lioness”, feminising the meaning of the name.

The name of the mermaid Ariel in the Disney film is inspired by the ending of the fairy tale by Hans Christian Anderson. Although it does not form part of the movie’s plot, the original little mermaid becomes one of the Daughters of Air who may gain a human soul after 300 years of good deeds, and gain entrance to heaven. Like Ariel in The Tempest, the mermaid becomes a spirit of the air – but one whose goodness is quite obvious.

In the Old Testament, Ariel is a man’s name, with its feminine form transliterated as Ariela, Ariella, or Arielle. However, you can see quite a bit of gender ambiguity in the name. Even in the Old Testament, it was used to denote the city of Jerusalem and the temple altar, which already begins to disassociate it from its original context.

Then as the name of an angel it begins to seem further removed from being strictly male, since angels cannot have gender, and once Shakespeare used it for a spirit of the air, this trend continued.

The role of Ariel in The Tempest was almost always taken by female actors from the 1600s until the 1930s; since then it has been played by both men and women, but often with an androgynous slant. This must have made a difference to how people saw the name, and the connection with poetry heightens its feminine image.

Famous men named Ariel include former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon; Brazilian model Ariel Donida; writer and activist Ariel Dorfman; American music-producer Ariel Rechtshaid who has worked with big names like Adele and Madonna; and American film-maker Ariel “Rel” Schulman, best known for the Catfish documentary and TV series.

Famous women named Ariel include American actress Ariel Winter, from Modern Family; American model Ariel Meredith, and Australian actress Ariel Kaplan, who is on Neighbours. Russian-born American historian Ariel Durant, the wife and writing partner of historian Will Durant, was born Chaya Kaufman (Ada or Ida her English name), but was called Ariel as a pet name, and eventually she changed it legally.

Ariel has been used as a male name in Europe since at least the 16th century. It didn’t come into common use in the English-speaking world until the 18th century, when The Tempest became a theatre staple: it was used for both sexes, but much more often given to boys. By the 19th century, it was fairly evenly unisex.

Ariel has been on the US Top 1000 for boys since the late 1960s, shortly after the posthumous publication of Sylvia Plath’s Ariel. It has been on the US Top 100 for girls since the late 1970s, just after Ariel Durant and her husband won the Presidential Medal of Freedom. It made the Top 100 for girls in 1990, a year after The Little Mermaid, and peaked for both sexes in 1991, a year after The Little Mermaid was released on video. It reached #361 for boys, and #66 for girls. Currently it is #133 for girls and #738 for boys, and last year made small gains for both sexes.

In the UK, Ariel shows up in the data as a name for both boys and girls, although it has performed more consistently as a male name. Last year there were 32 girls and 20 boys named Ariel, and the name is rising for both sexes, but more steeply as a boy’s name. Ariel is popular for boys in Israel and Latin America.

In Victoria in 2012, Ariel was almost equally given to both sexes – 11 girls and 12 boys. However that may not be typical, because in South Australia in 2013 there were 2 girls named Ariel and no boys, and in Tasmania in 2010, 1 girl Ariel and no boys.

In Australia, the spelling Arielle seems more common for girls, in contrast to the UK, where numbers of female Ariels and Arielles are roughly even, and the US, where Ariel is a much more common girl’s name than Arielle. It’s possible that some Australian parents feel that Ariel, even if not strictly a boy’s name, does not seem quite feminine either.

Strong and attractive, with a wonderful meaning, Ariel is on trend for names with a strong AR sound, and you would think should be rising, along with fashionable choices like Arlo and Aria. Although suitable for both sexes, some parents may prefer the feminised spelling Arielle for a girl, which helps disassociate it from its mermaid namesake. Pronunciation is an issue, as people say this name AR-ee-el, AH-ree-el, and AIR-ee-el (the third one makes me think of TV antennas). Possible nicknames include Ari, Arik, Elle, Ellie, and Rel/Relle.

You might be wondering why I’m covering Ariel at the end of the year – shouldn’t I be doing Noel, or Joy, or something equally festive? The reason is because of the poet T.S. Eliot, who I mentioned as the author of the Ariel Poems.

Ariel was a series of illustrated poetry pamphlets from Faber and Faber, named after the airy sprite from The Tempest (perhaps they were suggesting they were putting their poets to work, as Prospero made the enslaved Ariel toil for him). Put out at the end of the year, they were sold as fancy Christmas cards.

In line with the theme, Eliot wrote poems for Ariel on the subject of Christmas, including The Journey of the Magi. Later they were collected as The Ariel Poems, and another added: The Cultivation of Christmas Trees.

So I’m suggesting Ariel as an unexpected name for the Christmas season, tied to its literary namesake, and connected to the beauty and magic of poetry – didn’t someone once say that every baby is a poem? They are certainly our most wondrous creations.

POLL RESULTS
As a girl’s name, Ariel received an approval rating of 46%. 30% of people were put off the name because of the connection to the Disney movie, but 28% thought Ariel was either pretty or beautiful. Only one person thought Ariel was too masculine for a girl.

As a boy’s name, Ariel received a lower approval rating of 28%. 35% of people thought the Disney film made the name seem too feminine for a boy, and 22% preferred the name Ari. 9% of people thought Ariel was only suitable for Jewish and Hispanic boys. However, 8% of people thought Ariel was a handsome name for a boy.

69% of people thought Ariel was more suitable as a name for girls, and 18% said it was equally suitable for both sexes. 13% saw it as more suitable for boys.

(Picture shows Ariel from The Little Mermaid)

Uncommon Vocabulary Names For Girls

06 Sunday Dec 2015

Posted by in Name Themes and Lists

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Some vocabulary names are popular, like Poppy and Summer, while others are familiar, like Faith and Melody. Then there’s the vocabulary names which are more unexpected. These are ten names I have seen on Australian babies this year – but only once. They are real names, but comparative rarities.

Breeze
A breeze is a light gentle wind, pleasantly cooling and appreciated on a warm day. We say that anything easy or effortless is a breeze. The word came into use around the early 16th century, borrowed from the Dutch bries. By the following century it was in occasional use as a name. It has always been rare, and overall evenly given to both sexes, but in both the US and UK is more common now for girls. That might be because it’s similar to Bree, and sometimes girls with names like Brianna have Breeze or Breezy as their nickname. The name has a literary namesake, as H.E. Bates wrote a novella called Breeze Anstey; Breeze is a young woman and it’s a love triangle story. The name was chosen for the daughter of Levi Johnston, former fiance to Bristol Palin and father of her son Tripp, in 2012, and Vanilla Ice’s daughter has Breeze as her middle name. For a rare name, cool Breeze seems easy to wear.

Chilli
Chillies are spicy fruit from Central and South America, commonly used in cooking. The word comes from Nahuatl, the language spoken by the Aztecs, and doesn’t have any connection with the name of the country Chile, despite sounding exactly alike. Amusingly for Anglophones, a chilli is exactly the opposite of chilly! Chillies were introduced to Europe and Asia in the 15th century, but Chilli and Chili (the US spelling) have only been used very occasionally as names since the 19th century. It’s easier to find it as a nickname or stage name, such as vintage British actress Chili Bouchier (real name Dorothy). The name has gained some interest as a girl’s name since restaurateur Pete Evans, later TV host and cooking judge, and now Paleo Diet advocate, chose it for his eldest daughter around 2005. I see Chilli every now and again, and this hot name certainly packs a punch.

Halo
A halo is a ring of light; the word comes from the Greek, meaning “disc”. It can be used in science to refer to bands of coloured light around the sun or moon, and to clouds of gas surrounding galaxies. However, it’s probably best known from religious art, where saints and angels are depicted as having an aura of bright light around their heads, called a halo. It was a common artistic device in ancient Greece and Rome for heroes and rulers, and followed in religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam. The word has been used in English since the 16th century, and in the sacred sense since the 17th; it replaced glory, which was the older term for divine light. Being a modern word, it didn’t become used as a name until around the 19th century. Halo is now mostly given to girls, and has become more common since the Halo video game series was released in 2001. In the games, Halo rings are huge structures used as weapons, but do have a religious connection. A space age virtue name and possible honour name for Gloria.

Harvest
Harvest comes the Old English haerfest, which was used for the name of the month we call August, and referred to the season when harvesting took place, in late summer/early autumn. From the 18th century, people began calling the season autumn or fall, and then harvest specifically meant the process of gathering crops. However, if you come from a farming background, you will know that country people still often use the word harvest to mean the time of year when crops are gathered, as in “We can’t make any plans until after harvest”. Harvest has been occasionally used as a name since the 18th century, and shows up as originally evenly unisex. Overall Harvest has been mostly given to boys, but in the US data for last year, still looks fairly evenly unisex, given to 9 girls and 5 boys. It doesn’t appear in UK data at all. Harvest can be seen as pleasantly archaic, referring to the ancient cycles of rural life; it also has Christian and pagan connotations, celebrating harvest festivals of thanksgiving. Rich and ripe, Harvest fits in with popular names like Harper and Harvey, and is a fresh take on names like Autumn and August.

Ivory
Ivory is a costly substance made from the tusks and teeth of animals. The word comes from abu, the ancient Egyptian word for “elephant”, and although we usually think of ivory as coming from elephants, ivory has also been taken from animals such as hippopotamus, walrus, sperm whale, narwhal, elk, and warthog. Ivory has been used since ancient times to make expensive decorative objects, and at the height of its popularity in the 19th century, thousands of elephants were slaughtered every year for their tusks. Although the sale of ivory is now banned or restricted, poaching of elephants for their ivory is increasing, and wild elephant populations are threatened; in many Asian countries, they are almost extinct. That makes Ivory quite a controversial name, even though it’s been in use since the 17th century. Because it fits in with current name trends and is similar to popular Ivy, use of the name Ivory is increasing in both the US and UK (it was #753 in the US last year). Enjoying the name means forgetting what ivory actually is: something I am unable to do.

Magnolia
Magnolias are beautiful fragrant flowering trees native to south-east Asia and the Americas, with a strong association with the southern states of the US. Magnolias are ancient plants, and despite their rather delicate appearance are quite tough (Steel Magnolias was chosen to depict Southern women as both strong and beautiful, but they could have just gone with Magnolias!). They are named in honour of French botanist Pierre Magnol; his surname is most likely a pet form of the name Magne, French form of Magnus, meaning “great”. Magnolia has been used as a name since the 19th century, when flower names were fashionable, and was most common in the American south. The name Magnolia made the US Top 1000 until 1940, and returned in 2013, although almost unknown in the UK. A lovely exotic name with Maggie as the obvious short form.

Ochre
Ochre is a naturally coloured clay, ranging in tone through yellow, orange, red, purple, and brown; it is iron oxide in the clay which gives it its colour. The word ochre is from ancient Greek, and literally means “pale yellow”. Ochre has been used for art since prehistoric times, and Australian Aborigines have used ochre for painting and body decoration. The very earliest human remains in Australia, many tens of thousands of years old, were buried with ochre. Ochre is an exceedingly rare name, found only a few times since the 19th century, and not showing up in any current data. Yet it means much the same thing as popular Sienna (another clay coloured with iron oxide) and sounds similar to fashionable Oakley. A strong earthy nature name that is both unusual and evocative.

Temperance
Temperance is moderation and restraint; it comes from the Latin meaning “moderation, sobriety”. A temperate person avoids excess of negative emotion, such as anger or grief, and is prudent in their habits, never over-indulging. Temperance was one of the cardinal virtues of the Greek philosophers, and was adopted by Christian thinkers; it is also an essential element of the spiritual path in Buddhism and Hinduism. Modern psychology views the calmness and self-control of temperance as a hallmark of maturity and psychological health. The classic image for Temperance is a woman mixing water with wine, and this is the standard picture on the Temperance tarot card (number XIV). The word is often connected with the temperance movement, which advocated limiting alcohol consumption or abstaining from it altogether. Temperance has been used as a girl’s name since at least the 16th century, and was especially connected with the Puritans. Temperance joined the US Top 1000 in 2011, the name rising since comedy-drama crime show Bones, which stars Emily Deschanel as chic geek Dr Temperance “Bones” Brennan. It showed up in UK data after the TV series began in 2005, and is occasionally seen here too. Virtue names are back on trend, and this one is attracting many fans.

Vogue
Vogue means the fashion or style of the time, or of a particular era. The word came into use in the 16th century, from the French meaning “wave, course of success” – it’s from voguer, meaning “to travel through water, to swim, sail or row”. You can see how what’s in vogue is at the crest of the wave, and how those who follow it are in the swim of things. Ultimately it’s from ancient Germanic meaning “to sway, to fluctuate”, a reminder of fashion’s fickleness. It’s famous as the name of iconic fashion magazine Vogue, and the magazine has inspired a dance called the vogue, brought into the mainstream with Madonna’s song Vogue. Vogue has been in rare use as a personal name, mostly since the 20th century. It doesn’t show up in current US data, but has been rising in the UK since 2013. It’s influenced by Irish model Vogue Williams, briefly married to pop singer Brian McFadden, Australian popstar Delta Goodrem‘s ex-boyfriend: Vogue’s grandmother suggested her name after an encounter with someone named Vogue. I see this name occasionally (Vogue Williams lived here at one point), and vaguely wonder how for long it will be in vogue.

Zinnia
Zinnias are ornamental daisies related to the sunflower and native to the Americas; the best known species are from Mexico. Introduced to Europe at the end of the 18th century, they are named after German botanist Johann Zinn; his surname is an occupational one for someone who worked with pewter. Zinnia has been used as a girl’s name since the 19th century, favoured by that era’s trend for flower names, but has never been common. Nevertheless it has several fictional namesakes, including grieving Zinnia Taylor from young adult novel Chasing Redbird, mischievous Zinnia Larkin (twin sister to Petunia) from the Larkin family books by H.E. Bates, and neglectful mother Zinnia Wormwood from the film Matilda. It’s also a bit of a favourite for animal characters. Last year there were 89 girls in the US named Zinnia, and 12 in the UK, the name rising in both countries. A bright, quirky flower name that seems both aristocratic and exuberant.

POLL RESULTS
People’s favourite names were Magnolia, Zinnia and Temperance, and their least favourite were Ochre, Chilli and Vogue.

(Photo shows Emily Deschanel as Dr Temperance Brennan on Bones)

Waltzing With … Paris

22 Sunday Nov 2015

Posted by in Waltzing with ...

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Like everyone else, I watched in horror and disbelief as the news unfolded in Paris last week. A place where I had briefly lived as a student, my heart went out to my Parisian friends, and to all those in this beautiful but troubled city.

Abby from Appellation Mountain wrote how it sometimes feels almost wrong to write about baby names when the world is torn by tragedy. How can I keep blogging about celebrity babies, birth announcements, birth data, and so on in the face of human suffering?

Not only would it fail to help anyone if I gave up blogging, I believe it is our duty to continue our normal routine as much as possible during dark times. This goes for my own private tragedies as well, having lost a loved one just days before the Paris attacks.

Babies will keep being born, and named, and I will keep writing about it as my small effort towards hope and healing. As memorials all over Paris say – la vie continue. Life goes on.

Paris – The Legend
Before Paris was the name of a city, it was the name of a person. In Greek legend, Paris was a prince of Troy, infamous for starting the Trojan War by abducting the beautiful Helen away from the king of Sparta. There was plenty of warning, because before Paris was born, his mother was told in a dream that he would cause the downfall of Troy.

He was supposed to be killed to avoid this fate, but the king and queen were unable to do it, and handed the job over to their cowherd. Rather like the plot of Snow White, the cowherd reared him as his own, and Paris became an organiser of bull-fights (bulls fighting other bulls, not people).

He impressed the gods with his sporting honesty enough that he was asked to judge a beauty contest between Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite. Paris chose Aphrodite, and his prize was the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen. Aphrodite neglected to mention that Helen was already married, and that’s when all the trouble began.

The meaning of Paris‘ name isn’t known. It’s thought to be a Greek rendition of the Luwian name Pari-zitis, which has been found as the name of a scribe. The meaning of the first part isn’t understood, but the –zitis part means “man”.

Legend gives Paris the nickname of Alexander, meaning “defender of men” – he gained this while still a child, by saving his foster-father’s cattle from thieves. It’s tempting to wonder if Pari-zitis has a similar meaning to Alexander, such as “protecting man” or “guardian man”, and the Greek authors looked for a name which was a close equivalent.

The Greeks explained Paris’ name as being from the backpack that the cowherd brought him home in – the Greek word for the bag is pḗra. However, this is just folk etymology.

The Paris of legend is described as intelligent and extremely handsome, but he isn’t a very attractive character. He seduced another man’s wife, brought about the destruction of his homeland, and wasn’t a gallant or skilful warrior. Mind you, he was tricked by Aphrodite, and as he was doomed to die by his city you can’t blame him for his lack of patriotism, while being brought up by a cowherd would hardly equip him with courtly manners or battle skills. Nonetheless, he’s generally thought of as rather weak and selfish.

This did not stop people from naming their sons Paris, and there is even a Saint Paris listed as a 4th century bishop of Teano, near Naples. According to legend, he was born in Greece and performed that well known saintly show-stopper of killing a dragon. Another famous Paris was a 1st century actor in Rome who became enormously popular and influential. Unfortunately he followed the legendary Paris too closely by having an affair with the emperor’s wife: he was murdered, and the emperor killed anyone who mourned his death, and even someone who looked like Paris.

Paris is a Shakespearean name, as Count Paris is Juliet’s unwanted fiance in Romeo and Juliet. Handsome, wealthy, and well-connected, Paris is an eminently suitable husband, and little wonder Juliet’s parents are thrilled at this opportunity. Of course any audience member worth their salt is barracking for Juliet’s choice of romantic Romeo, and almost no one sheds a tear for poor Paris at the end.

Paris – The City
The place where Paris is today was settled by a Gaulish people called the Parisii – it is their tribe that the city is named for. The city’s original Latin name was Lutetia Parisiorum, which probably means “swamp or marshland of the Parisii”. The tribal name Parisii could be from the ancient Celtic word par, meaning “boat” – as the Parisii lived on the River Seine, it would make sense for them to be skilled in using boats. Other ideas are that their name means “commanders”, “”fighters”, “workers, artisans”, or “cauldron, kettle”. In other words, nobody really knows.

Interestingly, there was a British tribe with the similar name of the Parisi in Yorkshire. It is unclear whether there was any connection with the Parisii in Gaul, but there is just enough vague evidence to support it that it can’t be ruled out.

Situated between trade routes on land and water, the Parisii had a thriving town on one of the islands of the Seine. After being conquered by the Romans, Lutetia Parisiorum became a prosperous Roman city with a military camp on the island, but the main part of the city where the Left Bank is now. The city became known as Parisius, and in French, Paris.

Paris was claimed as their centre of operations by both the Frankish kings, and the first king of France (the islands were good for defence), and by the Middle Ages Paris was not only the capital of France, but the largest city in the western world. Now we know it as the City of Light, the City of Love; famous for art, fashion and food, its monuments become icons. A cultural centre which remains, even after tragedy, a beacon of light.

The city of Paris provided another inspiration for the name. It is generally felt that when Paris is a boy’s name it is after the legendary character, while girls called Paris are named after the city connected with romance and fashion. However, in practice it is not possible to be so cut-and-dried (the surname Paris makes it even more complicated).

Girls have been named Paris since at least the 18th century, and although Paris was already a fashion capital by then, the French Revolution may have been an inspiration for American parents in particular.

In the US, Paris has charted as a boys name on the Top 1000 intermittently since the late 19th century. Its longest continuous stretch was from 1979 to 2000, and its highest peak in the 20th century was in 1991 at #592. It hasn’t charted as a boys name this century, but last year 96 boys were named Paris in the US, with numbers continuing to fall.

Paris has been on the US Top 1000 as a girls name since 1985. It peaked in 2004 at #157 when socialite Paris Hilton was in the reality TV show, The Simple Life. Paris Hilton’s own name was just ahead of the curve, as she was born in 1981 – although the name Paris had been gradually rising for girls for some time. Incidentally, Paris Hilton was once engaged to a man named Paris – Greek shipping heir Paris Latsis. Currently the name Paris is #269 and relatively stable.

In the UK, Paris has charted for both sexes since the mid-1990s, peaking for boys and girls in 2004 during The Simple Life. At that point, it was #119 for girls, and #717 for boys. Currently it is #463 for girls, while last year just 3 baby boys in the UK were given the name Paris.

Paris has been a Top 100 name for girls in Australia and New Zealand, the only countries where the name has ever been popular. The name was on the Top 100 from 2002 to 2004, peaking in 2003 at #58 when The Simple Life was first on air. In New Zealand it peaked in that fateful year of 2004 at #35, making it the most Paris-loving place on earth. Currently Paris is around the 500s for girls in Australia, while it doesn’t chart for boys.

It is a strange fact that tragedy can help inspire baby names – I reflect on this knowing that the name Boston became more popular outside the US after the bombings at the Boston Marathon. Could an even larger set of terror attacks in another beloved city cause an uptick in the number of babies named Paris?

POLL RESULTS
As a boy’s name, Paris received an approval rating of 52%. 32% of people disliked it, and 11% loved it.

It did slightly better as a girl’s name, receiving an approval rating of 55%. 27% of people thought it was okay, while only 6% loved it.

(Photo of Paris street memorial from the BBC)

Fresh Surname Names For Boys

08 Sunday Nov 2015

Posted by in Name Themes and Lists

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Surname names for boys that aren’t popular in Australia and have never charted here, yet are rising internationally. These names only chart for boys at present, giving them a solidly masculine feel.

Beckett
English surname with several possible origins. It could be after a place name – Beckett in Berkshire means “bee cottage” in Old English, while Beckett in Devonshire means “Bicca’s cottage”; the Anglo-Saxon name Bicca means “pick axe”. It could also refer to someone who lived near a stream, because the word beck means stream. Finally, it could be derived from the surname Beake, a nickname for someone with a big nose. Beckett has been used as a first name since at least the 16th century, and may have been inspired by St Thomas Becket (also known as Thomas à Becket), the famous medieval archbishop murdered in Canterbury Cathedral by supporters of Henry II. You can find it in early records as a middle name for people called Thomas A. Beckett and so on. In the Artemis Fowl books, Beckett is the younger brother of Artemis, blessed with strength and dexterity. Although rare in Australia, Beckett is storming up the charts in both the US and the UK. The obvious nickname is Beck.

Calvin
From the French surname Cauvin, derived from chauve, French for “bald”. It has been in use as a first name since the late 16th century, inspired by the French theologian Jehan Cauvin, known as John Calvin by English-speakers (Calvin is the Latinised form of his name, from calvus, “bald”). He was a leader of the Protestant Reformation, and his thoughts on the value of hard work as part of a pious Christian life one of the factors in the rise of capitalism. Famous namesakes include former US president (John) Calvin Coolidge, fashion designer Calvin Klein, and rapper Calvin Broadus Jr, otherwise known as Snoop Dogg. However, many will be reminded of the mischievous little boy in the Calvin and Hobbes comic books, who lives in a fantasy world with his imaginary friend Hobbes, a tiger – both Calvin and Hobbes are named after famous philosophers. Around the 300s in Australia, Calvin is fairly stable in the US, UK, and France, and rose in all three countries last year, while Top 100 in Scotland. Similar in sound to familiar Callum, this also has the nickname Cal.

Emmett
May be derived from Emmot, a medieval pet form of the name Emma. There are several surnames derived from male names that we think suitable for girls (eg Addison, Mackenzie) so it makes sense that a surname derived from a female name is suitable for boys! It could also be a variant of Emmott, a place name in Lancashire meaning “junction of streams”. Emmett was originally a name for girls, but by the 19th century had become overwhelmingly a boy’s name, and much more common in the United States. The name Emmett was already rising in the US when Twilight was published in 2005, but had a definite surge after the release of the movie, with Kellan Lutz in the role of strong-man vampire Emmett Cullen. Still rising, it is now in the mid 100s in the US, while rising steeply in the UK since 2005. It’s around the 200s in Australia. Famous namesakes include outlaw Emmett Dalton, clown Emmett Kelly, and teenager Emmett Till, whose murder helped inspire the Civil Rights movement. And who could forget Dr Emmet Brown from Back to the Future?

Grayson
When Scottish, a corruption of Grierson, meaning “son of Grier”, with Grier a pet form of Gregory. When English, it might be from “son of the greyve” – greyve was the medieval word for “a steward”. The Scottish usage is supposedly older. Any connection with the word grey is apparently a coincidence, although Grayson might almost be considered a colour name. Grayson has been used as a boy’s name since the 18th century, and originates from the north of England on the border with Scotland, possibly lending some weight to the Scottish theory. Grayson has been in the US Top 1000 since 1984, a sound-alike successor to Jason. The name is now Top 100 in the US, and still climbing. In the UK, Grayson has charted since 2005 and is now in the 200s and climbing steeply. Although Grayson doesn’t chart here, the name is being seen more often, and is already popular in New Zealand. International trends suggest that Grayson is climbing in Australia too. A famous namesake is Dick Grayson, otherwise known as Batman’s junior sidekick, Robin.

Hendrix
Variant of the Dutch surname Hendriks, derived from Hendrik, a form of Henry. Although Hendrix has been used as a personal name since the 17th century, originating in The Netherlands, its current inspiration is 1960s rock star Jimi Hendrix, considered one of the greatest electric guitarists of all time. A pioneer and innovator of psychedelic rock, he is a guitar legend who has influenced many since. The name Hendrix joined the US 1000 in 2011, the year after Hendrix’s album Valleys of Neptune was posthumously released, reaching #1 on the US charts; Hendrix is now in the 500s in the US. In the UK, Hendrix has charted since 2004, and has been climbing steeply since 2011; it’s now in the 700s. Hendrix is around the 500s in Australia, and has been chosen for their sons’ names by Madeleine West and Natalie Bassingthwaighte. A musical name that’s a cool spin on popular Henry.

Jamison
Variant of Jameson, a Scottish surname meaning “son of James”. There is a famous father and son with this surname in Australian history. Thomas Jamison came here as a naval surgeon on the First Fleet; he was an Irishman of Scottish descent. He was surgeon to the Norfolk Island colony who published Australia’s first medical paper. Granted land, he became wealthy but got mixed up in the Rum Rebellion and returned to Britain. His son Sir John Jamison was also a naval surgeon appointed to Norfolk Island, and became Surgeon-General. As the first titled free settler, he immediately became the head of Australian society. There are a number of places named after one or other of these Jamisons. In use as a personal name since the 18th century, Jamison has a particular connection to Scotland. Jamison is around the 400s in Australia, and is in the 400s and climbing in the US, although in rare use in the UK. A possible way to honour a James, with a wealth of potential nicknames, including Jay and Jamie.

Kingsley
English surname from the village of Kingsley in Cheshire, whose name means “king’s meadow”. Famous people with the surname include novelist Charles Kingsley, and actor Sir Ben Kingsley (born Krishna Bhanji). Kingsley has been used as a personal name since the 18th century, and was a particular favourite in America. Famous namesakes include the satirical novelist Sir Kingsley Amis, and the YouTube comedy star Kingsley, whose real name is King. A famous fictional namesake is the cool, powerful wizard Kingsley Shacklebolt from the Harry Potter series, played by George Harris in the films. The name Kingsley has been on the US Top 1000 since 2010, the year after Kingsley first went viral on YouTube. It climbed last year and is now in the 700s. In the UK, Kingsley is in the 500s and climbing, while in Australia it is around the 300s. King- names are on trend, along with other nods towards royalty.

Knox
Scottish surname, perhaps after the place name Knock, which comes from the Gaelic An Cnoc, meaning “the hillock”; there is a village named Knock on the Isle of Lewis in the Hebrides of Scotland. It could also be given to someone who lived near a small hill. One of its most famous namesakes is 16th century theologian John Knox, who led the Protestant Reformation in Scotland; posh private schools are sometimes named after him. Another notable namesake is Henry Knox, who was the first US Secretary of War in the late 18th century – the famous Fort Knox in Kentucky is named in his honour, along with many other places. Knox has been used as a personal name since the 18th century. Knox rejoined the US Top 1000 in 2009, a year after Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie named their son Knox (twin to Vivienne) – Knox was the middle name of Pitt’s grandfather. Since then it has screamed up the charts and is now in the 200s. Although rare in the UK, it has appeared on the England/Wales charts since 2009. In Australia, it is around the 600s. Apart from the Hollywood star factor, this is a smart name ending with a fashionable X, in line with names such as Max and Fox.

Marshall
An occupational surname. The English word marshal comes from the Old French word mareschal, which literally means “horse servant”, and originally referred someone who was in charge of taking care of horses. Later it came to mean both a blacksmith, and a high-ranking officer who was in charge of a medieval prince or lord’s cavalry, and later still, of his military forces – what we might call a general or field marshal. This duality in the name’s meaning meant that some Marshalls were of the nobility, especially in Scotland, and others had a more humble origin. Marshall has been used as a personal name since at least the 16th century, and even from its earliest days was sometimes given to girls, although it is now overwhelmingly considered male (perhaps partly because it sounds like the word martial, meaning “war-like, warrior-like”). Marshall Amplication is a famous English music company, while Marshall and Sons was a pioneering music retailer in Adelaide. Marshall was Jimi Hendrix’s middle name, and there’s also Marshall Mathers III, otherwise known as Eminem. Marshall is around the 300s in Australia, similar to its position in the US and UK: the name rose in both countries last year.

Tate
Derived from the Old English name Tata, of obscure meaning. There were a number of Anglo-Saxon kings called Tata as a nickname – just to make it slightly more confusing, Tate seems to be the feminine form, which was what a Queen Ethelburga was known as. It is conjectured that it might come from the Old English toetan, meaning “to caress”, so it could be an affectionate nickname like Sweetie or Cuddles. There is an identical sounding Scottish surname Tait, and this comes from the Old Norse name Teitr, meaning “glad” – it is not impossible that the Old English nickname Tata came from the same source, so might be a nickname along the lines of Happy or Merry. The two different surnames have probably become meshed, in any case. Tate is around the 200s in Australia, and in the 300s in the US and UK. In the US it has been generally on the rise since around the time of the 1991 film Little Man Tate (about a child genius named Fred Tate), and in the UK has been rising steeply since 2012 – the year after former Spice Girl Emma Bunton welcomed a son named Tate.

POLL RESULTS
People’s favourite names were Emmett, Beckett and Calvin, and their least favourite were Jamison, Knox and Kingsley.

(Some) Names From (Recent) Australian Teen and Young Adult Fiction

18 Sunday Oct 2015

Posted by in Naming Issues

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If you want to turn this into a drinking game:

Drink if you see the same name used again
Drink if the character’s name provides a major plot point
Drink if there’s some quirky or interesting story behind a character’s name/nickname
Drink if the character is named after food
Drink if the character is named after an animal
Drink if the character’s nickname has nothing to do with their full name
Drink if the character’s name is highly unlikely for their age group

I, Wolf by Matt Boyd
A werewolf story. The hero is called Romy, short for Romulus (DRINK!), and he’s an Australian boy who has to move to Austria for health reasons. His love interest is Antonia, and friends are Dimitri and Nat.

One of my pet peeves is when the character’s name tells you what’s going to happen. However, after reading endless teen fiction where the heroine has some boyish nickname like Alex or Bill or George, it’s refreshing to read one where the hero has a nickname more common for girls.

Holier Than Thou by Laura Buzo
Heroine is Holly, a young social worker – her nickname is Holier-than-Thou (DRINK!). Her boyfriend is Tim, but she has unresolved feelings for her friend Liam, and finds herself attracted to a colleague, Nick (nicknamed Nickolarse).

The Roxy Ran series by Tiffany Hall
Roxy Ran is a teenage ninja, initiated into the mysteries of the Tiger Scrolls or something by Jackson Axe, who has a brother named Morgan. Roxy’s big sister is Electra (a samurai), and her friend is Cinnamon (DRINK!). The school bully’s name is Hero, which is a major plot point give away (DRINK!).

The Elly Pickering books by Wendy Harmer
The heroine is Eleanor “Elly” Pickering, who has a big sister named Matilda “Tilly“. Her friends are Carmelita and Rosie, while the popular “mean girl” is called Bianca, and love interest is a boy named Tyler. In one book, Elly gets a job which brings her into proximity with a Hollywood teen heart throb called Jake Blake.

For some reason Biancas are often unpleasant in fiction. I had an issue with movie star Jake Blake – it reminded me too strongly of Jack Black, so although he is meant to be a Zac-Efrony sort of guy, I was picturing something far different.

I’ll Tell You Mine by Pip Harry
Kate is the heroine, an upper middle class Goth teenager at boarding school. Her best friend is Maddy, and Maddy’s brother Lachy provides a love interest.

I have an aversion to heroines named some version of Katherine, but my very least favourite is Kate. It shows such a massive lack of imagination that I fear for the rest of the book.

And All the Stars by Andrea K. Höst
Madeleine “Maddie” (DRINK!) Cost is a teenage artist trying to win the Archibald Prize by painting her gorgeous and famous cross-dressing actor cousin Tyler (DRINK!). But forget most of that plot, as the book is actually about an alien invasion in central Sydney. The love interest is a science nerd named Fisher “Fish” (DRINK!) Charteris, and best friend a girl named Noi (a Thai name).

There’s a cast of dozens in this book. Most of them have nicknames, some of which are creative, such as a boy named Lee, who is called Pan (DRINK!) for the fairly unlikely reason he resembles the god Pan (DRINK!). You just know you’ve sent your kid to a superior school when their playground nickname is a Greek god.

The Mosquito Advertising books by Kate Hunter
Brisbane teenagers run an advertising agency. Heroine is Katie Crisp (DRINK!), and others on her team are best friend Lorraine Crabbe (DRINK!), neighbour Joel Maguire and his cousin Dominic Pyne-Davies, arty Clementine Bailey (DRINK!), and “bad girl” Jasmine Jolley. Katie’s mum is Vanessa, and Lorraine’s is Pippa (DRINK!). Clementine belongs to a brilliant family, and has siblings named James, Cordelia, Evangeline, Rupert, and Nathaniel. Dominic has twin little sisters named Janie and Susan (DRINK! DRINK!). Jasmine has big brothers named Eli and Byron who are famous rock musicians. Katie’s aunt and Vanessa’s sister is named Nancy (DRINK!).

Not only a variation of Katherine, but a variant of the author’s own name, which seems particularly lazy. The names are all of out of synch: a teenager named Lorraine, little girls named Janie and Susan, and a youngish aunt named Nancy, sister to Vanessa!

Divine Clementine by Hayley S. Kirk
Teenager Clementine (DRINK!) Footner falls apart when her beloved aunt Stella (DRINK!) dies (Stella is not much older than Clementine and is like a big sister). There’s also an aunt named Penny, an uncle named Dorian, and a niece named Auggie; friend is Thom.

The family is quite ahead of the curve, so look out for girls named Auggie in the future.

The Tribe series by Ambelin Kwaymullina
Set in a dystopian future world informed by the Australian Aboriginal Dreamtime. The heroine of the first book is Ashala Jane (DRINK!) Ambrose, otherwise known as Ashala Wolf (DRINK! DRINK!). Her friends are Ember Crow (DRINK!) and Georgie Spider (DRINK!), and they lead a tribe of environmentally-aware children. Love interest is Justin Connor – called by his surname – and Ember’s boyfriend is Jules ; the baddies are Neville Rose and Dr Miriam Grey.

It makes sense that everyone is still using the same names three hundred years in the future, as society broke down right about now. I do like Ashala, but it bothers me that she is called Wolf as a tribal name in Australia – we don’t have wolves!

Team Human by Justine Larbalestier and Sarah Rees Brennan
A vampire satire set in a town in Maine where humans and vampires live side by side: the vampires are immigrants to the US. The heroine is Mel (DRINK!), her best friends are Cathy (DRINK!) and Anna, and the vampire is Francis Duvarney (DRINK!). Mel’s love interest is a boy called Kit, whose name is short for Kitten (DRINK!) – it’s a long story (DRINK!).

You might chuckle over a vampire named Duvarney, because of the Victorian pulp-fiction classic, “Varney the Vampire”. Mel and Cathy are remarkably dated for teenagers; they seem very 1970s to me, as an Anna who went to school with about eighty Mels and Cathys (it feels like).

Losing It by Julia Lawrinson
Four 17-year-old best friends vow to lose their virginity before the end of the final school year, American Pie style. The girls are Zoe, Bree, Mala, and Abby. Abby has a brother named Zeke, and Mala has a cousin named Mo. The girls’ male friend is Matty.

Mala and Mo are from a different ethnicity, but it is never said what it is, although Mala is an Indian name, and Mo might be short for Mohandas?

The Convent by Maureen McCarthy
Set in the historic Abbotsford Convent in Melbourne, and based on the author’s own family history. It starts during World War I, when Sadie is forced to relinquish her daughter Ellen, who is brought up by the nuns at the convent. In the 1960s, Ellen’s only daughter Cecilia takes the veil at the convent and becomes Sister Annuniciata, and Cecilia’s daughter is Perpetua, called Peach (DRINK! DRINK!). Peach also has a connection with the convent, as she works at the arts centre now housed in its buildings. Peach’s sister is Stella (DRINK!), and her best friends are Cassie and Det.

It makes sense that great-grandmother’s name is popular again now, and also that a nun’s daughter should be given a saint’s name.

The Colours of Madeleine series by Jaclyn Moriarty
A fantasy series about teenager Madeleine Tully (DRINK!), who ran away from a world of opulence to live a simple life in Cambridge, England with her mother Holly (DRINK!). Madeleine’s best friends are Jack (an admirer) and Belle, but she has a pen-friend named Elliot Baranski in a parallel universe. Can anyone else guess that poor Jack does not stand a chance against a farm boy from a parallel universe who is heading a crew of loyal rebels?

I liked the way that people in the parallel universe had much the same names as we do – Elliot’s friends are Samuel and Keira, and his love interest is Kala. The princess is named Ko, but then she’s royalty. They like the letter K in the parallel universe.

Friday Brown by Vicki Wakefield
Liliane Brown is nicknamed Friday by her mother Vivienne because of a family curse that she will die on a Saturday (DRINK! DRINK!). Friday becomes a runaway street kid, and makes friends with a mute boy called Silence (DRINK!), and comes under the control of charismatic but unlikable young woman named Arden. The other street kids are AiAi, Darcy (female), Joe, Carrie, Bree (DRINK!), and Malik. The love interest is a boy named Wish (DRINK!).

Love-Shy by Lili Wilkinson
Penny (DRINK!) Drummond is a neurotic over-achieving student journalist, and she takes on a project of investigating/fixing a boy at her school named Nick (DRINK!) Rammage. Her friends are Rin and Hamish, who she tries to match up together. Other classmates are Rory, James (DRINK!), Clayton, Perry, Arabella, and Max. Penny’s dad is gay, and his partner is Josh.

Boys Names from International Destinations

04 Sunday Oct 2015

Posted by in Name Themes and Lists

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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)

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)