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Tag Archives: vegetable names

Famous Names: Rocket Zot

08 Wednesday Apr 2015

Posted by A.O. in Famous Names

≈ 3 Comments

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celebrity baby names, english names, flower names, food names, Greek names, honouring, name history, name meaning, name popularity, names from comics, names from songs, names of weapons, nature names, nicknames, plant names, rare names, Russian names, scientific names, UK name popularity, unisex names, US name popularity, vegetable names, vocabulary names

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Names in the News
There are some celebrities whose baby names the media looks forward to learning with barely-disguised impatience. It might be a big star or a royal, in which case we all want to know what the baby is called, even if it’s quite boring. On the other hand, there are certain celebrities where we yearn to know the baby name they choose, because we can feel “a crazy celebrity baby name” coming up.

Recently it has been Lara Bingle and her husband Sam Worthington grabbing the baby name headlines, although the whole process began months ago, during what has been described as “the world’s longest pregnancy“. This was only increased by the Bingle-Worthingtons requesting privacy and not immediately announcing their baby name, which sent the rumour mill into overdrive.

I always think that if you’re going to be coy about announcing the baby’s name, it had better be something pretty epic, because I hate waiting for weeks, only to find out the baby is named Charlie. In this case, I was not disappointed because the baby’s name was reported as Rocket Zot.

Predictably, some sections of the media responded with outrage, denouncing the name. Was this a clever attempt to force Rocket’s cagey parents to confirm or deny the baby name? If so, it worked, because Lara Bingle immediately took to social media to defend their choice of name.

Public comments have generally been quite harsh, and on this blog, more than 84% of people have given it the thumbs down. But is Rocket Zot really such a bizarre name?

ROCKET
A rocket is any missile or vehicle propelled by a rocket engine. Although we may think of rockets as being quite space age, they have been existence since the Middle Ages, when they were used as weapons by the Chinese. Europeans found out about rocket technology when they were conquered by the Mongols, who themselves made the interesting discovery by conquering parts of China first.

It wasn’t until the twentieth century that anybody began serious research into using rockets for travelling through space. The Germans made the most progress in this area, and there was devastating proof of Germany’s proficiency in rocket use when they rained down V-2 rockets upon Allied countries in World War II, killing and wounding thousands in the process.

The United States was to benefit the most from Germany’s rocketry, because after the war they scooped up the majority of the German rocket scientists. The first American space rockets evolved directly from the V2, which just shows how important it is to conquer the right people during a war, and nick all their best technological innovations.

The word rocket comes from the Italian rochetta, meaning “little fuse”, a small firecracker developed by an Italian inventor in the 14th century. It is notable that for many years, the history of rockets and that of fireworks was virtually one and the same, as they both relied on gunpowder.

If all of this sounds a bit too violent, rocket is also a leafy green vegetable commonly added to salads, and a favourite since Roman times (maybe partly because it was believed to be an aphrodisiac). In this case, the name has nothing to do with rockets or fireworks, but is derived from Eruca, the Latin name for the plant, which means “caterpillar”.

London rocket is a wildflower whose common name was given because it grew in such profusion after the Great Fire of London in 1666. Another plant is called sweet rocket or dame’s rocket, abundantly blossomed with pretty fragrant mauve flowers. The attractive but toxic aconite, or wolfsbane, is sometimes called blue rocket, and the Chinese used its poison in warfare, just as they did explosive rockets.

Rocket has been used as a name since the 19th century, when it was much more common in North America. The United States national anthem, The Star Spangled Banner, with its mention of the “rockets’ red glare”, may have made the name seem particularly patriotic (the rockets in the song were from the British attacking Fort McHenry in Baltimore during the War of 1812). Independence Day fireworks also help to make rockets seem patriotically American. Rocket has been given to both sexes, but more commonly to boys.

In 2013, 16 boys were given the name Rocket in the US, while in the UK, less than 3 babies in any year have been named Rocket since 1996. In South Australia last year, there was just one baby boy named Rocket.

Although Rocket is rare, it has become quite prominent as a celebrity baby name. Douglas Adams named his daughter Polly Jane Rocket in 1994, a fitting tribute for the author of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series. Director Robert Rodriguez has a son named Rocket Valentino born in 1995 (Rocket’s siblings include Rogue, Rebel, and Racer). Tom DeLonge from Blink-182 had a son named Jonas Rocket in 2006, and Pharrell Williams welcomed a son named Rocket Ayer in 2008, honouring the Rocket songs of Stevie Wonder, Elton John and Herbie Hancock, as well as Roy Ayers. Last year Beau Bokan from Blessthefall welcomed a baby girl named Rocket Wild. It’s not unknown as an Australian celebrity name, because fashion designer Yasmin Sewell had a son named Knox Rocket in 2011.

The name Rocket has been criticised for trying too hard to be a “cool” celebrity baby name, a name which no decent baby name book has listed. (I’m happy to be amongst the indecent baby name blogs to include Rocket). And yet is it really that outrageous? It’s very much like modern classic Rocco, and when Jett is a popular boy’s name, Rocket isn’t such a stretch. Weapon-related names such as Archer and Hunter are also on trend.

Depending on your point of view, Rocket might be too cool for the schoolyard, or fine for the famous but out for ordinary folk, or you might think this is an energetic, rocking firecracker of a name that fits in with current trends while still being a rare choice. Rock or Rocky are the obvious nicknames.

ZOT
If Rocket got a good going-over, Zot went down even less well, with the headline, Lara Bingle Doesn’t Give a Zot For Baby Name Traditions (since changed). Urban dictionaries were consulted, to discover that zot meant “kill, destroy”, or “spitball”. Of course you can also consult dictionaries to find that Bob is a woman’s haircut, John refers to a prostitute’s client, and Amelia means to be born without a limb, but the dictionary meanings are not usually applied to these personal names.

Lara Bingle was angered and upset by the journalist’s comments on Zot, since it was given in honour of her father Graham, who passed away from cancer a few years ago. Zot was apparently the nickname he went by.

Zot is actually a “real” name – it’s a short form of Izot, the Russian form of Greek Zotikos, meaning “full of life” (a masculine spin on Zoe). I think that makes it an exciting addition to Rocket, which is already quite a lively-sounding name.

Zot is also a comic book hero name, in this case, a contraction of the character’s real name of Zachary T. Paleozogt. A cheery blond teenager from a utopian world, Zot zips around on rocket boots with a laser gun to sort out the problems of our own rather more flawed planet.

It has been conjectured that the name Rocket is a nod to Sam Worthington’s father, Ronald Worthington, so that Rocket Zot may actually honour both fathers. The Herald Sun suggests that Ronny Graham, nicknamed “Rocket”, would have been a better honouring name. Given the choice, I think I prefer the more distinctive, affectionate, and personalised Rocket Zot.

POLL RESULTS
The name Rocket received an approval rating of 16%. 44% of people thought that Rocket was a terrible name, while 6% loved it.

Zot received a slightly higher approval rating of 20%. 61% of people thought that Zot was a terrible name, while 5% loved it.

53% of people preferred Ronny Graham as a name to honour Ronald Worthington and Graeme “Zot” Bingle, while 47% thought Rocket Zot had more zip.

(Photo shows Fourth of July fireworks to accompany the US national anthem)

Famous Name: Rapunzel

18 Wednesday Mar 2015

Posted by A.O. in Famous Names

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

controversial names, Disney names, Disney princesses, fictional namesakes, food names, French names, Italian names, middle names, name history, name meaning, names from fairy tales, names from movies, names from television, names of herbs, nature names, nicknames, Persian names, plant names, rare names, twin sets, US name popularity, vegetable names

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Name in the News
March 12 marked the start of the Leukaemia Foundation’s World’s Greatest Shave. One of the participants this year was librarian Nicolette Suttor, from the National Library in Canberra, whose hair hadn’t been cut for a decade, and which hung to her knees.

Nicolette’s cousin Ben died from leukaemia six years ago, and two years ago, her twin sister Camille shaved off her hair to support the Leukaemia Foundation. This year, Nicolette was amongst the thousands of people who signed up to raise money for the World’s Greatest Shave, and she was supported by colleagues, who performed a modern version of the fairy tale Rapunzel ahead of the charity event, with Nicolette taking the lead role.

Since having her 1.4 metre locks of hair removed and her head shorn, real life fairy tale princess Nicolette has raised more than $5500, and her hair will be used to make wigs for leukaemia patients who have lost their hair.

Name Story and Information
The German fairy tale Rapunzel tells of a poor couple who longed for a child. At last the wife became pregnant, and began to develop cravings for a leafy green vegetable, which in Germany is called rapunzel. She told her husband that if she could not eat the delicious looking rapunzel which grew in their neighbour’s walled garden, she would die.

Her husband was very frightened, because their neighbour was an enchantress from the Black Forest, but he was even more frightened of losing his wife. So he climbed the wall into the garden, and stole the rapunzel. The Enchantress caught him, and after he explained he was only taking it for his pregnant wife, she told him he could have as much as he wanted, but on one condition – when the baby was born, he must give it to her.

The man agreed to this, and when the baby was born, it was a girl which they reluctantly handed over to the Enchantress, who took the baby far away, to her own country. She named the girl Rapunzel, after the vegetable which had delivered the child into her hands, and taught the child to call her Gothel (“godmother”).

Rapunzel grew into the loveliest child under the sun, with long hair like spun gold. When Rapunzel turned twelve, the Enchantress locked her in a tower with no stairs or doors, but a tiny window at the top. When the Enchantress wanted to visit Rapunzel, she would call out, Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair! The girl would throw her long, golden, braided hair out the window, so the Enchantress could climb up.

A couple of years later, a prince rode through the forest, and became enraptured by Rapunzel’s sweet singing. Coupled with the sight of her beautiful, wistful face at the tower window, his heart was touched, and each day he rode out to hear her. The day came when he heard the Enchantress give the signal and climb up, and when the coast was clear, he tried his luck by calling out Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!

Rapunzel at first was frightened when a man climbed into her tower. However, the prince was young and handsome, and Rapunzel soon loved him in return, agreeing to become his wife. They decided that the prince would bring Rapunzel silk so she could make herself a ladder – the simpler escape plan of bringing an actual ladder apparently not occurring to them.

While Rapunzel worked on the ladder, she and the prince got to know each better each evening, and it became obvious how well their relationship had progressed when Rapunzel innocently mentioned to her “Gothel” how tight her clothes were growing. No doubt food cravings would have soon developed.

Furious and betrayed, the Enchantress did the “godmother scorned” routine by cutting off Rapunzel’s braid of hair, and taking her into the desert to wander in misery. (There’s no German deserts, so it’s meant in the sense of a dreary, uninhabited wilderness).

The cruel Enchantress then fixed Rapunzel’s braid of hair to an iron spike, and waited in the tower for the prince. When he called out Rapunzel Rapunzel etc etc, the Enchantress let down the braid, and confronted the prince when he climbed into the tower. Heartbroken at the news that Rapunzel was gone, he threw himself from the tower, where he blinded himself on the thorns which grew below.

For some years, the blind prince wandered through the forest living on roots and berries, crying for his lost love. At last he came across Rapunzel, who had in the meantime given birth to their twins, a boy and a girl. Hearing Rapunzel’s beautiful voice, the prince proved love was blind by knowing at once it was his lost love, and hurled himself into her arms.

The two held each other tenderly, and Rapunzel wept. Luckily she had magical tears, because as they fell into the prince’s eyes, his blindness was cured. Hooray! The family hiked back to the prince’s kingdom, where they all lived happily ever after.

The Brothers Grimm adapted Rapunzel from a German fairy tale, which was based on a French one called Persinette – Persinette is derived from the French word for “parsley”, as this was the vegetable craved by the mother in this story. In turn, this was based on the 17th century Italian tale Petrosinella by Giambattista Basile, which is the earliest known version of the story (Petrosinella is Italian for “parsley”).

Rapunzel is similar to the medieval Persian tale of Rūdāba, where the beautiful Rūdāba, meaning “shining child”, lets down her raven-black tresses so her lover Zal can climb into her tower. However, there are a number of folk tales where girls get locked in towers by their parents, such as Danae in Greek mythology, the princess rescued by Cian in Irish legend, and even Saint Barbara.

The vegetable which Rapunzel is named after is Valerianella locusta, otherwise known as lamb’s lettuce or corn salad. The plant will grow in even the most barren of environments, making it a favourite with peasants, and foreshadowing Rapunzel’s own surprising ability to survive in a wilderness. Its German name of rapunzel is derived from the Latin, meaning “valerian root”.

Later versions of the story insist that the rapunzel was actually rampion, a purple bell-like wildflower whose leaves are edible. Perhaps it seemed more palatable for a fairytale heroine to be given a floral name.

The name Rapunzel has been in rare use since the 19th century. I have only been able to find Rapunzels born in the United States, and the name showed up in the data there once – in 1959, when 9 girls were given the name Rapunzel. This was the year after Shirley Temple’s Storybook television series featured the story of Rapunzel, with Carol Lynley in the title role, and Agnes Moorehead as the wicked enchantress.

Despite Rapunzel being the lovely princess in Disney’s charming film Tangled, it hasn’t shown up since, and this would be a very bold choice as a name. Besides the vegetable meaning, the fairy tale shows parents in a poor light, with Rapunzel’s biological parents swapping her for salad in a very short-sighted way, and her adoptive mother being insanely possessive and brutally punishing.

And then there’s the famous tagline, which means that someone named Rapunzel would probably have to hear “let down your hair” on a regular basis, even if they had a bob or a pixie cut.

However, Rapunzel would make an awesome middle name, and even as a first name, nicknames such as Zella and Zellie seem feasible for your little fairy tale princess.

POLL RESULTS
Rapunzel received an approval rating of 33%. 34% of people thought the name Rapunzel would lead to teasing and jokes, but 9% saw it as charming and fantastical.

(Photo shows Nicolette Suttor dressed as Rapunzel)

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